More transparent mechanics

[ShadowRun]

Detection
At the moment my character has Perception 8 with a +1 goggles. I keep coming across goggles in shops with +40% detection. I don't know which one is better for detecting mines, Lurkers, hidden passageways, etc. Does it simply come down to looking at the Combat Stats page and comparing "Detection" while swapping gear? Or are there other things changing at the same time?

Shields
Energy shields have a lot of attributes. Capacity is self-explanatory, but Conversion is a bit mysterious, Dissipation makes sense, and the Shielding block baffled me until I found this explanation page. Is there any way of educating the player about this unobtrusively?

Armor penalty
This seems to reduce my Movement points. Does it affect anything else? How does the player know what it applies to?

Skills training qualifications
When asking the SGS trainers to teach a technique, it seems that it's the base number of skillpoints invested in the skill from levelups that matters; wearing a +8 headband and having oodles of synergy won't impress the tutors. Not such a big deal, but it did have me scratching my head why they were refusing to train me when my character sheet said my effective ability was sufficient.

Surprisingly, I can equip various firearms which have Strength and Skill requirements both of which I fail to meet. This might be a bug; it might be fixed in a patch; it might be more mechanics I haven't understood yet.

Items
From its description, it seems the Dog Crate can capture a number of small critters. I have frequently tried to use it to capture a Dog on multiple maps, first by netting it or incapacitating it, and the capture keeps failing. I'm hoping to have my very own Dogmeat, even if I have to carry him in a can. Am I missing something here? Or are Dog Crates programmed to be incapable of capturing eponymous Dogs? If so, please could the crate be renamed to Hopper Crate?

[player1]

Does it simply come down to looking at the Combat Stats page and comparing "Detection" while swapping gear?

Yes.

Armor penalty
This seems to reduce my Movement points. Does it affect anything else? How does the player know what it applies to?

Evasion, Dodge and Stealth are also affected. All this can be seen from the defense stats page.

[UnLimiTeD]

If you can't use an item by stats, it will effect the performance of that item, f.ex. accuracy, or heavy metal armour reducing your AP.
If you reduce perception to get a detection bonus, you will obviously suffer a hit on all stats connected to perception, primarily guns.

[player1]

The problem with wiki is that currently there is just too few people with access to it. Thus low contribution level and lack of up to date information compared to info from alpha version.

[Toast]

Detection
At the moment my character has Perception 8 with a +1 goggles. I keep coming across goggles in shops with +40% detection. I don't know which one is better for detecting mines, Lurkers, hidden passageways, etc. Does it simply come down to looking at the Combat Stats page and comparing "Detection" while swapping gear? Or are there other things changing at the same time?

Secrets (hidden passageways etc.) can only be found with the appropriate Perception score; Detection is not considered there. Everything else (stealthed enemies, traps, etc) is dependent on Detection. So you may wish to keep both types of goggles with you.

Items
From its description, it seems the Dog Crate can capture a number of small critters. I have frequently tried to use it to capture a Dog on multiple maps, first by netting it or incapacitating it, and the capture keeps failing. I'm hoping to have my very own Dogmeat, even if I have to carry him in a can. Am I missing something here? Or are Dog Crates programmed to be incapable of capturing eponymous Dogs? If so, please could the crate be renamed to Hopper Crate?

To the best of my knowledge, the crate can only be used to capture two things: Hoppers and a small critter you meet in Foundry. They do not appear to have any other use.

I think opening up the Wiki to allow more edits would indeed be a good idea. It is a great resource but still doesn't have everything it needs yet.

[ShadowRun]

Secrets (hidden passageways etc.) can only be found with the appropriate Perception score; Detection is not considered there. Everything else (stealthed enemies, traps, etc) is dependent on Detection.

Alright! See, this is the kind of mechanics opacity that leads to players wondering, "is it as simple as just..." and never being sure until enlightened by a more experienced player. While I'm all for building community this way, Tribal Knowledge means some people miss out on fun they've paid for and played for but not known how to engage.

To the best of my knowledge, the crate can only be used to capture two things: Hoppers and a small critter you meet in Foundry.

Aww so the misnomer got my false hopes up and wasted my time. Ah well, now I know. Again, misdirection made the possibilities unclear. In an exploration game, a certain degree of DIY investigation is expected, but in this case a misnomer detracts from fun rather than adding to it.

I think opening up the Wiki to allow more edits would indeed be a good idea. It is a great resource but still doesn't have everything it needs yet.

Indeed. And there are a number of typos just itching to be corrected. Maybe once a user has reached X postcount or Y applause they are automatically granted wiki write access? Dunno. Just an idea to keep spambots off the wiki.