Post by Amara on Jan 12, 2021 21:01:14 GMT -6
Fusion, the problem child
Fusion is a constantly discussed and thought of what-if mechanic in any Dragonball RP, our current and probably future site included. And yet despite being a constant fan favorite Fusion has failed to ever make headway into becoming a concrete mechanic. Perhaps the obvious doesn’t need to be stated for most of you, but listing out the core issues in a discussion meant to possibly bring it into a balanced and enjoyable state is important.
Balancing: It goes without saying that canon levels of Fusion power are completely off the table. Fusion as is in current Dragonball is far too powerful to exist at any level in a cooperative roleplay environment. However, that doesn’t mean Fusion absolutely needs to be represented with its canonical level of power if it was ever implemented. Some argue that this defeats the point and that it wouldn’t be faithful to the source; but then again it isn’t like Bio-Androids jump 100k+ power every absorption, and SSJ3 isn’t quite so close to SSJ2 in the original portrayal. I think that the concept of Fusion is enjoyable enough to ‘nerf’ in a sense so it has a chance.
Control: Another topic constantly brought up is how a Fusion would play. Both in terms of who can act with it and how autograded XP would be distributed. This is a very valid concern in both areas, though I think workable round ways to solve both are possible given enough thought and development (not to say you haven’t already put thought into it already!). I’ll cover this specifically more in detail during my actual suggestion phase of this post.
Implementation: A big wrench in the area of balancing is how exactly Fusion would exactly work in terms of performing and obtaining it. Making it too easy and noncommittal to both obtain and perform would turn most DEs or serious combat threads into Fusion-only battles. If it were to exist, Fusion would need a high level of dedication from TWO players to feasibly be balanced in this way. It should be less of a ‘win-button’ and more an alternate path of strategy.
Excluding implementation of a different system that I may or may not also be working on in the background, I’ll try to weave possible Fusion mechanics into the current groundwork WoD has for mechanics. These suggestions may become/are already outdated due to development on Sparking, but nonetheless I think I’ll give it a go.
Solutions
Implementation: In this concept, Fusion will be solely achieved through the dance - Potara and Metamoran bands can be ignored given one is non-canon and the other would be an even bigger nightmare to balance. As an alternative, Fusion would be made available by spending SIX technique slots to obtain the Fusion Dance [SIG] assist signature. In order to fuse, ANOTHER compatible character would also need the same assist signature.
During a thread, if two applicable characters would like to fuse, a few steps need to be undertaken. 3 KP must be spent in a permanent, and 7 in a temporary in order to first initiate the fusion. No other KP action must be taken on the same turn prior to initiating fusion. The dance then takes two posts to finish including the initial post, though if either character takes 100%+ of their PL in damage during the fusing attempt it is canceled and cannot be attempted again for the rest of the thread.
Balancing: Fusion works thusly: Characters must be within 70% base PL to be eligible to fuse. The resulting Fusion would retain the strongest base PL of the two Fusees while gaining a 30% boost to it. For example, if a player with 150,000 base PL fused with someone at 100,000 base PL, the resulting fusion would have 195,000 PL.
Transformation wise, the Fusion would retain access to all applicable transformations either of their Fusees had. HOWEVER, all forms (including base) that a Fusion currently uses is considered a TEMPORARY form with 9 KP. They CANNOT regenerate KP by any means while fused and will de-fuse upon reaching 0 KP in total, with the inability to fuse again for the rest of the thread.
Upon de-fusing, the two individuals will retain the full brunt of any and all damage sustained by the fusion. For example, if both people fuse at 0% and their Fusion takes 100% damage, both players will now have 100% after de-fusing. Healing effects of any kind, be they from outside sources or traits, are HALF as effective as normal when Fused. KP count remains the same as it was before Fusion. This generally means players will have 0 KP after de-fusing if no restorative items are used.
Traits will carry over from both Fusees, however if there is overlap such as both Fusees having the ‘durability’ trait, only ONE charge of it is granted to the Fusion. In the case that the Fusion uses a once per thread trait such as durability, it is lost by the Fusee(s) after de-fusing.
Techniques from both Fusees will be shared with the Fusion including Signatures and Ultimates. However as per normal rules, only one Action Sig / Action Ultimate can be performed per thread.
Control: While this issue is understandably complex, I think the proposed workarounds are serviceable enough to make Fusions viable to control. Given the complexity and dedication required to consistently fuse in the first place, along with the likelihood of players only wanting to fuse with others they trust OOCly, I propose that the ‘Fusion’ be given its own separate on-site account complete with a staff-updated profile in regards to the proper PL amount and available forms. While this is a lot of work on its own, I believe that this is a workable solution if players wish to portray a Fusion as a separate entity.
Fusions would be controlled with alternating turns between the two Fusees, with communication established between them to ensure posts are agreeable to both parties. This also gives an alternative option to the aforementioned ‘create a new account’ deal in which the regular profiles can use alternating turns to post on their own accounts and keep track of relevant Fusion stats in the OOC section of posts.
As for the issue of the autograder. If the first option in creating a new account is taken, I suggest that the Fusion inherit the LOWEST XPPW from either player if applicable, including the current Malus debuff along with it. After de-fusing, both players would receive XP total to the amount earned by the Fusion during the thread - and afterward that account’s XP total (the Fusion) would be reset back to 0 in preparation for future use.
If the second option is used, then the player’s normal XPPW will work fine in this scenario. Alternating turns may mean some are losing out on gains, but in my opinion this is generally negligible in order to ensure as much simplicity as possible in the system. Alternatively, staff may manually award XP for posts made by their partner in a fixed manner - although how it would work is beyond the scope of my current thoughts for now.
Fusion is a constantly discussed and thought of what-if mechanic in any Dragonball RP, our current and probably future site included. And yet despite being a constant fan favorite Fusion has failed to ever make headway into becoming a concrete mechanic. Perhaps the obvious doesn’t need to be stated for most of you, but listing out the core issues in a discussion meant to possibly bring it into a balanced and enjoyable state is important.
Balancing: It goes without saying that canon levels of Fusion power are completely off the table. Fusion as is in current Dragonball is far too powerful to exist at any level in a cooperative roleplay environment. However, that doesn’t mean Fusion absolutely needs to be represented with its canonical level of power if it was ever implemented. Some argue that this defeats the point and that it wouldn’t be faithful to the source; but then again it isn’t like Bio-Androids jump 100k+ power every absorption, and SSJ3 isn’t quite so close to SSJ2 in the original portrayal. I think that the concept of Fusion is enjoyable enough to ‘nerf’ in a sense so it has a chance.
Control: Another topic constantly brought up is how a Fusion would play. Both in terms of who can act with it and how autograded XP would be distributed. This is a very valid concern in both areas, though I think workable round ways to solve both are possible given enough thought and development (not to say you haven’t already put thought into it already!). I’ll cover this specifically more in detail during my actual suggestion phase of this post.
Implementation: A big wrench in the area of balancing is how exactly Fusion would exactly work in terms of performing and obtaining it. Making it too easy and noncommittal to both obtain and perform would turn most DEs or serious combat threads into Fusion-only battles. If it were to exist, Fusion would need a high level of dedication from TWO players to feasibly be balanced in this way. It should be less of a ‘win-button’ and more an alternate path of strategy.
Excluding implementation of a different system that I may or may not also be working on in the background, I’ll try to weave possible Fusion mechanics into the current groundwork WoD has for mechanics. These suggestions may become/are already outdated due to development on Sparking, but nonetheless I think I’ll give it a go.
Solutions
Implementation: In this concept, Fusion will be solely achieved through the dance - Potara and Metamoran bands can be ignored given one is non-canon and the other would be an even bigger nightmare to balance. As an alternative, Fusion would be made available by spending SIX technique slots to obtain the Fusion Dance [SIG] assist signature. In order to fuse, ANOTHER compatible character would also need the same assist signature.
During a thread, if two applicable characters would like to fuse, a few steps need to be undertaken. 3 KP must be spent in a permanent, and 7 in a temporary in order to first initiate the fusion. No other KP action must be taken on the same turn prior to initiating fusion. The dance then takes two posts to finish including the initial post, though if either character takes 100%+ of their PL in damage during the fusing attempt it is canceled and cannot be attempted again for the rest of the thread.
Balancing: Fusion works thusly: Characters must be within 70% base PL to be eligible to fuse. The resulting Fusion would retain the strongest base PL of the two Fusees while gaining a 30% boost to it. For example, if a player with 150,000 base PL fused with someone at 100,000 base PL, the resulting fusion would have 195,000 PL.
Transformation wise, the Fusion would retain access to all applicable transformations either of their Fusees had. HOWEVER, all forms (including base) that a Fusion currently uses is considered a TEMPORARY form with 9 KP. They CANNOT regenerate KP by any means while fused and will de-fuse upon reaching 0 KP in total, with the inability to fuse again for the rest of the thread.
Upon de-fusing, the two individuals will retain the full brunt of any and all damage sustained by the fusion. For example, if both people fuse at 0% and their Fusion takes 100% damage, both players will now have 100% after de-fusing. Healing effects of any kind, be they from outside sources or traits, are HALF as effective as normal when Fused. KP count remains the same as it was before Fusion. This generally means players will have 0 KP after de-fusing if no restorative items are used.
Traits will carry over from both Fusees, however if there is overlap such as both Fusees having the ‘durability’ trait, only ONE charge of it is granted to the Fusion. In the case that the Fusion uses a once per thread trait such as durability, it is lost by the Fusee(s) after de-fusing.
Techniques from both Fusees will be shared with the Fusion including Signatures and Ultimates. However as per normal rules, only one Action Sig / Action Ultimate can be performed per thread.
Control: While this issue is understandably complex, I think the proposed workarounds are serviceable enough to make Fusions viable to control. Given the complexity and dedication required to consistently fuse in the first place, along with the likelihood of players only wanting to fuse with others they trust OOCly, I propose that the ‘Fusion’ be given its own separate on-site account complete with a staff-updated profile in regards to the proper PL amount and available forms. While this is a lot of work on its own, I believe that this is a workable solution if players wish to portray a Fusion as a separate entity.
Fusions would be controlled with alternating turns between the two Fusees, with communication established between them to ensure posts are agreeable to both parties. This also gives an alternative option to the aforementioned ‘create a new account’ deal in which the regular profiles can use alternating turns to post on their own accounts and keep track of relevant Fusion stats in the OOC section of posts.
As for the issue of the autograder. If the first option in creating a new account is taken, I suggest that the Fusion inherit the LOWEST XPPW from either player if applicable, including the current Malus debuff along with it. After de-fusing, both players would receive XP total to the amount earned by the Fusion during the thread - and afterward that account’s XP total (the Fusion) would be reset back to 0 in preparation for future use.
If the second option is used, then the player’s normal XPPW will work fine in this scenario. Alternating turns may mean some are losing out on gains, but in my opinion this is generally negligible in order to ensure as much simplicity as possible in the system. Alternatively, staff may manually award XP for posts made by their partner in a fixed manner - although how it would work is beyond the scope of my current thoughts for now.
