Github Fork: Ranged Weapons, Monsters follow player and/or flee.

[Voom]

I'm lovin' this progress and ima cheer! Keep it up!

[twirlimp]

Ranged attacked should not be used to shoot if there is an unwalkable tile between you.
This is very fair since if it were melee combat, you wouldn't be able to attack either.

I like the behaviour of attacked foes very much, that they come after you.
But if you stay behind some Monster blocking the passage, the other foes behind stay where they are. They could be attacked without any risk:

Using this is not really fair, but useful...

Ok I made attacked monsters flee away when they can't find a path towards you.
This should make grinding loot much harder.

Now I'm not sure if I should block the arrow path with unwalkable tiles.


I mean, if the tile unwalkable, and there's no path around it, then:

a) The monster will flee outside range and you can't attack.
b) You have no way to get the loot -- since the monster couldn't find a path then there probably isn't one.

Ranged weapons now have a chance to "Stun" for a number of rounds, making monsters incapable of movement and attack.

This compensates for the very low accuracy but isn't a good choice for XP grinding because it'll be a slow fight.

[twirlimp]

I think it is fair indeed, and does not give too many disadvantages to foes.
On the other hand it is not realistic not to be able to shoot e.g. across a river.
Some thoughts:

I put into spoiler for better reading

I fear that for realistic behaviour the only way is to enhance the whole map:
A shooting-possible attribute is necessary.
But instead of adding only this, I'd rather have added the type of tile, e.g.:
1.plain
2.massive (no walk, no shooting) like wall, pillars, ...
3.water (no walk, shooting possible)
4.fire (no walk, shooting possible)
5.permeable (no walk, shooting possible) like tree, fence, table, ...
6. ...

This is a real huge effort, I know. But if one starts reengineering, such information is not more work than just adding shooting-possible attribute. And surely this could be used for later additions.

But I agree to Zukero and would not do it now.

So I also vote for using the walkable attribute as shooting-possible now.


- Bow with criticals - why not? Maybe a candidate for a new legendary item?


Just some more things:

1) In one aim mode, equipped with a bow, I could just pass through all monsters. (bug or a feature? )

2) Now I'd like to switch weapon from bow to sword and back often. Maybe it is possible to change the inventary, so that new or unequipped items gets in first inventary position instead of last?

3) Should it be possible for foes to shoot arrows too?


By the way: Cleaning Gargoyles Cave is much faster now

Omg I just noticed this post! I'm really sorry!

Anyway I'll respond to your points now.

Currently arrows are not blocked by unwalkable tiles since monsters just flee away.
Also, most ranged weapons don't really have much range so there is only a slight chance of, for example, shooting over an entire house.

I would also like to think that the player is able to aim up into the sky and make arrows rain.
(That's the reason for the huge accuracy debuffs, right?

Other points

1) Yeah I noticed the free-walking and fixed the aim mode

2) I will look into putting the unequipped items first instead of last. It will probably be a few minutes' work.

3) It's definitely possible to give ranged weapons to monsters although I'm not sure if we should do it.
But I think it has to be a short range (3-4 tiles) because at 5-6 it's very likely that the monsters will be shooting arrows over buildings from impossible-to-reach locations.

At 5-6 attack ange, all players would be forced to carry either a ranged weapon and a ton of health potions when walking into enemy archer maps.

Although I'm already imagining a map with an archer standing on a tower and shooting you when you get in range.
I've also added a hidden feature of remote-talking in case we ever need to make characters shout across a field.
So yeah it could make a good quest.

[twirlimp]

since bows can be used to aim different body parts like neck, head, forehead, arms, legs etc., so, IMO instead of having critical chance we can have an accuracy chance which will give extra damage when arrows hits vulnerable parts enemies.

Ok so I added a new ability effect that activates when the arrow hits (depending on the chance).

I called it "Minor Stun" and it freezes the monster and lowers his block chance by 50%.
(This is because when a monster is stunned it is easier to focus on him and target the critical spots)

Is this similar to what you had in mind?

I also buffed up the damage a bit in case someone wants to test it on anything stronger than a rat. XD

[twirlimp]

Now I'd like to switch weapon from bow to sword and back often. Maybe it is possible to change the inventary, so that new or unequipped items gets in first inventary position instead of last?

I made unequipped items go to first position by default.

I don't think this will annoy anyone but if someone complains then I'll add it to the settings menu.

[twirlimp]

The new apk is up! rangedbeta_02

Proper monster fleeing, better automatic targeting,

new stun ability to weapons, weapon stat changes,

repeatable log messages, log messages for weapon abilities, unequipped items go to top of inv...

And bug fixes!

Protip If you're using the "Safe Aim" option and are not wearing accuracy items, then monster fleeing will annoy you a lot.
Fleeing monsters will exit combat every time you engage them, and if you're accuracy is low then you will be pressing "Safe Aim" a lot.

[twirlimp]

I'm lovin' this progress and ima cheer! Keep it up!

I added an icon for Aim Mode

I also moved the "Enable Auto-Aim" button to the game preferences menu XD

And monsters are fleeing hilariously

[ace]

Ok so I added a new ability effect that activates when the arrow hits (depending on the chance).

I called it "Minor Stun" and it freezes the monster and lowers his block chance by 50%.
(This is because when a monster is stunned it is easier to focus on him and target the critical spots)

Is this similar to what you had in mind?

I also buffed up the damage a bit in case someone wants to test it on anything stronger than a rat. XD

yeah, kind of.


and what about tapping an enemy from some distance to engage in combat rather than pressing the "aim button"??

[twirlimp]

Ok so I added a new ability effect that activates when the arrow hits (depending on the chance).

I called it "Minor Stun" and it freezes the monster and lowers his block chance by 50%.
(This is because when a monster is stunned it is easier to focus on him and target the critical spots)

Is this similar to what you had in mind?

I also buffed up the damage a bit in case someone wants to test it on anything stronger than a rat. XD

yeah, kind of.


and what about tapping an enemy from some distance to engage in combat rather than pressing the "aim button"??

Yeah you have to enable "Auto Aim" in the game preferences.

I just made it Off by default because it's safer that way.

[Voom]

I added an icon for Aim Mode

I also moved the "Enable Auto-Aim" button to the game preferences menu XD

And monsters are fleeing hilariously

Awesome, I'm lovin' it. Gotta try it soon, haven't yet...

and what about tapping an enemy from some distance to engage in combat rather than pressing the "aim button"??

[/quote]

You can use settings to aim that way. Can turn it on/off. That's what I know.