Action-based Stealth System
Characters can now enter stealth via an action. Some actions (like firing a rifle) break stealth, while others (like using a knife) don’t. Stealth can also be broken if an enemy directly targets the character.
Entering stealth gens a value which is then dynamically combined per turn with zone stats (such as concealment) to determine a final rating per turn. If an enemy detection rating defeats stealth, then that enemy can spot and target you. (Note that defeating stealth is twice as hard at range.)
Attacking while stealthed against an enemy that cannot see you applies an automatic blindside crit that can’t be evaded. (This also applies to attacks that break stealth.)
Rubble System and Corpse Decay
Damaging or destroying objects in the world can now create new “rubble” objects. Damaging a tank wreck, for instance, might start a scrap metal pile.
Rubble objects level with added hit points (and can thus add more stats to zone, like concealment or terrain difficulty), and lose levels with lost HP. This leveling system also applies to monstrous growths.
Corpses now decay over time, and can create their own “rubble” objects (like a corpse pile, or bone pile). Inventory can be transferred from the decayed corpse to the pile, allowing the pile to be looted. (This also works on zone objects.) Mana in the corpse is currently lost.
I’d like to add flags to items such that some might be destroyed on a decay/destroy transfer to a pile. Note that destroying a scavengeable object does not transfer any hidden items it might have contained (so spamming AoE can destroy unique items in the zone).
New Rooms at Base
- Medbay (healing for a price)
- Primordial Orrery (life/death/light/dark mana)
- Residential (free health/stamina via resting)
- Simulators (training)
The Medbay provides healing, debuff removal, and buffs. As it levels, the services will get more powerful (and possibly less expensive), and new services may be added. Note that heals or removals may be stacked to do a full heal or removal in one go.
The Primordial Orrery is the life/death/light/dark counterpart to the Elemental Refractory. Both now provide training in their respective resists and affinities. Resistance training now costs hit points (and prestige). Note that arcane resist and affinity is trained at the System Pylon.
The Residential level provides a rest option for free health and stamina recovery (though slower than the medbay). Leveling will increase how much you gain by resting. I also want to add item and mana storage, possibly equipment set management, and maybe even things like trophies (but we’ll see).
The Simulators level currently provides training for attributes and physical resists, and I may expand that to include other stats.
Note that training can now cost prestige, mana, stamina, hit points and so forth.
Other Changes
- Abilities can now use zone stats to increase power and face added resists. So a death ability might face added resistance if used in a life-ambient zone, but gain power if used in a death-ambient zone. If ranged, this applies to both from source and destination zones, so ambient mana levels in both zones should become more interesting.
- Added a distortion stat to zones, which I can leverage to make magic abilities harder to use. (I’m thinking arcane abilities will ignore distortion, and possibly even benefit from it.)
- Conditions can now be persistent (like diseases).
- Conditions can now include zone stats on their effect (note that zones can also affect condition power via abilities).
- Environment-applied conditions from zones can now affect zone objects.
- Room upgrades no longer require capacity stats from faction: just research. I figured that the capacity mechanic, while standard for 4X games, forced certain rooms to be upgraded first, which removed interesting choices. (If this doesn't play well, however, I can re-add capacity requirements.)
- Fuel for regen only burns per tick, not via tick magnitude (so increasing health regen will always be desirable and use calories efficiently).
- The player now has a wait action.