Zoids Legacy

[chris514]

I am really just getting started with this game and don't really know much about it. It looks like you get to choose how your pilots stats increase as they level up and I don't see any options for going back to change them later so I take it leveling decisions are a one shot deal here.

Anyone got any tips? I already looked at the math behind several of the game mechanics, but still could use some pointers in how to actually apply that info in game.

Also I got the Molga and really enjoy it's primary season's ability to hit an entire vertical row. However, the Cannonery Molga looks like it trades off a lot of this weapon's strength in exchange for having the cannon. I leveled up the Molga's normal weapon enough to were it is one shoting the entire row so I am not seeing where that cannon upgrade would even be useful. Is it more something for later in the game?

[lordofdragons]

Long time ago I touched that game but here's as much as I can say from memory. Stats changes are permanent but as it is with most games banging all into ATT/DEF/HP wins you all the time. In general though I never really spent much time with stats or skill or whatever since later on you get access to weapons which are ridiculously powerful so all stats fiddling is wasted time. For example after some time I had a Brastle with 3x2 (meaning ALL enemy fields) missile pod with ATT going through the roof. Next to every battle I've entered I just fired this sucker once at the very first time and all enemy fields had been cleared in one up-wash. Never touch flying zoids though. As much as I like Redlers and company they have next to no DEF/HP and accuracy worse than a visually impaired person without glasses on. Gilvader is a different topic but you can't get it without using a secret code. All in all if you want to stay with the Molga just wait until you get access to these 3x2 puppies. I don't know though if you can put them on a Molga (weight problem). If you still want to take a deep look you might want to check out this [[ walkthrough ]].

[Falcarius]

Are you looking to absolutely optimise your team, do some sort of challenge run, or just beat the game and have fun? Because the game is really easy once you unlock Pulse an hour or so in - he's possibly the most overpowered character in the entire franchise. A lot of walkthroughs recommend keeping Zeru at level 1 until you unlock Pulse to get maximum stats, but that doesn't really make much difference unless you're willing to put in hundreds and hundreds of hours to get Zeru to maximum level. I'd definitely keep Pulse red or black until level 20-ish (the healing and speed boosts from white and blue Pulse are kinda unnecessary), but don't let him learn the level 25 red skill if you want to keep control of your Zoid.

Another thing worth mentioning is the "EDistbce U", which you can buy towards the end of the game. It... basically guarantees you'll win, so only use it if you really have to, otherwise it sucks all the fun out of the game. The generally-agreed "ideal team" in multiplayer consists of two super-powerful Zoids in the centre (usually King Gojulas or Gil Vader) and four Guysack Stingers equipped with EDistbce U on the edges. Guysack Stinger is one of the fastest Zoids in the game, so you can immediately prevent two-thirds of the enemy team from hitting you and then murder the rest with your two super-Zoids. Oh Legacy, you and your balance issues...

[chris514]

I am still having a little confusion regarding how attack accuracy works. Mainly just because of how many factors go into it.

I know the factors that go into it are the target so it's SP and MM and the attacker's SR.

Given that SP modifies both move order and evasion while MM only modifies evasion and IV only modifies move order I am guessing then that SP has a much weaker impact on these respective attributes than the more specialized stats. For example my Pteras with 2000 SP and 10 MM might not evade as well as my Guysack that has 120 SP but 100 MM. Definitely going to move before it though.

Also how does, for example my Guysack's Smoke Unit factor in? It's bonus is listed as being +30 to evasion not +30 to MM or SP. So does SP and MM get factored together to determine evasion and then the Smoke Unit bonus get applied to the resulting figure? Or does it simply apply to the MM making it 130?

Naturally I also need to know how the enemy's SR fits into all this a little better as well.

Though I must say looking at these stats I am guessing the Guysack is the evasion specialist of the two while the Pteras is more about speed and precision.

Though I know the Pteras being a flying zoid means that attacks which aren't anti-air also get reduced accuracy though I am not sure how much.

The upgrades that boost SR are pretty straight forward being directly stated as being for example +200 SR for a MicroSensor.

I am sure there are probably other things that can affect accuracy that I don't know about too. If I haven't explicitly mentioned it here then it is safe to assume I am unfamiliar with it.

[Falcarius]

Let me just check the walkthrough books...

Basic hit rate is the weapon's hit rate + pilot's hit rate bonus + any bonuses from skills, but is capped at the weapon's maximum hit rate. Then there's adjustments for enemy size (-20% for S-size up to +30% for XL-size), distance (0% for 1 down to -30% for 3) and terrain type (+20% for air->land, -20% for land->air and land<->water - also, land Zoids' MM gets halved when fighting in deep water). And then there's the enemy's evasion rate (apparently MM controls what proportion of SP goes into evasion) and special effects like Anti-Homing. Supposedly SR also factors into hit rate somehow, but I'm not sure exactly where. ...You weren't kidding about the accuracy being complicated

I'd assume that Guysack's +30 evasion does indeed get applied to the pre-calculated evasion stat. But if base evasion is SP x MM% (no guarantees on that), Pteras still has better evasion even with the Guysack's smokescreen (200 not counting the HR penalty vs. 120 + 30).

I'd be interested to know if you do figure out the exact formulae, but I think I'd go mad if I tried

[chris514]

I get the feeling that accuracy and evasion are likely the most complex game mechanic in the game given that other mechanics are much more simple. For example attack power and defence being calculated together to determine damage is literally just one subtracted from the other with the result normalized to a minimum of 1.

I think the pilot skills and weapon attributes just give you the attack's base accuracy. That it then gets modified by the enemy's evasion, however that is calculated, and the enemy's evasion is likely partially negated by your SR.

Might help to decipher by observing what each stat may be analogous to.

SP is the speed obviously so it impacting both move order and evasion makes sense.

MM is the agility I think. How well it accelerates and changes direction. It would make sense something that can change direction rapidly would be harder to hit as opposed to something that has a high speed and low agility.

SR I think refers to the zoid's sensor and targeting strength.

If this is what the stats are to represent then I would assume SR is more effective at negating SP than MM because it would be tracking their movements and calculating firing solutions. Which is easier to do with a fast moving target that doesn't change direction very well, while a slower target with more agility and erratic movements would be less predictable by far.

I think your evasion is derived from the two as an approximation of how large the area of where you could be when the shot hits is and the SR counters by narrowing down the possibilities to the most probable. At least I think this is the basis of the mechanic. Doesn't give us much to go on for specifics, but could be helpful.

It seems the bulk of the game play footage I have seen involved mostly high defence, high HP, and high attack power zoids. It makes sense as that strategy uses the simpler more straight forward mechanics that are easily understood. None of the guides I have seen have been able to provide a detailed explaination of evasion so I think maybe no one actually knows definitively how all the stats play their part in it beyond just barely scratching the surface.

Odd seeing as how there are plenty of emulators out there that have tools for tracking this sort of stuff. Mostly meant as aids for developing new codes for hex editors like the Game Shark and Action Replay.

I suspect a key reason why the Pteras is slightly more evasive than the Guysack is because of it being a flying zoid. I think if you took that out of the equation they would be roughly equal. Though if you could increase the MM on the Pteras even just a little then it would likely drastically increase your evasion. Meanwhile I suspect the Guysack would actually benefit heavily from a speed boost since it's MM is already so high. Though it instead has the Smoke Unit that I think just boosts the evasion after factoring speed and MM together.

[lordofdragons]

Well... I just blasted all to pieces with the biggest BFG available. I've alyways had full hit percentage without caring about all those stats. I never felt them to be of much interest to me since I anyways could OHKO anything not far into the game without caring about the stats.

[chris514]

This is true. The game itself seems to be set up to be quite easy so I doubt any of it is much use on a typical play through. At least not beyond the scope of being able to possibly help the player make better use of their own zoid's evasion on defence. Which is also probably of minimal importance as again the game seems to be fairly easy.

However, if you have someone to play against through a linked match it might be more useful there. Particularly if you knew the mechanic well enough to stress it to the point of being broken.

[lordofdragons]

I don't know how much of a difference this would make. What I heard though is playing this game multiplayer is like playing catch with a grenade with the pin pulled. Never did it. Which reminds me... I never levelled that Gilvader of mine. The game is too boring and has this stupid hang to dead-lock past end-game... rofl.