NPC making howto

[madmonk]

Shoob: Have you implemented your signature?

[Shoob]

Shoob: Have you implemented your signature?

my signature? Oh... no, not yet... hehehe took me a while to figure what you meant. but no, that would be much later in the game, we dont really want mumakil running around in the trollshaws/old forest now do we

[madmonk]

Shoob: Have you implemented your signature?

my signature? Oh... no, not yet... hehehe took me a while to figure what you meant. but no, that would be much later in the game, we dont really want mumakil running around in the trollshaws/old forest now do we

But so cute!

[darkgod]

added them to the old forest

[Shoob]

I know... all my mumakil will want to do is run around giving adventurers hugs... but end up with red stuff all over poor mumakil all they need is love

[Shoob]

ok... one thing that is/has been bugging me is that the animals seem to be more powerful than trolls in to old forest... animals regularly hit me for 10-30 points of damage where trolls hit for only 0 (playing with a test character, so results may not be standard)... I dont know why either.... gah.

[darkgod]

Too much APR ?

[Shoob]

that may be it... I probably will end up giving you "fixed" versions of the files, probably end up reducing rats and mice hp down a bit, make them lvl 1-5 and their xp to 0.2 (is that legit with the xp, or does it have to be >1)

so now which would you rather I put in first birds, felines, bats, insects, plants, or wights, liches, giants?

I am trying to figure out a good balance right now. I probably will keep editing these files and finally end up being something reasonable when this is released.

[darkgod]

0.2 is quite fine, but I'd rather keep it at 1, and not restrict their level that much. Mouses have the right to live too

I'd say for the old forest, so plants, insects, birds

[Shoob]

the thing is I picture them as annoying breeders... I think once the multiply code gets put in, some changes will be done to them... but right now they will be mostly the same.

[darkgod]

Yes I need to make multiply work

[Shoob]

so I have reduced aprs on all my animals... should I post them in this thread or would you like me to make a thread for each file (ie monster type).

my idea is this, if each has an individual thread. First post is a list of monster ideas that I have (both implemented and not). second post will be the current monster code (will put a date stamp in it so you can verify if yours is old or not). after that can be comments/suggestions/whatever... if the suggestion is good, it is added it to the first post and (eventually) post the new file and delete the old one.

this would let people talk about how things are power wise and if they need to be tweaked some.

oh and I had fun with a worm mass, wanted to see what color={resolvers.rngavg(0,255),resolvers.rngavg(0,255),resolvers.rngavg(0,255)} would do...
pity colors are only decided at startup... (I guess I could make a request, but it isn't really necessary right now). (hehehe, thought of making a chameleon, with changing colors and icon, but that isnt available)

that said, I have been busy so haven't done much other than that. (besides bears... they are back in and adjusted... havent mine up yet though waiting for your response)

[darkgod]

Yes one thread per type is fine. Thanks

[Shoob]

ok... I will be putting up new threads sometime soon... right now I want to suggest/ask something

it would be good to have a set standard which all base types must have:

this would make it easier to write new monsters... I wanted to make sure that you agreed because it will affect later coding. (such as multiple attacks/damage types)

Code: Select all

newEntity{
	define_as = "BASE_NPC_TYPE",
	type = "", subtype = "",
	display = "#", color={0-255,0-255,0-255},

	combat = { dam=damage, atk=to_hit, apr=armour_peircing, physspeed=??? },  -- what does physspeed do?

	body = { INVEN = 10, MAINHAND=1, OFFHAND=1, BODY=1 },
	drops = resolvers.drops{chance=20, nb=1, {} },

	life_rating = hp gain per level, default 10,
	life_regen = hp regen rate,
	max_stamina = 100,

	autolevel = "warrior",  -- or caster
	ai = "dumb_talented_simple", ai_state = { talent_in=5, },  -- define how often uses a talent
	energy = { mod=1 },
	stats = { str=20, dex=8, mag=6, cun=10, con=16 },  -- all stats should be present here

	tmasteries = resolvers.tmasteries{ ["physical/other"]=0.3 },  -- talent masteries (+1)

	resists = { resists },
}

is basically stolen from the troll base.

what I would like to have changed is combat. will there eventually be multiple attacks per round? will there be multiple damage types per attack? will slashing/piercing/crushing damage enter in?

so I would like to have combat either removed or changed and in its place have an array (of an array/structure) or something.

which would look like:

Code: Select all

atk[1]={"type", nbr, atk, apr, primary damage type, secondary damage type}

where type is basically BITE/CRUSH/CRAWL/CLAW/STING/SLASH/etc, basically just determines the message printed (ie, made lowercase and pluralized) (also not really necessary)
nbr is the number of attacks per type (ie bears would have 2 identical claw attacks, and one bite attack)
primary and secondary damage types are really both identical, except that they both do damage if the attack hits, they would look like:

Code: Select all

damtype[SLASH]=resolvers.rngavg(3,5), damtype[CRUSH]=resolvers.rngavg(2,4)

if the secondary one is not included, it should be assumed to be 0 damage (and never increase), maybe have a VOID damage type which is constantly 0.

so if it has multiple attack there would also be an atk[2] and so on. I dont think it is necessary to have more than 2 damage types per attack. I dont envision monsters having more than 4 or 5 attacks per round (such as Mariliths)

what are your thoughts? am I getting carried away? does this seem reasonable?

of course I could make them follow this if you are ok with it, but then just comment out lines that wont work with the engine. and keep in the stuff that does work.

[darkgod]

Yes a very generic NPC tempalte is fine.

Now for multiple blows, we wont have them. This allows to concentrate more on a good balance between spells and melee.
This not not prevents talents from doing multiple attacks (many weapon&shield talents do).
For stuff like marilith we just make it right: they have more than 1 pair of arms, they wield weapons in each and attack with each.

I wont split melee damage, too much complexity for not much gain IMO.

If you need to have a NPC use totaly wild attack types, just set it to use talents 1 in 1 turns and give it the correponding talents.

I'll add a damtype option to the combat array for elementals and such.