I have been trying to create a basic encounter with some humans that would be wielding swords and shields. I didn't think this would be that difficult, but was I ever wrong.
I have tested out a number of different encounters and the closest that I could find was the Kobald encounters, which to get the right number of Melee only monsters gives me a rogue in the mix, 3 mace users, and 1 sword and shield.
I understand now that the Encounter groups are just templates. They are more for creatures with special abilities and easy ways to place them at what D&D would consider a certain level of difficulty. This is where my problem starts, and I would recommend some changes to make this system make a lot more sense.
1) Templates - Make the templates based on ability or spells and not race. In the description give an idea of "Fire Wizard", or "Claw weapons", rather then just describing the names of the monsters.
2) Give General Templates - Maybe something with no Costumes selected, and you have to actually do it yourself. This could include groups of 'Rogue, Wizard, Cleric, Fighter, Fighter with Shield, etc' It could also give basic info for weapon types.
3) Allow adjusting weapons on the Costume - This would completely changed the whole idea of what is needed above, since you could just set it and they would use it as they have available. I have yet to figure out why this was not added in the first place since weapon type is normally almost as important as the armor they are wearing.
4) Allow changing the class of a monster in the encounter - I know that this could change the encounter level from Easy to Standard or Standard to Hard, but I am sure that the code could be adjusted with some formulas to figure out how to tweak HPs and damage to make it fit.
Last thing is why not make more templates for guards encounters that are not friendly?
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Please test my quests if you could... Crimsonconcepts:
Emberbaths Planning - NW-DGU6CYPV4
Fires Within - Goblin Attack (Part 1 of 5) - NW-DUXPXBR29
One thing, the Nasher Rebel Enforcers (1 = Standard, 2 = Hard) are basically the stronger guards, only reskinned.
For finding good encounters to make use of in your own Foundry, the best way really is to play the game and see what every encounter group plays like.
Hope you do find some encounters you feel will fit your story while we wait for the Foundry to improve more!
Rescue in Rainwall, ID: NW-DRQK3HKVV Chef's Challenge, ID: NW-DGTKIBVF3 The Dreamfall Campaign, ID: NWS-DEB7Z9IJC(3 Quests) Ogre: For the win!, ID: NW-DR5O3PD63 Cults and Culture, ID: NW-DCLSFYSQ2
3) Allow adjusting weapons on the Costume - This would completely changed the whole idea of what is needed above, since you could just set it and they would use it as they have available. I have yet to figure out why this was not added in the first place since weapon type is normally almost as important as the armor they are wearing.
I can't see this ever happening. Think of what this means for the animators...just for one monster:
Animation for Goblin that fights with mace
Animation for Goblin that fights with bow
Animation for Goblin that fights with sword
Animation for Goblin that fights with spear
Animation for Goblin that fights with club
Animation for Goblin that fights with hammer
Animation for Goblin that fights with staff
Animation for Goblin that fights with wand
Animation for Goblin that fights with holy symbol
Animation for Goblin that fights with daggers
Right now they've got 1 or 2 of those.
Multiply that times the total number of creatures in the game.
We would get new creatures about once every four years.
I can't see this ever happening. Think of what this means for the animators...just for one monster:
Right now they've got 1 or 2 of those.
Multiply that times the total number of creatures in the game.
We would get new creatures about once every four years.
Well most of them are the same, it just ends up being the basic animation that they apply to the attack model. PSB, Piercing, Slashing, Blunt. Those are the Three animations, along with maybe a Melee Bash. Reskin a spider as a humanoid and you will see a problem already, this is nothing different. If someone attacked me with a Sword and a Mace and they had the same animation, I don't think I would be heartbroken as long as I could actually choose the weapon. If the player model can do the animation for it, then they have the animation already created, that is the whole reason they have 'skins'.
I think any humanoid would have a variable that says 'Wield Weapon' and then a drop down for the options of what they can wield. Same with Off hand, which could include a shield.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Please test my quests if you could... Crimsonconcepts:
Emberbaths Planning - NW-DGU6CYPV4
Fires Within - Goblin Attack (Part 1 of 5) - NW-DUXPXBR29
0
neverwinter1776Member, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 0Arc User
edited July 2013
I agree that it would be sweet if there were more control over the mobs.
And if they just gave us more presets the amount they would HAVE to create to satisfy us would be exponential. So that wouldn't be too feasible.
It would be nice to have a "Create Group Encounter" option.
Even as simple as:
1) Pick Race (this would determine the weapon styles)
2) Add number of mobs (1-6)
3)Add Fighting style (Mage, Rouge, Warrior, Cleric -- Caster, melee, archer, brawler .. etc)
And the thing that annoys me too is that they seem to end up with a few double weapons. i.e. They fight with a shield but the shield is still on their back. If you skin a archer, they now have a bow on their back and in their hand.
The Mage staff detaches when the mage character is following you and flies about 4 feet to the right.
Well most of them are the same, it just ends up being the basic animation that they apply to the attack model. PSB, Piercing, Slashing, Blunt. Those are the Three animations, along with maybe a Melee Bash. Reskin a spider as a humanoid and you will see a problem already, this is nothing different. If someone attacked me with a Sword and a Mace and they had the same animation, I don't think I would be heartbroken as long as I could actually choose the weapon. If the player model can do the animation for it, then they have the animation already created, that is the whole reason they have 'skins'.
I think the problem is still that each player/mob model is different enough that they have to create animations for each one. I don't think there is a "skeletal" structure animation possible -- all the different skeletal sizes, etc. still makes for different animations being required for each creature. I could be wrong - 3d/animation modeling has come along way in the last few years -- maybe a nice Cryptic animator can shed some light on the work involved.
cipher9nemoMember, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 0Arc User
edited July 2013
Just for the record, Undead Pirate brutes has swords and no shield or anything else if you just wanted swords alone. It's nice that we can re-skin mobs as needed. But I wish we could reskin their weapons too.
I just found another small issue with the Reskinning of a group of Kobolds, even when they all look like humans, I got the Kobold Slayer when I reached 50. Kinda kills the whole feeling of them being guards..
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Please test my quests if you could... Crimsonconcepts:
Emberbaths Planning - NW-DGU6CYPV4
Fires Within - Goblin Attack (Part 1 of 5) - NW-DUXPXBR29
0
croffileMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild UsersPosts: 0Arc User
I just found another small issue with the Reskinning of a group of Kobolds, even when they all look like humans, I got the Kobold Slayer when I reached 50. Kinda kills the whole feeling of them being guards..
Perhaps they are Half-Kobolds? No? Well, never judge a Mob by it's costume! I agree it would kill the idea though, but it is a minor issue compared to some others.
I just found another small issue with the Reskinning of a group of Kobolds, even when they all look like humans, I got the Kobold Slayer when I reached 50. Kinda kills the whole feeling of them being guards..
It would be nice to have a "Create Group Encounter" option.
Even as simple as:
1) Pick Race (this would determine the weapon styles)
2) Add number of mobs (1-6)
3)Add Fighting style (Mage, Rouge, Warrior, Cleric -- Caster, melee, archer, brawler .. etc)
I've just started to learn the Foundry Editor and I was stumped that these basic monster options weren't included. It really bugs me that I can't make single enemy encounters. So I really hope these options get added to the Editor.
I just found another small issue with the Reskinning of a group of Kobolds, even when they all look like humans, I got the Kobold Slayer when I reached 50. Kinda kills the whole feeling of them being guards..
Pretty sure all the encounters act that way. Running foundries with lower level characters I get all kinds of wrong slayer notices. Higher level characters running foundry missions are more likely to already have most of the slayer achievements. So they probably won't notice it.
I do agree they need to revamp the encounter system. I don't know if they could make them totally generic as people would have to re-learn what moves each group/monster would have. Would be nice to be able to change/hide weapons and link attacks to a models existing animations.
That's not a bug. That's the way it's always worked. When you reskin an encounter, the mobs are still treated as their original racial types for the purposes of achievement counting. There's nothing we as authors can do about that, and so the Foundry is FULL of bandits who give you Nasher Rebel counts, and soldiers who give you Kobold counts, and pirates who give you Orc and ogre counts, etc etc.
It's just the way it is. Most people are used to it by now.
That's not a bug. That's the way it's always worked. When you reskin an encounter, the mobs are still treated as their original racial types for the purposes of achievement counting. There's nothing we as authors can do about that, and so the Foundry is FULL of bandits who give you Nasher Rebel counts, and soldiers who give you Kobold counts, and pirates who give you Orc and ogre counts, etc etc.
It's just the way it is. Most people are used to it by now.
That's not what I was suggesting reporting it was...
I just found another small issue with the Reskinning of a group of Kobolds, even when they all look like humans, I got the Kobold Slayer when I reached 50. Kinda kills the whole feeling of them being guards..
Comments
For finding good encounters to make use of in your own Foundry, the best way really is to play the game and see what every encounter group plays like.
Hope you do find some encounters you feel will fit your story while we wait for the Foundry to improve more!
Chef's Challenge, ID: NW-DGTKIBVF3
The Dreamfall Campaign, ID: NWS-DEB7Z9IJC (3 Quests)
Ogre: For the win!, ID: NW-DR5O3PD63
Cults and Culture, ID: NW-DCLSFYSQ2
I can't see this ever happening. Think of what this means for the animators...just for one monster:
Right now they've got 1 or 2 of those.
Multiply that times the total number of creatures in the game.
We would get new creatures about once every four years.
Encounter Matrix | Advanced Foundry Topics
Well most of them are the same, it just ends up being the basic animation that they apply to the attack model. PSB, Piercing, Slashing, Blunt. Those are the Three animations, along with maybe a Melee Bash. Reskin a spider as a humanoid and you will see a problem already, this is nothing different. If someone attacked me with a Sword and a Mace and they had the same animation, I don't think I would be heartbroken as long as I could actually choose the weapon. If the player model can do the animation for it, then they have the animation already created, that is the whole reason they have 'skins'.
I think any humanoid would have a variable that says 'Wield Weapon' and then a drop down for the options of what they can wield. Same with Off hand, which could include a shield.
Please test my quests if you could...
Crimsonconcepts:
Fires Within - Goblin Attack (Part 1 of 5) - NW-DUXPXBR29
And if they just gave us more presets the amount they would HAVE to create to satisfy us would be exponential. So that wouldn't be too feasible.
It would be nice to have a "Create Group Encounter" option.
Even as simple as:
1) Pick Race (this would determine the weapon styles)
2) Add number of mobs (1-6)
3)Add Fighting style (Mage, Rouge, Warrior, Cleric -- Caster, melee, archer, brawler .. etc)
And the thing that annoys me too is that they seem to end up with a few double weapons. i.e. They fight with a shield but the shield is still on their back. If you skin a archer, they now have a bow on their back and in their hand.
The Mage staff detaches when the mage character is following you and flies about 4 feet to the right.
I think the problem is still that each player/mob model is different enough that they have to create animations for each one. I don't think there is a "skeletal" structure animation possible -- all the different skeletal sizes, etc. still makes for different animations being required for each creature. I could be wrong - 3d/animation modeling has come along way in the last few years -- maybe a nice Cryptic animator can shed some light on the work involved.
Encounter Matrix | Advanced Foundry Topics
Hammerfist Clan. Jump into the Night: NW-DMXWRYTAD
Please test my quests if you could...
Crimsonconcepts:
Fires Within - Goblin Attack (Part 1 of 5) - NW-DUXPXBR29
Perhaps they are Half-Kobolds? No? Well, never judge a Mob by it's costume! I agree it would kill the idea though, but it is a minor issue compared to some others.
Shortcode copy: NW-DFQEQQ8H6
Bug report it.
Encounter Matrix | Advanced Foundry Topics
I've just started to learn the Foundry Editor and I was stumped that these basic monster options weren't included. It really bugs me that I can't make single enemy encounters. So I really hope these options get added to the Editor.
Pretty sure all the encounters act that way. Running foundries with lower level characters I get all kinds of wrong slayer notices. Higher level characters running foundry missions are more likely to already have most of the slayer achievements. So they probably won't notice it.
I do agree they need to revamp the encounter system. I don't know if they could make them totally generic as people would have to re-learn what moves each group/monster would have. Would be nice to be able to change/hide weapons and link attacks to a models existing animations.
That's not a bug. That's the way it's always worked. When you reskin an encounter, the mobs are still treated as their original racial types for the purposes of achievement counting. There's nothing we as authors can do about that, and so the Foundry is FULL of bandits who give you Nasher Rebel counts, and soldiers who give you Kobold counts, and pirates who give you Orc and ogre counts, etc etc.
It's just the way it is. Most people are used to it by now.
That's not what I was suggesting reporting it was...
I just found another small issue with the Reskinning of a group of Kobolds, even when they all look like humans, I got the Kobold Slayer when I reached 50. Kinda kills the whole feeling of them being guards..
Encounter Matrix | Advanced Foundry Topics