Game Guides Archive
Thread: CU Game Mechanics [A Guide For Playing Post-CU For Those Who Weren't on Test Center]
KyridIce wrote:
Hello,
I was get quite a bit oftesting done as Atori, member of Naritus's TRUST guild on Test Center during the beta process, and I would like to share some of the basics of how the game works now. This guide is intended for those whohaven't been to test centerand are wondering how to get started in the new combat system. It covers the new toolbar icons, the new HAM bars, the new con system, and the benefits of grouping.
Here we go, and just a lil warning, its long
1. New Toolbar
The combat queue has been eliminated and now all combat actions are controlled by the queue. Yes the icons are ugly, but you end up getting used to them. When you use one of your attacks, you will see your toolbar icons get grayed out in a sort of a visual cooldown timer effect. The timer on each toolbar icon represents the time until you can next perform that action.
If you do melee hit once (a basic brawler move) then select another action right away, it will "queue up" this action and execute it as soon as the cooldown runs out on the melee hit. This "queued up" state is denoted by a yellow border around the action that is to be performed next.
You will find that cooldowns for other actions are generally faster than the cooldown on the action you just performed. This makes it advantageous to alternate back and forth between different attacks. For instance, you just performed a melee hit, and notice that the cooldown timer for lunge will finish before the cooldown for melee hit. So you could get your next attack in faster by doing a lunge as your next move instead of waiting for melee hit. After the lunge, it would be the opposite - the melee hit would be ready before your lunge timer cools down.
You can set any attack as your auto attack (i.e. it queues itself up over and over unless you pick a different action) by CTRL-clicking on the icon in your toolbar. The visual indicator for your auto attack is an orange circle/checkbox in the corner of the attack icon.
2. New HAM bars
You now have one main "hit point" pool, and 2 other pools that get drained as you perform actions. Your health bar starts at 1000 for a level 1 character, and grows up to 3000 for a higher level character (not sure on what level is needed to reach this). Obviously, damage from opponents will drain this pool and when it gets to zero you're incapacitated.
Your action pool is represented by a percentage, out of 100. Most attacks will drain from this pool, and the amount of the drain is related to the action cost of your weapon, and (presumably) the strength of the attack you perform. This pool regenerates fairly quickly, and there is no penalty if it drops to zero, except for the fact that you will need to let it regenerate a bit before you can attack again. **At high levels, you can drain this pool very fast and you are limited by regeneration times instead of attack cooldown timers. So for this reason, I believe that your weapon's speed and your own speed mod don't play much of an effect on your combat performance.**
Finally, the mind pool works exactly like the action pool, but it is mostly drained by healing moves. **I like having some doc or CM skills so that I have something to do when I'm waiting for my action to regenerate, since the heals and attacks drain from separate pools.**
Message Edited by KyridIce on 04-28-2005 04:21 AM
Message Edited by KyridIce on 04-28-2005 04:22 AM
Message Edited by KyridIce on 04-28-2005 04:28 AM
great stuff....except how am i supposed to get xp?
cant kill creatures below my level.....0xp
can't kill creatures above my level.....instant death
This is a very good post! This should be put in Loadingscreen. Or perhaps sent out to all players in-game
The biggest threat against the game as i see it is that ppl dont understand how to play the game anymore.
Personally i really like the upgrade, but it makes me sad to see ppl stand around and saying: "I hate the CU, i dont understand a thing!"
I.e: i dont understand the numbers about armor, what does the Energy 5755 mean?
I help about 30 ppl last night, everything from how to gain xp, why to group and cybernetics.
I will try to organize a hunting/tutoring group on Ahazi, sunday. anyone that is interrested plz send a mail to Ogi or Harkion.
Group Level: When in a group, your level becomes whatever the highest level group member is. If you are level 10, and you group with a level 80, the npcs will treat you as a level 80. For PvE, this is huge. If you are level 10, and a level 80 hits you, one hit incap. If you are grouped with a level 80, that same npc will hit you for nominal damage.
Weapon Certs: Almost every single weapon in the game now, is based on your character level, and can be used by anyone who has a Single Combat Mastery. There are iconic exceptions, such as Commando weapons, which also have a skill box requirement. Another signature weapon is theScatter, which is only certed to Bounty Hunters. By and large, these are the weapons most people will use, as they tend to ahve the highest DPS.
Accuracy: Accuracy stacking has a much greater impact than before. Your damage is increased the more your Accuracy skill exceeds their defensive modifiers. So, if their defense is 200, and your Accuracy is 300, you can be doing up to around another 100 pts of damage per shot. It will also, obviously, increase your chance to hit.
Range and Root: Rifles have the full 64. Carbines have less. Pistols even less. Currently, if you are rooted at 62m, you either pull out your own rifle, or you stand there helpless, and die. There is no counter to root presently, and makes melee completely ineffective.
Blind/Dizzy/Stun/Intimidate/Knockdown: States are huge. They can really make the difference in a fight. For example, I lost a duel this evening merely by being knock down. Up until then, I had the fight, was dealing more damage, and then bam! On my back, and taking triple the damage I was before. Knockdown recovery is your friend. Blind reduces accuracy, and subsequently, damage. Intimidate reduces the damage you recieve.
CMs: Are still a battlefield nightmare.They can stack Poison, Disease, and Fire on you. Be a doc, or have a lot of doc friends if you plan to pvp. That said, there are two new foods out, one of each which will cure posion, or disease, respectively.
Commandos: They have weapons which inately do AoE damage. Coupled with state specials, they can dish out Area Fire DoT/Blind/Dizzy/Stun/Intimidate/Knockdown.
Auraboron wrote:
Group Level: When in a group, your level becomes whatever the highest level group member is. If you are level 10, and you group with a level 80, the npcs will treat you as a level 80. For PvE, this is huge. If you are level 10, and a level 80 hits you, one hit incap. If you are grouped with a level 80, that same npc will hit you for nominal damage.
