Best Of
Announcements post #166: Happy Birthday, Starmourn!
From: Starmaker Eukelade
Subject: Happy Birthday, Starmourn!
Hi, Starmourners!
Tomorrow, December 15th, Starmourn turns 2 years old. The best Sci Fi mud in the world has gone through a lot of changes in the past year of play. We created new areas like the Sabiak Teahouse, the Tosmar Wildlife Reserve, and the Gnomon Institute. We revamped Dynasties, launched Talents for a post-75 endgame experience, and created the daily credit system, all things that make it even easier to play Starmourn the way you want to play it. Players enjoyed event after event, from wars against the Ishvana to murders to music festivals (and sometimes all of those at once??) There was even an event that restructured time itself! We made our Discord official, welcomed new members to the team (hi, Zersiax, Senzei, Damiel, and Saio!), and you have all been very patient with me as I got my sea legs as the game's lead Producer. Though it's been a difficult year outside the game, inside it, we've been chugging right along, and we have no plans on stopping!
To thank you for sticking around, or to welcome you back if you've recently returned (it's been so heartwarming to see old faces returning lately), or to welcome you for the first time if you're new - we on the Starmourn Team would like to give every player of the game a little anniversary present. If you log on in the next couple of days, you'll receive a limited edition, interactive item and a simple giftcatcher - no strings attached.
Thank you again, from all of us. Here's to another year in space!
Eukelade
Subject: Happy Birthday, Starmourn!
Hi, Starmourners!
Tomorrow, December 15th, Starmourn turns 2 years old. The best Sci Fi mud in the world has gone through a lot of changes in the past year of play. We created new areas like the Sabiak Teahouse, the Tosmar Wildlife Reserve, and the Gnomon Institute. We revamped Dynasties, launched Talents for a post-75 endgame experience, and created the daily credit system, all things that make it even easier to play Starmourn the way you want to play it. Players enjoyed event after event, from wars against the Ishvana to murders to music festivals (and sometimes all of those at once??) There was even an event that restructured time itself! We made our Discord official, welcomed new members to the team (hi, Zersiax, Senzei, Damiel, and Saio!), and you have all been very patient with me as I got my sea legs as the game's lead Producer. Though it's been a difficult year outside the game, inside it, we've been chugging right along, and we have no plans on stopping!
To thank you for sticking around, or to welcome you back if you've recently returned (it's been so heartwarming to see old faces returning lately), or to welcome you for the first time if you're new - we on the Starmourn Team would like to give every player of the game a little anniversary present. If you log on in the next couple of days, you'll receive a limited edition, interactive item and a simple giftcatcher - no strings attached.
Thank you again, from all of us. Here's to another year in space!
Eukelade
Announcements post #164: Patch Thursday 10-12-2020.
From: Zersiax
Subject: Patch Thursday 10-12-2020.
Hello everyone,
Another week, another random bunch of fixes and changes. It's almost like we're on Facebook, a new design every month! :-O
We won't horribly invade your privacy though. promise. Maybe. ;)
With that silliness out of the way, on to this week's changes:
- We've implemented a few behind-the-scenes changes that should refresh various windows based on GMCP a little better. Most notably, the list of NPCs and items in a room should now refresh when terminating a hack and when landing after being in flight.
- Speaking of hacking, many of you have clamored and grumbled about the fact that bots seem to spontaneously forget you exist when you're back from a hack. We've given them a stern talking to, and that shouldn't happen anymore.
- Speaking of bots, our motivational speeching has given them a bit of a boost, as well. That is ... they are now coated in a layer of self-confidence and aplomb.
- What that means? Well ...if you hit them now, they start healing. Rapidly. Very, very rapidly. And beyond their regular parameters. It puts them into full combat regeneration mode. AKA you can still kill engineer bots, but ...you're going to have a very hard time doing it.
- Finally, we've made a small change to the blueprint of stimjectors. Even now people are finding they don't work quite the way they used to anymore. You people are too fast! :-O Anyway:
- Stimjectors are no longer self-targeting only. Usage is now: OPERATE STIMJECTOR <target> [param].
- To target yourself, you use your own name.
- To set it to auto, OPERATE STIMJECTOR <your name> OFF/DISABLE/ON/ENABLE.
That's all for this week, we hope you'll like these tweaks and of course we have a bunch of other stuff planned for next week. Some of you may have seen some foreshadowing of that last week.
Welp ...back to coding. And if stuff breaks, you know where we are.
-Zersiax
Subject: Patch Thursday 10-12-2020.
Hello everyone,
Another week, another random bunch of fixes and changes. It's almost like we're on Facebook, a new design every month! :-O
We won't horribly invade your privacy though. promise. Maybe. ;)
With that silliness out of the way, on to this week's changes:
- We've implemented a few behind-the-scenes changes that should refresh various windows based on GMCP a little better. Most notably, the list of NPCs and items in a room should now refresh when terminating a hack and when landing after being in flight.
- Speaking of hacking, many of you have clamored and grumbled about the fact that bots seem to spontaneously forget you exist when you're back from a hack. We've given them a stern talking to, and that shouldn't happen anymore.
- Speaking of bots, our motivational speeching has given them a bit of a boost, as well. That is ... they are now coated in a layer of self-confidence and aplomb.
- What that means? Well ...if you hit them now, they start healing. Rapidly. Very, very rapidly. And beyond their regular parameters. It puts them into full combat regeneration mode. AKA you can still kill engineer bots, but ...you're going to have a very hard time doing it.
- Finally, we've made a small change to the blueprint of stimjectors. Even now people are finding they don't work quite the way they used to anymore. You people are too fast! :-O Anyway:
- Stimjectors are no longer self-targeting only. Usage is now: OPERATE STIMJECTOR <target> [param].
- To target yourself, you use your own name.
- To set it to auto, OPERATE STIMJECTOR <your name> OFF/DISABLE/ON/ENABLE.
That's all for this week, we hope you'll like these tweaks and of course we have a bunch of other stuff planned for next week. Some of you may have seen some foreshadowing of that last week.
Welp ...back to coding. And if stuff breaks, you know where we are.
-Zersiax
A Plea for B.E.A.S.T.
I am writing this letter to beg for mercy for the B.E.A.S.T. class. This is not satire or sarcasm; I am being 100% sincere.
Let me begin with a history lesson. For the first 27 days of Starmourn (from launch, until Jan 11, 2019) there was a concept in the game called 'limb damage'. This concept allowed everyone but Scoundrel to give the mangled left/right leg/arm afflictions, which prevented attacking and standing (as appropriate). Further, they dealt 5%, and were cured like normal by wetwiring. Now, anyone who thinks about that for a few minutes can probably see why it was so terrible. However, when those abilities were removed, most of the classes got some sort of balancing pass to replace what they lost in some way or another.
Most. But not B.E.A.S.T....
When limb damage was removed, POUND was functionally removed as well. You can't pound unless your opponent is prone, and it was very impractical to prone an opponent and keep them there if there was no affliction that would do so. B.E.A.S.T. lost its ability to burst for 7% muscular, which was the only thing keeping it on-par in any given subsys race. BEAST has been suffering for the last 1 Year, 10 Months, 28 days. Now is our chance. Now is the time to make reparations for injustice.
My proposal, which is a simple one, is thus: let POUND work off of an entangled opponent, without them being prone. Entangle is fairly easy for BEAST to give, and being able to POUND off of it would 1) add a lot of the theme back to the class (HULK SMASH is a very real power suit fantasy), 2) give BEAST back some semblance of a chance in the subsys race, and 3) just feel so damn good.
Don't you want to be on the right side of history?
Most. But not B.E.A.S.T....
When limb damage was removed, POUND was functionally removed as well. You can't pound unless your opponent is prone, and it was very impractical to prone an opponent and keep them there if there was no affliction that would do so. B.E.A.S.T. lost its ability to burst for 7% muscular, which was the only thing keeping it on-par in any given subsys race. BEAST has been suffering for the last 1 Year, 10 Months, 28 days. Now is our chance. Now is the time to make reparations for injustice.
My proposal, which is a simple one, is thus: let POUND work off of an entangled opponent, without them being prone. Entangle is fairly easy for BEAST to give, and being able to POUND off of it would 1) add a lot of the theme back to the class (HULK SMASH is a very real power suit fantasy), 2) give BEAST back some semblance of a chance in the subsys race, and 3) just feel so damn good.
Don't you want to be on the right side of history?
-Nykara, B.E.A.S.T. fanatic
Nykara
4
Re: My Mudlet Packages for Starmourn
Download them from the releases section on github then use the "Package Manager" to import them.
Jaidyn
1
Classlead AFfliction Reports
Hello Everyone!
I have come to you with a trove of information to go over and give your thoughts and feedback. But I have rules!
Rule 1: All posts are directed at me. If you have back and forth to do, do it in game or discord, then come back with your summaries. Ideally we will avoid 100 posts of 2-4 people arguing back and forth. If you want to address someone's point in your reply, you can speak to the point. "Regarding the destruction of Alderaan, I think blah".
Rule 1 was lifted, we will see if we can keep it civil without it!
Rule 2: Your goal is to convince me of your stance. If you believe the change is bad, you should try to establish why and provide some evidence. If it is good, explain!
I will number them to make it easier to respond by number if desired. Note that some of these are already done. Humor and wit was left for all to enjoy.
==2==
Sensory afflictions don't have a whole lot of power, and what power is there is diffused over too many afflictions. Blind, deaf, comm blackouts -- consolidating their effects and improving them overall should help bring sensory to a usable place in the game. This classlead submission should be considered alongside another bug report, which I will specify in comments.
==3==
Sensory doesn't have enough afflictions to work with, and it has only one affliction that directly affects combat (blurry vision). More direct impact is needed to bring it to a usable place.
SOLUTION 1: New subsystem affliction to replace comms blackout, which I will call "Super Duper Itchy" (that's, erm, my officially recommended name): Channeled abilities take longer to complete, including crash, OR interrupting a channeled ability, including crash, imposes a significant balance loss (I'll put 2.5 seconds on it, though I'm not sure). The way crash works now, you can crash, get interrupted, and crash again immediately, getting away for sure because the crash channel is short. It functions similarly to muscular's crippled movement in some respects.
SOLUTION 2: make dizzy something useful, such as a chance to be afflicted with prone when hit. Note that furies have a defense called balancing that allows them to stay standing instead of getting knocked over all the time. A change to dizzy may require tweaking class abilities, but losing dizzy as it is now is no loss at all.
SOLUTION 3: Nearsighted retains its can't-attack-outside-current-room but also gains a 10% damage reduction to ranged-type attack damage within the room, and blurry vision becomes a stacking affliction that ramps up in how much damage it reduces (I'm thinking 5, 10, 20) instead of just 10%. The rationale here is that sensory offers disruption that only has soft effects that cannot be bypassed, and so it needs some kind of punch, somewhere, in the affliction list so that it directly affects combat. I am not certain I like the numbers for this solution, but I do think nearsighted is too weak and blurry vision could be buffed.
EXTRA SOLUTION X: All of the above
==4== (This was left because of discussion about the solution used)
Muscular afflictions do too much hinder, making it the most directly useful in combat. It can substantially reduce damage dealt by an opponent and substantially increase balance costs for that opponent, and, currently, doing both simultaneously is the norm. Toning down either the damage reductions or the balance reductions should be sufficient to help the other affliction categories compete. Damaged limbs do not have a timer to cure, and so it's quite normal to end up with multiple damaged limbs that never get cured or that eat up wetwiring cure ticks for more individually impactful afflictions. Crippled movement (subsystem affliction, not curable except by mending subsystem) is dangerous and much, much stronger than alternatives that impede the ability to move around (read: escape). Myopathy (also subsys aff), on top of it all, is quite good, too. Altogether, it's oppressive hinder, and toning it down a little should help other affliction types compete.
SOLUTION 1: add a timer to the damaged limbs afflictions. They functionally never get cured because of no timer, or, they end up diluting the affliction cure pool. Why timers this isn't already in place is a really, really good question.
SOLUTION 2: reduce crippled movement duration from 2 seconds to 1 second. The trick with crippled movement is that other balance penalty effects functionally stack with this.
EXTRA SOLUTION X: All of the above
==5==
For your information, there's a significant number of afflictions that have similar effects and are all similarly useless. I don't think anyone would miss them. Let's get started! The first group, one for each subsystem: Tender, trauma, dazed, stupefied, and vulnerable. For an example of what they do, here's what tender does: "Each stack increases muscular damage by 10%. Can only be given to targets with at least 25% muscular damage." Like the other four afflictions of this design, tender deals no subsystem damage when afflicted and stacks up to five times. That means it takes, on average, about 15 seconds to stack it up (and they get 3 ticks of wetwiring curing in that time) and, in that time, you could do a whole lot better than that. The second group: Spasms, choking, painspike, seizures, and shortcircuit. Here's what spasms does: "Causes periodic muscular subsystem damage. Can only be given to targets with at least 50% muscular damage." I hear that these are less useless because they don't require stacking, but they're still pretty bad because they apply no subsystem damage immediately. Personally, I don't bother with any of these 10 afflictions because they're almost entirely a waste of time, with the possible exception of choking for a scoundrel pushing internals for a forcefeed kill (I haven't bothered adding this in, but it could be done).
"SOLUTION 1," in air quotes -- get rid of group 1. Erase it. Ta-da! No more problem! Free up those affliction names for something more interesting.
"SOLUTION 2": I'm resorting to spitballing ideas, here. Rework group 1 to have direct subsystem damage (say, 100) and possibly have fewer stacks. Say, 3. Or, no stacks at all, and just make it a 25% damage increase to that subsystem. Or a lower percentage, or a greater one. I don't know.
"SOLUTION 3": add direct subsystem damage to group 2 afflictions so that they have an impact right away, and aren't a complete waste of time in case they're cured right away.
EXTRA SOLUTION X: All of the above
==6==
Proposal: I'd like to propose a change to BLIND and DEAF, I'd like to have them combined into a skill called SENSORY_DEPRIVATION the conditions would be can't LOOK, see people enter or leave, or hear says. If movement happens cannot see the room entered. This will leave an affliction over for a new skill I'd like to suggest for sensory. Sensory deprivation would do 200 subsys damage to sensory. Thanks!
==7==
Proposal: I'd like to propose a new skill for Sensory tree called SENSORY_FEEDBACK. Sensory lacks hinder or damage pressure. As a way to help with that I'd like to see if this affliction can cause 5% damage back on the target when they attack. The idea being that the nervous system is in overload and sensitive to the point of hurting yourself with the exertion of attacking. I'd like to see this give 200 subsys damage to sensory.
==8==
Internal subsystem afflictions need to be more impactful. Internal's rejection subsystem affliction hardly every works, making it a very weak subsystem affliction. Coughing blood is pretty low impact, too. Internal bleeding's damage is low, but it does add up over the course of a fight. The overall impression I get from the internal subsystem is that it is slow but steady pressure on vitals that crescendos suddenly, and these suggestions are aimed at shifting power around while staying close to the feel of what we have now.
SOLUTION 1: tweak 1st internal subsystem affliction. increase the power of internal bleeding by having hypertension increase internal bleeding's damage by 50%, or by having coughing blood increase the damage from internal bleeding.
SOLUTION 2: rework 2nd internal subsystem affliction. Make coughing blood the replacement to old rejection, meaning coughing blood is now second in the progression of internal subsystem afflictions. When internal bleeding (the first in the progression) processes, the target loses 0.5 seconds of balance, and displays a visual cue for this to show that the target is sputtering blood (it may do this now, I don't know).
SOLUTION 3: rework 3rd internal subsystem affliction. Tweak rejection and make it the 3rd internal subsystem affliction instead of coughing blood. Increase the chance for rejection to process to 50%.
EXTRA SOLUTION X: All of the above
==9==
Mind subsystem afflictions don't keep up. Also, brain swelling doesn't work -- it's definitely not keeping up. My approach is to consolidate stupidity and forgetfulness, which then ramp up, and are followed by a new brain swelling which works to complete the mental breakdown.
SOLUTION 1: tweaked 1st mind subsystem affliction. Stupidity is annoying, but it's not that hard to write a script that handles it no problem. Add current Forgetfulness' effect to Stupidity to make Stupidity meaningful. I suggest renaming it Carelessness, reflecting occasional inefficiencies that may add up to a significant failure in combat.
SOLUTION 2: reworked 2nd mind subsystem affliction. Forgetfulness brings stupidity to where it should be. Rework Forgetfulness to make the target temporarily forget how to perform an action or to suffer a penalty for performing an action repeatedly. Option 1: every time someone uses an ability, that ability has a 3-5 second cooldown added to it after balance is regained (or an 6-8 or so second cooldown added on ability use). Option 2: the affliction tracks the last 3 abilities used. If the ability you use matches 1 of the 3 previous abilities used, you suffer a 1.5 second balance loss. Option 3: like option 2, but a 9 second timer instead. (Note that all classheals have a 10 second normally.)
SOLUTION 3: reworked 3rd mind subsystem affliction. Brainswelling doesn't work. At this point in the fight, things should be going downhill towards a fast conclusion. Brainswelling now applies, at random, one of the following afflictions that the target doesn't have every 5 seconds: acrophobia, disorientation, distraction, encroachment, hallucinations, sluggish, stupefied, vertigo (just throwing some out there). This might not be powerful enough, but it sure is better than literally nothing, which is what we have.
EXTRA SOLUTION X: All of the above
==10==
Mind has a few abilities that don't quite do their jobs, for various reasons.
SOLUTION 1: reworked mind affliction. Disorientation now has a high chance (say, 50%) to make movement fail instead of having a high chance (unknown) to send into a random direction. This is the lowest priority of all changes I have suggested for afflictions.
SOLUTION 2: reworked mind affliction. Confusion now has a ~35% chance to proc every time the afflicted character uses an ability. When confusion procs, it knocks the character's balance by 1.5 seconds and inflicts health damage, while still allowing the ability to go through. The damage scales according to weapon + mods + artifacts, as mental damage.
EXTRA SOLUTION X: All of the above
==11==
More sensory afflictions or changes.
SOLUTION 1: new affliction. borrow the recklessness affliction's mechanics from Achaea, but rename it something related to feeling euphorically healthy or to wetwiring-to-mindsim communication failure. Option 1: Health shown to be max. Damage taken appears to be set to zero. Despite knowing better, your body's telling your mind and your mindsim that you feel great! Option 2: go with something that is more akin to a complete cutoff of your information between wetwiring and the sim, meaning your health stops updating, and you can't see damage taken and healing done from class heals or from wetwiring health healing.
SOLUTION 2: rework affliction. echoing becomes an affliction that, when the target cures an affliction, echoing causes the reappliction of the cured affliction 5 seconds after it is cured. Echoing expires once it has "echoed" an affliction in this way.
SOLUTION 3: new affliction. add "sensitivity," straight from Achaea. Damage to health received is increased by 10%.
EXTRA SOLUTION X: All of the above
==12==
The sensory subsystem needs better subsystem afflictions. See "Super Duper Itchy" the new 1st sensory subsystem affliciton.
SOLUTION 1: new 2nd sensory subsystem affliction. "vitals error". This mindsim affliction causes your current afflictions to be unknown, hides reporting of new afflictions, and hides curing. Your subsystem health is still visible. Wetwiring still cures as normal.
SOLUTION 2: new 3rd sensory subsystem affliction. I'm still looking for an idea, though I'm considering something like the recklessness suggestion in BUG 3844. I'm also considering demented vision, but I'm not convinced it's good enough.
If a change was already implemented, feel free to comment it was done. I will remove the entry to streamline.
Once again, direct all thoughts and feedback at me. Let it begin!
EXTRA SOLUTION X: All of the above
I have come to you with a trove of information to go over and give your thoughts and feedback. But I have rules!
Rule 1: All posts are directed at me. If you have back and forth to do, do it in game or discord, then come back with your summaries. Ideally we will avoid 100 posts of 2-4 people arguing back and forth. If you want to address someone's point in your reply, you can speak to the point. "Regarding the destruction of Alderaan, I think blah".
Rule 1 was lifted, we will see if we can keep it civil without it!
Rule 2: Your goal is to convince me of your stance. If you believe the change is bad, you should try to establish why and provide some evidence. If it is good, explain!
I will number them to make it easier to respond by number if desired. Note that some of these are already done. Humor and wit was left for all to enjoy.
==2==
Sensory afflictions don't have a whole lot of power, and what power is there is diffused over too many afflictions. Blind, deaf, comm blackouts -- consolidating their effects and improving them overall should help bring sensory to a usable place in the game. This classlead submission should be considered alongside another bug report, which I will specify in comments.
SOLUTION 1: deaf is entirely irrelevant. Comms blackout is weak. Rolling comms blackout into deaf so that deaf blocks every instance (not a chance, but every single instance) of every type of verbal communication, meaning says, tells, crew tells, clan tells, faction tells, deathsights, commerce, etc., would provide a meaningful effect. Even with this change, it still does nothing in a pure 1v1 fight -- it only disrupts group coordination.
SOLUTION 2: blind becomes relevant if it stops people from blocking movement in addition to interfering with look and information regarding player movement. The exception to this effect would be provided by abilities like scoundrel's GUILE BAR defense. It would gain more power if it also hid information regarding what other characters are doing in the room.
EXTRA SOLUTION X: All of the above
EXTRA SOLUTION X: All of the above
==3==
Sensory doesn't have enough afflictions to work with, and it has only one affliction that directly affects combat (blurry vision). More direct impact is needed to bring it to a usable place.
SOLUTION 1: New subsystem affliction to replace comms blackout, which I will call "Super Duper Itchy" (that's, erm, my officially recommended name): Channeled abilities take longer to complete, including crash, OR interrupting a channeled ability, including crash, imposes a significant balance loss (I'll put 2.5 seconds on it, though I'm not sure). The way crash works now, you can crash, get interrupted, and crash again immediately, getting away for sure because the crash channel is short. It functions similarly to muscular's crippled movement in some respects.
SOLUTION 2: make dizzy something useful, such as a chance to be afflicted with prone when hit. Note that furies have a defense called balancing that allows them to stay standing instead of getting knocked over all the time. A change to dizzy may require tweaking class abilities, but losing dizzy as it is now is no loss at all.
SOLUTION 3: Nearsighted retains its can't-attack-outside-current-room but also gains a 10% damage reduction to ranged-type attack damage within the room, and blurry vision becomes a stacking affliction that ramps up in how much damage it reduces (I'm thinking 5, 10, 20) instead of just 10%. The rationale here is that sensory offers disruption that only has soft effects that cannot be bypassed, and so it needs some kind of punch, somewhere, in the affliction list so that it directly affects combat. I am not certain I like the numbers for this solution, but I do think nearsighted is too weak and blurry vision could be buffed.
EXTRA SOLUTION X: All of the above
==4== (This was left because of discussion about the solution used)
Muscular afflictions do too much hinder, making it the most directly useful in combat. It can substantially reduce damage dealt by an opponent and substantially increase balance costs for that opponent, and, currently, doing both simultaneously is the norm. Toning down either the damage reductions or the balance reductions should be sufficient to help the other affliction categories compete. Damaged limbs do not have a timer to cure, and so it's quite normal to end up with multiple damaged limbs that never get cured or that eat up wetwiring cure ticks for more individually impactful afflictions. Crippled movement (subsystem affliction, not curable except by mending subsystem) is dangerous and much, much stronger than alternatives that impede the ability to move around (read: escape). Myopathy (also subsys aff), on top of it all, is quite good, too. Altogether, it's oppressive hinder, and toning it down a little should help other affliction types compete.
SOLUTION 1: add a timer to the damaged limbs afflictions. They functionally never get cured because of no timer, or, they end up diluting the affliction cure pool. Why timers this isn't already in place is a really, really good question.
SOLUTION 2: reduce crippled movement duration from 2 seconds to 1 second. The trick with crippled movement is that other balance penalty effects functionally stack with this.
EXTRA SOLUTION X: All of the above
==5==
For your information, there's a significant number of afflictions that have similar effects and are all similarly useless. I don't think anyone would miss them. Let's get started! The first group, one for each subsystem: Tender, trauma, dazed, stupefied, and vulnerable. For an example of what they do, here's what tender does: "Each stack increases muscular damage by 10%. Can only be given to targets with at least 25% muscular damage." Like the other four afflictions of this design, tender deals no subsystem damage when afflicted and stacks up to five times. That means it takes, on average, about 15 seconds to stack it up (and they get 3 ticks of wetwiring curing in that time) and, in that time, you could do a whole lot better than that. The second group: Spasms, choking, painspike, seizures, and shortcircuit. Here's what spasms does: "Causes periodic muscular subsystem damage. Can only be given to targets with at least 50% muscular damage." I hear that these are less useless because they don't require stacking, but they're still pretty bad because they apply no subsystem damage immediately. Personally, I don't bother with any of these 10 afflictions because they're almost entirely a waste of time, with the possible exception of choking for a scoundrel pushing internals for a forcefeed kill (I haven't bothered adding this in, but it could be done).
"SOLUTION 1," in air quotes -- get rid of group 1. Erase it. Ta-da! No more problem! Free up those affliction names for something more interesting.
"SOLUTION 2": I'm resorting to spitballing ideas, here. Rework group 1 to have direct subsystem damage (say, 100) and possibly have fewer stacks. Say, 3. Or, no stacks at all, and just make it a 25% damage increase to that subsystem. Or a lower percentage, or a greater one. I don't know.
"SOLUTION 3": add direct subsystem damage to group 2 afflictions so that they have an impact right away, and aren't a complete waste of time in case they're cured right away.
EXTRA SOLUTION X: All of the above
==6==
Proposal: I'd like to propose a change to BLIND and DEAF, I'd like to have them combined into a skill called SENSORY_DEPRIVATION the conditions would be can't LOOK, see people enter or leave, or hear says. If movement happens cannot see the room entered. This will leave an affliction over for a new skill I'd like to suggest for sensory. Sensory deprivation would do 200 subsys damage to sensory. Thanks!
==7==
Proposal: I'd like to propose a new skill for Sensory tree called SENSORY_FEEDBACK. Sensory lacks hinder or damage pressure. As a way to help with that I'd like to see if this affliction can cause 5% damage back on the target when they attack. The idea being that the nervous system is in overload and sensitive to the point of hurting yourself with the exertion of attacking. I'd like to see this give 200 subsys damage to sensory.
==8==
Internal subsystem afflictions need to be more impactful. Internal's rejection subsystem affliction hardly every works, making it a very weak subsystem affliction. Coughing blood is pretty low impact, too. Internal bleeding's damage is low, but it does add up over the course of a fight. The overall impression I get from the internal subsystem is that it is slow but steady pressure on vitals that crescendos suddenly, and these suggestions are aimed at shifting power around while staying close to the feel of what we have now.
SOLUTION 1: tweak 1st internal subsystem affliction. increase the power of internal bleeding by having hypertension increase internal bleeding's damage by 50%, or by having coughing blood increase the damage from internal bleeding.
SOLUTION 2: rework 2nd internal subsystem affliction. Make coughing blood the replacement to old rejection, meaning coughing blood is now second in the progression of internal subsystem afflictions. When internal bleeding (the first in the progression) processes, the target loses 0.5 seconds of balance, and displays a visual cue for this to show that the target is sputtering blood (it may do this now, I don't know).
SOLUTION 3: rework 3rd internal subsystem affliction. Tweak rejection and make it the 3rd internal subsystem affliction instead of coughing blood. Increase the chance for rejection to process to 50%.
EXTRA SOLUTION X: All of the above
==9==
Mind subsystem afflictions don't keep up. Also, brain swelling doesn't work -- it's definitely not keeping up. My approach is to consolidate stupidity and forgetfulness, which then ramp up, and are followed by a new brain swelling which works to complete the mental breakdown.
SOLUTION 1: tweaked 1st mind subsystem affliction. Stupidity is annoying, but it's not that hard to write a script that handles it no problem. Add current Forgetfulness' effect to Stupidity to make Stupidity meaningful. I suggest renaming it Carelessness, reflecting occasional inefficiencies that may add up to a significant failure in combat.
SOLUTION 2: reworked 2nd mind subsystem affliction. Forgetfulness brings stupidity to where it should be. Rework Forgetfulness to make the target temporarily forget how to perform an action or to suffer a penalty for performing an action repeatedly. Option 1: every time someone uses an ability, that ability has a 3-5 second cooldown added to it after balance is regained (or an 6-8 or so second cooldown added on ability use). Option 2: the affliction tracks the last 3 abilities used. If the ability you use matches 1 of the 3 previous abilities used, you suffer a 1.5 second balance loss. Option 3: like option 2, but a 9 second timer instead. (Note that all classheals have a 10 second normally.)
SOLUTION 3: reworked 3rd mind subsystem affliction. Brainswelling doesn't work. At this point in the fight, things should be going downhill towards a fast conclusion. Brainswelling now applies, at random, one of the following afflictions that the target doesn't have every 5 seconds: acrophobia, disorientation, distraction, encroachment, hallucinations, sluggish, stupefied, vertigo (just throwing some out there). This might not be powerful enough, but it sure is better than literally nothing, which is what we have.
EXTRA SOLUTION X: All of the above
==10==
Mind has a few abilities that don't quite do their jobs, for various reasons.
SOLUTION 1: reworked mind affliction. Disorientation now has a high chance (say, 50%) to make movement fail instead of having a high chance (unknown) to send into a random direction. This is the lowest priority of all changes I have suggested for afflictions.
SOLUTION 2: reworked mind affliction. Confusion now has a ~35% chance to proc every time the afflicted character uses an ability. When confusion procs, it knocks the character's balance by 1.5 seconds and inflicts health damage, while still allowing the ability to go through. The damage scales according to weapon + mods + artifacts, as mental damage.
EXTRA SOLUTION X: All of the above
==11==
More sensory afflictions or changes.
SOLUTION 1: new affliction. borrow the recklessness affliction's mechanics from Achaea, but rename it something related to feeling euphorically healthy or to wetwiring-to-mindsim communication failure. Option 1: Health shown to be max. Damage taken appears to be set to zero. Despite knowing better, your body's telling your mind and your mindsim that you feel great! Option 2: go with something that is more akin to a complete cutoff of your information between wetwiring and the sim, meaning your health stops updating, and you can't see damage taken and healing done from class heals or from wetwiring health healing.
SOLUTION 2: rework affliction. echoing becomes an affliction that, when the target cures an affliction, echoing causes the reappliction of the cured affliction 5 seconds after it is cured. Echoing expires once it has "echoed" an affliction in this way.
SOLUTION 3: new affliction. add "sensitivity," straight from Achaea. Damage to health received is increased by 10%.
EXTRA SOLUTION X: All of the above
==12==
The sensory subsystem needs better subsystem afflictions. See "Super Duper Itchy" the new 1st sensory subsystem affliciton.
SOLUTION 1: new 2nd sensory subsystem affliction. "vitals error". This mindsim affliction causes your current afflictions to be unknown, hides reporting of new afflictions, and hides curing. Your subsystem health is still visible. Wetwiring still cures as normal.
SOLUTION 2: new 3rd sensory subsystem affliction. I'm still looking for an idea, though I'm considering something like the recklessness suggestion in BUG 3844. I'm also considering demented vision, but I'm not convinced it's good enough.
If a change was already implemented, feel free to comment it was done. I will remove the entry to streamline.
Once again, direct all thoughts and feedback at me. Let it begin!
EXTRA SOLUTION X: All of the above
Senzei
4
Re: Soza's Leveling Guide (And NEWBIECHALLENGE Guide)
Thank you for putting this together!
I finished on my 14th day, I believe I was the third person to complete it. One thing I'll add, which I've told every person who's asked in game, is that quests can drastically speed up the leveling process, especially in the awful 30-40 range. Find quests that can be done quickly and are level appropriate, then do them pretty much every time they don't show up on COOLDOWNS. I'm about halfway to getting my sixth talent point at the time of this writing and I'd estimate that more than 2/3 of my post-75 xp is from quests rather than killing things.
But also, yes, definitely ask for help. Especially while the challenge is active, a lot of established players are giving away experience chips and/or taking low level characters hunting to help them out.
I finished on my 14th day, I believe I was the third person to complete it. One thing I'll add, which I've told every person who's asked in game, is that quests can drastically speed up the leveling process, especially in the awful 30-40 range. Find quests that can be done quickly and are level appropriate, then do them pretty much every time they don't show up on COOLDOWNS. I'm about halfway to getting my sixth talent point at the time of this writing and I'd estimate that more than 2/3 of my post-75 xp is from quests rather than killing things.
But also, yes, definitely ask for help. Especially while the challenge is active, a lot of established players are giving away experience chips and/or taking low level characters hunting to help them out.
Zoe
2
Soza's Leveling Guide (And NEWBIECHALLENGE Guide)
We're gonna run through this Quick and Dirty, Get all these ideas that level 75 challenge isnt doable within 30 days for a new player cause with this leveling guide. Youre gonna be 750 credits richer starting out.
Section 1: AREAS
level-------------------------------- Area
01-05-------------------------------NewbieQuests
05-10-------------------------------Southern Usum, Stick to the forest area
10-15-------------------------------Southern Usum, Stick to the lake area
15-20-------------------------------Whittler's Hallow
(side note, there is probably even more optimal routes than this but im just sharing mine.)
Section 1: AREAS
01-05-------------------------------NewbieQuests
05-10-------------------------------Southern Usum, Stick to the forest area
10-15-------------------------------Southern Usum, Stick to the lake area
15-20-------------------------------Whittler's Hallow
20-30-------------------------------Goribar Farm
30-40-------------------------------Goribar Farm *See note 1
40-50-------------------------------Pylos
50-75-------------------------------New Dikimazi
70-75-------------------------------Ixsei, New Dikimazi
Section 2: STATS
No matter what your class is, You should put 50 Lifeforce, Then max out Regen, After that take note of what damage your main skills are using and max out your main damage stat.
An example would be something like this *See note 2
----------------------------------< Player stats >-----------------------------------
Stat Base Assigned Rewards Bonuses Artifacts Total Effective
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Psyche 150 250 0 5 0 265 301
Techcraft 150 0 0 5 0 155 155
Lifeforce 150 122 0 5 0 405 238
Evasion 150 0 0 5 0 155 155
Regen 150 250 0 5 0 405 301
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Section 3: NEWBIECHALLENGE *See note 3
In the newbiechallenge you have 3 main objectives:
Level: (1/75)
Deposited comms: (0/300)
Battle Participation: (0/25)
Your main focus should be getting your battle participation out of the way, as it is a challenge that requires you to get a spar once a day. Multiple duels will not count for this challenge and you can use the command COOLDOWNS to check when you are able to duel again. You may also get completion for this challenge by participating in COSMPIERCERS and ARENA EVENTS like FFA, or RAMPAGE. I would highly suggest anytime you see a FFA or a RAMPAGE that you hop onto it Immediately.
Your secondary focus should be getting to level 75, to achieve this goal You can follow the leveling area I put above, or you can have a friend help you level.
Your third focus should be getting the commodities, I put this as third focus as you dont want to spend time getting commodities that you can just buy with the marks you will get from leveling to 75 if it is going to eat up alot of your time you could be spending getting to level 75. Once at 75, you should look to complete this challenge either by collecting them in your ship or just buying them and depositing them to your faction. (I chose to just buy and deposit but its up to you.)
Section 4: NOTES
*Note 1: Level 30-40 Is quite terrible, Its probably the hardest gap in game. I would very highly suggest asking for someone of higher MIL(level) to party level with you at a place like New Dikimazi
*Note 2: The stats you see here are from my leveling of a nanoseer, for you I would suggest asking someone of your class what your main damage stat is and making an informed decision
*Note 3: There were some negative responses to the challenge at first, mostly such stating that it would be impossible to complete for a veteran let alone a newbie I wrote up this guide to dispel that thought.
Day 14 of the challenge for me, I had 10 duels left to do, with a total of 4days 12hours put in. this would mean If I were to have just put in roughly 3 hours and 30 min a day Id have achieved it within the 30 day requirement. Any day that you put in more time than 3 hours and 30 min is less days it will take you to complete the challenge. I completed this challenge while working 12 hour shifts and 46+ hours a week. This challenge should be easily doable for most people.
ENDING NOTE: Its a game, Have fun. Don't be afraid to ask for help.
Section 2: STATS
No matter what your class is, You should put 50 Lifeforce, Then max out Regen, After that take note of what damage your main skills are using and max out your main damage stat.
An example would be something like this *See note 2
----------------------------------< Player stats >-----------------------------------
Stat Base Assigned Rewards Bonuses Artifacts Total Effective
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Psyche 150 250 0 5 0 265 301
Techcraft 150 0 0 5 0 155 155
Lifeforce 150 122 0 5 0 405 238
Evasion 150 0 0 5 0 155 155
Regen 150 250 0 5 0 405 301
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Section 3: NEWBIECHALLENGE *See note 3
In the newbiechallenge you have 3 main objectives:
Level: (1/75)
Deposited comms: (0/300)
Battle Participation: (0/25)
Your main focus should be getting your battle participation out of the way, as it is a challenge that requires you to get a spar once a day. Multiple duels will not count for this challenge and you can use the command COOLDOWNS to check when you are able to duel again. You may also get completion for this challenge by participating in COSMPIERCERS and ARENA EVENTS like FFA, or RAMPAGE. I would highly suggest anytime you see a FFA or a RAMPAGE that you hop onto it Immediately.
Your secondary focus should be getting to level 75, to achieve this goal You can follow the leveling area I put above, or you can have a friend help you level.
Your third focus should be getting the commodities, I put this as third focus as you dont want to spend time getting commodities that you can just buy with the marks you will get from leveling to 75 if it is going to eat up alot of your time you could be spending getting to level 75. Once at 75, you should look to complete this challenge either by collecting them in your ship or just buying them and depositing them to your faction. (I chose to just buy and deposit but its up to you.)
Section 4: NOTES
*Note 1: Level 30-40 Is quite terrible, Its probably the hardest gap in game. I would very highly suggest asking for someone of higher MIL(level) to party level with you at a place like New Dikimazi
*Note 2: The stats you see here are from my leveling of a nanoseer, for you I would suggest asking someone of your class what your main damage stat is and making an informed decision
*Note 3: There were some negative responses to the challenge at first, mostly such stating that it would be impossible to complete for a veteran let alone a newbie I wrote up this guide to dispel that thought.
Day 14 of the challenge for me, I had 10 duels left to do, with a total of 4days 12hours put in. this would mean If I were to have just put in roughly 3 hours and 30 min a day Id have achieved it within the 30 day requirement. Any day that you put in more time than 3 hours and 30 min is less days it will take you to complete the challenge. I completed this challenge while working 12 hour shifts and 46+ hours a week. This challenge should be easily doable for most people.
ENDING NOTE: Its a game, Have fun. Don't be afraid to ask for help.
Soza
6
Scatterfest 2: The Second Coming - today!
Hello!!
Just a reminder that Scatterfest is today at sync!
Get your butts down to Gravity for some of the hottest acts in the sector, a rainbow tesseract opening, a ridiculously good prize draw, goodie bags and many fun RP times.
I'd the bands proponent will be an hour, (and it can't go over or I'm responsible for losing people popularity and money heh) and then the prize-giving and tesseract party maybe another 30 minutes and there's usually some RP afterwards with all the excitment. So I'd allow 2 hours from start to finish.
If anyone causes trouble I WILL KILL YOU. I've worked my butt off for this event, and so have all the performers, so be nice plz. Thx. Stinkbombers will be stink-eyed and eviscerated at a later date without warning (but srsly please don't, or wait til after the things, I'm stressing).
Lineup is:
Orrin Omnifarious / K0NF3KTI0N - Orrin Moonchild and Keiko T'rath, who will also be presenting!
One Elgan and his Humor Optimizer - Jile's stand-up comedy gig!
Red//Strike - Sazabi Redstrike and his B.E.A.S.T. suit, Big Red.
AlgoRhythm - Hope Moonchild's multifaceted musical delight.
Voidwitch - The enigmatic Scatterwitch herself: Poet
Bionic Heart! - A brand new NPC band headlining - who are taking the sector by storm after a quick rise to immense fame. (Thank you Saio!)
Running order:
Sync -30mins > Sync - Hand out goodie bags to people who arrive.
Sync - Bands (in the order listed above - PLEASE get there a little early if you can, as we got a lot to pack in to the hour so I need to get started on time)
Sync +1 - Prize draws (you need to have been there from before the end of the first band to qualify for the draws).
After that, probably Sync +1.5ish - Tesseract opening!!!
If you're unfamiliar with rainbow tesseract opening - for each rainbow tesseract that's opened every person in the room gets a promo prize, which could be artifacts, special items, credits, marks, lessons etc. So even if you don't come to the show I'd recommend just being present for the tesseract opening time (but come to the gig too because it will be great)!
Please read the news posts below for details on prizes and stuff.
https://www.starmourn.com/news/?game=Starmourn§ion=public&number=379
https://www.starmourn.com/news/?game=Starmourn§ion=public&number=381
https://www.starmourn.com/news/?game=Starmourn§ion=public&number=382
I hope to see you all there!
Orrin
Just a reminder that Scatterfest is today at sync!
Get your butts down to Gravity for some of the hottest acts in the sector, a rainbow tesseract opening, a ridiculously good prize draw, goodie bags and many fun RP times.
I'd the bands proponent will be an hour, (and it can't go over or I'm responsible for losing people popularity and money heh) and then the prize-giving and tesseract party maybe another 30 minutes and there's usually some RP afterwards with all the excitment. So I'd allow 2 hours from start to finish.
If anyone causes trouble I WILL KILL YOU. I've worked my butt off for this event, and so have all the performers, so be nice plz. Thx. Stinkbombers will be stink-eyed and eviscerated at a later date without warning (but srsly please don't, or wait til after the things, I'm stressing).
Lineup is:
Orrin Omnifarious / K0NF3KTI0N - Orrin Moonchild and Keiko T'rath, who will also be presenting!
One Elgan and his Humor Optimizer - Jile's stand-up comedy gig!
Red//Strike - Sazabi Redstrike and his B.E.A.S.T. suit, Big Red.
AlgoRhythm - Hope Moonchild's multifaceted musical delight.
Voidwitch - The enigmatic Scatterwitch herself: Poet
Bionic Heart! - A brand new NPC band headlining - who are taking the sector by storm after a quick rise to immense fame. (Thank you Saio!)
Running order:
Sync -30mins > Sync - Hand out goodie bags to people who arrive.
Sync - Bands (in the order listed above - PLEASE get there a little early if you can, as we got a lot to pack in to the hour so I need to get started on time)
Sync +1 - Prize draws (you need to have been there from before the end of the first band to qualify for the draws).
After that, probably Sync +1.5ish - Tesseract opening!!!
If you're unfamiliar with rainbow tesseract opening - for each rainbow tesseract that's opened every person in the room gets a promo prize, which could be artifacts, special items, credits, marks, lessons etc. So even if you don't come to the show I'd recommend just being present for the tesseract opening time (but come to the gig too because it will be great)!
Please read the news posts below for details on prizes and stuff.
https://www.starmourn.com/news/?game=Starmourn§ion=public&number=379
https://www.starmourn.com/news/?game=Starmourn§ion=public&number=381
https://www.starmourn.com/news/?game=Starmourn§ion=public&number=382
I hope to see you all there!
Orrin
Orrin
8
Announcements post #160: Double Daily Credits!
From: Starmaker Eukelade
Subject: Double Daily Credits!
Hey spacers. How do you feel about double Daily Credits for five straight days??
All Iron Realms games - including Starmourn! - are holding a special five-day promotion. From Thursday morning until Monday at midnight GMT, your characters will earn double the credits they normally earn for daily credit tasks, up to a maximum of 40 credits per day! After the promotion, the Daily Credits will return to the normal rate of credit earning, and the Iron Realms standard of a maximum of 20 credits per day.
In addition, we are holding a special, one-day sale for Cyber Monday. Do you like the No-Brainer Lesson Packages? If so, keep your eyes peeled for the CyberMonday Lesson Package. 1000 lessons for $10.00. This is in addition to the No-Brainer Packages you may have purchased in the past. Remember, this is one day only, so check in on Monday GMT. If you want one, be sure to check-in!
Subject: Double Daily Credits!
Hey spacers. How do you feel about double Daily Credits for five straight days??
All Iron Realms games - including Starmourn! - are holding a special five-day promotion. From Thursday morning until Monday at midnight GMT, your characters will earn double the credits they normally earn for daily credit tasks, up to a maximum of 40 credits per day! After the promotion, the Daily Credits will return to the normal rate of credit earning, and the Iron Realms standard of a maximum of 20 credits per day.
In addition, we are holding a special, one-day sale for Cyber Monday. Do you like the No-Brainer Lesson Packages? If so, keep your eyes peeled for the CyberMonday Lesson Package. 1000 lessons for $10.00. This is in addition to the No-Brainer Packages you may have purchased in the past. Remember, this is one day only, so check in on Monday GMT. If you want one, be sure to check-in!