Shortening Terms in Damage Formula

I'm currently using a lot of references to element rates in my damage formulas.  If I multiply an attackers element rate by a defenders element rate, it takes up a lot of room in the formula bar.  It is common for a skill to have several multipliers. 

a.element_rate(11) * b.element_rate(12) + a.element_rate(13) * b.element_rate(14), etc...

Is there a way to shorten these references to take up less room?

I imagine I can do a few lines of script to define shorter vocabulary.  Can someone point me in the right direction?  Let's say, I just want to type "a.er(1)" and the formula bar knows I'm referring to the attacker's element rate number 1.

Make an alias for element_rate in Game_Battler. You need to insert a new script

class Game_Battler alias er element_rateendNow you can do this to get element_rate

That sounds really simple.  Thank you.

Out of curiosity, can I redefine "b.element_rate" as "er" (incorporating the "b.")?

yes and no.


yes, theoretically it is possible - but if you do that, you have to be a lot more carefull with class assignments and where to use what structure.


If you can script yourself that is no problem - if you can't, you better don't try to use that because b is a placeholder that can't be accessed from anywhere in the scripts.

It's possible but would be tricky. I can't think the best way to implement that idea without breaking things.

Okay.  I'm mostly just curious how versatile the alias command is.  Maybe a better question would be whether I can set "er" equal to an equation rather than just a term. Say, "er" equals (a*b*c*d*e)/f.  That way a couple letters could multiply strength by fatigue rate, by weather conditions, by weapons proficiency, and a dozen other possible multipliers.

I haven't tested this yet, but it might work

class RPG::UsableItem::Damage alias modified_eval eval def eval(a,b,v) normal = (a.atk * 4 - b.def * 2) modified_eval(a,b,v) endendAnd then if you just put "normal" in formula box, it should be same as "a.atk * 4 - b.def * 2"

I haven't tested it, but it shouldn't work.

Tested, and this works

 Simple, make a new method and do the formula there instead of aliasing an existing one

class Game_BattlerBase def er(args) return YOUR_FORMULA_HERE endendlike if I want to shorten the normal attack then I could

and you'll simply put a.normal( b ) on your damage formulanow let's say I have another formula that deals more atk damage

then I'd just use a.super_atk( b ) on my damage formula

I won't get a chance to try this out until later this week, due to the holiday, but thanks for the help, everyone.

I tested TheoAllen's approach last suggestion first and it seems to work perfectly.  Thank you everyone for helping.