Post by captainstupids in Not a bad start. Looking forward to further refinement.

Viewing post in Not a bad start. Looking forward to further refinement.

Got it. I think you’re right about talking more about what the stats do. It was pretty clear in my mind what they did, it’s better to be explicit sometimes. Until I actually make the changes, here’s what they do:

There are only three hidden traits, charm, intelligence, and strength.

Strength is anything physical like hitting things, running away, or fighting.
Intelligence is fixing stuff, noticing things (!), and taking things apart.
Charm is convincing people, negotiating, and buying. This is a little underpowered right now because I removed an encounter that leaned on it hard.

All of these bonuses start as 1x.

I don’t think I can necessarily say “chance of succeeding str increased by…” because the bonuses from things myogen and thinkies (1) have diminishing returns as you take more and (2) because the way that success/failure is calculated isn’t linear as a function of those.

Fill vs max fill and infection, well, I do want people to be on the edges of their seats for those.

AzureDragoon215 days ago

Maybe it's just me, but I'd like to see a point where, if you survive long enough, certain checks are automatic successes. Especially with the lab once you've made something enough times. As for more general checks, have the stat measured against its fatigue to balance out success vs failure. Some checks, of course, should always have a chance to fail (like against the bandits).

That would probably mess with the balance a bit. But the RNG of what you encounter can already screw you over pretty quick. That's just how all Rogue games are.

captainstupids215 days ago

Hmm. If there are automatic successes then the lab would be pretty easy to abuse. Just max out your int and then spam making myogen and elastinup until you’re invincible. Perhaps something like Gambler’s Dice which prevent long spans of bad luck. There’s already a floor on luck (can’t be less than a 10% chance of success no matter your debuffs), so perhaps lowering the ceiling could help, too.

AzureDragoon215 days ago(+1)

Two things about "making stuff at the lab". You still need a battery for each one, which is its own gate. And because your gauges will still run with each "action", you have an increasing chance of failure even if you've made something 10 times. At least, that's how it is with the current setup. Saving up batteries will not protect you from dying due to sleep deprivation or bursting. Especially since you can't use items while in the lab.

So I would say that if we have a chance at guaranteed checks when making stuff in the lab, it would require two conditions. 1st: You've made that product at least 10 times. 2nd: Your mental fatigue is no higher than 50%. Once Mental Fatigue is past 50%, your odds of success start dropping hard. That should make the reliable production too difficult to obtain without save scumming. Sound reasonable?

captainstupids215 days ago

I like that solution. Good idea. The task has a pretty heavy mental fatigue right now (0.4, if my memory serves), so you’d be able to make two per day if you had the batteries. That still seems like a lot, but maybe it isn’t given the need to find batteries. I’m still worried a bit about people finding a first order optimal strategy and just optimizing the fun out of the run.

One other consideration is whether it’s worth adding the special case. I like systems based stuff where behaviors emerge naturally, and adding special checks for whether the person has made a certain number seems to interfere with that. Or I’ll forget and make some change to the intelligence checks and end up with a strange bug.

Perhaps then it’s worth looking back to your earlier point about guaranteed success on any roll. Just thinking out loud: There’s always a 10% chance of success. I don’t really want to change that. If it’s changed so (net bonus after penalties > greater than the check) -> guaranteed success, then once a person’s int bonus exceeds 2 they auto succeed on everything (until they get tired). That seems a little imbalanced. Could also do the D&D thing where it has to be ten-over, which doesn’t have an exact mapping here. I’m going to have to think about it more. If I can’t find anything better then maybe the special case is fine.

captainstupids10 days ago

Update on this from today: I’ve pretty much done this. After a few attempts at making things it becomes much easier to fabricate elastinup, dimorphex, and so on. It also takes less mental effort and the player can now remember the path to the lab.

Additionally, after becoming skilled in chemistry, the player can try to purify the mysterious liquids from their failures.

HilitedDrake10 days ago

that is some amazing stuff, can’t wait to see how this new lab development plays out. I feel that it only makes sense that we should be able to remember a way to the lab since we can do it for both the farm and juicer. Also makes it easier to synthesize stuff as we no longer have to rely on heavy RNG

itch.io

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