Explaining the Encounter System

I got a question recently on the discord about how the encounter system works, that is, whether it's just random in the pleasure values each partner gets. While there are some random components, it is not random, and different moves have different effects on each participant's pleasure bar, and also have other differences to consider. 

Instead of a long reply, I decided I could turn this into CONTENT™ and post about it here. So here it is, everything you ever wanted to know about how the encounter system works, and probably a lot of things you don't want to know, too. 

1. The Basics. 

If you don't know, "encounter" is the term I use to refer to the turn-based sex system used for a lot of the generic sex scenes in the game. Each type of encounter has its own pool of actions you can perform, a pool of actions your partner can perform, and a pool of reactions a crowd can perform, if the encounter occurs in public. There are also a set of CGs (artwork) associated with each encounter type, usually 5-10 for each type of encounter. 

Additionally, each action you or your partner can perform has its own pool of what I call "scene components" which are short descriptions for each action. There are typically 5 of these for each action. Further, the actions you can perform are limited by the perks you have. You start with at least two actions, and can unlock additional actions by earning certain perks. 

On every "turn" in an encounter, a CG is randomly selected from the available pool. Then the scene components are randomly selected from their respective pools. Whatever the player chooses as their action obviously limits their pool, but the partner's action is totally random, there is no AI or state machine or anything. The crowd's reaction is similarly completely random. 

According to the actions selected, pleasure is added to the bars (crowds don't effect the bars at all, though). Once one bar or the other is full, it triggers an orgasm for that person. If both bars are full, or one is full and the other is within a certain tolerance, both orgasms are triggered at once. 

Partners have a certain amount of energy. Orgasming reduces this energy value by one point. Once a partner is completely out of energy, the encounter ends. 

2. Partners, Lust, and Crits

Not all partners are the same. Partners have different "tanks" (how much semen they expel in a single cumshot), energy levels, and starting lust. All of these values are presented as a range for each partner. For example, a partner might have a range of 2-4 energy, meaning the actual energy they have in the encounter is a randomly generate number in that range. 

Of particular consequence is lust. For both the player character and her partners, the amount of lust they have when going into an encounter modifies the pleasure they receive. At 50% lust, the multiplier is 1, and at higher lust it increases, and at lower lust it decreases. So if a given action deals 12 pleasure to a partner, it might instead deal 18 if that partner has very elevated lust, or 9 if they have lower lust. The specific numbers aren't super important, but the point is lust modifies pleasure gains for both characters.

On top of that, having higher lust increases the chance of a "critical" occurring, which causes the pleasure bar to reach 100% instantly. These criticals are rare, and have a certain percentage of happening to partners. That percentage is the same for every action, and is only modified by lust. 

The player on the other hand has "favorite" actions she can perform. She has a very low chance of scoring criticals for other actions, and a very high chance for these favored actions. For example, her favored action for blowjobs is "cock worship." Since keeping partner orgasms close to the same amount is important, these favored actions can be useful for closing a gap and triggering an orgasm if your partner gets ahead of you.

Finally, the last piece of the puzzle is partner actions, since these are totally random. Partner actions are far less potent in terms of pleasure than the player's to prevent the encounters from feeling like a totally random crap shoot, but their presence, as well as the way lust works, can make encounters feel more random than you'd otherwise expect. If you have some bad or good luck in the actions a partner chooses, it can swing an encounter pretty wildly in terms of how easy or hard it is to get a high rating.

3. Scoring 

Performance ratings are calculated based on a handful of factors. Since partners can only have a pre-determined number of orgasms per encounter, the number of orgasms isn't considered. Instead, the following things are assessed: the difference between the number of orgasms each partner has, the variety of different actions chosen over the entire encounter, avoiding back-to-back actions, and the average number of turns per partner orgasm. 

If both characters have the same number of orgasms, your score is boosted. If the difference is greater than one, the score is decreased. 

As far as variety, if you use at least four different actions in the encounter, you'll get the highest score for this check. If you perform the same action more than twice in a row, or perform the same action twice in a row more than once, your score will be decreased.

As far as keeping the average number of actions per orgasm low, this can be hard if the partner's lust is low, so for some encounters, it's just not possible. Sloppy lubricant potions can help though, as can the relevant sexual skill traits. The magic number here is 3, if you can average 3 or fewer actions per orgasm, you will get the maximum number of points. As long as your average is over 5, you won't lose any points. 

To get an S rank you essentially need to perform well in every area. S-ranks are possible, but they are quite rare, and are meant to be. A and AA ranks are much more achievable when you understand the rules. Cs and lower are really only likely early in the game when you don't have a lot of actions to work with.

4. Score Doesn't Matter Much

Score effects payment for prostitution, and the rate of "skill" reputation gained. It also has small effects on other parts of the game, and in a few instances, performing poorly can cause a seduction attempt to fail. That said, I don't want to punish players for having a favorite actions or for having fun with the encounter system. I want players to use the actions they want to use, and not be forced to meta-game and try to optimize their actions. Maybe score should matter a little more, but it's mostly just there for those who are interested in it. 

Maybe a mode or activity where scores are consequential could be a good addition to the game in the future (maybe even as a mod!) but as things stand, you're free to ignore the details here, for the most part.

5. Future Improvements

Something I'd like to do in the future is have partners with preferences. These preferences can cause them to favor certain actions over others and respond more or less positively to the player's actions than normal. The issue is that would be a fairly large amount of work for something that would probably not be super noticeable. Still, I do think partners could use a little bit of personality.