VF4 [ print friendly ] [ command view ] Legal things
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This FAQ was written by me (nutlog). Don't snag stuff from it and claim
it as you're own, don't post it on your website without at least letting
me know first.
And I had d*mn well better not see anything like this posted in an
"official strategy guide". If you want to ask for it, the answer is no.
I have tremendous disdain for the publishing houses that peddle their
"guides" these days and will not support them in any way.
The only three places that I'll be submitting updates of this FAQ to are
Virtuafighter.com, Virtuaproject.com and Gamefaqs.com. If you're not
getting this FAQ from one of these sites, you may not be seeing all the
updated information.
This FAQ was complete in its current form on April 26th, 2002.
This FAQ was created initially on April 4th, 2002.
Thanks and credit to the following folks for spurring me on with this:
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@Virtuafighter.com
Yupa
Freud
Creed
Feixaq
LonelyFighter
SausageMan
UK-Guy
Deniz
Damage Scaling FAQ
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The purpose of this FAQ is to explain how damage can scale in a combo
under the VF4 engine. This can help those who are creative enough,
build their own combos and judge practicality vs. difficulty in trying
something new.
When does damage scaling occur?
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Damage scaling occurs when you're opponent has been knocked off their
feet and is totally defenseless. This could mean that the opponent is
in the air or they could be laying on the ground and are completely
unable to avoid getting hit by normal struggling to rise faster.
When does damage scaling not occur?
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Damage scaling will not take place while the opponent is still on their
feet. This means that hits that connect while an opponent is staggering
are not subject to damage scaling while they are still actually
staggering. Usually hitting your opponent while staggering will knock
them down. Hitting them after they're knocked off their feet will
induce damage scaling.
What is a juggle hit?
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Juggle hits are defined in this context as a non-avoidable attack by
means of regular struggling, so down attacks and ground hits can be
lumped into this category. Tech-rolling and Quick-rising (TR/QR) can,
at certain points, be used to curtail extended ground hits, but that's
for another FAQ. The system will consider it a combo, for purposes of
damage scaling, if the player did not TR/QR and was struck during down
recovery time (strugglable or not).
What is the damage scaling for a float combo started by striking an
opponent that's on their feet?
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When you float your opponent, the move that knocked them into the air is
not cosidered a juggle hit, so it has no scaling to it. The following
progression applies to every hit in whatever sequence you follow up
with:
(These numbers are approximations to make it easier to use. By using
these numbers, if you're not EXACTLY on, you will not be off by more
than 1, maybe 2, points at the most)
1st juggle hit: 80% of normal damage
2nd juggle hit: 80% of normal damage
3rd juggle hit: 60% of normal damage
4th juggle hit: 50% of normal damage
5th juggle hit: 40% of normal damage
6th juggle hit: 30% of normal damage
7th juggle hit: 25% of normal damage
8th juggle hit and on: Undetermined at this point. It's no higher than
25%, but could be a progressive drop to 20%
What's the damage scaling for a float combo started by striking an
opponent that's in the air?
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When you strike an opponent that is already airborne for what ever
reason (you got em with the Ten Foot Toss (TFT), they jumped, you hit
them out of a move that makes them airborne during or after
execution...) there is a different scaling system that's active. In the
"airborne" system, your first hit, the one that technically starts the
float, is also scaled. You can still get a major or minor counter
damage bonus on the first hit (like hitting Kage out of a whiffed DP),
but it won't have the "oomph" of a ground based one.
(These numbers are approximations to make it easier to use, like above)
1st juggle hit: 80%
2nd juggle hit: 80%
3rd juggle hit: 80%
4th juggle hit: 65%
5th juggle hit: 45%
6th juggle hit: 30%
Any other types of damage scaling?
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There is a 50% damage penalty for moves that can hit downed opponents
that are not designated as the "down attack" for that character. So
basically, using a move to hit someone on the ground other than your
default d/f+P or d/f+K or u+P or special pounce (u+K+G for Jeffry, Aoi,
u/b+K+G for Pai) will result in a 50% cut being applied to that move.
An example here is Sarah's punt kick (d+K).
Hitting normally with it does 20 points of damage.
If you hit with it as your first or second juggle hit, it will do 16
damage.
If you hit with it, but it connected with the opponent while they were
on the ground, it will do 10 damage.
So why use something other than a down attack for a ground hit?
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There are occasions for most of the characters where connecting with a
ground hit will lift the opponent back into the air just enough to get a
couple more hits in while the opponent is off the ground, removing the
50% damage penalty for those hits. Other times, the quick down attack
(d/f+P or d/f+K) may not be able to reach the opponent before they can
roll away or get up, and you may have another move that can reach them.
When I use my down attack, it doesn't seem to scale in damage at all.
Are you sure about this?
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Yup. If your down attack (d/f+P, d/f+K or u+P) didn't scale then it
wasn't truly guaranteed, according to the game engine. There are some
moves that cause an opponent to drop to the ground and stay down, where
no matter how hard they stuggle, they cannot get up during that period
(it's usually only about 10-20 frames or so...enough to cover the
striking move's recovery with some advantage). This period then moves
to the "strugglable" rising, where all your joystick mangling techniques
can actually reduce the additional down time. These are usually
generated from moves that slam opponents to the floor, either from
standing or as a juggle hit, or from certain throws. If you connect
with a down attack during this non-strugglable period or while the
opponent still hasn't gotten through his stuggle phase, the damage will
be scaled. If it was not during this period, then the damage will not
be scaled, as technically, the opponent could have gotten out of the way
by the time the down attack connected.
Are there any exceptions to these scaling rules?
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Yes. Currently there one verified exceptions to this rule, along with
one bug, and two circumstances still being documented.
Exception #1: Hitting an airborne opponent below low punch's hit level.
There's is a variable length frame window here, based on which character
you use. For some characters, it's almost impossible to use, while for
others it's much easier. Basically, if you can connect with a move
while the opponent "center of gravity" (generally a point located in the
lower abdomen) is lower than low punch hit level, but before that point
touches the ground, then all damage scaling is removed for that hit
(meaning you can still smack their legs while the torso is at the low
height and get the scaling removed). There are some odd flop animations
from certain hits which make it fairly easy for some characters to do
this, as well as good timing from large floats that others are able to
get. The character that has the most difficult time using this
exception is Aoi. The easiest character to notice this with is a close
toss-up between Jeffry, Akira and Kage.
Bug #1: Sarah's u/b+K kickflip.
For some unknown reason, when used in a float, this move will not use
its normal 38 point damage base, but rather its flamingo stance
counterpart's 30 point base.
Under research:
Situation #1: Low floats enabled by walls limiting float distance
without actually giving a "wall bounce".
Situation #2: The is another exception in floats the will "reset" the
damage scaling on hits without the opponent touching the ground. In
these instances the last hit of the float will have damage scaling of
80% regardless of how far into the combo that hit is. I'm still trying
to nail down when and why this happens.
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