Loading...
  OR  Zero-K Name:    Password:   

Morph techtree and XP

160 posts, 6967 views
Post comment
Filter:    Player:  
Page of 8 (160 records)
sort
Units get experience for destroying enemy units. Accumulating enough XP can increase the unit's rank. Each rank is attained by the unit destroying its worth of metal of enemies. This is split equally between doing the damage, and dealing the finishing blow, ie. bringing an enemy unit of the same cost down from full to 1 health is worth half a rank, and getting the last blow another half.

Experience gain can get modified. EMP damage is scaled to 10% and then the inverse of the target health - for example, a unit on 1/4 health will give 40% of the normal value. Disarm and slow damage don't give XP. Mixed damage gives XP for the real damage part. Overkill damage and EMP that doesn't add further stun time is discarded - only the actual damage done counts.

Ranks can enable morphing for certain units. After morph, the rank is rescaled by its new cost, eg. if the unit is rank 6, but then morphs to a unit 3x as expensive, it will now be rank 2. Currently all morphs that require XP require rank 3, ie. making the base unit's cost 3 times. Provided that your unit is experienced enough, it can morph again right away. For example, a Warrior costs 220, so it needs to kill 660 metal worth of enemies to be able to morph to Zeus: if a Glaive destroyed 660m worth of enemies, it will be able to morph to Zeus right away after morphing to Warrior.

The cost of morph is the difference between the target unit's cost and the morpher's cost; it's free if target is cheaper. The morph times are given in the techtree in seconds.

Here's the morph techtree (green is XP-free morphs, red is XP-enabled (rank 3)):


For the legacy XP system (before v1.2.9.6), see this post.
+7 / -0
9 years ago
Racketeer does no damage, right? Does it even gain exp?
+0 / -0
Nope, its morph is inaccessible. Disarm gives no XP. It's a holdover from the time when it was EMP (as EMP gives XP).

Edit: removed this morph from the tree and submitted a PR to remove it from the game.
+0 / -0
Has anyone ever morphed a Bandit into a Detriment? Or a Flea into a Catapult/Funnelweb?

EDIT: Also, Hacksaw morphs to Chainsaw, not... whatever that unit is called, I forget.
+1 / -0
Old techtree had Crabe morph to Dante instead of Scorpion, which allowed Fleas to become Detriments:
Multiplayer B138192 2 on Hide_and_Seek_v03

Edit: updated to new Chainsaw buildpic. Thanks!
+0 / -0
9 years ago
Thanks Sprung! I was always curious about how exactly the morph system works.

What about ships? I remember morphing a typhoon --> crusader --> enforcer-->warlord or somtehing like that.
+0 / -0

9 years ago
The ships have no morphs, though they used to:
Skeeter -> Typhoon -> Crusader -> Enforcer -> Warlord
Snake -> Serpent
+0 / -0


9 years ago
This can be a wiki page.
+0 / -0
This is the legacy XP system. It has been replaced by the simplified one in the OP.

Units get 0.1 XP for making cost through damage, and 0.1 XP for making cost through last-hitting. This means that a unit that single-handedly kills its cost 100% -> 0 and deals the finishing blows will have 0.2 XP; this is also why light units tend to have inflated XP values - if they score the finishing blow, they get as much XP as they would get for bringing the unit down from 100% to 0.

XP gain can get modified. Units are worth up to 30% more based on their XP, with 15% more at XP = 1 - the exact formula for added worth is 0.3*XP/(XP + 1). For example, a 0 XP unit who kills its cost in 1.0 XP units will get 0.23 XP. Conversely, experienced units get a bit less XP for units with less XP. EMP damage is scaled to 10% and then the inverse of the target health - for example, a unit on 1/4 health will give 40% of the normal value. Disarm and slow damage don't give XP. Mixed damage gives XP for the real damage part. Overkill damage and EMP that doesn't add further stun time is discarded - only the actual damage done counts.

Units get ranks for XP. Each rank requires XP. Currently all morphs that require XP require rank 3. Here's some example values on how much XP is rank 3 (making cost once is 0.2):
quote:
Flea - 1.10
Glaive - 0.87
Gremlin - 0.73
Jack - 0.56
Reaper - 0.52
Crabe - 0.46
Bantha - 0.31


Units keep half their XP after morph. However, you can't chain-morph because units with further XP morphs will also get trimmed to 90% of the next morph threshold. For example, Glaive can morph at 0.87 XP, so a Flea morphed to a Glaive will never have more than 0.87 * 0.9 == 0.78 XP after morphing.
+0 / -0
Already Fleas have a strong tendency to get the XP award, and the new system pushes this further. Is there any plan to fix this?

Hmm, it occurs to me that Kodachi could have a -> Panther (-> Reaper?) morph route instead of just dead-ending there...
+0 / -0
Is there any particular reason why EMP damage should give XP while disarm/slow damage should not?

(Elite Freakers, maybe?)
+2 / -0
Yeah, the huge lasthit bonus sucks, but it's an engine thing, so we can either keep it as is, or reimplement XP ourselves (which ain't gonna happen). Keeping stuff simple and consistent is more important than fixing Flea tendency to get the XP award, though. When I have some time I might implement a Lua XP system because it sounds pretty easy.

Edit:
quote:
Is there any particular reason why EMP damage should give XP while disarm/slow damage should not?

Implementation. EMP is an engine damage type (and the XP system is engine too), while the other status effects are custom ones that work by removing damage (and with it, the XP) and applying debuffs instead.
quote:
(Elite Freakers, maybe?)

Golden Morties!

Edit 2: The XP award is actually unchanged; only the rank requirements changed and the underlying XP value is still the same.
+0 / -0
FIrankFFC
9 years ago
I once morphed flea to detri
+0 / -0

9 years ago
I never understood the last hit bonus thing that is in so many RPG like games. If I punch you in the face and you fall down, is my punching skill increased only a little bit when you get up, but if you don't get up, it's increased even more? What difference does it make to my fist if you get up again, versus if you're down there napping or dead?
+4 / -0
FIrankFFC
9 years ago
I still want detri to morph to golden flea...
+1 / -0

9 years ago
Rewarding tasks on completion generally makes sense imo (I could elaborate but that's offtopic), but in this particular case it's unwanted because
1) the whole completion reward always goes to a single unit
2) regardless of the extent of its contribution
3) neither of those issues is present in the damage part of XP
Getting rid of the lasthit reward would be a good idea, but as mentioned, it requires someone to put the effort to Luaize experience - and noone likes or cares about morph enough to do so - in fact, many would rather have it removed.
+0 / -0
Skasi
9 years ago
So a Zeus gets more than one rank by killing another Zeus?
+0 / -0

9 years ago
I like morph tree. it a good alternate from making a factory then making the unit. Instead I can can focus on keeping a unit alive to morph it.
+0 / -0

9 years ago
Yes, Zeus gets more than one because there's also EMP.
+0 / -0
9 years ago
I dont really care much about the whole system, but why are turrets allowed to morph into other turrets with different footprint?
+1 / -0
Page of 8 (160 records)