And here's the major change. Find the code in LAi_monsters.c around line 335 that says:
<!--c1--><div class='codetop'>CODE</div><div class='codemain'><!--ec1-->switch(LAi_MonsterInfo.type)
{
case "town":
offset = intRet(pclevel > 10, makeint(pclevel /2), -TOWN_OFFSET); // TIH must be ints Nov17'06
if(offset > 4) offset -= GetOfficersQuantity(GetMainCharacter());
break;
case "house": offset = intRet(pclevel > 10, makeint(pclevel /2), -TOWN_OFFSET); break; // TIH must be ints Nov17'06
}
//trace("Gauging: Create Fantom now:");<!--c2--></div><!--ec2-->
... and replace it with:
<!--c1--><div class='codetop'>CODE</div><div class='codemain'><!--ec1-->switch(LAi_MonsterInfo.type)
{
case "town":
// LDH --> 08Dec06 -- make the town monsters stronger
//offset = intRet(pclevel > 10, makeint(pclevel /2), -TOWN_OFFSET); // TIH must be ints Nov17'06
//if(offset > 4) offset -= GetOfficersQuantity(GetMainCharacter());
offset = -TOWN_OFFSET;
offset -= GetOfficersQuantity(GetMainCharacter());
break;
case "house":
//offset = intRet(pclevel > 10, makeint(pclevel /2), -TOWN_OFFSET); // TIH must be ints Nov17'06
offset = -TOWN_OFFSET;
break;
// LDH <--
}
//trace("Gauging: Create Fantom now:");<!--c2--></div><!--ec2-->
This is where the town lowlifes were being generated at half your player character rank. The above change will make the townies generate at a rank closer to the player's. This still won't have much effect for a low level player, but at high levels you will encounter much more worthy opponents.
Note that this ONLY affects the guys who attack you in towns, and the guys you find in houses. The bad guys you find in dungeons or outside the town gates will still be generated at higher ranks the same as before these changes. They will have more hit points, however, so take care.
Please note the variable TOWN_OFFSET which you will find in the InternalSettings.h file. This defaults to -5.0, which will make the townies average 5 character levels below the player. If you want stronger town enemies, make this number higher. For example, instead of -5, change it to -3. If you want the town enemies to be the same strength as the dungeon enemies, change it to zero. Note that the number is modified by the number of officers you have with you, so if you have 3 officers accompanying you that -5 will be changed to -2 anyway. But only for town encounters, not encounters in houses, and not for encounters in dungeons or outside of town.
I haven't investigated how these changes will affect enemy captains you encounter, but it appears they will be a bit stronger as well. Enemy boarding crews' hit points are generated a different way, and are adjusted closer to the player. This code does not affect that in any significant way.
This code has not gone through the rigorous testing the boarding code did, so the balance may still need to be tweaked. But I've been playing it and it seems to be balanced.
Comments, questions and suggestions are all welcome.
Hook