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Vince
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« on: September 05, 2009, 05:47:02 pm »

THE AGE OF DECADENCE COMBAT BETA

1. CHARACTERS

Primary stats:

There are six primary statistics defining a character's innate physical and mental abilities. Between them they determine the starting values of skills, bonus Skill Points awarded, derived stats (HP & AP), as well as modifiers for range, reaction, and accuracy. They are also regularly checked in dialogue and interactive text segments of the game to allow access to ability specific game play options. In this combat beta, both INT and CHA are fixed at 4, since the focus of this combat beta is to demonstrate and test the combat and combat related abilities from the game.
 
Strength (STR)   - determines a character’s damage modifiers and maximum carry weight.
Dexterity (DEX)    - determines a character’s Action Points and combat sequence.
Constitution (CON) - determines a character’s Hit Points and poison resistance.
Perception (PER) - determines a character’s range and accuracy modifiers
Intelligence (INT) - determines a character’s bonus Skill Points, received per 10 SP earned.
Charisma (CHA) - determines a character’s reaction modifiers.
 
Derived stats:

Hit Points    (HP)   - determines how much damage a character can soak up before dying.
Action Points (AP)   - determine how many actions a character can make during a combat turn.

(HP = CON x 5 + 5,  and  AP = DEX + 2)

Press C at any point to view the character screen and distribute skill points.


2. COMBAT

The Age of Decadence combat system is turn-based (sequential combat), and uses action points to determine how many actions can be performed during each turn. You can initiate combat either by clicking the crossed swords icon on the interface, or by pressing Enter. Clicking on the crossed swords icon again, or pressing Enter, will end your turn. Additionally, in certain circumstances the option to initiate combat will be available via dialogues. When combat is initiated, a Dexterity comparison is performed to determine who acts first (i.e. who gets the first turn).

Your character’s Dexterity determines how many action points are available during each turn. Each action performed - swinging a sword, accessing your inventory, throwing a net, moving away, etc - has an associated AP cost. For example, using a dagger (a fast weapon) to perform a normal attack takes 3AP, however using a two handed hammer (a slow weapon) takes 6AP to swing it around and bring it down on someone's head for a normal attack.
 
There are two weapon slots, so either two one-handed weapons or a single two-handed weapon can be equipped at a time. The weapon’s damage, range, and AP cost (modified by your stats, attack type, and ammo type) will be displayed in the weapon slot. Right-click on the weapon slot to open up a menu with all available attack options.

3. ATTACK TYPES

All weapons (except for crossbows) have fast, normal, and power attack options.

Normal attacks   (N key) - standard attacks that have no modifiers.
Fast attacks (F key) - causes less damage, costs one AP less, but are more difficult to avoid. Generally most effective against fast, lightly armored opponents.
Power attacks (P key) - causes a lot more damage, costs an extra AP, but are easier to avoid. Generally most effective against slow, heavy armored opponents.

Aimed attacks   - aimed attacks all cost two extra AP’s and have different to-hit penalties:

Torso – normal damage range, no penalty, chance to find a weak spot in the armor. (DR halved)
Arms – fast damage range, -10% to hit, disarms on a successful hit.
Legs   – fast damage range, -20% to hit, cripples (movement cost doubled) on a successful hit
Head – power damage range, -30% to hit, but a chance of knocking the opponent out.

Special attacks: whirlwind (melee weapons), impale (spears only), flurry (daggers only), multishot (bows only), burst (repeater crossbow only). Due to time constraints, not all special attacks are available in this beta.

With crossbows, their versatility comes from the different designs available: one-handed, double-shot, scoped, repeating with a magazine, etc. Unlike bows, crossbows have to be manually reloaded. You can right-click on a weapon to see the options available.

Certain weapons are more suited for either fast or power attacks and thus provide an increased damage range when used with these attacks. For example, a simple dagger does 1-6 damage for a normal strike, 1-3 damage for a fast strike, and 2-8 damage for a power attack. A curved dagger is better suited for fast, slashing attacks and less suited for powerful thrusts, so its damage ranges are 1-6 normal, 1-4 fast, and 2-7 for power attacks. However, a wide-bladed dagger is the opposite, so its damage ranges are 1-6 normal, 1-2 fast, and 2-9 for power attacks.


4. WEAPONS

All weapons have 3 important statistics: damage range, attack speed in action points, and reach. Additionally, crossbows have fire/reload speed and, in some cases, multi shot capacity. Some weapons have special abilities like ignoring shields or cutting into the enemy's armor more effectively.

The game offers eight different types of weapon. Each type has its own passive trait that increases along with your skill with the weapon. The higher the skill, the higher the chance to score the special effect associated with your weapon.

Daggers - bypass armor.
Swords - increased chance of a Critical Strike.
Axes   - split shields.
Hammers   - knock your opponent to the ground.
Spears - interrupt attempts to close in.
Bows - increased chance of Critical Strike.
Crossbows - knock your opponent down.   
Throwing - bypass armor.


5. ARMOR

Armor doesn't increase your chance to avoid attacks. In fact, it reduces your mobility and makes it harder to dodge incoming attacks. However, armor absorbs some of the damage from attacks when you fail to dodge or block an attack successfully. Basically, using armor trades Dodge and Action Points for Damage Resistance.

Sets of armor have different statistics, so you must consider carefully what your fighting style is, and choose your equipment accordingly. Going for the heaviest armor and the biggest weapon may not be the best choice in Age of Decadence.

Armor stats:

Dodge penalty, Sneak penalty   - self explanatory.

Damage resistance (DR) - how many points of damage from each attack this armor absorbs. For example, if DR is 6, then the first 6 points of damage per attack will be absorbed by the armor without any harm to your character.

Max Action Points (MaxAP) - the maximum amount of action points per turn. If Max AP is 8, then even if you have 12AP, while you're wearing this armor your Max AP is 8.

Versus critical (vsCritical) - protection against Critical Strikes (attacks that target weak armor spots and vital organs).

Crafting can be used to increase the armor’s DR, Max AP, vsCritical, or lower its penalties.


5. HELMETS

Helmets protect the head of the wearer, however they do not add to the overall defence rating. Not all opponents will aim attacks at the head, but leaving it unprotected will definitely be considered an open invitation by many.

Helmet stats:

Damage resistance (DR)   - usually less than most armor’s DR, so even if you fail to score a critical hit, you'll cause more damage if you can actually hit someone's head.

Versus critical (vsCritical)   - the heavier the helmet, the better it protects you against critical strikes, but the more it limits your field of vision.

To-hit penalty - a helmet's design may limit your vision, thus reducing your to-hit chance.

Crafting can be used to increase a helmet’s DR, vsCritical or decrease the to-hit penalty.


6. SHIELDS

All shields, except for bucklers, have a Block bonus which is offset by a to-hit penalty. Any novice can hide behind a tower shield, but the shield strapped to their arm will slow them down and they won't be able to attack as effectively as they would have without the shield.

Shield stats:

Block bonus, Dodge penalty, To-Hit penalty, Sneak penalty, Versus critical (vsCritical)

Versus Ranged (vsRanged) - shields provide superior protection against all ranged attacks, but certain weapons, like pilums and dagger-like armor-piercing bolts (30% chance) can go through shields, completely ignoring them. All shields are wooden and can be split in half by axes. Once split, a shield is discarded and can't be repaired.

Crafting cannot be used on shields.


7. AMMUNITION

For the sake of convenience, all arrows and bolts have been combined into universal ammo. Originally, the game had arrows and bolts, but 3 different types times 5 different metals times various crafting upgrades times 2 (arrows/bolts) was too much to manage and one universal ammo was forged by the Elven council. True story.

Ammo types:

Regular - standard ammunition.

Armor piercing   - causes less damage, but penetrates through armor better. DR is divided by 3 to determine the effective value, i.e. a DR9 armor will absorb 9 points of damage if shot at by regular ammo and only 3 points (9/3) if hit by armor-piercing ammo.

Jagged - causes more damage, but is easily stopped by armor. DR is multiplied by 3 to determine the effective value, i.e. a DR1 armor will absorb 3 points of damage, but a DR4 armor will absorb 12 points of damage.
         

8. METAL TYPES & CRAFTING

The Crafting system is disabled in the combat beta. You either loot people or buy items from a local trader. The trader’s inventory is updated twice – upon earning the Gladiator and Executioner ranks.

Overall, there are 5 metal types in the game: Bronze, Iron, Steel, Blue Steel, Meteor. The difference between metal types is hardiness (read it as higher damage and damage resistance), weight, and price.


* * *

We hope you'll enjoy the combat beta and share your impressions with us on our forums at http://www.irontowerstudio.com/forum.

Thank you for playing!

....

Opinions, suggestions?

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caster
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« Reply #1 on: September 05, 2009, 05:51:25 pm »

I suggest you give us the Demo itself. And im of the similar opinion.
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I don't know, I don't care, and it doesn't make any difference! - Albert Einstein


The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right.
Vince
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« Reply #2 on: September 05, 2009, 05:52:19 pm »

This text file is for the demo. Duh!
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caster
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« Reply #3 on: September 05, 2009, 06:00:08 pm »

I know that!

Im barely holding my eyes open at the moment which is 0.55 here and i will need to get up at 6.45 (+ 5 - 10 minutes of just closing my eyes for a minute more) and go to work.

No brain power left but for a slight funny with the subtle encoded message inside saying: Damn the readme! give us the demo itself!

-click-

-edit-
Ok, ok... it looks good and written in appropriate tone from what little i could catch in that mass of shifting tangles of letters and sinuously swaying sentences.
« Last Edit: September 05, 2009, 06:03:38 pm by caster » Logged

I don't know, I don't care, and it doesn't make any difference! - Albert Einstein


The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right.
galsiah
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« Reply #4 on: September 05, 2009, 06:16:13 pm »

In general it looks fine - in particular, setting Int and Cha to 4 seems a good idea to avoid giving out false impressions.

One thing I noticed was that this might be misleading:
Quote
takes 6AP to swing it around and bring it down on someone's head for a normal attack
While it's obvious to you (and pretty clear to me) that the "on someone's head" is just something you added for colour, I'm not sure it'd be obvious to anyone reading about AoD for the first time that it has nothing to do with mechanics. E.g. does a hammer only take 6AP for a normal attack to the head, and 5AP for a normal attack to the torso?

Perhaps it's fine as it is, but there's certainly the potential for misunderstanding - even if it's not too important either way.
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Vince
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« Reply #5 on: September 05, 2009, 06:22:01 pm »

Good point. Thanks.
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Fryjar
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« Reply #6 on: September 05, 2009, 07:07:16 pm »

Not sure if you simply want to include it as a .txt file, but I would suggest making this guide also accessible in the game via a button. Although it is irrational, people are generally more willing to read through it, if they don't have to return to the desktop to access the file.  
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Oscar
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« Reply #7 on: September 05, 2009, 07:32:07 pm »

Of course it will be, especially by pressing F1.
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Tuco Benedicto Pacifico
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« Reply #8 on: September 05, 2009, 10:22:23 pm »

So... Are you close to publish the demo?
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Gregorus Prime
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« Reply #9 on: September 06, 2009, 04:43:52 am »

"Oh, hey there, ITS forumites. I'm sorry, I didn't see you enter. I was just posting this readme for the demo. The demo that's not out yet. The demo that's so close to release you can almost taste it. I can already taste it. I'm tasting it right now. It's delicious. And you don't get to have it yet."

 Angry
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Tuco Benedicto Pacifico
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« Reply #10 on: September 06, 2009, 05:05:53 am »

"Oh, hey there, ITS forumites. I'm sorry, I didn't see you enter. I was just posting this readme for the demo. The demo that's not out yet. The demo that's so close to release you can almost taste it. I can already taste it. I'm tasting it right now. It's delicious. And you don't get to have it yet."

 Angry

"Reading through the lines: Lesson One".
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Vince
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« Reply #11 on: September 06, 2009, 07:06:46 am »

So... Are you close to publish the demo?
ClosER.
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Tuco Benedicto Pacifico
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« Reply #12 on: September 06, 2009, 09:15:45 am »

ClosER.
Not close enough.
Not amused.

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Starwars
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« Reply #13 on: September 06, 2009, 09:58:30 am »

Well done. Informative and easy to understand.

I think the only thing I would add is at the end. "We'd like to inform you again that this demo is solely focused on the combat of Age of Decadence. In the full version of AoD combat will be but one of many ways to progress through the game."

It's mentioned in the beginning, but I think it'd be good to reinforce (just to make sure) the notion that the full game will be quite a different affair.
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Saerden
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« Reply #14 on: September 06, 2009, 11:55:55 am »

[rough draft, reword as you see fit]

THE AGE OF DECADENCE COMBAT BETA

Welcome to the combat beta! The beta set in a small, modified arena not aviable in the main game. Its main purpose is to testdrive and tweak the combat system based on user feedback, as well as detect performance and stability issues. Story elements have been added for your amusement, but do not represent the scope of options in the main game. Everything you see is work in progress (do not expect a switch to CryEngine for the release, though).

We appreciate if you leave feedback, or join us for discussion on our forums at http://www.irontowerstudio.com/forum.

A regular demo featuring the entire first location and the full range of options (alchemy and crafting, sneaking and other thievery, persuasion and diplomacy, lore, trickery ,disguise, forgery and more) will be aviable at release.

The following guide gives you a quick overview over the most important concepts. You can get more information on the exact mechanics by [whatever gives you the information, must be included if you want serious feedback by people who have not been lurking here for 2 years]







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