Superpowers

[Funky Dynamite]

You guys probably know this, but....
While I was trying to this fiasco I call a design I got a pretty good understanding of normal items (weapons, armor, etc.), particularly weapons. I made several "powers" from weapons, before I used spells to mimic them.
For instance, I made a "Energy Blast" weapon (which was a sling, yes, I know strength modifies the damage but I couldn't find any other weapon that could infinite ammo), made it 2 handed, encumbrance of 0, and dropped in an animation of a fireball. Then I made it undroppable, untradable, etc., this way I could ready it and unready when I so chose. This way I could switch to another "power" or actual weapon in battle.
For example, let's assume you made Cyclops. You could have him shoot at enemies with his ruby red eye beams when they were far away and switch to his "punch" when they closed in.
With characters with natural Super Strength, as some of you may know, I discovered a way of -permanently- altering stats with items. (Only problem with that I don't know how to make a item that returns the stat to the original value once the item is unreadied, such as a Girdle of Giant Strength. Which kinda sucks, but....)
The way I do that is this:
Make a readyable item, I usually call the item "Stat Boost" or something like that.
For example, an item that modifies the character's Strength to 23 would have this script:

$RETURN $SET_CHAR_STR($IndexOf($Target()),23);

And it works for any stat as well. I have a crown that modifies Charisma on my Paladin.

I know this has done and addressed a hundred times before, but I just thought I'd bring my way to you guys.

[Funky Dynamite]

And here's a screenshot of my handiwork. And no, I did not edit the picture itself.

[manikus]

Unfortunately, your screenshot shows off one of DC's bugs - don't worry, you didn't do anything wrong and it won't effect gameplay - it's just that the strength should be '25' and not '25 97'.

To make an item that returns the stat back to it's original state takes a few more lines of script. You would need:
upon activation(ready)-
GET stat
Store stat as ASL
SET stat

upon de-activation (unready)
SET stat to ASL


One thing that Nol Drek did for his SHUA worldhack (Super Hero Unlimited Adventures), was to make all of the 'powers' cursed items so that they couldn't be swapped around between characters. That wouldn't apply so much to items that give powers, but I thought I'd mention it.

[Funky Dynamite]

Originally Posted by manikus Unfortunately, your screenshot shows off one of DC's bugs - don't worry, you didn't do anything wrong and it won't effect gameplay - it's just that the strength should be '25' and not '25 97'. To make an item that returns the stat back to it's original state takes a few more lines of script. You would need: upon activation(ready)- GET stat Store stat as ASL SET stat upon de-activation (unready) SET stat to ASL One thing that Nol Drek did for his SHUA worldhack (Super Hero Unlimited Adventures), was to make all of the 'powers' cursed items so that they couldn't be swapped around between characters. That wouldn't apply so much to items that give powers, but I thought I'd mention it.

I know. I've been playing with the character like that for at least a couple months now and I haven't had any program problems. I did it on purpose. Well, not the /97 part, but like I said Yes, I know about the 25 max Strength but it was my first attempt at the process and I couldn't figure out how to change perchantile strength.
Tell me more about this script. Do you actually type in literally "get stat, store stat to ASL, etc.?" Or is it more complicated like the code I use? Please, I'm all ears! That's one of the things I desire most out of DC.
I understand. But you can't unready cursed items, correct? To avoid "power swapping" what I did was set up a debug area on my first level. (Fact, that's the first thing I did when I made the design.) There I could make the character, give them the powers and special equipment and play with the "stat boosts." The only problem with it is it's not very efficient for actual character creation. But, eh, it's nowhere a perfect process, I'm still perfecting it. Why I didn't make the "powers" cursed is so I can switch between offensive powers freely.

[manikus]

I started working on the scripting last night for this kind of item. I am 95% sure that I have it right, but it doesn't work. So, either I have done something wrong, or GPDL is not working for certain aspects. Since, as you might have seen in other posts, Tarlanon has pointed out that GPDL is indeed broken for some things, it might not be my script. Either way, I wasn't able to arrive at something that would help.

[SilentThief]

I was having issues with editing effects from items and spells, and thats why I stopped working with it. I can do some tricks (for peanuts or shiny coins ), but until GPDL is corrected, its functionality is limited to simple tricks.

ST

[manikus]

I asked for help on this over at the Yahoo list and PAul responded. I hope he can help, other than telling me that I'm doing it wrong (though that is a step in the right direction).

It seems like we can't actually do scripts for items (bear me out), it seems that we can only attach special abilities which have been scripted differently, so that if we change the "Shillelagh"special ability script to use for an item, it is changed for every other instance of "Shillelagh" in the game.
Spells, we can definitely script.

Until Tarlanon tells us how broken GPDL is, I'm going to assume that it's not broken very much - only the things listed in the various threads around the forum - and that majority of the problem with GPDL/scripts/Logic Block, is user ignorance/inexperience. There is woefully little documentation for scripting (and GPDL functions), so until someone comes along who gets it ('cause I seem to be missing something), it seems we'll be able to use about 20% of what DC has to offer.

[manikus]

Okay, I've learning about ASLs and GPDL scripting from the master.

We don't need to start off our statements with

$RETURN

I had worked out a way which was fine-tuned with Paul's help (Paul wrote the GPDL engine) to work. But, he has just pointed out to me that there is a better way to do it, and now I have to figure that out.

As soon as I do, I'll share it here.

[manikus]

Okay, I've got it now.

It is a bit more complicated than what we've been doing.

Here is the Activation Script:

$SET_CHAR_ASL($TargetIndex(),"strength25",25-#$GET_CHAR_STR($TargetIndex()));
$SET_CHAR_STR($TargetIndex(),25);

And the Deactivation Script:

$SET_CHAR_STR($TargetIndex(),$GET_CHAR_STR($TargetIndex())-#$GET_CHAR_ASL($TargetIndex(),"strength25"));

[SilentThief]

Originally Posted by manikus Okay, I've got it now. It is a bit more complicated than what we've been doing. Here is the Activation Script: $SET_CHAR_ASL($TargetIndex(),"strength25",25-#$GET_CHAR_STR($TargetIndex())); $SET_CHAR_STR($TargetIndex(),25); And the Deactivation Script: $SET_CHAR_STR($TargetIndex(),$GET_CHAR_STR($TargetIndex())-#$GET_CHAR_ASL($TargetIndex(),"strength25"));

Does this work? One of the problems I had was I couldn't figure out how to use the ASLs in the GPDL script editor. I wrote up ASL scripts that the editor said were proper syntax, but they still did not work. You can define/use them in logic block, but I couldn't get them to work otherwise.

ST