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Making the game more challenging...

B

backrow

Powder Monkey
Ahoy!

i am looking for simple and hopefully not bug-causing ways to change several things in the game (i run it with latest 21Aug update, at least until saves refuse to work again).

1. toughness: this seems way out of wack, i like HP bonus, poison i havent tested extensively but just after taking this perk at lvl 1 (adventurer difficulty) i went on a killing spree in Oxbay with a sword making 8-16 damage or some such... result: all dead, i got something like 2 or 3 levels in the process... with 44 hp i took on 4 red coats and some crazy lady with 2xx hp and yet i prevailed...
basically, how can i turn this down? i mean hp recovery seems to be better than chucking potions non stop...
like i said, i wanna use the perk but not in the current form...
where do i change the setting for that?

2. high level swords: in my previous game, now down in Davy Jones' locker due to save game bug, i got some crazy sword (wasn't even a Solingen), upgraded it in local blacksmith and proceeded to one hit kill everyone... that was second difficulty level, granted but still seemed unbalanced...
i mean i was lvl 5 or 6 when i got it and since then i never even got close to dying...
any easy way to balance it a out a little? i searched previous threads that touched upon this matter but found nothing conclusive...

3. armour: different kind of a question - my armour doesn't show, not even on models that support armour (Blaze_NB, some others)... what gives?

4. level of enemies: any easy way to change that so they are tougher?

thanks in advance for giving me some answers <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/danse1.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":dance" border="0" alt="danse1.gif" />
 
Toughness: in Loc_ai/LAi_character.c look in function LAi_AllCharactersUpdate() for a line that says

<!--c1--><div class='codetop'>CODE</div><div class='codemain'><!--ec1-->hp = stf(chr_ai.hp) + dlthp*dltTime*80;<!--c2--></div><!--ec2-->
... and change the 80 to a smaller number. This is the rate you regain health with the Toughness perk. Keep in mind that the health potions raise your health at a rate of 50. That's not the amount they raise your health, but the rate at which you regain health when using them. Toughness raises your health constantly.

At Adventurer level with silver armor and a solinger rapier, my character dies frequently during boardings of larger ships. Toughness may only be overpowered at low character levels. I've asked in another thread how people want toughness to work.

Swords: some of the swords are pretty overpowered. Not much to do but sell the thing or put it in your weapons locker so boarders can use them. There's a way in BuildSettings.h to use RPG style weapons levels (search for "RPG") which should keep you from seeing too many of these high level blades until your character is at a high level, but they still might show up in a chest.

Enemies: If enemies aren't tough enough, raise the game's difficulty level. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" /> There is some weirdness in the code that gives enemies a lot fewer hit points than you'd expect. I've been fighting with this in the boarding code. I may eventually try balancing it in the rest of the game, if I ever figure out some code that works the way I want.

Hook
 
I think that with the Toughness perk, the rate of getting health should be smaller than 50. Otherwise Toughness makes potions completely and utterly useless. And you can get that perk straight away in the game. Other suggestion: Make it so that you HAVE to get all other fighting perks before you can get Toughness.
 
<!--quoteo(post=159368:date=Aug 24 2006, 08:26 PM:name=Pieter Boelen)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pieter Boelen @ Aug 24 2006, 08:26 PM) [snapback]159368[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
Other suggestion: Make it so that you HAVE to get all other fighting perks before you can get Toughness.
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Great suggestion, Pieter.

I'd like to see this, AND the recovery rate scaled back to much less than the potion rates.

Cheers <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/par-ty.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":cheers" border="0" alt="par-ty.gif" />
 
Go do a few boardings at Adventurer level or higher. Find some much bigger ships than your own. Use any eqipment you wish. And toughness.

Once you've faced 6 enemy with 1200 hit points each BY YOURSELF you'll begin to appreciate the toughness perk. And you'll realize it isn't enough to keep you alive. (The new boarding code will give you more enemies with fewer hit points each, but that won't matter. You'll still die.)

Taking on some wimpy vagrant with a dagger in town is one thing. Taking on a large number of enemy soldiers with silver armor is something else. You'll be chugging potions right along with your toughness increases, and watching your health meter instead of the battle, and hoping you don't get two hits at once before you can block. It's harder than a low level character with a saber taking on two or three opponents at once.

Making professional fencer a prerequisite for toughness sounds like a good idea.

Hook
 
That may well be, however, consider that the Toughness perk is only a relatively recent addition and that we all had to get by without it in the past. The original game was designed without it. All the Builds up to and including 12 have done without it.

I've completed the main quest and continued much further a number of times, usually playing at Adventurer level (and occassionally Swashbuckler, although that is indeed a real challenge), and although the big ships are a real challenge they're do-able. The only time I've ever seen enemies during boardings that have huge hit points compared to my own are if I've boarded a ship that has a significant advantage in crew numbers and morale. The way I see it is that if you're taking on ships that way overpower you then you SHOULD have your work cut out for you to knock them about and reduce their crew numbers before boarding. If you're boarding ships and then having to take on large amounts of extremely powerful enemies by yourself then either you haven't done enough lead up work (crew damage) in the sea battle, or there's a problem with the game itself... maybe a balancing issue at higher difficulty levels although I've not really noticed this. Enemies with 1200 hit points sounds like a very large crew against a very small crew. Of course if you want to fight against the odds by boarding a significantly superior enemy well than that is your own choice and you have to rise to the challenge. I do it on occassion and it's very rewarding when you win such a bold action, however I've had my arse kicked more often than not... my choice. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_mrgreen1.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":cheeky" border="0" alt="icon_mrgreen1.gif" /> It SHOULD be hard at higher difficulty levels and I don't see that having a "super" perk just to get you through harder difficulty levels can be justified.

Anyway, with some tweaking I'm sure we'll end up finding the right balance for this perk to suit everyone. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/poet.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":hmm" border="0" alt="poet.gif" />


Cheers, mate <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/par-ty.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":cheers" border="0" alt="par-ty.gif" />
 
<!--quoteo(post=159446:date=Aug 24 2006, 03:27 PM:name=Hook)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Hook @ Aug 24 2006, 03:27 PM) [snapback]159446[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
Go do a few boardings at Adventurer level or higher. Find some much bigger ships than your own.
Hook
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Aye Cap'n Hook,ye hit the nail on the head.Try Skelly Bob's Gunboat against a Man O' War with high level .see how far ye get,done that a few times,loads O' fun <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="xD:" border="0" alt="laugh.gif" />
 
<!--quoteo(post=159473:date=Aug 24 2006, 10:34 PM:name=Jack Davidson)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jack Davidson @ Aug 24 2006, 10:34 PM) [snapback]159473[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
Anyway, with some tweaking I'm sure we'll end up finding the right balance for this perk to suit everyone. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/poet.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":hmm" border="0" alt="poet.gif" />
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I think "suit everyone" is going to be impossible. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" /> The best we can hope for is that half the complaints will be that it's overpowered and half will be that it's underpowered. Hopefully there will be a lot of people in the middle range between the complaints. Right now I don't think anyone's complaining that it's underpowered. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

It would be extremely easy to make this a setting in BuildSettings.h which would give everyone what they wanted.

Hook
 
<!--quoteo(post=159556:date=Aug 26 2006, 01:16 AM:name=Hook)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Hook @ Aug 26 2006, 01:16 AM) [snapback]159556[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->


It would be extremely easy to make this a setting in BuildSettings.h which would give everyone what they wanted.

Hook
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Yeah, that could be the go. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/me.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":onya" border="0" alt="me.gif" /> I'd like to see it stay in the game, but maybe have two different versions selectable in BuildSettings.h I haven't looked in a while but I don't seem to remember there being much code involved for perks, right? <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/bookish.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":mm" border="0" alt="bookish.gif" />

Cheers <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/par-ty.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":cheers" border="0" alt="par-ty.gif" />
 
Two things about the toughness perk:
1) The rate at which you gain health constantly MUST be lower than the rate when using a potion. Otherwise potions become instantly useless as soon as you have the toughness perk.
2) We can make it harder to get the toughness perk by making it so that you need some other perks first. This would work the same way as with the instant boarding ability: You can't get that one quickly either.

This can be done by adding a ChrPerksList.list.Toughness.condition.AdvancedDefense=true; line to the tougness perk's code in PROGRAM\INTERFACE\Perks\perks_init.c file. More of these lines can also be added. Which ones should be decided upon.
 
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