The New World Update #18

In the latest development update for Iron Tower Studio’s colony ship RPG, The New World, we get an overview of the game’s roleplaying systems in their current iteration. The New World’s stats, feats, and equipment are all on display in the update, together with multiple character and inventory screens that show off the game’s slick interface. Check out the update itself for those, or read about the stats and feats right here:

The character system’s highlights:

Strength increases *max* melee damage by 1 per stat point (from -2 to +4), so if a melee weapon’s range is 4-10 and you have STR 8, then your damage range is 4-12, not 6-12 the way it works in most games, including AoD. If your STR is 4, then your damage range is 4-8. Thus STR gives you potential damage you may or may not roll rather than guaranteed +X to whatever you roll. Before you start complaining, high STR unlocks a feat reducing your attack speed with two-handed weapons, so it’s not a dump stat.

Dexterity: DEX+10 (instead of AoD’s DEX+2), so the new AP range is 14-20. Weapons’ speed will go up a bit for balance reasons but in general you’ll have 5 more action points per turn compared to AoD.

Constitution: 10+(CONx5), so the new HP range is 30-60. As before your HP won’t be increased when you level up, so don’t expect to have 200 HP by the end of the game. Also, CON determines how many implants your body can handle (CON-3). So if your CON is 4, your body can accept only one implant. If your CON is 10, you can get all 7 implants (provided you manage to acquire all 7, of course).

Perception determines your THC bonus, from -10 at PER 4 to +20 at PER 10, as well as your chance to react in combat. Intelligence determines the number of tagged skills that grow at a much faster rate, from 1 at INT4 to 4 at INT10. Charisma determines the number of party members, 1 extra follower at CHA4, 3 at CHA8.

All stats will be checked in dialogues and text adventure elements. CON, INT, and PER will determine your “non-armor” resistances (physical, mental, sensory), which will be checked in combat when grenades and gadgets come in play.

Feats:

We didn’t have feats in AoD, so it’s an uncharted area and there are many ways to handle it. For example, Fallout had a traditional setup where you get crap feats like Toughness at level 3 and literally killer feats like Slayer or Sniper at level 18 (53 feats overall, although most guides think that only 6 feats are must-have). DnD favors prerequisites: to get Whirlwind, not only you must have higher INT but also Combat Expertise, Dodge, Mobility, and Spring Attack, which is a lot of feats you may or may not need to get the one you really want.

We started with a Fallout-like setup and about 80 feats (everything we could think of and then some), then removed all filler, reworked the rest and ended up with exactly 40 feats. We ditched the level requirements, leaving the stat and skill requirements for 12 feats. We will do our best to balance them and make sure they are all useful (at least to certain builds) but the list looks pretty good so far.

We’re aiming for 10 levels, meaning you get 10 feats out of 40. Some examples:

• Lone Wolf (no party members): +10 to evasion, +5% CS chance
• Adrenaline Rush: +10% CS chance, +20% CS damage when 5HP or less
• Second Wind: +2AP on kill
• Gunfighter: +25% chance to trigger a reaction attack
• Overclocked: Double the implants’ bonus, reduce HP by 15
• Eye for an Eye: Chance to trigger a reaction attack equal to damage taken (stackable with other bonuses)

So the idea is that you don’t work your way up to killer feats but gain abilities and increase your bonuses. No single feat on its own will make you a killing machine. Take reaction fire, for example (think AoD’s interrupt and counter-attacks rolled into one). Your chance to “react” is determined by your PER, your weapon’s bonuses (revolvers have the highest bonus), and feats. Much like AoD’s passive bonuses that make a noticeable difference between a novice with a spear and a master capable of holding his enemies at bay, there will be a noticeable difference between a character with 5% reaction chance and 50%. Same goes for criticals or bonus AP or other stats and abilities.