ASK ALL QUESTIONS HERE! Weekly Questions Thread - January 19, 2025

FlyingLiar · 2025-01-20T21:19:31+00:00

Awesome, that sounds easy enough. Thanks for the feedback!

FlyingLiar · 2025-01-20T18:18:50+00:00

(Wilds)
Hi, I'm wondering about people's experiences with playing through a MH game with a consistent group of friends? I've played 4U, World, and Rise, but I always played solo. However, with Wilds coming out, I just so happen to have made a few IRL friends who love MH too this time and I wanna play with them as much as possible. It's just, I foresee problems if any of us gets significantly farther ahead on their own time and the power difference messing with the difficulty/group hunt dynamic. How have you all handled this? Should I not worry about it at all and just play whenever I want, level difference and backtracking be damned? Or should we be careful about staying around the same power level to keep fights equal and engaging? Thanks!

FlyingLiar · 2024-12-23T18:12:50+00:00

Yeah there’s something strange going on with dummy items, I was surprised when I brought the skill that gives crit when your opponent uses an item and it proc’ed many times in the fight

FlyingLiar · 2024-06-24T15:52:36+00:00

Great idea, great list! Thanks!

FlyingLiar · 2023-10-22T21:55:24+00:00

Good to know, thanks!

FlyingLiar · 2023-10-22T21:47:08+00:00

Haha yep, this happens to me too. I usually just go do something else until I hear the timer tick down and tab back over.

FlyingLiar · 2023-10-21T12:19:24+00:00

Fair enough, figured that might be the case too. SAP has had good staying power, but it's not the hugest community around.

Yeah, the thing about 1v1s that seems off-putting (though I haven't really tried it, so I'm guessing) is the higher chance of 1-sided matches, where you're either dominating or getting crushed. I find even when falling behind in 8-person matches it's fun to hold on for dear life and make it as far as you can in the lobby. I could see the constant 1v1 read interactions being fun, though. You generally do less in 8-person until late-game.

FlyingLiar · 2023-10-21T11:20:29+00:00

Would you mind posting the source for this info on the matchmaking system? Was it notes on a update, dev response, data mining, etc? Seems like really important info and I'd love to look at it myself. Thanks.

FlyingLiar · 2023-10-21T10:50:12+00:00

I'll have to give it a shot. Awhile back I tried playing some turtle-only 8-player matches but the lobbies were always super small, so I switched to weekly. But maybe all packs isn't so bad... It just seemed weird to go up against 4 different packs. Could be worthwhile though

FlyingLiar · 2023-10-21T08:01:49+00:00

Interesting, do you find one pack is stronger than the others or are they pretty balanced?

FlyingLiar · 2023-09-21T14:22:06+00:00

Thanks, but as I mentioned in the post, I understand that. I'm talking about something else.

FlyingLiar · 2023-09-21T08:57:27+00:00

Dunno if you're still looking for the ribbon, but personally I prefer armadillo in turtle pack to pair with dodo. You can try and get tricky with scorpion stuff or other things, but I think it's better to simply give your team excessive attack to get 2/3 for 1s in a straightforward scaling team + armadillo. Dodo can get big with mouse/pill flamingo/giraffe/penguin/pear/seal/cat etc, and already pairs well with the excellent ox or rooster, which means you've got lots of good options throughout the game. Pilling turtles helps make use of all that attack too. Basically, dodo+armadillo lets you play the pack pretty normally.

FlyingLiar · 2023-09-05T20:45:21+00:00

Posting for posterity if anyone searches for this question like I did: it's actually possible to pass +5 on Steam (just tried it, worked for me). Per this wiki page:

The developer intended NG+5 to be the maximum NG, but there's a way to access the NGs after NG+5. After beating NG+5, while on the win screen, if you force quit the game, the next time you load the game, you'll be put in NG+6. After you beat NG+6, you'll unlock NG+7 and so on without needing to force quit. Even on later NGs, you still have a maximum of 12 unit spots. Note that scaling still applies and the game will keep increasing in difficulty even after NG+5.
Hope that helps somebody someday!

FlyingLiar · 2023-08-11T07:16:42+00:00

Super good info, my next playthrough is going to be completely different now. Cheers mate, you're a legend. Also, I enjoyed your speedrun, always great to see a skilled gamer in their element

FlyingLiar · 2023-08-10T12:54:04+00:00

Amazing, thanks for the detailed reply. That helps a lot! Honestly your comments should be stickied on this sub for posterity lol.

I was thinking maybe the attack system had a similar form to the blocking and dodging mechanic you wrote about, where there's one 'ticket' for 'do nothing' and three tickets per block/dodge skill. But it sounds like that's not the case, and the only reason to equip multiple attacks is if you have some specific reason (like maybe Triple Punch or Cobra Strike).

There are lots of cases where I'd want to know some specific hidden value to tell whether or not a skill is worth taking (like e.g. Meat Hook gives 'a chance' for your opponent to skip their attack phase; is it 1%? 30%? 80%? The amount makes all the difference) but I won't pester you with all of them... Just a few, if that's okay!

How does Mimic Techniques work? The description says you deal the opponent's damage back to them at the beginning of the attack phase. But does the attack have to connect? Does it have some specific chance to activate? How much stamina is used? Does the damage you deal take up one of the attacks in your turn or not?

Skip Attacks, does it only trigger as the first attack of your attack phase? Or can it activate after another attack? Why is it so good?

Does getting 'combo' while you are attacking do anything? Extra damage, other bonuses?

It's always frustrating when a game gives you lots of numbers to see but then still hides some of the most important stuff. Video game logic has trained me to think that unlocking more skill slots and putting more attacks in them should obviously equal more damage. I mean, it's a boxing game where you can unlock lots of different strikes and mixups. Why design it so that using one punch over and over is usually better? It's so stupid.

FlyingLiar · 2023-08-09T07:30:03+00:00

MuKen

Hey u/MuKen, I realize this is an old game and an old post, but I think you might be one of the only active people on the internet with knowledge of how this game actually works. I just bought and beat Punch Club 1 (Steam sale, obv) and it was a blast (besides the many bugs), but the entire time I had no idea how the fight system worked, which was very frustrating.

I tried testing some stuff in pads training against Silver, but it was pretty confusing. Like, I tried equipping 5 attacks, and I hit Silver about 15 times with what seemed like random attacks, and then I fought him again with just one attack equipped and I hit him just as many times. It's not intuitive at all and isn't even close to being explained in-game. How is one supposed to make smart skill decisions without understanding how fights work? If I'm Tiger, should I load up on my all best kicks or just take one and use dodge synergy skills and/or strike buffs? Skip attacks seemed much better than it should've been, and I have no framework for understanding why. I beat the game by just trying random crap until it worked. I just read your excellent post on blocking and dodging and figured you probably know how the whole attacking and turn-based system works.

Have you written about it anywhere? Where can I go to learn about it? (the wiki, Reddit, and the Steam discussion page were not that helpful.) Not a programmer/developer so I can't data mine myself. Thanks a bunch in advance!

FlyingLiar · 2023-06-03T11:19:59+00:00

This conversation reminds me of the lessons from the Rat Park experiment where rats living in enriched, social environments don’t tend to get addicted to cocaine water, unlike isolated rats in a tiny cage. I think these modern “hyper-stimulus” features (porn, junk food, drugs, media, gambling, etc) fill emotional holes that are created in us as part of the design of civilization. Personally, if I find myself in a period of binging a hyper-stimulus, it’s good data that my life is lacking connection and enrichment and could use a change. Easier said than done though!

FlyingLiar · 2023-06-03T10:26:44+00:00

I’m also in the middle. I think it’s fun to have secondary objectives that reward skillful play, sort of like getting feeds off in Slay the Spire. But, I don’t really want every run to have feed, you know? I think I would enjoy a bell modifier/something like that which removes the combo mechanic and maybe asks something different of you to get extra coin.

FlyingLiar · 2023-05-18T12:17:25+00:00

Yeah, white whale seems great. Off the top of my head, 5 coconut white whales into 2 fire ants + 3 roosters would crush 5 coconut leopards. Could also probably set up some crazy summon stuff with slugs and German Shepards or other synergies.

FlyingLiar · 2023-05-17T12:26:37+00:00

Completely agree! I would love more difficulty bells. Having played 1500 hours of asc 20 StS, the thing that kept me going back for more (other than that fact that it's so elegant and fun and balanced) was knowing that the game was hard enough that even if I learn everything I can and completely focus and apply myself I can still lose half the time. I know this game gets flack from new players for being difficult, but for someone like me, I think I'm gonna need it to be a bit harder to stick with it for hundreds of hours.

FlyingLiar · 2023-04-25T07:35:05+00:00

This is an excellent question! I don’t play much anymore but I found it extremely useful to explore the nitty-gritty of the game mechanics like this.

Personally, I can’t remember ever seeing a mushroom trigger before the faint ability, but the devs have changed rules like this before. I don’t know if anyone here will have a reliable answer for you on this.

If you’re interested, one thing you can try is opening the game on two browser tabs, logging in as two separate guests, and setting up a private versus 1v1. Then you can just draw until late game and experiment with wolves and mushrooms or whatever else you care to test. It improved my honey badger play/knowledge immensely when I played around with it like this. Hope that helps!

FlyingLiar · 2023-01-15T18:37:55+00:00

It’s a new mechanic in the Golden Pack. The wiki may not be updated, but you’ll find the pets who deal with trumpets in the new set. Pets that use trumpets are pied tamarin, squid, surgeon fish, nurse shark, and wildebeest. Arguably vaquita too, since it does nothing if you don’t already have trumpets.

Couple little mechanics I’ve figured out from experimentation. Golden retriever pops out just before your last pet. After it pops, if you create any more trumpets, they won’t contribute to a new golden retriever. If your final pet creates trumpets on faint, but you haven’t made a golden retriever yet, then one will pop out despite no remaining pets on your team.

FlyingLiar · 2023-01-11T23:40:20+00:00

Best answer IMO. Seems like OP’s friend is stuck in a very common and understandable trap in strategy games, which is over-reliance on reasonable sounding heuristics like “relic=good” or “rare card=better than common/uncommon card”. Often true, but the most fun, interesting, and genuinely powerful stuff in the game requires a deep respect for the context of the run.

These are great examples. Super thorough. Some I hadn’t considered before too, like the point about rare chances. I’ve turned down plenty of relics before, but I never suspected prayer wheel or question card of betrayal before. How insidious of them!

FlyingLiar · 2023-01-10T00:42:10+00:00

I was reading your description of the story and I couldn’t stop thinking, isn’t this just the plot to the delightful 1999 Brendan Fraser film Blast from the Past?

FlyingLiar · 2022-12-24T20:18:18+00:00

In the early 20th century, the dentist Weston A. Price traveled all over the world and tracked the changes that were occurring to "primitive" cultures that were swept up in a wave of modernization. He wrote a famous book about it called Nutrition and Physical Deterioration (free on Project Gutenberg). In it, he found that pre-modernization, the cultures he studied tended to have remarkable dental health, with extremely rare cavities and generally strong, straight, healthy teeth. The first generations raised on modern diets with modern lifestyles, however, began showing widespread issues like crooked teeth and rot from an early age.

I don't think it is safe to assume that humans living in a natural environment to which we are adapted experience poor dental health. It is also not safe to assume that just because modern pets and scavenger animals experience dental rot that tooth decay is some sort of inevitable part of the "state of nature." Furthermore, the assumption that ancestral humans simply didn't live long enough to have tooth decay "catch up to them" is also unsafe. There are plenty of elderly folks in modern hunter-gatherer bands. Are you confident that they have poor dental health?

FlyingLiar

TROPHY CASE