I just made a new add-on that tries to create a "quick" version of the Age of Ascendency Campaign. It's similar to Quickband for Angband.
https://te4.org/games/addons/tome/quicktour
I shortened many 3 levels dungeons to 1 level (incl. only the boss level). Many 4 level dungeons were reduced to 2 levels (many of the T2s, T3s). Dreadfell went from 9->5, High Peak 10->4. The Prides are now only a level each.
The add-on increases gold & xp gain by 2.5x to compensate. I also added 2 swap meet vendors to give you extra rolls for items.
There's a menu to customize most of the multiplier values in the game. Also, the menu lets you restore any cut level you want.
I made it cause too many builds, not enough time. Check it out, and let me know your feedback! It's still alpha mode, so probably there'll be some bugs. Please bear with me, while they get worked out.
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Also, some ideas that I'm working on for a future version (some of these have already been implemented but need more playtesting):
- random mode to add back some of the missing levels. So now every AoA campaign can be different. The add-on will count the number of levels cut and try to match the xp/gold multiplers so you can keep the same progress.
- proportionally increased drops from random elites & randbosses. Can't quite figure out how to increase drops from normal enemies or uniques in an elegant way though.
- improvement of UI. It's just a big blob of info right now, and could be organized a little cleaner.
[1.7.2] Quick Tour of Maj'Eyal
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Re: [1.7.2] Quick Tour of Maj'Eyal
Very nicely done!
EDIT: Oh, it looks like the gold scaling also affects transmutation, which means that my concerns about the proportion of income that comes from raw gold drops are off base. That you're getting more drops from shops, though, suggests that overall gold income might still need to be increased for comparable gear acquisition.
An odd behavior I've noticed -- when trying to change settings in Game Options, I have to navigate away from and back to the addon's settings page for the display to update.
Given that you're still working on increasing droprates and that the current fix for that is the ability to buy good gear from more vendors, I suspect it'd be a good idea to increase gold scaling further, especially at higher difficulties. I'm under the impression that raw gold drops are a tiny fraction of gold income, so it may well be the case that even increasing gold generation to 500% will leave characters comparative paupers.
EDIT: Oh, it looks like the gold scaling also affects transmutation, which means that my concerns about the proportion of income that comes from raw gold drops are off base. That you're getting more drops from shops, though, suggests that overall gold income might still need to be increased for comparable gear acquisition.
An odd behavior I've noticed -- when trying to change settings in Game Options, I have to navigate away from and back to the addon's settings page for the display to update.
Re: [1.7.2] Quick Tour of Maj'Eyal
Thanks for the feedback!
Yep I increased both the transmog gold + the gold drops. From my playthrus on normal, I get about the same amount of gold as I do in my regular runs.
I was concerned that the 4k merchant will be too cheap if I increased gold drops further, but you have a point about it having to compensate for both less monsters + less equipment. Have you tried changing the gold rate drop yourself / or the swap meet price? I'd be curious what level you thought felt right. If you've tried it, let me know what you picked and what difficulty you play at.
(When I tried it myself, I ended up lowering the swap meet price by 2x compared to my first version. The swap meet guy is now consistently cheaper than the regular stores, and I originally had it at about the same price level. But then again, I almost never use the stores except for runes/infusions. I find the stores overpriced.)
The UI code in the version on the site right now is pretty slap-dash. Do you remember which option isn't immediately reflected, and requires quitting the menu and returning to see? I might have caught it already in some of my edits, but I'll look into it specifically if you let me know.
Yep I increased both the transmog gold + the gold drops. From my playthrus on normal, I get about the same amount of gold as I do in my regular runs.
I was concerned that the 4k merchant will be too cheap if I increased gold drops further, but you have a point about it having to compensate for both less monsters + less equipment. Have you tried changing the gold rate drop yourself / or the swap meet price? I'd be curious what level you thought felt right. If you've tried it, let me know what you picked and what difficulty you play at.
(When I tried it myself, I ended up lowering the swap meet price by 2x compared to my first version. The swap meet guy is now consistently cheaper than the regular stores, and I originally had it at about the same price level. But then again, I almost never use the stores except for runes/infusions. I find the stores overpriced.)
The UI code in the version on the site right now is pretty slap-dash. Do you remember which option isn't immediately reflected, and requires quitting the menu and returning to see? I might have caught it already in some of my edits, but I'll look into it specifically if you let me know.
Re: [1.7.2] Quick Tour of Maj'Eyal
---- New version (0.1.0) "The Many Worlds of Maj'Eyal" adds:
Randomized mode: in this mode, the addon randomly adds back some of the missing levels so that every run is different. Select "Maj'Eyal: AoA (Random)" campaign at character creation for this mode. This mode will automatically calculate a suitable gold & xp multiplier to keep your progression balanced (which you can further tweak in the Game Options).
Proportionally increased drops from elites & randbosses. Intended to further match progression of normal play.
T1 dungeons can be now ransacked by other adventurers. Every time you enter a T1 dungeon, there's a 50% chance, another T1 dungeon is ransacked by other adventurers. You're not the only one looking to make their way in the world.
(This feature is intended to force you to move onto T2 without doing all the T1 dungeons so that your starts aren't always going through the same zones. Note if you don't like this feature, you can turn it off in the Game Options.)
UI improvements & misc bug fixes
Randomized mode: in this mode, the addon randomly adds back some of the missing levels so that every run is different. Select "Maj'Eyal: AoA (Random)" campaign at character creation for this mode. This mode will automatically calculate a suitable gold & xp multiplier to keep your progression balanced (which you can further tweak in the Game Options).
Proportionally increased drops from elites & randbosses. Intended to further match progression of normal play.
T1 dungeons can be now ransacked by other adventurers. Every time you enter a T1 dungeon, there's a 50% chance, another T1 dungeon is ransacked by other adventurers. You're not the only one looking to make their way in the world.
(This feature is intended to force you to move onto T2 without doing all the T1 dungeons so that your starts aren't always going through the same zones. Note if you don't like this feature, you can turn it off in the Game Options.)
UI improvements & misc bug fixes
Last edited by phills on Sat May 22, 2021 9:51 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Re: [1.7.2] Quick Tour of Maj'Eyal
Out of curiosity, how does that interact with escorts? Is the dungeon inaccessible, such that you lose out on those escorts? Are the escorts still there in a now-safe dungeon?
Re: [1.7.2] Quick Tour of Maj'Eyal
Unfortunately, you do lose out on the escorts from the ransacked dungeon. Just like you lose out on escorts from the skipped levels.
The addon tries to spawn a few more escorts on the levels that remain, but the total is probably still fewer than normal. In my playthroughs, I usually get 4 or 5 escorts total rather than 7-9. (You'll notice this more in Quick Mode than Random Mode because of the more cut levels in Quick Mode).
I may put in a Game Option to force the addon to spawn more escorts in a future version. But I'd like to hear about people's experience, whether they feel like they're not getting enough escorts in Quick Mode as currently set up. Drop a line here.