# Epic Idle Quest 2 — Complete Game Mechanics

> Turn-based idle RPG with elemental combat, boss fights, crafting, PvP, and 900+ monsters. Server-authoritative. Play free at https://epicidlequest2.com

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## Areas & Elements

### 8 Areas

| Area | Unlock Level | Damage Elements | Drop Armor Elements | Drop Tiers |
|------|-------------|----------------|-------------------|------------|
| Verdant Woods | 1 | Physical | None (all allowed) | 1-7 |
| Murky Swamp | 3 | Earth | Energy | 1-10 |
| Canalization | 10 | Energy | Magic | 1-10 |
| Catacombs | 30 | Magic | Fire | 1-10 |
| Volcanic Caves | 50 | Fire | Ice | 1-10 |
| Ice Mountains | 70 | Ice | Earth | 1-10 |
| Shadow Realm | 200 | Magic + Energy | Ice + Fire | 1-10 |
| Dragon's Lair | 250 | Magic + Fire | Earth + Energy | 1-10 |

### 6 Elements

Physical, Earth, Fire, Ice, Magic, Energy

### Weakness Cycle (circular, physical excluded)

EARTH → FIRE → ICE → MAGIC → ENERGY → EARTH

Having reduction (resist) for an element generates weakness to the paired element. Physical resist generates weakness to 2 random non-physical elements.

### Enemy Self-Resist/Weakness

- +50% reduction to own area element(s)
- +50% weakness to WEAKNESS_PAIRS[area element]

### Two-Cycle Loot Design

**Cycle 1 — Weapon Drops**: Areas favor weapons matching their own damage element.

| Farm Area | Weapon Element | Best Used In | Why |
|-----------|---------------|-------------|-----|
| Murky Swamp | Earth | Canalization | Energy enemies weak to Earth |
| Canalization | Energy | Catacombs | Magic enemies weak to Energy |
| Catacombs | Magic | Ice Mountains | Ice enemies weak to Magic |
| Volcanic Caves | Fire | Murky Swamp | Earth enemies weak to Fire |
| Ice Mountains | Ice | Volcanic Caves | Fire enemies weak to Ice |

**Cycle 2 — Armor Drops**: Areas drop resist for a different element than they deal.

| Farm Area | Drops Resist | Helps Survive | Weakness Created |
|-----------|-------------|--------------|-----------------|
| Murky Swamp | Energy resist | Canalization (Energy damage) | Weak to Earth |
| Canalization | Magic resist | Catacombs (Magic damage) | Weak to Energy |
| Catacombs | Fire resist | Volcanic Caves (Fire damage) | Weak to Ice |
| Volcanic Caves | Ice resist | Ice Mountains (Ice damage) | Weak to Magic |
| Ice Mountains | Earth resist | Murky Swamp (Earth damage) | Weak to Fire |

The two cycles overlap for early areas (Swamp→Canalization, Canalization→Catacombs) but diverge from Catacombs onward — weapons and armor lead to different areas.

---

## Combat System

### Hit Points

- Player HP = 350 + level × 150
- Enemy HP = (350 + difficulty × 150) × 0.25

### Base Damage

- Base damage = 20 + level × 3 (same for player and enemy)

### Damage Pipeline (9 steps)

1. **Level Scaling**: `scaling = (attacker_level + 50) / (defender_level + 50)`
2. **Base Damage**: `base = total_item_damage × scaling`
3. **Elemental Distribution**: Players always have 100% physical base. Elemental damage attributes add on top (e.g., +12% fire = 100% physical + 12% fire = 112% total)
4. **Flat Elemental Damage**: Added per-element before reductions
5. **Reduction & Weakness**: Per-element. Raw reduction is soft-capped (threshold 70%, bracket 10%) and hard-capped at 95% effective. `net_factor = 1 + (weakness% - effective_reduction%) / 100`
6. **Flat Reduction**: Fixed damage absorbed per-element (after %, before armor)
7. **Armor**: `total × ad / (ad + total_armor)` where `ad = 1000 + defender_level × 20`
8. **Variance**: Gaussian mean=1.0, sigma=0.1, clamped [0.7, 1.3]
9. **Minimum**: Always at least 1 damage

### Player Armor Effectiveness (PvE)

Breakpoint system by difficulty:

| Difficulty | Effectiveness |
|-----------|--------------|
| 0-149 | 0.50 |
| 150-249 | 0.49 |
| 250-499 | 0.48 |
| 500-749 | 0.47 |
| 750-999 | 0.46 |
| 1000+ | 0.45 |

PvP: flat 0.25 for both players.

### Initiative

`initiative = level + random(1, 20)`. Enemy gets +2 bonus. Higher attacks first, tie goes to player.

### Combat Mechanics

| Mechanic | Effect |
|----------|--------|
| Critical Hit | Base 2.0× multiplier + crit_multiplier_bonus from gear/skills |
| Dodge | Avoids all damage (checked before block) |
| Block | 50% damage reduction (shield block_chance 1-10%) |
| Reflect | Per-element % bounced back to attacker |
| Heal over Time | Flat HP per round, applied at round start |
| Life Leech | floor(damage × leech% / 100) |
| Summon | Extra attack at 50% of total_damage, procs per-attack, max 1 per side per round |

### Fight Flow

1. Roll initiative → determine attack order
2. Each round: HoT heals → first attacker → second attacker
3. On attack: dodge check → damage calc → crit check → block check → reflect → leech → summon proc
4. Fight ends when HP ≤ 0 or max rounds (500 PvE, 50 PvP)
5. Max rounds reached = player/challenger loses

### Soft Caps (Diminishing Returns)

**Chance stats** (crit, dodge, block): threshold 50%, bracket 10%
- 0-50% raw → 1:1 effective
- Above 50%: each bracket costs +1 multiplier (2:1, 3:1, 4:1, ...)

**Crit multiplier**: threshold 5.0× total (300 raw units above base 2.0×), bracket 1.0× (100 raw units). Same diminishing pattern.

**Resistance % per element**: threshold 70%, bracket 10%, hard cap 95%
- 0-70% raw → 1:1 effective
- 70-140% raw → bracketed (2:1, 3:1, 4:1), reaching 95% effective at raw 140%
- 140% + raw → clamped to 95% effective (further stacking wasted)
- Applies to both players and enemies. Flat reduction is not soft-capped (naturally floored at 0 per hit).

---

## Items & Rarity

### 6 Equipment Slots

Helmet, Chest, Gloves, Boots, Shield (armor + base_armor), Weapon (min/max damage). Shield also has inherent block_chance (1-10%).

### Rarity System

| Rarity | Attributes | Base Stat × | Roll Threshold |
|--------|-----------|------------|---------------|
| Normal | 0 | 0.4× | 36-100 |
| Common | 1 | 0.6× | ≤35 |
| Rare | 2 | 0.7× | ≤15 |
| Exquisite | 3 | 0.8× | ≤5 |
| Epic | 4 | 0.9× | ≤1 |
| Ancient | 5 | 1.0× | Epic upgrade in ??? |

Rarity roll: random integer in [1, roll_max]. Lower = rarer. Default roll_max = 100.

### Magic Find (Diminishing Returns)

`roll_max = 5 + 95 × 20 / (20 + magic_find_total)`

| MF | roll_max | Epic chance |
|----|---------|-------------|
| 0 | 100 | 1% |
| 20 | 52 | 1.9% |
| 40 | 37 | 2.7% |
| 80 | 24 | 4.2% |
| 150 | 16 | 6.3% |

### Item Stats

- Effective armor = base_armor × (10 + item_level)
- Effective damage = min/max_damage × (10 + item_level)
- Base stats from gaussian roll (sigma=1.5) around base item's peak value

### Quality Floor

`floor = peak × (1 - 0.5^((difficulty / 35)^0.42))`

Difficulty 100 → 66% floor, 500 → 88%, 1000 → 94%. Maximum values unchanged.

### Armor Attributes (value ranges)

| Type | Available Slots | Value Range |
|------|----------------|-------------|
| Reduction | All armor | 1-10% per element |
| Reflect | All armor | 1-5% per element |
| Dodge | Helmet, Chest, Gloves, Boots | 1-3% |
| Heal over Time | Helmet, Chest | item_level × 0.1-0.5 |
| Crit Chance | All armor | 2-8% |
| Crit Multiplier | All armor | 10-50 (÷100) |
| Magic Find | All armor | 1-10 |
| Flat Reduction | All armor | item_level × 0.3-0.7 |

### Weapon Attributes (value ranges)

| Type | Value Range |
|------|-------------|
| Elemental Damage | 2-15% |
| Life Leech | 1-10% |
| Crit Chance | 2-8% |
| Crit Multiplier | 10-50 (÷100) |
| Magic Find | 1-10 |
| Summon | 5-20% proc (boss weapons only) |
| Flat Elemental Damage | item_level × 0.3-0.7 |
| Flat Life on Hit | item_level × 0.2-0.7 |

### Dominant/Pool System

- 33% chance: dominant attribute (area-element-biased)
- 67% chance: random from pool (equal weight)
- Verdant Woods: 100% pool (no area element)

### Tier System

Bell curve with breakpoints [50, 100, 250, 999, 3000, 9999]. Peak tier advances by 1 at each breakpoint. Weights decay by 0.66× per tier distance from peak.

| Difficulty | Most Common Tier | Chance of T8+ |
|-----------|-----------------|---------------|
| 1-25 | T1 | 3.8% |
| 50 | T2 | 4.8% |
| 100 | T3 | 6.6% |
| 500 | T4 | 9.6% |
| 1,000 | T5 | 14.2% |
| 5,000 | T6 | 21.4% |

---

## Enemy Generation

### Equipment Drop Chances

- Armor slots: 10% each (helmet, chest, gloves, boots, shield)
- Weapon: 30%

### Early Fight Patterns (first 3 fights of first run)

| Fight # | Equipment | Purpose |
|---------|-----------|---------|
| 1 | Weapon only (Normal rarity) | Player gets a weapon drop |
| 2 | Armor only (guaranteed ≥1 piece) | Player gets armor drops |
| 3 | No equipment | Easy kill |

### Boss Mechanics

- 10% chance per fight from fight #5 onward
- Fight #5 guaranteed boss if player has no boss skin
- Boss equipment: ALL 6 slots, minimum rarity Common
- Skin unlock: 100% first kill, 20% subsequent
- Boss weapons: 50% chance per attribute slot to become Summon (max 1 per weapon)

### Enemy Damage Multiplier

Breakpoint system: base 1.0, +0.002/level (diff 1-999), +0.001/level (diff 1000-1999), +0.0001/level (diff 2000+)

| Difficulty | Multiplier |
|-----------|-----------|
| 100 | 1.198 |
| 500 | 1.998 |
| 1000 | 2.998 |
| 2000 | 3.998 |

### Monster Tier Breakpoints

Tiers advance with difficulty: [10, 30, 50, 100, 300, 500, 999]. At difficulty 1000+, ALL area monsters are eligible (endgame skin farming).

---

## Progression & Skills

### XP to Level

- Level 2-199: `XP(N) = floor(25 × (N-1)^2.2)`
- Level 200+: `XP(N) = XP(200) × ((N-1) / 199)^1.2` (flattened)

### XP Per Kill

`xp = enemy_level × 10`. Streak bonus: +0.1% per fight in a run, capped at 100 fights (+10%).

### 12 Skills

On each level-up, 3 random skills offered, pick 1.

| Skill | Category | Base Value | Effect |
|-------|----------|-----------|--------|
| Ferocity | Offensive | +0.5% | Multiplicative base damage |
| Critical Eye | Offensive | +0.5% | Additive crit chance |
| Devastating Blows | Offensive | +1.0% | Additive crit multiplier |
| Vitality | Defensive | +1.0% | Multiplicative max HP |
| Thick Skin | Defensive | +0.5% | All-element resist |
| Evasion | Defensive | +0.5% | Additive dodge chance |
| Vampirism | Sustain | +0.5% | Additive life leech |
| Regeneration | Sustain | +5.0 | Flat HP per round |
| Retaliation | Sustain | +0.5% | All-element reflect |
| Haggler | Utility | +1.0% | Bonus salvage gold |
| Prospector | Utility | +1.0% | Bonus salvage dust |
| Resilience | Utility | +0.5% | Additive block chance |

### Multiplier Rolls

5% triple (3.0×), 10% double (2.0×), 85% normal (1.0×). Visible before picking.

### Skill Level Scaling (Decay)

| Level | Scaling |
|-------|---------|
| 1-19 | 1.0× |
| 20-39 | 0.8× |
| 40-59 | 0.6× |
| 60-79 | 0.4× |
| 80-99 | 0.2× |
| 100-999 | 0.1× |
| 1000+ | 0.0× (mastery) |

---

## Economy & Smithing

### Two Currencies

- **Gold**: buy from merchant, cap = player_level × 100
- **Dust**: smithing operations, cap = player_level × 100
- Salvage awards Gold OR Dust (player chooses)

### Salvage Values

`gold = max(1, ceil(item_level × multiplier))`

| Rarity | Gold Mult | Dust Mult |
|--------|----------|----------|
| Normal | 0.34 | 0.25 |
| Common | 0.67 | 0.5 |
| Rare | 1.67 | 1.5 |
| Exquisite | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| Epic | 10.0 | 10.0 |
| Ancient | 15.0 | 15.0 |

### Merchant

- 6 items in stock (one per slot), refreshes every 5 runs
- No Normal rarity. Weights: Common 50, Rare 30, Exquisite 15, Epic 5
- Item levels: gaussian peak = player_level × 1.2, sigma = player_level × 0.7, floor = player_level
- Buy price: `max(1, item_level × rarity_multiplier)` — Common 3, Rare 10, Exquisite 27, Epic 67, Ancient 100

### Smithing (5 Operations)

All costs: `base × item_level × rarity_multiplier` for both gold and dust.

**Reforge** — Re-roll one attribute (pick from 3 choices). Max 2/item.
**Temper** — Re-roll all attribute values (keep types). Max 3/item.
**Upgrade** — Increase rarity by 1. Requires sacrifice item. Max 1/item.
**Attune** — Change element of one attribute. Max 1/item.
**Enhance** — +25% to one attribute's value. Max 1/item.

---

## PvP Brawl

- ELO rating: K=32, start 1000, floor 0
- `expected = 1 / (1 + 10^((opponent_elo - your_elo) / 400))`
- Entry fee: `max(1, ceil(your_level × 2.0))` gold (~2% of gold cap)
- Raw win reward: `max(1, ceil(opponent_level × 10.0))` gold (~10% of opponent's gold cap)
- Punch-down penalty: reward is multiplied by `min(1, defender_level / challenger_level)`. Defender at half your level → 0.5× reward; defender at 10% of your level → 0.1×. Punching up (defender ≥ challenger) pays full reward. Entry fee is unaffected.
- Win reward is **stolen from defender's balance**, not minted. Triple-clamped: `actual = min(reward, defender.gold, challenger_gold_cap_remaining)`. Conserves gold (defender loses exactly what challenger gains). Defender floor at 0 (can't go negative). Challenger at cap → 0 transfer (still swings ELO).
- On a **successful defense** (challenger loses), the challenger's entry fee transfers to the defender, clamped to `defender_gold_cap - defender.gold` (overflow burns). Defender also gains ELO.
- Every async brawl (win or loss) where the local player was the defender inserts a `PendingPvPLoss` notification. `defender_won: bool` disambiguates outcome; `gold_delta: int` is signed from defender's POV (negative = lost, positive = gained fee). Shown as a popup on next town arrival with `[ Watch Replay ]` / `[ Dismiss ]` / `[ Dismiss All ]`. Queue capped at 10; oldest drops on 11th insert. Cleared via `POST /api/pvp/losses/{id}/ack` or `POST /api/pvp/losses/ack-all`.
- Min level: 5. Global cooldown: 60s. Per-opponent: 1 hour. Daily cap: 20.
- Max rounds: 50. Armor effectiveness: 0.25 (both players).

---

## Specials

### Nightmare Scrolls

- 1% drop chance per kill at difficulty ≥ 5
- HP multiplier: gaussian(peak=4.5, sigma=0.75, floor=3.0)
- Damage multiplier: gaussian(peak=1.5, sigma=0.25, floor=1.0)
- XP reward: base_xp × hp_mult × dmg_mult × 2

### Town Stash

- Storage chest drop: 1% per kill (difficulty ≥ player_level), stackable up to 10
- Each chest unlocks 1 stash slot. Max 12 free, 30 total.

### Backpack

- Base capacity: 24 slots. With ad boost: 30 (+6).
- Ad boost: 60 min, +10% XP, +6 slots, requires level 5+.

### Difficulty Cap

`max_difficulty = min(9999, max(1, player_level × 5))`

### Music System

37 unlockable tracks. Per-area (3 each): first run, challenge (kills ≥ unlock_level+10 + boss), mastery (diff ≥ unlock_level×10 + boss). Level milestones at 5/10/20/40/80/160/320/640/1280/2560/5120. Time played: 1 hour. Account-wide.