13 replies to this topic

[Firebreathing]

How does cooldown reduction work?

 

Say I'm a Nemesis with Master Lift, the Human Sentinel achievement, two Medical Exo X armor mods, and a Savant X biotic amp. 

 

Passive: 26% CDR

Armor: 46% CDR

Bio amp: 40% CDR

Achievement: 10% CDR

 

for a total of 122% CDR, but I don't actually have a cooldown of 0 on my abilities, so how does it work?

 

Additionally, does progress towards squad member achievements carry over through playthroughs? If so, do they have to be unique assignments?

[Vazgen]

There may be a cap on cooldown reduction. I did a similar test with tech abilities, having two Medical Exo X, Operative maxed, AI Hacking maxed, Nexus X omni-tool and Sabotage/Overload/Damping cooldown took about 5-6 seconds each. Based on that I'd say that the cap is around 85%

[MegaIllusiveMan]

Completed assignments do not count over multiple playthroughs for the Ally Achievements... So you'll need to do two in each playthrough...

 

Here is a list to help you with those Squadmate Achievements:

 

http://masseffect.wi...hievement_Guide

[Vazgen]

Actually, come to think of it, it may work similarly to ME3 as a power recharge bonus. In ME3 you can get it up to 200%, in ME1 you stop somewhere between 150 and 160.

[seacrest3000]

Since we are on the topic of ally achievements, is the assignment considered completed only if a good outcome is achieved, like for example if I convince Conrad Verner to go home, or anytime the mission is greyed out, like if I get Conrad killed instead due to lack of morality points?

[Vazgen]

Since we are on the topic of ally achievements, is the assignment considered completed only if a good outcome is achieved, like for example if I convince Conrad Verner to go home, or anytime the mission is greyed out, like if I get Conrad killed instead due to lack of morality points?

I think the second. My memory is a little sketchy but I don't think you can actually fail any assignment in Mass Effect. Even the worst possible result is still considered a result

[RedCaesar97]

How does cooldown reduction work?

 

Say I'm a Nemesis with Master Lift, the Human Sentinel achievement, two Medical Exo X armor mods, and a Savant X biotic amp. 

 

Passive: 26% CDR

Armor: 46% CDR

Bio amp: 40% CDR

Achievement: 10% CDR

 

for a total of 122% CDR, but I don't actually have a cooldown of 0 on my abilities, so how does it work?

 

Additionally, does progress towards squad member achievements carry over through playthroughs? If so, do they have to be unique assignments?

 

I do not know exactly how the cooldown bonuses work, but I think that they work the same way as damage reduction does (see Weapon and armor calculations by The Grey Ranger). At least that is how I think The Grey Ranger felt that they worked.

 

But basically, you have the base stat (say 40s from Master Lift). You can get cooldown reductions from your passive, armor (mods), and Omni Tool.

I'm not entirely sure what the exact order is, but let's say they are all 20%

 

So 40 - 20% = 4- - 8 = 32s.

Then 32 - 20% = 32 - 6.4 = 25.6s

then 25.6 - 20% = 25.6 - 5.12 = 20.48 seconds

 

But this is just a theory.

 

The order may be important. So you have:

Passive: 26% CDR

Armor: 46% CDR

Bio amp: 40% CDR

Achievement: 10% CDR

 

So let's take 40s (Master Lift) as an example and see what we can get:

 

((((40 - passive) - bio amp) - armor) - achievement)

= ((((40 - 26%) - 40%) - 46%) - 10%)

= ((((40 - 10.4) - 40%) - 46%) - 10%)

= (((29.6 - 40%) - 46%) - 10%)

= (((29.6 - 11.84) - 46%) - 10%)

= ((17.76 - 46%) -10%)

= ((17.76 - 8.1696) - 10%)

= 9.5904 - 10%

= 9.5904 - 0.95904

= 8.63136

 

Again, this is just a theory. But let's switch the order around to see what we get:

 

((((40 - achievement) - passive) - bio amp) - armor)

= ((((40 - 10%) - 26%) - 40%) - 46%)

= 8.63136

 

So apparently that comes out to the same value. Okay. I would actually have to see in-game if Master Lift cooldown is actually around 8-9 seconds though.

 

 

 

And to answer your last two questions, achievements carry over across playthroughs. Once you have an achievement unlocked, it applies to all Shepards.

 

Since we are on the topic of ally achievements, is the assignment considered completed only if a good outcome is achieved, like for example if I convince Conrad Verner to go home, or anytime the mission is greyed out, like if I get Conrad killed instead due to lack of morality points?

 

An assignment is considered complete once any outcome is achieved. Using Conrad Verner as an example, the assignment is considered complete whether you convince him to leave you alone (Charm/Intimidate) or if you just tell him to leave at which point he just goes off and gets himself killed. as another example, Major Kyle can be completed if you convince him to stand down (Charm/Intimidate) then allow him to speak to his followers so they disband peacefully, or if you kill him/all the biotics.

[Vazgen]

[RedCaesar97]

Video showing Engineer cooldown.

So you cast Sabotage at 0:40 (that was the first tech power you cast and it became available again at 0:46 or 0:47 (I do not know what the exact times are). So you had a 6-7 second cooldown on Sabotage.
 
Sources of cooldown:
Armor: +46% (two medical exoskeleton Xs)
Omni Tool: 50%
AI Hacking: 30%
Passive: 28%

Also, assuming you have Quarian Ally achievement for an additional +10% cooldown bonus for Sabotage

 

So assuming the formula I gave is close to being accurate:

(((((40 - 46%) - 50%) - 30%) - 28%) - 10%) = 4.89s

 

Hmmmm...

[Vazgen]

So you cast Sabotage at 0:40 (that was the first tech power you cast and it became available again at 0:46 or 0:47 (I do not know what the exact times are). So you had a 6-7 second cooldown on Sabotage.
 
Sources of cooldown:
Armor: +46% (two medical exoskeleton Xs)
Omni Tool: 50%
AI Hacking: 30%
Passive: 28%

Also, assuming you have Quarian Ally achievement for an additional +10% cooldown bonus for Sabotage

 

So assuming the formula I gave is close to being accurate:

(((((40 - 46%) - 50%) - 30%) - 28%) - 10%) = 4.89s

 

Hmmmm...

I think there is cooldown reduction cap there. Somewhere around 85%. 

[RedCaesar97]

In Mass Effect 3, the formula for power recharge speeds (assuming a positive cooldown bonus) is:

.

Base value / (1 + Total Bonus) = Final Value

 

 

Maybe they re-used the Mass Effect 1 formula for Mass Effect 3?

 

So for Vazgen's Engineer example:

 

40 / (1 + 0.46 + 0.5 + 0.3 + 0.28 + 0.1)

= 40 / (2.64)

= 15.15

 

NOPE.

[Vazgen]

Too bad there is no way to push it further to test if there is actually a cap for cooldown reduction. I believe there is, it seems the only logical conclusion to this. 85% cap will stop cooldown at 6 seconds

[RedCaesar97]

Too bad there is no way to push it further to test if there is actually a cap for cooldown reduction. I believe there is, it seems the only logical conclusion to this. 85% cap will stop cooldown at 6 seconds

 

I do not think there is a cap. Either the formula is slightly different from what we expect, or something is not working as intended. (If you leave the bonus from AI Hacking out of the original equation I did, then the cooldown is 6.9984 seconds. But I think AI Hacking actually does decrease cooldown if I recall from "feel". But who knows.)

[Vazgen]

I do not think there is a cap. Either the formula is slightly different from what we expect, or something is not working as intended. (If you leave the bonus from AI Hacking out of the original equation I did, then the cooldown is 6.9984 seconds. But I think AI Hacking actually does decrease cooldown if I recall from "feel". But who knows.)

AI Hacking certainly decreases cooldown. I have an Infiltrator character with the same setup and his powers take longer to recharge. If I were to remove something I'd remove the Quarian Ally and Operative bonuses.

Have the Operative at 14% (before picking specialization) and remove 10% and you'll end with 6.5 seconds