Promod 3.1 Release Notes

What is Promod?

It is the 1.04 patched version of Jedi Outcast with massive portions of the combat and gameplay balance logic rewritten to eliminate unpolished or randomized game elements and replace them with results based purely on player skill and wit. The saber combat in 1.04 was very random and had many bugs that could be exploited by a knowledgable player. Saber auto-blocking was rediculously reliable, and saber hit-dectection bugs were rampant, among other problems. All of these bugs have been removed in Promod.

Promod also tries to adhere more closely to the Star Wars universe in its characterization of the Jedi and what they're capable of. None of the Star Wars films ever featured a Jedi slinging Rocket Launchers and Disruptor Rifles. It was implied that these were skills that fell outside a Jedi's circle of knowledge. Learning to fire, load, and maintain a projectile weapon and do it well is something that takes a great deal of time and training. That's time away from what a Jedi should be doing: learning how to use the Force. The same goes for those who choose a martial occupation--they're not going to spend much time learning how to move stuff with their mind.

The result of this is Promod's new Player Class system. It allows you to choose either Force Powers, Weapon Skills, or a combination of both to flesh out your player character. However, in order to master either the Force or Weapons, you must give up skill levels in the other. For instance, if you buy any level 3 Force Powers, then you'll find that you only have access to level 1 Weapon Skills. If you buy only level 2 Force Powers, then you will be able to buy level 2 weapon skills. The weapon skills range in level from one to four, with four being the most powerful. In order to buy the enhanced level 4 weapon skills, you must give up access to all Force Powers.

The lackluster saber combat of 1.04 has been replaced with an extremely deep and rewarding system based on your ability to aim at your saber opponent. The better you aim at them during combat, the stronger your offensive and defensive saber capabilities will be. Your current offensive and defensive strength relative to your closest saber-wielding opponent is illustrated using the new Combat Strength Crosshair (CSC). This is a multicolored circle that appears just outside the regular aiming crosshair. When it appears small and red, then your offensive and defensive capabilities are strong, when it is large and yellowish, your CSC score is weak. Keep your opponent in your crosshair at all times! Your ability to do so will greatly affect the outcome of your duels! Another thing to note is that due to the CSC, use of scripting in jk2 will benefit you much less than before. No script will help you aim.

If you want to find out more about how the CSC works, and other aspects of saber combat, then check out the promod homepage at http://www.oculis.org/promod . I have some strategy guides for saber combat in Beta 2 (which remains largely unchanged in 3.0) which should help you out immensely. I also recommend checking out the forums of jediknightii.net, as many veteran Promod players frequent them, and should be able to answer questions. If you still can't find the answer to your question, then email me directly at: arsartifex@msn.com

Changes to version 3.1

The Style Trumping system is reversed. Red will trump Yellow, Yellow will trump Blue, Blue will trump Red. This is because you have to spend more points to buy access to the stronger Stances. If I spend the points on Level 3 saber offense, then I should be able to use my most expensive style to trump someone else's most expensive style who only bothered to buy level 2 saber offense. The trump bonuses themselves will remain the same. (+5/-5) This just makes more sense, and will get people to use all three stances more often rather than just sticking with the nearly-all-purpose Yellow stance.
Blue stance damage has been raised to 35 points.
The Wookie Bowcaster has its shot velocity increased by 25% for level 2 proficiency, 50% for level 3 proficiency, and 75% for level 4 proficiency. Rate of fire timing, damage, and charging rate remain as they were.
Jetpack will now refuel on respawn.
Gamedirectory is correctly reported in ASE, qtracker, and other server browsers.
In a Saber-only game, players will not recieve free Force Fields or Seeker Drones.
Force Lightning will have extended range, and will destroy explosives (Golan balls, Rockets, thermals, Repeater alt-fire) in midair.
All bots will be modified to remain in character with the Promod rules. i.e.: Bespin Cop will never use force powers or a saber; Desann will never use a gun or gadgets.
CTF flag-status icons have been moved up slightly to not conflict with the CSC bonus meters.
Jetpackers can no longer use their jetpack while they are in the fall-down animation.
Many other minor changes.

New Features in Promod 3.0

Promod 3.0 is the first Class-based modification for Jedi Outcast. This dynamic classing system allows you to choose between a Jedi, who specializes in Force Powers, a Gunner, who's forte is the use of projectile weapons and gadgets like the new jetpack, or a custom Hybrid class that allow you to mix the abilities of both.
Level 4 Gunnery skills now enhance the abilities of their respective weapons with an additional +25% damage, +25% firing rate and +25% charging time reduction (where applicable). Also, the increased firing rates make it more difficult for Jedi to block your shots.
An all new Dual-Thruster Jetpack allows the Gunner classes excellent maneuverability in combat and the ability to quickly gain altitude. A regenerating fuel gauge regulates this ability. Level 4 Gadgets skill is required to use the jetpack.
New dual-glow RGB saber coloring system assures that your saber color will be unique to you.
Enhanced Duel gametype allows Jedi and Gunners to compete on even terms, with the Gunner spawning with all weapons that he has a level 4 skill for. He also will spawn with a Force Field Generator with level 3 Gadgets, and a Seeker Drone with level 4 Gadgets.
Lightsaber styles now are effected by the new Stance Trumping System, which allows each stance a bonus to offense and defense depending on which style your opponent is using. Blue stance trumps Yellow, Yellow trumps Red, and Red trumps Blue. This bonus is +5 to both your offense and defense. Conversely, a trumped style receives a -5 offense and -5 defense penalty. Anticipate your opponent's choice of stance!
Enhancements to team games such as CTF and Team FFA that encourage teamwork and strategic play, such as spawning players with level 3 Gadgets skill with a free Force Field generator to hold off rushing enemies.
10 second delay on the \kill command in team games. This prevents a myriad of suicide exploits.
You may save your weapon skill configs along with your force power configs in the Skill Setup menu. They are both written to a *.fcf file in your Promod3.0/forcecfg/dark or ./forcecfg/light directory.
Server side cheat protection on weapon skills.
Promod 3.0 in-game server browser filter added.

Changes in version 3.0

Bug Fixes:

Fixed bug in 1.04 that allows the saber of a fallen player to deal damage equal to that of a normal swing.
Fixed bug in 1.04 that allowed blaster shots to be Force Pushed. Shots from the Bryar Pistol, E11 Blaster Rifle, and Wookie Bowcaster are now non-Pushable.
Fixed saber combat bug from Beta 2 that prevented special attacks from breaking defenses properly.

Saber Combat Changes:

A Jedi's ability to block consecutive blaster, bowcaster, repeater and flechette shots is now dependent on the Jedi's CSC strength. A strong CSC will allow very closely spaced shots to be reflected, while a weak CSC score will allow shots to start slipping through. Caveat: the first shot is always blocked if it is in the front-facing 180-degrees of the Jedi; only successive shots are capable of breaking their defenses.
The damage rates for the backstab/sweeps have been altered to do between 35 and 135 damage against a saber-wielding opponent, depending on your accuracy.
All special moves now have large offensive CSC bonuses for enhanced defense breaking capabilities. These are still blockable, but require much greater CSC defense ratings in order to do so.

Weapon Combat Changes:

Level 0 (no points in) weapon skills will disallow you from picking up that particular weapon.
Level 1 weapons do -50% damage, have a -50% firing rate, and a -50% charge duration penalty. You are also UNABLE TO USE SECONDARY FIRE on a weapon that you only have a level 1 skill for.
Level 2 weapons do -25% damage, have a -25% firing rate, and a -25% charge duration penalty. Secondary fire is available for this and higher levels.
Level 3 weapons have normal damage/firing rate/charging rate. If you have level 3 Gadgets skill, then you receive a free Force Field Generator when you spawn into the level.
Level 4 weapons do +25% damage, have a +25% firing rate, and a +25 charge duration bonus. If you have level 4 Gadgets skill, then you are able to use the new Jetpack (Don't forget to bind a key in the Movement Controls menu!). In a Duel gametype, you also spawn with any weapon you have a level 4 skill for, plus 1 clip of ammunition.

Force Power Changes:

Force Grip minimum usable force value changed to 60 pts for level 1, 50 pts for level 2, and 40 pts for level 3.
Force Protection effectiveness increased for all levels. Level 1 takes 80% damage to Force, 60% to health. Level 2: 30% damage to Force, 30% damage to health. Level 3: 15% damage to Force, 15% to Health.
Force Lightning level 2's range has been limited to slightly longer than level 3 range. Level 3 range has been extended by 20% over the Promod beta 2 range.

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arsartifex@msn.com