Detectable Spells query #1

[Feyd of the Faded]

Is it really the case that a spell like Minor Spell Turning doesn't have a hardcoded stat already? DS sets the duration for the (existing in vanilla) STAT as the maximum duration of the spell, but the spell could terminate long before that happens. Is this intentional? Something like that works for a non-deprecating spell like Minor Globe (well, its overlay, at least), but this seems like a really desperate solution since all it does is show that the spell was cast at some point in the last 15 rounds (minimum), not whether it's currently active.

 

Similarly, the STONESKINS stat is genuinely set by the stoneskin effect and can be tested for?

 

[edit] Oh, wow. Trigger:HasBounceEffects can't differentiate between physical mirror and spell reflection? Trigger:HasImmunityEffects can't tell whether the immunity is to a spell school or disabling a portrait icon? How on earth are AIs able to use anti-magic vs breach in the former pair? Even the most basic protection spells usually have a "disable icon" component, so that makes an AI confused that target might be immune to a sec type?

 

(I'm trying to mod but this is depressing information, if true. I'm hoping I've just got some obsolete docs.)

[Ardanis]

DS sets the duration for the (existing in vanilla) STAT as the maximum duration of the spell, but the spell could terminate long before that happens. Is this intentional?

It's not the best kind of solution, but in general both players and AI tend to avoid casting at Spell Deflection (let alone Spell Turning) anything but spell protection removals.

 

And those who are not afraid to bombard their way through usually don't care about spell protections in the first place.

 

That makes problematic only renewing own protections when facing the second type of opponents. Unless the player relies heavily on party AI scripts to do the battle, they should have no trouble renewing their defenses manually.

 

All in all, in 99% cases it works fine.

 

PS

IIRC ToBEx allows for more precise immunity checks.

[Feyd of the Faded]

The problem is that with something like SI:Alt up, a mage would have no problem wasting a Disintegrate to take down something trivial like Minor Spell Turning to save the powerhouses like RRR for later threats, nevermind if an AI were setup to waste the plethora of Evo-type wands to knock these protections down. Running through some AI scripts shows that they're not even bothering with this tactic. Something as cheap as Minor Spell Deflection is going to stymie these supposed advanced AI's.

 

99% of something mediocre leaves only 1% to not be mediocre. Too many people shrugging their shoulders and saying "maybe" is what's led to this. 12 years in and this is the best we've got? I feel like I'm being trolled. If there's dues to be paid to get access to the real stuff, I've got a PayPal account.

[Ardanis]

12 years in and this is the best we've got?

Exactly. The engine modifications have started only recently, until then we were stuck with what vanilla engine had to offer. I'm not even entirely sure the active spell checks do exist in ToBEx already.

 

It actually is half-a-wonder that the DS was possible to establish in the first place, given the engine's limited capability for modding.

 

The problem is that with something like SI:Alt up, a mage would have no problem wasting a Disintegrate to take down something trivial like Minor Spell Turning to save the powerhouses like RRR for later threats, nevermind if an AI were setup to waste the plethora of Evo-type wands to knock these protections down. Running through some AI scripts shows that they're not even bothering with this tactic. Something as cheap as Minor Spell Deflection is going to stymie these supposed advanced AI's.

If you're referring to SCS, then you seem to overestimate the IE's scripting capabilities. What you suggest may sound like a reasonable behavior, but it would add a large chuck of code to already enormous scripts. And that's only for one kind of tactic. All together would take minutes to load in-game.

[DavidW]

99% of something mediocre leaves only 1% to not be mediocre. Too many people shrugging their shoulders and saying "maybe" is what's led to this. 12 years in and this is the best we've got? I feel like I'm being trolled. If there's dues to be paid to get access to the real stuff, I've got a PayPal account.

 

If you stop and think for a moment, you'll see that there are two possibilities:

 

(i) Your understanding of the Infinity Engine is so acute that after a few months at most hovering around the modding scene, you have indeed discerned that various things are possible even though no-one in a reasonably active modding scene has managed to remotely work out how to implement them over a twelve year period. This presumably means that pretty much everyone who's active modding the game is either too lazy or too incompetent.

 

(ii) Actually your grip on what is and isn't readily achievable in the scripting framework of a 12-year-old game isn't quite accurate.

 

I kind of think it's fairly obvious from a third-party perspective which of (i) and (ii) is more likely, but whichever it is, complaining about people's mediocrity probably isn't going to achieve much. Either what you want can't actually be done, or we're all too lazy or incompetent to do it.