Does anyone know a site with examples/have ideas on math behind the damage in BE? I don't have a lot of time today but if I fix damage in BE, fix items rewards in Survival as Dark intended it and maybe fix a bug or two, it'll be at least some progress.
... well, I'm literally at a loss for words. I just spend an hour and a half going over this in three examples and then my web browser changed pages and I lost everything instantly, I tried going back to it but .... *sigh* it's all gone lol.
Well, this sucks. but I'll try to super summarize this. wow, I'm pissed right now.
the 3 examples were:
fire emblem:
http://fireemblem.wikia.com/wiki/Battle_Formulasdungeons and dragons:
http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Attack_Damagehttp://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Critical_Hit#Critical_Hitsand league of legends:
http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/ArmorI went over a lot about balancing stuff. But I think I'll just post this and wait for my patience to return.
Sorry, if it doesn't make any sense at the moment. I'll come back and edit it later.
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edit:
fire emblem:
it's formulas are really simple and straight forward. It uses x3 modifiers on (nearly) all crits.
<attacker's damage> - <defender's defense> = <current damage>
crit chance was based off the 'skill' stat, natural class crit chance and occasionally a weapon bonus
<crit chance> = (<weapon mod> + <skill>) / 2 + <class crit>
this is shortened, but you get the general idea. Crits happen, a lot in this game. especially for your heroes.
balancing: the game is very broken in terms of defense and power. as health bars are usually very small 8 hp, 15 hp, etc. A single increase in power can mean 1-shotting opponents. Crits nearly always one-shot (due to the x3 mod).
Defense is the most broken of all, because it can literally remove all chance of taking damage. It will even show 'No Damage' when the hit connects as well. Just walk out into battle with 25 defense while the enemies have 15 power and you'll never have to worry about dying.
Other thoughts:
This game series was very interesting and cool because of a few things. Each class can only achieve 20 levels max, so stats stayed rather low. However, low tier classes could class change to a tier 2 class, resetting the level back to 1. You could do this at lvl 10, but obvious waiting until lvl 20 will get you 40 levels versus 30. The rock-paper-scissors classes, weapons and magic is pretty cool. and it helps because it's a chess-like field of battle. But like I said before it's made in favor of the player, but I suppose it has to be. otherwise, the game gets impossibly hard (see various secret hard modes, for hours of torture).
My final gripe has to be that stat increases on level up can really only be +1, and are TOTALLY RANDOM (weighted by class, but random all the same), this makes saving and reloading the game so your characters get the best level ups is actually the real reason I spent so much time playing, which is ... rather pathetic. (let's not do this ok? k, thanks)
dungeons and dragons:
formulas are complex, convoluted and just everywhere in general .... except for damage (go figure). There is a bonus modifier for pretty much everything, but it all comes down to the weapon.
Each weapon has it's own damage range directly on the item, the same with the critical chance AND crit damage itself. Your character may add some trivial bonus damage, but normally it comes down to the weapon.
Also, there's no such thing as defense. There are a scarce few damage reductions and they're all pitifully low 'Reduce all damage by 1/2/3/etc'. Instead all armor, all dodge, size difference, all these things get converted into this magical stat called AC (armor class)
And if you don't know, but the AC system is probably the most bullshit ever, seriously. It doesn't negate or reduce damage, no, it makes you completely dodge. Everthing.
Balancing: as you can guess, AC and chance to hit and completely broken. if you have tons of one or the other, it doesn't matter a whole lot what comes your way, as you can literally dodge everything and/or never miss. Though if you go the damage route, you will need a weapon strong enough to one or two piece things. But the rolls in this game, typically make the game challenging for players. Of course, there are people who understand the 'metagame' well enough to break in their favor, but 'rocks fall, the party dies' tends to happen to people who abuse the system too much.
Other thoughts: there's just too much random rolls to miss. it's difficult if not impossible to guarentee hits without having a high 'to hit' chance. Also, magic is gimped in early versions. yes, I know it's supposed to be 'role-play' but it doesn't match modern gaming very well. especially from a single player view point.
league of legends:
formulas are actually not that complicated, I will admit the diminishing returns part is annoying until you wrap your head around it.
and there are many bonus modifiers in place, but they're only there so players can customize their game. Also, all crits are x2 in this game unless stated otherwise.
balancing: while there is little to no damage variation or ranges, it still maintains its ability to be useable in tournament and competitive play. while there are no limits (currently) on the power stats, there are other things in place to prevent absurd stats.
limits: only 6 item slots (for weapons/armor/etc)
crit chance: maxes at 100% (obviously)
attack speed: maxes at 2.5 (per second, maybe not applicable to this project)
life steal: maxes at 40% (when you attack with your weapon and deal 100 damage, you can only be healed by 40% at maximum)
spell vampirism: magical version of life steal, same cap at 40%
other thoughts: while I really like their formulas,
<incoming damage> * <100 / (100+defenderArmor)>
and diminishing returns are cool. I'm not sure if it would help or hurt a single player traditional rpg style.
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So basically, certain things have to be addressed. But its mainly:
How easy do you want it for players? (maybe have difficultly levels?)
What are max stats if any? (100 maybe?)
How much dependence do you want on weapons and/or armor (gear dependance)? fighting naked? is possible or easy way to die?
damage caps? (if any)
player skill, what does it do? weaknesses and knowing the enemies, does it help in battle? does playing smart actually help? or 'swing weapon' to victory is less headache?
and finally, how much do levels matter? can you kill something 2 levels higher? 5 levels? 10 levels?
