29 replies to this topic

[VarsityPuppet]

More to come, but this is the codename for the gameplay mod I'm working on.

On the surface it won't look all that much different from the more recent rebalances.

It does use autobalance.2da, it does use modified class tables, yes

It also has the reinstated Alter, Control and Sense Force powers (they are granted at level-up instead of having to choose them)

Mines are harder to detect - Hell I've been running into them on Peragus and my Awareness is maxed out (for a Level 3 guy, anyways)

Enemies will not get arbitrary bonuses for being enemies. Instead, I've got a script running (similar to BeanCounter's Mod) that will level them up as you would level up your own character - They get Attributes every four levels, and of course feats and force powers. AFAIK, everything else is automatically leveled up.

I've also included a baseitems.2da tweak, which makes blaster rifles far more effective. Don't worry, I didn't just randomly do this, the Revised Core Rulebook has some Blasters at 3d6 for instance (a lightsaber is like 2d6). I like the outcome. It makes all the energy shields, force powers and deflect powers certainly more useful.

That's really what this mod is all about, making you consider your choices wisely whenever you're at a level-up. This is much different than say... the Ultimate Balance Mod because of how it cuts back choices for more engaging roleplay. Sorry bub, you aren't a Consular? No Persuade skill class for you :'(. Jedi Sentinel? You got Attack Table 2 because you're not supposed to do as much damage as a Soldier.... how silly.


More as this progresses - I can say that I'm on the Harbinger right now, and the Sith Assassins genuinely seem harder - but not to the point where I would go - Jesus Christ, why are their attack modifiers so high?

[Working Class Hero]

This looks really promising. I'm especially looking forward to energy shields and grenades serving a purpose.

[VarsityPuppet]

Didn't realize it was so close to Reborn. It's just a codename after all, the final product may have something else.

[VarsityPuppet]

This is exciting! I like your clear indication that this won't hinder the roleplay aspects of the game.

I'm trying not to destroy the roleplay anyways. My whole goal for this mod is to make everything useful... at some point. Grenades, shields, mines, medpacs, upgrades, stims, force powers, they all need to serve some purpose in the game. Some might be more easily accessible as different classes though, that's for sure. Don't expect a Jedi Guardian to be able to make really good upgrades (well, unless you invest alot in that skill) and you'll probably rely more on stims and items. Jedi Consular guy will be able to make more use of Force powers though, which will nicely accommodate the lower attack modifiers he/she has. In an ideal game, there would be three ways of doing things - combat of course, class skills and dialog options. However, TSL does have a large amount of combat sort of stuff, so what I want it to boil down to is this basic choice - do you want to have an easier time fighting bad guys, or do you want an easier time getting cool plot elements and items? You can't have both. Well... maybe you can still, considering alot of the conditionals that allow for that sort of stuff are pretty low.

A cool effect I've noticed so far is how I've had to tweak my party, especially with very little to work with on the Harbinger. Since now, fighting a generic enemy is like fighting a duplicate of your own Exile, fights are much more equal in terms of damage taken and delivered for both sides. Add to that though that 5-6 assassins attack you at once, and the attacks really start to add up, especially if all of the attention is focused on one party member. What I ended up having to do was have my own party members gang up on one sith assassin and take them down one at a time. Or alternatively, I would confuse them by having two melee fighters and then having Atton mow 'em down with a blaster rifle.

That's another thing I'm loving about this mod already - blaster weapon damage will sneak up on you. Fighting the sith onboard the Ebon Hawk was a definite challenge for instance. Any where you went, you would have 4 guys blasting at you, doing about 2-16 damage each, making for anywhere between 8-64 damage per turn. The Energy Shields and Energy Resistance Force power were invaluable here, downright saving me from would-be-fatal shots and multiple reloads.

One last experience before I go - the fight with Batu Rem was... interesting. He indeed was buffed up when I fought him, but he certainly couldn't survive a 3 on 1 fight for very long. I thought it was fitting for him, but I imagine there are some who would want him to be a bit more... resilient? Any comments?

[VarsityPuppet]

I'm not sure. My intention for the mod is that it should be a breeze on easy, tolerable on normal, and challenging for hard/difficult. If I go any higher, I'm going to start to wonder if the game's beatable.

[VarsityPuppet]

Yes and no. If we're going to go with that philosophy, then there would be no challenge to the game.

This is why the classes have been changed to be less... Jedicentric? Sure, we'll go with that. Except for the force powers, A Jedi Guardian is built basically the same as a Soldier or a Minion - so if you were to straight up fight an enemy without using force powers, it would be a fairly even battle.

But it's not just Force Powers that have to be taken into account. Item bonuses, weapons and feats have to be considered too. I've already made a script that grants focus feats for all of the weapons, grants dueling and two-weapon fighting tiers. They really make a difference, trust me.

Most of the enemies will just get combat focused feats though, so that makes it easier. I was at one point going to try to make complex system that would have each enemy essentially realistically leveling themselves up, but it would have been way too much code, especially considering most would probably just level up the same way.

At any rate, to compensate for the Exile's higher grade weapons, I'll just have to give the enemies higher grade weapons, a script that will be quite fun to make.

To compensate for Force powers though? For normal enemies, one option is to just add bonuses, otherwise I'd have to change the autobalance.2da even more.

[VarsityPuppet]

A bit of a snag here. Things are going well with the Rebalance - I've decided that building up enemies to proportional stats according to their levels is working fairly nice... at least for groups smaller than 3.

One problem that I should have foreseen coming though - when bad guys are grouped in numbers larger than 4, they become, for a lack of better terms, unbearable. Fighting against 1 guy who is around your level is okay, 2 and 3 are okay, as long as your party is capable of taking on an enemy single-handed. But more than 3 starts to get tricky especially if they all have blaster weapons.

So, for the sake of actually living, I decided it might be prudent to debuff some of the enemies so your chances of survival increase. I wouldn't otherwise mess with this, but seriously, it has been insanely difficult to fight some of these groups of enemies. Especially at a lower level and unable to use deflection rolls or a lightsaber.... it's ridiculous. Even with this debuff function, you're going to have to rethink your strategies for this game. The blasters are definitely killer.

[MassShadowCreator]

Bendarby24, is English your second language? IF it is, then, I understand why your spelling is so bad

This mod looks pretty good