Featured Questions is back! Find the answers to your Nodeka-related questions in this column every other Tuesday - just submit your questions via the comments section or e-mail them to me.
Featured Questions #5:
Can you quantify for us what training nim past 100% does?
Training nim beyond 100% reduces the chance of being caught. Currently, no other bonus is gained.
If I have evasion at 250% and 400 willpower, does my evasion prowess increase with 500 willpower?
Yes. There are three ways to improve your chance to evade:
- Improve your evasion mastery beyond 100%.
- Improve your willpower.
- Improve your spellpower (that is, your maximum mana and maximum spirit).
The basic "challenge" to evade an attack is a randomized comparison of your willpower versus your enemy's. This randomized comparison is tilted in two ways. First, your evasion mastery beyond 100% tilts the chances in your favor. Second, the chances are tilted AGAINST you by a certain value - let's call it X. This X is multiplied by the ratio of the enemy's spellpower versus yours. If the ratio is 2:1 (your enemy has twice your spellpower), then X is doubled, making it harder for you to evade. If the ratio is 1:1.5 (you have 1.5 times the spellpower of your enemy), then X is multiplied by 2/3, making it easier for you to evade.
Why do empowered inscriptions only last for 1 use of the ability, causing the aura to shift immediately? Seems pretty harsh since a. most empower attempts fail and b. on a successful empower, the aura doesn't last very long in the first place.
At the risk of sounding ostentatious - "ah, but that's the beauty of the system!" =) The fact that your aura shifts when you fire off an empowered inscription is vital to the system's design.
First of all, point (a) is definitely valid right now. It is hard for a "vanilla" character to empower very often. That's the point of runed gear - by assembling a good collection of runes on your equipment, you make it easier to access the auras that match those runes. You'll find that as the system gets deeper, the combination of runes and ciphers (e.g., cyclopean) will allow you to design your character to access certain auras with more consistency than is possible right now. You'll be able to "customize" your character to access the auras which you want the most (or, conversely, you might choose your inscriptions based on which runes are on the best gear you've collected).
As for point (b) - remember, when the aura shifts, it also refreshes its duration! If you need to fire off that empowered inscription immediately, go for it, but if you can afford to time it, you can greatly extend your "aura uptime" by shifting your aura just before it's about to expire. This leads to an interesting dynamic in inscription choice as well. If you choose to learn several "kyf" inscriptions, then your "kyf" aura will be more powerful - but once you shift out of kyf, chances are you won't have any inscriptions to match the new aura. On the other hand, if you learn a variety of different inscriptions (say, a "kyf", a "bal", and a "zmo"), you greatly increase the chance that you'll be able to chain inscriptions off of each other when they shift, but none of your auras will be quite as strong as a stacked aura.
Finally, ciphers can change the inscription game in many different ways. The magi's remembrance cipher can make your auras last considerably longer, if duration is a concern; the cyclopean cipher can sometimes turn a failed empower into a success (albeit of a strange and different aura type); and so on. The sky's the limit - just wait 'til I start really expanding on the available inscriptions and ciphers. =)
Bash+trip+lock in groups of 2 or more is [harsh]... While lateral defense has been introduced as one means of defense... I would like to see [other methods of defense].
Actually, I've had plans to approach this from a skew angle. Expect bash and trip to be reworked at some point. I'd like these impairments to be useful as strategic counters and pacing tools; right now, at instant speed, they're usually just "spam me right away" spoilers, which is not where they should be.
Speaking of which, can we take Stun Immunity away from ranks as well?
I'm open to a reworking of rank bonuses. We have a lot of unique and interesting potential bonuses which simply didn't exist at the time that rank effects were introduced which could be interesting.
Will Sigil Citadel ever be automated? And will we be looking at more of such events in the near future?
Yah, this is easily doable with the advancements in AI sophistication which have been implemented over time. The primary reason that I haven't done this already is that I'd like to rework Sigil Citadels at the same time - they're a nice stepping point but right now they primarily devolve into a single, giant, bloody, game-ending Team A vs. Team B pileup (not that there's anything wrong with that, and that could easily be its own Citadel mode, but that's selling the intent of Sigil Cits a bit short).
I've talked online a bit about Citadel variants I'd like to do (for example, the champion idea I've mentioned a few times and even experimented with a few days ago via a MechaGodzilla-sized Issabella). I have several ideas that you'll see pop up eventually, and the plan is for these to be automated Citadel variants with a faction-based incentive to compete and win (a simple shared set of faction rewards).
Are there any gambling systems on the table to be implemented? Even something as simple as spinning a wheel and betting on even or odd with 1:1 plat payouts would be awesome!
The idea's popped up many times (ever since I started working on Aur-vindi all those years ago). I'd want to make it something interesting and unique to Nodeka, but none of the ideas I've ever come up with have struck me as "the one". It's something that shouldn't be too hard to do, though, so I'll take a look at it as a between-time project (the stuff I work on, like new abilities, "in between" sessions of work on a major project in order to clear my mind and change the coding pace a bit).
Will the tech lock be reduced from 18 hours in the future?
I have no plans for this. Teching is fairly hard as it is (tip: tech chance is related to material cost, so a wrist has a much lower chance of teching than a chest), and reducing or eliminating the tech lock wouldn't do much except open up the system to "power-leveling".
Lots of questions this time around; I need to get back to development work so we'll stop here for this session. Keep those questions coming in, I appreciate them and I'm happy to help shed a little light!
Thanks for the answers and continued focus on development, brilliant creator you are!
ReplyDeleteIf we can think of anything for gambling, we'll be sure to submit it for evaluation. :)
ReplyDeleteWhen I'm running with a follower_of_me, the exp received output reads "You receive X amount of Y total xp." Sometimes it reads upwards in the 20 - 40 millions, while running with one follower. How's that number calculated? What's that Y value about? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteFor classes with followers: the exp they gain when running, will they be allowed to order them to convert it into gold in the future?
ReplyDeleteFollower's used to be able to convert xp to gold, but it was quickly realized that a necro with 8 followers could convert a lot of xp into gold.
ReplyDeleteClasses with followers can generally than those casters without, so allowing them to convert xp to gold would just make them even faster.
Also the Y is the max xp that mob has. So if the mob has 24 million xp and you have a group of 8 major remorts each will be getting around 3mil xp per kill, if it was out of 16mil xp it would be about 2mil per player. Atleast that's what I remember from group running.
Crafting question: At Thad, I notice level 12 Artistry requires 126 techs, and level 12 Expertise is 155. What'd you have in mind to account for the tech gap? Will there be Expertise-specific components? Will we be able to tech on gemstones? How many new components are queued up with Scar? Thanks - I love crafting!
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think about buffing Thelgarron's fusing practice-wise?
ReplyDeleteThanks Whim, love the answer on sigil cit :P. I'm sure there are many ways to go around the issue of sigil cit being a super brawl. And i'm sure you've ideas on how to solve them. So i'll leave it to you. *coughwowwarsongcough* :P
ReplyDeleteSyveril and I were talking about resistances and vulnerabilities and I noticed (or hope) that 'help resistances' is out of date.
ReplyDeleteReason being it says there that for any given attack only -one- resistance can proc, with the logic being that all resistances provide equal damage reduction.
Seeing as this is no longer the case - do resistances work differently now?
Regards,
-Iblis.
I'd like to lodge a complaint about the koj spiritualist immoral trial. I ran around the arena for 15-20 minutes today without one spawning. >:|
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear that Magrath, but that's just the way it is. Not everthing is going to be easy and successful.
ReplyDeleteActually, I checked after posting that and it had been significantly more than 20 minutes. I only had 20 minutes left on the trial affect. It's not difficulty I object to, it's not being able to do a trial at all because the mob you have to kill never spawns. That's not a good way to tune the difficulty of a trial.
ReplyDelete'empower' is a prevent (2 minutes), and you get prevented no matter if it lands or fails.
ReplyDeleteSo why is there lag penalty with the empower command?
I can think of no other prevent that incurs a lag penalty.
Serenity: The entire premise of the Warding Rain Heiton. :P Or at least, their entire unique spells list. There's probably another few out there, but can't recall for the life of me. Oh yeah, the 2 non-instant combat locks. Really can't remember any more now.
ReplyDeleteWhim: Are there any plans for Ninjas and Footpads to acquire some kind of "pick lock" skill, considering that locked doors can already be broken down by Barbarians and Nojohrs(or at least, one of the subclasses in each), or phased past by Sorcerers(all)?
ReplyDeleteIs the spit affect for Gerahf being angry with you made invisible once you acquire a smile affect? That is to say, you have the spit affect, he smiles on you, and the spit affect is visibly replaced with the smile affect, but he still holds you in scorn due to ripping him off, and refuses to accept offers that were acceptable pre-spit affect?
ReplyDeleteIf this is the case, would it be possible to clear the spit affect once you get the smile affect so you can obtain the full benefit of the smile, or make the affect not disappear?
I'm sure it's not a top priority by any means, but in the future, are there any advances in customization for clan halls on the table? Maybe...doors/keys, scrounger gnomes, room types, safe unlockable rooms, just for a few quick ideas. :P
ReplyDeleteTo add to the lockpicking idea, how about non-salvage boxes of gemstones or scraps? Adds a new dimension to the already wonderful and multifacted glory that is crafting. As an analogy: lockpicking/boxes will be to salvages, what pins already are! *says to self and talks to own hand: that's just genius!*
ReplyDeleteAny new classes on the horizon? How about an Alchemy class - one unique prevent would be to transmute gemstones of one category to another - another would be to transmute an already existing craft to scraps or salvages or gemstones - another would be to alter the lifetime of a craft. As for casting/invoking and other abilities, mostly already existing druid and sorc stuff comes to mind... I'll keep the ideas churning.
ReplyDeleteHey anonymous, imo, all your ideas should be incooperated into a unique profession skill, instead of making new classes. This gives ppl's now existing classes a more customized unique feel
ReplyDeleteI'd like to think scrapping crafted pieces that are no longer desirable would be something open to all people, like an extra crafting-related mob in the guild who scraps and exchanges at some obscenely onesided cost similar to Gerahf, but I can see how it would successfully work in with a alchemist/mechanic/engineer type of class, also. In the grand scheme of things, I imagine it would make more realistic sense to have it as an NPC performing the function for all. Maybe for a fee, or maybe just for the scrap cost it'd deduct.
ReplyDeleteThe newer the piece = more scraps returned
More comps required to make it = more scraps returned
By no means 1:1 return on it, but something is better than nothing. :) And for some heartily undesirable stat set pieces, it'd be a nice booby prize of sorts.
Multi-part question, but really just looking for an entire chart as an answer:
ReplyDelete1. What is the % damage gain for a vulnerability?
2. What are the % damage cuts for the following resistances: magic, mental, holy, physical?
For the mobs natural to Pen, Kat Town, Hades, SH, Fens, Rumil: when do the pins or salvages load on the mob?
ReplyDeleteIIRC, the salvages load immediately. The idea is to get the salvage before the lifetime of 90 minutes (?) reaches 0.
ReplyDeleteHow's the centaur race around nodeka gambling system coming along?! 50k plats on the red ponies!
ReplyDeleteDid the inspiration for the 'element of surprise' affect on shadow cast and strike from the shadows/amush, did it come from Star Wars Clone Wars, when Count Dooku was counseling General Grievous? How do you calculate the value of damage gained when it lands? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteWhen a mob or player is unconscious, and they have sustain, how is the damage calculated on the hit from unconscious -> back to life?
ReplyDeleteCan you talk about the Phase of the Suns and Solar Poliir?
ReplyDeleteFor empowered aspect - aura: jta rank 1, what's the rank number mean? What's the highest rank attainable? Do they grow naturally?
ReplyDeleteWhat are the different categories of gemstones?
ReplyDeleteRe: What are the different categories of gemstones?
ReplyDeleteNymbus's crafting 101 helps me with that:
http://nodeka.webs.com/crafting101.htm
Hope that answers my question.
I've been told that if i have a racial physical resistance and a spellup physical resistance the checks are made independent of each other.
ReplyDeleteJust want to reconfirm:
Are the checks made one after another or are they combined into one?
Going on for strike from the shadows, approximately how many % more damage are we looking at(while flanking) for training over 100%?
ReplyDeleteWhim, you've mentioned before of an event called Vl'lakkian Ramparts. Could you give a teaser on what it is about? How it would help the gameplay of nodeka, how it will promote less botting, and uniqueness to the game.
ReplyDelete