[MOD] Meaner Monsters

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Ralzar
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[MOD] Meaner Monsters

Post by Ralzar »

Meaner Monsters
Adjusting some of the monsters in the game to be more in line with the threat level they should have.

Download

Many thanks to Hazelnut for supplying the code structure I used to build this :)

Summary:
  • Debuff rats/bats for a slightly softer start in Privateers Hold.
  • Debuffs Spiders and Scorpions slightly, to make up for their paralysis effect.
  • Buff Werewolfs/Wereboars. Generally more durability for boars, and more armor for wolves.
  • Buffs Bears and Tigers. Generally more durability for bears, more armor/damage for tigers.
  • Buffs Highest tier mobs like Deadra Lords, Liches and Vampire Ancients
  • Buffs Mummies.
  • Buffs Giants.
  • Buffs all Orc types.
  • Debuffs zombies.
  • Increases Werewolf and Wereboar size
Specific changes as of now:

(Each modded monster is first listed with vanilla stats and then modded stats marked in red)

MeanerMonsters1.4.PNG
MeanerMonsters1.4.PNG (37.61 KiB) Viewed 7019 times


This is just how I set the stats. I am very open to discussing these changes and any others you might think of.




Here is an excel file of all moddable monsters and their stats:
DFU Monsters.zip
(9.79 KiB) Downloaded 453 times
For example: Why are all atronachs identical? Should there be stat diffrences between them? If so, what?


Modding other parts
The stats I have modded here are pretty much the ONLY stats I can mod at the moment. I can also change sound effects, but not much more. Stuff I can not do at the moment, but would if I could:

Mod humanoid enemies.
Mod monster spells.
Add new monsters.
Last edited by Ralzar on Wed Mar 04, 2020 9:41 pm, edited 4 times in total.

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pango
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Re: [MOD] Meaner Monsters

Post by pango »

Excellent idea, I will check that mod ASAP :)
Ralzar wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2020 12:13 pm The stats I have modded here are pretty much the ONLY stats I can mod at the moment.
Right.
Something I'd really like to see modded is the Advanced combat AI. Right now it's not modular so all enemies move the same for example. It would make sense that some enemies backpedal while others don't, etc.
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King of Worms
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Re: [MOD] Meaner Monsters

Post by King of Worms »

I like this idea and I hope you will be able to extend the mod the way you want!

Just a small issue in the tab - the Giant Rat has the lines swapped, numbers in the red are the original values. Rest of the tab appears correct.

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Ralzar
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Re: [MOD] Meaner Monsters

Post by Ralzar »

King of Worms wrote: Mon Feb 03, 2020 3:01 pm I like this idea and I hope you will be able to extend the mod the way you want!

Just a small issue in the tab - the Giant Rat has the lines swapped, numbers in the red are the original values. Rest of the tab appears correct.
Hm, damn. No, that's actually correct I see now that I wound up mostly buffing rats. I guess I edited the numbers back and forth so much I lost track of what they originally were :D

The idea was that giant bats would be hard to hit but really fragile, while giant rats were easier to hit, but took a pounding. I'll have to fix that in the next update. Maybe make their armor even worse and lower their max damage. The idea was that since a rat was the first enemy in the game, it should be relatively easy to hit it but the combat should take a little while without the rat killing you right away.

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King of Worms
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Re: [MOD] Meaner Monsters

Post by King of Worms »

Oh I see, I agree with this idea

ZerioctheTank
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Re: [MOD] Meaner Monsters

Post by ZerioctheTank »

How many mods can I install before it's too much? Everything looks so good! Thank you for all the hard work you've put into all of these wonderful projects.

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Dubiousintent
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Re: [MOD] Meaner Monsters

Post by Dubiousintent »

Having just been through a long session of building up a weapon from sub-10 skill as a level 1 against rats and bats and the occasional thief in Crypts (on a "slow leveling" strategy with a mid-30s skill to bail me out when I got too injured), I think you need to consider that a starting character has a "Dodge" skill probably less than 20, some leather armor (at best) and not even that against the first rat in Privateer's Hold. You've made the rat with 1 more point of armor (harder to hit) and double the hit points. So a 1-4 damage attack that keeps on coming until you manage to outscore the rat with an Iron Dagger (1-6)-1, or with the Ebony Dagger (1-6)+4 is typically a fatal combination due the disparity of DPS.

Outside of that, your current change has flipped the relative difficulty of the rat versus the bat, which will confuse anyone based upon what they probably have heard from Classic material.

Given your target audience with this mod is experienced players, that is not so bad. (After a certain point of skill, they will make excellent weapon trainers. The bats will be good for working up "Dodge".) But if you are trying to make it easier for beginning players to get started, those rats are much more difficult than Classic. You might want to caution players to disable the mod until they have gotten out of PH.

Personally I think you need some nerfed rats in PH, and then these "meaner rats" outside of it.

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Jay_H
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Re: [MOD] Meaner Monsters

Post by Jay_H »

Ralzar didn't mean to buff the rats, as told above. They'll be weaker in the next version ;)

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Ralzar
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Re: [MOD] Meaner Monsters

Post by Ralzar »

I'll see when I can get another version of this out. I'm a bit stuck in some crazy bugfixing with C&C atm.



I just want to take a moment to comment on this bastard:

ZOMBIE
Min Dmg: 15
Max Dmg: 50
Min HP: 52
Max HP: 66
Level: 10
Armor: 0

I just... WHAT? No wonder those guys are monsters. Just compare it to the Giant, which has lower stats in EVERYTHING. Particularly Armor 0 is hard to defend. This makes them pretty damn hard to hit. They have the same armor as an unmodded Orc Warlord?!
This could make sense if zombies were supposed to be some kind of frankensteins monster. But that's what flesh atronachs are for? I'm happy to make this mod just to fix that one enemy. Now finally people won't be killed over and over and over by the King Of Worms messenger at least :D

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Dubiousintent
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Re: [MOD] Meaner Monsters

Post by Dubiousintent »

Wha...? Oh, right. This is a THAC0 based system, isn't it? (THAC0 = "To Hit AC0", which is the most protective class of armor from the original Dungeons & Dragons system.) Not how I initially took those Armor numbers, which was why I felt the need to comment originally; because I thought rats were getting harder to hit.

Never mind me. Carry on.

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