Turdak's Sanctum, YASD and ramblings

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Re: Turdak's Sanctum, YASD and ramblings

Postby Ferret » Wed Dec 14, 2016 5:25 am

Congrats on another... what do we call these anyway? :D Ghostwins? Almostwins? :D Well, whatever, congrats on another. :) Good job on the high-level ghost kill too :D

I'll look at the drop rates again: I thought I had compensated for corpses appropriately by reducing normal item spawns, but I may have gotten the math wrong? On the other hand, I've started to suspect I've been mildly over generous on drops in general for awhile now, but it's one of those areas I always twitch about moving on because really, other than a few really dedicated players, the win rate for Demon is pretty darn low as it is.

Raicho are sneakily good at both buffing and debuffing: that Speed boost really comes in handy, and both roles tend to be good for largely keeping it out of trouble and thus avoid the complications caused by their terrible defensive package.

Incidentally, I have a low level ghost running about with a rather... ridiculous Raicho. :D

Image

Revelation can make some very interesting things possible very early if you roll the dice a bit. :D That crazy bird with fly right up to entire groups and chain Shock/stagger the everferreting crap out of them. :D

Alas, nobody has seen her yet, as there seems to be a bug where ghosts on Tower: 1 1/2 don't actually spawn, though they can still be called by level-based means. Boo. (This is a relatively minor bug, so it won't be getting its own emergency build. West is just very diligent about taking all the 'active' corpses for himself for now. :D )

But yes, unfortunately, I expect mid/late-game ghosts to remain rare for awhile. :( As I alluded to above, there just aren't many people who get that far yet (in part because there still just aren't that many players.) We'll get some eventually though. :D

I have a fix half-designed for the corpse encounters... since in theory they're supposed to be a dead summoner's demons, I'll probably start applying the same "level catch up" effect for lowbie ones that lowbies picked for an enemy summoner's stable have. That should bring them more to where I wanted them to be. Not going to go as far as giving them extra abilities yet though... demons with customizable abilities are effectively "new" enemies to learn, and I don't want to add a whole lot more of that to the game right now: random modified demons and enemy summoners/ghosts already ask that of players often enough.

Congrats again on the 2nd ghostwin, and thanks for the report and feedback. :D
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Re: Turdak's Sanctum, YASD and ramblings

Postby Ferret » Tue Dec 20, 2016 12:58 pm

FYI, making some... not very nice :D ... changes to corpse encounters. :)

1) I fixed a bug where "sleepy" groups were not allowed to have modifiers on their demons. Whoops.
2) I did indeed give the demons spawned in these encounters the same "catch up" bonus enemy summoner demons get: "runty" demons who get picked will attempt to level up to a reasonable level: the first 10 levels needed have an almost certain chance of being granted, levels past that are somewhat less likely (about 50% chance each of being granted, so on average, a Level 1 Red Cap trying to hit Level 17 would usually end up around Level 14 or so.)
3) The demons spawned by a corpse are now spread out considerably more. In open areas, this tends to spread them out enough where they cannot be easily AE nuked. In tighter areas/hallways, this tends to make them surround/block off the player's group. I like both results. :P
4) Sleepy encounters have been split into Sleepy and Panicky encounters, just to mix things up a bit.
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Re: Turdak's Sanctum, YASD and ramblings

Postby Ferret » Tue Dec 20, 2016 1:48 pm

How the..

Dang it! I apparently only imagined actually changing the item spawn rates to compensate for corpses. :P No wonder things seemed a bit rich for folks in this build! Well, we'll fix that :P

Edit: So yeah, basically, if you were searching every corpse, you were getting an extra 30% item drops over what I wanted. :P No point in doing the math right if I'm going to enter it wrong (or if, as is much more likely, Unity lost the data input, which it has a distressing if rare habit of doing and is one of my few gripes with it.)
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Re: Turdak's Sanctum, YASD and ramblings

Postby wizzzargh » Thu Dec 22, 2016 5:35 am

Died legitimately in Anzu's Sanctum... but I successfully defeated a true simultaneous double encounter of Oni and Anzu's pack so I still feel accomplished. (My actual death was just foolishly trying to complete an Ala link and walking into Bmola stagger-spam while my Gandayah was out of mana trying to heal Turdak up from the Double Encounter...) Lost a few demons midfight to Oni and had to finish off the stragglers with a Ruhin bumper and Charlie. Oni they always hit way harder than I expect when I meet them, probably due to the fairly frequent double-turns they get from juggernaut, their high levels, and their fairly unprecedented 85 power attacks.

Image
I miss double encounters! Okay, maybe not tower:2 double raicho pack encounters... :roll: but in lategame where you have items and good demons they're a lot less horrible and a lot more Fun™

I've gone from being uncaring about the Arcadia Dipsas, to perhaps being more excited for them than Artemis... Having an overleveled superspeed demon by tower 4 is pretty incredible. No Mobility this time, but still quite impressive. My actual character didn't do much but support with Guilt while a Gandayah healed and a Ruhin buffed. A Profane Raiju was a nice catch in Anomaly for dealing with Fetches.

Image

I played this character over a period of many days, only playing when I had access to internet, and ghosts. I didn't find TOO many, but enemy sense helped me find enough to have some interesting fights. I actually had a Blessed Ruhin that was a near-copy of this one, until I found a ghost that was some sort of Spiny-veil/Bloodthirst/Gluttony tank (It didn't seem too effective but I'm sure it worked better with a player controlling it and walking aback and forth, baiting Juggernaut and Evade Steps) and got free currency for deleting my ruhin and replacing it with this one, which had 2 more abilities than mine.

Code: Select all
Demon Party Dump File
Version 12/12/2016, Scoring Model: 12/11/2016
Dump file created at: 12/21/2016 22:17:27


Summoner Loser Palooz...
was chosen by the Hand of the Dead,
selected Debuff and Healing as their starting elements,
is currently at Anzu's Sanctum,
and is quite dead!



--==== Main Character ====--

Name : Loser Palooz
Level: 15
MaxHP: 127
MaxSP: 100

Strength: 4
Magic   : 4
Vitality: 69
Agility : 4
Cunning : 44

Resist: Body
Weak  : Light

Abilities Known:
1) Weigh Sin (Type: Light, 15 SP. 70% chance to inflict Guilt, healing those who damage the target (excluding reactions).)
2) Vitiating Grasp (Type: Debuff, 15 SP. 70% chance to reduce defense and evasion by 20%.)
3) Draw Wounds (Type: Healing, 0 SP. 105 Power heal. Costs HP equal to the amount healed. Healing and HP cost are limited to what will not kill the user and what the target needs to reach maximum. Free action. Cooldown: Cantrip (1))
4) Dash (Type: None, 20 SP. Move to the target position instantly. Cooldown: Charge (8))
5) Oppressor (Type: Dark, Passive. Increases defense by 25% against enemies with lower HP. (Bonus is affected by Dark resistance.))
6) Warmth (Type: Fire, Passive. Increases HP and SP regeneration based on the number of Ignited characters you can see (more characters = larger bonus, with diminishing returns.))
7) Ember Burst (Type: Fire, 15 SP. 70% chance to Ignite the targets, causing damage over a short duration.)
8) Vigorous (Type: None, Passive. Increases SP regeneration by 50%.)

Relic Upgrades:
Consume (Delete Demon now restores your HP and SP based on the number of levels the demon has gained (more levels = stronger effect).)
Recycle (Delete Demon now grants Credits based on the number of levels the demon has gained (more levels = more Credits).)
Enemy Lure (Unlocks the Enemy Lure transmutation, which allows you to reveal hidden demons in your surroundings. Some demons are very hard to find without this technique, but using it is not without risk...)
Capacity Up I (Grants additional storage capacity for demon allies, allowing for a total of 7 at once.)

Inventory:
1 Meteor rune
1 Curse rune
1 Pure gem
2 Pure stone
1 Orange essence
1 Venom rune
3 Heal gem
1 Red essence
2 Bronze offering
2 Zephyr card
3 Peace offering
2 Heart glyph
13 Heal stone
1 Silver offering
1 Mirror chime
1 Frost glyph
1 Purple essence
2 Ghost chime
1 White essence
1 Guardian gem
1 Bolt glyph
2 Chakra stone

Current Credits: 18314



--==== Party Overview  ====--

Element      Users      Immune     Resistant  Normal     Weak       
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Slash        2          0          0          6*         0         
Impact       1          0          0          5*         1         
Pierce       0          0          1          5*         0         
Fire         1*         0          1          3*         2         
Ice          0          0          2          3*         1         
Electricity  1          1          1          2*         2         
Body         0          3          1*         2          0         
Mind         1          1          1          3*         1         
Light        1*         0          0          3          3*         
Dark         1          1          1          4*         0         

n : Number of party members counted.
* : Denotes the main character is included.



--==== Current Party ====--

Name : Gandayah
Level: 12
MaxHP: 70
MaxSP: 125

Strength: 22
Magic   : 27
Vitality: 31
Agility : 15
Cunning : 15

Resist: Electricity
Weak  : Fire

Abilities Known:
1) Tireless (Type: None, Passive. Increases MaxSP by 25.)
2) Oppressor (Type: Dark, Passive. Increases defense by 25% against enemies with lower HP. (Bonus is affected by Dark resistance.))
3) Spiny Veil (Type: Pierce, Reactive. Responds to damage dealt to you by adjacent enemies with a 20 Power attack. Cannot miss.)
4) Lifegiver (Type: Healing, Passive. Reduces the SP cost of Healing abilities by 5, to a minimum of 0.)
5) Affection (Type: Healing, 25 SP. 60-125 Power heal, based on your remaining HP (more HP = higher Power).)
6) Alert (Type: Buff, 20 SP. Improves evasion by 25%.)
7) Soothe (Type: Healing, 20 SP. Must target a character whose HP is more than 50% of their maximum. 105 Power heal.)
8) Cleansing Dance (Type: Healing, 15 SP. Removes Poison, Infection, and Paralysis from allies. Also considered a movement ability. Cooldown: Breath (6))


Name : Profane Raiju
Level: 19
MaxHP: 72
MaxSP: 100

Strength: 14
Magic   : 47
Vitality: 14
Agility : 33
Cunning : 37

Immune: Electricity
Resist: Fire Dark
Weak  : Ice Mind

Abilities Known:
1) Pounce (Type: Slash, 15 SP. Must target a character. Leap to the target with a 70 Power attack. Inflicts Stun, causing the target to miss their next turn. Cooldown: Charge (6))
2) Electrocute (Type: Electricity, 10 SP. 85 Power attack. Has a 12% chance to inflict Shock, causing the target to miss their next turn.)
3) Evade Step (Type: Defense, Passive. Gain a 25% chance to dodge attacks when your last action was movement or a movement ability.)
4) Electropulse (Type: Electricity, 20 SP. 55 Power attack. Has an 8% chance to inflict Shock, causing the targets to miss their next turn. Cannot miss.)
5) Unholy Word (Type: Dark, 30 SP. 0-85 Power attack, based on the user's SP (more SP = more Power). Cannot miss. Cooldown: Breath (4))
6) Dark Veil (Type: Dark, Reactive. 50% chance to respond to damage dealt to you by adjacent enemies with a 40 Power attack. Cannot miss.)
7) ------------
8) ------------


Name : Blessed Ruhin
Level: 11
MaxHP: 65
MaxSP: 100

Strength: 8
Magic   : 17
Vitality: 21
Agility : 27
Cunning : 32

Immune: Body
Resist: Mind
Weak  : Electricity

Abilities Known:
1) Alert (Type: Buff, 20 SP. Improves evasion by 25%.)
2) Calm (Type: Healing, 15 SP. Removes Stun, Sleep, Panic, and Charm.)
3) Blessweaver (Type: Buff, Passive. Reduces the SP cost of Buff abilities by 5, to a minimum of 0.)
4) Protect (Type: Buff, 20 SP. Improves defense by 25%.)
5) Might (Type: Buff, 20 SP. Improves offense by 25%.)
6) Souleater (Type: Dark, Reactive. Responds to a visible character's death by draining them, healing yourself for 7% of their maximum HP.)
7) Withering Grasp (Type: Debuff, 15 SP. 70% chance to reduce offense and accuracy by 20%.)
8) ------------


Name : Whirling Turdak
Level: 15
MaxHP: 69
MaxSP: 100

Strength: 27
Magic   : 12
Vitality: 18
Agility : 41
Cunning : 27

Immune: Body Dark
Resist: Pierce Ice
Weak  : Impact Fire Light

Abilities Known:
1) Spin Slash (Type: Slash, 10 SP. 70 Power attack. Also considered a movement ability.)
2) Evade Step (Type: Defense, Passive. Gain a 25% chance to dodge attacks when your last action was movement or a movement ability.)
3) Numbing (Type: Body, Passive. Provides a 20% chance for your Slash, Impact, and Pierce attacks to apply Paralysis, causing the target to frequently miss their turns.)
4) Riposte (Type: Pierce, Reactive. Responds to attacks by adjacent enemies that miss you or that you dodge or parry with a 70 Power attack.)
5) Swiftness (Type: None, Passive. Reduces the turn cost of movement and movement abilities by 20%.)
6) Juggernaut (Type: Defense, Passive. When your last action was movement or a movement ability, you have 25% improved defense and your next turn comes faster when damaged by enemies (excluding Ignite, Poison, and reactions).)
7) Parry (Type: Defense, Passive. Provides a 33% chance to parry Melee and Direct range Slash, Impact, and Pierce abilities if your last used ability was also such.)
8) Leadership (Type: Buff, Passive. Accelerates the next turn of a nearby ally when you use Slash, Impact, or Pierce abilities to deal damage to one or more characters.)


Name : Charlie
Level: 20
MaxHP: 78
MaxSP: 100

Strength: 21
Magic   : 39
Vitality: 21
Agility : 30
Cunning : 39

Immune: Body Mind
Resist: Ice
Weak  : Electricity Light

Abilities Known:
1) Lob Stone (Type: Impact, 10 SP. 85 Power attack. Cooldown: Luck (4))
2) Mind Twist (Type: Mind, 20 SP. 40 Power attack. Has a 35% chance to inflict Panic, causing the target's actions to sometimes be randomized. Cannot miss.)
3) Hysteria (Type: Mind, 20 SP. Must target a Panicked character. 50% chance to inflict Panic on an enemy near the target. Free action. Cooldown: Cantrip (5))
4) Short Jaunt (Type: None, 10 SP. Warp to a random nearby position you can see. This is not considered a movement ability.)
5) Fade (Type: Buff, 5 SP. Briefly improves evasion by 25%. Free action. Cooldown: Cantrip (5))
6) Mind Reader (Type: Mind, Passive. Increases accuracy and evasion by 13% versus all opponents. (Bonuses are affected by Mind resistance.))
7) ------------
8) ------------



--==== Recent Messages ====--

 You summon Turdak!
 You swap places with Turdak.
 Your gandayah swaps places with Turdak.
 Your gandayah gestures at Turdak.
 Turdak looks healthier.
 Your evasion returns to normal.
 Your ruhin gestures at Turdak.
 Turdak looks more evasive!
 One of your allies is in danger!
 Using Weigh Sin...
 Aim within the possible target area using
 movement keys. Press Enter to execute,
 Escape to cancel.
 Nevermind then.
 Using Ember Burst...
 Aim within the possible target area using
 movement keys. Press Enter to execute,
 Escape to cancel.
 You gesture at the bmola.
 The bmola is set on fire! (x2)
 The bmola throws a frost arrow at you.
 The bmola freezes you.
 You feel cold!
 The bmola throws a frost arrow at you.
 The bmola freezes you.
 Your ruhin gestures at Turdak.
 Turdak looks protected!
 You and one of your allies are in danger!
 The bmola throws a frost arrow at you.
 The bmola freezes you.
 You feel like you will be cold longer!
 You stumble.
 The bmola throws a frost arrow at you.
 The bmola freezes you.
 You stagger.
 Your ruhin gestures at itself.
 Your ruhin looks more evasive!
 Your gandayah gestures at Turdak.
 Turdak looks healthier.
 Turdak swaps places with your gandayah.
 The bmola throws a frost arrow at you.
 The bmola freezes you.
 You feel like you will be cold longer!
 You stagger badly!
 The bmola throws a frost arrow at you.
 The bmola freezes you.
 You stagger badly!
 The bmola throws a frost arrow at you.
 The bmola freezes you.
 You die...



--==== Recently Slain Allies ====--

Name : Violent Kasha
Level: 4
MaxHP: 41
MaxSP: 100

Strength: 16
Magic   : 10
Vitality: 13
Agility : 18
Cunning : 13

Resist: Fire Light Dark
Weak  : Ice

Abilities Known:
1) Fiery Claw (Type: Slash, 5 SP. 85 Power attack split between Slash and Fire. Has a 33% chance to Ignite the target, causing damage over a short duration.)
2) Fiery Veil (Type: Fire, Reactive. Responds to damage dealt to you by adjacent characters with a 20 Power attack that has a 13% chance to Ignite the target, causing damage over a short duration. Cannot miss.)
3) Weigh Sin (Type: Light, 15 SP. 70% chance to inflict Guilt, healing those who damage the target (excluding reactions).)
4) Swiftness (Type: None, Passive. Reduces the turn cost of movement and movement abilities by 20%.)
5) Inspiring Cut (Type: Slash, 15 SP. 70 Power attack. Briefly increases your or a nearby ally's accuracy by 25%.)
6) Sure Slice (Type: Slash, 15 SP. 70 Power attack. Cannot miss.)
7) ------------
8) ------------


Name : Violent Zombie
Level: 9
MaxHP: 90
MaxSP: 100

Strength: 33
Magic   : 6
Vitality: 35
Agility : 14
Cunning : 7

Resist: Ice Body
Weak  : Fire Electricity Mind Light

Abilities Known:
1) Infectious Bite (Type: Pierce, 10 SP. 70 Power attack. Has a 50% chance to apply Infection, which hinders HP and SP recovery.)
2) Flesheater (Type: Body, Reactive. Responds to an adjacent character's death by draining them, healing yourself for 15% of their maximum HP.)
3) Gluttony (Type: Body, Passive. Provides a 50% increase in healing and MaxHP bonuses from drains and abilities that heal based on damage dealt.)
4) Absolving Cut (Type: Slash, 20 SP. 70 Power attack. Removes Guilt, Mute, Pariah, or Hex from you or a nearby ally.)
5) Warning Cut (Type: Slash, 15 SP. 70 Power attack. Briefly increases your or a nearby ally's evasion by 25%.)
6) ------------
7) ------------
8) ------------


Name : Blessed Ruhin
Level: 13
MaxHP: 72
MaxSP: 100

Strength: 9
Magic   : 18
Vitality: 23
Agility : 30
Cunning : 35

Immune: Body
Resist: Mind
Weak  : Electricity

Abilities Known:
1) Alert (Type: Buff, 20 SP. Improves evasion by 25%.)
2) Calm (Type: Healing, 15 SP. Removes Stun, Sleep, Panic, and Charm.)
3) Blessweaver (Type: Buff, Passive. Reduces the SP cost of Buff abilities by 5, to a minimum of 0.)
4) Might (Type: Buff, 20 SP. Improves offense by 25%.)
5) Protect (Type: Buff, 20 SP. Improves defense by 25%.)
6) ------------
7) ------------
8) ------------


Name : Red cap
Level: 6
MaxHP: 48
MaxSP: 100

Strength: 24
Magic   : 9
Vitality: 16
Agility : 13
Cunning : 18

Resist: Body
Weak  : Electricity Light

Abilities Known:
1) Feral Claw (Type: Slash, 5 SP. 70 Power attack.)
2) Throw Rock (Type: Impact, 5 SP. 70 Power attack. Cooldown: Luck (3))
3) Intent (Type: Buff, 5 SP. Briefly improves accuracy by 25%. Free action. Cooldown: Cantrip (5))
4) Dash (Type: None, 20 SP. Move to the target position instantly. Cooldown: Charge (8))
5) ------------
6) ------------
7) ------------
8) ------------


Name : Akateko
Level: 13
MaxHP: 55
MaxSP: 100

Strength: 13
Magic   : 33
Vitality: 23
Agility : 33
Cunning : 13

Immune: Body
Resist: Dark
Weak  : Light

Abilities Known:
1) Vampiric Touch (Type: Body, 15 SP. 85 Power attack. Heals the user for 50% if the damage dealt.)
2) Wraith Touch (Type: Dark, 15 SP. 70 Power attack, split between HP and MaxHP damage. 66% of the MaxHP damage is drained to the user as bonus MaxHP.)
3) Swiftness (Type: None, Passive. Reduces the turn cost of movement and movement abilities by 20%.)
4) Evade Step (Type: Defense, Passive. Gain a 25% chance to dodge attacks when your last action was movement or a movement ability.)
5) ------------
6) ------------
7) ------------
8) ------------


Name : Whirling Dipsas
Level: 17
MaxHP: 68
MaxSP: 100

Strength: 25
Magic   : 15
Vitality: 17
Agility : 51
Cunning : 27

Resist: Electricity
Weak  : Ice

Abilities Known:
1) Swiftness (Type: None, Passive. Reduces the turn cost of movement and movement abilities by 20%.)
2) Ghost Pierce (Type: Pierce, 10 SP. 70 Power attack. Moves you to different, randomly selected, position adjacent to the target.)
3) Evade Step (Type: Defense, Passive. Gain a 25% chance to dodge attacks when your last action was movement or a movement ability.)
4) Juggernaut (Type: Defense, Passive. When your last action was movement or a movement ability, you have 25% improved defense and your next turn comes faster when damaged by enemies (excluding Ignite, Poison, and reactions).)
5) Parry (Type: Defense, Passive. Provides a 33% chance to parry Melee and Direct range Slash, Impact, and Pierce abilities if your last used ability was also such.)
6) Riposte (Type: Pierce, Reactive. Responds to attacks by adjacent enemies that miss you or that you dodge or parry with a 70 Power attack.)
7) Dazzling Veil (Type: Mind, Reactive. 20% chance to Stun adjacent characters that deal damage to you, causing them to miss their next turn.)
8) Bloodthirst (Type: Body, Passive. Heals you for 25% of the damage you deal with Slash, Impact, or Pierce abilities (affected by Body resistance).)


Name : Carbuncle
Level: 14
MaxHP: 59
MaxSP: 100

Strength: 12
Magic   : 14
Vitality: 19
Agility : 39
Cunning : 36

Resist: Mind Light
Weak  : Ice

Abilities Known:
1) Distract (Type: Debuff, 15 SP. 70% chance to reduce accuracy by 20%.)
2) Low Profile (Type: Defense, Passive. Always dodge projectiles fired by allies unless directly targeted.)
3) Dazzling Glare (Type: Mind, 20 SP. 50% chance to inflict Stun on enemies, causing them to miss their next turn. Cooldown: Presence (10))
4) Mind Reader (Type: Mind, Passive. Increases accuracy and evasion by 13% versus all opponents. (Bonuses are affected by Mind resistance.))
5) Cleave (Type: Slash, 15 SP. 70 Power attack.)
6) Calm (Type: Healing, 15 SP. Removes Stun, Sleep, Panic, and Charm.)
7) Envenom (Type: Body, 15 SP. 70% chance to inflict Poison, causing damage over time (can stack three times).)
8) Leadership (Type: Buff, Passive. Accelerates the next turn of a nearby ally when you use Slash, Impact, or Pierce abilities to deal damage to one or more characters.)


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Re: Turdak's Sanctum, YASD and ramblings

Postby Ferret » Thu Dec 22, 2016 2:19 pm

I was beginning to worry this game couldn't kill you anymore. :P

I'm hoping some of the newly improved corpse encounters will bring back a bit of the thrill of double encounters without the player-hating elements of them. :) We'll see. :) Corpse encounters (and later, other Interactable things) give me a good opportunity to do things like that potentially, since you kinda literally are asking for it. :D I haven't fully tested them yet so I can't be sure, but I think the new changes to corpse encouners will make them quite nasty sometimes: 5 fully leveled demons (or 7, but sleepy/panicky) appearing and blocking you in a hallway or surrounding you in an open area might be quite... interesting. :D We'll see. :) (For comparison, the normal spawn tables usually never throw more than 4 at-level demons at you at once, and even that is rare... usually the total level of an encounter is about 350%ish of what your party is expected to be for that floor.)

I also need to get around to upgrading encounter management at some point to, on occasion, allow some doubles to happen naturally too. Though, as you suggest, this probably will not happen in the early game. :P I'm pretty sure based on feedback I received back in the day that there are people who walked away from Demon forever based on some of the evil bad days of double encounters in the early game. :( Some things can't be forgiven even when you're waving the early dev flag around. C'est la vie. But yeah, it's going to need to be a little bit managed rather than completely up to RNG: total RNG control ends up being a total jerk sometimes in ways that are unacceptable even in a roguelike. :P

Makes me sad to see "defanged" Dipsi (Dispases? What's the plural? Heck if I know), but I know I know, you don't believe in SP draining, and even if you did it isn't compatible with dancing anyway. :D

It's definitely true that some strategies that work well with a player in the driver's seat just aren't going to work as well for ghosts (hello Veil tanks.) I'm largely okay with that: it does mean some ghosts will be a bit easier, but my suspicion/hope is that these will probably feel like a relief rather than a let down when compared to how utterly nasty other ghosts can and will be. Then too, demons are always "designed" assuming AI control so even if the player's build isn't quite as solid, there should still be some threat from the demons, unless the whole thing was arranged around the player in which case, yeah, okay, you got an easy ride this time. :P
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Re: Turdak's Sanctum, YASD and ramblings

Postby wizzzargh » Sun Jan 15, 2017 11:23 pm

I've splatted a few more decent characters (and plenty of Pre-Anomaly ones) but are too lazy to recount them. I died in Anzu's Sanctum due to using Enemy Lure to try to get an Impundulu for Mobility. Turns out dropping an enemy ghost on an already-weakened party wasn't the smartest idea. :)


I do want to recount how Mighty Miadchaoin is with the new heroic rules. I went into the fight not expecting too much, only to eat what felt like a Mighty Roar every turn... Of course that wasn't actually happening, but man. I got beaten like a drum and barely escaped with my life.
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Re: Turdak's Sanctum, YASD and ramblings

Postby Ferret » Mon Jan 16, 2017 12:28 am

So that's what happened there! I saw the ghost kill in Anzu's Sanctum and was quite surprised! The vast, vast majority of ghost kills happen in the earlier floors of the game, so it always gets my attention when someone gets eaten by one mid or late game. :o

The new Heroic rules were, in part, an attempt to be a bit more "fair" to the heroes who rely on cooldowns, such as a certain priestess heroine running about in the upper floors. But yeah, big M also benefits from that...

Good news: Mighty Roar will be attenuated (affecting both the Power and Stun %) after this build.

Bad news: ...but it will cost much less SP (probably not 0 though, I think I need to slap at least 15-20 back on them just so 'one breath weapon per character' doesn't become a required thing. That should be high enough where people don't consider it worth the slot + turn + SP expenditure on characters with low Magic/Cunning.)
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Re: Turdak's Sanctum, YASD and ramblings

Postby Ferret » Tue Jan 17, 2017 3:55 pm

Since you brought up Bravado here (a long time ago!), this is a good place to mention this. :P

I did a pass on "Presence" in general, with the following results:

1) Practically all Whispers, Gazes, and Glares have lower cooldowns now: Whispers went from 8 to 6, Gazes from 10 to 6, Glares from 14 to 9, and the oddball Terrifying Cry from 12 to 9. Dazzling Gaze and Glare were and remain exceptions: Dazzling Gaze went from 6 to 4, Dazzling Glare went from to 10 6.
2) SP costs for those same abilities have been adjusted slightly (+5 SP here, -5 SP there, whispers were the only ones to get more expensive.)
3) Charisma has been changed: Instead of 25% faster cooldown recovery above 50% HP, it is now 33% reduced cooldowns above 50% HP. (This is actually a buff twice over: not only is the % a hair higher, but even if you immediately drop to half or below after using an ability, you still get the full benefit of the 33% reduction. The only case it's a nerf is if you use the ability just before getting pushed back above 50% HP.)
4) Bravado has been significantly changed: It is now a reactive ala Healing Factor that triggers whenever an attack takes you to 50% or less HP, even if you were already below that line. When triggered, Bravado resets your Presence cooldown completely. It itself has a cooldown of 1 turn but this is mostly a formality since you wouldn't need your Presence cooldown reset twice before your turn anyway. :P This brings it more in line with its cousin Twilight (which auto-heals Light and Dark cooldowns of 2 or less and reduces SP costs by 10 for Light and Dark abilities when at 50% or less HP.)

Trying to make control/debuff/Cunning approaches a little more viable early on, when these abilities are really all you have to work with for that angle. Gazes/Glares/Whispers should remain viable even higher in the Tower when the "no frills" versions like Somnia, Muddle, etc. are available, since they are cheaper SP wise and (perhaps more importantly) have significantly elevated chances to land their effects. (Compare Arrest Host, which costs 35 SP for a 35% chance of Paralyze in an area (friendly fire possible), with Arresting Glare, which is now 25 SP for a 50% chance of Paralyze in an area, ignores friendly units, but has a 9 turn cooldown.)
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Re: Turdak's Sanctum, YASD and ramblings

Postby wizzzargh » Fri Jan 20, 2017 7:42 pm

Neat, nice to see Presence getting some love.

On the subject of SP Balancing, Storm Strike seems like it could do with a slight SP reduction. 30 SP for a 70% 85 Power smite is alright I guess, but with those annoying misses and competition with Emit Sparks... ehhhh...

Anyway I have exploded another character by making lots of terrible choices playing in the middle of the night.

Blew a Gold Offering to get Artemis and Actaeon, made an IONIC Actaeon via a Raiju and got to play with Arc Touch, Lost Vikhor and Artemis and Actaeon to some nonsense in Anomaly:2 (I think Python was to blame somehow), got back on my feet with some corpse demons and Ludoc-demons, immediately lost half my party to a random corpse party (Random corpse parties are MUCH more dangerous and good with the spread out pattern and high levels, really aces compared to the weak old ones) featuring Tuofei and Cynocephalus and Asrai, started to recuperate but then ran into trouble with a Ehlose/Angel light pack owning Turdak & my other Light-vulnerable doods. I tried to get an Ehlose from the pack to whittle it down, but the Ehlose managed to scrounge up Charlie on a level I thought for sure was clear and I got sandwiched between them with all of them Distrustful except one Angel.

But I didn't die quite yet! I lost literally every demon except a fresh Angel, and barelled through the next 5 floors desperately negotiating with anything and everything I could find. I blew a Gold Offering and a Bronze Offering to get out of a Shoggoth/Chachapuma sandwich, but the Chachapuma didn't last long and I didn't have the currency to spread Pink Whisper from an Eloko everywhere. Eventually I found myself trying to outrun a failed Akateko link and Breska's Abatwa. Those things sure feel faster than 100% speed +Swiftness... all those wasted actions trying to clear poison really slow one down I guess. If it hadn't been for meeting Breska after the Akateko I think I possibly could have stabilized, but RIP. Quite a thrilling death- and one that left a not-very-informative morgue file.
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Re: Turdak's Sanctum, YASD and ramblings

Postby Ferret » Fri Jan 20, 2017 9:29 pm

Storm Strike's a tricky one. 30 SP is quite a bit... but it doesn't require Agility (even though it isn't "cannot miss"), is a long range smite, does solid damage, and has the usual Elec chance to Shock. Emit Sparks at 20 SP seems better, and probably is in terms of raw damage output provided you have multiple targets (even if it less damage per target), but you're getting that discount because you've surrendered consistency and target control.

Yeah, the corpse encounters in their revamped form seem to be pretty awesome. :D They've even got me considering skipping corpses at times, if I don't feel my current party is up to the potential surprise. :D

It sounds like you had a hell of a tense game. :) Even if it wasn't one of your usual wins, I get the impression it was fun. :D Thanks for the report. :)
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