Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[AoshimaMichio]

And do not let players tinker anything that they aren't going to use by themselves. Otherwise we end up in our latest state of tinker where Armory is full of player made items that nobody has ever used or purchased. The "get royalties" idea gave tinkerers entirely wrong kind of incentive. Make them pay for parts.

[Radio Controlled]

I agree pretty much completely with the above post.  Having more than two alignments allows for more of a collection game, but just holy vs. occult would probably be more fun.  I was really just spitballing, anyway.

I do think holy shouldn't be intrinsically better than occult--rather, it should be safer, but have less power to compensate.  Or perhaps holy items could only be used by pure characters--who would generally be newbies--while occult items are equal, but can be used by anyone AND advance their user's corruption.  That would work well with our balancing system, no?

One thing that could be interesting would be (like in dark souls, kinda) temporary effect you could add to a weapon, like 'oil of +2 fire damage' that only last for a single battle/x turns. You could upgrade these oils or combine them for special effects, but they're a limited resource, so you'd have to make hard decisions about when to use them or whether or not to combine them, and gives a constant feeling of scarcity and being pressured. And make it take time to combine them  and apply them (and maybe certain rolls?), so you'd have to plan for encounters, and anticipating badly can be disastrous.

For people who hate these kind of decisions, maybe make it also possible to just straight up upgrade your weapons, but make that be much less cost effective (in a power per credit way) so again it comes down to making meaningful choices.

And do not let players tinker anything that they aren't going to use by themselves. Otherwise we end up in our latest state of tinker where Armory is full of player made items that nobody has ever used or purchased. The "get royalties" idea gave tinkerers entirely wrong kind of incentive. Make them pay for parts.

Yeah, depending on how things work with npc's, we'd have to think long and hard how to handle how to handle that side of tinkering. If we indeed go with something not being mass produced, but instead having to pay an npc to build it for you if you can't do it yourself (being less money efficient) you could still give the inventor some sort of bonus to building it (though perhaps only for a limited  time?). If we go with the holyness level thing, perhaps the original inventor grants a little holyness bonus to anything he makes that he himself invented.


Also, whatever the currency ends up being, maybe make it so the smallest amount of money is worth much less than 1 token currently is (like, make standard mission pay something like 50 to 500 credits). This allows more granularity and makes it easier to pay other players for small favors (should stimulate inter-player economy), and leaves more room for haggling.

[Parisbre56]

Yeah, it's easier to buy a single use weapon augment for the price it is worth instead of having to buy them in packs, like we do with grenades or battlestims in ER. It would probably mean seeing more use of those less powerful items and less items being given away for free.

And prices/recipes don't have to be set in stone. It's a magical world. The rules of reality can change. Or the market conditions can change. Or new design flaws might appear or technological advancements might be made.

[syvarris]

I've always hated one-use temporary buff items.  Whenever they appear, I always end up hoarding them and never, ever using them. Alternatively, I just end up selling them.  Others might like them though, I guess.

I don't think you should be able to upgrade stuff after it's been made, unless upgading is really rare or difficult.  I like the concept of having to search for parts to make a new, better weapon, or having to rely on luck to find something awesome.  Plus, if it's easy for anyone to upgrade their equipment, it devalues the excitement when someone finds a really awesome +4 vorpal revolver of lightning.

I like the suggestion of letting the original designer being able to craft their own designs slightly better than others.  I'm somewhat biased here, though, because I want to play a crafting-focused character who stays inside the city and tries to run a business.  For that reason, I'd also like NPC crafters to have a price that one can undercut, so there's a good reason for players to do business between each other rather than only with NPCs.

I also very highly support more granular currency, pretty much for the same reasons Radio listed, _{but also because it makes it easier to only slightly undercut NPCs.}



Does anyone else have suggestions for an alternate crafting system, beyond the parts and alignments?  Are there any games which did things differently than usual, and it worked well?  Could we steal their system?

[Radio Controlled]

I've always hated one-use temporary buff items.  Whenever they appear, I always end up hoarding them and never, ever using them. Alternatively, I just end up selling them.  Others might like them though, I guess.

Oh yeah, I'm all too aware of the 'too awesome to use' syndrome, but I kinda think it can be a good gameplay mechanic. If you have to brood and think and doubt over when to use that one item you have, you are actively engaged with the world and making hard, meaningful choices that have an impact. And then as long as there is no 'obviously superior solution', different players can make different choices that match their playstyle (for example, you could choose to use your resources on things other than one use items, but at the risk of not having that extra bit of oomph when you really need it).

I don't think you should be able to upgrade stuff after it's been made, unless upgading is really rare or difficult.  I like the concept of having to search for parts to make a new, better weapon, or having to rely on luck to find something awesome.  Plus, if it's easy for anyone to upgrade their equipment, it devalues the excitement when someone finds a really awesome +4 vorpal revolver of lightning.

I kinda like the idea, gives an alternative to the one time things while giving the idea of progression beyond just levels. Doesn't mean it has to be cheap or the most cost effective, but it allows things like people getting attached to a certain piece of kit they then keep upgrading to keep it somewhat on par with other char's new fancy toys, even though there might be a better option available. Or maybe make it so you can 'upgrade' things to be different instead of just more powerful/plain better to match a playstyle (eg mod rifle to get higher damage but lower range, mod sword to be lighter for small dex bonus but damage penalty).

[syvarris]

My opinion probably isn't the best on this particular subject, but I think one-use temporary buffs shouldn't have a long application time if you're trying to make them useful.  Not being able to apply them in battle means you're risking wasting the buff entirely any time you use it--maybe that monster is weaker than it looks, or you end up being able to get through a challenge without engaging anything.  Having a use waste multiple turns in combat means whatever you want to kill might destroy your team before you've finished the buff, or it might turn on you before you're ready.  It adds risk to an already risky item.

I still dislike being able to give flat upgrades to things, because it makes equipment less interesting.  I do like mere modifications, though.  Being able to optimize for one role at the loss of other roles is a very good mechanic, IMO.