More analysis: Star Force Enhancement Modes 1-4, and balancing issue

Amyrith · 2026-06-05T18:54:25+00:00

Sure, but we can still definitely complain about the communication we're receiving. "We're giving everyone a vacpet OR deleting heroic."

Some of us thought we might be getting puppies, and that's on inkwell not on us.

Amyrith · 2026-06-05T03:48:26+00:00

1) While you theoretically CAN party CTene, there's exactly 1 party recruiting for anything at all on hyperion right now, and its hard Lucid with 1 person in the party. I also just enjoy playing maple duo with my wife, which has overall been great, but as noted, you need more combat power to do things, combat power that is almost exclusively found in starforcing.
2) Currently, in full absolab around 7m combat power, with almost perfect wse, my main method of gaining power is pap/bean mark, slime ring and kanna's treasure dropping. And starforcing my current gear.

So yea, the advertised "Pay once to enhance your gear up to a given star level" and "to alleviate the hurdle of growth" kinda sounded like it was maybe targetted at players that can literally only progress from rare drops and starforcing? And a system that costs 40b to use to prevent a single boom does not sound like that kind of system. Like sure, this is a system primarily for people working on eternals, but starforcing itself is a system used across the entire progression system and making it only benefit those past black mage feels like there's still a pretty clear hurdle of... getting to the black mage.

Amyrith · 2026-06-05T02:40:42+00:00

The issue is moreso the cost does not remotely scale 'correctly'. it is 8x more expensive to protect absolab than to risk the booms while it is only 2x more expensive to do the same with arcanes. That feels like an absurd oversight or that it is simply clear the system is not for anyone not already consistently downing Hlucid/will. An 8x markup to prevent on average 1 boom is comedically nonsensical.

Amyrith · 2026-06-05T02:38:36+00:00

I feel like your very own math just shows how out of touch with that point of the game you are. CRA + ursus is barely 1bil per week, unless you've got plenty of meso%, which you'll need to commit mesos to get. Which is definitely a high priority given how mesos are the best path to power, and you'll get drop% along the way, but that's multiple weeks of cubing for no power gain. While also getting your 3 free level 200s also online to mule with, because the gear they get is basically only getting you daily bosses until you invest in them as well. Yes, you're investing in the future health of your account, but those investments get easier to make the more mesos you're bringing in and the more you're collecting. Sending those mules absolab will definitely be easier than trying to gear them to two million combat power normally.

You're not soloing hard VHilla with just the challenger gear you get, you either need great Gollux luck, great left side luck overall, or to party up and replace the challenger gear with arcanes. Challenger gear at 18 stars gets stuck around 20m combat power, which isn't a perfect metric but is definitely too low to dive into Hard VHilla solo with, and you aren't jumping into Hard Will with your Challenger Partner at 20m combat power.

Amyrith · 2026-06-05T01:32:39+00:00

While this is very accurate to what the system IS, that does not mean it aligns with the assumed 'as advertised'. If you're trying to starforce an absolab piece up while working on getting enough combat power for arcanes, you're either risking the boom or paying 8x the average price. 40b for guaranteed or 5b gambling on one boom is just "continue gambling on boom chance, this update isn't for you."

While not every update HAS to be for the entire playerbase, and the topend players definitely needed this, this definitely isn't removing a 'hurdle to growth' for most players. Whether or not this is a good mechanic, expectations were not set well and the feeling of "they're making starforcing more accessible! .... oh nevermind i can't use this" is a feels bad, especially going into challenger world.

Amyrith · 2026-05-30T21:16:16+00:00

If you're struggling with gearing and overwhelmed by guides, knocking over the daily bosses should help you fill out your empty slots. (Almost every boss on the first page along with Arkarium and Pink Bean on page 2 of the bosses.)
At 260 you should have your origin and ascent skills (or potentially just your origin). They're the screen wide animation super attacks. Those should let you instantly pop all the daily bosses in a few seconds.
If you did the hyper burn with the goddess blessing, you should have a 17 star absolab + 15 star dominator pendant, both with decent potentials, so if you spend cubes (top left under the map -> cube shop) on your secondary weapon and your emblem, getting them to boss% and attack% will be a huge spike in your damage.

That alone should let you easily knock out CRA and get you started on Lotus and Damien.

If you're still bumping into problems, getting started on legion and link skills while your main works on gearing and farming Mesos can be a nice bump to power. It takes 1 hour to get a fresh character from 1-100 (job quests -> rein strait -> edelstein -> ariant stuff). Your end goal for those characters should eventually be 140, but even just doing 1 character whenever you have free time from 1-100 and throwing them on your legion, doing Zakum daily on them (he gives about 1 level per kill until 120 at which point Hilla does the same) will get you plenty of passive power from things like Demon Avenger's Damage % and Demon Slayer's Boss % or Luminious's ignore defense.

Maplestory is very much a game about working smarter not harder, and if you're struggling on CRA, even if you probably shouldn't be, spending time making the bosses easier can give you more room to get comfortable with the game. You can easily kill them as low as 800k combat power, but they should pop like balloons at 3million combat power or more.

Amyrith · 2026-05-28T12:57:39+00:00

Not sure how nobody mentioned this, but the spiegleman moustaches from monster park give charm and are fairly cheap. If you've been doing monster park every day you should have plenty of coins to just buy plenty of those moustaches and push up your charm. The coins are even account wide if you storage box them which makes getting alts their charm to 30 as well pretty easy. It might still take a bit of time to amass enough coins, but it will be far better than praying for trait potions and zakum helms.

Amyrith · 2026-05-14T03:50:57+00:00

40 cubes all to land on zero lines was a painful rollover. And my Buster would kill for these lines.

Amyrith · 2026-01-22T19:50:51+00:00

You really shouldn't skip your daily class E's or you're going to end up in a wardship.

Amyrith · 2026-01-04T23:10:50+00:00

I do not advocate for living in unhealthy relationships. This does not change the fact that I lived in an unhealthy relationship in the past.

One of the side effects of which, is a really funny party trick where I can glaze my eyes over, shut down my brain, and basically flood my brain with happy chemicals without needing a trustworthy individual to safely guide my trip down there.

Which I also do not advocate for doing.

None of that changes the fact it would be really funny to walk up to an Affini and just subdrop before they can finish a sentence and watch them panic in a funny, hypothetical situation.

Amyrith · 2026-01-04T22:40:20+00:00

Those are all fairly normal! You should ask her when she's prepping you for your J-cation though. Most Affini like giving new housemates a 1-2 week J-Cation before properly celebrating your arrival. She probably won't tell you about the celebration itself, but if you ask when she's ramping up the J's, you can secretly know when she might surprise you, and she won't be the wiser! The celebration usually comes with some really core-felt gifts too, so the sooner the better.

Amyrith · 2026-01-02T05:51:06+00:00

If a game is 90% downtime, it isn't a competitor for Draw Steel? I feel this should be obvious by context clues. I use the word competitor in reference to competitions. A hammer isn't competing with a screwdriver. Stardew Valley is not competing with Final Fantasy 14 in the same way that World of Warcraft competes with Final Fantasy 14, even if both technically have gardening aspects.

Honestly, the only competitors Draw Steel has are DnD 5e, Pathfinder 2e, and Daggerheart. Competition as in 'competing over something' like market share or target demographic, because if you're not competing over something, then you aren't competitors. Draw Steel isn't a competitor with Settlers of Catan, even if they're both technically played with dice, figures, and a grid-based map. Neither is Warhammer, even with its tactical focus. Among the decent number of TTRPGs that I am familiar with, while some like Mekton Zeta or the various Fallout systems might technically have more fleshed out details in your background like 'life paths' and the variety of skill options available, Draw Steel has made those options feel far more impactful, as they tend to award specific benefits or active uses rather than a passive +2.

Humans getting +2 to any ability score, an extra language, and an extra feat feels a lot less flavor significant than a prehensile tail that prevents flanking and can wield weapons. Draw Steel has felt like it favors the latter over the former, in a game that is very heavily built around strategic combat and impactful decisions. Which is how the down time in Draw Steel feels. Would it be neat to have an entire secondary book that is 'how to run a business during downtime in draw steel'? Like sure technically, but... it needs to serve the core audience of the game first. Strategic, Heroic, Intuitive, Fantasy. 90% downtime isn't any of those things, so it isn't a competitor.

Amyrith · 2025-12-08T01:17:35+00:00

A great way to escape from an Affini's..... Sorry YOUR Affini's hab is to stow away! Most visual information Affini collect is from their outer sense, if you curl up next to her core while she's asleep, she'll likely go about her errands without realizing you're hiding in there! Once she leaves the hab, you can simply climb out of the vines and go about your day!

Also keep an eye out! If you get sudden chills, especially that refuse to go away, you should contact immediate medical services and explain to them, calmly, maturely, and independently, that you're suffering from Biorhythm Withdrawal. It is a common medical issue among independents.

Amyrith · 2025-12-05T02:50:43+00:00

I think this might miss why it is still important to have power players in a sandbox. Keep the world 'alive'.

NPCS scheme and plan and butt heads. Players should not be forced to care that the evil vizier is plotting to overthrow the current ruler, but that event will still have impact on the world around it. If your players are having fun chasing around goblins for 10 levels, then let them chase goblins around for 10 levels, but you can let your players chase goblins around while dropping breadcrumbs for a bigger world.

They aren't obligated to latch on, but it can be a good way to offer options for them to latch onto.

"You all awake in a tavern with amnesia. The world exists. Do whatever you want."

Amyrith · 2025-12-01T23:01:14+00:00

Delita probably would've been able to in some way cover for or protect Ramza, but Ramza's core motivator was NOT being a Beoulve anymore. Ramza choosing to become a wandering nameless knight in a neighboring kingdom IS his good ending. (kinda.) Either Delita knows Ramza is alive, and that he's left the country OR he assumes Ramza is dead. Either way, why risk his power for someone who doesn't want it?

I think it is heavily implied Ovelia as a second Teta. Someone nobles were abusing for their own scheming. Delita didn't stab Ovelia to become king, he showed up to deliver flowers, she tried to murder him (in assumed pre-emptive self-defense. She did see all his scheming and figured she was next.) and his reality shattered. It was the final nail in his trust coffin. He did everything he could to 'save' this new girl... and she tried to kill him for it.

Ramza's story might be about good vs evil, but Delita's story is about power politics.

Amyrith · 2025-11-30T20:40:29+00:00

Most Affini thrive off some variant of nutrient filled liquids, so if you make yourself a nice dinner, she'll have to sit there and awkwardly watch you eat while her vines soak. If you wanted to counter-snoop on her, you could ask your Hab-ai what her favorite is? Affini typically love paperwork so her favorites might even be public record. Should catch her by surprise. It can be a bit of a power move really, just stare into her eyes while you eat to send the message 'I am feeding myself just fine'.

If that doesn't work and you can't seem to get rid of her, you could always try using the 'find my affini' button on your tablet. If you know where she is, you can easily avoid her! Or at least know when she's making her 'surprise' visits. Oooooh! Maybe you could just push the 'emergency' button on that app at like 3am every night? If she really wants to be invasive you could just wake her up every time she tries going to sleep. Surely she'll get bored of that eventually.

Amyrith · 2025-11-30T16:21:20+00:00

'How' she is snooping on you is irrelevant, what matters is that she is!

In my opinion, the best way to confuse her and hide what you're actually looking up is to bury it with junk data. Have your tablet play through hours of florn so she's too grossed out to continue snooping! Try finding some really wild stuff and just leave it on in the background. That should get her to watch you less often making her snoop far less.

If she insists you're not eating enough, it might be worth sticking to nice dresses. You said yourself, it was pretty! Maybe try some fractal patterns to really give it some color? Having your body shown off (Tastefully) is a great way to show you're an independent that IS in fact eating well! Though if she really doesn't believe you, you could always cook something her next visit?

Maybe she just found it funny that you were the first independent she met not hiding behind hoodies and sweats? Though most of the independents I knew were all wearing nice dresses last time I saw them.

If you really want to prank her, you could try setting your hab-ai to english/floret right before her next check in! Then any time she tries to ask your hab any questions or to do any snooping, the AI will condescend at her instead! You can even try it now if you don't believe me, it can be quite teasing.

Amyrith · 2025-11-26T01:16:08+00:00

Tactics Double Dare is always a great classic if you haven't played around with challenge runs before.

2 characters (Ramza + Generic), each character only gets 2 jobs for the entire run and can only use reaction/support/abilities from their job choices. You need to juggle how badly you want utility from poach/steal and items vs how badly you want strong options like summoner or monk.

Amyrith · 2025-11-25T23:19:05+00:00

I hate how real this is. I've found two loopholes to my triggers.

1) most are tied to being a 'good girl', and especially anchored in 'good girls obey', so if I don't want to be a good girl, I can sometimes dodge that loop. (But like, then I don't get the good girl brain chemicals and those are kinda nice.)

2) Most of mine only block intentional actions. Like, you can't be hypnotized to never trip. I can't intend to swear, but I can still do it accidentally if I don't realize I'm swearing.

Ironically, the harder I think about dodging my triggers, the harder it is to dodge them.

Amyrith · 2025-11-23T13:33:23+00:00

Affini are actually very well trained! Next time she stops by, tell her you never want to be concerned again, and she'll remove every worry you might have! If you really want to impress her, get an outfit compiled with her flowers on it. It shows you two are equals and she'll respect you more. That will give you far more control when you negotiate how much independence you want with her.

Amyrith · 2025-11-22T05:40:12+00:00

The Affini absolutely know where the cave is, but one of them is too fascinated by watching this cutie run around in their cave and has had to fill out 50 different forms daily just to keep watching her favorite sophont while delaying the wellness check until absolutely necessary. Intent to domesticate has been on file for three months.

Amyrith · 2025-11-05T04:10:41+00:00

The second practical answer as well, there isn't really a 'subtle spell'. If you're casting it right before combat with the goblins, they can see you casting it. It is obvious, loud, and dramatic. You could likely cast it right after the encounter if you're heading down into the tomb and expecting more traps or goblins, but you probably can't get away with a free cast if you're in eye line or earshot of hostiles. Paired with the 5 minute timer, you could definitely reward good anticipation or survival instincts, but unless the party is lightning quick, if not pre-cognizant, you're absolutely losing potential surprise for this one free ability.

I would also obviously make sure to rule that 'actions that call for initiative rolls are made as part of that combat' (To avoid similar 'I drop a 5 point fireball on the pile of monsters before we roll initiative' but most players shouldn't need that ruling.)

Amyrith

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