Re: selective monster spawning per dungeon or category of dungeon
Posted: Sun Nov 17, 2019 9:41 am
Well, you can use the trick already in use in the tables: duplicate values. That has to be done somewhat carefully because it will shift the odds for those duplicates, but without changing the selection mechanics that's the way to go.
I did some analysis to compare classic and alternate random enemies selections:
(characters above level 20 are handled like level 20)
Classic: Alternate: (heatmaps generated using heatmapper)
At character level 1, classic puts more focus on the first 3 monster slots (for Privateer's Hold, which is a human stronghold, that would mean more warriors, rogues and rats than bears, archers and nightblades).
At level 2, it loosens a bit its focus on first slots, and does not open an additional slot like alternate does (so for PH that means adding more bears to the mix, but not adding giant bats yet).
Alternate selection probably makes PH a little bit more dangerous, I don't know how significant you feel it is.
As character level raises, classic lowers the probability of low level monsters, but never totally eradicates them.
On the other difficulty side, starting with character level 6, there's a small chance of any random monster slot (if you look closely at the heatmap, the background changes from solid black to very dark grey), so you can get some "surprise" monster in classic that alternate does not have.
At character level 19 onward, alternate has a problem: it picks from less slots than classic, and starting from level 20 it uses only 4 slots while classic uses 6; So contrary to its goal (increase monsters randomness), it actually lessens monsters variety in end game.
I think the latter problem should be fixed, but overall I think alternate lacks several of the good properties of classic...
I did some analysis to compare classic and alternate random enemies selections:
(characters above level 20 are handled like level 20)
Classic: Alternate: (heatmaps generated using heatmapper)
At character level 1, classic puts more focus on the first 3 monster slots (for Privateer's Hold, which is a human stronghold, that would mean more warriors, rogues and rats than bears, archers and nightblades).
At level 2, it loosens a bit its focus on first slots, and does not open an additional slot like alternate does (so for PH that means adding more bears to the mix, but not adding giant bats yet).
Alternate selection probably makes PH a little bit more dangerous, I don't know how significant you feel it is.
As character level raises, classic lowers the probability of low level monsters, but never totally eradicates them.
On the other difficulty side, starting with character level 6, there's a small chance of any random monster slot (if you look closely at the heatmap, the background changes from solid black to very dark grey), so you can get some "surprise" monster in classic that alternate does not have.
At character level 19 onward, alternate has a problem: it picks from less slots than classic, and starting from level 20 it uses only 4 slots while classic uses 6; So contrary to its goal (increase monsters randomness), it actually lessens monsters variety in end game.
I think the latter problem should be fixed, but overall I think alternate lacks several of the good properties of classic...