Total Realism Overhaul

[Mansh00ter]

I plan on drastically changing mage gameplay. Defensive barriers will be very important against other mages, dragons, even archers, while casting spells will in most cases take a while to prepare, but result in something devastating. The biggest issue is that there is no way to easily calculate spell damage (and thus sidestep the vanilla system like with melee/archery). So I will probably leave the vanilla damage system in, maybe improve it here and there, and increase the overall damage of the spells, alter their casting times and add physics and other effects to the spells so that there is a reason to use one or the other. For example fire spells being very slow to prepare but devastating, while frost spells will not do that much damage but will be an excellent crowd control measure, and lightning somewhere in the middle, maybe a good choice against single opponents due to their chance to stun and moderate damage.

 

So you will want to open with something nasty if you got the time, but if not, you may want to switch to something that will either give you more time or otherwise be more suitable for the situation at hand. Add also that casting spells will be difficult if heavily armored (lots of fizzling) without specialized perks (battlemage ftw - but only for destruction spells), and that moving while casting spells may lead to unfortunate events... all that should make things interesting for mage players.

 

As for daggers, they still remain the only weapon you can effectivelly assasinate with (backstab, sneakstab). So there is a reason to use them. But for straight up combat, a sword is always better than a knife.

[tomislawus]

Am I reading between the lines correctly? Mages gonna TRIP and FALL while casting??????!!!!!!

 

Aren't you afraid that it would be a bit too... comical?

Edited April 26, 2012 by tomislawus

[avatarxrevenge]

And what about the possibility of failing to cast a spell? It's one of those things that I regret from Morrowind. :)

[Mansh00ter]

Am I reading between the lines correctly? Mages gonna TRIP and FALL while casting??????!!!!!!

 

Aren't you afraid that it would be a bit too... comical?

 

More along the lines of losing their concentration and having something explode in their faces. It won't be a big chance if you walk... much bigger if you run. Certain spells will also have a chance of backfiring if your skill is too low. The whole point is to encourage mage players to think ahead and keep cool - you lose your cool, you lose your head sort of thing.

[Apstinentas]

Am I reading between the lines correctly? Mages gonna TRIP and FALL while casting??????!!!!!!

 

Aren't you afraid that it would be a bit too... comical?

 

More along the lines of losing their concentration and having something explode in their faces. It won't be a big chance if you walk... much bigger if you run. Certain spells will also have a chance of backfiring if your skill is too low. The whole point is to encourage mage players to think ahead and keep cool - you lose your cool, you lose your head sort of thing.

 

Then some sort of script should be applied to npcs because they like to run and cast spells. If npc mages would keep their behaviour, I imagine I would die from laughter on most of the encounters with them.

[msz666]

good to see you so active.

 

since dukes mod in its current state was not 100% my cup of tea im playing deadlycombat+some minor modifications atm...

im sure some of this has been said before but just some thoughts:

 

- the enormous difference between bosses and normal enemies really must go. at this point i dont even care anymore whether any leveling up / stats are included AT ALL. vanilla difficulty is so unbalanced that it really hurts.

i really hope you implement good locational damage since this is what hurt the original game most. it shoud be like arrow through the eye = instant death even for giants, slash to an unprotected arm= instand dropping of weapon, hacking the leg = no more walking - ever.

no instant healing by potions. fixing your broken leg should need time and limit max stamina and health as well as speed until you find a doctor or a inn to heal up.

dont forget beasts etc, most modders just concentrate on npc forgetting that 50% of the time you are fighting wildlife

disable the pc to escape through doors while in combat. massive immersion breaker.

 

keep it up

[Mansh00ter]

Yeah, bosses and "trash" are equalized now. To name an example probably everyone knows, once you enter the Bleak Falls Barrows, you encounter two bandits in the entrance hall, which are more or less easy to deal with, then there is another bandit further in which will absolutely murder you if you don't let him get himself killed by those poison darts.

 

Now, the two bandits are harder to deal with than the lone guy, which makes sense (finally). And the game is way more difficult, since I managed to get killed about twice as much, once by skeevers (took a wrong step and fell down a shaft right in the middle of a pack, they tore me apart - so yeah, beasts are really dangerous now, especially big ones like bears or giant spiders). But all of my deaths were because I wasn't careful, or blundered into it, not because the enemy was so overpowered I stood no chance.

 

Locational damage still isn't in, I spent the last few days trying to optimize the main combat script and reduce lag as much as possible. Still working on it though.

Edited April 30, 2012 by Mansh00ter

[Hoptic]

To add to the realism, I think getting rid of the stupid loot should be well advised too. (I didn't know Garnet grew on goats. I didn't know either that a single arrow could ruin the whole hide of the goat AND prevent retrieving any of its legs at the same time.)

 

Really, I kill them to get their legs to roast and their hides to make leather out of, and I end up with two stupid garnets.

 

EDIT:

I don't know if this has been asked before, but I wondered what your five modules would be (corresponding to the five TRO thumbnails we can see in your signature pic for example).

 

So far, I guess (from left to right): TRO Basic Needs; Combat overhaul; Environment & Survival; Stealth and Crime; but I can't figure out the last one! (misc., I'd guess...?).

 

EDIT2: And (sorry with the questions, seriously, just go back to doing your awesome mod) I was a bit curious about you and how you do this. Are you in the IT field, or something? Where did you learn to mod? Do you code at all? Can you code like C++? The only thing I've grasped so far is that you made a mod for Sins of a Solar Empire so I guess you know your stuff :)

Edited April 30, 2012 by Hoptic

[Mansh00ter]

The last module is TRO - Roleplay Immersion. It will include all the fun little ways I can think of to add immersion to the gameplay and which do not really fit in with the other modules.

 

Professionally I am a web designer/programmer/CG generalist (yeah, I like to diversify). I don't know C++ coding, only web related stuff like PHP, Javascript, Actionscript etc. As far as modding goes, as you noticed I already have a major project (nearly) done, that was a fun 3 years of learning. Skyrim modding is much more complex than what I did for Sins, but I like the challenge. And since my Sins project involved a LOT of graphics (modeling, texturing, particle design etc.), working on TRO makes for a nice change of pace since it is mostly coding.

[Jagex]

Are you considering letting out beta tests for the other modules? Have you already started?

[Read: I would very much like to be considered for any possible module betas. :D ]