Elites

[lonequeso 1,921]

I kinda wish I'd thought to put this in my game sooner. Oh well, it be a nice little wrinkle to make the latter part of the game harder. The idea was inspired by Dragon Age, but it's hardly unique to those games. Elites. They are those stronger than average enemies you sometimes run into. Not only are they more dangerous, but they also act as a general for their Troop. While they are alive, they grant the entire troop a passive bonus. The reason I like this concept so much is that it's incredibly easy to implement (you don't even have to use any scripts!) yet can give your battles an incredible amount of depth. How? Go into the States database and look at how many different parameters you can change. Tons, right? Any one or any combination of them can be a passive bonus. Of course, there's many ways to implement this concept. What I'm about to describe is what I feel will work best in my game. It should provide a pretty good blueprint of how to set things up. 

 

Let's start with how to set it up. Like I said, it's really easy. Say I want an elite to grant the Troop a 10% ATK boost while it's alive. 

 

All you have to do is create a state with an ATK param set to 110%. I would also set the debuff rate for ATK to 0% so the player can't simply negate the bonus. Then, in the Troop Event make the first page's condition Turn 0. Have it run once per battle. Add a single command: Change Enemy State -> Entire Troop -> ATK boost (or whatever you call it). As soon as the battle starts, the state will apply.

 

Next, make a second page. Set the condition to If Enemy1(whatever enemy the Elite is) has Death inflicted (or HP = 0) remove the ATK boost state from all enemies. Set that to Moment. That way, the instant the Elite dies, the bonus goes away. The little wrinkle adds even more depth as the player can strategically target when to focus on the Elite. 

 

That's it. Told ya it was simple. 

 

Now my game uses random encounters so the way I plan on creating them goes like this:

 

Each level/area of my game has their own unique Troops. I would simply make at least one of the Troops have an Elite. I don't use enemy levels so it would either be a clone (but bigger and differently colored) of an enemy or a unique one. Either way, their stats would be above average and grant the bonuses. If I just use one Elite in an area, I'd make it so it could apply one of three different bonuses to the Troop each with a 1/3 chance. If I have three different Elites, they would each have one type of bonus. I probably won't add more than one Elite per Troop except maybe in some special case like a Boss battle. There would be appox. 10% chance of running into an Elite Troop. Naturally, the Elites give better rewards. 

 

If your game has onscreen enemies, oooo boy! You get to add even more strategy! Maybe the Elite Troop is super aggressive, and will chase you endlessly. Perhaps it's guarding some juicy loot. Or maybe the player finds themselves at a fork. One path has a large mob of enemies, but few if any elite troops. The other has far fewer enemies, but they are all elites. Does the player try and plow through the weaker ones or fight fewer, but harder battles? Or are they like me and kill 'em all? 

 

Finally, I leave you with one last wrinkle. This one will require a script (or at least is highly recommended). The passive bonuses get bigger over time. Using the ATK boost example again:

 

Battle Start: ATK +10% -> Turn 3 -> ATK + 20% -> Turn 6: ATK +30%; CRI +10%

 

What do y'all think about it?

Edited June 14, 2016 by lonequeso

[Lord Vectra 414]

Sounds interesting. I do something similar except that it's not passive nor does it grow overtime. I have an "elite" called Marauder Veterans who inflicts "Morale Boost" on all currently alive allies for 5 turns.

 

Morale Boost

+15% ATK/DEF

+15% CRI

+15% MP Regen

+5% HP Regen

-15% MP Cost

 

This can only stack twice and is not seen very much. Marauder Veterans are, currently, the only ones who have it.

[magic2345 252]

That's an interesting idea! This sparked some ideas in my mind.

 

Maybe making a strong skill that can only used when those specific enemies are there with them. Heck, maybe a universal poison state for everyone, but that enemy gives their friends a regen state to neutralize the poison. Oh, maybe killing the elite actually transfers the buff to the killer or the party for a set duration.

 

Wow, I suddenly have tons of ideas. XD

[Guyver 65]

I do this with http://himeworks.com/2013/05/encounter-conditions/ already to some extent. There are a few rare/elite spawns I have that show up multiple times that gain higher buffs each time you encounter them via states.

[lonequeso 1,921]

Neato! The elites get even more elite

I've seen that script while browsing here site. It'd be a cool way to make rare enemies appear or an easter egg enemy/boss that is actually a giant easter egg =D