Sphere42

Active Member
Sep 9, 2018
974
1,042
Ultimately it's not for you or me to decide what's needed in this game.
Thank you for the condecension but that was a literal statement not a design opinion. The game has other mechanics already implemented, therefore racial stats are not necessary to differentiate encounters.

They could also make races purely cosmetic to avoid all that pain in the ass, but that would definitely make the game a bit more boring.
If you scroll up a bit you'll see I had a different suggestion: standardise the budget but make the actual stat gains scale with e.g. level. A lvl1 "dragon" is a whelp barely capable of lighting your cigar, a lvl99 catgirl is an avatar of Lord Fluffles himself and can definitely brush you aside with a flick of the tail, even without enchanted gear. But if you want to be a fire kitty you still need to pick lion/sphinx or whatever just like a Coatl has no affinity for ice.

Sure they could just beef flat numbers but that would definitely be the boring solution, and the combat in this game is already pretty dull as is.
No, flat bonus damage literally does the exact same thing in the current combat mechanics as "ignoring shielding" would do. I suppose an attack could ignore a fraction of shielding (including all of it) but at present shielding already is a weaker stat especially on the player as you need to spread your defences while enemies RNG into synergising setups which bypass them.
 

tehlemon

Well-Known Member
Jan 26, 2021
1,224
1,564
This is so much discussion on whether specific transformations are OP while completely ignoring how broken the rest of the game is. It doesn't matter which transformation you pick if every transformation can one-shot every enemy in the game lol

Just play what's fun. The entire combat system needs to be gutted and replaced anyways.
 

Sphere42

Active Member
Sep 9, 2018
974
1,042
completely ignoring how broken the rest of the game is
Except for the part where I didn't ignore that? And the part where others said firebombs and guns are OP, because those definitely are racial traits right? Thing is we can address different parts individually to an extent, and having a solid foundation reduces future work in rebalancing everything again and again.
 

Astrolucidity

Newbie
Jan 10, 2019
67
79
is there a way to edit saves? for example adding health
There is, if you go into a save file with any text editor (I prefer notepad++), you can edit values. Although be aware that these saves record literally everything, including NPCs you've met, their likes, their gender, etc...
If you don't want the hassle of rummaging through code, the easier solution would be to type 'buggy' without quotes in any room, which will open the debug/cheat menu. Looking through it you can add/remove Physique, Arcane, edit your body, and much more that could help you boost your strength. Enchanting clothing / accessories / tattoos / weapons is also another way, although it takes a lot of essences.
 
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hotaruchan1

Newbie
Sep 7, 2018
83
80
I mean was the combat system ever remotely balanced? I just assumed it was a here something basic until I got around to putting in one not stupid. And then just never went back to it.
 

Exiua

Newbie
Dec 18, 2017
30
23
is there a way to edit saves? for example adding health
Aside from editing the save file yourself or using 'buggy' (debug menu), I have been working on a to help simplify editing save files. It's still a work in progress, so it can't completely replace editing the save file manually or using the debug menu.
 

Sphere42

Active Member
Sep 9, 2018
974
1,042
Sorry if this has been asked before (several times probably...) but how do you make an OVERWRITE mod? For example there's a set bonus status effect in "/res/statusEffects/sage/set_latlov.xml" but if I copy-paste that to "/res/mods/testmod/statusEffects/sage/set_latlov.xml" I get two status effects upon wearing the Latex set: the unchanged original one and my modded one on top of it. Instead I want to only apply my modded one, without editing or deleting the original version.
 

DSGMods

Newbie
Jan 26, 2018
29
43
Your third paragraph confuses me though, because stat totals are exactly what is wrong with these races. Mythologicals get between 200 and 300 stat points IIRC, some predators get over 50, some pets more like 5. Squirrels get a laughable ONE SINGLE stat point!

Enemies do need to get stronger over time, but that is what gear and levels are for. Increasing stats via races (without level scaling a homogenised budget) will lead to either railroading of player identity as every non-Yokai/dragon form becomes worthless or massive race bloat as every one of them gets mythological variants with higher stat tiers.

And currently the stat-strong races get good unique moves too. Or at least good for NPCs, alternate-loss immob is uncounterable but too slow to be worth using as the player.
How early races like dogs or domestic cats were balanced is unknown to me. They were implemented before my time. And yes, they all suffered from power creep. The new races that I added were scaled initially more conservatively, dragons had 80 or something like that, small mammals had 30 or 40, large predators matched hyenas, which served as the framework template, at ~50. There was some further discussion about lore congruence and whether or not races should be cosmetic only, and then I re-scaled everyone of my non-mythicals to ~50, and that has been the total ever since.

As far as mythicals go, they were scaled around alicorns and demons, and for that reason basically no dragons spawn right now much to the chagrin of many. Their breath weapon intentionally maxes out at less than what a level 50 player can do with Fireball, iirc with no specialization in fire spells. Eventually, dragon TF items will be locked behind several quests, similar to how becoming a demon is no longer so easy.

This comes down to how much a race should play into player builds, and I have not gotten much direction on that. It's also been more difficult to differentiate the races ever since miss chance was removed in the combat rework, basically turning "agile" races back towards conventional physique.

I personally gave up on trying to balance the gear I made with anything except an arbitrary linear progression as using player feedback is an honor system assuming no cheat guns, with enchantment caps on, no crazy mods, etc, and it's the same story with races. Hopefully once the 2D table is complete I can arrive at a more systematic conclusion regarding tier compression, or at least some numbers to fiddle with rather than gut feeling.
 
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Sphere42

Active Member
Sep 9, 2018
974
1,042
Their breath weapon intentionally maxes out at less than what a level 50 player can do with Fireball
Same as with other special attacks the main issue is the lack of scaling rather than the target power level. Some attacks deal flat damage, most use Unarmed damage which has solid progression, status effects are completely and utterly useless with their non-scaling -2 physical shielding and similar crap. As far as I can tell everything except status effects could easily use more advanced logic via pure XML as it has access to the caster NPC scope (to read out the level I hope).

It's also been more difficult to differentiate the races ever since miss chance was removed in the combat rework, basically turning "agile" races back towards conventional physique.
Well Action Points and Energy Shielding are grossly underused attributes for "agile" species. Small prey could also gain Critical Power via "keen senses"/"precise movement"/"sucker punch". Can status effects at least scale off host NPC properties without Java edits?
 

DSGMods

Newbie
Jan 26, 2018
29
43
Same as with other special attacks the main issue is the lack of scaling rather than the target power level. Some attacks deal flat damage, most use Unarmed damage which has solid progression, status effects are completely and utterly useless with their non-scaling -2 physical shielding and similar crap. As far as I can tell everything except status effects could easily use more advanced logic via pure XML as it has access to the caster NPC scope (to read out the level I hope).
Originally Breath Weapon scaled with the player's elemental proficiencies without limit, but this was immediately exploited. I then wanted it to follow a roughly natural log curve, but this is not so easy to do with basic arithmetic and there was an object context bug, so now there are placeholder values.

I can only speak to what I am responsible for, but I can raise these concerns when it is time to adjust.

Well Action Points and Energy Shielding are grossly underused attributes for "agile" species. Small prey could also gain Critical Power via "keen senses"/"precise movement"/"sucker punch". Can status effects at least scale off host NPC properties without Java edits?
The designer of the combat rework told me in no uncertain terms that additional AP should be given out basically never, and I would like to respect their wishes. I have proposed adding a substantial cost multiplier for AP on the calculation table, but thus far no number has been decided on.

What you can or cannot a status effect or race all depends on if it's legacy or not. If it was made after ~June 2019 for statuses or December 2020 for races, chances are good you can stay in XML.
 

DSGMods

Newbie
Jan 26, 2018
29
43
Sorry if this has been asked before (several times probably...) but how do you make an OVERWRITE mod? For example there's a set bonus status effect in "/res/statusEffects/sage/set_latlov.xml" but if I copy-paste that to "/res/mods/testmod/statusEffects/sage/set_latlov.xml" I get two status effects upon wearing the Latex set: the unchanged original one and my modded one on top of it. Instead I want to only apply my modded one, without editing or deleting the original version.
You will need to perform edits somewhere if you want to do this. Easiest way I can see is to change the file extension for the file in the /res/ directory. You will need to do this with every update.

Is this the same stat tool that's the reason why I can walk out of the mansion at the very start of the game, enter a tile next to it and then encounter a horse morph at 100+ hp who can hit for like 30 hp?
As I've said elsewhere, how the early races were balanced is not known to me. Point totals were a relatively recent, and admittedly arbitrary, way to try and create some kind of standard.
 

throbzombie

Well-Known Member
Oct 15, 2020
1,183
2,509
is there a way to edit saves? for example adding health
Your save is an .xml, so you can use an ordinary text like Notepad++, or Sublime if you wish. You can edit anything you want then because the game stores just about everything in the save file, including your party size limit and even what specific NPCs are wearing.
 

Harel

Newbie
Jun 19, 2018
63
119
Is there anyway in the xml or in 'buggy' to make it so an NPC or custom built npc to be attracted to the player? I got obedience and affection high, but it still says NCP is not attracted to you and I'm not able to perform the submissive acts.
If the problem is that character's gender attraction is incompatible with your gender, you can get the Hypno-Watch (through either playing the story-line, or buggy) and charge it with a gender preference, then you can beat them in combat and use the watch. I'm not certain how easily it can outside a combat win though.
 

Sphere42

Active Member
Sep 9, 2018
974
1,042
Originally Breath Weapon scaled with the player's elemental proficiencies without limit, but this was immediately exploited.
What do you mean "unlimited"? The damage stat is capped to 100 so something like "level * AP cost * bonus modifier" would naturally yield values similar to weapons and spells assuming the breath is also affected by 2 damage stats (if not just multiply them into the formula).
The designer of the combat rework told me in no uncertain terms that additional AP should be given out basically never, and I would like to respect their wishes.
Aquatic races have one, and Shadow/Silence gets it as a buff which is how I found out it's possible. I am well aware that messing with AP can break a lot of things but it's already being done so there needs to be a more detailed response than "please don't". (Not saying that's your responsibility mind you!)
You will need to perform edits somewhere if you want to do this.
Oh great, that means overwriting Java content is impossible I guess? So much for taking my own shot at rebalancing after complaining so much :(
 
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