Make leveling up tease less grindy

[Hanzo]

One of the worst things in TiTs is leveling up tease, so I've been thinking in ways to improve it.


1- Spread it between the levels


TiTs feel less grindy than CoC because it's not possible to have 100 Aim, Willpower, etc at low level. Doing the same with the tease skills would have a similar effect. At level 1 each tease skill would be capped at 5/100, then at level 2 at 10/100, etc. Twenty 5 minute grind sessions are ok-ish, a 1 hour session gets tedious.


2- Alternate ways to level up tease


Things like working as a stripper (if such a thing ever exists) or certain scenes could increase tease skills. To keep things balanced it'd be possible to make the skill gain from a scene happen only the first time said screne triggers, or if Steele's skill is low enough, for example.


3- Trainers


NPCs that teach tease skills to Steele if his/her skill is low enough in exchange for something (usually money) the NPC wants (similar to The Elder Scrolls).

 

[balitz Method]

Honestly the tease mechanic just feels like an out-of-place holdover in general. Corruption of Champions had a setting where something like that made a certain kind of sense; everything was so painfully oversexed due to corruption magic that the ridiculous idea of shaking your butt until your opponent keeled over with lust was just the sort of absurdity to hammer in how bad things had gotten in this strange place.


In TiTS it only makes sense from the "you could do it in the other game" meta angle. There are plenty of horny monsters but they all have lust-inducing powers that fit the setting: pheromones or drugs or venom or nanomachines. The thought of them being overcome by flashing your boobs just sounds stupid here. If it's that easy then why bother with those sorts of things at all? In-universe it's -not- that easy and so the tease mechanic just feels like it clashes with everything else. Adding more lust-based damage weapons and class perks seems like a better plan but if the mechanic has to be there I'd say it should probably have almost no effect at all in a normal state but work well once an opponent has been affected by a lust agent like pheromones or grey goo or venom.


In other words weapons and abilities induce a "lust vulnerability" state where teasing would then work (with the normal damage multipliers if you're the enemy's type).

 

[Tainted-Alice]

Honestly the tease mechanic just feels like an out-of-place holdover in general. Corruption of Champions had a setting where something like that made a certain kind of sense; everything was so painfully oversexed due to corruption magic that the ridiculous idea of shaking your butt until your opponent keeled over with lust was just the sort of absurdity to hammer in how bad things had gotten in this strange place.


In TiTS it only makes sense from the "you could do it in the other game" meta angle. There are plenty of horny monsters but they all have lust-inducing powers that fit the setting: pheromones or drugs or venom or nanomachines. The thought of them being overcome by flashing your boobs just sounds stupid here. If it's that easy then why bother with those sorts of things at all? In-universe it's -not- that easy and so the tease mechanic just feels like it clashes with everything else. Adding more lust-based damage weapons and class perks seems like a better plan but if the mechanic has to be there I'd say it should probably have almost no effect at all in a normal state but work well once an opponent has been affected by a lust agent like pheromones or grey goo or venom.


In other words weapons and abilities induce a "lust vulnerability" state where teasing would then work (with the normal damage multipliers if you're the enemy's type).

Well I'm glad your not in charge of design  I personally use tease on people so i don't have to hurt them imo using weapons on some of the natives is just mean x(

 

[Belltie]

Another way to tweak the tease grind (which needs to be a new hip hop dance move, irl), would be to scale tease xp, so you gain more lvls depending on how effective your teasing is with your appearance and body part choice. 


Like, 1 lvl if they're only slightly turned on because you aren't exactly their cup of tea or if you didn't shake the bits they prefer (ass, chest, crotch, or hips), 2 lvls if they 'like' what you're putting out, and 3 if they 'really like' what you've got going on. 

 

[Shizenhakai]

True, getting tease to high-levels is a bit of a chore, but I have to aks, is there anything you really need it for?


I never really level tease (don't really like the concept to be honest ^^') and the three battles I actually do use it (Kaska, Prime Goo and the Queensguard/Queeny double-battle) my undeleveled tease just works fine. If you want to fight a hard tease battle, but dislike the grind, use a Goo Armor and maybe a Goovolver and you will have little problems, if any at all =)

 

[PyrateHyena]

You consider getting a value to 100 a grind? Seriously? I agree that it is one of the grindiest thing in TiTS, but it is in no way as grindy as huge parts of certain-online-rpgs-not-to-be-mentioned. Also what @Shizenhakai said. You should be fine without high or maxed tease, so if you do not like the current mechanics to get tease to that level, don't do it.

 

[balitz Method]

Half the issue is that you -don't- need to touch it. It's completely divorced from the rest of the game mechanics, sitting off in its own little corner. But if you do play around with it you find that it's clunky, grindy, poorly implemented and doesn't mesh with the lore.

 

[Hanzo]

Another way to tweak the tease grind (which needs to be a new hip hop dance move, irl), would be to scale tease xp, so you gain more lvls depending on how effective your teasing is with your appearance and body part choice. 


Like, 1 lvl if they're only slightly turned on because you aren't exactly their cup of tea or if you didn't shake the bits they prefer (ass, chest, crotch, or hips), 2 lvls if they 'like' what you're putting out, and 3 if they 'really like' what you've got going on. 

This could work too.


Others have stated that leveling it up is not really needed, but since it's in the game I think it'd be better if it doesn't feel like a chore (besides, my gamer sense pushes me to get as powerful as possible).


Edit - Special lust attacks like the Milk Squirt or the Dick Slap are affected by the tease skills, so you need to level them up for those.

 

[Woider]

How many people actually use the tease skills over normal combat most of the time? Always struck me as just a "hey this is a smut game so teasing your opponents into defeat is kinda topical and funny", though due to Lust being capped at 100 rather than the infinite levels of health, it's an easy way to cheese certain later fights.  

 

[Shizenhakai]

How many people actually use the tease skills over normal combat most of the time? Always struck me as just a "hey this is a smut game so teasing your opponents into defeat is kinda topical and funny", though due to Lust being capped at 100 rather than the infinite levels of health, it's an easy way to cheese certain later fights.  

Well, not only do they cap at 100, tease attack also ignore the invisible/hiding status of your enemy..


Also, the Goo Armor + Goovolver are kinda overkill against everyone who is not immune or at least highly resistant to tease attacks (especially if you are a Merc with the Second Wind skill, that will allow you to outlast *everything*)

 

[Woider]

Well, not only do they cap at 100, tease attack also ignore the invisible/hiding status of your enemy..


Also, the Goo Armor + Goovolver are kinda overkill against everyone who is not immune or at least highly resistant to tease attacks (especially if you are a Merc with the Second Wind skill, that will allow you to outlast *everything*)

Yeah, it's really good for the late-game bosses.

 

[Ormael]

I would like if ther would be any changes to tease divided it into lvl's so like around 20-50 points will be max for lvl 1 tease then it can lvl up somehow (maybe like normal lvl-up after PC sleep) or jsut naturaly with simple msg: your (x body part) trease lvl'd to lvl x.


And for endgame bosses...I only use goovolver since techs got alsmot free of charge goo samples after some grind on tarkus. And frankly I do lvl tease but not cuz of it have uses for me...I just love beating naleen huntress/vanae maiden and huntress with tease (yeah actualy just cuz of those three I bother to lvl any of ingame accesable versions of tease as otherwise I would just go to Tarkus to buy weapon from Anno then make her upgrade it and then go make good stash of goo samples saved up (which at worst can be used as weak heal potion too xD ))

 

[Shizenhakai]

I would like if ther would be any changes to tease divided it into lvl's so like around 20-50 points will be max for lvl 1 tease then it can lvl up somehow (maybe like normal lvl-up after PC sleep) or jsut naturaly with simple msg: your (x body part) trease lvl'd to lvl x.


And for endgame bosses...I only use goovolver since techs got alsmot free of charge goo samples after some grind on tarkus. And frankly I do lvl tease but not cuz of it have uses for me...I just love beating naleen huntress/vanae maiden and huntress with tease (yeah actualy just cuz of those three I bother to lvl any of ingame accesable versions of tease as otherwise I would just go to Tarkus to buy weapon from Anno then make her upgrade it and then go make good stash of goo samples saved up (which at worst can be used as weak heal potion too xD ))

Everyone gets Goo samples easily, since it is tied to the intelligance stat, not your class..

 

[Ormael]

Ahh well not what I meant exactly but techs always had easiest way to farm goo samples since it involve having int above set value but only techs typicaly lvl up int to allow their specials deal decent dmg while other classes would just rise int more due to having spare points (in most cases ofc).

 

[Shizenhakai]

Ahh well not what I meant exactly but techs always had easiest way to farm goo samples since it involve having int above set value but only techs typicaly lvl up int to allow their specials deal decent dmg while other classes would just rise int more due to having spare points (in most cases ofc).

I have to admit that I started to frequently visit Syri, the girl that is so smart that you become smarter just for talking with her for some time..

 

[Ormael]

I have to admit that I started to frequently visit Syri, the girl that is so smart that you become smarter just for talking with her for some time..

Yeah but she got I think soft cap so at lower levels it will be too hard to get to int level needed for farming goo samples after first comming to Tarkus. But I always used her to int farming too even as tech :laugh:

 

[Shizenhakai]

Yeah but she got I think soft cap so at lower levels it will be too hard to get to int level needed for farming goo samples after first comming to Tarkus. But I always used her to int farming too even as tech :laugh:

The only cap she has is the stat cap of your current level.. Though I have to say she *is* kinda OP when it comes to stat raises..


I think it may be better to nerf her like Tanis, currently there is little reason to dump points into intelligence

 

[Ormael]

:vince: Ohh indeed I looked at code now and she not have like NT gym or Tanis simlar sofrt cap on int gains. Damn then *tips hat low* you was right sir about easy farming int. Anyway since we slow drift out of subject. Goo sample grind that cna be done around lvl PC reach Tarkus (3-4) can give us easy and quite good source of lust dmg rather than tease option that got also this tiny details like enemy preferences. So some enemies like bosses may not like our PC body parts much to tease been super effective but using lust weapikns always deal realiable amount of lust to them.

 

[Woider]

The only cap she has is the stat cap of your current level.. Though I have to say she *is* kinda OP when it comes to stat raises..


I think it may be better to nerf her like Tanis, currently there is little reason to dump points into intelligence

You can literally hold down the "1" key for free stats. Not that I mind. The harder it gets to boost stats beyond levelups, the more I'll use the editor.

 

[Belltie]

I use tease exclusively, unless I'm up against something that can't be seduced. LOL Though, I can totally see how it would not fit the lore for some people, depending on your play style and your character's personality and standards, but my character is always a wannabe succubus type who doesn't like beating up random indigenous lifeforms just because I stumbled into their territory. I'm a weird combination of being morally opposed to random violence, but comfortable with being the galaxy's biggest slut. LOL You're immune to STD's, the galaxy is full of sexy aliens, and you're trying to live up to your dad's rep, who was a Legendary Space Playa, so why not? The best part about RPG's is that you can do or not do what you want.

Also, I always use the Vanae milk squirt attack, so it always makes perfect sense to my character why her enemies fall down, masturbating furiously, since they're literally dripping with aphrodisiacs. But if your character doesn't use special arousal inducers and feels like their business isn't spectacular enough in it's own right to make people collaspe to the floor at the mere sight of your gyrations, then keep it in your pants and fight them. lol

It might just be the pervert in me, but I find it refreshing that a game has an option other than constant, lethal violence to solve every situation (since that gets a bit mind numbing after a point), or the occasional game where you can also try and sweet talk your way out of fighting, but that's always felt anticlimactic and boring to play, for me. So many games require you to basically murder anyone who doesn't like you and every fight is a fight to the death, no matter how trivial the circumstance. Trying to murder every living thing you see in the wild is not exactly realistic either.

But seriously, maybe a better question is, who complains about the logic of seduction as a form of conflict resolution in an *erotic* game, and then who also complains about it in a thread trying to figure out how to improve the seduction mechanic? LOL Why ya gotta rag on our silly fap game for having lots of fap material? You have to admit, the criticism, "This transformation themed science fiction text based porn game has unrealistic amounts of seduction in it", is pretty ridiculous.  xD

 

[balitz Method]

It's not that the idea is inherently dumb/unworkable. Most every enemy has lust attacks that make sense, be it their pheromones or their drugs or their venom or their milk. People have put clear thought into how lust-based attacks should work in the context of the setting.


What's dumb is how it's implemented for the PC. You're p. much the only moron trying to flash their way to victory in the middle of a firefight. In a setting with a million better ways to handle that (some of which are already in the game with clear intentions of addressing this very thing) it could and should be much more integrated with the rest of the game. Improving it -should- be the focus because it's not a bad mechanic in and of itself. "Realism" isn't the issue; it's about what does and doesn't make sense and what does and doesn't work well within the context of the game, its mechanics, and its story.


And one thing I didn't bring up that others now have is that lust attacks haven't received the sort of balancing attention that the rest of the combat has which only adds to the feeling of its isolation from the rest of the game. Most likely it's -because- the whole thing is so placeholdery/early ideas which didn't end up meshing with later ones...y. I'd be surprised if lust combat and tease attacks didn't receive a huge revision and more fleshing out from where they're at now.

 

[Shizenhakai]

Uhm, I'm pretty sure there are some other enemies that do that use tease attacks too (not sure, I have to admit, I rarely read the battle log, I focus on the numbers =P).


Mhm.. Think of it like this:


Most enemies are actually very horny and want to screw you anyways. Your teasing does not really "defeat" them, but instead makes them even hornier, so that they accept you as the leading partner, just to hurry up and get to the sexy times..


"Yes, yes, you are an alpha and you can have some credits, just get out of these pants already!"

 

[Ormael]

@balitz Method Well those some of enemies lsut attack methods is tied up to their races nature or body parts. And then you may know how Fen hate with passion giving PC chance to get X or Y skill by having Z or A body part since it will force people to not build PC how their want but to attain most efficient in all regards even to lust attacks. Thus we must been that last moron to use so old fasioned way of teasing (all way back from CoC I think could ba said too )

 

[Hanzo]

@balitz Method Well those some of enemies lsut attack methods is tied up to their races nature or body parts. And then you may know how Fen hate with passion giving PC chance to get X or Y skill by having Z or A body part since it will force people to not build PC how their want but to attain most efficient in all regards even to lust attacks. Thus we must been that last moron to use so old fasioned way of teasing (all way back from CoC I think could ba said too )

Yeap. In CoC it was difficult, but I managed to make my winged succubus with lower naga body and ass-length anemone (ir was it tentacle?) hair, who was a lust combat monster. However in TiTs there's nothing combat-related tied to having a certain body part of a certain race.


Now that I think about it, rut and heat weren't restricted to a certain race in CoC yet they aren't in TiTs as well...

 

[Ormael]

Heat/Rut is not yet ingame similary why nursery or space flight isn't. Devs not have time to get to adding it to game yet.


Adn as you also noticed...I thin using some body parts to deal lust dmg over boring tease system we got now for PC may never come true.

 

[Noob Salad]

Heat/Rut is not yet ingame similary why nursery or space flight isn't. Devs not have time to get to adding it to game yet.

):


If it were just a matter of not having time to code, I would have volunteered to do it myself. As it stands now space&ship stuff at least isn't even fully planned out yet, let alone written.

 

[Ormael]

):


If it were just a matter of not having time to code, I would have volunteered to do it myself. As it stands now space&ship stuff at least isn't even fully planned out yet, let alone written.

Now that makes me worried what calamity would come when you would start coding game backlog ^^


Well maybe in positive way calamity not bad one

 

[Nik_van_Rijn]

Lots of decent ideas floating around here, so about the only thing I can add is this: do you guys think that changing the effect reaching maximum Lust has on a character in combat might be a good idea?


If instant loss seems like a machanical hangover from CoC that doesn't make a lot of sense in the context of TiTS-verse, then maybe change it to some sort of debilitating effect, a chance to skip your turn being the most obvious result of said effect.


That will also potentially resolve the issue of the capped Lust value screwing over the balance in combat, and, with some tweaking, will allow Libido to finally effect Lust gains in combat.

 

[balitz Method]

Uhm, I'm pretty sure there are some other enemies that do that use tease attacks too (not sure, I have to admit, I rarely read the battle log, I focus on the numbers =P).

Most enemy tease attacks involve something like grappling the PC and stimulating them or otherwise making contact and doing it that way. There are a few that have an "arousing display" type of attack but these are balanced to be -very- ineffective and often just straight-up fail like I was mentioning earlier. And that makes sense. As oversexed as a Zill is they see nudity all the time. Watching someone flash their tits -shouldn't- be enough for them to give in when their whole culture is about physically fighting or using powerful aphrodisiacs to make others submit. If anything the tease attacks the PC uses should make one -more- likely to want to overpower and rape them. For everyone but the PC lust attacks already have a sense of logic and balance (though not as thorough as other combat balance areas) to them so it ends up coming off extra silly, like we're to believe that Steele's tits are just so goddamn special that people who have access to ultraporn would react to the sight of a boob by falling to their knees to weep (from several places) in awe.


Without a plot device like corruption the PC's tease attacks are just far, far too mild to ever cause the reactions they get and that's already well-acknowledged; no one has written any enemies who can simply waggle a dangler in front of you and win without thinking up a sensible reason why that could happen. Now, if the PC were able to grapple and stimulate the parts of others and had more lust-based weaponry to first dose the system of an opponent with aphrodisiacs (and if lust damage was split into different types with appropriate resistances as with everything else) they'd fit right in with the strategies and mechanics that literally everyone else in the game is already using and the "flashing" teases could simply be the least effective part of a robust attack type.

 

[Milkman]

Yeah personally the only tease attack I ever use is the aphrodisiac dick slap because it's the only phallic tease that feels like it could plausibly have some actual chemicaly incapacitating impact. And the sad thing is that it's only accessible to males via save editing since otherwise the only way to get a Penis with the aphrodisiac flag is to get female Nyrea TFs. 


It would probably be better in general if the tease menu was instead replaced with a greater focus on lust weaponry. Rather than doing stuff like tying up your ranged weapon equipment slot,  stuff like goovolvers and slut rays could perhaps  be moved to the tease menu. The standard teases could perhaps be left intact as basically what amounts to weak "unarmed"  attacks.  But for  genuinely effective lust domination tactics to seem plausible there really should be some sort of weaponized aphrodisiac element at play.  


And by tying it to equipment we can avoid the restrictions Fen has place in the effectiveness of bodyparts.