Author Topic: NPC Rescue Missions  (Read 3753 times)

Offline BobTheJanitor

  • Master Member Mark II
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,689
NPC Rescue Missions
« on: February 29, 2012, 11:05:08 pm »
I've had the random 'luck' to run across several secret NPC rescue missions in a row while playing tonight, and I'm starting to wonder about the balance on these. I'm curious how other people feel about them. It's always possible that I'm just bad at games. I'm starting to feel like they're a little too difficult, but not in the 'challenging and interesting tactics' sort of difficult. More in the 'oh another unavoidable failure' sort of difficult.

Thus far tonight I've had one NPC die because I ran too far ahead of him just as all the monsters spawned behind me. (Which prompted me to post a mantis issue suggesting that the NPCs should probably spawn a little faster so they're ahead of you, rather than behind you) OK, I think, so I should slow down and let them stay close. Lesson learned, game!

So the next one I plod along slowly dragging my little floating NPC behind me. This doesn't seem to help either. I'm still going so slow that I'm allowing NPCs to pile up behind me and eventually they execute a pincer maneuver, killing my hapless little buddy. So the next time I decide I'll be clever and kill every monster spawner that I pass. Surely now I won't lose from a flank attack! Well, no. But the spawners have such high health, and between whacking on them and waiting for mana to regen, by the time I'm only 1/3rd or so back to the exit I'm looking at a room full of about 8 fire bats ahead of me and trying to decide how to deal with it when two slip past and eat my NPC again.

So, there are a few problems here. The NPC is very weak. I've been playing on 'Hero' difficulty, so one step over the default. Does the NPC HP scale up per difficulty level? I suppose the argument could be made that this is the challenge that I asked for, but I really only cranked it up because on the default difficulty I could pretty much just walk up to every monster and mash attack and completely ignore dodging projectiles and still be assured of coming out of every fight at 100% HP. Also, does the NPC HP scale per Civ Tier? That could be another contributing factor.

Second, almost every enemy projectile attack pierces. You can't take the hits for your buddy, because they just go right on through you. There's also no body blocking physical enemies, so bats can flutter past you and chomp your companion as well.

Third, the NPC is sloooow. They're floating, can't I just tie a string around their ankle and drag them along like a balloon? :D Not only does this mean that you have to be careful not to run out of range of them (lest you leave them in the dark behind you, and they are eaten by a grue), but that the normal tactic for damage avoidance, dodging, is very hard for them to do. They emulate your movements to an extent, but their reactions are delayed and they don't move as quickly or as far. So if I just barely jump over a shot, they're still going to eat it.

And fourth, the respawning monsters. This leaves you with the dilemma of destroying spawners, which takes forever and allows monsters to queue in the halls ahead of you, or leaving them standing, opening yourself up for the inevitable back door surprise (a phrase that rarely refers to anything good).

Offline Oralordos

  • Sr. Member Mark III
  • ****
  • Posts: 434
  • Suffering from Chronic Backstabbing Disorder
Re: NPC Rescue Missions
« Reply #1 on: February 29, 2012, 11:42:27 pm »
And yet, I somehow only managed to have 2 rescue missions in the entire time I've been playing. I was starting to think that I needed to post a mantis issue about increasing the rescue mission spawn amount until you have all the NPCs required to use the find NPC guardian scroll. I still might actually.

Offline BobTheJanitor

  • Master Member Mark II
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,689
Re: NPC Rescue Missions
« Reply #2 on: February 29, 2012, 11:58:46 pm »
Poke around in buildings. It seems to be the most common (only?) secret mission type that spawns there. I think lava escapes are what you get in caves instead. So it may depend on where you're exploring.

Offline Terraziel

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 314
Re: NPC Rescue Missions
« Reply #3 on: March 01, 2012, 04:32:43 am »
Ironically I'd recently begun feeling that, the indoor ones at least, might be too easy.

I have done at least a couple where there were no enemies at all on the run back to the entrance, So i'd agree with speeding up enemy spawning just not for quite the same reason.

Having thought about it though, does the rescue mission NPC not have the same stats as the actual character? meaning that NPCs can have some very low health figures.


Offline Dizzard

  • Sr. Member Mark II
  • ****
  • Posts: 380
Re: NPC Rescue Missions
« Reply #4 on: March 01, 2012, 05:54:32 am »
I haven't actually found any npcs missions yet.

It could probably be made a little clearer where to expect rescuable npcs in danger...

Maybe include some sort of special npc rescue mission in the tutorial area? Maybe in that building you come across.

Offline zebramatt

  • Master Member Mark II
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,574
Re: NPC Rescue Missions
« Reply #5 on: March 01, 2012, 06:23:44 am »
A more tutorially mission might not be a bad idea for very early on, to give you a flavour for them.

Offline Terraziel

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 314
Re: NPC Rescue Missions
« Reply #6 on: March 01, 2012, 06:44:57 am »
I was going to suggest making it rescue one of your initial settlers, but What if you fail said mission?

Offline zebramatt

  • Master Member Mark II
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,574
Re: NPC Rescue Missions
« Reply #7 on: March 01, 2012, 06:56:20 am »
I was going to suggest making it rescue one of your initial settlers, but What if you fail said mission?

"You have failed. Fortunately on this occasion the Ilari from the nearby settlement has intervened in this poor soul's fate and delivered them safely there. But be wary - in future they will not extend such kindness."

Or, alternatively, Spider-Man swings past and grabs the NPC before they can die and quips, "Everybody gets one."

Offline Dizzard

  • Sr. Member Mark II
  • ****
  • Posts: 380
Re: NPC Rescue Missions
« Reply #8 on: March 01, 2012, 06:57:27 am »
I was going to suggest making it rescue one of your initial settlers, but What if you fail said mission?

Well maybe it should be an additional settler.....or perhaps it could be impossible to fail.

Or it could be really really easy. Like rescuing the npc from 1 or 2 enemies that don't respawn and barely put up a fight.

Offline Oz33

  • Newbie Mark II
  • *
  • Posts: 11
Re: NPC Rescue Missions
« Reply #9 on: March 01, 2012, 10:13:59 am »
Personally I found the rescue mission well balanced and fun, don't think the spawn rates should be increased. Back in the settlement I noticed that Qiana still wants to be rescued :)

Is that the text she's supposed to say ? Should i put it on matis, too ?

Offline BobTheJanitor

  • Master Member Mark II
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,689
Re: NPC Rescue Missions
« Reply #10 on: March 01, 2012, 10:15:22 am »
^^^ It's on mantis already. And when we say 'spawn rate increase' we only mean the first spawn should come faster so the halls aren't empty for the first 20 seconds of running back. The overall speed at which enemies respawn should, if anything, be toned down.

Offline Oz33

  • Newbie Mark II
  • *
  • Posts: 11
Re: NPC Rescue Missions
« Reply #11 on: March 01, 2012, 10:20:26 am »
Oh, that makes sense, yeah.

And somehow I guessed its already on the mantis. I been away for a while waiting for a patch like this one.

Offline BobTheJanitor

  • Master Member Mark II
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,689
Re: NPC Rescue Missions
« Reply #12 on: March 01, 2012, 05:38:25 pm »
Lest this be forgotten, I'd still like to know at the very least if game difficulty and civ progress change NPC hp in these missions. I guess I could go do some research myself, but I was hoping I could just cheat and look up the answers in the back of the book.  :)

Offline x4000

  • Chris McElligott Park, Arcen Founder and Lead Dev
  • Arcen Staff
  • Zenith Council Member Mark III
  • *****
  • Posts: 31,651
Re: NPC Rescue Missions
« Reply #13 on: March 01, 2012, 06:30:19 pm »
Lest this be forgotten, I'd still like to know at the very least if game difficulty and civ progress change NPC hp in these missions. I guess I could go do some research myself, but I was hoping I could just cheat and look up the answers in the back of the book.  :)

Difficulty does NOT affect allied character health, but it does reduce enemy firepower so that's much the same -- doing the health buff would just be causing the difference to be exponential.  When the contient tier goes up, all allied health should increase, although I've not tested that with NPCs (just with minions).  I'd expect it to work, though.
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

Offline BobTheJanitor

  • Master Member Mark II
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,689
Re: NPC Rescue Missions
« Reply #14 on: March 01, 2012, 10:46:36 pm »
Another enraging attempt just now. Empty halls empty halls empty halls... skelbots spawn right on top of me, run right through me, and swarm the NPC. Spamming my most damaging spells... not fast enough. These NPCs are made of papier mache. If I could throw away upgrade stones to give these NPCs more HP, I would! I'm on tier 3 and the NPCs have 100ish HP. And they seem to take damage even faster than I do for some reason. Argh!

 

SMF spam blocked by CleanTalk