Well, okay, as you can see from the file list changes above, there are a lot of changes to the base files between The Legend and Armored Princess.
So I can't just copy files and be done, so I'll have to add in my changes to the AP / CW files, which is going to take quite a bit of time.
Nonetheless, I think I'll keep you appraised of my progress through the forum posts here and in the corresponding CW topic when I work on it so this will serve as a blog of sorts and should also give you insight into how the modding process works for me.
So I'm really starting at square one again, where I have to go through all the files, see where everything is and then go from there, but at least I have the experience garnered from my first mod so it should go more quickly!
With that stated, I've done some preliminary work on the SKILLS.TXT file and for the most part I like most of the skills in AP and so I don't see major changes there, except that I'm going to change the leveling model to something similar to how I did the skill advancement in my TL mod.
There are a couple of different skill leveling models to choose, but what I try to do is use the skill leveling model where you get a small amount for level 1, more for level 2, and the most for level 3.
Let's take the skill, Heroism, for example:
You can choose a model where each skill level gives the same increment, i.e. +2, +4, and +6 Attack for skill level 1 to 3. That would be a balanced model, but since you are getting the same increase in attack, there should really be no difference between the runes required for each level. That's a linear model based approach and actually a good one, and I may use it from time to time, based on the skill.
Another model type, that I used quite a bit in my TL mod is to give a small amount for the level 1 skill selection, then more for level 2, and then the most for level 3.
As it turns out, the way Heroism is implemented right now is exactly how I would do the increase: +1, +3, and +6 Attack. Note that in this skill increase model how you get a small amount for the first skill level, then twice as much for the second, and twice as much again for the third.
So what should the rune requirements for this skill be? Well the runes currently for this skill are:
Level 1: 4, 1, 0
Level 2: 9, 2, 0
Level 3: 13, 3, 0
Note that for 4 Might and 1 Mind runes you get +1 Attack so for another +2 Attack (total +3) it should be just twice as many runes as the level 1 rune requirement so I'd make it 8, 2, 0 instead. Lastly, the third level increase is the same as the first two levels (+ an additional 3 Attack) and so should be the total of the first two levels which would be 4 + 8 = 12 and 1 + 2 = 3 so we'd get 12, 3, 0 for the rune requirements for third level of that skill.
However, the big question to keep it consistent is how many runes should be required to increase the hero's attack and which runes should they be?
Well, I'd say that Might is for Attack, Mind for Defense, and Magic for Intellect. That's how I did it in my TL mod.
So with this skill, I'd make it so that it only required Might runes. The next question is how many? Note that the number we choose is going to be used the same for other skills and so the part I'm wrangling with right now is to determine what the number of Might runes should be to increase the hero's Attack 1 point.
To help me with this, I've catalogued all the rune requirements for the Might Tree: 368, 53, 12. So this is going to be my target for rune selections for modifying the Might Tree and so I might give 368±10, 53±5, 12±3 for some wiggle room with respect to meeting this target.
So what I'll do with Heroism, is start with 1 Might rune increases the hero's Attack +1. I'll then do this same sort of base rune requirement and see how far below the total targeted runes I fall for all the skills in the Might Tree. Then I simply start scaling up skills (all I need to do is change the first level as the other levels are parameterized based on the increase of the statistics) until I meet the target runes. Since the developers did significant playtesting with these total number of runes required, if I stay close then you still should be able to get roughly the same skills, but at least the requirements will be more consistent.
You might be thinking, well what's the point since the end point is the same. Well, for me it irks me when a game is inconsistent. With Heroism I just spent 4 Might and 1 Mind runes for +1 Attack, now I have to use an additional Might rune to get another +2? Doesn't seem fair to me. At least from level 2 to 3 it is just the sum of levels 1 and 2 so that is okay. So the idea is that I'll try to make the skill increases more consistent and it may help you choose some skills that you might not necessarily choose if the rune requirements are more consistent.
I do all this development in a spreadsheet so it is easy to see changes, and I'm also going to add where the SKILLS.TXT file is essentially populated with the values I choose - this should help reduce error, rather than me type in the rune and parameter values where it is easy to make a mistake.
That's going to be the big difference with respect to the AP / CW mods and my TL mod where I automate the text file changes more as Fatt_Shade will tell you I made quite a few errors typing everything in by hand - whoops!
The idea is to work on the AP file and then I'll go and work on the CW file - that way I can ensure that I'm making consistent progress with both expansions and since I just did one file it will be easier to do the same file for the other.
I'm probably going to do as many of the *.TXT files that I can before I start working with the *.ATOM and *.LUA files. The *.LNG files will most likely be change as I need to since they are based on the work with all the previous file types (like I'll probably go work on ENG_SKILLS.LNG after I finish the work with SKILLS.TXT).
When I get the SKILLS.TXT file laid out, I'll list or somehow provide what the runes and parameter values are so that comments can be made with respect to the changes...
/C\/C\