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Daemonjax

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Posts posted by Daemonjax

  1.  

    Cool, let us hear how Act II goes when you get there.

     

     

    Just completed Act I (completionist style) on hard, modded with +50% exp per level requirement:

     

    Main character has 10380 experience.  I'd need 15000 exp for 5th level.  

     

    So, currently, I'm one level behind where I'd normally be.  That'll be 2 levels behind when I reach level 10 (would normally be 12).  On hard I'd normally just rush through to pick up all the companions early, ignoring all side quests, but I didn't do that this playthrough because it felt wrong trying to clear caed nua at level 2.   I needed to save/reload too much for my liking (the fight in the great hall required some luck and I only won 1/3 of the time).  Normally I'd hit level 3 in the courtyard, even without sidequests, which made caed nua a breeze.

     

    So far, I'd say it's a better game modded this way.

    • Like 2
  2. My two cents:

     

    Cyphers should get back half focus only after a rest -- otherwise, one of the two rules would apply:

    * Their focus only regenerates when they do damage -- no automatic reset to 50%. In exchange, the cap on the amount of focus they could maintain after combat would be eliminated.

    * Their focus would be capped at 50% when out of combat (same as it is today), but would not be /reset/ to that level if it was less.

     

    The first is obviously more favorable to the cypher, but both have the desired effect of discouraging cypher spell use in routine combat encounters.

     

    On the other hand, I'm not certain what the problem is if the cypher uses his abilities in encounters that the party would likely win /anyway/, but if this is a problem that needs to be addressed then one of the two above solutions would seem to be the way to go.

     

    Forcing the cypher to start with zero focus, on the other hand, turn the class into an inferior copy of the chanter, and that' doesn't seem like a good idea to me.

     

    Either of those changes would create an incentive to artificially extend combat in order to power-up your cipher for the next battle.

     

    While that may sound interesting at first, it would become very annoying in practice.

    • Like 2
  3.  

    It is curious how the devs chose certain lines of text match up reputations like Passionate or Clever.

    It always is curious to see how the devs thought the line should be read or understood. It can be hit or miss, although I've understood the reasoning behind everything I've seen so far. I like the fact that we have actual dialogue instead of a wheel or something that doesn't even write out the lines.

     

     

    I looked into that the other day, and all of that is totally moddable.

     

    We can even change the whole might thing to provide different options depending on the class (high might on wizard class?  You force choke them like darth vader.  High might on cipher class?  You peer into their soul and intimidate them with knowledge.  etc.)

  4. Was in the same boat as a lot of people re: Moon Godlike portraits, so I recolored a couple of images.  Not real sure "Blue and Glowy" makes it a strong contender for Moon Godlike, but the one Moon Godlike female provided was a little too kind looking for me and I was tired of using the hooded pale elf.  So in case someone else wants them:

     

    6ZL8OI4.png

     

     

    That's surprisingly decent.  I prefer it to what we got.  I'd probably recolor the background area, but I can do that myself.

  5. Is there some way to fast forward until morning / noon / evening? I don't really want to explore these lovely maps in pitch darkness unless there's a good reason to do so, but I seem to be stuck in a cycle of waking up from a rest or walking out of a dungeon to find it's nighttime.

     

    Yes.

     

    There's a console command:

     

    AdvanceTimeByHour int

     

    http://rien-ici.com/iemod/console

     

    I don't know if it requires IE mod or not.

    • Like 1
  6. Starting with zero would just mean that they need to fire a pistol or blunderbuss to start. 

     

    You'd pretty much be forced into using multple blunderbusses.  Right now doing that is at least optional.

     

    Chanters are pretty weak unless you're running away to cheese the timer (which, coincidentally, seems to be the tactic their class feature is build around).

     

    Monk's wound system is pretty terrible.  I wouldn't wish that design on any class.

    • Like 2
  7. If they started with 0 focus they'd be a garbage teir class.

     

    Imagine what monks would be like if they started with 0... oh wait.

     

     

    Or on the Cipher side, just need to tone down the OP Mental Binding, and do not allow the blunderbuss to give ciphers so much focus.

     

     

    Agreed.  Mental Binding should be level 3, and tenuous grasp should be level 2.  The blunderbuss just wreaks havoc with the game system because it's multi-hit and so interacts in weird ways with some abilities/talents.  

     

    I think the above can be fixed with mods, though.

    • Like 2
  8. the ie mod has/had more than a few quirks when attempting to respec.  personally, we don't care about achievements, but we have trust issues with mods and the ie mod has fed our distrust.

     

    HA! Good Fun!

     

    At first I was leery with using that feature as well, but since I started using it I encountered no problems (the remove/add abilities/talents commands, not the relevel command).

     

    @Epsilon Rose: It was a rhetorical question. 

  9. I don't remember which game this was (I think it was an RTS actually), but there were 3 options for your characters in terms of movement: 1. Stand where you are no matter what, 2. allowed to move short distance, but always return to your post once moved, and 3. chase enemies and move freely. A system like this for different party styles and encounters could be really useful. I would love it if my party did do auto-attacks, but did not chase enemies into my wall of fire O_o

     

    I played it.  Dawn of War 2.  That whole franchise is grade A in the RTS genre.

  10. Thanks for a lot of good input. I wish there was more of consensus about how the POTD stats are actually inflated though (one guy says +15accuray/defence and the other says +50% which are not only huge differences but also completely different scaling). I understand that the information might not be easily available though so it's not like I'm complaining :)

     

    I think I am leaning to stick with my game on hard - not because I don't think I could handle POTD, but because I think that risks the game turning "more annoying" rather than "harder". Kind of wish there was a middle-ground with POTD number of enemies but not inflated stats (or just a very slight boost and/or a decent amount more endurance for enemies so they take more punishment). If it's true that some enemies get as much as +50% stats increases that I'm sure would just make it so that abilities aren't really reliable anymore - and that just makes for too random combat and frustration. I don't want to have to cast some spell 3 times over to make it stick.

     

    If things get a bit on the easy side on hard I guess I can just make my own fun by having more opportunities to experiment with abilities and spells that aren't strictly optimal. Too optimized usually results in very narrow rinse&repeat strategies.

     

    Again, thanks for the feedback so far :)

    -Stigma

     

    Yeah, I'd wait for player created mods that re-tune difficulty for more added challenge.  

     

    In a difficulty mod, I'd be looking for:

     

    • Party experience reduction (which I mod in myself now @ -33%)
    • Spell immunities (don't know if we could do this exactly, but we should be able to do something similar)
    • Increased cost of resting in towns (you really shouldn't be able to sleep for free at any inn. 75 gold minimum.)
    • Remove camping supplies from all stores (they should be limited resources, right now they just have the illusion of being limited.  Either that or prevent shop keepers from restocking them -- ever)
    • Monsters respawn on dungeon levels that you don't fully clear if you leave the dungeon and x amount of time passes (this would be difficult to do intelligently.  And it will probably not be possible without the game engine being upgraded to Unity 5.0 due to the availability of the free personal edition)

     

    Hard is cooler than normal because it adds more and varied enemies. 

    Potd doesn't actually bring anything new to the table for me -- just inflated numbers.

  11. The transition from per-rest to per-encounter usage of spells is probably too sharp.  In other words, one level all of your spells of a certain level are restricted per-rest, and then the next level they are suddenly all per-encounter.  There wouldn't be such a dramatic jump in caster power level if the transition was more gradual.  After all, when you first gain the abilities to cast spells of a certain level you don't also gain the ability to cast four of them per-rest at the same time.

     

    Here's an example of what I mean:

    Current Wizard Spell Progression           Modified Wizard Spell Progression
             Spell uses per Spell Level                 Spell uses per Spell Level
    Level    1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th           Level    1st       2nd       3rd       4th 5th 6th
     1       2/r  -   -   -   -   -             1       2/r        -         -         -   -   -
     2       3/r  -   -   -   -   -             2       3/r        -         -         -   -   -
     3       4/r 2/r  -   -   -   -             3       4/r       2/r        -         -   -   -
     4       4/r 3/r  -   -   -   -             4       4/r       3/r        -         -   -   -
     5       4/r 4/r 2/r  -   -   -             5       4/r       4/r       2/r        -   -   -
     6       4/r 4/r 3/r  -   -   -             6       4/r       4/r       3/r        -   -   -
     7       4/r 4/r 4/r 2/r  -   -             7       1/e + 3/r 4/r       4/r       2/r  -   -
     8       4/r 4/r 4/r 3/r  -   -             8       2/e + 2/r 4/r       4/r       3/r  -   -
     9       4/e 4/r 4/r 4/r 2/r  -             9       3/e + 1/r 1/e + 3/r 4/r       4/r 2/r  -
    10       4/e 4/r 4/r 4/r 3/r  -            10       4/e       2/e + 2/r 4/r       4/r 3/r  -
    11       4/e 4/e 4/r 4/r 4/r 2/r           11       4/e       3/e + 1/r 1/e + 3/r 4/r 4/r 2/r
    12       4/e 4/e 4/r 4/r 4/r 3/r           12       4/e       4/e       2/e + 2/r 4/r 4/r 3/r
    

    The idea would be that just as you are gradually introduced to casting spells of a certain level, the ability to cast spells of that level per-encounter would develop over the course of several levels.  In my example I chose to start the transition 6 levels after the ability to cast spells of that level was first acquired, but exactly when it starts is not as important as the gradual nature of the transition.

     

    This would introduce an added layer of complexity for spell casters, who would need to be able to understand from the UI how many spells of each level can be cast per-encounter, and whether casting a spell of a certain level is going to count against their per-rest limit.  There is a potential for confusion, but I don't think that it is beyond the limits of the UI, and I expect that the average player will be able to come to an understanding of how the system works with a reasonable amount of experience.

     

    This.  Just for the wizard, though.  I've said it multiple times so I can't agree more -- except I'd have the spells per encounter progression start at level 2, and you have to pick which single spell every other level became once per encounter.  

     

    Every even level you can pick one 1st to 2nd level spell you know, and that becomes a once per encounter ability -- so at level 12, you'd have 6 different spells that are per encounter.

     

    That would be a lot closer to new D&D edition cantrips.  Either that or design a whole cantrip section of spells.

  12. I've read that the Grimrock series of games plays a lot like the Eye of the Beholder games -- which are surprisingly very playable to this day in dosbox, there are even mods for them!  Eye of the Beholder 1 has a lot of charm.  Eye of the Beholder 2 is technically better, but has less charm (imo).  There's a mod that fixes some of the engine issues with EOB 3, but I never got that far in the series. I never played the Grimrock series.

  13.  

    Do I have a weak build or all the wrong spells? I recall in BG2, it was very important to select the right spells from the beginning...

     

    You find spellbooks during the game and you can hire mercs and use their spellbooks as well, so I wouldn't worry about choosing the right spells on your first playthrough -- although some are more useful than others.

  14.  

     

     

    Attack_Time = ( ( Attack_Frames(Weapon_Loop) + Recovery_Frames(Weapon_Loop) * ( 1 - Attack_Speed_Mod ) + Reload_Frames(Weapon_Loop) * (1 - Reload_Speed_Mod) + 10 ) / (1 + Dexterity*0.03 ) )/30;

     

    Anyone else can make some input?

     

     

    It's hard to nail down the numbers for attack_frames and recovery_frames due to the animation transition delays.  At least some different attack animations (many weapons have two, one of which is randomly chosen each swing) also have different timings.

     

    I would use total attack time instead (attack_frame + recovery_frames + attack_delay + recovery_delay).  If you do that, then:

     

    1 + ((Dexterity - 10) * 0.0225) would be closer to what we observe in the game.

     

     

    Not sure if the attack speed mod should just be added to the dexterity mod or not, but I'd be a little surprised if it didn't seem to work this way in practice:

     

    1 + ((Dexterity - 10) * 0.0225) + (0.75 * attackSpeedIncrease)

     

     

    I don't know if there's a reload_delay.

     

    Note: 2.25 / 3 = .75

     

    I've grown bored with trying to nail down the dps formula exactly.  The mechanics are too opaque and my free time is too valuable to me. ;)

  15. If you ask me? Might should be multiplicative with all damage

     

     

    Yeah, that would bring might in line with dex if it was 2.25% per point of might instead of 3%.

     

    You make some really good points how the existing combat system just breaks down at higher levels (where everyone has at least 100 accuracy).  They'll need to redesign a lot of stuff to make it work well.

     

    At the very least there needs to be a distinction between the keywords for increased damage (additive) and more damage (multiplicative) -- like in POE (Path of Exile).

     

    D&D 5th edition has a much more compressed progression (level 20 characters get a +6 to hit), which works really well in practice.

     

    off-topic: I'd really prefer that just had unique attributes (some classes would have a strength stat, but others wouldn't, etc.) for each class in pillars 2.  I know, I know... it sounds crazy.

    • Like 1
  16.  

    Well it's very easy to compute isn't it ?

     

    ...

     

    24 vs 21 might is a 9% difference in damage dealt.

     

     

     

    Math can be more complicated than it seems at first glance.

     

    +3 might is 9% additional damage only for characters that have a natural 10 strength and  have no other damage modifiers (sneak attacks, weapon masteries, weapon enchantments, etc.).

     

    I'd put those +3 might gloves on a spellcaster with the lowest might (or maybe a moon godlike), and the +10% crit multiplier (.5 crit damage modifier becomes a .6 which is pretty insignificant considering every other damage modifier that character has) on whoever has the highest accuracy and no other gloves to wear.

    • Like 1
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