Dungeon Rats FAQ

[Infinitron]

http://www.irontowerstudio.com/forum/index.php/topic,7256.0.html

What kind of game is it?
Dungeon Rats is a turn-based, party-based RPG focused almost exclusively on combat for players who like turn-based combat in general and AoD combat in particular. So if you like challenging turn-based combat built around trade-offs and featuring different attack types, alchemy, and tons of stats and modifiers, this game might be for you. If not...

Price & length?
$8.99; 50 fights in total; about 10 hours if you know what you’re doing, much longer if you don’t (i.e. a new player).

Release date?
Anywhere from late Oct to mid Nov. The game is almost ready: fully playable from start to finish, all the content is in, we need 5-6 weeks for polishing and extra art assets (missing portraits, ending slides art, etc).

Why this game? Why not another game like AoD?
Our next full scale RPG is the “colony ship game”, currently in pre-production, which means designing the systems, fleshing out the setting and locations, and defining these locations visually. Basically, we can’t start working on it until we have the “blueprints” to follow.

This gave us a year (10 months development cycle, 2 months of post release support) to put together a combat game using the AoD engine, systems, and assets. Doing anything else (new engine, different systems, non-combat aspects, etc) would have easily doubled or tripled the development time. Considering that party-based combat was the most requested feature, we built a game around it, giving you something different instead of going for more of the same.

Difficulty levels?
At lower difficulty levels your enemies get a THC (to-hit chance) penalty (30% on Easy, 15% on Normal, no penalty on Hard), which makes it harder to hit you and greatly increases your party’s life expectancy. THC also affects the combat AI, so your enemies won’t be using fancier attacks against you.

Party mechanics?
Your Charisma will determine how many people you can recruit: min 1, max 3, so your party size will range from 2 to 4. Not everyone will be eager to join you; some NPCs will require convincing (Charisma checks). You will have full control over your party members once they join your party. All skill points you earn will be divided between the party members, so a bigger party will level up more slowly.

Can I make my own party?
No. You will create your own character and recruit other convicts. Party members are a resource much like gear and skill points. You acquire it slowly, swapping one party member for another or replacing fallen brethren when an opportunity comes up. This approach fits both the prison setting and Charisma-driven setup. Keep in mind that losing party members is normal on Hard.

Solo Mode? Ironman?
You can select Ironman and/or Solo mode when you start a new game. If you choose the Solo mode your CHA will be lowered by 2 to give you two extra and much needed stat points. You won’t be able to recruit any companions.

Do I need to buy or play AoD first?
No. It’s a stand-alone game that takes place before the events in AoD. However, some comments and stories will make more sense to those who played AoD a couple of times. For example:

Spoiler

“He did,” nods the man. “Blood was still trickling down his chin when he looked around for the first time, and *saw*. I don’t know what one sees through that accursed gem, and I don't want to know, but his expression said his life's desire was laid before him. He picked up the loremaster's glove then, and groped about in front of him for something, or some place, none of us could see. And then the ritual began.

"His body went limp, at the same time it launched up into the air and hovered there, as if suspended in a giant’s hand. He began screaming again, but not just in pain. It was a horrified pleading, a terror of things I can't imagine. We could do nothing to break the link between him and the spirit realm. It was all we could do not to flee in terror. When he collapsed to the floor an hour later he was paler than a corpse, but he breathed still. When his senses returned three days later, he went on being the Emperor, but something fundamental was different.”

Is there a story?
There is the story of your escape and the prison’s hierarchy. There is also a background story that began long before you were imprisoned. That story and its conclusion will expand the lore of the gameworld.

Dialogues? Text adventures?
There are many talkative characters; each fight has a text intro, so you aren’t just moving from one fight to the next; there is quite a bit of exploration with text-adventure elements and stat-checks.

Whom are we fighting?
Various prisoners (unaffiliated convicts, gang members – we have three gangs running the prison and their overlord who calls himself the Emperor), prison guards, legionaries sent to clean up the mess, which started long before you arrived, mechanical constructs, and various oversized local flora and fauna.

New loot?
20 new items (weapons, armor, misc).

Any questions, ask.

 

[Zanzoken]

Will there be a Stash like in AoD for party inventory? Or at least the ability to swap items between party members.

If so then is there any benefit to taking Crafting and Alchemy on more than one character?

 

[Zanzoken]

Are you planning to re-balance Bolas and/or Nets to make them dependent on skills? Possibly make them craftable as well?

Will it be possible to poison stacks of Throwing weapons? Say like 20 at a time. I don't think you can in AoD which hurts their functionality a lot.

 

[Deleted Member 22431]

Are you planning to re-balance Bolas and/or Nets to make them dependent on skills? Possibly make them craftable as well?.

But bolas and nets don’t need to be fixed. If anything, we need more items that are similar so that the combat can be more enjoyable. The problem with AoD combat is that even with some degree of RNG it’s too deterministic. If you make a good build, your chances of dying are close to zero. Items like bolas and nets break through that, making your invincible character mortal again.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Will there be a Stash like in AoD for party inventory?

Yes.

Or at least the ability to swap items between party members.

http://www.rpgcodex.net/gallery/15108.jpg
^ shared inventory with different tabs for the party members.

If so then is there any benefit to taking Crafting and Alchemy on more than one character?

No. Only the highest skill is checked when crafting.

Are you planning to re-balance Bolas and/or Nets to make them dependent on skills? Possibly make them craftable as well?

No.

Will it be possible to poison stacks of Throwing weapons? Say like 20 at a time. I don't think you can in AoD which hurts their functionality a lot.

Don't think so. It was on the list but as a low priority task (other tasks were more important).

 

[HoboForEternity]

story wise, when do this take place relative to AoD's main campaign? after? during? before?

any new stuff for crafting/alchemy? (new "effects", new materials, and other stuff)

how many unique, 'magical' aritfacts? (not the exact number of, just "very rare" or "alot of them"

 

[Infinitron]

Vault Dweller This may be my ethnicity speaking but have you considered retroactively gifting Dungeon Rats to AoD "backers" who gave you sufficiently more than the minimum $25 on BMT back in the day?

 

[Vault Dweller]

story wise, when do this take place relative to AoD's main campaign? after? during? before?

Before.

any new stuff for crafting/alchemy? (new "effects", new materials, and other stuff)

You can craft some weapons and armor from the creatures' carapaces and body parts, nothing over the top, whatever makes sense

^ Scorpion claw spear

There are new weapons as well:

how many unique, 'magical' aritfacts? (not the exact number of, just "very rare" or "alot of them"

If I understand your question correctly, the answer is none. There is no lore skill in the game, so throwing artifacts are you wouldn't make sense.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Vault Dweller This may be my ethnicity speaking but have you considered retroactively gifting Dungeon Rats to AoD "backers" who gave you sufficiently more than the minimum $25 on BMT back in the day?

Since it's not something we've ever promised or offered, i.e. it wasn't offered as an extra product and BMT has no system in place to track it or offer a new product automatically (we can't even email a selected group of people), it will be very time-consuming to implement now. However, if our "backers" who paid more than $25 (doesn't matter if they paid $5 extra or $500) want a free copy, they can PM me and I'll gladly give them a key.

 

[MediantSamuel]

9 dollaru? Dang, that's cheap. I hope the sales from DR gives you guys enough in the way of funds to keep going for a while.

 

[Jaedar]

So when will preorders start?

 

[Zanzoken]

Are you planning to re-balance Bolas and/or Nets to make them dependent on skills? Possibly make them craftable as well?.

But bolas and nets don’t need to be fixed. If anything, we need more items that are similar so that the combat can be more enjoyable. The problem with AoD combat is that even with some degree of RNG it’s too deterministic. If you make a good build, your chances of dying are close to zero. Items like bolas and nets break through that, making your invincible character mortal again.

I'm a little confused as to your point. You say combat is too deterministic but bolas and nets are more deterministic than most other weapons in the game. Nets are 100% effective, bolas are 100% if you target the feet and 75% if you target the head. Alchemy items are the only other weapons not reliant on RNG, but at least they are expensive to buy and require a skill point investment to craft.

If you're talking about enemies using them then fair enough, although that's really an encounter design & AI problem, not a systemic one. My experience is that enemies only occasionally use nets, and even when they do the AI usually fails to take advantage. The use of bolas is even more rare -- in fact, the only time I remember being hit with one in 130 hours of play is during the fight at the end of the Basil questline.

Point being, I think bolas and nets are much more of an advantage to the player than the AI. If you want combat to be less deterministic, the deterministic elements of these items should be re-balanced.

 

[PrzeSzkoda]

Are you planning to re-balance Bolas and/or Nets to make them dependent on skills? Possibly make them craftable as well?.

But bolas and nets don’t need to be fixed. If anything, we need more items that are similar so that the combat can be more enjoyable. The problem with AoD combat is that even with some degree of RNG it’s too deterministic. If you make a good build, your chances of dying are close to zero. Items like bolas and nets break through that, making your invincible character mortal again.

I'm a little confused as to your point. You say combat is too deterministic but bolas and nets are more deterministic than most other weapons in the game. Nets are 100% effective, bolas are 100% if you target the feet and 75% if you target the head. Alchemy items are the only other weapons not reliant on RNG, but at least they are expensive to buy and require a skill point investment to craft.

If you're talking about enemies using them then fair enough, although that's really an encounter design & AI problem, not a systemic one. My experience is that enemies only occasionally use nets, and even when they do the AI usually fails to take advantage. The use of bolas is even more rare -- in fact, the only time I remember being hit with one in 130 hours of play is during the fight at the end of the Basil questline.

Point being, I think bolas and nets are much more of an advantage to the player than the AI. If you want combat to be less deterministic, the deterministic elements of these items should be re-balanced.

Sure, but once you do that, people shall cry havoc "OMG COMBAT'S SO RNG IT'S BAD BAD BAD I'M A VERY FRUSTRATED INDIVIDUAL".

I actually think that combat balance between RNG and determinism in AoD is very good; pretty much the best of any game lately. F.i. bolas are in limited supply, so you cannot simply spam them (and they weigh a ton, so low STR characters will have that handicap, etc.) Nets are very useful, but they're not insta-win (both for you and your enemies - if you're a bad enough dude, you should be able to survive being netted), etc.

 

[Zanzoken]

I agree and it's not a huge deal really. Bolas and nets have always just seemed like outliers to me because their use isn't governed by skill and they aren't craftable.

I think in a party-based game they are going to get a lot more powerful too. Having your DEX guy rope the toughest enemy and then focus fire will probably be a strong strategy. It could potentially trivialize certain encounters but of course that just returns to a design question.

 

[Deleted Member 22431]

I'm a little confused as to your point. You say combat is too deterministic but bolas and nets are more deterministic than most other weapons in the game. Nets are 100% effective, bolas are 100% if you target the feet and 75% if you target the head. Alchemy items are the only other weapons not reliant on RNG, but at least they are expensive to buy and require a skill point investment to craft.

If you're talking about enemies using them then fair enough, although that's really an encounter design & AI problem, not a systemic one. My experience is that enemies only occasionally use nets, and even when they do the AI usually fails to take advantage. The use of bolas is even more rare -- in fact, the only time I remember being hit with one in 130 hours of play is during the fight at the end of the Basil questline.

Point being, I think bolas and nets are much more of an advantage to the player than the AI. If you want combat to be less deterministic, the deterministic elements of these items should be re-balanced.

What I meant by “deterministic” is that the use of most weapons can’t change the expected result of an encounter, while nets and bolas are “nondeterministic” in the sense they can fuck up your plans. The chances of things going wrong when you have a good build are close to zero, even with RNG. Items such as net and bolas can make things more challenging, especially if you are fighting against a bigger party. Thus, we need the AI to make a better use of items with deterministic mechanics to make the combat less “deterministic”, i.e., less predictable and easy.

 

[PrzeSzkoda]

Yup, I loved playing AoD as a hybrid character and using nets et. al. to sow chaos within the enemy's ranks (f. i. netting/hitting Dellar with a bola to the face at the end of the Teron IG quest).

 

[Elhoim]

We taught the AI to use nets (and bolas) more effectively, and they are quite rare in DR, so you'll have to decide well where to use them.

 

[cruelio]

No early access? Did you guys give up on life?

 

[Bubbles]

Are there pre-order bonuses like skins or an exclusive achievement?

 

[PrzeSzkoda]

Are there pre-order bonuses like skins or an exclusive achievement?

*Achievement Unlocked* "Miltiades' Friend - Never Pay in Advance (Loser)"

EDIT Or perhaps "Miltiades' Friend - Failed Your Streetwise Check (Pre-order)"

 

[makiavelli747]

Why you like Miltiades so much, he is just another average dude...

 

[Lomer2]

.... Miltiades ... he is just another average dude...

That's what all his vanquished enemies thought. A person with you nickname should be more appreciative of his talents.

 

[makiavelli747]

Oh, C'mon, you can see through all that stuff from a mile away, its nothing but another encounter for combat char. Play some Planet Alcatraz if you know Russian, there every 2nd character is Miltiades.
I got the feeling people were raised on fairytails.

 

[Lomer2]

Oh, C'mon, you can see through all that stuff from a mile away, its nothing but another encounter for combat char. Play some Planet Alcatraz if you know Russian, there every 2nd character is Miltiades.
I got the feeling people were raised on fairytails.

Dude, of course nobody is seeing him as Talleyrand. He is just a funny character and is written that way. When you meet him he is a third-rate charlatan at best but through your own efforts at the end, at Ganezzar, he has almost reached legendary status matching his own inflated ego. Miltiades is a caricature who was made reality by the action of the playing character and by some luck.

 

[PrzeSzkoda]

Miltiades is simply fun. Also, he's a person of most noble character - I mean, in the end, he always gives you what he promised (he'll just keep you jumping through further hoops to get it :D).