More FF1 game mechanics

[RingsOfReznor]

Following on from the last thread about Rally the Troops, I dug around the other various damage types and recorded some other fun interactions in the base game:


Physics damage

Damage type is ranged crushing. Although undodgeable it can be stopped by active and passive defences. This includes thrown/moving objects and knockback collisions.

Damage dealt by physics depends on the momentum of the collision; i.e. the weight of the object and the speed at which it hits another object/surface. Strength determines maximum lifting weight and speed of throw. Heavy lifter adds +3 strength for this calculation. Best heroes are The Ant & Order (9 Lifting strength)

Although there is a velocity cap for throws, there is none for knockback- induced physics. Using a high Rally stack with a power like shove or repulsion can snooker objects for higher damage.


Density Max

Disables flying, drops flyers, slows movement, triples mass. Mass increase not enough to give meaningful knockback resistance (repulsion will still knockdown Order at 990lbs)

Loss of speed also impacts attack animations. Can't remove this with alteration or commute sentence. Compatible with Freeze.

Regarding knockback - if a character's mass changes during knockback (i.e. due to Density Max being applied during the movement) the physics engine recalculates momentum on the next contact assuming the mass did not change. Therefore the character's speed will increase (triple!) on the next contact and take way more damage, as it's now moving faster and with more mass.


Energy Leech

Drains target energy and generates user energy. Putting enemy energy far enough in the negative will result in 100% stun chance on any power use. Since AI won't risk overdrawing EP this disables all skills on all AI.

Man-Bot can use this on repeat (C key in FF1) to lock down any target - even timemaster.

Irradiate / Acid Burn

Curable with alteration. Compatible with freeze but the damage breaks ice.

Can be swapped and either extended/shortened by Commuted Sentence. High commute will cure on receiving or extend on transmitting; low commute will have less/no impact on duration.

Damage depends on duration and has a hard cap of 5 Dmg on the first tick, then 4 4 4 3 3 3 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 (~38 max dmg total)


Clone Target

Creates allied clone on enemies or an enemy clone on allies. Clones cannot be cloned. Clones start on 50% max HP but can be healed. Out of combat clones rapidly de-spawn. Works on frozen targets.

Clones use any default unlocked ability, unless they have been enraged -  then their AI is permanently set to the base skills. (For instance, cloning El Diablo will only use swift punch and tongues of flame, irrespective of his skill progression - custom characters have no such restriction) Never uses specials.

Clone target clones benefit from the game difficulty enemy damage multiplier and will fight for you If hypnotized.


Genetic Damage

All target resistances set to Vulnerable (x2) making the campaign a cakewalk. In FFvTTR this swaps resistances to vulnerabilities and vice versa - works on heroes too. Vulnerability to radiation means targets like bullet are easy for microwave to fortify against his energy/rad/acid weakness, and can make wraiths of chaos weak against mundane damage, which opens up a lot of new campaign strategies.


Freeze

Target disabled. Need to deal 15HP damage to break the ice or wait it out. Ending freeze results in a forced knockdown. Broken by Acid Burn/Irradiate. Overwritten by purgatory. Blocks EP drain (ice gets the drain instead, achieving nothing). Blocks mental states except power null.


Stasis

Target stops moving until they take damage, including from Acid Burn / Irradiate. This leads to some anti-synergy between Man o' War's net and Sea Urchin's bubbles, and Eve's powers. Dodge disabled. Freeing from stasis results in a forced knockdown. Does not commute. Freeze overwrites stasis.


Blind

Target stops dodging (unless they have Danger Sense) and gets lower ranged & melee accuracy. Commutes and is compatible with Freeze. Removed by alteration.


Hex

Target gets slowed and suffers a very high chance of having stun applied  upon attempting to use a power. Commutes and is compatible with Freeze. Removed by alteration.


Alteration

Purges acid burn/irradiate, hex, blind and power null, but not Density Max. Applies a control-loss state. Won't apply any state if the current state has higher precedence. Precedence: Hypno<Panic<Rage<Blank<Stasis<Freeze


Purgatory

Target gets phase shifted and cannot act at all. Highest priority disable, replaces freeze.


Balance

HP split between user and target. Pushes your health and the target health towards the 'balance point' = HP total/2, up to the power strength at once. Affected by fluctuation & rally but will not transfer beyond the 'balance point'.

In the case of a balance area attack, the calculation is done for the user and all targets at one time - makes it entirely possible to fully heal the user against healthy high-HP targers, or to instantly kill the user if targets similar max HP and have high HP loss.


Damage dealt from balance breaks freeze instead of affecting frozen target. Can farm health off a high HP target that is kept frozen.


Rage

My favourite effect in campaign - it disables all dodge! Mentor fully covers Minuteman's weakness with this skill. Removes stun and grants stun immunity. Rage replaces stun, hypnosis, panic. Blank, stasis, freeze, purgatory all replace rage.

Target gets basic aggro AI and uses only base hero attacks with overpower (e.g. diablo enraged will only ever use swift punch & tongues of flame). Will not use attacks that exceed energy (no abusing that stun immunity), and will do nothing if already holding an object/club.

Enraging clones will permanently overwrite the attack AI of all your clones forever. They will only use hero default skills even after the effect ends.


Panic

Target gets silly civilian AI. Removes stun and grants stun immunity.


Hypnosis

Target switches sides until they take HP damage, for instance acid burn/irradiate.


Mental Blank

Target gets calm civilian AI until they take HP damage, EXCEPT acid burn/irradiate. This is a neat synergy between mentor's Cortical Suppression and Modulating Beam! Also cools down raging targets.


Power Null

Target loses 1 power, unless it would result in having no powers. Re-applying rolls a new power to remove. Probably good against some bosses.
In FFvTTR this removes all energy-consuming powers - nasty!

Unlike other mental damage type this one can commute and is compatible with freeze.


Rally the Troops

As discussed in previous thread, this multiplies the next hit (melee/ranged) by a factor depending on the power strength. Will stack from other characters, and from 300-Percenter (Minuteman is the best campaign hero for this reason alone). Testing revealed some further spaghetti code - in the danger room any kind of power can stack the damage boost but in campaign only area attacks do it. Weird, huh?


Commuted Sentence

Very interesting power. Swaps some states between user and target(s). Effects can lose/gain duration based on CS power, and whether the target is ally or enemy. Benefits from Rally.

Commute works on acid burn, irradiate, blind, power null, hex, energize & energy surge (i.e. all "secondary effects" except density max)

Area commute can be used aggressively to pass these effects to a bunch of enemies while fully bypassing their defences (as this is a special type).

Cerebral Balance

Cures mental states, except power null.


Energize / Energy Surge

Boosts EP regen and stacks with each other! Duration is also boosted by rally/300, so bring a lucky hero with expensive powers along to the party! These effects are also commutable, so law can pass Bullet's / Man-Bot's boost back to the user! Just be sure to underpower the commute as it's treated as a negative effect iirc.

Bullet's version reduced stun resistance, unsure by how much. Probably 2x vulnerability which affects both application chance and the duration.

Man-bot's version strobes a weak (very-low) area energy every 5 seconds. Rally on the recipient will boost the next explosion damage & knockback strength. Can be used offensively by energizing a bunch of enemies close to each other so they all blow up. Use on raged targets belting each other for maximum effect!


And finally...

Speeding Bullet

A unique damage type! Deals direct HP damage listed as crush damage. Power dependent on distance covered (from 0-14). NO damage/knockback fluctuation. Fully ignores resistance/vuln (although colours appear as if it was crush) Fully ignores passive and active defences! Damage dealt in an area upon arrival. Ground only. KB direction calculated at start of run, not end.


Hope you all enjoyed the fruits of my rummaging. Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2025!

[RingsOfReznor]

Oops I forgot about projectile interactions. Next post will be about the kind of fun you can almost have in the campaign.

[Epimethee]

A lot of interesting finds, Rings! And some spectacular exploits too.