Tactical affix “Potential”: analysis by stars
Description of the tactical skill Affix Potential.
From Discord:
Here are the differences I noticed when increasing the level (number of stars) of the tactical affix:
I. Explosions from bullet damage
0 stars - 2 operations
1–3 stars – 3 operations
4–5 stars – 4 operations
(Damage increases with each star)
II. General attack
Note: This section is affected by the Ultimate Affix buff described in Section III.
Maximum 40 stacks (accumulations), which gives +24% to total attack.
0 stars - Requires 20 minutes to reach maximum potential. By the 12th minute of completing the stage, the bonus to total attack will be 14.4%.
5 Stars - Requires 12 minutes to reach maximum potential; the maximum will be reached by the time the stage is completed.
1–4 stars - indicators are in the range between the above values.
III. Boost from Ultimate Affix
0–1 star - every TWO triggers of the “Ultimate Affix” (special ability) provide an additional stack of 0.6%.
2–5 stars - every ONE trigger of the “Ultimate Affix” (special ability) gives an additional stack of 0.6%.
This allows you to significantly reduce the time required to accumulate the full bonus to total attack (+24%).
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Conclusions:
1 star – increases the number of explosion triggers from 2 to 3.2 stars - reduces the number of Ultimate Affix (special ability) triggers required to receive a bonus stack every 26 seconds or faster (which is very important when completing stages).
3 stars - from a mechanical point of view, nothing remarkable.
4 stars - increases the number of explosion triggers from 3 to 4.
5 stars - from a mechanical point of view, nothing remarkable.
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Based on this data, I’ll probably go with 2 stars (700 summoning attempts will be required).
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Small clarification:
In fact, it’s like this:
“+1 stack for each receipt of an ultimate affix”,
and not just a passive bonus to the timer.
Your logic is correct, but:
This is not strictly time dependent in the spirit of “12 minutes vs 20 minutes”, since the set of stacks depends on: the trigger interval (from 30 to 18 seconds?)
And it depends on how many ultimate affixes you choose. So this indicator is variable, and not tied to a fixed time for completing the stage; 5 stars doesn't guarantee getting the maximum stacks by the end of the level - it just makes it much more likely...
In addition, the statement that with 3 and 5 stars it is “not really worth it”... is the biggest misconception. Even if these levels don't change the mechanics, they still have meaning:
3 stars: response interval - 26 s (instead of 28 s)
5 stars: 18 sec response interval (a significant jump from 22 sec)
And this means:
Faster stacking
More explosionsMore total damage per unit of time... In my opinion, 5 stars gives a very “significant effect”.
What kind of damage this will cause in the game is still unknown, needs to be tested. Perhaps it will be another Tourette or Sputnik... looks good on paper...