Damage resistance for mobs depending on number of players attacking

[JohnWatson]

This is Don't Starve and let's say our player has a weapon which deals 25 damage and attacks at 1-second intervals, and the mob being attacked has 750 health. Assuming the enemy does not attack, is braindead, and stays stationary, this is how long it will take for our player to defeat that mob:

• Singleplayer = 30.0 s

Now, the same mob will have 1500 health in Don't Starve Together. Depending on the number of players attacking, this is how long it will take for our players to defeat that mob:

• 1 player = 60.0 s (50% slower than singleplayer)
• 2 players = 30.0 s (100% as fast as singleplayer)
• 3 players = 20.0 s (150%)
• 4 players = 15.0 s (200%)
• 5 players = 12.0 s (250%)
• 6 players = 10.0 s (300%)
• 7 players = 8.6 s (350%)
• 8 players = 7.5 s (400%)

Seconds = Health / ( Damage × Players )

Of course, you will never be in a situation where every player does 25 damage at 0.5-second intervals while all of you are simultaneously attacking a stationary mob that doesn't fight back. The time in seconds taken to kill the mob is not important. What is important here is the percentage, how fast will several players take down the same mob in Don't Starve Together compared to a single player in Don't Starve.

The main reason why the health of most mobs has been doubled in Don't Starve Together is because more players means more DPS. However, increasing the health of enemies does not really solve this. The only thing is does is make lone players need to output twice the damage to kill a single enemy, while multiple players still have the huge advantage of more DPS.

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I suggest that mobs should have their health reverted to the same number they are in Don't Starve. Except for the Dragonfly, whose health should only be halved to 13750 or remain as 27500. However, mobs will gain a temporary damage resistance which depends on how many player attacks it remembers.

Whenever a player attacks a mob, that mob will remember that exact player for 10 seconds. After 10 seconds, the player is forgotten unless the same player attacks again.

Depending on how many players it remembers, the mob will have a damage resistance. The more players it remembers, the stronger its damage resistance.

• Remembers 1 player = 0% resist
• Remembers 2 players = 42.5% resist
• Remembers 3 players = 56.67% resist
• Remembers 4 players = 63.75% resist
• Remembers 5 players = 68.0% resist
• Remembers 6+ players = 70.0% resist

Now, this is how long it will take for several players to defeat the 750-health mob:

• 1 player = 30.0 s (100%)
• 2 players = 26.1 s (115%)
• 3 players = 23.1 s (130%)
• 4 players = 20.7 s (145%)
• 5 players = 18.8 s (160%)
• 6 players = 16.7 s (180%)
• 7 players = 14.3 s (210%)
• 8 players = 12.5 s (240%)

Seconds = Health / ( Damage × ( 1 - Resist ) × Players )

Compare these numbers to the list earlier and you can clearly see the difference. What happens is that it's less effective for several players to gank mobs while lone players don't have to deal twice the amount of damage.

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To be honest, I think it's currently fine. It doesn't really bother me as much and it's not really a big of a deal, in my opinion. There are bigger issues that need fixing and I believethis should not be prioritized as it doesn't really give a huge benefit to the game. Only reason I took the time to suggest this is because many people are suggesting that the health of mobs and bosses should be rebalanced to accommodate fewer players in a server and I think my solution is a little interesting albeit complex.

[Ecu]

Regarding the method in which you are detecting multiple players, there is a better solution.  There is a list that contains the player info for each player.  It would be quite easy to have it loop through this list and compare position of player to position of creature, and if there are multiple players nearby, then adapt accordingly.

Now, that said, I don't really feel like the current health pools of the bosses are too high.  Every boss can already be soloed by someone that knows what they are doing.  I would be very wary of nerfing the base health too much.

[JohnWatson]

On 11/24/2016 at 8:49 AM, Ecu said:

Regarding the method in which you are detecting multiple players, there is a better solution.  There is a list that contains the player info for each player.  It would be quite easy to have it loop through this list and compare position of player to position of creature, and if there are multiple players nearby, then adapt accordingly.

Now, that said, I don't really feel like the current health pools of the bosses are too high.  Every boss can already be soloed by someone that knows what they are doing.  I would be very wary of nerfing the base health too much.

Ah, so it would depend on the proximity of players? I guess using the distance formula, you could detect players that are in a circle around the mob or boss. However, I don't think this should be the solution because what if some players are fleeing or just want to watch the fight. And people could exploit it by taking turns at attacking. Have one player attack, dodge, then run out of the circle while another player runs in and repeats.

Also, I really have have no opinion on the current health of the bosses. I think that they should not be increased or be decreased too much. I believe that increasing the health pools of bosses is not necessary because it does not add difficulty and just makes boss fights more time-consuming. If I wanted to add more difficulty, I'd make the AI decide smarter and be more reactive.