@MetaKirbSter : @Everyone Else : If you're going to use this thread to "announce" when you're in chat (which I do not personally like but understand the reasoning behind), this will be the ONLY thread you're allowed to announce your chat presence in. Formal warning here - if I see any more of your or anyone else's "IN CHAT!!!" or similar posts in other topics, I will go through and delete them or ask MegaBossMan or one of the other moderators to. I enjoy seeing the "New Post!" icons every day but when I check and there's nothing but spam all the time it gets pretty frustrating. Please stop.

Just wanted to post a few new update screenshots. Tomahawk Man - sprite editing by The Zion and assembly by myself - has finally been added to the update and will appear in post-game battles just like the rest of the preview bots. You can catch a gimps of him on the bench in these two Bonus Field screens:





Note that in these screenshots, my game only has 4 Impact Stars and 0 Earth Stars - this is why Rhythm's defense against the Oil Slider is only boosted by 40 points as opposed to the 2,520 points that our "1024 club" would benefit from post-update. :)

@AlphaOmegaZX : Thanks AlphaOmegaZX - welcome to the community and I'm glad you enjoy the game! :D

@Jdude330 : I believe the new mechanics proposed earlier in the thread should solve all those balancing problems in regards to player battles (single-player campaign effects are another beast) but thank you for your input.

@Bt Man : Yes, that is correct. Because Guts Man does not get WE reduction bonuses from abilities equipped this way, the Fire Chaser would still cost 8 WE to use (out of 10) which is quite a lot. I think there will still be a lot of strategy involved.

@Jdude330 : I don't think equipping Guts Man with a Flame ability is totally useless. Under the right circumstances he would do a lot of damage. If you have him hold a Flame Core he could theoretically equip Fire Chaser and another move like Flame Buster in a second slot. Charging the Flame Buster boosts Flame type abilities by 50% as long as you have the glow, so if you use Fire Chaser right after that Guts Man could easily do lots of damage and function as a dual type robot if you wanted him to (just as any one else could). It's just one of many options though - maybe you value added WE/LE instead of more moves - it's completely up to you.

@Retro Pikachu : I'd be curious to know what you liked about the mechanic. Whenever I was playtesting I found it kind of boring and of little use - the WE and damage bonuses didn't seem worth blocking off the rest of your move pool. Please let me know how you used it effectively or why you liked it and I'll see if I can leave it in some way. Maybe if a Copy Core holds onto a core it also changes their colour? Let me know what you think.

I've updated the post regarding the secondary effects of hold items and changed the description for holding robot cores. In light of last night's discussion and the confusion about my proposed mechanics for the cores, I have decided to streamline the feature slightly. Here is the revised description:

@TheDoc : I agree! I wonder what happened to it? Kind of which I hadn't closed my chat window so soon and kept a copy for myself. :S Maybe it was accidentally listed with an expiry date? In light of this, I'm willing to re-answer any questions in the update threads if you guys have 'em. I do hope this gets sorted out though...

Meta, please don't post topics like this. If the form is a little late I'm willing to be lenient about the issue - I'm not going to delete your data or anything I just need to make sure my butt is covered legally as the law says you cannot technically be here. I'll extend your time limit by another week but I'm going to close this thread in the mean time. Please do not spam the forum with personal threads. Thank you.

@MegaBossMan :

Robots holding Items :

I understand your concerns but yes, you'll have to wait and see how it feels. Try to compare the effect of holding a core to that of a Pokémon holding a Mega Stone. Incredibly powerful items that often grant brand new type coverage and abilities, but at the cost of not equipping any of the other and possibly more useful items.

There are many different variables at play and in reality you'll still be pretty restricted in what you do - go ahead and equip Roll with that Electric Core and give her all Electric abilities, but when you run out of WE on the first turn and can't do anything else we'll see how overpowered you feel. And you have to remember that a robot is only holding one core at any given time - once you switch to a different item any abilities that are not otherwise compatible are unequipped so it's not like robots will suddenly have every ability type available to them at once.

Maybe my Roll is great at Electric abilities but you have decided to make yours a master of Shield type abilities, but reasonably you'll still have to include non-elemental attacks in your 8 ability slots else you run the risk of running out of WE too soon. And to answer your question about Elec Man holding a second Electric Core, the ability to equip Electric type moves would obviously be redundant in this case but the boosted damage/recovery would stack on top of Elec Man's internal core. Instead of doing +50% more damage with Electric type attacks, he would instead do +75% more damage. Of course by equipping him with the same core type you're opting for more powerful native abilities versus a great variety of borrowed ones.

Bosses and Versus Mode :

I think it's been mentioned in the chat before, but at some point I would like to add some kind of mission creator/editor that lets you make your own missions and post them for other people to "download" and try. Maybe when that becomes a thing, I can let you unlock bosses for use in that mode as targets instead of in the main story. The mission creator would let you choose the field(s), multipliers, targets (robot, mecha, or boss), and maybe even some custom dialogue or something. That's not planned for this update, but it's something I'm thinking about all the same.

@TailsMK4 @MegaBossMan @MetaKirbSter :

Thank you for your posts, I'm glad you're excited! :D I look forward to uploading these changes some day and once again dramatically shifting the direction of the game - it will be a fun day indeed. ^_^

@TheDoc :

1. It's not done yet, but I plan to remove that restriction going forward. Unlocked abilities will be shared with all doctors once you reach a certain point in the game and I will update Reggae's shop top remove the Light/Wily/Cossack buttons and employ a single "Buy" button instead. Purchasing an ability via Reggae's shop will add it to the global pool and allow all doctors to equip it to their robots without transferring back and forth. Much easier than before.

2. I'm going to ask that you trust me on this one until the update is out and you're able to test the mechanic for yourself. After it's in the wild and people have some hands-on experience I'll be open to revising it again. Allowing a robot to equip other elemental abilities may seem crazy, but it's really not that bad. Robots only have 10 WE to work with, as you know, and a 25% reduction in cost is not that much in the end. Thunder Beam, for example, is an 8 WE ability that deals a respectable amount of damage. When equipped to someone like Elec Man, the cost for Thunder Beam is reduced to only 2 WE, allowing him to use it again and again. A robot like Roll on the other hand - using an Electric Core to grant access to the ability - would still require 6 WE to use. That only let's her use it once before needing to wait for a recharge or using something else. Couple that with the fact that they only get a +25% damage boost instead of +50% damage boost and the effects are further balanced. Besides, opting to give your robot a core means not giving them some other item - something that has it's own pros and cons.

3. I've amended the post to include this information, but in the Dark Frags and Spires also differ in their abilities and stats. Frags are much weaker in stats and use the Dark Boost ability to raise their own stats, while the Spires are more powerful in stats and use the Dark Break ability as well to lower the target's stats. I know this isn't a major difference, but they're not supposed to be incredibly deep characters. They're not even sentient, really - just automated objects that seek out elemental energy. I can understand your concerns though.

Thanks for your post, it helps me pin down what people are most worried about and quell any fears before we move forward. :)

And that's it for today. I'm going to be reviewing the posts I just made for spelling and grammar and other typos, but that's the state of things as they are right now. Please feel free to read over them at your own pace and consider discussing them in tomorrow's development chat. I may or may not make it there myself, but as always I will be reviewing your feedback there and here on the community and taking it into account as development progresses on the update. Thank you!!!!

About the Boss Database? Will any of the robots in it be unlockable?

No, they will not. Most if not all of these targets will reward you with their special weapons, but I do not believe any of them will be unlockable. The killers were a very tough decision me, but in the end I decided to lean in the direction of making them more interesting and challenging rather than more balanced and compatible with the other characters. Maybe in the year 20XX I'll add some special code to allow unlocking bosses but with some kind of limit, but not for this update and not anytime in the near future. Sorry everyone.

What about the other robot master fields? I see ones for Crystal Man and Jewel Man, but what about the others?

Eventually all unlockable robot masters should have fields, but there are no plans for any more in this update. The two crystal fields were only created as placeholders now because I wanted to carefully plan out my use of crystalline nouns and adjectives. The other types are important too, but Crystal is so rare I wanted to give it special attention. Mega Man 5+ fields will be a thing, but I think it would be best to save the straight-forward content updates like those until I have a better development pipeline worked out with more people. Thank you for your patience.

Are experience points or the leveling system being changed in any way?

First and foremost, overkill bonuses will be capped. The maximum overkill possible on any robot/mecha/boss will be equal to the max LE and no more. A Mega Man with 100 LE, for example, would have a max overkill value of 100 damage, meaning you'd have to deal 200+ damage to him in order to get the full reward. This will prevent most instances of 9999 experience points simply for hitting a level 1 Met with a level 100 Buster Shot.

Additionally, the experience required for the next level will no longer be equally 1000 indefinitely. At level 1 you'll need exactly 1000 experience to get to level 2, but from level 2 to 3 it will require exponentially more until you get to level 99 where the required amount to reach the level 100 will be insanely high. This will definitely prevent players from easily reaching level 100 in just a few battles, but I believe it will also allow users to build up more bonus stats before the next reward cycle and make the process feel more impactful.

And what about Field Support? Will that change?

Field Support will likely change as well, though the details have not been decided on yet. It will likely be split into three separate moves like Mecha Support with each being slightly more powerful than the other. This will also coincide with a big change to the default Field Multipliers for all robot master stages.

No longer will fields start out with x2.0 multipliers for the stage boss and unfairly low multipliers for others - instead the values will be much more conservative in their boosts/breaks and work within an range of x0.8 to x1.2 for any given element. This will allow for more reasonable battles in the earlier parts of the game, but it will also allow the above Field Support abilities to exist without being overly broken.

You will still be able to get field multipliers to insanely low levels like x9.9 and x0.1 like before, it just might take a bit more effort than last time.

Will the Mecha Support ability be any less useless?

This mechanic is not programmed yet and still open to changes, but I plan to split the Mecha Support ability into three separate ones - Mecha Support, Mecha Support II, and Mecha Support III.

The first tier Mecha Support ability will require 4 WE and summon the robot master's first generation support mecha. The summoned mecha will be 1/3 the level of its owner and also benefit from 1/3 of its owner's bonus stats. The mecha will also have one randomly generated support ability in addition to their signature move. Abilities available to first generation mechas include Energy Boost, Attack Boost, Defense Boost, and Speed Boost.

The second tier Mecha Support II ability will require 6 WE and summon the robot master's second generation support mecha (where applicable). The summoned mecha will be 2/3 the level of its owner and also benefit from 1/3 of its owner's bonus stats. The mecha will also have two randomly generated support abilities in addition to their signature move. Abilities available to the second generation include all those mentioned above, but with the addition of Energy Break, Attack Break, Defense Break, and Speed Break.

The third and final tier Mecha Support III ability will require 8 WE and summon the robot master's third generation mecha (where applicable). The summoned mecha will be the same level as its owner and benefit from all of its owner's bonus stats. The mecha will also have three randomly generated support abilities in addition to their signature move. Abilities available to the third generation include all those mentioned above, but with the addition of Energy Swap, Attack Swap, Defense Swap, and Speed Swap.

I know these abilities and the mecha support changes will be controversial as several people have spent time grinding to level up their characters, but I believe this is the best way forward and I'm sorry to anyone who feels cheated by the new update. Please understand where I'm coming from with this.

And what about those Dark Elements? Are they still a thing?

Yes, they are, though there have naturally been a lot of changes.



Dark Frags, Dark Spires, and Dark Towers are three new enemy types that will appear in the game. The first two can actually be targeted and attacked in battle, while the latter appears as a background object that cannot be destroyed. Regardless of how they appear, the presence of any Dark Elements on the field completely suppress the effects of starforce on both sides. As long as at least one Dark Element remains on the field, neither player will have boosted elemental abilities.



It should also be noted that Dark Elements are classified as "empty" types and absorb all elemental energy, with Dark Frags having an immunity to every elemental type while Dark Spires have an affinity to every elemental type. In addition to absorbing elements differently, the Dark Frags and Spires also use different abilities in battle. Dark Frags are weaker and will continuously raise their own stats with the Dark Boost ability, while Dark Spires are more powerful and use the Dark Break ability to lower the target's stats. These two enemies can only be damaged with Neutral type attacks, throwing a pretty big wrench into most sweeping strategies. Once all Dark Elements have been destroyed, however, starforce comes back into effect and the sweeping can begin again. Because Dark Towers appear in the background and cannot be targeted, their suppressing effects unfortunately last for the entire mission.







Dark Elements appear in various places throughout the story, often near alien targets or in areas where elemental energy is high. Trill and Slur, for example, are able to summon Dark Elements to the field and prevent players from using non-Neutral abilities, while other instances of the Dark Frags and Dark Spires appear more organically on the robot master fields of Chapters Two and Four. Their appearance rates are much higher when a field or fusion star is in the mission, but they may still show up in cleared missions to feast on remnant energy signatures.

Yes! Star Force is broken! What are you doing to fix it?!

I know a lot of other ideas and tweaks and mechanics were proposed to "fix" starforce but most of them were (in my opinion) bad and I think the new system will be much less convoluted and broken. When we start changing other mechanics to balance the flaws of another we need to really think if it's worth it and in these cases it was not.




In the new update, starforce will continue to boost elemental abilities but in a different way. Previously, starforce boosted the damage output of all abilities by a set percentage. A single star granted +10% power to all abilities of the same type, and because they could be stacked players were eventually able to boost certain types by almost 2000% damage. While the added power was incredibly fun, battles quickly became too easy and unfair opponents had no defense against the effects of starforce. This was especially painful in player battles where your characters were completely unable to defend themselves against OHKO attacks. This entire system needed to be changes. Some suggested that I remove it all together, but I believed there was a better way.

The new update will have starforce boosting Attack and Defense values by hard-coded amounts instead of percentages, and because it applies to both sides of the field its use in player battles will be much balanced. Collecting a single field star grants the user +10 Attack towards and +10 Defense against all abilities of the same type.

This means that a player who has collected all 1024 stars, for example, would benefit from +1890 Attack toward and +1890 Defense against all Flame type damage (rather than +1890%) and if they were facing another member of the 1024 club the effects on both sides would automatically balance each other (based on how Attack/Defense are used to calculate damage). Your Flame type ability would benefit from +1890 Attack (making it do more damage) but your opponent would also be benefiting from +1890 Defense (making it do less damage) so the boosts/breaks would cancel each other out. Starfoce in player battles is no longer a one-sided thing.



It should also be noted that your robots on your opponent's team in a player battle are now hidden until the battle actually starts, preventing challengers from simply picking the robots that are super effective against the targets. This adds a lot more strategy to team selection and prevents player battles from feeling too unfair for the target.



It may be hard to wrap your head around this idea, but the in-battle HUD makes it a little easier to visualize. When you target an opponent with an ability, your current Attack stat and the target's current Defense stat appear side-by-side in a vs. display so you can compare them yourself. These values are naturally affected by starforce boosts, and if you pause or slow down the action you can review see that starforce boosted values have a little star next to their digits. This makes it easy to see what you're up against in player battles and other situations where the target benefits from starforce too.

Aren't some of these new mechanics a little overpowered?



I do not think so. Players on both sides have access to the new mechanics and it's up to the members of the community to decide which items and strategies they find the most useful and equip to their robots accordingly. I think these changes makes the starforce feature self-balancing and the new core mechanics allow for much more flexibility in team strategies and ability sets. Because each robot can only hold one item at a time, it forces the player to choose between boosted stats versus a greatly expanded move pool.



Are you going to give your Roll a Flame Core and grant her access to Flame type elemental abilities like the Flame Buster, or are you going to give her a Yashichi to double her life and weapon energy stats? Maybe you want your robot to start off with much stronger Attack/Defense/Speed stats instead and opt to go for the Super Capsule. It's really a matter of which strategy you want for that particular robot, and it allows two players with the exact same team to still have completely different strategies.



It should be noted that consumable items function differently in player battles. Their effects are still the same, but the items are not actually consumed at the end of battle. Because of the asynchronous nature of player battles it would be unfair if one side permanently lost items while the other did not, so consumable items are only "used up" in the single-player campaign. With this in mind, it should be clear that the larger, more expensive items like the Yashichi are obviously the best choice for player battles but might be overkill and wasteful for many of the single-player missions. Equip with care.

You know what is a little overpowered? Starforce.

So what are the effects then? What will items do when held?

-- Consumable Items --
These item are consumed after one use, and new ones will have to be equipped before the next battle.

Energy Pellet
When held by a robot master, the Energy Pellet grants +20% max LE at the start of battle.

Energy Capsule
Acts just like the Energy Pellet, but grants +50% max LE at the start of battle.

Energy Tank
Acts just like the Energy Pellet and Capsule, but grants +100% max LE at the start of battle.

Weapon Pellet/Capsule/Tank
These items function just like the Energy items but with WE instead of LE.

Attack/Defense/Speed/Super Pellet/Capsule

Same as above but with Attack/Defense/Speed or all three for the super items.

(I considered having these items function like Berries instead, acting like they normally do but being automatically consumed when necessary... but that felt a little too boring and predictable when you can already use an item during your turn without repercussions).

Extra Life
When held by a robot master, an Extra Life will automatically revive the user with 50% of their max LE and WE if defeated in battle (similar to the Auto Phoenix / Phoenix Down in Final Fantasy games). Obviously one of the most useful of the consumable items.

Yashichi
When held by a robot master, the Yashichi grants +100% max LE +100% max WE at the start of battle. Obviously another very useful consumable item.

-- Persistent Items --
These items are not consumed after one use and instead stay with your robot until removed by the player or by the effects of an attack in battle (such as switching or dropping items).

Robot Cores


When held by a robot master, a robot core allows the user to equip any ability of the same type - even if it does not match their internal core type. Secondary cores do not grant any reduction in WE nor boost damage/recovery like primary cores, however, so plan accordingly. Additionally, just like internal cores, held ones increase the power and decrease the weapon energy requirements of like-typed abilities - just by 25% instead of 50%.

-- No Effect --

Mecha Shards


Unlike their eventual forms, mecha shards have no effect when held by a robot in battle.

Small and Large Screw
These items unfortunately also have no effect when held by a robot in battle.

Score Balls
These items also have no effect when held by a robot in battle. Don't bother.

Wait, what? Robots can hold items now? Like in Pokémon?



Yes, finally. As expected, robot masters will only be able to hold onto one item at a time and they will each have varying degrees of usefulness. Pellets, capsules, tanks, shards, cores, extra lives, yashichis, and even small and large screws can be held, though it should be noted that only a few have effects worth exploring. Stars cannot be held even though they appear in the item database. Their power is too strong and the are too precious to risk loosing in battle so the doctors refuse to do it.