The balance mod for Arcanum

Discussion in 'Module Discussion' started by Fred, Sep 5, 2022.

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  1. Fred

    Fred New Member

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    Come one, come all.

    For a few years now I have been working on a balance mod for Arcanum for my own enjoyment.

    It is pretty much done now.

    So what does my mod do?

    Well in short it balances all weapon styles and magick to do about the same damage. And the broken stuff has been nerfed or removed.

    Here are a few examples of major changes

    -All healing is very low in combat (not really useful in combat). Fate points have been removed for this reason.

    -Backstab heavily nerfed, prowling heavily nerfed and invisibility removed.

    -All OP spells and tech items fixed.

    -A lot of damage increases to weapons (and very few deal fatigue damage and if they do a lot less)

    -Damage spells can be used a lot as the fatigue cost is very low.

    -Maximum speed is 16.

    -Maximum melee bonus damage is 10.

    -Maximum resistance is 75. Everyone one starts with 45 resistance (fire, normal, electrical) and monsters mostly have 45 resistance. Armor and items give less resistance. But if you get a good set of armor (not hard) you will hit the cap of 75. Platemail for example gives +20 resistance.

    -Enemies mostly have 16 speed. So they put up a better fight.

    -More health for low level enemies and NPCs (and you) start with 40 health and 40 fatigue. Cap for health is 300 (PC can reach the limit with blessings without spending points).

    -Maximum followers is 2.

    -OP weapons like Torian Kel sword has been nerfed.

    The intended combat mode for the mod is turn based but I didnt hex edit out the ability to switch combat mode. This is due to the bug when the original Arcanum "freezes" in turn based combat so that you can quickly switch out and in with space x 2.

    The mod is designed for UAP (made with 1.5.1).

    I have put the mod up on Nexus mods.
     
    Last edited: Apr 16, 2023
  2. Fred

    Fred New Member

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    Feeling tired? Thing of the past! Disintegrate costs just 2 fatigue. A mage can fight all day. And no items lost. Looting possible. Impossible but true!

    Get your new tech items here: Mechanized decapitator, Rifled Cannon.

    Or perhaps a magick axe? The thunder axe deals electrical damage (old arcane axe).
     
    Last edited: Oct 17, 2022
  3. FilthyJack

    FilthyJack Member Supporter

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    This is really interesting, maybe you could share a link so we can try it out?
    I'm not a real fan of max follower 2 (for story interactions) and unlimited disintegrate, especially since it does disintegrate loots as well but it's still worth trying.
    It would be nice to share those hex editing offsets in the 'Engine Hacks' thread if you're willing to, some people would love to know how to modify those values for themselves.
     
  4. Fred

    Fred New Member

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    Disintegrate doesnt destroy loot anymore as I have changed it. Think of it as high level weapon like Drochs warbringer but for mages. Hence the low fatigue cost. Old disintegrate was completely bonkers imo for gameplay balance.

    Yeah I understand it may not be for everyone (or anyone but me) and that is fine by me.

    I have changed all descriptions to display correct info for the mod (skill changes, stat changes etc) to make the mod easy to play with.

    Max followers is in the effect.mes file and can just be changed if someone wants more followers but i find a party above 3 makes the gameplay to easy.
     
    Last edited: Oct 4, 2022
  5. FilthyJack

    FilthyJack Member Supporter

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    Disintegrate: that is actually very nice I like how you modded it.
    The flickering may be due to antialiasing features, not an expert though.
    I have pm'ed you if you need help providing an easy way to share it.
     
  6. Barabbah

    Barabbah Member

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  7. Fred

    Fred New Member

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    I have handed the files to Jack who is going to help package them to be easier installed.
     
  8. Barabbah

    Barabbah Member

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    <3
     
  9. Fred

    Fred New Member

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    I have kept updating the mod over these past weeks. Hopefully it is done now.

    I have also changed the Arcanum vanilla manual to show the right info for the mod as new version of the Arcanum manual. This is for those of us who love to read a manual (like me) but this version contains the right info for the mod.
     
    Last edited: Oct 16, 2022
  10. Barabbah

    Barabbah Member

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  11. Fred

    Fred New Member

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    Yeah. The manual is such a great piece that adds to the fantastic world of Arcanum (Jason, Tim, Boyarsky and the others did such an awesome job).

    Just felt I had to update it to fit the mod with my balance changes.
     
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