Zeninja
12-02-06, 05:34
In a few realism-oriented wargames, some units have a plating that you cannot force unless you're using the right calibre or ammo type ; I asked myself if this could apply to Apu damage (and Ppu by extension) in Neocron.
Try to take some real-time strategy games point of view to think about NC pvp balance before you read this.
Basically, the idea consists on changing Psi Shield spell behaviour (it's already in game, but self-cast only for obvious reasons) and make it work together with Resist Psi skill. Psi Shield would be required to make your Psi Resistance active, instead of currently making your mana pool act like a health bar when taking damage.
What I propose, is to make it both foreign and self cast anew, with those bonus :
* Psi Shield (TL 40) : Psi Shield 10 min, PSR +10
* Blessed Psi Shield (TL 75) : Psi Shield 10 min, PSR +20
* Holy Psi Shield (TL 95) : Psi Shield 10 min, PSR +30
This way, speccing enough Psr and/or casting one of the 3 available Psi Shield Spells would allow you to be totally immune to apu/ppu damage for the duration of that spell, as long as your total Psi Resistance is > to your opponent's Penetration. Penetration would stay stable (and eventually hidden) depending on both Opponent's Apupower (see above) and spell's TL (648% dmg on HL = 101 Apupower), but would exceptionnally (I call it the anti god-mode rule) beat a pic depending on an Agressive Random (see above) number generated using a magic formula (rare drop and buildslots like) that only KK could determine.
More simply,
Psi Resistance :
Skill Factors involved: 0.5(50%) PSI + 0.5(50%) PSR
Aggressive Power:
Skill Factors involved: 0.65(65%) APU + 0.35(35%) PPW
Penetration:
(Aggressivepower(of Runner) + Agressiverandom(of Runner)
Damage :
IF Psi Resistance(of Enemy-Runner) < Penetration
THEN Damage = Damagepower(of Runner) + Damagerandom(of Runner).
ELSE Damage = 0
When a Psi attack is blocked by your Psi resistance, no damage at all is done and some visual shield effect (shelter-defl like with different colour) spread around you. If not blocked (or Psi Shield dropped), damage works the same as usual : depends on your resists, SD, and luck ^^
Example of Psi setup for Monk-Hunter PE :
-----------PSI-----------
Current: 35 0
Skill: Passive PSI Use = 61 0
Skill: Agressive PSI Use = 0 0
Skill: Mental Steadiness = 36 0
Skill: PSI Power = 14 0
Skill: Resist PSI = 50 0
That kind of Pe, though clearly inferior 1-on-1 to a zero-Psr Pe, would still have slightly better defense than spies (better CON/STR + nearly equivalent shelter) and cast Damage Boost to stay a bit competitive against regular weapons opponents (rifler, pistoleros, droners, tanks), while his 100 total Psi resistance (50 Psr + 10 from Psi Shield + 35 base Psi + 5 from nightspider) should make him partially immune to uncapped Holy Lightnings and Holy Paras, more immune to Poison/Nrg/Fir Beam, totally immune to Damage Boost, and a living nightmare for most hybrid monks.
Spies couldn't take advantage of Psi Shield to resist high-end spells because of their lack of Psi knowledge, so it would be better for them keeping their current Psi setup optimised for shelter by speccing no Psr.
Tanks : They don't need to spec Psr at all, cause ppu's foreign Holy Psi Shield (+30 Psr) bonus should be enough to counter any ennemy heal, TL25 shelter, TL29 db, while keeping all benefits from blessed/holy ppu spells.
Of course Ppus themselves wouldn't have to invest a lot of points (maybe not even a single one) to be immune to foreign high-end spells (remember : either ppu or apu), since a capped one would already get approx 110 - 125 from his only final Psi level ; all they'd have to look at is their Psi Shield icon not falling. Although, speccing some natural Psr as a ppu would allow perfect immunity to Apus just like a Resser currently needs quite more than 110-125 Res skill to take no risk of failing his job on E parts.
No more noob healed/sheltered, no more freezed, no more damage boosted... if you're a ppu or hybrid !
Now stop screaming, I haven't finished yet :eek:
Finally, Apus : apart from rare solo apus (who don't want Ppu support), they can't have > 60 total Psi resistance because they NEED at least ppu's foreign holy deflector (TL65). So, any monk skilling some apu would get around 50% Psr malus for each point. E.g capped Apu who specced zero Psr with apu 200 and Psi level 120 would get approx (120 - (200 / 2) = 20 total resistance to Psi, so 50 Psr with ppu's Holy Psi Shield. In other words, apus just like tanks couldn't be noob healed/shelter/db but still para'd and antibuffed.
http://saule.free.fr/neocron/zerger.jpg
As illustrated in this picture taken on a dead zerger, zerg's main preoccupations are sex and logging their fucking monks.
To sum up :
- Spies (Psr optionnal, not recommended) stay unchanged
- "Standard" PE's (no Psr) stay unchanged
- Monk Hunter PEs (Psr + self Psi Shield) are practically immune to apu+ppu duos and blessed hybrids
- Tanks (no Psr) cannot be noob buffed/healed/db anymore (+30 Psr from a Ppu supporting with Holy Psi Shield), increasing their chance of surviving an OP fight. Solo they stay unchanged.
- Apus and apu-based hybrids (Psr optional, only recommended for solo pvp) cannot be noob buffed/healed anymore when Psi Shield buffed, but apu+ppu duos can be severly harmed if 3 or more immune PE Hunters are concentrating damage long enough on the same target. They also get a bit nerfed in a apu+ppu duo cause now their full antibuff/shelter/hl combination doesn't work together anymore against : monks, ppu supported tanks and some hunter PEs.
- Tanks, spies and especially PEs become the only classes to worry ppus (who got 150 to 200 total Psi Resistance) and stealthers remain secondary target for opponent monks in melee fights, so a full monk team can't do shit versus a Monk Hunters PE team or Ppus (and vice versa), except by severaly outnumering them. Remember : random anti god-mode rule allows outerpassing of target's total resistance to Psi, so 3 or more Apus concentrating damage long enough on the same PE target shall kill.
Any clan would then have to get at least some non-monks in their team to take care of opponent's ppus (or else they could rez their peepz indefinitely since they're totally immune to monks), and prevent monk hunters to do their new stinger job...
A second version of this stupid idea consists on limiting Psi immunity to only all offensive spells, para/db, eventually antibuffs, then keeping noob heal/shields and ppu foreign heal/shields against opponent available for everyone no matter target's Psr skill.
With some imagination, the same kind of system could as well be suitable on vehicule's armor in NC, for any kind of pvp damage (not especially Psi) : e.g Pain Easer's bullets and Psi Attack 2 should be easily deflected by a Rhino's armour-plating ; they are not atm, and Holy Lightning too...
Try to take some real-time strategy games point of view to think about NC pvp balance before you read this.
Basically, the idea consists on changing Psi Shield spell behaviour (it's already in game, but self-cast only for obvious reasons) and make it work together with Resist Psi skill. Psi Shield would be required to make your Psi Resistance active, instead of currently making your mana pool act like a health bar when taking damage.
What I propose, is to make it both foreign and self cast anew, with those bonus :
* Psi Shield (TL 40) : Psi Shield 10 min, PSR +10
* Blessed Psi Shield (TL 75) : Psi Shield 10 min, PSR +20
* Holy Psi Shield (TL 95) : Psi Shield 10 min, PSR +30
This way, speccing enough Psr and/or casting one of the 3 available Psi Shield Spells would allow you to be totally immune to apu/ppu damage for the duration of that spell, as long as your total Psi Resistance is > to your opponent's Penetration. Penetration would stay stable (and eventually hidden) depending on both Opponent's Apupower (see above) and spell's TL (648% dmg on HL = 101 Apupower), but would exceptionnally (I call it the anti god-mode rule) beat a pic depending on an Agressive Random (see above) number generated using a magic formula (rare drop and buildslots like) that only KK could determine.
More simply,
Psi Resistance :
Skill Factors involved: 0.5(50%) PSI + 0.5(50%) PSR
Aggressive Power:
Skill Factors involved: 0.65(65%) APU + 0.35(35%) PPW
Penetration:
(Aggressivepower(of Runner) + Agressiverandom(of Runner)
Damage :
IF Psi Resistance(of Enemy-Runner) < Penetration
THEN Damage = Damagepower(of Runner) + Damagerandom(of Runner).
ELSE Damage = 0
When a Psi attack is blocked by your Psi resistance, no damage at all is done and some visual shield effect (shelter-defl like with different colour) spread around you. If not blocked (or Psi Shield dropped), damage works the same as usual : depends on your resists, SD, and luck ^^
Example of Psi setup for Monk-Hunter PE :
-----------PSI-----------
Current: 35 0
Skill: Passive PSI Use = 61 0
Skill: Agressive PSI Use = 0 0
Skill: Mental Steadiness = 36 0
Skill: PSI Power = 14 0
Skill: Resist PSI = 50 0
That kind of Pe, though clearly inferior 1-on-1 to a zero-Psr Pe, would still have slightly better defense than spies (better CON/STR + nearly equivalent shelter) and cast Damage Boost to stay a bit competitive against regular weapons opponents (rifler, pistoleros, droners, tanks), while his 100 total Psi resistance (50 Psr + 10 from Psi Shield + 35 base Psi + 5 from nightspider) should make him partially immune to uncapped Holy Lightnings and Holy Paras, more immune to Poison/Nrg/Fir Beam, totally immune to Damage Boost, and a living nightmare for most hybrid monks.
Spies couldn't take advantage of Psi Shield to resist high-end spells because of their lack of Psi knowledge, so it would be better for them keeping their current Psi setup optimised for shelter by speccing no Psr.
Tanks : They don't need to spec Psr at all, cause ppu's foreign Holy Psi Shield (+30 Psr) bonus should be enough to counter any ennemy heal, TL25 shelter, TL29 db, while keeping all benefits from blessed/holy ppu spells.
Of course Ppus themselves wouldn't have to invest a lot of points (maybe not even a single one) to be immune to foreign high-end spells (remember : either ppu or apu), since a capped one would already get approx 110 - 125 from his only final Psi level ; all they'd have to look at is their Psi Shield icon not falling. Although, speccing some natural Psr as a ppu would allow perfect immunity to Apus just like a Resser currently needs quite more than 110-125 Res skill to take no risk of failing his job on E parts.
No more noob healed/sheltered, no more freezed, no more damage boosted... if you're a ppu or hybrid !
Now stop screaming, I haven't finished yet :eek:
Finally, Apus : apart from rare solo apus (who don't want Ppu support), they can't have > 60 total Psi resistance because they NEED at least ppu's foreign holy deflector (TL65). So, any monk skilling some apu would get around 50% Psr malus for each point. E.g capped Apu who specced zero Psr with apu 200 and Psi level 120 would get approx (120 - (200 / 2) = 20 total resistance to Psi, so 50 Psr with ppu's Holy Psi Shield. In other words, apus just like tanks couldn't be noob healed/shelter/db but still para'd and antibuffed.
http://saule.free.fr/neocron/zerger.jpg
As illustrated in this picture taken on a dead zerger, zerg's main preoccupations are sex and logging their fucking monks.
To sum up :
- Spies (Psr optionnal, not recommended) stay unchanged
- "Standard" PE's (no Psr) stay unchanged
- Monk Hunter PEs (Psr + self Psi Shield) are practically immune to apu+ppu duos and blessed hybrids
- Tanks (no Psr) cannot be noob buffed/healed/db anymore (+30 Psr from a Ppu supporting with Holy Psi Shield), increasing their chance of surviving an OP fight. Solo they stay unchanged.
- Apus and apu-based hybrids (Psr optional, only recommended for solo pvp) cannot be noob buffed/healed anymore when Psi Shield buffed, but apu+ppu duos can be severly harmed if 3 or more immune PE Hunters are concentrating damage long enough on the same target. They also get a bit nerfed in a apu+ppu duo cause now their full antibuff/shelter/hl combination doesn't work together anymore against : monks, ppu supported tanks and some hunter PEs.
- Tanks, spies and especially PEs become the only classes to worry ppus (who got 150 to 200 total Psi Resistance) and stealthers remain secondary target for opponent monks in melee fights, so a full monk team can't do shit versus a Monk Hunters PE team or Ppus (and vice versa), except by severaly outnumering them. Remember : random anti god-mode rule allows outerpassing of target's total resistance to Psi, so 3 or more Apus concentrating damage long enough on the same PE target shall kill.
Any clan would then have to get at least some non-monks in their team to take care of opponent's ppus (or else they could rez their peepz indefinitely since they're totally immune to monks), and prevent monk hunters to do their new stinger job...
A second version of this stupid idea consists on limiting Psi immunity to only all offensive spells, para/db, eventually antibuffs, then keeping noob heal/shields and ppu foreign heal/shields against opponent available for everyone no matter target's Psr skill.
With some imagination, the same kind of system could as well be suitable on vehicule's armor in NC, for any kind of pvp damage (not especially Psi) : e.g Pain Easer's bullets and Psi Attack 2 should be easily deflected by a Rhino's armour-plating ; they are not atm, and Holy Lightning too...