End Game(ish) bosses

[Galgano]

Dr. Lash is a challenging boss at the moment, but are y'all gonna allow him to maintain his Challenge Rating? What I mean is, are you going to increase his stats and stuff as you add more levels and items to the game that would turn his battle into a minor inconvenience at best? And will there be any more optional bosses like that? I realize that all the optional missions that have bosses can be considered optional bosses, but I'm more referring to hidden bosses like Lash and the Queen. Bosses that aren't linked to any sort of questline.

 

[Ormael]

Queen is already optina boss and not think she will be buffed in future. For LAsh same so when game catch up to him more devs may only adjust reward for beting him. Any new bosses for endgame? I think atm in backer build FrostWyrm is another tought enemy/boss to battle.

 

[Couch]

I'm slowly writing one for true endgame/postgame who will be unlocked through sufficiently ludicrous burning of cash.  Sadly I can't figure out how to work "_____ the Invincible" into the name.

 

[Ormael]

Heh make him or her use often phase: "That isn't my final form", the spice it with lil bit of...Boss grinding with PC  throphy and to finish it add all resitances at 100% including to all physical types and lust. So the only way to beat it is to seal it again/just seal to call that a win.


On less joking side that truly endgame boss will still take long time since it is I suppose with lvl over 9000...err 20. And given now PC at lvl 8 can beat super hyper tough boss tier enemy that is only lvl 15 (Lash) it would be hard to predict what toys will Fen allow PC to have at that final lvl of 20.

 

[Galgano]

Are there any resistance-lowering weapons? Wait, that won't work. If you make him have 100% resistance, then you force the player to have a specific weapon(s) in order to defeat him/her. Ah well, it would have been interesting (although a shifting invulnerability...). Personally, I'm a fan of bosses that have interesting mechanics, like the Tether Boss. If you could work in something like that, Couch, I'd give you...this lint that I found in my pocket...and cookies...

 

[Klaptrap]

The final boss will be a Tower of Hanoi puzzle.

 

[Savin]

The final boss will be a Tower of Hanoi puzzle.

I continue to support this line of thinking.

 

[Nekotamaishi]

I think for this to be a proper thing we need first to actually have an end game.

 

[Couch]

I continue to support this line of thinking.

Same.


At any rate, the reason Dr. Lash is beatable at such a low level is mostly that he deals primarily in one damage type that players can get immunity to.  This one will be attacking with at least three elements and possibly all five, across three separate phases.  I want to implement a platform-breaking mechanic into the fight, but I need to figure out how to make it interesting rather than annoying, which I may not be able to do.

 

[Noob Salad]

#bufflash


Final puzzle: implement insertion sort through assembly.

 

[Neoptolemus]

The Frostwyrm should be tougher than the Queen of the Deep. Not sure how it shapes up compared to Lash. He's tankier and does more raw damage, but the wyrm has stuns and some variation in damage type.


AFAIK the Queen and Frostwyrm are intended to be "just" the toughest bosses on their respective planets, so they wont keep pace as more content gets created. Although for sentimental reason I'd like to buff the wyrm at least mildly when level 9 and 10 are released.

 

[Ormael]

@Neoptolemus Well I think Uveto isn't planet for PC at 6-8 lvl but 7-9 or 8-10 I think. So you need check on forum (I'm quite sure it was said somewhere what is Uveto planned lvl range of enemies) and then just buff FrostWyrm acording to this.


@Galgano Well whole fun...or endless annoyance with boss that got 100% resistance to all form of dmg including lust would be that...you can't technicaly kill/beat him and say you won so as all movies showing such type of boss can be only somehow suppressed or sealed somewhere so even if boss still live it would count as "beating" him. Resistance lowering weapons...well I could say...when PC attack enemy with something that deal thermal dmg...then using in next turn weapon using freezing dmg should make it take some more dmg cuz first making enemy body hot then apply cold should have some effect. So maybe not directly lowering resistance for the same as PC weapon damage type but some other that would be considered "an opposite" type od resistance.

 

[Galgano]

Resistance lowering weapons...well I could say...when PC attack enemy with something that deal thermal dmg...then using in next turn weapon using freezing dmg should make it take some more dmg cuz first making enemy body hot then apply cold should have some effect. So maybe not directly lowering resistance for the same as PC weapon damage type but some other that would be considered "an opposite" type of resistance.

elemental based damage buffs would be interesting, except anyone but the Smuggler would either find it annoying (because they lose a turn swapping weapons), or they build to be both melee and ranged and use...say... a hot and cold weapon or water and electricity weapon.

 

[Ormael]

Ohh range and melee...well I forgot about it :shepicide:


Well it could be still retained that Smuggler would be one to fast switching weapons as still PC could have for ex. melee weapon that will make enemy less resistant to damage type form PC range wepaon....and in case of Techs...or for drone damage type xD (If Fen wouldn't keep his habit of making all new drones trash tier after few versions ).

 

[Galgano]

Well, the mercenary does have that Concentrate Fire ability, so it wouldn't be a stretch to make weapons that deal more damage the more you use it on the same target (kind of like that Protoss unit whose name eludes me). Now if only, the tech could swap his base drone for the new one he wants to use. Right now, it just seems like a waste. You equip a new drone, and your old drone stops helping you and you use up your accessory slot. Unless they changed it. I haven't been paying attention to Techie changes lately.

 

[Ormael]

Yes even siegwolf is taking acc slot atm (specialy used 0.6.84 to be sure ^^). Maybe there will be finaly day devs make something for tech about their drones like...drone slot that would make it all easier. But either way techs got potential still to have been able deal 3 diff dmg types without using anything else than either melee or range attack in round (technicaly it is still 2 but switching between melee and range would make that 3 since drone is one type and both weapon used atm 2 more).

 

[Neoptolemus]

@Ormael since what perks and gear level 9-10 characters are going to have access is still tbd, I had to do a fair bit of guesswork to determine what kind of stats a level 10 enemy should have. In the end my benchmark was that a optimally geared level 8 should have a 50-50 chance of victory against the Frostwyrm. So far the feedback I've seen suggests I got that roughly right, but that people would've been happy with an even tougher encounter. Live and learn.


One idea that I had, but ultimately didn't go with was to change the weighting of attack options based on the pc's resistance, so that the mob is more likely to pick the elemental attacks that do more damage. If I get a similar project in the future I'll probably try that out.

 

[Ormael]

Pearks for future levels I think was meantioned to be more leaning toward been passive ones then active (something about making too many active skills to pick from etc.) But you spak truth that there is no chance to predict well what will in the end be put for lvl 9-10.


Making AI somehow figure out what resistances PC got lowest would be good. As long it not like enemy start right from the bat with most effective attack not bothering to use others often or at all. Technicaly it would be easy for game check what are current PC resistances but also quite sucker punch from gmae to instantly fight start to tell enemy what attack will be most effective.

 

[Neoptolemus]

..this gives me an idea...

 

[Zavos]

Meh.  Once frostwyrm hits public build, i'll figure out how to beat him.  Maybe.  After i'm done savescumming a new ideal form using Busky's wares.