ACR Updates
Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2014 5:33 am
New ACR patch rolling out today.
There are client downloads for this one. They're about 15 megabytes; it should not be a significant delay to getting in game unless you have a slow connection-- but if you do, plan to download before your next session.
In this update.
Infestations
-- A new mechanic exists wherein DMs may infest areas and cause these infestations to spread across servers. Toolsetting can determine areas which cannot be infested or which have a maximum level of infestation, but this must be set in the module; changes made to the live module will not read. See the Infestations wiki for more information about the behavior of the system.
-- Players will be rewarded for clearing infested areas with 25 xp at the CR of the highest-CR creature killed in the area, and a matching loot bag based on their Loot Multiplier (see the ACR Wealth system). In addition, cleared areas have their tier reduced by 1. Areas already at tier 1 which are cleared revert to their old spawns at their next respawn. When the final area is cleared, the infestation is defeated and ceases to spawn.
-- DMs may find the interface to start or modify infestations on the DM Creator, on the Creatures tab. The UI will work on the current area, so you must go to an already-infested area to modify an existing infestation. The quick and dirty:
---- Infestations are initially created by spawning a monster to represent the infestation, opening the infestation UI, and selecting "add monster" from it, then selecting the spawned monster. More monsters can then be spawned to represent boss monsters or additional monsters in the same infestation. The increase/decrease tier buttons can manage what level of infestation the monsters appear at, though at tiers greater than 1, monsters from the two-lower tiers will also appear (with 1d3 and 1d4+1 of them standing in for one creature at-tier, respectively).
---- Infestations increase one "point" per boss monster in the infestation per game day. These "points" can also be taken from existing area levels to produce a smooth progression from uninfested spaces to the most-infested spaces. They are then first spent on increasing the level of infestation of already-infested areas and, if there is no more room to grow with smooth progression, they will infest new areas at the first tier.
---- Infestations with no boss monsters don't spread; if there are no boss monsters in your infestation, it's pointless to assign Tier-2 monsters. The tier 1 monsters will just spawn in the area until slain, when the spawns will revert to their uninfested defaults.
-- If a server must remove an infestation that is causing problems, the XML file for the infestation (it will be named for its original area) can be deleted and the server restarted. If DMs need to granularly reduce the power of an infestation, that can be done by killing the creatures in the overzealous area.
AI Fixes
-- The AI is a little better at aiming its debuffing and crowd control spells
-- A number of silent crashes (particularly with mindless creatures and with creatures who are in a party observing creatures who are not) are fixed.
-- zSpawns use ACR_CreatureBehavior (instead of the OEI AI)
Other Fixes
-- zSpawns get shield bonuses for having shields.
-- zSpawn zombies correctly get 5/slashing DR, instead of 5/-
-- The DM Creator's search box searches only the text of rows, not also the code the drives them
-- Combat XP is changed per DMA's request. The most XP is now awarded to groups of 4-6.
-- The PC Tools UI no longer references xp_mysql.dll; a number of related bugs (mostly with slowness of queries) are thus resolved.
There are client downloads for this one. They're about 15 megabytes; it should not be a significant delay to getting in game unless you have a slow connection-- but if you do, plan to download before your next session.
In this update.
Infestations
-- A new mechanic exists wherein DMs may infest areas and cause these infestations to spread across servers. Toolsetting can determine areas which cannot be infested or which have a maximum level of infestation, but this must be set in the module; changes made to the live module will not read. See the Infestations wiki for more information about the behavior of the system.
-- Players will be rewarded for clearing infested areas with 25 xp at the CR of the highest-CR creature killed in the area, and a matching loot bag based on their Loot Multiplier (see the ACR Wealth system). In addition, cleared areas have their tier reduced by 1. Areas already at tier 1 which are cleared revert to their old spawns at their next respawn. When the final area is cleared, the infestation is defeated and ceases to spawn.
-- DMs may find the interface to start or modify infestations on the DM Creator, on the Creatures tab. The UI will work on the current area, so you must go to an already-infested area to modify an existing infestation. The quick and dirty:
---- Infestations are initially created by spawning a monster to represent the infestation, opening the infestation UI, and selecting "add monster" from it, then selecting the spawned monster. More monsters can then be spawned to represent boss monsters or additional monsters in the same infestation. The increase/decrease tier buttons can manage what level of infestation the monsters appear at, though at tiers greater than 1, monsters from the two-lower tiers will also appear (with 1d3 and 1d4+1 of them standing in for one creature at-tier, respectively).
---- Infestations increase one "point" per boss monster in the infestation per game day. These "points" can also be taken from existing area levels to produce a smooth progression from uninfested spaces to the most-infested spaces. They are then first spent on increasing the level of infestation of already-infested areas and, if there is no more room to grow with smooth progression, they will infest new areas at the first tier.
---- Infestations with no boss monsters don't spread; if there are no boss monsters in your infestation, it's pointless to assign Tier-2 monsters. The tier 1 monsters will just spawn in the area until slain, when the spawns will revert to their uninfested defaults.
-- If a server must remove an infestation that is causing problems, the XML file for the infestation (it will be named for its original area) can be deleted and the server restarted. If DMs need to granularly reduce the power of an infestation, that can be done by killing the creatures in the overzealous area.
AI Fixes
-- The AI is a little better at aiming its debuffing and crowd control spells
-- A number of silent crashes (particularly with mindless creatures and with creatures who are in a party observing creatures who are not) are fixed.
-- zSpawns use ACR_CreatureBehavior (instead of the OEI AI)
Other Fixes
-- zSpawns get shield bonuses for having shields.
-- zSpawn zombies correctly get 5/slashing DR, instead of 5/-
-- The DM Creator's search box searches only the text of rows, not also the code the drives them
-- Combat XP is changed per DMA's request. The most XP is now awarded to groups of 4-6.
-- The PC Tools UI no longer references xp_mysql.dll; a number of related bugs (mostly with slowness of queries) are thus resolved.