JohnCarver wrote:I'm confused by your use of the term linear progression here. Yellow bile very much runs through a sqrt and thus has a very real diminishing return to its progression. Considering the higher biles are really only relevant for combat I would argue that the late-game humor progression is not linear at all.
My mistake there.
I used the word in the sense of
progressing along one dimension.
I am aware of the benefits of square root or logarithmic growth as opposed to linear when it comes to players with different stats opposing each other. It has been an established and elegant solution since the first p&p rpgs.
I was talking about the
player versus passive/active defense scenario though.
Even if the return for biles progression is not linear, the
feel of progression from
"not being able to destroy item X" to
"being able to destroy item X, Y and Z" can very much be linear because it depends on the distance between X, Y and Z items hp and soak values and a characters yellow bile. Depending on how you
space those values across the
"yellow bile dimension" you can very well recreate a progression that is pretty much
linear in time/effort needed to accomplish the various goals.
However, my point was not to blame how the bile progression is actually handled.
I tried to argue that building player skill is more fun than building character stats (you can argue against that of course) and that having a lot more dimensions to grow a char in, or none at all, is desirable if you want to encourage player skill (and everyone is very welcome to argue about this too).
In both scenarios there is no need for high numbers. If you have no dimension to grow in there is no need for numbers at all (the leaderboard is the only thing that matters). If instead you have multiple dimensions you can pursue to unlock different, incomparable, tactics then you have no need to extend any one of those dimensions
in the hundreds because the space of possibilities (different char builds, and thus different tactics) grows exponentially with the number of dimensions.
A quick example:
We have several levels of walls with which we can enclose and protect an area but they all have a requirement in yellow bile to bring down. It is a race that takes place in one dimension only. We add torchposts and braziers (actually only braziers really...) to add a defense that affects BB... but since most of the time the biles are raised together that didn't introduce a whole new dimension.
To be sure to add a new dimension you add an incomparable.
A moat for example: you don't need to destroy it but it slows you down considerably, and the game could be arranged to allow for a mitigation of such effect by the use of specific items and/or skills.
A patrolling sentry or watchdog that follows a circular path: you could try and kill it or avoid fighting it by using correct timing, being stealthy or luring it elsewhere.
Stun traps: they do nothing by themselves but work miracles in combination with other defenses, you could avoid those by spending time searching carefully for anomalies on the ground (again the use of different skills and items).
I was lucky...
