ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

ToME has enough attacks that just go forward! They're kind of boring, they're effective, but they don't add flavor! Lightning, Fire and Arcane all do the same effective thing...

So we should have new attack types!

Some of my current ideas are...

A beam + bolt combo, so it detonates on the first/last enemy, but still pulse through the line.
A bolt that semi-randomly splinters off as it hits enemies.
A beam type that flings enemies and the environment.
A bolt that zigzags across the field.
A beam that zigzags across the field.
A beam that zaps one way, pauses a turn, then zaps back.
Bolts that circle the player/target.
An eight directional burst.
Projectiles that seek.
Wider beams, 2+ tiles.
More attacks with multiple bolts, like Ice Shards.
And maybe even non-uniform/directional attacks, like for thrown bombs or so forth.

If you have any other flavorful ideas for new attack types, I'd love to see them

And allow targeting with multiple origin locations! For example from multiple party members or all trees in range.

Direct hit, Bolt, beam, blast, and burst, those are the basic attacks afaik. Blasts can be either point blank aoe or targetted. A burst would be like the hydra attack

Bolt (projectile) beam blast burst then you can have a 4 way blast (diagonal)
a 4 way blast (on the straight lines)
a 3 way burst (in any direction)

So for example a targetted 4 way blast on the diagonal

Pretty much all of these are currently possible, and some already exist. Some explicitly can't exist due to geometric limitations - for example, what exactly is a zig-zag or a circle? Hard to define in a grid coordinate system, and generally not very practical. These attack patterns are better suited for action RPGs.

Really, the only thing I would like to see changed regarding the attack style code is how damage is distributed for ball- and cone-style attacks. Logically the damage should be greatest at the origin and weakest at the edges, and this has meaningful and positive impacts on gameplay. For example, wyrmics/dragons breath attacks are more dangerous at close range, alchemists can more efficiently take down single targets via direct targeting, and "blast" style attacks aren't so dangerous to the user if they are just on the very edge of the attack.

Zig zags were discussed in IRC and to be honest zig zagging across tiles would be pretty simple to do in a tiled system:

Err... I'm not sure what that picture shows. I know that zig-zags are easy to do on the axes, and not too difficult for diagonals, but ToME offers full-field targeting. Zig-zags are also chiral (left- or -right-handed, if you aren't familiar with the term) which for the player is just downright annoying.

Well, the zigzags would be a bit hard, but yeah.

Gonna document my other idea quick.

How about attacks that can hit only, say, range 2 out? So you can't point blank target~

That already exists; Rush for example does it.

You can still point blank target it, it only needs one square space. I'm talking about where those spaces are actually red, not blue.

As an interesting alternative, you could add another type that relocates you a'la Disgaea style attacks. Say you have a talent for rogues called "Hit and Run" which lets you target an enemy 1 space away, but then hops you 3 squares back? You could have it show a yellow or green square where you'd "land" after the attack which displays on the opposite side of your character from where the target is.

Szragodesca wrote:As an interesting alternative, you could add another type that relocates you a'la Disgaea style attacks. Say you have a talent for rogues called "Hit and Run" which lets you target an enemy 1 space away, but then hops you 3 squares back? You could have it show a yellow or green square where you'd "land" after the attack which displays on the opposite side of your character from where the target is.

Kind of like the marauder skill "hack 'n' back"?

I wouldn't know, heh. I've only played 5 classes so far, and of them only the casters have survived to lvl 20. Maybe since I unlocked poisons my rogue would do better next time.