I'm back to do some updates on NGC, so glad you are all enjoying it!
Please update to 1.2.2 for important fixes to bleeding related crashes and werewolf damage, also improvements to longsword and axe perks. This will probably round out 1.2.x for now and next version will be 1.3.
Bleeding can no longer finish off an enemy, this avoids crashes, and with the much higher bleed damage it feels balanced for now.
I've noted a lot of your comments and concerns, especially around Sanctuary, wanting to use mods like Nimble Armor, as well as how the mod interacts without all the Always Hit related changes. I'll address what I can and how it might be improved.
Currently on my todo list:
Active blocking to hold up the shield (animation)
A Prepare to Die mode, a dynamic difficulty multiplier that can be toggled
New perks for staves
New perks for thrown weapons
New perks for athletics/acrobatics (combat related)
Very good mod. Please, do a favor for those that use the mouse with the left hand: give the possibility to bind active block to the left mouse button, because i find impossible to me to use the active block with the right mouse button, which i use for attack and block with the keyboard it's too slow. Thanks.
I'm really, thoroughly impressed by this. If you ever return to this mod to continue working on it, here are some thoughts I've collected from multiple different playthroughs now:
1) MCP introduces the option to denock an arrow rather than firing it. This doesn't get registered by this mod. If you denock and sheath your weapon, you'll get a message shortly afterwards telling you that Full Draw is ready, and your fatigue will now drain until you ready your bow and shoot off an arrow to clear the effect. Might be worth adding compatibility here given MCP is so widely used now.
2) Manual blocking doesn't feel particularly rewarding, for multiple reasons. The stamina/fatigue drain is pretty punishing early game so you can't use it much (and it affects your damage at low stamina), and once you've managed to skill up enough to offset that issue you block automatically enough that it never really feels like you need to engage in manual blocking when you auto block for free fairly often. I feel like a good solution here might be to guarantee a stagger on your opponent when you manually block their attack, so that while manual blocking costs stamina it also leaves your opponent open to a counter attack, so it's like auto blocking but better, and for a cost. At high block levels (so low stamina cost) you'd now be able to engage regularly in that sort of active playstyle, being rewarded for timing your blocks and engaging with manual blocking rather than relying on auto blocking. Another change to consider would be altering the % stamina drain to a fixed value drain, so that if you focus on boosting your fatigue pool via stats at level up and fortify effects, then it feels beneficial to the manual block playstyle. Right now it doesn't make a difference to how much you can block, whether you have 100 stamina or 1,000.
3) If you're still after concepts for staff perks, I think it's a weapon that could feel unique and fun if it engaged with the stagger / knock down mechanics Morrowind has. Since they have much lower damage than other weapons, it could be a weapon used to try and trip and set your opponents off balance far more effectively than other weapons. So from level 25 you'd have an X% chance to trigger a free stagger on an enemy with each hit. From level 50 you also get an X% chance to knock-down an enemy with each hit. At level 100 you're like a kung-fu master with how often you're staggering and tripping your opponents.
This mod is a must-have, simply for the changes it makes to bows. The full draw and zoom features work well and make bow combat much more enjoyable. Curiously the 100% hit does not seem to be working for me with bows, but I don't care, chance to hit is fine once you get marksman to 40 or so.
One complaint though is the denock on fatigue thing. I like the mechanic, but the way it's implemented is to add, equip, and remove a chitin arrow from the player - the effect of which is that your arrows become unequipped. So if playing a marksman character at low level, running from enemies and firing arrows, you have to make sure to release the arrow before it becomes fully drawn or else the mod un-equips your arrows. Completely annoying.
To remedy this I simply deleted "denockArrow()" from line 48 of bow.lua. I left "cancelFullDraw()", so running out of fatigue still means you lose the full draw bonus, but the game no longer un-equips your arrows. Much better!
In the past I avoided chance to hit mods because of all the skills they negate, but this mod seems to compliment weapons skills, and even makes fortify attack constant enchantments useful. Previously strength enchantments were the only constant effect enchantments to offer improved physical damage.
Wish there was a way to change sanctuary and other things to all make sense when you have always hit off. This combat mod has more potential than any other.
246 comments
I'm back to do some updates on NGC, so glad you are all enjoying it!
Please update to 1.2.2 for important fixes to bleeding related crashes and werewolf damage, also improvements to longsword and axe perks. This will probably round out 1.2.x for now and next version will be 1.3.
Bleeding can no longer finish off an enemy, this avoids crashes, and with the much higher bleed damage it feels balanced for now.
I've noted a lot of your comments and concerns, especially around Sanctuary, wanting to use mods like Nimble Armor, as well as how the mod interacts without all the Always Hit related changes. I'll address what I can and how it might be improved.
Currently on my todo list:
Please keep the bug reports coming!
1) MCP introduces the option to denock an arrow rather than firing it. This doesn't get registered by this mod. If you denock and sheath your weapon, you'll get a message shortly afterwards telling you that Full Draw is ready, and your fatigue will now drain until you ready your bow and shoot off an arrow to clear the effect. Might be worth adding compatibility here given MCP is so widely used now.
2) Manual blocking doesn't feel particularly rewarding, for multiple reasons. The stamina/fatigue drain is pretty punishing early game so you can't use it much (and it affects your damage at low stamina), and once you've managed to skill up enough to offset that issue you block automatically enough that it never really feels like you need to engage in manual blocking when you auto block for free fairly often. I feel like a good solution here might be to guarantee a stagger on your opponent when you manually block their attack, so that while manual blocking costs stamina it also leaves your opponent open to a counter attack, so it's like auto blocking but better, and for a cost. At high block levels (so low stamina cost) you'd now be able to engage regularly in that sort of active playstyle, being rewarded for timing your blocks and engaging with manual blocking rather than relying on auto blocking. Another change to consider would be altering the % stamina drain to a fixed value drain, so that if you focus on boosting your fatigue pool via stats at level up and fortify effects, then it feels beneficial to the manual block playstyle. Right now it doesn't make a difference to how much you can block, whether you have 100 stamina or 1,000.
3) If you're still after concepts for staff perks, I think it's a weapon that could feel unique and fun if it engaged with the stagger / knock down mechanics Morrowind has. Since they have much lower damage than other weapons, it could be a weapon used to try and trip and set your opponents off balance far more effectively than other weapons. So from level 25 you'd have an X% chance to trigger a free stagger on an enemy with each hit. From level 50 you also get an X% chance to knock-down an enemy with each hit. At level 100 you're like a kung-fu master with how often you're staggering and tripping your opponents.
One complaint though is the denock on fatigue thing. I like the mechanic, but the way it's implemented is to add, equip, and remove a chitin arrow from the player - the effect of which is that your arrows become unequipped. So if playing a marksman character at low level, running from enemies and firing arrows, you have to make sure to release the arrow before it becomes fully drawn or else the mod un-equips your arrows. Completely annoying.
To remedy this I simply deleted "denockArrow()" from line 48 of bow.lua. I left "cancelFullDraw()", so running out of fatigue still means you lose the full draw bonus, but the game no longer un-equips your arrows. Much better!
In the past I avoided chance to hit mods because of all the skills they negate, but this mod seems to compliment weapons skills, and even makes fortify attack constant enchantments useful. Previously strength enchantments were the only constant effect enchantments to offer improved physical damage.