Energy Vortex and Blade Spirit

For ideas on how to make Second Age a better shard. Can it get any better? Maybe.
Forum rules
Posts in this forum are expected to be constructive, realistic and civil. Inflamatory or off topic posts will be removed.
Post Reply
User avatar
Mens Rea
UOSA Subscriber!
UOSA Subscriber!
Posts: 2952
Joined: Mon Jul 14, 2008 6:59 am

Energy Vortex and Blade Spirit

Post by Mens Rea »

Monsters didn't attack EV and Bladespirits during T2A.

To get an EV to attack a monster you would have to cast it on a square DIRECTLY ADJACENT to the monster you wanted it to attack.

Otherwise, it would float around doing very little unless you or another player got near it, at which point it would attack the person with the highest int.

This is why bards were so good because you could actually target things with your EV.

User avatar
Mens Rea
UOSA Subscriber!
UOSA Subscriber!
Posts: 2952
Joined: Mon Jul 14, 2008 6:59 am

Re: Energy Vortex and Blade Spirit

Post by Mens Rea »

Note: Blade spirit was largely the same except it would go after the highest STR.

User avatar
Faust
Posts: 6247
Joined: Mon Sep 22, 2008 7:01 pm

Re: Energy Vortex and Blade Spirit

Post by Faust »

Both attack based on their specific stat characteristics of all the mobiles in the area. This is how it functions on this shard. For example, an Energy Vortex placed next to one target where another is a few tiles away with higher Int will still make the Energy Vortex go after the higher Int mobile. This is well documented and exists in the original OSI code too. The best example of this was the Lich Lord Room ledge. Placing an EV one tile in front of you next to the ledge always made the EV attack the Lich Lord since the stat characteristics are much higher than a players. If you were to follow your description it would be 50/50 since the EV would flop next to two targets with the same distance apart.

The part about other mobs attacking the EV's and BS's is correct in my opinion. I don't ever recall other mobs going after one of them without it attacking them first.

User avatar
Mens Rea
UOSA Subscriber!
UOSA Subscriber!
Posts: 2952
Joined: Mon Jul 14, 2008 6:59 am

Re: Energy Vortex and Blade Spirit

Post by Mens Rea »

Faust wrote:Both attack based on their specific stat characteristics of all the mobiles in the area. This is how it functions on this shard. For example, an Energy Vortex placed next to one target where another is a few tiles away with higher Int will still make the Energy Vortex go after the higher Int mobile. This is well documented and exists in the original OSI code too. The best example of this was the Lich Lord Room ledge. Placing an EV one tile in front of you next to the ledge always made the EV attack the Lich Lord since the stat characteristics are much higher than a players. If you were to follow your description it would be 50/50 since the EV would flop next to two targets with the same distance apart.
Go with the code, but I do remember EVs and BSes just floating around like idiots [not attacking anything for a long time, at least] or chasing YOU if you didn't target the right square.
Faust wrote:The part about other mobs attacking the EV's and BS's is correct in my opinion. I don't ever recall other mobs going after one of them without it attacking them first.
I am certain of this. There is a patch note about this, I remember being confounded at how easy it was to use the EV and BS after the change. Monsters did NOT attack EVs and BSes unless the EV or BS attacked them first, or the monster was provoked to attack the EV.

User avatar
Faust
Posts: 6247
Joined: Mon Sep 22, 2008 7:01 pm

Re: Energy Vortex and Blade Spirit

Post by Faust »

Mens Rea wrote:Go with the code, but I do remember EVs and BSes just floating around like idiots [not attacking anything for a long time, at least] or chasing YOU if you didn't target the right square.
You are talking about two separate but relative processes. The way they handle an attack and their frequency of attack that is determined by their AI are not the same process. Energy Vortex attack based on highest Int and Bladespirits attack based on highest Str. The way the AI code processes this attack mechanism is not the same thing. I don't know much about that part of the code in all honesty since it probably lies in the core itself. However, I know Derrick extracted a lot of the original code and implemented it here for both summons a little while back. He would be the best person to respond to all this since he is more familiar with this portion of the original code.

User avatar
Mens Rea
UOSA Subscriber!
UOSA Subscriber!
Posts: 2952
Joined: Mon Jul 14, 2008 6:59 am

Re: Energy Vortex and Blade Spirit

Post by Mens Rea »

As a side question Faust, where can I access the *full* 2000 and maybe even 2001 patch notes? I cannot find either of these on the UOSA wiki,

The reason I ask is because I think a lot of accuracy issues could be addressed by deduction from what they were -later- changed to.

The change to EV/BS which made monsters attack THEM could very well be after UO:R, and therefore outside of the scope of the UOSA wiki's patch notes.

User avatar
Faust
Posts: 6247
Joined: Mon Sep 22, 2008 7:01 pm

Re: Energy Vortex and Blade Spirit

Post by Faust »

PreT2a & T2A Path Notes

The patch notes after that can only be found at update.uo.com.

User avatar
Faust
Posts: 6247
Joined: Mon Sep 22, 2008 7:01 pm

Re: Energy Vortex and Blade Spirit

Post by Faust »

There may have been some sort of bug with them not attacking in certain situations.

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.game ... rgy+vortex#

User avatar
Mens Rea
UOSA Subscriber!
UOSA Subscriber!
Posts: 2952
Joined: Mon Jul 14, 2008 6:59 am

Re: Energy Vortex and Blade Spirit

Post by Mens Rea »

Type "energy vortex" into the http://www.uopowergamers.com search.

Also, it would be useful if we could find the old bugs from http://www.askchopper.com (even though not all of them were legit, it would still be useful to refresh veteran's memories).
^ top-Some official EV & BS news.
[Eric] July 25 - 6:06 PM EDT
Adrick posted the following...

The energy vortex and blade spirit AI was rewritten to remove alot of inefficiency in their cycle counts. This has resulted in substantial reduction in dungeon server cpu cycles used by these programs.

As a result they now attack targets with better prediction and spend less time "thinking" and more time fighting their target. The z exploits have been removed so that they can be dispelled correctly. Using a blade spirit or Energy Vortex on creatures that have the ability to dispel them is not going to be effective unless those creatures are mana drained.
Ive done some checking and they appear to be working (they do damage, they are dispelled correctly, they attack).

Balrons are one of the most challenging monsters in the game - it may indeed take more of them to kill the more challenging monsters but for the (upper mid) level creatures they should be functioning the same.

So yes, EV's and BS's will be noticeably weaker on the stronger monsters. The one thing I like is that they no longer "think." What does Adrick mean by "think?" Basically, the EVs/BS's will no longer sit idle when there are targets in the line of sight. A dragon for example will target you almost immediately if you are within its view. Blade spirits and EVs will now act in the same manner. Although they are weaker, I think this one fix helps a bit.

Adrick also posted:

Im taking the feedback here seriously and I just concluded a test on the Lake Superior shard. I created a normal lich, I set its mana to 0. I then at 100 magery cast 1 energy vortex and it imeddiately attacked the lich - I timed it in 29 seconds the lich was dead and the energy vortex was the slightest sliver harmed.

Yes there were changes to the energy vortex spell as I detailed in several posts.

1] They now actually fight an enemy in that they can hit or miss.
2] They no longer spend extra cycles evaluating targets - they chose a target and fight it thus reducing lag mostly on the dungeon servers where these spells are common.
3] They no longer poison.

A lich is a mid level creature so my information about the relative strength of EV vs mid to high mid creatures was correct.

Thanks Adrick - I'm glad OSI actually takes the time to report the results of the changes they make. What sucks? EVs no longer poison. Aside from poison though, they seem to maintain their usual strength. If anyone does any further tests (ex. see how EVs/BS's work on cyclops or ogre lords), drop me a line.

User avatar
Faust
Posts: 6247
Joined: Mon Sep 22, 2008 7:01 pm

Re: Energy Vortex and Blade Spirit

Post by Faust »

Derrick or someone needs to take a look at the way they process their attack once they acquire their target with the highest intelligence.

The last fix on them was on the right track but this one detail probably was overlooked.

User avatar
nightshark
UOSA Subscriber!
UOSA Subscriber!
Posts: 4550
Joined: Mon Apr 20, 2009 10:47 pm

Re: Energy Vortex and Blade Spirit

Post by nightshark »

Mens Rea wrote:Type "energy vortex" into the http://www.uopowergamers.com search.

Also, it would be useful if we could find the old bugs from http://www.askchopper.com (even though not all of them were legit, it would still be useful to refresh veteran's memories).
^ top-Some official EV & BS news.
[Eric] July 25 - 6:06 PM EDT


Adrick also posted:

Im taking the feedback here seriously and I just concluded a test on the Lake Superior shard. I created a normal lich, I set its mana to 0. I then at 100 magery cast 1 energy vortex and it imeddiately attacked the lich - I timed it in 29 seconds the lich was dead and the energy vortex was the slightest sliver harmed.

Yes there were changes to the energy vortex spell as I detailed in several posts.

1] They now actually fight an enemy in that they can hit or miss.
2] They no longer spend extra cycles evaluating targets - they chose a target and fight it thus reducing lag mostly on the dungeon servers where these spells are common.
3] They no longer poison.

A lich is a mid level creature so my information about the relative strength of EV vs mid to high mid creatures was correct.

Thanks Adrick - I'm glad OSI actually takes the time to report the results of the changes they make. What sucks? EVs no longer poison. Aside from poison though, they seem to maintain their usual strength. If anyone does any further tests (ex. see how EVs/BS's work on cyclops or ogre lords), drop me a line.
Also, EVs here often do take a while to evaluate their targets, but if you cast it on a balron or something, and the balron doesn't have a target, then the Balron will insta-target the EV. If you cast it on something that currently has a target, and don't drop the EV on the right tile, often the EV will just walk around for a few seconds with no target (which can end up with the EV chasing you down)
<green> grats pink and co. .... the 3 of you f---ing scrubs together can blow up a bard. IMPRESSIVE

Eulogy
Posts: 481
Joined: Thu Apr 16, 2009 1:28 am

Re: Energy Vortex and Blade Spirit

Post by Eulogy »

Energy vortices should curse on hit, not when shoved.
Image

Post Reply