From Mazeworld

Latest released Mazeworld update: MazeWorld v3/OP2 - June 5th 2015
Next planned update: MazeWorld v4, aka OP3 - Date unknown

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Release date unknown

Opus Perfecta part 3

The third and final part of the Opus Perfecta updates will bring the biggest changes yet to come in MazeWorld!

Coming soon...

Latest

June 28th 2015

The battlespace mini-update

• The combat battlespace has now been properly defined and explained, complete with movement rules, an explanation of range, and a minor tweaking of the Cover system. Rolling @cover is no longer required from players.
• Redefined the Limping and Crippled secondary effects.

June 12th 2015

Inaccurate Hit hotfix

• The effect of Inaccurate Hits for ranged weapons has been changed ; it no longer causes the hit to land in a random body part, but instead imposes a 50% flat chance to hit modifier. This means that when an inaccurate hit with a ranged weapon is rolled, a 1d2 is rolled to determine whether it hits. 1 is a miss, 2 is a hit. In other words, "inaccurate hit" simply means the hit is not guaranteed and that it may still go either way, and thus affects mean accuracy.
• Inaccurate Hits now also affect explosives.

June 5th 2015

Opus Perfecta part 2

For the second part of the Opus Perfecta updates, we bring more much-needed changes on the table, working towards making MzW perfect!

Please read this newspost for more details on the purpose of this update.

Melee weapon balance

• All melee weapons that previously had two weapon damage types listed (such as "Sharp/Piercing") will now have two modes, similar to firearm fire modes, which dictate in what way and what damage type this weapon is going to cause.
  • Example: A KA-BAR knife has both Sharp and Piercing - it will cause Sharp damage when used to slash, and Piercing when used to stab.
  • Bludgeoning with items and weapons remains possible as an unlisted, implied possibility - this causes Blunt-type damage.

• All melee weapons damage tables have been balanced. New tendencies included higher Pain but lower Limb Damage for Blunt weapons, and lower Pain/higher Limb Damage for Sharp and Piercing ones (with more dramatic changes for Piercing only weapons, than for Sharp and Sharp/Piercing ones).

• Removed weapons:
  • Blunt knife, German keyboard, Spoon, Table, Wooden chopsticks

• Modified weapons:
  • Fukiya blowgun is no longer Class 5 Long, it is now Class 5 Short.

• 4 new melee weapons:
  • The Stun baton, a Class 5 Short weapon which uses Taser batteries and can be used either as a blunt baton, or to deliver stunning charges.
  • The Kukri, a Class 5 Short weapon which is capable of surprisingly vicious damage.
  • The Sai, a Class 5 Short weapon capable only of Piercing damage, but which is capable of causing multiple wounds in a single hit (See below)
  • The Morning star, a Class 5 Long weapon designed to smash and crush bones easily.

• New secondary effect: Multiple wound weapons.
  • Basics: Certain weapons, when they successfully hit an opponent and cause enough damage to cause a wound, may cause multiple wounds instead of just one.
  • Concerned weapons: Broken bottle (1d3 wounds/hit), Meat fork (1d2), Ngombe throwing knife (1d3), Scissors (1d2), Shuriken (1d4), Tekko-kagi (2d2), and the new Sai (1d3).

• Protection chart changes
  • The Resistant trait now requires weapons to cause 3+ Limb Damage instead of 2+, in order to sustain an injury.
  • The PROOF trait now requires weapons to cause 5+ Limb Damage instead of 4+, in order to sustain an injury.

• Other changes
  • The concept of "Deadly critical" as an effect no longer exists, and limb loss is no longer a separate condition. Instead, limb loss becomes an effect of excessive limb damage, and as a result limb health can now fall into negative numbers. More info in this section.

The leaderboards update

The leaderboards as we know them will be closed down. Contestants will no longer be ranked directly against one another using a point system.

Instead, various performance categories will each have their own leaderboards, in order to have more of a fair comparison for every category.

Contestants will now be ranked on the following performance:

General statistics

• Total rooms visited
• Total creatures defeated (kills)
• Total wealth
• Missions passed in a single visit
• Runs completed in a single visit

Combat statistics

• Combat leaderboards (total kills in each category - Precision Rifles, Combat Rifles, Shotguns, etc.)
• Special Tactics (total amount of (T) points, aka weak point kills)
• Headshot Gallery (total amount of /H\ points, aka headshot kills)
• Brutal Brothers (total amount of [B] points, aka brutal overkills)

Faction statistics

• Youkai's worst nightmares (total youkai kills)
• Bane of the Military (total military kills)
• Most Wanted Blacklist (total law enforcement kills)
• Holiest Warriors (total demonic kills)
• Honorary Hell Employees (total angelic kills)

Player statistics

Players themselves will be ranked on these statistics.

• Most Contestants with completed visits (total amount of visits which are not either ongoing or ended in death)
• Player-wide stats (total rooms, kills, wealth, missions, runs across all Contestants of a given player, as well as averages)

Death tolls

Though not strictly related to performance, the Death tolls will still be part of the Leaderboards.

• Death tolls: Total amount of dead contestants
• Death tolls: Leading cause of death
• Death tolls: Most Hated Enemy (creature that kills Contestants the most often)

Encounter modifications

• Conducts will no longer be officially tracked and the article will be deleted. Any player wishing to restrain their own Contestant's behavior must do so on their own.
• Deleted creatures: Angel, Archangel, Fighter Angel, all Enlightened creatures, Horned devil, Hostile genie, Tesla trooper
• Changes to Divine Gifts: Now a 2/3 chance to spawn an Angelic creature (new category, see below) which will act as the Contestant's ally (if possible). The remaining 1/3 chance spawns the Divine Items as usual.
• Creatures that change categories:
  • Warg, Hellhound, Black Hound and Cerberus become Demons instead of Canines.
  • The entire Worms category is merged into Demons.
  • While shrine maidens are humans, they are now considered to be Angelics (see below).
  • All Undead/Zombies are considered to be Demonics as well, and zombie kills count as demonic kills.
• New creature category, the Angelics, which serve as a counterpart to Demons, and become a new faction to serve as the Demons' antagonists.
• New roomstyle, the Demonic Pit, which serves as a demon equivalent to shrines.
  • Demonic pits contain Demon altars, and can be serviced by Demonic maidens (see below).
  • It is even possible to pray and make offerings at a Demon altar, which have their own offering system.
• Komainu and Komatora no longer spawn to the help of a shrine maiden when attacked or when a Contestant rolls 2. Instead, 2 random Cardinal Beasts (see below) show up.
• It is no longer possible to disguise as a shrine maiden.
• Hitmen and Hitwomen no longer have an unremovable full body suit which gave them non-human AC. They now have new sets of standard equipment, including clothing and armor just like other human encounters. They are now also considered to be outlaws.

New encounters

New angelics

• Angel
• Guardian angel
• Auror
• Archauror
• Holy Turtle
• Holy Dragon
• Holy Tiger
• Holy Phoenix

The Holy prefixed creatures are referred to as the Cardinal Beasts, being animal incarnations of the Gods.

New demons

• Dark maiden (considered as such, but is human)
• Imp
• Daemon
• Fiend
• Archfiend
• Great Daemon

Inaccurate Hit system

The Inaccurate Hit system is a new feature which changes the default Failure Threshold system to account for a new level of accuracy between misses and hits. Inaccurate Hits work on the principle of a hit being successful but not hitting the intended body part, instead hitting a random one using @bodyaim.

An Inaccurate Hit occurs when the dice score is equal to (FT value) +1 or +2 pts. Assuming default FT of 6, Inaccurate Hits occur on 7 and 8.

On the old system, accuracy under default conditions (FT 6) worked as such:

• 12: Critical hit
• 7-11: Hit
• 3-6: Miss
• 2: Critical failure

Using the new system of Inaccurate Hits, it will be as follows.

• 12: Critical hit
• 9-11: Hit
• 7-8: Inaccurate Hit
• 3-6: Miss
• 2: Critical failure

The Inaccurate Hit range depends on FT, thus it moves as FT changes, increasing or reducing the window of accurate hits.

Related changes

• If FT were to raise to 9 or 10, Inaccurate Hits take precedence over Hits, but never over Critical Hits, meaning that 12 always means Critical Hit, but that if FT is sufficiently high, all potential Hits would become Inaccurate.
• Concentration overrides Inaccurate Hits, since it guarantees that all potential Hits into Critical Hits as long as the effect lasts.
• Inaccuracy becomes a Secondary effect, which causes all non-critical hits to become Inaccurate Hits as long as the effect lasts.

• Multi-projectile weapons (Buckshot, Flechette, etc...): Dice score now only indicates hit or miss, just like with other weapons. FT modifiers now affect multiproj weapons the same way other weapons are affected.
  • Amount of projectiles that hit is now rolled separately and only in the event of a hit. It becomes a simple 1d9 for shotgun buckshot, and 1d20 for flechette and grenade buckshot.
  • Shotgun chokes will be reintroduced as weapon accessories which affect shotguns firing multiprojectile (and do nothing on singleprojectile shells). With a choke equipped, the projectile hit rolls become 1d6+1d3, and 1d14+1d6 respectively.

• Explosive weapons: Dice score now only indicates hit or miss, just like with other weapons. Explosion power is now subject to an independent roll: 0.25+1d3*0.25. This guarantees that any explosive that does hit, hits at least at half of its listed power, with equal chances of rolling for half, 75%, and full power.

• Smoke grenades: Effect to users is modified - instead of causing FT+1 to users, it causes Inaccuracy.
• Flashbangs: Effects to victims is modified - instead of FT+4, it causes Environmental Blindness.
• Weaponlights: All weaponlight effects now only last 1 turn, repeated for as long as the weaponlight is aimed at the target. Soft light now causes Inaccuracy, Normal light now causes FT+1 and Inaccuracy, and Strong light now causes FT+2 and Inaccuracy.

New combat skill system

Contestants may now have variable skills with the various weapon groups of the game. These weapon groups are the same as those defined in the Achievements.

There exist five skill levels, which match the Achievement badges:

• Unskilled (between 0 and 9 kills)
  • Effects: FT+1, defaut Inaccuracy Range
• Basic (Bronze, 10-24 kills)
  • Effects: Default accuracy, default Inaccuracy Range (FT 6, Inaccurate Hits occur on 7 and 8)
• Skilled (Silver, 25-49 kills)
  • Effects: Default accuracy, Inaccuracy Range reduced to FT score +1 (on FT 6, inaccurate hits now only happen on rolls of 7 instead of 7-8)
• Expert (Gold, 50-99 kills)
  • Effects: Default accuracy, Inaccuracy Range is deleted (no inaccurate hits ever, unless caused by secondary effects)
• Master (Platinum, 100+ kills)
  • Effects: FT-1, Inaccuracy Range is deleted (corresponds to the accuracy in the old pre-v3 MazeWorld eras)

In order to increase one's skill level with weapons, there exist many methods:

• The simplest and most common method is killing enemies. Kills are the meter used to gauge weapon skill.
• Training by going to a shooting range (firearms and explosives), and playing one of the many target shooting minigames.
• Training by going to a dojo (melee and unarmed), and playing one of the many Wooden Man minigames.
• During Startgame, the Contestant will receive Basic skill along with every weapon group he/she received a weapon.

Training skills

Each training minigame works on the principle of Training Points. They serve as a substitute to field experience until a certain point. When completing training minigames, the Contestant may receive Training Points. 10 TPs substitute for 1 kill. A maximum of 250 TPs can be acquired per weapon category, which is just enough to go from totally unskilled to the Skilled (silver) level. Further experience must then be obtained on the field with actual kills.

Ally-related changes

Ally limits will be reinstated, under the following conditions:

• In normal conditions, 1 creature of any type can be the Contestant's ally.
• In addition to 1 other creature, maximum 1 hired mercenary can follow the Contestant.
  • Hiring two mercs is possible if the Contestant wishes to, as long as funds allow.

Armor Class update

• All AC names will be renamed.
  • Naked/Unarmored, Light, and Hardskin will be respectively renamed C1, C2 and C3.
  • Kevlar-2, Kevlar-3, Kevlar-4 and HEV will be respectively renamed A2, A3, A4 and A5.

• Armor Classes now follow standardized damage reduction models depending on the damage type they face. The damage charts for all relevant weapons, calibers and NPC attacks will also be modified. As a rough guideline:
  • C1 symbolizes ultralight clothing, or more accurately the absence of clothing. Offers zero protection and sustains full Pain damage, and as such remains the standard, synonymous with the term "Base damage")
  • C2 is for most light clothing. Offers negligible protection (~5% Base damage reduction) and no LDV reduction.
  • C3 is for tough clothing. Offers very light protection (~10% Base damage reduction), but no longer offers LDV reduction like it did in the past.
  • A2 succeeds to Kevlar-2 as the AC of light armor. Offers moderately light protection (~35% BD reduction, LDV-2) - making it more efficient than old Kevlar-2 used to be, while remaining just as cheap; thus improving its cost-effectiveness.
  • A3 succeeds to Kevlar-3 as the AC of medium armor. It remains virtually unchanged: medium protection (~50% BD reduction, LDV-3) and still the perfect compromise of cost and protection.
  • A4 succeeds to Kevlar-4 as the AC of heavy armor. Much like A3, not much changes: heavy protection (~75% BD reduction, LDV-4) for a heavy cost.
  • Finally, A5 succeeds to HEV as the AC of powered armor. It is slightly more efficient than it used to (~95% BD reduction, LDV-5), but is still rare, extremely expensive and difficult to find.

• New Armor Class: A1, which is more or less equivalent to what would have been between Hardskin and Kevlar-2 (a sort of 'Kevlar-1').
  • A1 represents a class of early and ultralight armors which do not quite protect like Type 2 Kevlar vests do, but are still significantly more protection than C3/formerly Hardskin would. A1 armor is usually cheap.
  • A1 armor offers light protection ; about ~20% Base damage reduction, as well as a LDV-1 bonus.
  • Clothing and armor that will be moved to the new A1 AC:
    • Headgear: Full-face helmet, Hard hat, Kabuto-menpo
    • Top: Armored dress, Stealth jacket
    • Body armor: Dou-sode armor, Medieval cuirass, Flak jacket, Heavy stab vest
    • Bottom: Stealth pants
    • Arms addons: Armored elbow pads
    • Legs addons: Armored knee pads
    • Footwear: Shinobi tabi
  • Many encounters will be moved to have A1 AC as well.

Other changes

• Trap rooms have been entirely deleted. As such, the Increased alertness secondary effect has been redefined.

Older

See the Changelog Archive.