JellyPaladin

When I use an attribute for auto apply or auto remove with status effects, the Check Value box has this help text:

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Check the current value of the selected defence attribute.
If disabled, the combatant's current defence attribute is checked.

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If I'm understanding right, does this mean I can create a combatant who doesn't have a certain sub-attribute at all?

I'll probably have a followup question, but what question it is depends on the answer to this one. :D

gamingislove

With defence attributes, there are two things to check:
- the assigned defence attribute a combatant has (e.g. race Insect)
- the value of the defence attribute (e.g. value of race Insect is 50 means the combatant does 50 % damage on other combatants of race insect).

JellyPaladin

So in your example, every combatant has Race, but not every combatant has Insect? If that's the case, am I correct about this:

I have a Body Shape attribute with sub-attributes of Puffball, Large Quadruped, Winged, and a few others. They have default values of 0. When I assign a sub-attribute to a combatant, it will be created with a value of 0, but until I assign it, it simply doesn't exist.

Edit: Until now I've been using these sub-attributes like true/false flags with a value range of 0 to 1. But if I could prevent a combatant from having the sub-attribute at all, then it seems like I could set up this defence attribute and possibly a couple others slightly more efficiently...

gamingislove

That's not quite it - each combatant has assigned defence attributes, like race Insect and size Small, but they still need values for all defence attributes.

A defence attribute's value defines how much damage a combatant will do on combatants with the defence attribute assigned.
E.g. if the player has 150 on Insect, he will do 150 % damage on insect attribute monsters.

It works just like with the attack attributes, just the other way round:
- attack attributes are assigned to status changes made by abilities/items (i.e. to attacks) and use the values of the target for calculation (e.g. a Fire element attack will use the target's Fire attribute value)
- defence attributes are assigned to combatants but use the attacker's value for calculation (e.g. an attack on a Human monster will use the attacker's Human attribute value)

Edit: On a side note, a value of 0 will do 0 damage (0 %).

JellyPaladin

Okay, I think I understand. So just because a combatant has a value for a defence attribute doesn't mean that the attribute is assigned.

A while back I had actually replaced most of my hidden status values with defence attributes because it's easier in the editor to give bonuses to attributes unless they're percent bonuses... But I didn't even consider what it would do to battles since I do have a lot of 0s floating around. Sounds like making my abilities ignore defence attributes will probably be in my best interest.

gamingislove

Yes, that's it - a combatant has values for all defence attributes (and attack attributes as well), because they're used when attacking other combatants. The attributes the combatant itself has assigned only decide which attributes of other attackers are used :)

JellyPaladin

Thanks, got it now. =)