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Combat Rebalance Mod

This mod rebalances most of the dice combinations in the game to attempt to encourage more variety in combat. A significant focus of the mod is on making humans more viable compared to animals and to eliminate "dead" combos, like Double Attack for example, which just does 2 damage, which is identical to playing the swords separately.

This mod does make the game a little easier, but after playing quite a lot with and without this mod, it's not too drastic, largely because the best things in the game (Shotgun, Hunting Rifle, the best general dice combos) are untouched. You're just no longer as reliant on abusing those things as you were before.

A full list of changes follows, with some brief rationale:


Basic Attacks:

Double Attack (Sword Sword): 3 damage
Triple Attack (Sword Sword Sword), now called Flurry: 3 damage Multi Attack
Flank (Agility Agility Mind): 8 damage
Ripper Leap (Stability Stability Mind): 5 damage + bleeding

Triple attack turning into a multi-attack is a huge buff for Red dice, and in particular this change alone makes Aleister Crowley viable. This also makes Extra Bullets very strong, so they now cost slightly more. Ripper Leap and Flank gain a little bit of extra power to keep pace.


Ripostes:

Shielded Riposte (Sword Shield Shield): 2 damage, 3 shield, stun
Cutting Riposte (Sword Sword Shield) 3 damage, 2 shield, multi-attack
Deadly Riposte (Sword Sword Shield Shield) 4 damage, 4 shield, double stun

The basic riposte is a good attack (and is untouched), but Shielded and Cutting Riposte are both dead combos, adding nothing more than 1 attack and 1 shield initially. This makes them now both pretty good options. Deadly Riposte is appropriately devasting to live up to its name and the number of dice needed, double stun is very powerful.


Defensive Combos:

Strong Defense (Shield Shield) now gives 3 shield
Maximum Defense (Shield Shield Shield) now gives 4 shield and heals for 1
Tactical Advantage (Shield Mind): 4 shield
Outstanding Tactics (Shield Mind Observation): 8 shield
Stable Position (Shield Stability), now called Stabilize: 2 shield, 1 heal

The defense combos were also dead combos in base, they're still not great (shield isn't all that powerful), but getting 1 heal for 3 shield is something, though Stabilize is (intentionally) usually better. The tactics combos are a little more powerful to compensate.


Evasion:

Evade (Agility Shield): 2 shield, stun
Defensive Maneuver (Agility Agility Shield), now called Perfect Evasion: 3 shield, double stun

Evade is basically defensive headbutt. Perfect Evasion is an interesting defensive option if you have a lot of red.


Mind Combos:

Observation (Observation Observation), now called Intimidate: 0 shield, stun
Lookout (Observation Mind), now called Sabotage: 0 shield, Poison on all enemies

The mind combos used to be weak defensive options, they're now kind of a mixture, though they're still intentionally somewhat weak (Mind dice are intended to be used for combos). Sabotage does give a way for parties that only have blue dice to deal damage, at least.


Pistol:

Stable Shot (Pistol, Stability): 4 damage
Stopping Shot (Pistol, Shield): 2 damage, 0 shield, stun
Bullet Wall (Pistol, Shield, Shield): 2 damage, stun, multi-attack
Headshot (Pistol, Stability, Stability): 8 damage

The pistol is by far the worst weapon in base, it's basically a purely worse version of both the Shotgun and the Hunting Rifle. It's now kind of a hybrid between them that has pretty strong defensive potential with bullet wall. The Gun Damage perk is really good for this weapon.


Tesla Coil:

Quick Discharge (Tesla): 2 damage, 0 self-damage
Stable Beam (Tesla, Stability) 5 damage, 0 self-damage
Defensive Beam (Tesla, Defense), 4 damage, 0 shield, multi-attack, 1 self-damage
Alternating Beam (Tesla, Mind, Observation): 10 damage, 1 self-damage

Tesla is also kind of a bad weapon in base. Quick Discharge is actually not a change, as that attack actually doesn't damage you even though it says it does, it's just a clean-up to the prompt. Stable Beam not hurting you gives you a damageless option for using it, and Defensive Beam being the multi-attack is for consistency with Pistol. Alternating Beam has almost Hunting Rifle level power if you're willing to take the damage.


Spear:

Spear Throw (Spear, Observation): 3 damage, bleeding
Spear Defense (Spear, Defend): 3 damage, 4 shield
Power Spear (Spear, Sword, Observation): 6 damage, bleeding

Bleeding is too rare, and spears inflicting it just feels logical. This does make Angry Natives a little more dangerous, which is good because they're usually kind of a pushover.


Dynamite:

Dynamite Explosion (Dynamite): 6 damage multi attack, 2 group damage
Planned Explosion (Dynamite Mind): 5 damage multi attack, 0 group damage
Precise Explosion (Dynamite Observation): 8 damage multi attack, 1 group damage

Less self damage. Now actually a pretty good attacking option, though expensive and rare


Whip:

Cutting Whip (Whip 2, Sword): 5 damage, stun

This used to be a 4 damage double stun, which is simply too good for 1 sword die.


Taunt:

Taunt (Taunt), now called Draw Attention: Self damage 2, stun, no taunt effect

Taunt is a very lame die under normal circumstances. Generally, concentrating damage on a single party member is bad, since when they're KOed they can't roll their dice. It could occasionally be a good thing if you have a lot of medkits, but generally this means you'll either always play Taunt or never play it, with very little thought involved, especially since it's a free die that has no other faces. It's also on Luis, who is already top tier, so we don't really want it to be a lot better or he becomes even more broken. I think this version of it gives a fair bit more thought about when to use it, as the guaranteed self damage creates more risk / reward to its use.


Other Changes:

Beyond the dice changes, all (non-secret) Explorers also now have 3 capacity. This is intended to make Pack animals a little less essential, though they're still very good. It also gives regular explorers a bit of a buff compared to Secret Explorers, though balancing this is outside the scope of this mod.

Extra Ammo and First Aid Kits also both cost a little more, 10 and 20 respectively.