Balancing the Vampire Gnats

From the general comments made, I get the feeling that the Vampire Gnats are just a bit too powerful. Although some people like the challenge of them as they are, they perhaps dominate the game too much, which is wrong. So, I think I need to nerf them a bit.

My thoughts are:

Slow them down slightly. Not too much, but enough to give people a fighting chance of hitting them. The initial tests I did on a LAN. With a higher ping on the internet they are more difficult to hit.

At the moment, when they feed, they convert all of the health taken from the player into health for themselves. So if the player loses 50 health, they gain 50. I'll reduce this slightly, so they only get say 80% of the health they take. So, in this example, they would just go up by 40 health. This will make them grow slightly slower.

When a gnat of 210 health splits, you get two gnats of 105 health. I think they ought to lose some health in the splitting process, so I think they should end up as two gnats of 80 health each. This will make the two new gnats not quite so powerful, and means a slightly longer wait before they can split themselves again.

As they grow, the damage they do increases as well. From an average of 10% of the victim's health it grows to an average of 50%. I think the 50% is too high, and 30% may be better.

Thoughts?
Do I need to put a limit on the maximum number of times they can split?

Szlat wrote:

Do I need to put a limit on the maximum number of times they can split?

No more than the 3rd power............I.E. 1, 2, and 4

I would agree with Demon, maybe split max 4 times, and slow them down just a tad.

For what it's worth, though, I love them (although I also silently curse them frequently). What a great challenging addition!

Yes, agreed. The gnats are the reason I've developed an appreciation for the lightening bolt

Shantara wrote:

(although I also silently curse them frequently)

I'm not always so silent about it. Luckily, I also don't hold down the chat button when that happens.