Monster Squads

• Monster Squads
  Posted by Chthon on 06 Oct, 2015 12:12
• Monster Squads is my attempt at making monsters that are more challenging than normal, but not because of very large stats. Rather, I'm trying to increase difficulty through (1) giving monsters skills that matter, (2) giving monsters intra-team synergies, and (3) using the skill and stat systems to "bolt on" some slightly smarter behavior.
  
  The first monster squad is a group of elite bandits. I chose bandits because Dee said he's doing something with bandits for act 5. I have some ideas for doing different things with some other monster species eventually, but this one took waaay longer than planned, amd I need a break from it.
  
  You can download the first monster squad here: http://www.clockworkcore.org/files/MONSTERSQUADS.MOD
  
  Quick summary of bandit squad:
  8 elite bandit types:
  Blackfist Warrior (console name: bandit_melee2)
  Blackfist Dragoon (console name: bandit_dragoon)
  Blackfist Infiltrator (console name: bandit_infiltrator)
  Blackfist Ranger (console name: bandit_ranger)
  Blackfist Sniper (console name: bandit_sniper)
  Blackfist Mage (console name: bandit_mage)
  Blackfist Priest (console name: estherianbandit2)
  Felonious Monk (console name: estherianbandit)
  
  (Although the priest and monk are reskinned estherians, they look different enough that they can go either way from a lore perspective: You can treat them as human bandits who've learned just enough estherian mysticism to be dangerous, or as estherian outcasts who joined up with the human bandits. (Or you can just ignore lore entirely...))
  
  I'm going to put the more detailed unit descriptions in a spoiler, since people might prefer to find out by trying them out:
  
  

  Spoiler (hover to show)

  General notes:
  
  The main offensive synergy is "hamstorm." (anyone get the reference?) Most of the bandits' high damage skills are only dangerous if you're dumb enough to hold still. A couple of the bandits have skills that will slow or immobilize you. If they succeed in snaring you, then suddenly all those huge-damage-but-easy-to-avoid skills are no longer easy to avoid, and you're in trouble... (In fact, in my testing, I've died more often than not when I've allowed myself to be snared.)
  
  The main defensive strategy is using a relatively strong healer and protector to force the player to think about kill order, rather than just attacking whatever's closest. TL2's engine and mechanics somewhat limit how well this mod can accomplish this. At some level of player offense, particularly AoE offense, the player can just steamroll the bandits like the backliners aren't even there. But, so long as the player isn't too overpowered, he or she is forced to deal with the backline (and the resurrector...).
  
  Blackfist Warrior:
  This guy is an upgraded Blackfist Brigand. He's got a short-ranged line attack similar to (uncharged) flame hammer and an aoe slice attack. His more interesting feature is a shout that gives all nearby bandits faster move/cast/attack speed and improved damage.
  
  Blackfist Dragoon:
  This guy is an improved Blackfist Pikeman. He's got a leap attack (vaguely inspired by NES/SNES-era Final Fantasy games) that hits exceptionally hard, but is relatively easy to dodge so long as you're not snared. He's also got a charge-forward skill. Finally, he's got an AoE spear attack that does low damage, but inflicts slower move/attack/cast speed on you.
  
  Blackfist Infiltrator:
  This guy is an improved Blackfist Assassin. His main upgrade is that he has a chance to convey poison on hit. His other upgrade is a leap-back-and-throw-daggers skill he will use at low health.
  
  Blackfist Ranger:
  Upgraded bow guy. His damage is nothing to write home about, but he is nonetheless the scariest bandit of the bunch. Why? Because he has a tangling shot skill. You are quite likely to die if this hits you. His other skills are a boring powershot (he had this skill before) and a fire arrow similar to the ratlin's one. The fire arrow is laughable if you can move out of it, but kinda dangerous if he hits you with the tangling shot first so you're forced to stand in it. His last skill is a "trap." He'll create a circle of lovely-looking foilage. If you step on one, it will snare you just like the tangling shot. (It also looks pretty cool and randomly produces neutral frog and snake creepers.) Like all of the non-melee elite bandits, he will often run away if hit, or even if approached.
  
  Blackfist Sniper:
  Upgraded shotgun guy. He's got a TL1-style rifle -- which means no AoE, but he basically never misses with his normal attack. He's sort of themed around doing a low-but-consistent level of unavoidable damage. He's got a venomous hail clone and a rapid fire clone both of which will pretty much always hit you with its first couple hits, but only really mess you up if you're too dumb to move -- or snared so you can't move. He's also got a slow homing "concussion shot" that will interrupt and apply silence, stun (does nothing to players), and really slow cast speed. This is not as scary as it sounds since so many player skills cannot be interrupted or silenced. Like all of the non-melee elite bandits, he will often run away if hit, or even if approached.
  
  Blackfist Mage:
  A wholly new invention. His flare attack is basically a wand shot coming off a staff. His fireball attack is... well... a big fireball. It's relatively easy to dodge. The meteor attack is the epitome of  huge-damage-but-easy-to-avoid skills. It's unblockable and possibly a 1-hit kill, but you have lots of time to dodge it. And then there is phoenix. (Again with the oldschool FF homages...) I spent nearly a week on this skill alone. I think it looks rather cool. He'll only use this skill if there's both an enemy and a dead bandit within range. It will both hurt you and rez his fallen allies. Your immediate concern should be to get away from the center point, so that you don't get hit 50 bazillion times. From a strategic viewpoint, this rez ability means that you either need to kill him early or hit hard enough to gib his allies' corpses. Like all of the non-melee elite bandits, he will often run away if hit, or even if approached.
  
  Blackfist Priest:
  He heals. (Does not attack.) His basic skill is a fast homing missile that heals the bandit it hits. I went through a lot of work devising a system that makes him prioritize allies based on how low their health is, but with some random errors in judgment. He has a long-recharge multi-target version of this skill that fires one missile for every ally in range. He'll only use it if several low-health allies are in range.  His most interesting skill is a medium-recharge homing missile that enchants the target so that emits a small AoE heal every time it gets hit. (Hint: If a bandit gets enchanted with this, stop hitting it.) Finally, he's got a self-heal that also heals nearby allies. The recharge on the self-heal is slow enough that he's not hard to kill if that's all he can rely on. Like all of the non-melee elite bandits, he will often run away if hit, or even if approached.
  
  Felonious Monk:
  (Anyone get the reference?) He protects. (Does not attack.) His basic skill is a fast homing missile that applies a forcefield-like shield buffer to the bandit it hits. He's got the same target priority system as the priest, plus he only targets allies who have been hit during the last 5 seconds. (This is a loose proxy for which bandit you happen to be attacking at the moment.) Like the priest, he also has a long-recharge multi-target version of his basic skill. His medium-recharge skill enchants his target with increased armor, damage reduction, and slow-ish health regeneration. He has a self-targeting version of his basic skill on a slow recharge. He's also easy to kill if he has to rely on his own self-prot skill. Like all of the non-melee elite bandits, he will often run away if hit, or even if approached.

  
  There are three ready-to-go spawnclasses that you can use to add these bandits to a zone:
  BANDIT_ELITE_GROUP_SMALL
  BANDIT_ELITE_GROUP_MEDIUM
  BANDIT_ELITE_GROUP_FULL
  
  If you just want to test them out, you can do the following:
  1. Console: "AIFREEZE" (so you don't get ganked instantly when the whole mob spawns on your head.)
  2. Console: "SPAWNCLASS BANDIT_ELITE_GROUP_FULL,1,50" (change the spawnclass name to whichever you want to try out; change the 50 to the level you want the monsters to spawn at; note that there are no spaces beside the commas)
  3. Run somewhere offscreen.
  4. Console "AIFREEZE" again to wake them up.
  5. Return to fight the bandits.
  
  They are somewhat randomized, so you might have to try it a couple times to see every new unit in action. (Or you can just spawn them individually.)
  
  I'm going to reserve the next post for talking about how the "bolted on" AI improvements work, along with a lot of stuff I learned through things that didn't work. Probably coming in a few days.
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• #1 Reply
  Posted by Chthon on 06 Oct, 2015 12:12
• Reserved
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• #2 Reply
  Posted by gytfunke on 06 Oct, 2015 13:47
• As always, this is interesting.
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• #3 Reply
  Posted by Phanjam on 07 Oct, 2015 03:45
• Quote from: gytfunke on 06 Oct, 2015 13:47

  As always, this is interesting.
  

  
  VERY interesting! Downloaded and will try spawning/testing them (thanks for the AIFREEZE tip )
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