Sil-Q final beta release before 1.5.0

[Wiwaxia]

Yeah nameless things are on my list of things to improve at some point. They're not particularly interesting or rewarding to fight, they're just nasty to your stuff.

How do people feel currently about the acid destruction mechanic?

I actually quite like nameless things as-is. They occupy a unique niche in terms of being absolutely not worth fighting but easy to avoid while also slowly trashing the dungeon and making it more dangerous by way of opening up new passages (mostly relevant for smiths and thresholds builds, mind).

Acid destruction feels a little clunky and not quite in-theme, but I do like the gameplay effect of nameless things and crawling H as slow monsters that you really, really do not want to let get a turn while you're still standing next to them, and nothing inspires that quite like equipment degradation.

[Infinitum]

Well, good thing Tolkien was never big on descriptions. It would be an awful lot of wolves to pose in 16x16 pixels. One alternate look for the werewolves might be going full "attack on titan" maybe; screwing up their proportions a bit? Something proportioned more like this could still be wolflike enough but distinct? Re-reading of Bereth and Luthien and imagining WolfMan in lieu of a more canine Carc does get pretty ridiculous fast though.

[MicroChasm]

I appreciate the tiles critiques so far, Infinitum. I have already modified the chasm tile to be darker than the blackness tile, which is something that I should have done a long time ago. I see the issue with the forges as well. It looks like a mix-up with tile assignments and should be an easy fix.

EDIT: Carcaroth's tile is bipedal, which is not consistent with his description in the Silmarilion (which is specifically the biggest wolf, specifically bred as a nemesis to Huan).

I think it is a good idea to revisit the Carcoroth tile. This is an issue that I am aware of, and really all of the werewolves fall under this critique, but Carchoroth is the worst offender. The others look, to me, to be halfway between standing and simply rearing up, but Carchoroth really does like bipedal. I've changed and adjusted the werewolves many times and have never been 100% happy with them.

A similar issue was brought up in an earlier release about the vampires looking too human. I made them more bestial and I think they are better for it. They are probably still too humanoid for some people, but here I would be more inclined to argue for my right to artistic interpretation.

[HugoVirtuoso]

Attempts to fix this are ongoing.

How about reverting Morgoth's difficulty & aggression back to his 1.4.1 version? Consensus says that was the toughest Morgoth, period.

[Quirk]

EDIT: Morgoth Bauglir, the fell enemy and black lord of darkness can be slain by mortal hand.

Attempts to fix this are ongoing.

EDIT: Chasms can be generated as to completely cut off a levels up and down staircases. Happened during my ascent. Not a biggie; although it might've been.

Have made some attempts to fix this, but the generation code is of very dubious quality and probably needs a comprehensive rewrite.

EDIT: Carcaroth's tile is bipedal, which is not consistent with his description in the Silmarilion (which is specifically the biggest wolf, specifically bred as a nemesis to Huan).

Any thoughts, Microchasm?

[Infinitum]

How do people feel currently about the acid destruction mechanic?

Given how often the mechanic creeps up in games, one must conjecture that there exists a breed of degenerates that enjoys them. It remains unproven far as I can tell though.

[bron]

Possible bug: I note that "Song of Delvings" doesn't seem to work right around the edges, and particularly not in the corners, of the map. I'm guessing that there is some sort of "range" on the effect, and once your distance to the edge is less than the range, it stops working. Or something like that. I admit I have not investigated the issue very closely.

[bron]

I find the loss of "Cloak of Protection" to be annoying; I'm sure there are reasons.

[Quirk]

Speaking of speculation; just noticed that there are no acidproof cloak egos. Not a biggie, but it does make lategame item/nameless things management slightly more annoying.

Yeah nameless things are on my list of things to improve at some point. They're not particularly interesting or rewarding to fight, they're just nasty to your stuff.

How do people feel currently about the acid destruction mechanic?

[Quirk]

The (voices?) part looks like it escaped the editing process. I think "[...]faint voices[...]" flows better myself.

EDIT: Pretty sure Carcaroth's poison fangs are analogous to Eitr given how much Tolkien was influenced by Norse mythology.

Agreed that faint voices would flow better.

I was unaware of Eitr, that's interesting. Thanks for the link.

Formidable is creating message spam. If you fight a room full of whispering shadows you get constant unaffected message from each of them.

Thanks, will take a look and fix this.

[Infinitum]

Speaking of speculation; just noticed that there are no acidproof cloak egos. Not a biggie, but it does make lategame item/nameless things management slightly more annoying.

EDIT: Morgoth Bauglir, the fell enemy and black lord of darkness can be slain by mortal hand.

EDIT: Chasms can be generated as to completely cut off a levels up and down staircases. Happened during my ascent. Not a biggie; although it might've been.

EDIT: Carcaroth's tile is bipedal, which is not consistent with his description in the Silmarilion (which is specifically the biggest wolf, specifically bred as a nemesis to Huan).

[wobbly]

Formidable is creating message spam. If you fight a room full of whispering shadows you get constant unaffected message from each of them.

[Infinitum]

A flickering darkness, spreading through the halls. From its midst, you hear faint sounds (voices?) yearning, beckoning.

The (voices?) part looks like it escaped the editing process. I think "[...]faint voices[...]" flows better myself.

EDIT: Pretty sure Carcaroth's poison fangs are analogous to Eitr given how much Tolkien was influenced by Norse mythology.

[Quirk]

What does that mean?

Do all emerald serpents, regular and ancient ones, have the oversight too? You plan to fix these oversights?

I describe green serpents as being an oversight precisely because no other serpents have an issue.

Werewolves are not I think in canon supposed to be naturally venomous the way snakes or spiders are. The only werewolf known to have a poisonous bite is Carcharoth, the Red Maw; others are a matter of speculation and the effect is presented as more magical than innate in any case. This I think underlies half and Scatha's decision to have werewolves be poisonous but not immune to poison.

I am slightly annoyed at the line of questioning, given it started with incorrect and unchecked assertions about spiders. If you find something actually wrong, please flag it, but I am not minded to run around following every line of speculation you have about things that could possibly be wrong.

[HugoVirtuoso]

but have festering disease ridden maws the game does not model differently)

What does that mean?

Do all emerald serpents, regular and ancient ones, have the oversight too? You plan to fix these oversights?