[VX] enemy shield

Dear all,

I've been browsing this wonderful site for a while now, and have thoroughly researched the possible scripts for the game I am creating. There is one, however, that I could not find.

  In short:
what I want is for a skill/skills used by a party member to transform an enemy.

  In detail:
The idea in the game is that certain enemies have a shield, cloaking them in darkness. One character is able to use skills that can break these shields, revealing the true (and vulnerable) foe. I am using different pictures for the before - and after transformation, and different Enemy IDs.

It would be marvelous if the skills that 'break shields' can add numbers to a Variable, which will activate a switch(from a common event maybe?), in turn forcing the enemy to transform. This way I want to be able to choose how many points in the variable are needed for the switch to activate, thus transforming the enemy (or, "breaking" its shield.

The bonus for this method is that if the particular skills aren't used, the monster can still be killed.

  -----
However, this may be very tricky. A back-up solution (but not as preferable) is if I can force the characters to first attack the shield of an enemy (perhaps using enemy ID?) and only when the shield is down, they can attack the enemy itself.

  A little info on the scripts I use (as it may affect scriptwriting, perhaps):
- Tankentai 1.2, with
- Sideview Battle System 3.4
- New Game Plus (By MysteryMan23)
- Battle Scapes 1.0
- BGM unchange 1.01 (By ERZENGE)

I am thinking of using the Dynamic Lights script, but previously it caused some errors, so for the time being I won't go for it.

  Rounding up: I thank any of you in advance, if you can help me! There are some true wizards out there, using the scripts and codes.

Yours,
~ Geoff

Bumped for the sake of, eh, bumping. Also, changed the title to something more specifically around the lines of the idea I want.

Well, have you tried playing around with the Enemy Transform event command?

With regard to your second option, you could make three enemies, one a shield, one the enemy, and one a version of the enemy with ridiculously high DEF or Evasion. The shield should not be able to take any actions. You could then put the shield and the high DEF enemy in a troop. You could then make a battle event which runs when the Shield's HP is 0 or below which transforms the high DEF enemy to the regular enemy. That would require the party to attack the shield first.

Another option to improve that might be to get a Cover script and have it so that the shield always covers the enemy. That way, if the player does target the enemy, damage will be taken by the shield.

Hmm - you give a couple of interesting points. For the high-def enemy transform, I could maybe also give it a skill that, if not defeated in time, it regenerates the shield and transforms back again. I can puzzle with that.

You mentioned a cover script - but I cannot find such a term when searching for it in the VX script section. Cover scripts would be perfect, and can make interesting fights. Can you point me in the right direction?

- To answer your first question, finally - I have been fumbling about with the transform event, but I find it difficult to create a common event (or variable) in which I can decide per enemy how many "points" it takes for the enemy to transform to its 'weaker' state. I believe the shield option is a bit of an easier trick to pull of though. Thank you thusfar!