Auto-battle commands

For combat stuff that doesn't fit into any of the other forums.
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Rias
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Auto-battle commands

Post by Rias »

We finally have some auto-battle commands!

- BATTLE for melee weapons
- BARRAGE for ranged weapons (doesn't quite work yet with crossbows, alas - getting to it)
- TRANCE for bolt spells (e.g. channeled sorcery)

These will toggle the auto-battle system which attempts to automatically retaliate against incoming attacks. It will attempt to retaliate within a second or two of being attacked in order to avoid roundtime-induced defense penalties, but is not smart enough to intelligently handle timing with multiple enemies or to recognize faster attacks (Feint, Quickstrike, etc.) that are less safe to immediately retaliate against. It makes no use of active special attacks, abilities, or spells.

Feint and Quickstrike have had their roundtimes lowered to 2 (Qstrike's cooldown also increased from 7 to 10) in order to be extra useful in goading auto-battlers into retaliating and opening themselves up to a quick counter with their now RT-induced defense penalty.

Additional combat updates are in the works. The intent is that auto-battle will be fairly standard play, but skill and timing will still come into play for executing special moves to stack up advantages/disadvantages. Auto-battle on its own may well be effective enough against mobs without any particularly tricky movesets or AIs, which should hopefully make the grind aspect more bearable to people who struggle with the combat system for whatever reason. But beware the tricky mobs and CvC players who will potentially be able to manipulate an opponent's auto-battle logic and predictability to their own advantage!
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Candelori
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Re: Auto-battle commands

Post by Candelori »

On one hand, I feel the auto-battle makes combat a good deal easier to manage and takes some of the feeling of tactical timing and skill out of it. On the other hand, it does feel enormously convenient, which I am enjoying despite myself.

In the end I believe I am in favor of the auto-battle system. While it does feel less tactical and involved to engage in basic combat, the additional combat updates of lowered defenses do cause me to be struck more often and this adds some sense of danger to keep me alert, whereas before I was confident I was at virtually no risk so long as I managed my balance and timing correctly. The latter could end up feeling stale and unremarkable due to the lack of real risk. While I enjoy the idea of more complicated and in-depth combat experiences, I will allow that this lowering of the barrier of entry to those who have less interest in managing the combat system is not a bad thing. I do look forward to combat encounters that are not so easily handled by auto-battle and require some tactical thought, but perhaps I am simply not yet skilled enough to have reached those areas.
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Navi
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Re: Auto-battle commands

Post by Navi »

I figured I'd post here rather than bug it since it's a new feature and all. It seems that barrage doesn't work with hurled items. It just acts like you're about to begin battling, but nothing happens.
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Rias
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Location: Wandering Temicotli

Re: Auto-battle commands

Post by Rias »

1. Fixed a bug that was preventing BARRAGE from working with hurled weapons sometimes
2. BARRAGE and TRANCE will now auto-attack regardless of timing when the attacker is in hiding (auto-battle usually waits for an attack and then retaliates, in order to try and avoid being hit while in high RT)
3. Please use the BUG command to report bugs even if they're part of new features
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