Lord of Azure Flame: Chat

[Phoenix]

I was going to have you do that anyway. Wasn't sure what you were planning on at first but since you said you were taking a break, I figured that justified it even more.

[Inactive Account]

YAY WE CAN MOVE AGAIN

~falls over~

[Script]

YAY WE CAN MOVE AGAIN

~falls over~

This is where I'd say it only took 40 pages to occur. But it took 41.

[Mercakete]

Not my fault and Bal has already accepted the blame.

[Phoenix]

Not my fault and Bal has already accepted the blame.

Now now, no need for vindication here. After all, it is clearly my fault for not threatening the lot of you in advance or something. Mhm, mhm -_-

*goes back to sleep deprivation*

[Inactive Account]

Signs that Tas is out of touch with his humanity: Humans in general need to eat regularly. Tas seems to have forgotten that.

[Kanami]

Don't you guys conveniently (like any other RP) just assume eating, sleeping and bathing happen within the TS's?

[Inactive Account]

Usually, yes, but that doesn't disallow anyone from making a point of forgetting to eat.

[Mercakete]

Have you ever been so focussed on something that you forget to eat? Tas has that tendency and paired up with a fast motabolism, the results usually aren't very good.

[Inactive Account]

I know, I know, I'm joking. (is bad at remembering to eat as well)

It was just something with his phrasing that made it seem like he wasn't aware that needing to eat regularly was a standard thing in humans. (I'd assume that wyverns, as large predators, can get by with less frequent but much larger meals, hence the "out of touch with his species" joke.)

[Mercakete]

I get it and yeah, according to the notes, wyverns don't have to eat as often as humans (though that was entirely unintended)

[Phoenix]

New chapter is going up shortly. Though feel free to wrap up previous day's events.

[Inactive Account]

Ohey, stuff.

So I decided one day that I need Java practice, but since it's practice I might as well make something vaguely interesting to program. The result was a damage calculator (more accurately called a battle simulator, really) that runs on the LoAF battle system. Currently it doesn't have a GUI and only runs off the command line, so I'm holding off on zipping it up and hosting it somewhere until it actually has a GUI. Anyway...

What it does

-Reads characters (names, stats, and a "tenth stat" for weapon) from a text file or user input

-Calculates damage for a battle between two characters, given the following as input prompted from the user:

---Names of characters

---Any buffs and nerfs for attacker and defender (currently does not account for potential buffs or nerfs given by skills that depend on certain rolls)

---Whether the defender can counter

---Whether either unit is using a CW

---Which weapon a unit is using, if they have two types to pick from

---Rolls.

-Subtracts HP for CW use

-Disables attacking or healing with/against a KO'd unit

-Handles bow and knife nerfs

-Calculates effect of healing given two characters from user input

-Allow the user to revive a character to 1HP with Miracle

-Check the current status of a unit

What it doesn't do yet, but will

-Allow the player to enter buffs or nerfs that occur due to the activation of a skill based on rolls. Note: I AM NOT going to put the whole skill system in, bleaugh. What I probably will do is add an additional field to the Unit class that keeps track of whether or not the unit has a skill that activates based on rolls, which will cause the program to ask for buffs/nerfs again after rolls are made.

-Run from a GUI instead of the dreaded command line.

-Be able to not explode when the user inputs wrong. There is a lot of user input involved, and I managed to write in safeguards for a lot of it, but I still have a bit more to fix.

-Remember to not Miracle if a unit is not KO

What it doesn't do and will not do, so don't ask

-Track who's on which side. You ought to remember =_=

-Track who's got a staff or not. You can theoretically heal anyone using anyone with this. Don't cheat, etc.

-Know if you're lying. You could say a unit has a CW when they don't, or whatever, and it would accept that. You could say they have Miracle when they don't (and frankly that's really useful for testing). Thus, screencaps from an instance of the calculator you're running won't be acceptable as a sign of Not Cheating, Honest!

-Know the entire skills system. This is because BLAUGH THERE ARE SO MANY and I am le lazy and Java doesn't have Switch statements for strings yet and honestly I think you can remember your own dudes' skills enough to type the related buffs and nerfs in when you want to use them.

-Deal with the weapons triangles. You'll need to remember those yourself and put them in for buffs/nerfs.

-Serve as a replacement for mathing. It ought to be able to do your math for you, that's what I wrote it for, but sanity-checking on occasion is still a good idea if you're using it.

-Track the five-post rule.

I should hopefully have a GUI for this soon, and then I can make it into an executable program and share it wooo

Also also! Because of the way it reads input files, the spreadsheet is a really good way to keep stats organized for this; once they're properly spreadsheeted you can just copy-paste the thing into a text file. I have created a tab in the LoAF spreadsheet to put things in; it is currently labeled "paythisnomind" but I'll re-label it soon. Anyway, if you have statted recurring enemies that aren't dead, go ahead and put them in! FEED THE MACHINE! It's also good for playtesting them! It uses base stats, so don't add any support buffs or weapon nerfs or anything in.

About the "weapon" stat: It's assigned as follows:

0- Can use more than one weapon (pallies, nomad troopers, bosses). e.g. sword/bow, or in case of a boss, magic/nonmagic, etc DO NOT PUT 0 IF YOUR CHARACTER HAS A CW AND A NORMAL WEAPON OF THE SAME TYPE, LIKE DARANAU AND ELTHUNDER that's different

1- Sword

2- Axe

3- Lance

4- Bow

5- Knife

6- Wind

7- Fire

8- Thunder

9- Light

10- Dark

If it's a boss character with a nonstandard weapon (i.e. fangs, demon magic) that only uses one weapon type, just assign an arbitrary weapon that isn't Bow or Knife. (WTA/WTD are not calculated, but bow nerf/knife nerf are.)

If anyone wants the Java files so they can muck about with this on command line, just gimme a yell.

UPDATE: It's available as one application that runs from command line now. GUI may or may not ever actually happen.

Edited March 21, 2011 by Kiryn

[riariadne]

There is a Chase up for grabs. Whoever wants to RP him can. The only thing I ask is that he doesn't die. You can also pick his new weapon type since I never really decided. I really just have too much going on to keep up with an RP- having a character with a central item is even worse. If I ever come back I'll have a minor character instead. It's been fun, guys, but I'm done for now.

Edited March 21, 2011 by Reinfleche

[Balcerzak]

Helios bit added into last post, to prevent double posting.

[Inactive Account]

Quick poll: Who actually gives a damn about weapon triangle?

I'm not looking to change the current system, I just want to work out the overall opinion on the subject.

[Phoenix]

It's almost impotent. It's a bit hard to notice at times too. As is I don't really like it.

Note: Effects are more noticeable in the RoTE revision.

[Snowy_One]

When I made LoAF I kept the weapon triangle out of a duel respect for the source material and a desire to make the weapon types distinct without resorting to various abstract methods. If I had gone with my desires, I probably would have cut axes all together for one. I DO care about the weapon triangle though. I just don't want to see one weapon type suddenly becoming considered the best just because of a trait the weapon has that can't/isn't reflected in the character.

[ReformBlade]

DUE respect. What is this 'duel respect' you speak of? Also, I am appalled that you would've left axes out, bro. Axes are boss.

Edited March 28, 2011 by SlaveBlade

[Snowy_One]

A respect both for the source material (FE) and for characters who would have been stuck using the 'weakest' weapon type.

And yes, if I had gone with my desires, I would have cut axes. Axes have limited potential as a weapon-type, even with the inclusion of maces. If I had excluded them, so long as I didn't try to pass it off as a FE RP, I don't think anyone would have noticed all that much.

Anyways, the reason I made the WT weak like it is now is because I didn't want people to get stuck with a inferior-quality weapon and have to choose between character and being able to perform half-way decent in combat. Not to mention that, with a stronger weapon triangle, you can have a character lose to another player/enemy solely due to weapon selection. That really feels cheap and unfair to me. So with a weak triangle, the chances of that happening were minimal.

[Balcerzak]

Quick poll: Who actually gives a damn about weapon triangle?

I'm not looking to change the current system, I just want to work out the overall opinion on the subject.

I care about the weapon triangle. The implementation could use some tweaks, no doubt, but it was a decent attempt at a first approximation.

Conversely to Snowy, I however would have preferred a stronger triangle where fights could be won or lost based (nearly) solely on weapon selection.

[-Cynthia-]

I guess some of the reasoning for the weapon triangle being weak/ineffective is because the second weapon system was always somewhat unclear. Cavaliers (and Nomads) get a second weapon for some reason, despite them getting another Promotion skill.

I'm open to suggestions on changes, though nixing it entirely seems unecessary (though that may seem somewhat hypocritical since I want to eliminate supports entirely).

[Script]

When I joined I was under the belief that Paladins would get a choice between the two skills. Then someone said they got both so I just went along with the flow it seems.

[Inactive Account]

Oh, I wasn't planning on suggesting we get rid of it for LoAF. Just info-gathering for my own purposes.

[Mercakete]

I like the weapon triangle, though the trinity of magic could definately use some work.

I think FE10 got it right with the anima triagnle and the classic trinity of magic: Light > Dark > Anima (Wind > Thunder > Fire > Wind) > Light. The way things are now are both confusing and unfair to light magic users. Talking about not wanting to make one weapon type stronger or weaker than annother type seems rather hypocritical with light's plight in mind.

Also, Blader, I think Snowy meant "dual respect" not "duel respect." As in a split respect for 2 things. Though I blame Snowy for your confusion. Given the context, really, it's no wonder it would confuse someone.