Vaecrius

It just occurred to me how much work it would take to get sprites for each possible PC if the next Avernum had a larger variety of weapons. Let's take a look at the list so far: Single knife** Single sword Sword and shield* Spear Sling* Sling and shield* Bow Bow and shield** Javelin Javelin and shield** (*doesn't have its own sprite set in A4) (**doesn't have its own sprite set in AT) I've simplified things by assuming that magic could use your normal attack animation and that greatswords are handled like spears. So four to eight weapons times four to eight directions = 16 to 64 sprites. And then you've got about five (at least, don't remember the number) animation frames for each attack, meaning at least 20 frames added for each new PC sprite for each different-looking weapon... that's at least an hour of work, even at relatively low resolutions! I'm thinking about all this, of course, because I'm going to suggest in this post support for custom PC graphics without overwriting the regular artwork.

Seems like the randomized thing was better received than I anticipated. Sooo... yet even more suggestions YAY: Click on enemy "You do not have enough AP to attack." Click on enemy "You do not have enough AP to attack." "Hmm. Guess I really can't attack!" Use item. Space. "[next person]'s turn."

I've been thinking (not always a good sign, but)... how about a KO state where the character is down but not out so they could be raised with something simpler like healing or first aid, instead of going all the way back to town, and they still get XP for the rest of the fight? Also, I'm probably going to be skewered for this one, but... randomized areas? Here's a better idea, though: the ability, in character creation, to type in the value of a stat, instead of increasing it by clicking on the buttons.

Chuck: Well, for what it's worth I like the shotwand idea, hell it sounds like the kind of thing you could've done in the original Exile... but sadly since then Jeff has had this weird thing about "game balance" or whatnot... On a completely different note, has anyone at any point ever suggested a hex grid instead of a square grid for a future game, and if so how was that received?

Quote: Originally written by Thuryl: Riposting is, uh, the art of holding your sword at such an angle that opponents accidentally run into it while attacking you. Yeah, that's it. That's actually a perfectly legitimate (and basic) defence in Italian rapier. Hmm... maybe the victim moves very slowly, but he freezes again just as the attacker commits to striking and doesn't have time to correct his position... Normally, though, I tend to think of Averum's riposte mechanic not so much a classical beat-sword-hit-swordsman move so much as a medieval counter-cut where your swords glance off each other, the defender's sword glancing towards the attacker and the attacker's sword glancing away. It takes a lot more finesse than a whack-stab riposte, but you can do it in a single motion without telegraphing anything - roughly the effect you see with Avernum's riposte. EDIT: English has a lot of prepositions with very subtle differences in meaning. o_O

I'll second the tank advice... I don't know if you can without it, but while using the blade charm (?) necklace he was even able to, uh, parry and riposte while frozen. o_O

Quote: Originally written by Mu: Or if you clicked the square next to the enemy instead of on the enemy. I want the classic Avernum targeting. - That's the funny thing in my case... I can see exactly how that happens, and agree that it's a reasonable mistake, yet oddly enough it's the one targeting problem I've never had. XD Switching between A4 and BoA I've also noticed one thing: with the old targeting system, the letter above a baddie's head helps reveal them if they're right behind a wall - a point clearly visible from the PCs' position but hidden from the player.

After a couple fights requiring about a dozen reloads each I'm going to second other posters' desire for the older targeting system... too many of those reloads happened after either my tank or my spellcaster rushed into the enemy/let an enemy live long enough to wipe out the party because I didn't notice I had the wrong weapon as "default".

Or a frequently rejected suggestions thread/post/page... I just read the entire discussion on GIFTS PCs in the other Av5 thread. o_O On that note... I'd really like to see some very, very different-looking mouse cursors for when a click would move, make a melee attack, shoot a ranged weapon, or cast a spell.

Speaking of which... I'm going to get burned for this... but... GIFTS PC ::ducks and covers::

Mister Fox: Yeah, that's one of the odd things I've found about necromancers in Avernum. I would've thought it was something exile-worthy, as long as you weren't actually killing people for the bodies, unless the culture of the Empire had some issues about the dead... which is odd given you never have the option as adventurers to give the bodies you find (and loot) anything like a dignified burial. Alorael: I see. Dintiradan: I could imagine Bob doing such a thing if he were desperate or the adventurers had some other mitigating factor about them (e.g., if the Big Bad is a fellow necromancer, knowing the enemy better than anyon else available)... but I suspect that would play out much, much better on an Avernum tabletop game. (Speaking of which... has anyone tried such a thing?) One thing I'm reminded of that I'd really like to see in a future Avernum game: the dissolution of the eight-legged invertebrate. It would be awesome if you could have a formation and the PCs would sorta roughly stick to it, occasionally moving out of it when it makes sense (e.g., one PC stepping towards another to transfer an item between them). Might make certain states like confusion and encumbrance be relevant outside of combat as well...

Quote: Originally written by Zombie Fillet Mignon: Avernum doesn't have character classes, so a new one would be quite a trick. - I'm pretty sure he meant those pre-gen "classes" that you can use if you don't want to go full custom on everyone. That said, I don't think a necromancer would be all that playable anyway. I could imagine the whole summon/create undead thing leading to some Geneforge-like play, but it would seriously hurt the main game of building up your adventurers that the Avernum games are so much about. Other combat bonuses might apply too, but do you really want an adventurer who only really shines when fighting one specific kind of enemy? I suppose such a character could also talk to the dead, but that would lead to having to create a whole new set of dialogue and scripts that a player could easily miss every time (or force the player to pick up otherwise useless necromancy skills). But an entire game (or BoA adventure?) about necromancy... now that would make it worth it! Alorael: Don't mind me asking but it seems like you have a different name every other post... what's up with that?

Kelandon: Thanks for the welcome. As for why anyone would care... immersion, suspension of disbelief, another little extra bit that keeps the player engrossed in a surprisingly detailed world. Same reason why the world is filled with pickupable pieces of trash and household objects that you never actually use. Or quest-giving NPCs that reveal very human motivations in their dialog, rather than just "bring X to Y after killing Z" and you never deal with them again. As for mechanical effects... I never really gave it much thought when I wrote that list. ^^; I suppose the bola would be more valuable for slowing down a target rather than hurting them directly, and shields might be more common as more weapons are one-handed. Ephesos: I personally like the balance as it is now. Most of my characters (almost all of whom are human) have XP penalties ranging from 20-40 anyway thanks to the traits. It's a bit like the choice between "X class" and "Custom" - you can get a bonus you know has been tested to work, or pick something more basic that you can experiment with. Of course, it could just be that I don't really know how to use the non-human advantages correctly...

Hi, everyone, first post... the following's been bugging me for a while and this thread seemed to be the perfect place to put it. So... "one" thing I'd like to see in the next Avernum game, which has been brewing in the back of my mind for the past couple days since I first gave it any thought... More "traditional Avernite" Stone Age weaponry. It seems really weird to me that, for instance, the sliths who only live underground would be good with full-length polearms - where does the wood for the shafts come from? And why make a stone short sword (a real-life version of which might snap if you gripped it too tightly) if an axe head secured to a sturdy femur would most likely do far more damage without losing its (admittedly dull) edge? So, as a rough list of the things that would be totally awesome... Knives: I'd like to see these get a little more prominence. A culture that emphasizes the importance of the simple, all-purpose knife - be it stone, bronze, or steel - could really help give Avernum the "resourceful frontier folk" feel. Whips: short, long, barbed, studded with little obsidian bits, made from the business end of an ooze crawler, it's all good. Probably paired with an off-hand knife, the whip both defending and making openings for the knife to strike. I think this kind of fighting would work very nicely for the nephilim. Clubs/hammers/maces/axes: Head and femur mentioned above. Possibly throwable. Flails: I'm imagining three main components: a 2' handle of bone or wood, a 1' strap of braided leather, and a knobby tin or copper ball hollowed out and filled with lead. Bronze or steel rings might fit the pieces together on more expensive models. Nunchaku: Pretty much the same as flails. Slings: I'm a bit surprised these disappeared after Nethergate or so, since they seemed to be the perfect cheap Iron Age underdog's equalizer. There are enough rivers in the caves to provide the stones. Bolas: Leather straps and rocks. Could be string, too, but I'm still assuming some limited plant fibers at the time they'd become popular. Staffs: Bone or bronze nine-section whip. Possibly secured with spider silk. Bows: The image in my head is perhaps best described by the neologism, "mongolpunk". A twisted, ponderous thing of bone and sinew made from the parts of a who-knows-what, far stronger than the Empire's wood contraptions, usually firiing tragically misshapen bone-shafted arrows. Properly-shaped (and longer!) wood arrows would be a rare and deadly treat. Of course, this would really change the "feel" of bows to be more like something associated with sliths than nephilim... Mini-spears: The sliths are much taller than any of the races except the Vahnatai, so they've still got a reach advantage even if they don't have super-long polearms. Two to three feet plus a sturdy leather shield with barbs to catch the opponent's weapon should be enough to allow for a thrust-based fencing style not dissimilar to the kind taught by Fabris (and the tails would help them lean even further forward than a human can!) Darts: Say, weren't these in the Exile games? Sorta like a micro-javelin, but a bit easier to carry in large numbers. And easier to fit onto an atlatl. Advantage over bow and arrow? Portability, I suppose - and less reliance on heavy pulling. EDIT: But then again, considering how long these things actually are, they could still get pretty expensive... On a side note, I'd really like to see those neat single-edged falcata-like weapons pictured in places like the Avernum 1 splash pic ingame. EDIT: And yeah, poisoning weapons (and botching) was pretty fun in Exile, if not quite the most practical thing in the world... would hate to put acid on any weapon, though.