User:Moritheil/Guides - Revision history

Moritheil: /* Add-ons for the total beginner */

2021-10-15T01:53:39Z

‎Add-ons for the total beginner

Moritheil: /* Vampire race notes */ clarity on unlock issues

2017-02-11T20:34:50Z

‎Vampire race notes: clarity on unlock issues

Moritheil: /* Vampire Mage Guide */ clarity about fireflash

2017-02-11T20:33:36Z

‎Vampire Mage Guide: clarity about fireflash

Moritheil: /* Getting Started */

2017-02-11T20:31:18Z

‎Getting Started

Moritheil: /* Getting Started */

2017-02-11T20:29:47Z

‎Getting Started

Moritheil at 20:29, 11 February 2017

2017-02-11T20:29:24Z

Moritheil at 20:24, 11 February 2017

2017-02-11T20:24:32Z

Moritheil: /* Add-ons for the total beginner */ more explicit help

2017-02-11T20:21:49Z

‎Add-ons for the total beginner: more explicit help

Moritheil: add color guide

2017-02-08T14:50:33Z

add color guide

Moritheil: move add-ons notes here

2017-02-08T14:48:24Z

move add-ons notes here

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 == Design ==
 Basically the theory of writing your own races/classes is that you call variables into local variables and reference those local variables, then order results.  This accords generally with good coding practice, but is a good reminder for non-coders.  Also remember that if some way to do a thing already exists, try to respect the existing structure, for uniformity across the game (and to enable correct behavior with future versions!)  This means that, for instance, if you write a bonus for Spellpower, and all the existing Spellpower references rescale to give diminishing returns, yours should not be the only thing out there immune to diminishing returns! You should write your code either in such a way that it arrives at the rescaling mechanic in the end, or if need be, outright duplicate that rescaling mechanic.
 == Getting Started ==

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 ==Vampire race notes==
-A word to the wise: you can only count on getting Nightfall and Necrotic Minions unlocked as a matter of course. Improving the Vampire racial tree with your first unlock will grant knowledge of advanced necrotic minions, but that's it.  It is far from the bonanza that players like myself were expecting (vague comments in the forum implied that a lot of necromancy would unlock, making this a great payoff for focusing all your points here, but that is sadly not the case.)  Ice, Grave, and Shade will be locked no matter what and those are the categories with real potential to synergize with other classes.  Getting the 1.2 mastery doesn't add more stat points from Vampire, it doesn't improve the Vampiric Bite, and it doesn't unlock anything that wouldn't already have been unlocked. It ONLY adds one category, locked, meaning basically you're paying for the privilege of being able to pay ANOTHER category point later on to get a tree that most necromancer players already find dubious due to intense resource management for limited gains.  For such a heavy investment of General points this is rather underwhelming.
+A word to the wise: you can only count on getting Nightfall and Necrotic Minions unlocked as a matter of course. Improving the Vampire racial tree with your first unlock will grant knowledge of advanced necrotic minions, but that's it.  ''It does not grant automatic unlock for that as well''. It is far from the bonanza that players like myself were expecting (vague comments in the forum implied that a lot of necromancy would unlock, making this a great payoff for focusing all your points here, but that is sadly not the case.)  Ice, Grave, and Shade will be locked no matter what and those are the categories with real potential to synergize with other classes.  Getting the 1.2 mastery doesn't add more stat points from Vampire, it doesn't improve the Vampiric Bite, and it doesn't unlock anything that wouldn't already have been unlocked. It ONLY adds one category, locked, meaning basically you're paying for the privilege of being able to pay ANOTHER category point later on to get a tree that most necromancer players already find dubious due to intense resource management for limited gains.  For such a heavy investment of General points this is rather underwhelming.
 What you want to invest in as a mage is probably 5/1/5/5.  The second category, Mockery of Life, grants no additional spell knowledge and is a melee attack.  The capstone just makes your Cloak of Undeath removable, but you can do that at the Sher'tul Fortress anyway.
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 But with limited unlock points, you'll have to cherry-pick your build.  Be a thrifty spender.  Decide whether you want that 5th rune slot (probably not, as you have so many categories to unlock!)  Decide whether you want to emphasize Forgery of Haze clones, or minions, or play a blaster.  I do not recommend running minions unless you are a pure Necromancer, as without Animus to expand your battery of souls you are really in an awkward place for resource management.
 ==[[Escorts]]==

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−	[[Archmage]] - this is perhaps the most thematic way to play a mage: you'll have the spell power boosts from Archmage and access to basic necromantic trees from Vampire. You can easily do a tri-elemental build for levels 1-30, only instead of fire/lightning/arcane you'll probably want arcane/darkness/cold to take advantage of your inborn spell penetration. Pick up Shivgoroth Form early for emergency stun immunity and cold healing, then follow up with Frostdusk for sustained damage boosts and a second elemental affinity. With access to [[Grave_(category)\|Grave]], you might want to skip Ice - Chill of the Tomb is basically Fireflash, Cold Edition. Rigor Mortis + Circle of Death + Ice Storm give you plenty of options for crowd control and staying alive. Consider Meta for the ability to dispel enemy shields.	+	[[Archmage]] - this is perhaps the most thematic way to play a mage: you'll have the spell power boosts from Archmage and access to basic necromantic trees from Vampire. You can easily do a tri-elemental build for levels 1-30, only instead of fire/lightning/arcane you'll probably want arcane/darkness/cold to take advantage of your inborn spell penetration. Pick up Shivgoroth Form early for emergency stun immunity and cold healing, then follow up with Frostdusk for sustained damage boosts and a second elemental affinity. With access to [[Grave_(category)\|Grave]], you might want to skip Ice - Chill of the Tomb is basically Fireflash, Cold Edition (and Fireflash is so good for corner sniping that it is considered a staple of many builds that don't even specialize in fire/wildfire). Rigor Mortis + Circle of Death + Ice Storm give you plenty of options for crowd control and staying alive. Consider Meta for the ability to dispel enemy shields.

	[[Necromancer]] - this is redundant. Not bad if you basically want to play a Necromancer+, but it doesn't add much beyond a stat bump, some category masteries, and a very situational melee attack in exchange for a 40% experience penalty. As undead, you can't go lich (and liches get hefty bonuses in 1.5.) You have most of the immunities of one, of course, but not disease/blight. This becomes extremely relevant in certain zones that specialize in blight damage. On the other hand, you can save the 5 points and the 2 category unlocks that are mandatory for the 1.5 lich (who needs an effective level of 7) and put them elsewhere.		[[Necromancer]] - this is redundant. Not bad if you basically want to play a Necromancer+, but it doesn't add much beyond a stat bump, some category masteries, and a very situational melee attack in exchange for a 40% experience penalty. As undead, you can't go lich (and liches get hefty bonuses in 1.5.) You have most of the immunities of one, of course, but not disease/blight. This becomes extremely relevant in certain zones that specialize in blight damage. On the other hand, you can save the 5 points and the 2 category unlocks that are mandatory for the 1.5 lich (who needs an effective level of 7) and put them elsewhere.

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 == Getting Started ==
-There is an official guide to [https://www.lua.org/pil/contents.html| Lua] online, so I will not bother to duplicate anything here.
+There is an official guide to [https://www.lua.org/pil/contents.html Lua] online, so I will not bother to duplicate anything here.
 At a very basic level, learning to make mods is like science: you first dissect things, and figure out how they work, and then you apply what you gained from dissection yourself. What you want to do is take an add-on you are familiar with and have played, and open it up to look at it.

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 == Getting Started ==
-There is an official guide to [https://www.lua.org/pil/contents.html|Programming in Lua] online, so I will not bother to duplicate anything here.
+There is an official guide to [https://www.lua.org/pil/contents.html| Lua] online, so I will not bother to duplicate anything here.
 At a very basic level, learning to make mods is like science: you first dissect things, and figure out how they work, and then you apply what you gained from dissection yourself. What you want to do is take an add-on you are familiar with and have played, and open it up to look at it.

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 = Add-ons for the total beginner =
 There is something you should take care of before we talk about how to make things work: Have an idea.
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 Making things just because you can or because they are easy to make, if you are new to making things, is not exactly a guarantee of quality.  Work on committing the vision to paper (or notepad) before you open up an editor and start writing code. That way it should be clearer if you simply lack the ability to implement your idea (frustrating, but common to all creative types - writers, painters, poets included!) or if you actually lack clarity with the very concept you are trying to implement (in which case, other people in the coding forum cannot help you!)
 Basically the theory of writing your own races/classes is that you call variables into local variables and reference those local variables, then order results.  This accords generally with good coding practice, but is a good reminder for non-coders.  Also remember that if some way to do a thing already exists, try to respect the existing structure for uniformity across the game (and to enable correct behavior with future versions!)
 You will usually want to use something like
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 * 		Communicate with the user! Display visible game log messages about what happens when you use specials, if procs fire and miss, etc. That way you (and your users) will know with certainty that your talents are working (and interacting with other details) correctly.
 * 		Format your log messages with color!
 = Color =

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:50, 8 February 2017
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	* Communicate with the user! Display visible game log messages about what happens when you use specials, if procs fire and miss, etc. That way you (and your users) will know with certainty that your talents are working (and interacting with other details) correctly.		* Communicate with the user! Display visible game log messages about what happens when you use specials, if procs fire and miss, etc. That way you (and your users) will know with certainty that your talents are working (and interacting with other details) correctly.
	* Format your log messages with color!		* Format your log messages with color!
		+
		+
		+
		+
		+
		+	= Color =
		+	A color page already exists; however, it does not list what those colors are natively used for in TOME. [[Colors]] include:
		+	* #1133F3# cold
		+	* #STEEL_BLUE# ice
		+	* #LIGHT_STEEL_BLUE# temporal
		+	* #GREY# darkness
		+	* #PURPLE# arcane
		+	* #YELLOW# mind
		+	* #LIGHT_GREEN# slow status
		+	* #aaaaaa#0 physical

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:48, 8 February 2017
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		+	= Add-ons for the total beginner =
		+	There is something you should take care of before we talk about how to make things work: Have an idea.
		+
		+	All things exist first as visions. Everything in the world around you - a chair, a knife, a fork - first existed as an idea in someone's head. Then they imprinted that vision onto reality, possibly adjusted for feedback. So the process is idea -> acquire skills -> implementation.
		+
		+	Making things just because you can or because they are easy to make, if you are new to making things, is not exactly a guarantee of quality. Work on committing the vision to paper (or notepad) before you open up an editor and start writing code. That way it should be clearer if you simply lack the ability to implement your idea (frustrating, but common to all creative types - writers, painters, poets included!) or if you actually lack clarity with the very concept you are trying to implement (in which case, other people in the coding forum cannot help you!)
		+
		+	Basically the theory of writing your own races/classes is that you call variables into local variables and reference those local variables, then order results. This accords generally with good coding practice, but is a good reminder for non-coders. Also remember that if some way to do a thing already exists, try to respect the existing structure for uniformity across the game (and to enable correct behavior with future versions!)
		+
		+	You will usually want to use something like
		+	* local lev = self:getTalentLevelRaw(t)
		+	* local levs = self:getTalentLevel(t)
		+
		+	to call the talent (or raw talent) level of racials when writing races.
		+
		+	List of things that you will want to know:
		+	* self.STAT_CON, self.STAT_STR, etc. are the variables referencing player character's stats.
		+	* Don't forget to write behavior for what happens when you un-upgrade as well! (And if you're writing variable level behavior instead of uniform upgrades, remember to reference the PREVIOUS level it was upgraded to!)
		+	* [[Callback]] is a very helpful page.
		+
		+	Good design practices
		+	* If you want something special to happen when you cap a racial talent, try handling it with more local variables (i.e. mastery = false/true) as this handles upgrades/reverse upgrades more gracefully!
		+	* Communicate with the user! Display visible game log messages about what happens when you use specials, if procs fire and miss, etc. That way you (and your users) will know with certainty that your talents are working (and interacting with other details) correctly.
		+	* Format your log messages with color!
		+
		+
		+
	=Vampire Mage Guide=		=Vampire Mage Guide=