Settum

Active Member
Jan 10, 2019
986
892
Is that a problem you're regularly having? Because that's not a problem you should be having lol
Check the screenshot of someone with 3 injuries in the party asking about healing a few posts back; I've personally done achievement challenges with solo druid and Crea and perma deaths too many times, that doesn't mean new players don't have it hard when learning the game.
 

clockwinding

Member
Nov 10, 2019
388
154
oh man i had a combat starter tutorial made with screenshots and stuff posted here, but it's buried on whatever page now. Too bad, it should still be relevant.
the tl;dr is: equip weapons and armor before trying your hand at fighting. early game each point of stats is super powerful because your base values are so low.

the why of the tl;dr is: that +1 armor/+5 hp from leather armor, and that +2 STR from a sword or +1STR/+4HP from gauntlets WILL have you crush the enemy team in early fights. It's easy to chain arena fights to train yourself because your team is healed in between each, or to bob in and out of a cheap portal. you have time to learn the mechanics of fights pretty safely.
That stat advantage, combined with player playing first in fights, should make it so early fights are 95% not suicide missions as long as you don't go wander in a 3+ hostility portal, or take fights in unfavorable terrain (looking at you, water noobkiller!).
 
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BlazeWizard

Newbie
Oct 5, 2018
33
21
combat is really focused on action economy.

I suggest a healer, a seducer, and a melee type at minimum, with a nuker if you can swing it.

Melee is meant to get next to enemies to engage them (typically reduces their AP gen to 1 per turn, keeps them from moving and attacking). Centaurs, Beastgirls, and Lizardgirls make for good melee types with minimal investment. Centaurs can natively deal more damage when charging into the enemy, but Beasts have more movement flexibiliy and can jump (for some stamina) and reposition for 0 ap. Lizardgirls are tankier but they tend to have a slower movement speed outside of water than the other two. They have poison which is alright but not something I would rely upon.

The healer tries to stay disengaged, and keeping people up, in cases where nobody really needs healing you can drop some extra seduces). I'd go to Lymean first for healing then maybe Plantgirls. Lymean have deep mana pools (typically) and their healing is not reliant on terrain conditions. Plantgirls healing requires water tiles, and their rejuvinate is kind of weak early game (its %hp based), but they can get access to other plants (for locking down enemies) and poison which is useful chip damage.

The seducer's job is to try and push enemies over 50% lust. This makes enemies deal 50% damage and take 150% damage in return. Pushing an enemy to 100% lust means cannot do anything until they've cleared their lust. With masturbation requiring 2 ap, it usually means you get one free turn to do whatever if you have them engaged. This makes eliminations easier and reduces incoming damage. Some enemies, like centaurs have the bad anatomy trait, which means pushing them to 100% lust effectively shuts them down. Keep your seducer disengaged if possible so they can seduce twice a turn. Succubus are pretty much the poster child for seduction and are built for it. But dont forget that your other gals can seduce as well if they have free ap.

Nukers are typically magic types and the easiest to get is the Lavagirl. Its simple, she targets weak or weakened enemies and eliminates them. Bear in mind type weaknesses as she will wreck plantgirls and do subpar damage vs mermaids. The biggest hurdle that nukers run into is often their mana pool which they will drain with a quickness.

Combat wise, you can select an enemy and see their movement radius. If you position a character just slightly beyond that (not on its border) the enemy will, typically, have to take two actions to move to you. this is good for when the enemy is on one end of the map and you are on the other. You can set up a situation where they close the gap without hurting you and are not defending at turns end allowing you to clobber them.

If the enemy has clustered and you can engage them all by moving a suitably tanky character next to them, you can have that character defend rather than smack an enemy. This means you take 50% incoming damage (which can mitigate a fair amount) but you have also denied them 1 action per enemy engaged and they can either chose to smack your character (for reduced damage) or move and do nothing else.
 

0nymous

Active Member
Nov 16, 2016
899
1,971
I understand the tactics and combat of the game relatively well, it's just that there's so many enemies early game that it's INCREDIBLY tedious to get through so many fights before you get to the level where you can actually shitstomp them.
And at that point tactics are mostly needless because... you can just shitstomp anything.

So yeah, I would say my biggest gripe in PoP is the difficulty curve that goes the wrong way - the game just turns easier in easier after an extremely rough start.
There are exceptions like the boss fights of course.
 

dhannywest

Newbie
Apr 11, 2022
20
9
It's a lazy answer to the difficulty of early game combat, but recruiting Aila early to carry combats while your spirits and starters absorb experience is the most reliable method I've found. Especially with already wanting to romance her for free training. When you have your intended team for combat Aila becomes a very profitable member of the brothel squad.

Within the first 10 days your scaling of non-uniques isn't going to be amazing, in levels or stats. Not sure how you get over that hump outside of solid uniques and town NPCs carrying spirits you are leveling to 20 to fuse with whatever species you want for endgame.
 

Altruant

Member
Feb 20, 2021
156
40
My answer for the first 10 days in game would always be powerleveling like crazy with EXP stacking traits. It is amazing with Seedlings/Spirit because of their trait Evolving stacking with Intelligent and Fused. I have a post in here detailing how it is possible to get a max level Seedling team within 10 days (4 days with 4 favors). Evolving trait give *2 EXP gain, stacking on Intelligent gives it another *1.5 EXP gain and it being a result of Fusion gives it another *1.5 EXP gain to stack on top of it. So a fused Seedling or Spirit with intelligent gain *5 or so amount of EXP gain. With that level 20 team there are few things you can't do in the early games, well until you breed your AOE spam team
 

0nymous

Active Member
Nov 16, 2016
899
1,971
Sorry for double posting, but I'm not gonna edit a post from a week ago when I have something new to say.

It would seem Syvaron accidentally (I don't think he'd leave it in on purpose) omitted an extremely easy exploit with Free Play and NG+. Once you end the game via the standard final mission and jump into NG+, all three of the final missions are IMMEDIATELY available to you, so you can technically beat the game AGAIN almost instantly (it counts as a full clear).
I thought that Free Play would bump the necessity of world level for campaign portals by 5 with each NG+, but nope, it seems to be hard set to 10-15-20, which allows for the above.
Why is this an exploit? Because achievements reset on NG+. So you can beat the final mission on endgame overpowered status, jump into NG+ and immediately clear the final mission and get achievements such as Pure, Protector, Undying, NoUpgrades, Reliable, LoneWolf, (depending on how strong your MC is) with no virtual risk, and maybe get all the boss achievements really easily on the side as well.

However, I still personally think Free Play is a great addition to the game overall, because I always disliked the feeling of the time limit pressure. I like to experiment and fuck around on the side a lot instead of just focusing on beating the game.
I also can't believe the "Easy" modifier can be picked for virtually no drawbacks. DOUBLING your MC's stamina regen is absolutely insanely strong.
 

tehlemon

Well-Known Member
Jan 26, 2021
1,224
1,556
Sorry for double posting, but I'm not gonna edit a post from a week ago when I have something new to say.

It would seem Syvaron accidentally (I don't think he'd leave it in on purpose) omitted an extremely easy exploit with Free Play and NG+. Once you end the game via the standard final mission and jump into NG+, all three of the final missions are IMMEDIATELY available to you, so you can technically beat the game AGAIN almost instantly (it counts as a full clear).
I thought that Free Play would bump the necessity of world level for campaign portals by 5 with each NG+, but nope, it seems to be hard set to 10-15-20, which allows for the above.
Why is this an exploit? Because achievements reset on NG+. So you can beat the final mission on endgame overpowered status, jump into NG+ and immediately clear the final mission and get achievements such as Pure, Protector, Undying, NoUpgrades, Reliable, LoneWolf, (depending on how strong your MC is) with no virtual risk, and maybe get all the boss achievements really easily on the side as well.

However, I still personally think Free Play is a great addition to the game overall, because I always disliked the feeling of the time limit pressure. I like to experiment and fuck around on the side a lot instead of just focusing on beating the game.
I also can't believe the "Easy" modifier can be picked for virtually no drawbacks. DOUBLING your MC's stamina regen is absolutely insanely strong.
This is the first time I've heard about that bug. I don't think I've seen it here or on discord. Probably just fell through the cracks.

Syv said there should be a new update in the next couple weeks, so it may be getting fixed soon. Assuming it was reported on discord, of course. If it doesn't, I'm absolutely using that to cheese those tedious challenges on my new save file reset lol
 
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tehlemon

Well-Known Member
Jan 26, 2021
1,224
1,556
Sorry for double posting, but I'm not gonna edit a post from a week ago when I have something new to say.

It would seem Syvaron accidentally (I don't think he'd leave it in on purpose) omitted an extremely easy exploit with Free Play and NG+. Once you end the game via the standard final mission and jump into NG+, all three of the final missions are IMMEDIATELY available to you, so you can technically beat the game AGAIN almost instantly (it counts as a full clear).
I thought that Free Play would bump the necessity of world level for campaign portals by 5 with each NG+, but nope, it seems to be hard set to 10-15-20, which allows for the above.
Why is this an exploit? Because achievements reset on NG+. So you can beat the final mission on endgame overpowered status, jump into NG+ and immediately clear the final mission and get achievements such as Pure, Protector, Undying, NoUpgrades, Reliable, LoneWolf, (depending on how strong your MC is) with no virtual risk, and maybe get all the boss achievements really easily on the side as well.

However, I still personally think Free Play is a great addition to the game overall, because I always disliked the feeling of the time limit pressure. I like to experiment and fuck around on the side a lot instead of just focusing on beating the game.
I also can't believe the "Easy" modifier can be picked for virtually no drawbacks. DOUBLING your MC's stamina regen is absolutely insanely strong.
Okay, I just went to try it and see if I could figure out how it works, but I wasn't able to reproduce that glitch using any of the saves I had right before the final mission.

How exactly did you make that work?
 

0nymous

Active Member
Nov 16, 2016
899
1,971
Okay, I just went to try it and see if I could figure out how it works, but I wasn't able to reproduce that glitch using any of the saves I had right before the final mission.

How exactly did you make that work?
Not sure what to tell you. Are you sure these saves are on Free Play? Because that's the only one where final mission is "spawned" through the menu based on your world level instead of being on a specific-day timer.
Here's a screenshot of me freshly starting NG+ with the final mission option is immediately available.
You can see that it's day 0 and world level 24. If there's some other necessary triggers to do it, I can't really tell what they might be.
Untitled.jpg

Also, I wouldn't call it a "glitch", I think the base feature is working as intended - the mission portals can be created on WL 10, 15 and 20 respectively.
I think Syvaron simply forgot about balancing this mechanic to NG+, which usually resets main mission progress by resetting the day timer, which doesn't apply for Free Play. So if anything it's just an exploit (that I accidentally abused myself).
 
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Settum

Active Member
Jan 10, 2019
986
892
Is companion bugged? They never have mana.
That's probably as intended. It's a new one that spawns only during battles. One way to have the spirit companion gain mana is by transferring it to them, for that, Druid's Mana Battery Seedling is the obvious choice.
 

needlust

New Member
Jan 5, 2022
4
1
That's probably as intended. It's a new one that spawns only during battles. One way to have the spirit companion gain mana is by transferring it to them, for that, Druid's Mana Battery Seedling is the obvious choice.
But doesn't that in itself defeat the point of it? you're using a slot for the mana battery that could be used on something offensive.. If it's not bugged it's kind of garbo.
 

Settum

Active Member
Jan 10, 2019
986
892
But doesn't that in itself defeat the point of it? you're using a slot for the mana battery that could be used on something offensive.. If it's not bugged it's kind of garbo.
Well, you can also use it for your other party members or for enemies you recruit, but I agree that mana/ability dependent spirits are less useful than the martial types. They are still good for spreading terrain type and tanking damage and at companion 3 allows you to potentially have two top tier spirits, one of whose level is dependent on your magic power, thus can easily exceed the normal limits.
 

needlust

New Member
Jan 5, 2022
4
1
Well, you can also use it for your other party members or for enemies you recruit, but I agree that mana/ability dependent spirits are less useful than the martial types. They are still good for spreading terrain type and tanking damage and at companion 3 allows you to potentially have two top tier spirits, one of whose level is dependent on your magic power, thus can easily exceed the normal limits.

I think I'm just still bad at this game. Honestly with druid in particular I have no idea what points to go for first, companion seemed decent only to be wholly disappointing.

Even Evolution is confusing.. The most interesting bits of the skill trees not applying to chimera form, and specific "forms" being best.. when picking and choosing parts for chimera form is the most interesting thing about it.

It's honestly a shame it's a porn game.. If it weren't i'm sure there'd be better guides out there for it.
 

Settum

Active Member
Jan 10, 2019
986
892
I think I'm just still bad at this game. Honestly with druid in particular I have no idea what points to go for first, companion seemed decent only to be wholly disappointing.

Even Evolution is confusing.. The most interesting bits of the skill trees not applying to chimera form, and specific "forms" being best.. when picking and choosing parts for chimera form is the most interesting thing about it.

It's honestly a shame it's a porn game.. If it weren't i'm sure there'd be better guides out there for it.
You need to keep in mind this is a game with porn rather than a porn game. The sex mechanics can often be completely ignored though they are one of the three stats you "attack" opponents with.

I'd honestly suggest to try and start with the 4th MC since her mechanics are both simple and will teach you how most of the monstergirls level up and are used in combat.

I honestly haven't done much exploring with Evo's body parts and those forms, well, at least not in the past year, so can't help you with that. Crea will definitely be more similar to Oriel with added spawning and tentacle powers.

Druid is very straightforward and allows you to level up a party to level 20 six times to get all the skills and bonuses. (with the help of potions or starting skill point buffs)
Generally, the seedlings become strong when you get to their final form but aren't bad after their first evolution either. This game does have a bit of a steep difficulty curve early on, but does keep the charm of the 90s tactical games.
 

dhannywest

Newbie
Apr 11, 2022
20
9
An extra body on the field whose life you don't care about is very handy. The lack of mana in those spawned spirits does limit their potency significantly but when dealing with endgame compositions you can't completely destroy turn 1 having an ablative body to take big hits instead of your teammates saves a lotta wounds.

Breeding is your general path to growth, but unless you specifically optimize for hatch speed using start conditions/specific uniques you are looking at 3-4 days per generation and 1-2 days to get enough eggs to pick the ones that inherited decent enough traits. In a standard game you don't get many generations to improve stats with. Makes figuring out how to maximize stats and traits tricky to wrap ones head around.
 
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