What form will your calculator take? Are you creating a Windows program, an Excel sheet, an app for iPaD or for Android?
@son_of_imoen - I am using Excel to tabulate all the weapons there are across both games so far (I know a few new ones will come with BG2EE but we'll add them as they come)
So you get the damage range and mean average damage of every weapon. (The Second number being the variable used in calculations)
I've also made a list of other variables...so levels / THAC0 Progressions, Proficiency point bonuses, I'm starting to get into kits and their bonuses, as well as races, etc.
What I'd like to do from there is figure out the simplest way to code it in HTML and make it work like a normal calculator website, really simple...anyone who's better at this sort of thing than me is more than welcome to help. Do you think an APP would be better?
I'm definitely looking forward to this. It'll greatly speed up a lot of the mental calculations I do when thinking up a party.
You might want to have a "Miscellaneous damage bonus" line in there somewhere where people can add in the bonuses for things like the gauntlets of weapon expertise and temporary buffs from spells.
@Kaigen - I will get to items that improve damage and hit chance somewhere in there and try to make room for them, the real trouble is if there's anything outside of gauntlet slots I should be aware of (though nothing really comes to mind), the idea is to get every factor possible added in. There are stones you can wear other than helmets which also affect to hit and damage, etc, I know that. Maybe just isolate which slots have items that add variables and make drop-down boxes for those slots.
Class abilities like Enrage will be factored, but with Kensai's Kai ability I'm not sure what the best route to take is, or if I'll bother.
@Debaser: my guess is the main playerbase for BGEE is still PC-based. As long as PC's are the mayor gaming platform for BG-games, your plan of HTML is better than making it into an app. More people would be cut off from the ability to use the calculator if it were either iPad or Android, than if it could be run in Windows (and I'm a noob for other OS-es, but HTML can be handled by iOS and Linux as well, I presume). It was just a question. App might be a bonus, if you get around it, but focus on PC's first would be my opinion.
I think you could leave a space for BONUSES and have a fill-in slot for the gauntlets/helms/stones/rings etc. This will keep your calculator much more simple (adding a bunch of slots that are rarely used seems a waste of time and energy) . It seems like the primary goal would be to compare weapon damage based on the character and the weapons they use - not ALL the equipment they wear.
For me I could see using this for three primary functions: 1) what weapons to specialize in (and how much specialization I want) 2) which weapons are most useful for my character use (a simple comparison really) 3) which character in my party gets which weapon (which is most efficient for producing damage). Currently I'm running a swashbuckler/fighter dual-class and I can tell you I'd have LOVED a calculator like this before having to put my pips in long sword. He's a dual-weapon fighter, and I still have no idea whether its better to have drizzts defender or a +1 long sword in my offhand. This could tell me and that would be awesome!
But for all the things I'd use this for, I don't need to see how the gauntlets work..I can factor that in on my own...though it would be cool to have the option!
Yeah, but you actually can't calculate the real average damage without knowing enemy AC, because some of your attacks may miss. I think you should add enemy AC as a variable at least.
I think you could leave a space for BONUSES and have a fill-in slot for the gauntlets/helms/stones/rings etc. This will keep your calculator much more simple (adding a bunch of slots that are rarely used seems a waste of time and energy) . It seems like the primary goal would be to compare weapon damage based on the character and the weapons they use - not ALL the equipment they wear.
Not only will this make things simpler (and result in less work for you), but it will also ensure that the calculator is easily usable for people who mod the game to add new items. In fact, just having a "custom weapon" option where you set all the variable manually might be a good idea, for someone who is using, say, Item Upgrade (Love me some better clubs that vanilla BG2).
Comments
So you get the damage range and mean average damage of every weapon. (The Second number being the variable used in calculations)
I've also made a list of other variables...so levels / THAC0 Progressions, Proficiency point bonuses, I'm starting to get into kits and their bonuses, as well as races, etc.
What I'd like to do from there is figure out the simplest way to code it in HTML and make it work like a normal calculator website, really simple...anyone who's better at this sort of thing than me is more than welcome to help. Do you think an APP would be better?
Class abilities like Enrage will be factored, but with Kensai's Kai ability I'm not sure what the best route to take is, or if I'll bother.
For me I could see using this for three primary functions: 1) what weapons to specialize in (and how much specialization I want) 2) which weapons are most useful for my character use (a simple comparison really) 3) which character in my party gets which weapon (which is most efficient for producing damage). Currently I'm running a swashbuckler/fighter dual-class and I can tell you I'd have LOVED a calculator like this before having to put my pips in long sword. He's a dual-weapon fighter, and I still have no idea whether its better to have drizzts defender or a +1 long sword in my offhand. This could tell me and that would be awesome!
But for all the things I'd use this for, I don't need to see how the gauntlets work..I can factor that in on my own...though it would be cool to have the option!
otherwise you'll have to factor in damage resistances as well, which is another project all in its self!
"Carsomyr gives you an average of 12.5 base damage, you ugly moron."