Hey, first time doing anything like this ever, I hope I can please at least a small number of people in this community.
Brief summary, I’m making this mod to try and adjust the game’s difficulty curve as it currently stands as well as open up more options for end-game equipment by adjusting the stats of items and monsters, and refraining from changing the atmosphere of the game with flashy changes or new monsters.
Any feedback and constructive criticism is appreciated. I am but one flawed person and expect many of my decisions to be flawed when viewed from another perspective.
I didn’t use github to try and get my balancing ideas into the mainline because I simply have no idea how to use github. If anyone thinks any changes I’ve got here are good enough for mainline, by all means go ahead and use them.
Download here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/oq917nunkn5opfw/H86s_Rebalance.zip?dl=0
Comprehensive lists of every change I made as well as reasoning behind them in the spoilers.
Materials
[spoiler]Kevlar: Bashing/cutting defense reduced from 2/4 to 1/4. Kevlar is a polymer fabric that wasn’t designed to absorb blunt force trauma any better than other fabrics.
Superalloy: Defense reduced from 6/6 to 5/6. It didn’t seem right for the space age alloy that is both super strong and super light to have the same ability to absorb blunt force as steel, despite having far less mass to absorb impacts with. 's just physics.
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Weapons
[spoiler]Nodachi: Quick Strike removed. Have you ever seen a nodachi? They’re frikkin’ yuge mate! Nah. I’ll let the katana and smaller swords slide but you’re not swinging that much mass around that fast, not even if you have the power of God and anime on your side.
Broadsword: Cut damage reduced from 35 to 31. This was largely a balancing decision, the broadsword is accurate, fast, and powerful on top of being usable with Fencing.
Scimitar: Cut damage increased from 30 to 40. It just wasn’t as good compared to the other forged swords that also needed level 8 fabrication.
War scythe: Cut damage increased from 26 to 36, to-hit increased from 1 to 2, and given reach attack. Giant blade on giant stick means giant choppy from giant range.
Kukri: Bash damage increased from 2 to 6. Eh…it’s extremely similar to the machete yet requires 8 fabrication and is worse overall. Maybe I should buff it a little more to 10 bash. Or just pretend it’s not supposed to be a weapon when it actually is. Yeah that’s a good plan.
Estoc: Pierce damage increased from 38 to 44, to-hit reduced from 2 to 1. Besides giving the estoc the same base damage output as the longsword, which the estoc is derived from, piercing weapons in general also lack the power needed to compete with cutting weapons.
Jian: Bash damage increased from 8 to 10, moves per attack reduced from 110 to 104. Relatively small adjustments, but they multiply on to each other and I’m not sure what else to do about the jian when it’s so small and sad. It doesn’t even work with any martial arts besides ninjutsu.
Cutlass: Cut damage increased from 27 to 32. The cutlass is quite similar to the broadsword and other sabers, however the cutlass is distinctly heavier.
Awl pike: Pierce damage increased from 45 to 50. It’s big and slow, too slow. Hopefully this will make it more worth using. At least jousting with it on a quad-bike is fun.
Glaive: Cut damage increased from 30 to 36. Again with the big blades and sticks. Without the increased damage it would have been weaker than the war scythe and just a little weak in general.
Qiang: Pierce damage increased from 28 to 38. Without a damage buff the qiang, needing 7 fabrication and a rare recipe book, was weaker than the crude 4 fabrication no-book-required-and-usable-with-silat steel spear.
War hammer: Bash damage increased from 20 to 25. Like piercing weapons, bashing weapons also lack power to compete with cutting weapons. It doesn’t help that all the high level bashing weapons don’t have any fancy shmancy martial arts.
Battle axe: To-hit increased from 1 to 2. Based on the volume I was fairly convinced that the battle axe in-game is something akin to an English long axe, which is very long. Hence the name. And long weapons get better to-hit bonuses.
Mace: To-hit increased from 1 to 2. The mace can be used to strike with any surface, unlike swords or other weapons that can only deal significant damage along a certain axis.
Morning star: Pierce damage increased from 4 to 7, to-hit increased from 1 to 2. Again, the morning star can strike with any surface, and also could use a damage buff.
Lobotomizer: To-hit increased from -3 to 1. Just because it’s made up and designed by over-excited zombie fantasizers doesn’t mean it’s that bad. It’s just a shovel with axe heads on each side!
Lajatang: Bash damage increased from 4 to 6, cut damage increased from 26 to 28, to-hit increased from 2 to 3, moves per attack reduced from 210 to 162. Hm. Yeah the lajatang kind of just sucked.
Chainsaw lajatang (on): Revamped. Cut damage reduced from 140 to 100, to-hit increased from -5 to -3, moves per attack reduced from 422 to 258, renamed to circular saw lajatang, recipe changed to use circular saws instead of chainsaws, now uses batteries instead of gasoline. Now it’s greener and marginally less insane.
Combat chainsaw (on): To-hit increased from -4 to -2. Just trying to make this thing usable for its designated purpose.
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Armor
[spoiler]SWAT armor: Protection increased from 9/15 to 12/30, description altered, can now be refitted. Apparently the black gear in this image 
is what the SWAT armor in-game looks like. Which is all good and well, but it’s basically a bullet resistant vest with extra stuff attached, and does not warrant 95% coverage on the arms and legs. Instead, I want you to pretend my modded SWAT armor looks like this: 'Cause we’re cool and edgy.
Gambeson: Coverage increased from 80 to 90, protection increased from 5/5 to 18/18, description altered. Contrary to what you might believe, gambeson qualifies as armor in its own right.
AEP suit: Protection increased from 6/9 to 9/18. “It provides excellent protection against both physical harm and ambient radiation” 6 bashing defense
ANBC suit: Protection increased from 6/9 to 9/18. A leather jacket has 6 bashing defense.
Plate armor: Coverage increased from 95 to 100, protection increased from 16/16 to 20/20. Who would win in a fight, steel armor that has been constantly improved upon through hundreds of years of warfare and the best metallurgical techniques available in the world…or an amalgamation of cotton, leather, scrap metal, damaged Kevlar, and a rain coat?
Great helm: Renamed to sallet, description altered, can now be activated to expose the eyes and mouth. The description of plate armor explicitly states that it is Gothic style plate armor, which was commonly worn with a sallet style of helmet, not the great helm.
Ornamental plate armor: Revamped. Replaced with a completely different item the ‘suit of armor’; crafted by combining plate armor, a sallet, armored boots, and armored guantlets; provides excellent physical protection to all parts of the body as well as protection from electrical discharges; downsides are high weight, warmth, and inability to use different helmets or boots; can be activated to expose the eyes and mouth. And it’s fancy.
O-yoroi: Coverage increased from 85 to 95, protection increased from 12/12 to 24/24, made fancy. I tried to make it comparable to the suit of armor, but it’s still not quite there. European plate armor was just straight up better than Japanese armor in every way.
Kabuto: Protection increased from 12/12 to 24/24. I should probably make the face mask removable, shouldn’t I. I’m tired and have school work to do though. I’ll do it tomorruh.
Kevlar vest: Coverage increased from 85 to 95, protection increased from 6/12 to 6/24. I tried to balance the ballistic vests by comparing them to ballistic vests in the real world and what calibers of bullets they are rated to stop, I can’t say how well I handled them. I don’t know how much damage vests in Cata are expected to let through.
MBR vest (empty): Coverage increased from 85 to 95, protection increased from 8/16 to 6/24. NIJ 0101.05 level II ballistics protection.
MBR vest (Kevlar plates): Coverage increased from 85 to 95, protection increased from 10/20 to 8/32. Level IIIA.
MBR vest (superalloy): Coverage increased from 85 to 95, protection increased from 20/25 to 27/45. Level III.
MBR vest (ceramic plates): Coverage increased from 85 to 95, protection increased from 10/25 to 14/45. Level III.
MBR vest (steel plating): Coverage increased from 85 to 95, protection increased from 20/25 to 32/45. Level III.
MBR vest (hard plating): Coverage increased from 85 to 95, protection increased from 24/40 to 28/50. Level IV.
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Monsters
[spoiler]Jabberwock: HP increased from 400 to 1000, damage increased from 4d8+3 to 6d8+3, given fear paralysis ability. It was extremely underwhelming to kill one of these on day 1 with a few bursts from an M4A1. Hopefully this will make it into a proper “boss fight” that will require preparation and companions.
Charred nightmare: Scratch special attack damage increased from 21 to 32. I don’t know the exact effects of scratch or if it does anything beyond applying the exact amount of given damage, but if that’s what it does 21 is kind of weak for a special attack when the max damage of the normal attacks are 32.
Irradiated wanderer 4: Armor increased from 8/8 to 14/27, AEP suit added to drop table. This is to both to increase the prevalence of armored enemies (and therefore armor piercing weapons), and reflect the toughest form of irradiated wanderer wearing an AEP suit. Maybe they were security guards.
Zombie hulk: HP increased from 480 to 900, damage increased from 4d8 to 6d8, armor increased from 8/12 to 16/12. Zombie hulks were pitiful nothings in the face of an end-game survivor, maybe this will give them a chance.
Zombie brute: HP increased from 120 to 240, melee skill increased from 5 to 6, damage increased from 3d8 to 4d8. These guys were kind of weak for all that muscle they’re supposedly lugging around.
Zombie nightstalker: Melee skill increased from 5 to 7, damage increased from 4d4+4 to 4d8+4, given dark regeneration. How sad is it that an evolved form of brute with the name nightstalker is weaker than the vanilla, unbuffed brute?
Feral predator: HP increased from 90 to 120, melee skill increased from 5 to 8, dodge skill increased from 5 to 8, cooldown of leap and stab abilities reduced to 2. It was weak even compared to the hulk, usually only able to get off one stab attack before getting demolished. Pretty dang weak considered it’s supposed to be on par with a hulk according to its difficulty level.
Corrosive zombie: Damage increased from 1d6 to 1d6+8 acid damage. Mostly just because I can.
Zombie master: Damage increased from 2d6 to 3d6, melee skill increased from 5 to 6, dodge skill increased from 4 to 5, cooldown of upgrade ability reduced to 0. I never really saw masters as much of a threat; slightly better than normal zombies and they can turn one zombie into a tough zombie, big deal. Now they are much more effective as force multipliers, turning a situation very quickly from “meh” to “oh my Goooooood” unless you kill them fast.
Zombie bio-operator: Armor increased from 10/18 to 15/25. Just another attempt to make armored enemies more prevalent.
Zombie grenadier: Armor increased from 6/6 to 6/20. Mo’ armor, mo’ problems.
Zombie elite grenadier: Armor increased from 8/12 to 10/20. Did somebody say armor?
Zombie soldier: Melee skill increased from 5 to 6, dodge skill increased from 1 to 2, spawn in groups of 1 to 4. Yes, soldiers are trained in hand-to-hand combat, so it didn’t seem right for the zed soldiers to have less skill than the zed cops. Also there’s more of them now because they already have armor.
Survivor zombie: Armor increased from 7/7 to 10/14, spawn in groups of 1 to 5. Armor.
Zombie cop: Armor increased from 6/6 to 6/12, spawn in groups of 1 to 3. Protective covering.
Z-9: Armor increased from 6/6 to 6/12. Panoply.
Firefighter zombie: Spawn in groups of 1 to 4. Carapace.
Hazmat zombie: Spawn in groups of 1 to 4. Armatura.
Tank drone: HP increased from 240 to 1200, damage increased from 5d5 to 3d100, armor increased from 24/30 to 50/70. “Oh my god man are you stupid!? That’s way too much!” Okay but consider this: Literal. God. Damn. Tank. Get a LAW rocket or GTFO, samurai don’t kill tanks.
Chicken walker: HP increased from 90 to 270, armor increased from 18/14 to 32/50. Chicken walkers are big bois, much bigger than 80 HP cop bots and with much more armor too considering they were built to fight vehicles.
Riot control bot: Armor increased from 12/8 to 12/24. That cutting defense was kind of low considering these things are supposed to handle riots and they have steel plating.
Police bot: Damage increased from 3d2 to 10d2, melee skill increased from 4 to 8, armor increased from 12/8 to 12/24. Behold, something that I would actually trust to keep criminals in check as opposed to slapping me on the wrist.
Security bot: Armor increased from 14/14 to 32/50. “heavily armored”, “military patrol”, and “hydraulic treads” are part of the description. It’s a miniature tank, it better be able to take some rifle fire.
Tribot: HP increased from 80 to 240, armor increased from 12/8 to 32/50. Again, this thing was either built for a military application or the Japanese just went down doing what they do best: building giant impractical robots.
Giant ant: HP increased from 40 to 80, armor increased from 5/10 to 14/18. Anthills currently are just infinite food for anyone with some half-decent armor and/or weapons. They get extra health because they’re close to human sized and extra armor because chitin.
Soldier ant: Size increased from medium to large, HP increased from 80 to 160, damage increased from 1d8+6 to 2d8+12, armor increased from 10/12 to 18/24.
Queen ant: Size increased from large to huge, HP increased from 80 to 320, damage increased from 3d4+4 to 4d5+8, armor increased from 6/14 to 18/24.
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