Quick note on plot line:
The protagonist is a twice orphaned child. The foster parents are special star force squad members that are trained to explore the newly descended portal dimensions or higher dimensions accessed through portals. They went MIA 5 yrs ago. So part of the main quest line is about finding out what happened to them and/or rescue them. Beyond that, the true reality behind this world and why the protagonist is special will be the final overarching plotline.
Screw it, I’m just going to call this Force Powers. Let Disney sue me haha.
Force Power Realms:
Force Powers come in 5 different realms. Destruction, Martial, Defensive, Utility, and finally the very special Healing realm.
Destruction: Nukes, ranged or not, magnificent displays of what concentrated doses of force power can accomplish. Damage focused. Closest to resembling magic spells. Singularity, Blizzard, DfA are prime examples.
Martial: Offensive force powers that require a conduit to channel their effects. The conduits can be hands, martial weapons, or even ranged weapon like bows and arrows. They imbue the conduits with varied effects that generally disable, maim, and do nasty things to nasties. BR, Charge, WW, Devastate, Rapid Fire are examples.
Defensive: Force powers that grant the users some elements of protection. It could be stoneskin (damage reduction), blurr (% damage avoidance), elemental shields (% elemental damage reduction), mountain form (short term damage immunity), etc Shield block, shout (increase hp pool size), lightning reflex (parry+ for a duration) are all examples of this.
Utility: Everything that doesn’t fit in the other four realms. The effects can be varied like Lure, creating a nearby image that can draw some fire/attention from nasties. Its effects can eventually become the same as the teleporting power of the lich (creating 2 other copies of oneself and have them do some actual damage) via power tier upgrades. All manners of traps, dimensional door, and anything else that can change the situational advantages during a battle (but not directly related to doing or preventing damage) fall into this.
Healing: Very special realm, only powers within this realm can heal hp or speed recovery of force power reservoir (mana). This really acts as a force multiplier, allowing the squad (I forsee this game as eventually MP-coop squad based, more social interaction, better specialization) to exponentially increase its staying power. Every top end squad will want a healer.
Force Power Tiers:
Force Powers are also tier based, ranging from Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond. All powers can become Diamond Tier provided one can gather enough Force Orbs to upgrade (see below).
Generally speaking, each tier is subdivided into 10 levels. Ie Bronze 10 upgrades to Silver 1. Upgrades within the tier is simply numerical, meaning the effects get a little stronger. Upgrades across the tier can dramatically change the power itself. I will demonstrate this with the Lure power.
Power: Lure
Bronze Tier: creating a stationary target that draws the attention of nearby enemies
Lv1: Hp 100, duration 3secs, Lv+ +20HP, On Lv 4, 7 and 10, +1sec duration
Lv10: HP 280, duration 6secs
Silver Tier: Target follows the movement of the player, keeping the initial distance apart. It attracts attention from a wider area.
Lv1: 300 HP, 6secs, Lv+ 30HP, On Lv4, 7 and 10, +1sec duration
Lv10: 570HP, duration 9secs
Gold Tier: Target is now a mirror image of the player, has a fraction of the stats of the player. It can engage in melee combat.
Lv1: 30% player stats including HP, 9secs, Lv+5% player stats, On Lv4, 7 and 10, +1sec duration and gain one player specialization(see future post about specialization)
Lv10: 75% player stats, 12secs duration, 3 player specializations (closest to passives)
Platinum Tier: Target is now a perfect mirror image of the player. Can use certain force powers the player has (destruction and martial)
Lv1: 75% player stat, 12sec duration, 3 player specialization, Lv+ 2% player stats, On Lv4, 7 and 10, +1sec duration and gain one player specialization and one force power (from destruction/martial realm)
Lv10: 93% player stat, 15sec duration, 6 player specialization, 3 force powers (chosen from the highest tiered powers)
Diamond Tier: Target becomes self-aware, able to initiate combat, force powers can now be from all five realms the player has.
Lv1: 93%player stat, 15sec duration, 6 player specializations, 3 force powers, Lv+ +10%player HP, +1sec duration. On Lv4, +1 force power, +1 Silver Tier Lure, Lv7, +1 force power, +1 Gold Tier Lure, Lv10, +1 force power, +1 Platinum Tier Lure (yes, you get 1 diamond, 1 platinum, 1 gold, 1 silver lures, your own little army at the maximum force power tier/lv Lower tier lures that are summoned as part of diamond tier lure will have the same duration as the diamond tier lure).
Constellations/Star Map
This is the skill tree. Player has choices on which constellation/star map to use for the character. Different star maps have different pluses and minuses with regards to force power. In general, each star map offers high affinity to 1 realms, normal affinity to 3 realms and prohibits force power from one realm. This is the first trade off a player needs to make. Healing is a special realm. There is only one star map that allows healing thus all other star maps/constellations prohibits healing. Since healing is a force multiplier, it has to be further restricted for game balance (lowest power slots).
I will use placeholder names for different star maps and what character archetype I think the map is most suited for.
Healer Star Map: 15 power slots
High Affinity: Healing
Normal Affinity: Martial, Utility, Defensive
Prohibited: Destruction
Frontline Meatshield Star map: 20 power slots
HA: Defensive
NA: Martial, Utility, Destruction
PA: Healing
Frontline Agile Fighter Star map: 22 power slots
HA: Martial
NA: Defensive, Utility, Destruction
PA: Healing
Backline Nuker Star map: 30 power slots
HA: Destruction
NA: Martial, Utility, Defensive
PA: Healing
Backline Ranged/Control Star map: 25 power slots
HA: Utility
NA: Destruction, Martial, Defensive
PA: Healing
HA, NA and PA.. how do they work.
When a star map has high affinity for a power realm, this simply means that it allows the use of lesser tiers force orbs to advance a power from that power realm.
This has no effect for powers below gold tier. (thus allowing most players to try out some versions of the power without too much handicap)
Normally, to advance a given tier power to its next level, one needs to get a force orb of a similar quality. Bronze 1 to 2 takes 1 bronze power orb. Bronze 2 to 3 takes 2 etc. Bronze 9 to 10 takes 9 bronze orbs. To go up a tier, one needs to have the power already at the lower tier maximum and then 10 more force orbs of the lower tier will advance the power to the next higher tier. Ex Bronze 10 takes 10 bronze orbs to advance to Silver 1.
Additionally 10 lower tier orb can be combined into 1 higher tier orb. But this advancement regime stops at gold tier for NA. HA can use the same advancement method all the way to Diamond. In fact it is possible to get diamond lv10 using nothing but bronze force orbs. Someone can calculate how many bronze orbs that would be.
For NA, advancing at Gold tier and up requires getting force orb of that tier or just 1 tier below. This means that for NA, diamond tier is only reachable by absorbing diamond/platinum tier orbs.
PA doesn’t allow any absorption of any tier orb from the prohibited realm.
Force orbs are the force essences from the defeated monsters. They correspond to the power and the tier of the monsters themselves. So the teleporting liches will drop lure orb. The quality of the orb depends on the tier of the monster themselves. Diamond tier will drop platinum level orb, Platinum gold, gold silver, silver and bronze will drop bronze (silver has a higher drop %).
This is enough for this week. Next week will be about Specializations.
The protagonist is a twice orphaned child. The foster parents are special star force squad members that are trained to explore the newly descended portal dimensions or higher dimensions accessed through portals. They went MIA 5 yrs ago. So part of the main quest line is about finding out what happened to them and/or rescue them. Beyond that, the true reality behind this world and why the protagonist is special will be the final overarching plotline.
Screw it, I’m just going to call this Force Powers. Let Disney sue me haha.
Force Power Realms:
Force Powers come in 5 different realms. Destruction, Martial, Defensive, Utility, and finally the very special Healing realm.
Destruction: Nukes, ranged or not, magnificent displays of what concentrated doses of force power can accomplish. Damage focused. Closest to resembling magic spells. Singularity, Blizzard, DfA are prime examples.
Martial: Offensive force powers that require a conduit to channel their effects. The conduits can be hands, martial weapons, or even ranged weapon like bows and arrows. They imbue the conduits with varied effects that generally disable, maim, and do nasty things to nasties. BR, Charge, WW, Devastate, Rapid Fire are examples.
Defensive: Force powers that grant the users some elements of protection. It could be stoneskin (damage reduction), blurr (% damage avoidance), elemental shields (% elemental damage reduction), mountain form (short term damage immunity), etc Shield block, shout (increase hp pool size), lightning reflex (parry+ for a duration) are all examples of this.
Utility: Everything that doesn’t fit in the other four realms. The effects can be varied like Lure, creating a nearby image that can draw some fire/attention from nasties. Its effects can eventually become the same as the teleporting power of the lich (creating 2 other copies of oneself and have them do some actual damage) via power tier upgrades. All manners of traps, dimensional door, and anything else that can change the situational advantages during a battle (but not directly related to doing or preventing damage) fall into this.
Healing: Very special realm, only powers within this realm can heal hp or speed recovery of force power reservoir (mana). This really acts as a force multiplier, allowing the squad (I forsee this game as eventually MP-coop squad based, more social interaction, better specialization) to exponentially increase its staying power. Every top end squad will want a healer.
Force Power Tiers:
Force Powers are also tier based, ranging from Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond. All powers can become Diamond Tier provided one can gather enough Force Orbs to upgrade (see below).
Generally speaking, each tier is subdivided into 10 levels. Ie Bronze 10 upgrades to Silver 1. Upgrades within the tier is simply numerical, meaning the effects get a little stronger. Upgrades across the tier can dramatically change the power itself. I will demonstrate this with the Lure power.
Power: Lure
Bronze Tier: creating a stationary target that draws the attention of nearby enemies
Lv1: Hp 100, duration 3secs, Lv+ +20HP, On Lv 4, 7 and 10, +1sec duration
Lv10: HP 280, duration 6secs
Silver Tier: Target follows the movement of the player, keeping the initial distance apart. It attracts attention from a wider area.
Lv1: 300 HP, 6secs, Lv+ 30HP, On Lv4, 7 and 10, +1sec duration
Lv10: 570HP, duration 9secs
Gold Tier: Target is now a mirror image of the player, has a fraction of the stats of the player. It can engage in melee combat.
Lv1: 30% player stats including HP, 9secs, Lv+5% player stats, On Lv4, 7 and 10, +1sec duration and gain one player specialization(see future post about specialization)
Lv10: 75% player stats, 12secs duration, 3 player specializations (closest to passives)
Platinum Tier: Target is now a perfect mirror image of the player. Can use certain force powers the player has (destruction and martial)
Lv1: 75% player stat, 12sec duration, 3 player specialization, Lv+ 2% player stats, On Lv4, 7 and 10, +1sec duration and gain one player specialization and one force power (from destruction/martial realm)
Lv10: 93% player stat, 15sec duration, 6 player specialization, 3 force powers (chosen from the highest tiered powers)
Diamond Tier: Target becomes self-aware, able to initiate combat, force powers can now be from all five realms the player has.
Lv1: 93%player stat, 15sec duration, 6 player specializations, 3 force powers, Lv+ +10%player HP, +1sec duration. On Lv4, +1 force power, +1 Silver Tier Lure, Lv7, +1 force power, +1 Gold Tier Lure, Lv10, +1 force power, +1 Platinum Tier Lure (yes, you get 1 diamond, 1 platinum, 1 gold, 1 silver lures, your own little army at the maximum force power tier/lv Lower tier lures that are summoned as part of diamond tier lure will have the same duration as the diamond tier lure).
Constellations/Star Map
This is the skill tree. Player has choices on which constellation/star map to use for the character. Different star maps have different pluses and minuses with regards to force power. In general, each star map offers high affinity to 1 realms, normal affinity to 3 realms and prohibits force power from one realm. This is the first trade off a player needs to make. Healing is a special realm. There is only one star map that allows healing thus all other star maps/constellations prohibits healing. Since healing is a force multiplier, it has to be further restricted for game balance (lowest power slots).
I will use placeholder names for different star maps and what character archetype I think the map is most suited for.
Healer Star Map: 15 power slots
High Affinity: Healing
Normal Affinity: Martial, Utility, Defensive
Prohibited: Destruction
Frontline Meatshield Star map: 20 power slots
HA: Defensive
NA: Martial, Utility, Destruction
PA: Healing
Frontline Agile Fighter Star map: 22 power slots
HA: Martial
NA: Defensive, Utility, Destruction
PA: Healing
Backline Nuker Star map: 30 power slots
HA: Destruction
NA: Martial, Utility, Defensive
PA: Healing
Backline Ranged/Control Star map: 25 power slots
HA: Utility
NA: Destruction, Martial, Defensive
PA: Healing
HA, NA and PA.. how do they work.
When a star map has high affinity for a power realm, this simply means that it allows the use of lesser tiers force orbs to advance a power from that power realm.
This has no effect for powers below gold tier. (thus allowing most players to try out some versions of the power without too much handicap)
Normally, to advance a given tier power to its next level, one needs to get a force orb of a similar quality. Bronze 1 to 2 takes 1 bronze power orb. Bronze 2 to 3 takes 2 etc. Bronze 9 to 10 takes 9 bronze orbs. To go up a tier, one needs to have the power already at the lower tier maximum and then 10 more force orbs of the lower tier will advance the power to the next higher tier. Ex Bronze 10 takes 10 bronze orbs to advance to Silver 1.
Additionally 10 lower tier orb can be combined into 1 higher tier orb. But this advancement regime stops at gold tier for NA. HA can use the same advancement method all the way to Diamond. In fact it is possible to get diamond lv10 using nothing but bronze force orbs. Someone can calculate how many bronze orbs that would be.
For NA, advancing at Gold tier and up requires getting force orb of that tier or just 1 tier below. This means that for NA, diamond tier is only reachable by absorbing diamond/platinum tier orbs.
PA doesn’t allow any absorption of any tier orb from the prohibited realm.
Force orbs are the force essences from the defeated monsters. They correspond to the power and the tier of the monsters themselves. So the teleporting liches will drop lure orb. The quality of the orb depends on the tier of the monster themselves. Diamond tier will drop platinum level orb, Platinum gold, gold silver, silver and bronze will drop bronze (silver has a higher drop %).
This is enough for this week. Next week will be about Specializations.
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