UpgradingCharacters

Everything you could ever possibly want to know about upgrading your character is here! On this very page!

If you are eager to get to the new upgrade submission/approval process: click here

Earning Advancement Points
Are earned from:
 * Roleplaying well and getting +nom'ed by your fellow players
 * Being IC and Active throughout the week
 * Participating in MUSH events (Contests, Reviews, etc)
 * Recruiting players

Spending Advancement Points
Let me count the ways...

Upgrades

 * Feature Character upgrades are now done on a per-player basis. This means any upgrades you add to an FC while playing them are yours forever! When you drop the character, the FC will revert to its "tech spec" or "base" stats. When you play that character again in the future, the FC will automatically convert to your build. This is an effort to encourage players to really take the time to invest in a Feature Character.
 * Original Character upgrades are permanent changes to your stats, abilities, or attacks. They will not revert until the character is killed or @nuked at your request.


 * Cross-Character Spending - You can now spend AP from different characters you play(or played in the past, see +playerinfo).


 * Points spent from other characters are at half value. (Example, I play Kup and Rumble. I may spent 60 of Rumble's AP to buy an upgrade that costs 30 for Kup)


 * For OCs, the upgrading OC must spend at least half of the cost of the upgrade from thier own pool. (Example, I have Redshift and Roadbuster. I can spend 40 of Roadbuster's AP[which is worth 20] to help pay for a 40 AP upgrade for Redshift, and Redshift pays 20)

Converting AP to CP

 * When creating a new character, you can convert Advancement Points (AP) from one character into Character Points (CP) for a NEW Original Character at a ratio of 10 to 1.
 * You can also add AP from other characters you have to that same "Pool" at a cost of 50%.
 * Note that just because you have the ABILITY to spend gobs of extra CP on an OC does not give you the RIGHT. Character Staff will use a level of scrutiny appropriate to the amount of extra CP you are buying.
 * Character Staff automatically keeps track of any AP you had left on characters when you leave them. You can access this information by typing +playerinfo


 * Example
 * I have 40 AP from Bumblebee: 40 AP / 10 = 4 CP
 * I have 20 AP from Whirl:     20 AP / 10 = 2 * 50% = 1 CP
 * I have 10 AP from an old OC: 10 AP / 10 = 1 * 50% = .5 CP
 * I have 10 AP from Blades:    10 AP / 10 = 1 * 50% = .5 CP
 * I have 4 + 1 + 0.5 + 0.5 = 6 Extra CP to use on a NEW Original Character
 * I have 4 + 1 + 0.5 + 0.5 = 6 Extra CP to use on a NEW Original Character
 * I have 4 + 1 + 0.5 + 0.5 = 6 Extra CP to use on a NEW Original Character

Buying Booster Packs
As part of the NewCombatSystem players will be able to purchase Combat "Booster Packs". These were made (in)famous during the introductory Headmasters plot in February of 2009. Booster Packs are limited-use objects that give your character a temporary boost to agility, accuracy, damage or something else. They are bought with AP.

Check out Boosters for more information and pricing.

Combining Upgrades
Upgrade requests should be sent PER distinct upgrade action.

Upgrades that are conceptually linked can be submitted as one upgrade request. Vastly different upgrades require separate submissions:
 * OK: Joebot is buying the Swim and Dive abilities. He can go ahead and submit them both as the same request. Chances are he can learn/acquire both of these at the same time (in the same log or series of logs).
 * NOT OK: Joebot is buying the Swim ability and also increasing his Strength by 10 points. These should not be the same request!
 * OK: Joebot is buying the LR_Radio ability and also adding a new skill "Knowledge: Trucker Callsigns". These can be part of the same request.

How It Works

 * 1) Earn the AP!
 * 2) Send in your upgrade application (IC and OOC justification among other things) to [[Image:2k5upgrades.PNG]]
 * 3) A staffer will either:
 * 4) Approve your upgrade application, or
 * 5) Reject your application (with comments)
 * 6) Once approved, you need to set up the upgrade scene(s) and RP them! This log will need to be approved in one of two ways:
 * 7) Ask a judge (staff member) to observe/participate in your scene and have them approve/reject its suitability at the end of the scene
 * 8) Send the log into the upgrade account, and upgrade staff will forward the log to an available & willing "judge" (staff member) -- or just read it themselves. (Note: If you already have a judge who has agreed to read your app, tell us that in the e-mail)
 * 9) Either way, you will need to respond to your original "approval" e-mail and send the log into [[Image:2k5upgrades.PNG]]
 * 10) If the log is approved an upgrade staffer will:
 * 11) Apply the changes to the character in-game
 * 12) Alert the player that the changes have been made
 * 13) Deduct the appropriate amount of AP
 * 14) Files the log and application as APPROVED
 * 15) Drink some beer

Upgrade Application

 * E-mail SUBJECT should be:  -  (e.g. "Swim", "+10 STR", "Ener-Sword Upgrade", etc)
 * E-mail BODY should contain:
 * The cost of the upgrade
 * How you're going to upgrade (ICly)
 * IC justification of request
 * OOC justification of request
 * Criteria for approving applications includes:
 * Is the request IC for your character?
 * Is the request "themely"? e.g. consistent with 2k5's overall theme/canon/tradition?
 * Will this make the character uncommonly powerful? If so, is this IC for your character?
 * Does the proposed ability and/or skills meet the prerequisite (as determined by staff) stat levels?
 * Has past RP shown that the player will handle the addition (in)appropriately?
 * Has past disciplinary action (gripes, warnings, stern talking tos, etc) -- or lack there of -- shown that the player will handle the addition (in)appropriately?
 * Staff reserves the right to reject any upgrade requests for any of the above reasons or for any not listed here, but don't worry -- we are very reasonable folk!

Core Stats
The cost for raising a core stat one point is determined by this table:

* Stats upgraded higher than 80 require Character Staff Head Approval

As soon as you cross barriers, you get charged at the higher rate. For example, if I want to go from 40 to 60, it would be 20 AP to get from 40 to 50 (10x2), and then 30 AP to get from 50 to 60 (10x3) for a grand total of 50 AP. For an easier time in figuring out your advancement cost, use the following command: +upgradecost to.

Mode-Variable Stats

 * Mode-Variable stats are Strength (STR), Firepower (FRP), Agility (AGL), and Accuracy (ACC). For most characters, these stats are the same in both modes. In this case they cost the same as a standard Core Stat would cost to upgrade, detailed above.
 * If you have different values in both modes, or if you just want to upgrade one mode at a time, things are slightly more tricky. The net cost is the same for both methods.
 * To upgrade one mode, take the standard upgrade cost (as detailed under Core Stats, above) and divide by the number of "useful" modes you have (normally this is 2, sometimes 3).
 * What is a "useful" mode? In the calculation, ignore any modes that are designed to be useless. For example: tapes. Or well... OK, just tapes! (If in doubt talk to a CharStaffer)
 * So if you are a tape you are going to pay the standard upgrade cost divided by (# of useful modes) 1, or, just the standard upgrade cost.
 * Upgrading stats that are different levels in each mode is simply a matter of calculating their individual costs and adding them all together.
 * If you choose to upgrade one mode at a time you will need to submit separate upgrade logs/requests for each of them.
 * If you have more than 2 modes (triple- or six-changer) and are only upgrading one of them, you will receive a heavier-than-usual amount of scrutiny from Character Staff, so be prepared.

Example
Your Strength in both modes is 40 and you want to upgrade to 60. As discussed above, this would cost 50 AP for a normal stat. Since you just want to upgrade Mode 1 (Robot) only, you pay 50 / 2 = 25 AP (round up)

If you want to later upgrade just your Mode 2 (Vehicle) Strength, you would pay 50 / 2 = 25 AP

Note: An observant player may note that an odd upgrade cost will force you to pay +1 AP extra. Unfortunately, always rounding up is a side-effect of not having Character Staffers go insane trying to remember whether they rounded up or down last time you upgraded your stats. To get around this, you can upgrade both stats at once.

Mind The Gap!
Warning: Feel free to ignore this section if you have no mode-variable stats

When you have two different values for a Mode-Variable stat things get hairy. To keep things fair, here are the rules:
 * Standard characters have a net difference limit of 20 for each alt-mode. This means that the SUM of all four stats (STR, FRP, ACC, AGL) in your alternate mode can not be MORE THAN 20 points higher than your Mode 1 sum.
 * Your Primary Mode is STR 60 / FRP 60 / ACC 60 / AGL 60 (240 Total)
 * Your Alt-Mode can be STR 70 / FRP 70 / ACC 60 / AGL 60 (260 Total)
 * Your Alt-Mode can be STR 80 / FRP 60 / ACC 60 / AGL 60 (260 Total)
 * Your Alt-Mode can not be STR 80 / FRP 70 / ACC 60 / AGL 60 (270 Total)


 * Standard characters have a specific stat difference limit of 20 for each stat on each alt-mode.
 * Your Primary Mode STR is 60
 * Your Alt-Mode STR can be 70 (10 point difference)
 * Your Alt-Mode STR can be 80 (20 point difference)
 * Your Alt-Mode STR can not be 90 (30 point difference)


 * Non-Standard characters are those with mode-variable stats that start out with differences bigger than 20 points. Examples are:
 * Tapes
 * Combiner Team Leaders with "mini-base" modes
 * OCs with pre-approved stat gaps (usually "defense platforms" or OC tapes)
 * Fortress Maximus
 * Non-Standard characters have a net difference limit of whatever their original net difference is.
 * Your Primary Mode is STR 60 / FRP 60 / ACC 60 / AGL 60 (240 Total)
 * Your Immobile Base Alt-Mode is STR 60 / FRP 60 / ACC 60 / AGL 0 (180 Total)
 * Your Immobile Base Alt-Mode net difference limit is therefore 60 (240 - 180 = 60 gap)
 * Your Immobile Base Alt-Mode can be STR 60 / FRP 60 / ACC 60 / AGL 10 (190 Total, 240-190 = 50 gap)
 * Your Primary Mode can not be STR 70 / FRP 60 / ACC 60 / AGL 60 (250 Total, 250-180 = 70 gap)


 * This gap can go DOWN as you upgrade stats in your alt-mode, but it may never go back up.
 * Non-Standard characters have a specific stat difference limit of whatever their original stat difference is.
 * Your Primary Mode AGL is 60
 * Your Immobile Base Alt-Mode AGL is 0 (60-0 = 60 gap)
 * Your Immobile Base Alt-Mode AGL can be 10 (60 - 10 = 50 gap)
 * Your Primary Mode AGL can not be 70 (70-0 = 70 gap)


 * These specific gaps can go DOWN as you upgrade stats in your alt-mode, but it may never go back up.
 * If you do not have a special-case (e.g. starting out with a greater-than 20-point gap) statistic, the usual 20-point limit for standard characters applies. (Most characters will only have 1 or 2 stats that fit the special-case)

Velocity
Velocity upgrades are priced as a regular Mode-Variable stat above. That is to say, the cost of a regular Core Stat divided by the number of modes you have (usually 2), rounded up. Velocities in different modes can be as far apart as you want, they are not bound by any difference restrictions.

Note: For single-mode characters / vehicles, the maximum cost for velocity is always / 2.

Armor
Armor upgrades are priced per-mode as a regular Core Stat. So, upgrading your Robot Mode 1 Armor from 40 to 60 will cost 47 AP just like upgrading Endurance would. Upgrading BOTH modes from 40 to 60 would cost 47 * 2 = 94 AP.

Size
Size modifications in any mode can only be done in the context of a rebuild.

Abilities
Abilities are easy! Take their cost in Character Points (CP) from the abilities list and multiply by 10. So a 5 CP Ability * 10 = 50 AP.

Second Purchase Discount
If you have any of these abilities in one mode, you only pay 50% of the cost to get them in any alternate mode:
 * Pilot
 * Space-Pilot
 * LR_Radio
 * Inspire
 * Repair
 * Resupply
 * Refuel
 * Construction
 * Heal
 * Jamming
 * Demolition

Skills
3 AP per skill.

Protection

 * Characters are unable to purchase unbalanced resistances/weaknesses, sorry!
 * You can modify your protection levels as part of a rebuild, providing that the resistances and weaknesses still balance as they do in character creation.
 * You can also get rid of your protection during a rebuild.

Building A New Attack
Build your attack as if you were creating one for a new character (following all the limits as well), then multiply by 10!

So a 7 CP Attack * 10 = 70 AP

Upgrading Existing Attacks

 * Figure out how much your current attack is worth, in CP. You should know this from your Application or figure it out.
 * Figure out how much your attack with the new upgrades is worth, in CP.
 * Your upgrade costs: ((New CP Cost - Original CP Cost) * 10) + 10 AP
 * So, your current attack Level 5 Ranged, Energy is worth 5 CP. You want to add the Accurate effect, which would make it 5 + 2 = 7 CP.
 * Your cost is 7 - 5 = 2 CP, * 10 = 20 AP, + 10 = 30 AP Total.
 * The +10 is for a few reasons:
 * To encourage people to upgrade their attacks in bulk, instead of spamming the poor Character Staffers with tiny upgrades!
 * To save the player time and effort by encouraging them to submit multiple attack upgrades as part of a single log.
 * Since attack effectiveness does not translate linearly once you get into the higher CP cost attacks, there needs to be an extra burden on upgrading attacks after CharGen.
 * 10 AP is the minimum cost. So if you are adding a "negative" effect on your attack keep this in mind.
 * Also note that each upgrade requires a separate log/submission request.
 * Also ALSO note that all upgraded attacks will still be checked against the appropriate limits and sent to the Character Staff Head or wizards for approval if necessary.
 * The +10 AP is charged PER ATTACK. Even if they are done in the same upgrade request.

Upgrading Existing Ammunition Attacks

 * Ammunition "bin" sizes are re-calculated using the standard method whenever you upgrade your AMMO attack. So if you had a 6 CP attack with 4 "rockets", and you upgrade your attack to a 7 CP attack, now you get 3 "rockets".
 * Ammunition "bin" modifiers (double bins, empty bins, half-sized bins) are carried over normally.
 * No AMMO attacks above 9 CP
 * Reason 1: The math breaks down (10 - 10 = 0 ammo)
 * Reason 2: (The real reason) The Ammo/Energon trade-off breaks down for higher level attacks, resulting in game unbalance.
 * You can convert an AMMO attack to a standard Energon-based attack (and vice versa) during the course of a normal attack upgrade.

Rebuilds
A rebuild is a special case. They occur whenever you seek to rebuild your character into a new form, drastically altering his/her shape. Rebuilds obviously do not make sense for organics, and are extremely rare for anyone. You will have to provide an excellent case for rebuilding your character.

Rebuilds are also the only way for you to upgrade/change your size and resistances/weaknesses.

A rebuild only really buys you the right to change your alt-mode name. The base cost for a rebuild is 10 APs. All new powers/abilities/attacks on the new alt-mode must also be purchased on top of the rebuild, and any abilities/powers that don't make sense any longer are dropped without any compensation.

You cannot purchase a rebuild for a Feature Character.

Light Rebuild
If all you want to do is change your alt-mode slightly, then just pay the 10 AP for the rebuild and all of your other upgrades will cost the normal amount. Generally for cosmetic changes or very simple rebuilds.


 * For example, changing from a Pyramid Jet into a F-15
 * You don't have to reduce velocity or armor to 0 and buy up; Just pay the normal cost to upgrade these stats, using +upgradecost ## to ##
 * You can make net zero changes to your mode-variable stats. Just use 10-point (1 CP) increments and follow the same rules as the original OC conversion process

Heavy Rebuild
This is the "legacy" style rebuild: you are scrapping your existing mode and building something totally different. If this is the case you need to buy up most of your new mode stats from scratch:
 * Abilities and attacks can be carried over if they are thematically appropriate and make sense for the new mode. (CharStaffer's discretion)
 * New Abilities and attacks are bought according to their usual AP costs
 * Velocity must be built up from 0 according to the upgrade costs for velocity
 * Primary-mode armor defaults to 50 and can be modified downwards for -10 AP (credit), or upwards for +20 AP
 * Alternate-mode armor must be bought up from 0 according to the upgrade costs for armor
 * Size defaults to 5 and can be modified downwards for -10 AP (credit), or upwards for +20 AP
 * Sizes can not be changed to the point where you go from mini-bot (58) to standard Transformer (80) or vice-versa
 * Minimum cost of a Rebuild is 10 AP, regardless of if your new mode costs less than the current one
 * Mode-Variable stats can be re-balanced at no additional cost

Becoming a Triplechanger
Adding a third mode to become a Triplechanger is different from a regular rebuild. You don't have to pay the 10 AP "Rebuild Fee", but you must spend at least 100 AP on your new Mode. Additionally, you are allowed to modify your mode-variable stats for the new mode, providing you follow the same rules for character creation.

Vehicles
This pertains to 'Legacy Combat Vehicles' (Exo-Suits, Shrikes)

As discussed on the available vehicles page, humans are allowed to "own" their own exo-suits or vehicles that are handed to them at character creation. These vehicles may be upgraded just as the character itself may be upgraded, provided a few rules are followed.
 * Character Points are spent on the vehicle during character creation only, but may include CP obtained from "pooling" Advancement Points.
 * AP spent on the vehicle is from the "owner" character only
 * Attack and combat stat upgrades follow the same rule as standard transformer OCs, and follow the same [[justification / restriction guidelines, with a few exceptions:
 * No AMMO-based Attacks (for now)
 * Vehicles/Exo-Suits are not eligible for rebuilds (e.g. no changing size or adding modes). This is currently beyond the scope of human technology and counter to the current "mass production" construction methodology of the majority of Earth military forces.
 * Exo-Suits are not eligible for Resistance/Weaknesses

Faction Vehicles
Factions have lots of "Common Use" vehicles like hovercraft, shuttles, etc. If there are players that REALLY WANT to spend AP to upgrade these, that is perfectly fine. Keep in mind that other people can still use the vehicle/shuttle and you paying to upgrade it in no way means you "own" or even "partially own" it.

Multiple players may also pool AP in order to pay for faction vehicle upgrades.

Combiners
This isn't common, but if a bunch of players on the same Combiner team (e.g. Terrorcons, Protectobots) want to upgrade their Combiner (e.g. Abominus, Defensor) that is certainly possible.
 * You can not upgrade specific Core or Mode-Variable stats: these are set by a combination of the underlying component team-members
 * You CAN upgrade attacks, skills, and abilities
 * You CAN upgrade mode-specific stats Velocity and Armor