The SpawnCycle Analysis tool allows you to analyze a SpawnCycle's contents and show meaningful information about its performance by simulating a full game.
There are two main components to this window:
- Analysis Results
- Analysis Parameters
The Analysis Results show the results of the simulation and include the following information:
- Total Number of ZEDs by Category (Trash, Medium, Large, Boss, etc.)
- Total Number of ZEDs by Type (Alpha Clot, Fleshpound, Bloat, etc.)
- Total Number of ZEDs by Group (Clots, Gorefasts, Robots, etc.)
- The estimated relative Difficulty of the wave
Each of these include Pie and Line Charts that help visually reinforce the data.
The Simulation Data is first shown for the SpawnCycle as a whole (summary data), followed by Simulation Data on a per-wave basis.
The Analysis Parameters give you the ability to control the simulation, by setting pre-determined criteria.
Figure 1 - SpawnCycle Analysis Tool
The Analysis Parameters allow the user to directly impact the Analysis Results.
The following parameters can be set:
- Difficulty
- Wave Size Fakes
- Overview Only
- Ignore Zeroes
- Analyze Difficulty
- Max Monsters
- Display Charts
The Difficulty level of the game (Normal // Hard // Suicidal // Hell on Earth)
In Vanilla KF2, the size of the waves depends on the current amount of Human players connected to the session. Naturally, this value scales up and down accordingly as players join and leave the game.
CD allows you to set a "faked" value, via WaveSizeFakes (WSF), which simulates locking the player count at a specific value. This allows for making the wave much smaller/larger than is normally possible in the vanilla game for any given amount of players.
In SpawnCycler, the WSF value operates exactly the same, increasing/decreasing the size of the waves during the simulation, which impacts the final totals for most statistics.
Min Value: 1
Max Value: 255
This parameter causes all per-wave Analysis Data to be excluded from the report. Only the SpawnCycle summary data will be shown.
Don't display any table rows or chart elements that represent data which has zero value. Helps reduce clutter and increase focus on relevant data.
Tells SpawnCycler whether or not it should analyze the wave and produce an Estimated Difficulty curve (see below for more information on how this works).
Used in conjunction with the Analyze Difficulty setting. Tells SpawnCycler the maximum number of ZEDs that can exist on the battlefield at any given time. Increasing this value means more ZEDs can be alive at once, which greatly impacts the overall difficulty of the wave(s).
Min Value: 1
Max Value: 512
Controls whether or not SpawnCycler should produce Pie charts representing the Group, Type, and Categorical total data for the wave. Does not affect whether or not the Difficulty chart is drawn. Use the Analyze Difficulty flag for that instead.
This section details how SpawnCycler simulates waves.
A SpawnCycle is a list of ZED squads to spawn during a specific wave. Both CD and SpawnCycler simulate the SpawnCycle in the following way:
- Determine the Total Number of ZEDs to spawn, based on
Difficulty,GameLength, and the currentWaveSizeFakessettings - Spawn ZEDs in order from the SpawnCycle until reaching the end of the cycle
- Loop back around to the beginning of the SpawnCycle and repeat
- Count ZEDs spawned on each iteration
The Total Number of ZEDs to spawn is determined in the following way:
- Determine the base number of ZEDs for the wave (based on GameLength)
- Determine the
DifficultyMultiplier(based on Difficulty) - Compute the
WaveSizeMultiplier(based on the WaveSizeFakes setting)
Normal: 0.85
Hard: 1.00
Suicidal: 1.30
Hell on Earth: 1.70
Short (4 Waves): 25 // 32 // 35 // 42
Medium (7 Waves): 25 // 28 // 32 // 32 // 35 // 40 // 42
Long (10 Waves): 25 // 28 // 32 // 32 // 35 // 35 // 40 // 42 // 42
For example..
for GameLength=2 (10 Wave), the base number of ZEDs on Wave 6 is 35
for GameLength=0 (4 Wave), the base number of ZEDs on Wave 2 is 32
0-1 WSF: 1.00
2 WSF: 2.00
3 WSF: 2.75
4 WSF: 3.50
5 WSF: 4.00
6 WSF: 4.50
6+ WSF: 4.50 + ((WSF - 6) x 0.2115384615384615)
For example..
for WaveSizeFakes=5 the WaveSizeMultiplier would be 4.00
for WaveSizeFakes=16 the WaveSizeMultiplier would be 4.50 + ((16 - 6) x 0.2115384615384615) = 6.61615384615384615
These three values are used to calculate the Total Number of ZEDs to Spawn, described by the formula:
NumZEDsToSpawn = DifficultyModifier x WaveSizeMultiplier x BaseNumZEDs
For example..
On a Long Hell on Earth match, with WaveSizeFakes=12, the number of ZEDs to spawn on Wave 10 would be:
NumZEDsToSpawn = 1.70 x 42 x 5.769230769230769 = 411.923 = 411 (floored to the nearest integer)
Now that the number of ZEDs to spawn for the given wave is known, SpawnCycler simply iterates over the list of Squads for that wave, choosing ZEDs in order until NumZEDsToSpawn is reached. During each iteration, a count is kept of each ZED type and Group spawned.
If SpawnCycler reaches the end of the SpawnCycle before the wave is complete, it simply starts over at the beginning.
This section details the Simulation Results, which includes:
- Total Number of ZEDs by Category (Trash, Medium, Large, Boss, etc.)
- Total Number of ZEDs by Type (Alpha Clot, Fleshpound, Bloat, etc.)
- Total Number of ZEDs by Group (Clots, Gorefasts, Robots, etc.)
- The estimated relative Difficulty of the wave
This table shows the summary data for the number of ZEDs spawned of each Category in this wave.
There are four main Categories of ZEDs:
- Trash
- Medium
- Large
- Boss
Trash ZEDs include:
- Alpha Clot
- Cyst
- Slasher
- Slasher Omega
- Rioter
- Gorefast
- Gorefast Omega
- Gorefiend
- Crawler
- Tiny Crawler
- Medium Crawler
- Big Crawler
- Huge Crawler
- Ultra Crawler
- Elite Crawler
- Stalker
- Stalker Omega
Medium ZEDs include:
- Bloat
- Husk
- Husk Omega
- Tiny Husk
- Siren
- Siren Omega
- E.D.A.R Trapper
- E.D.A.R Blaster
- E.D.A.R Bomber
Large ZEDs include:
- Scrake
- Scrake Omega
- Scrake Emperor
- Tiny Scrake
- Quarter Pound
- Fleshpound
- Alpha Scrake
- Alpha Fleshpound
- Fleshpound Omega
Bosses include:
- Dr. Hans Volter
- Patriarch
- King Fleshpound
- Abomination
- Abomination Spawn
- Matriarch
This table shows summary data for the number of ZEDs spawned of each individual Type. This is essentially information about each ZED in the above Categories.
This table shows summary data for the number of ZEDs spawned of each individual Group. A ZED Group contains several different types of associated ZEDs.
There are ten main Groups of ZEDs:
- Clots (Alpha Clot, Cyst, Slasher, Slasher Omega)
- Gorefasts (Gorefast, Gorefast Omega, Gorefiend)
- Crawlers / Stalkers
- Robots (E.D.A.R Trapper, E.D.A.R Blaster, E.D.A.R Bomber)
- Scrakes (Scrake, Alpha Scrake, Scrake Omega, Scrake Emperor, Tiny Scrake)
- Fleshpounds (Quarter Pound, Fleshpound, Alpha Fleshpound, Fleshpound Omega)
- Albino (Rioter, Gorefiend, Elite Crawler, Alpha Scrake, Alpha Fleshpound)
- Omega (all Omega ZEDs)
- SpawnRage (SpawnRaged QP/FP/AFP)
- Other (anything not falling into the above categories)
The Difficulty Estimate is a chart that details the relative difficulty of the wave, based on the following:
- The composition of the currently spawned ZEDs (influenced by
MaxMonsters) - The
Difficultysetting - The
GameLength(Short, Medium, Long) setting - The
WaveSizeFakessetting
These values are used to determine a DifficultyScore for each iteration of the simulation, given by the formula:
DifficultyScore = WaveSizeModifier x WaveDifficultyModifier x WaveCompositionModifier
The WaveSizeModifier is determined through the following formula:
WaveSizeModifier = 1 + (WaveSizeFakes / 128)
As an example, a WaveSizeFakes of 12 would give:
WaveSizeModifier = 1 + (12 / 128) = 1.10
This modifier follows a trend in which longer waves (due to higher WSF) results in a higher modifier. Longer waves tend to be harder to due to the sparseness of resources (ammo has to be spread over a longer period of time, for example).
The value of the WaveDifficultyModifier is determined directly by the game's Difficulty and GameLength:
WaveDifficultyModifier = (1.50 x DoshModifier) + (0.25 / (WaveNum / MaxWave))
The DoshModifier depends on the Difficulty of the game. In general, higher difficulties have a higher DoshModifier because ZEDs award less money:
Normal: 1.00
Hard: 1.25
Suicidal: 1.50
Hell on Earth: 1.75
WaveNum is the current wave and MaxWave is the maximum wave for the current GameLength.
As an example, the WaveDifficultyModifier on Wave 6/10 on Hard Difficulty would be:
WaveDifficultyModifier = (1.50 x 1.25) + (0.25 / (6 / 10)) = 1.875 + (0.25 / 0.60) = 1.875 + 0.417 = 2.292
This modifier follows a trend in which harder difficulties incur a higher multiplier, due to less money being generated (assuming the DoshKill setting is left at its vanilla setting). There is also a slight modification to the value depending on how far into the match the simulation is. Later waves add less of a bonus due to the fact that typically, more money has been generated by that point. Still, the overall monetary worth of the ZEDs has a greater effect on the calculation, so in a majority sense, the difficulty itself tends to take precedence over the current wave.
The value of the WaveCompositionModifier depends directly on what ZEDs are currently spawned, which itself is influenced by the MaxMonsters setting.
Each ZED has a specific weight associated with it:
Cyst: 300
Alpha Clot: 335
Rioter: 450
Slasher: 320
Slasher Omega: 335
Gorefast: 350
Gorefast Omega: 375
Gorefiend: 400
Crawler: 350
Tiny Crawler: 325
Medium Crawler: 350
Big Crawler: 375
Huge Crawler: 400
Ultra Crawler: 450
Elite Crawler: 400
Stalker: 375
Stalker Omega: 425
Bloat: 700
Husk: 1000
Husk Omega: 1100
Tiny Husk: 700
E.D.A.R Trapper: 1100
E.D.A.R Blaster: 1200
E.D.A.R Bomber: 1100
Siren: 900
Siren Omega: 1000
Quarter Pound: 3000
Quarter Pound (Enraged): 4000
Scrake: 3000
Scrake Omega: 3500
Scrake Emperor: 4000
Tiny Scrake: 2500
Alpha Scrake: 4000
Fleshpound: 4000
Fleshpound (Enraged): 5000
Fleshpound Omega: 5000
Alpha Fleshpound: 3000
Alpha Fleshpound (Enraged): 4000
Dr. Hans Volter: 8000
Patriarch: 7000
King Fleshpound: 8000
Abomination: 8000
Abomination Spawn: 200
Matriarch: 10000
As the wave is simulated, a list is kept of all of the ZEDs that are currently "spawned". The maximum capacity of this list is directly influenced by the MaxMonsters setting. The higher the MaxMonsters is, the more ZEDs that can be alive at once. The sum of all ZEDs' Point values in the wave gives the TotalZEDScore.
The game's Difficulty factors into the calculation as well, since on higher difficulties, ZEDs both deal more damage and have more health. Some ZEDs, like the Husk, also have alternate attacks.
Normal: 0.00
Hard: 1.00
Suicidal: 2.00
Hell on Earth: 3.00
The ZEDDifficultyModifier is found through the formula:
ZEDDifficultyModifier = 1.00 + (0.50 x DifficultyMod)
So for example..
On a Hard difficulty match, the ZEDDifficultyModifier would be 1.00 + (0.50 x 1.00) = 1.50.
These two intermediate values come together to form the WaveCompositionModifier:
WaveCompositionModifier = TotalZEDScore x ZEDDifficultyModifier
As an example, the WaveCompositionModifier at an arbitrary point of a wave of a Suicidal match might be 156,000.00.
With the intermediate values calculated, we can now determine the DifficultyScore for the current Simulation iteration:
DifficultyScore = WaveSizeModifier x WaveDifficultyModifier x WaveCompositionModifier
Suppose WaveSizeModifier=1.09375, WaveDifficultyModifier=1.125, and WaveCompositionModifier=156,000.00. This would give:
DifficultyScore = 1.09375 x 1.125 x 156,000.00 = 191,953.125
There is a DifficultyScore cap of 750,000.00, so if this value were higher, it would be reduced to fit within that range.
Next, suppose the current iteration were 61/273 (61 ZEDs spawned so far / 273 ZEDs to spawn total).
This would imply that this DifficultyScore corresponds to WaveProgress = (61 / 273) x 100.0 = 22.3% through the wave.
This forms a pair (x, y) of (22.3, 191,953.125), which implies that DifficultyScore is mapped on the Y-axis while WaveProgress is mapped on the X-axis. This allows SpawnCycler to create the Estimated Difficulty Chart.
Note that this chart is also created for the entire SpawnCycle, using the average DifficultyScore of each wave.
Figure 2 - Estimated Difficulty Chart