Author Topic: Sanctum of the Archmage  (Read 17152 times)

Legacy_MagicalMaster

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Sanctum of the Archmage
« Reply #120 on: January 05, 2015, 10:28:43 am »


               

Great to hear, looking forward to it.



               
               

               
            

Legacy_MagicalMaster

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Sanctum of the Archmage
« Reply #121 on: February 09, 2015, 09:52:20 am »


               

Andarian, something I was wondering: what exactly did the difficulty settings in Sanctum do?  They set a localint to indicate the difficulty which presumably other scripts drew from...was it simply finding better items on easier difficulties, was it less monsters, was it easier monsters, etc?



               
               

               
            

Legacy_AndarianTD

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Sanctum of the Archmage
« Reply #122 on: February 09, 2015, 12:36:15 pm »


               


Andarian, something I was wondering: what exactly did the difficulty settings in Sanctum do?  They set a localint to indicate the difficulty which presumably other scripts drew from...was it simply finding better items on easier difficulties, was it less monsters, was it easier monsters, etc?




 


Most areas that contain difficult combat (especially in the ruins) specify an onEnter script named "sa_adjust_combat." The first time the PC enters, it iterates through all objects in the area (especially creatures and encounters), checking for certain variables that have been set on them. Depending on the variables found, it will do things like delete the creature/encounter, "weaken" it with permanent stat lowerings and/or HP damage, or scale the encounter difficulty. If you look over sa_adjust_combat and the scripts it calls you should get the idea.


 


The approach does allow the player some flexibility in adjusting the combat difficulty during the game (using the Adventurer's Guide), but it's not perfect. It works for areas the PC hasn't entered yet, but those settings become permanent once the player does enter them for the first time.



               
               

               
            

Legacy_MagicalMaster

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Sanctum of the Archmage
« Reply #123 on: February 09, 2015, 12:56:25 pm »


               


Depending on the variables found, it will do things like delete the creature/encounter, "weaken" it with permanent stat lowerings and/or HP damage, or scale the encounter difficulty. If you look over sa_adjust_combat and the scripts it calls you should get the idea.




 


Interesting, thanks.  I always played on Very Hard and never adjusted it so I never had any issues with the "permanent" settings (which I suppose is a good thing because trying to "tone it down" wouldn't have worked if I was stuck) but wondered what was going on behind the scenes.  Trying to figure out a good way to increase/decrease difficulty is always tricky.