Need help with Skill disruption + Damage formula.

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

I have a boss fight where after a while the boss will begin to "channel energy" and two turns later unleash an attack that could potentially cause a Total Party Kill. In order to prevent an inevitable game over, the party must use a specific skill to "disrupt" the channeled energy before the attack occurs, effectively cancelling it. I tried to make this behavior by having the boss on the sixth turn (of a 10 turn loop) always use the initial "channel energy" skill, and add a state to the boss called "Charge ," then the following turn (using the condition "State: Charge 1 inflicted") use a different channel energy skill to add a state called Charge 2, then on the next turn the boss uses the powerful attack if the condition "Charge 2 inflicted" is met.

(Here's a screenshot, to further clarify



However, when I tested this in game and used the disruption skill to remove Charge 1 before the second energy channel skill is used, the second skill is used anyway, followed by the powerful attack on the next turn. Is there a simple way around this problem? (NOTE: Both charge skills have an invocation of -1000, so they will always be performed at the end of the turn.)

Also, I need some help with the damage formula for the aforementioned powerful attack. I want the attack to do more damage the less HP the boss has, capping at 9999 damage. However, every formula I've tried so far has either caused the attack to do negligible amounts of damage if the boss's current hp isn't in the hundreds range (and even then the damage is rather pathetic until the boss gets under 10 HP.) or it does (still quite pathetic) damage much different from the results on my calculator. I ideally want the damage output of the attack to start around 200 at full health and then exponentially increase to 9999 when the user is at 1 health. Can someone help me find a reliable formula that will do this regardless of what the user's max HP is? (I'm also planning on giving the party a version of this attack too, using the same formula.)

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

I take it that the 2nd skill is used on the same turn that the disrupt was used? That is because enemy actions are evaluated at the start, before the actions start, so if at the start of that turn, state 1 is on, the enemy would already be set to use skill 2 even if the players manage to cast disrupt during that same turn...

 

[Wavelength]

As Engr. Adik said, it's because the move's feasibility is evaluated before the state is removed.

Why not add something into the damage formula for the "Total Party Kill" skill so that it does a base of, say, 300 damage if both charages have been removed, 1000 if Charge 1 or Charge 2 have been removed, and 9999 if neither have been removed?  Something like that.  Basically you're still bamboozling his charge - only this time he uses the move anyway and does relatively small damage with it.

As far as a formula, use something like 200 * 50 * ([(1.000 - a.hp_rate), 0.02].max) or for true exponential scaling, 200 / ([a.hp_rate, 0.02].max)

 

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

Why not add something into the damage formula for the "Total Party Kill" skill so that it does a base of, say, 300 damage if both charages have been removed, 1000 if Charge 1 or Charge 2 have been removed, and 9999 if neither have been removed?  Something like that.  Basically you're still bamboozling his charge - only this time he uses the move anyway and does relatively small damage with it.

I don't want the skill to behave that way. I want it to be a powerful, potentially fatal attack that gives the player a couple of turns to prevent it. (Think of Masamune from Chrono Trigger with the Whirlwind/Tornado energy attack, since that's an example of this kind of attack from an existing RPG.)

I also gave your second formula (The one with true exponential scaling) a try, it seems to work! (Though I'll need to test the attack when the boss reaches low health before I come to a complete conclusion.)

 

[Wavelength]

I don't want the skill to behave that way. I want it to be a powerful, potentially fatal attack that gives the player a couple of turns to prevent it. (Think of Masamune from Chrono Trigger with the Whirlwind/Tornado energy attack, since that's an example of this kind of attack from an existing RPG.)

In that case, I think you could probably get away with making a State with a "Seal Skill" property for your mega party wipe attack, and have the Disrupt skill apply that State at 999%.