Major Holes in Broadside spell-- seriously

This is the current xml code for the Broadside spell, it fires a missile that deals 8 crushing damage and 8 blasting damage (spread across two effects) plus knockback, it also triggers the following spells

Broadside shot 25% chance
Broadside shot 15% chance
Broadside North
Broadside South
Broadside West
Broadside East

Code:

<spell name="Broadside" downtime="44" type="missile" icon="skills/broadside32.png" wand="0">
  <effect type="damage" affectsCaster="1" crushing="8" blasting="4" />
<effect type="damage" blasting="4" affectscaster="1" />
  <effect type="knock" amount="2" self="0"/>
  <!-- <effect type="trigger" spell="Grenade Center" /> -->
<effect type="spawnitematlocation" percent="75" itemname="Solid Shot" amount="1"/>
<description text="Give 'em the broadside, me hearties! (And don't ask where the cannon is hidden.)" />
<anim sprite="items/thrown_solid_shot.png" />
  <impact sprite="sprites/sfx/impactA/impactA" frames="6" framerate="80" centerEffect="0" sfx="explosion" />
<!--<effect type="trigger" spell="Broadside Shot" percent="45" /> -->
<!--<effect type="trigger" spell="Broadside Shot" percent="35" /> -->
<effect type="trigger" spell="Broadside Shot" percent="25" />
<effect type="trigger" spell="Broadside Shot" percent="15" />
<effect type="trigger" spell="Broadside North" />
<effect type="trigger" spell="Broadside South" />
<effect type="trigger" spell="Broadside West" />
<effect type="trigger" spell="Broadside East" />
</spell>
<spell name="Broadside Shot" type="missile" >
  <effect type="damage" affectsCaster="1" blastingF="0.35" crushingF="0.25" primaryscale="3" crushing="8" blasting="8" />
  <effect type="trigger" spell="One Tile Concussion Blast" percent="50" />
<effect type="spawnitematlocation" percent="75" itemname="Solid Shot" amount="1"/>
<description text="Give 'em the broadside, me hearties! (And don't ask where the cannon is hidden.)" />
<anim sprite="items/thrown_solid_shot.png" />
  <impact sprite="sprites/sfx/impactA/impactA" frames="6" framerate="80" centerEffect="0" sfx="explosion" />
</spell>
 
<spell name="Broadside North" type="template" templateID="701" >
<effect type="trigger" spell="Broadside Shot" percent="75" />
<anim sprite="sprites/sfx/null" frames="1" framerate="80" centerEffect="0" sfx="blast" />
</spell>
<spell name="Broadside South" type="template" templateID="702" >
<effect type="trigger" spell="Broadside Shot" percent="75" />
<anim sprite="sprites/sfx/null" frames="1" framerate="80" centerEffect="0" sfx="blast" />
</spell>
<spell name="Broadside West" type="template" templateID="703" >
<effect type="trigger" spell="Broadside Shot" percent="75" />
<anim sprite="sprites/sfx/null" frames="1" framerate="80" centerEffect="0" sfx="blast" />
</spell>
<spell name="Broadside East" type="template" templateID="704" >
<effect type="trigger" spell="Broadside Shot" percent="75" />
<anim sprite="sprites/sfx/null" frames="1" framerate="80" centerEffect="0" sfx="blast" />
</spell>

What does this tell us so far?
1. The initial missile does not scale at all
2. the secondary missiles scale with cadishness, but only have a small percentage chance of triggering
3. The triggered template effects do not have a 100 chance of triggering missiles on thier respective squares

However, there is another glaring problem

Code:

<template width="1" height="5" name="701" affectsPlayer="0">
<row text="@"/>
<row text="@"/>
<row text="@"/>
<row text="."/>
<row text="#"/>
</template>

This is the only relevant template for the Broadside NorthSouthEastWest effects. meaning that Broadside South, East and West have no valid templates and thus do not actually trigger.

So when a player uses broadside, it fires a crummy cannonball that has a small chance of triggering no more than two additional mediocore cannonballs on that same tile, and a somewhat better chance of firing no more than three mediocore cannonballs north of the targeted square.

This spell is both broken and crappy, and it is not fit to be the capstone for the piracy skill tree. I plan on writing XML to completely revamp this spell. David I hope you're reading this.

 

This is my rewrite of the broadside spell, It's designed to work in the way I envisioned the pirate capstone ability. This attack will put a huge dent in zoos if you buff up your caddishness. Although i used the old damage values from the spell, i changed the projectiles to beammissiles, so they'll hit more targets that are stacked up.

spelldb.xml entries

Code:

<spell name="Broadside" type="targetfloor" downtime="44" icon="skills/broadside32.png" wand="0">
    <anim sprite="sprites/sfx/impact_piercing/impact_piercing" frames="3" sfx="explosion" framerate="1"  centerEffect="1"/>
<effect type="trigger" spell="Broadside Report"/>
<effect type="trigger" spell="Broadside Smoke"/>
<effect type="trigger" spell="Broadside Volley"/>
<effect type="trigger" spell="Broadside Leftovers"/>
<description text="Give 'em the broadside, me hearties! (And don't ask where the cannon is hidden.)" />
</spell>
<spell name="Broadside Report" type="template" templateID="707" anchored="1" icon="skills/broadside32.png" wand="0">
<anim sprite="sprites/sfx/smallfireexplosion/smallfireexplosion" frames="9" framerate="90" centerEffect="1" sfx="explosion"/>
<effect type="damage" blasting="8" blastingF=".25" primaryScale="3" />
  </spell>
 
<spell name="Broadside Smoke" type="template" templateID="700" anchored="1" icon="skills/broadside32.png" wand="0">
<effect type="trigger" spell="Mini Harmless Steam Cloud" />
  </spell>
<spell name="Broadside Volley" type="template" templateID="706" anchored="1" icon="skills/broadside32.png" wand="0">
<effect type="trigger" spell="Cannon Shot" />
  </spell>
 
<spell name="Broadside Leftovers" type="template" templateID="706" anchored="1" icon="skills/broadside32.png" wand="0">
<effect type="trigger" spell="Spawn Cannon Shot" percent="75" />
  </spell>
<spell name="Cannon Shot" type="target" icon="skills/broadside32.png" wand="0" >
<effect type="trigger" spell="Cannon Projectile" />
<anim sprite="sprites/sfx/null" frames="1" framerate="80" centerEffect="0" sfx="blast" />
</spell>
 
<spell name="Spawn Cannon Shot" type="target" icon="skills/broadside32.png" wand="0" >
<effect type="spawnitemfromlist">
      <option name="Solid Shot"/>
    </effect>
<impact sprite="sprites/sfx/impactA/impactA" frames="6" framerate="80" centerEffect="0" sfx="explosion" />
</spell>
 
<spell name="Cannon Projectile" type="beammissile" icon="skills/broadside32.png" wand="0">
  <effect type="damage" affectsCaster="1" blastingF="0.35" crushingF="0.25" primaryscale="3" crushing="8" blasting="8" />
  <effect type="trigger" spell="One Tile Concussion Blast" percent="50" />
  <description text="Give 'em the broadside, me hearties! (And don't ask where the cannon is hidden.)" />
  <anim sprite="items/thrown_solid_shot.png" />
  <impact sprite="sprites/sfx/impactA/impactA" frames="6" framerate="80" centerEffect="0" sfx="explosion" />
</spell>
 

mantemplatedb.xml entries

Code:

 
<template width="5" height="6" name="706" affectsPlayer="0">
<row text="@@@@@"/>
<row text="....."/>
<row text="....."/>
<row text="....."/>
<row text="....."/>
<row text="..#.."/>
</template>
 
<template width="3" height="2" name="707" affectsPlayer="0">
  <row text="@@@"/>
  <row text="@#@"/>
  </template>

Please, Gaslamp, Please! all you gotta do is copy and paste. I even include the xml so you don't have to worry about some kind of copy/paste wank up ruining something.

 

Ok I finished testing this. It works in all the ways the old broadside worked, except better.

It's got some bang.
It's got some smoke.
It's got a lot of damage potential if you open up on a monster zoo.

Although i still think the cannonballs should scale better.

 

oops, "template 337" is supposed to be "template 707"

 

Another problem I just noticed: primaryscale does not appear to be working.

 

Try primaryFactor

 

nope... doesn't work either. Perhaps the problem is related to the fact that the abilities are triggered?

 

The beammissiles also don't seem to work as they should.

 

and the triggered effects associated with the missiles are not triggering either.

 

This is very frustrating. This version of the Broadside spell will release two vollies of cannon fire. The cannon shots are normal missiles, meaning that they will not penetrate enemies.

The cannonball projectiles do not appear to be working properly, none of thier scaled effects or triggers abilities are functioning. I feel that there is some kind of bug that is preventing this spell from working properly.

Code:

<spell name="Broadside" type="targetfloor" downtime="44" icon="skills/broadside32.png" wand="0">
    <anim sprite="sprites/sfx/impact_piercing/impact_piercing" frames="3" sfx="explosion" framerate="1"  centerEffect="1"/>
<effect type="trigger" spell="Broadside2"/>
<effect type="trigger" spell="Broadside Report"/>
<effect type="trigger" spell="Broadside Smoke"/>
<effect type="trigger" spell="Broadside Volley"/>
<description text="Give 'em the broadside, me hearties! (And don't ask where the cannon is hidden.)" />
</spell>
<spell name="Broadside2" type="self" icon="skills/broadside32.png" wand="0">
    <anim sprite="sprites/sfx/impact_piercing/impact_piercing" frames="3" sfx="explosion" framerate="1"  centerEffect="1"/>
<effect type="trigger" amount="1" spell="Broadside3"/>
<description text="Fire at will, commander." />
</spell>
<spell name="Broadside3" type="template" templateID="30" icon="skills/broadside32.png" wand="0">
    <anim sprite="sprites/sfx/impact_piercing/impact_piercing" frames="3" sfx="explosion" framerate="1"  centerEffect="1"/>
<effect type="trigger" spell="Broadside Report"/>
<effect type="trigger" spell="Broadside Smoke"/>
<effect type="trigger" spell="Broadside Volley"/>
<description text="Give 'em the broadside, me hearties! (And don't ask where the cannon is hidden.)" />
</spell>
<spell name="Broadside Report" type="template" templateID="707" anchored="1" icon="skills/broadside32.png" wand="0">
<anim sprite="sprites/sfx/smallfireexplosion/smallfireexplosion" frames="9" framerate="90" centerEffect="1" sfx="explosion"/>
<effect type="damage" blasting="8" blastingF=".25" primaryScale="3" />
  </spell>
 
<spell name="Broadside Smoke" type="template" templateID="700" anchored="1" icon="skills/broadside32.png" wand="0">
<effect type="trigger" spell="Mini Harmless Steam Cloud" />
  </spell>
<spell name="Broadside Volley" type="template" templateID="706" anchored="1" icon="skills/broadside32.png" wand="0">
<effect type="trigger" spell="Cannon Shot" />
  </spell>
<spell name="Cannon Shot" type="target" icon="skills/broadside32.png" wand="0" >
<effect type="trigger" spell="Cannon Projectile" />
<anim sprite="sprites/sfx/null" frames="1" framerate="80" centerEffect="0" sfx="blast" />
</spell>
 
<spell name="Spawn Cannon Shot" type="targetfloor" icon="skills/broadside32.png" wand="0" >
<effect type="spawnitemfromlist">
      <option name="Solid Shot"/>
    </effect>
<impact sprite="sprites/sfx/impactA/impactA" frames="6" framerate="80" centerEffect="0" sfx="blast" />
</spell>
 
<spell name="Cannon Projectile" type="missile" icon="skills/broadside32.png" wand="0">
  <effect type="damage" affectsCaster="1" blasting="8" blastingF="1" crushing="8" crushingF="1" primaryscale="3" />
  <effect type="knock" />
    <effect type="spawnitemfromlist">
      <option name="Solid Shot"/>
    </effect>
  <description text="Give 'em the broadside, me hearties! (And don't ask where the cannon is hidden.)" />
  <anim sprite="items/thrown_solid_shot.png" />
  <impact sprite="sprites/sfx/impactA/impactA" frames="6" framerate="80" centerEffect="0" sfx="explosion" />
</spell>

 

by the way, if you manage to fix whatever problem is making this not work, it would help me with a big problem that's been messing with my current mod project. (aside from the "fix wands so that they can target the floor" thing)

 

you mean this?

 

one possible solution to the issue of the projectiles not scaling properly would be to crank up the base damage of the cannonballs so that they were viable well into the late game. this might unbalance the earlier levels a bit, but it's better than having an absolute rubbish crap oh god i just wasted a skillpoint leveling up this skill. Because honestly-- most of the piracy tree is rubbish anyways., but that's the subject of another thread.

 

Balance question on this, in hotfix9, there's only a 4-turn cooldown for this. Er. Is that....too low? Or is that offset by the cannonball's apparent weakness? Or am I way off on both?

 

most likely david forgot to reset the cooldown while he was testing it.