XP! Everyone loves to have it, especially when it means getting stronger, faster – you know the drill. But what everybody hates is having to walk back to sleep and level up, knowing that every fight and every scrap of experience you collect along the way is utterly wasted. And that’s not even the worst part. The worst part is sitting at the current level cap and knowing that playing the game more won’t help you out at all the next time we bump it up! Doesn’t that just burn you up?
It does for Savin.
Well, there are a few reasons I built the game to work that way. Initially I wanted to avoid an exponential experience system (I always hated when XP numbers got ridiculous), but I also wanted to avoid players leveling up too fast. In order to keep the player from hitting level 8 by the time they finished Mhen’ga, I established a system that required heading back to town to level up, ensuring that by the time you finished running around on a planet, you could only snag one more level before heading off to the next.
Yes, it’s still possible to farm levels in that way, but the game was never intended to be played in such a way. More pressingly, the artificial headache that I introduced by having it work that way was bothersome to my staff and myself. So I bit the bullet and converted us to a more exponential experience system. All the NPCs in the game have been swapped to generate an XP value based on their level (with bosses giving double). What this means is I’m going to start letting you bank XP beyond your current level.
It also means that I’m slowing down leveling a bit, and that lower level enemies should be even less efficient for leveling up now. Level 5 enemies might give 5,000 XP now, but if you’re level 7, you’ll want to smack the level 7 foes and collect 15,000 XP each from them. The numbers are subject to change, of course. That’s the beauty of how I have it set up. I can change one formula, and the whole system automatically aligns itself to match.
(Pictured Huskar is Freja. Who knows if her author is gonna finish her though! Lovely art by CheshireCatSmile37!)
“Are you tired of THIS happening?” The kui-tan’s expression crinkles into a look of bliss, as he extends his free hand to a pile of silver condoms on a nightstand near by. He pulls a fistful back, but notices with horror that they’re all empty wrappers. His body shivers, and a massive jet of sticky white stuff shoots up roughly from the position of his lap, drenching the tanuki in a matter of seconds. He blinks, wiping the goop away from his eyes and turns to the camera with an exasperated shrug.
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Why not just keep the level up during sleep option but allow the collection of 50% the current XP towards the next level?
That way you wouldn’t waste XP going back to the ship (since that amount goes towards the next level up) but still don’t have to see ridiculous XP numbers.
I don’t see anything in this post saying he’s getting rid of the sleep-to-level-up mechanic. It does, however, raise the question: What happens if you have enough xp to gain several levels? Do you need to sleep multiple times to keep leveling up, or do you instantly jump from, say, level 2 to 5 and get to spend all of your accumulated perk choices and stat points in one go?
It doesn’t sound like the change will make much difference, though. Before, it didn’t matter that you were wasting xp because leveling up was fast anyway. Now, you’ll be gaining xp slower but wasting less of it, so it’s probably a wash. The only people it’ll matter for is those who pile up a whole ton of xp and then get to blow it all immediately once the level cap is raised. You’re still going to be running around Tarkus for an hour hunting for that second horse cock and running around the deep caves trying to get a picardine for emmy.
What I would rather see changed is the slow stat gain system. The current means of getting swole are at best silly and at worst tedious. You level up, don’t spend your points, travel to Mhen’ga and talk to Syri about the same 3 topics over and over and over again for a few hours to grind int. Then you head over to NT and spend the next week or so running to the gym, doing 2 exercises, running back to your ship, sleep to clear the debuff, repeat ad nauseum. Then when you finally can’t slow stat gain anymore, spend your saved up points to cap everything. Apart from a few quests (which you easily work around by not doing this while you’re on those quests) there are no time limits on the game, nothing that goes bad if you spend too long dicking around. So of course you dick around, because the benefits are significant and there’s no penalty other than the time you have to spend on mindless repetition.
Suggestion: Fuck the Gym. Just make slow stat gains happen naturally, with no %-of-level cap and no diminishing returns. Succeed at dodging an attack? Chance to gain a point of reflexes. Successfully shoot a target? Chance to gain a point of aim, and so on.
You forgot the slow Aim gain to 30 you get from bow training with the scout dude on Mhenga. Stat training really only becomes tedious if you’re not patient and/or you keep making new characters.
Er, no, I didn’t forget that. I just didn’t mention it because it becomes irrelevant long before the gym on NT does. I didn’t mention the pool at the Arbetz Travel Agency or any of the various transformative items that give slow stain gains, either.
The point is that the way we get slow stat gains right now is just a repetitive chore without any consequence so long as you are willing to sit there and do the same thing over and over again. Because there are no consequences and no challenges to overcome, you might as well just open your save file in Minerva and set your stats to match your current level cap once you’ve unlocked access to the gym. The only thing you’ll have ‘cheated’ by doing this is having not wasted your real-life time.
At least with the way I suggested, your stats would just kind of improve naturally as you go around exploring and questing, rather than putting your adventures and commitments on consequence-less hold while you take a vacation to make SICK GAINS. Further, it would allow people who don’t like the theme of New Texas to avoid it and/or pretend it doesn’t exist.
You could still have the gym and the bow training and Syri’s book club. This would just allow you to max out your stats without abusing those things and the game’s lack of time constraints.
While I agree with your overall view, I don’t think making stat gains happen by combat is the way to go. It incentivizes you to put all your points in stats you don’t use while you grind the stats you want with inferior attacks.
I’d rather we just get rid of stat gain (and loss) completely. No training, no TFs, just leveling. Maybe just a perk here and there for doing something awesome.
Mmm, not sure I can agree with you on the first point, for three reasons:
One, every stat is useful for everyone. Even if you rarely or even never use int or aim or strength, they are still used as keys that satisfy conditions to unlock various dialogue and mission paths. As a ranged Merc I am often in situations where I’m fighting in darkness or smoke or my enemy has huge ranged evasion, and it becomes appealing to fall back on melee, or I’ve been hit with a wrap or net and need to struggle free – strength helps with all of that. Willpower and Reflexes are useful for everyone as well.
Two, even if one did what you suggested, it would still be far less grindy than what we’re doing now, because you’re putting your perks towards making your good attacks more effective. So with things like second attack, rapid fire, and so on, the grind for your “primary” stat(s) would get easier as you level.
Three.. we already have what you suggest in the form of affinity. Why dump levelup points into your affinity stat when it’s easier to train up that stat with slow gains as opposed to others?
As for the second point, well… meh. On one hand, I can agree, it seems like a waste to have stats you assign a limited number of levelup points to, if they’re going to then turn around and give you a mechanic that lets you max out all your stats anyway.
On the other hand, removing stat gain and fixing stats based on level implies that you’re always getting better in absolutely every field no matter what you did to level up. Boy, wrangling varmints on New Texas for 3 days sure made you smart!
Imo, they could even take it a step further: Don’t gain any points from leveling up; leveling just boosts your cap. All your stat boosts come from fighting and doing stuff and training at the gym/etc. But training at the gym won’t feel like a required chore since you’re getting stat points (not to mention money and items) just by fighting stuff.
you maybe need to make it so you can spend XP for stuff in the game that is hard to get it will still not make it to easy and will take less time to do as will that’s what I say you need to try.
I see put some of that in bad but what I am saying is that you can make it so that you spend XP that you use to lv up and use it to get stuff as paly the game and its up to the player if they do or do not use it for stuff or lv up
When does this become effective? I’ve been sitting on the level cap for a while now, but it doesn’t bother me too much
The XP curve is fine. It’s just that the XP of enemies could be adjusted.
I’m all for the XP banking though.
I actually love having to sleep to level up. Plus managing distance & how much xp needed to level up & trying to not waste any is quite fun for me personally.
I think this will lose a bit of uniqueness with a more traditional leveling system.
While you are at it could you take a look at credit acquisition and costs? And the purchased items in general? I mean why can’t I buy the same thing Saendra uses to grow a dick of the exact size she wants for a mere 2k credits? And why does a synthetic cock for an android or a pill the grow a second vagina cost almost as much as funding researching a completely new gene-mod?
>Freja
Love the name, I’m a sucker for norse themes, and her chibi arts makes me interested in the real deal. Thanks for the previous, Feno. Good arts, Cheshire!
I really like the system as it is , (The sleep mechanic brings back some Oblivion nostalgia <3 ) the only thing I think should be changed or rather tweaked is the gym system , I think its great for leveling Physique and it would make sense for the physical side of things , but things like aim , intelligence and will power would make more sense through natural progression , maybe after so many times performing a ranged attack for range ( With modifiers that account for a targets likeliness to evade ) , and maybe for willpower the more lust you sustain in combat give a percentage amount of a point and so on.
Now I know all this is actually ridiculous hard to code in and there is a gazillion factors so take it with a grain of salt and as my two cents 😛 at any rate I am glad this is getting some overhaul and keep up the fantastic work guys!
I think most people will agree with me when I say screw tinkering with HOW we level up and get to working on increasing on the level cap.
Fen why did you tease with the word dryad and it was a centaur I was hoping for some weird version of the plant ladies ;-; granted at least now my liathan has a third character for his stupidly over grown treatment dick
fen didn’t write that one and whoever wrote her thought of World of Warcraft dryads, which are basically female centaurs with deer lower bodies instead of equine ones.
I just wanted to poke at a few glaring issues that just stand out.
1. On Tarkus when you decided to have sex to blow of steam with a grey goo she LITERALLY fucks you, and you don’t lose your virginity. Cock + Vagoo = virginity loss. And that bug has been there for a while or just undressed.
2. Hand So story line is still sitting there from the age she came to be for me… she must be mentally (Or mechanically) insane sitting in that bead for the past (Insert days)
3. Keep up the good work.
I imagine we’ll need a new ship before we can do anything with Hand So. What will she pleasure anyone with aboard your tiny clunker? The food fabricator?
If you find any bugs, please report them in the “bug report” forum section.
Can’t be arsed grinding xp again.. not after i played this game like 10+ times over already.
So i guess i’ll just swap some values and call it a day. :>
I don’t think this overhaul will force you to level from the beginning or force you to start a new character.