Abyss Ambulator
Posts: 1131
Joined: Tuesday, 4th January 2011, 15:03
Summoning proposal
I really like the recent changes to summoning: the cap for number of summons and especially that they do not fight out of LOS. I feel that they are way better and more interesting than before.
I still feel that there is a tedious (and strong) tactic for summoners that I do not like. For summons that have long duration it's still optimal to walk around (on the same level) with them, and put a line in the init.rc to let you always resummon them when they disappear. Yes, it's tedious so I won't do it, but it worths it.: it's not a "minor" gain in safety. The summoner is most vulnerable when she meet something dangerous without her summons.
I think there are two ways to get rid of the tedium - and it's possible to use both on different spells. So divide summons into two main category:
1. The first is to simply give such summons infinite duration (ie. they never time out). Yes, this makes them stronger, but I think only in theory, because in practice you can keep them up anyway. If a spell would be too strong, I propose some ways to weaken:
a.) lessen the cap for the spell
b.) Name these summons "familiars" or something, and do not let resummon them after they die for a short period (1-3 turns).
c.) Name these summons "familiars" or something, and give a cap for the total number of familiars, so you cannot go around with 20 infinite duration monsters.
2. Dramatically shorten the duration if they are out of battle. After a number of turns (~20) if they do not fight with any monster, they should time out quickly. If the battle is long, their duration can remain as now. I would implement it that in period of peace either they time out or their duration is not decreased at all (if a new monster comes into sight). By fight I do not mean that they actually attack, I mean that they chose a target (maybe they can't attack it because there are other summons in the way, or they just move towards it, etc.)
The strange new behaviour of stairs is loosly related to this problem. I understand that summons dissapear on stairs because it would be optimal to always summon a lot of monsters before descending. However in practice I feel that it's not easy to balance summoners, because while entering a new level is very dangerous for everyone, it's extremly dangerous for a summoner compared to other battles. If 1 b) and c) gets implemented, than it may be possible to allow for familiars (and only for familiars) to travel on stairs.
(Note: I think that summoners are still strong, my proposal aims to improve gameplay and let balance be achieved by tweaking the individual spells. If a spell would be too strong with these changes, weaken it, raise it's level, etc.)
I still feel that there is a tedious (and strong) tactic for summoners that I do not like. For summons that have long duration it's still optimal to walk around (on the same level) with them, and put a line in the init.rc to let you always resummon them when they disappear. Yes, it's tedious so I won't do it, but it worths it.: it's not a "minor" gain in safety. The summoner is most vulnerable when she meet something dangerous without her summons.
I think there are two ways to get rid of the tedium - and it's possible to use both on different spells. So divide summons into two main category:
1. The first is to simply give such summons infinite duration (ie. they never time out). Yes, this makes them stronger, but I think only in theory, because in practice you can keep them up anyway. If a spell would be too strong, I propose some ways to weaken:
a.) lessen the cap for the spell
b.) Name these summons "familiars" or something, and do not let resummon them after they die for a short period (1-3 turns).
c.) Name these summons "familiars" or something, and give a cap for the total number of familiars, so you cannot go around with 20 infinite duration monsters.
2. Dramatically shorten the duration if they are out of battle. After a number of turns (~20) if they do not fight with any monster, they should time out quickly. If the battle is long, their duration can remain as now. I would implement it that in period of peace either they time out or their duration is not decreased at all (if a new monster comes into sight). By fight I do not mean that they actually attack, I mean that they chose a target (maybe they can't attack it because there are other summons in the way, or they just move towards it, etc.)
The strange new behaviour of stairs is loosly related to this problem. I understand that summons dissapear on stairs because it would be optimal to always summon a lot of monsters before descending. However in practice I feel that it's not easy to balance summoners, because while entering a new level is very dangerous for everyone, it's extremly dangerous for a summoner compared to other battles. If 1 b) and c) gets implemented, than it may be possible to allow for familiars (and only for familiars) to travel on stairs.
(Note: I think that summoners are still strong, my proposal aims to improve gameplay and let balance be achieved by tweaking the individual spells. If a spell would be too strong with these changes, weaken it, raise it's level, etc.)