Sil

[ghengiz]

Sil uses pretty much every single dice from 1 to 20 (possibly beyond) - try to roll a d9 or d7 ;P
1, 2 (half d4 or coin), 3 (half d6), 4, 5 (half d10), 6, 8, 10, 12, 20 can all be trivially done. But inbetween? :3

out the top of my head, I can think of two metods:
1) fill a cup or something with folded paper pieces numbered from 1 to n=7,9, and pick one. this gives an uniform distribution.

2) use a 1d6 or 1d8 (it depends on if you want an 1d7 or 1d9) and roll it. call the result k. then flip a coin: if it gives, say, head, add 1 to k.

[Narvius]

Well... probably.

Anyways, on topic again;

There is no auto-more option. This one is REALLY useful, as it makes messages consume none of your keystrokes. Which I'm, frankly, used to. I keep the message window open anyways. So... feature request!

[ekolis]

d7: roll d8 and reroll if you get an 8

[Narvius]

Alright, alright. I get it. It's possible. But this thread is not about emulating impossible dice with possible ones.

[ekolis]

Oh, I did finally get around to playing Sil today, despite having downloaded it the day this thread started... :P

Very nice game!

I keep getting confused by the controls - I'd use the "angband-style" mode, but then I can't use smithing, because it uses the same key as "repeat" But apart from that, I like it!

The skill system is unique - I thought I had to "spend" skill points to get abilities, but it turns out it's just a threshold (with 6 skill points in Melee, I can get as many 6-point abilities as I want in Melee!); what really gets "spent" is experience!

And speaking of experience, I like the fact that you can get XP just from encountering enemies - you get more for killing them, of course, but it's a nice touch!

Haven't figured out what the statuses and numbers next to the enemy HP bar are for, though - sometimes I see "confident (8)", other times I see "fleeing (-10)", and others I see "mindless" - what do these mean? Is this some sort of morale system for the enemies? What effects does it have?

[Narvius]

Oh, another thing regarding smithing.
It was not clear to me that the stat-point cost for enchantments was temporary drain. I don't think it was mentioned during the tutorial.

[Magnate]

A good question. It used to work for Linux, but something broke a couple of years ago in its development, and I'd be very grateful for some help with it. I would be very happy to talk with you about getting it running again, as that is one of my main aims for the next month or so. One challenge is that it split off from Vanilla before the source code reorganisation, which might make it harder.

Yes, quite a lot! I downloaded it and tried to build it, but it's beyond my meagre abilities with the GNU toolchain. However, if you were to put the source up on github.com, I'm pretty confident I could find someone who could help me build it in Linux. We could then send you a pull request.

It was funny to look at the source and realise how much has changed in a few short years. It also confirmed my view that the most significant internal change to Angband in that time was MarbleDice's bitflag code (z-bitflag.c).

I do think you've had some superb ideas though. I hope you don't mind if some of them are borrowed for V or v4. I'm thinking particularly of the tutorial...

Btw, Shockbolt's tiles are now working in both V and v4. The person to ask for help is Blubaron - it's almost all his work.

[half]

Aaaaand, the combat/character system. It's pretty simple, powerful, makes for quick (dangerous!) combat and is straightforward to do by hand (with the obvious exception of virtual dice, but it's possible to come up with some different scheme for that - or just keep a laptop handy, though that kinda defeats the purpose of P&P), so I think I might rip it off for a P&P RPG, if you don't mind.

Yes, the combat system was based on one I designed for pen and paper, but I eventually moved from adding damage after the dice (e.g. 2d6+2) to adding sides to the dice (e.g. 2d7) once it was computerised. You should also check out the Ars Magica combat rules as they are quite similar. I'd be very happy for you to take Sil combat into a pen and paper game, or to do so with a version that doesn't require things like d7s.

[half]

I keep getting confused by the controls - I'd use the "angband-style" mode, but then I can't use smithing, because it uses the same key as "repeat" But apart from that, I like it!

You can still forge items with the Angband keyset. Just press comma when standing on a forge. This is explained in the first page of the (?) menu.

Haven't figured out what the statuses and numbers next to the enemy HP bar are for, though - sometimes I see "confident (8)", other times I see "fleeing (-10)", and others I see "mindless" - what do these mean? Is this some sort of morale system for the enemies? What effects does it have?

Sleeping and Unwary are alertness levels (unwary means it doesn't know you are there, but can wander around on its own accord). Monsters that are awake are "Alert" but this isn't displayed as it is more useful to show their morale level.

Mindless creatures don't have morale: they always just attack, so they just say "Mindless".

Other creatures have a morale level, which starts at 6 and is modified by various factors, including their health and your health, whether they can see others of their type (especially captains) etc. This number combined with some other things determines their stance as either Fleeing, Confident or Aggressive. The default stance is Confident, but if morale drops below 0, they are flee (unless resistant to fear), and if it is above 20, they become Aggressive charging forward down corridors etc. There are other ways to make them Aggressive: some creatures are Aggressive instead of Confident (e.g. Trolls), Rings of Wrath make them Aggressive as well as making them notice you more easily (like Aggravation in Angband), certain player behaviours make the Aggressive.

There should ideally be a section in the manual with this information and more...

[half]

Yes, quite a lot! I downloaded it and tried to build it, but it's beyond my meagre abilities with the GNU toolchain. However, if you were to put the source up on github.com, I'm pretty confident I could find someone who could help me build it in Linux. We could then send you a pull request.

I'd been reluctant to do this, just because I don't really need the version control for myself and it would be some extra hassle, but if it would help people help me get Linux working, that could be very valuable.

It was funny to look at the source and realise how much has changed in a few short years. It also confirmed my view that the most significant internal change to Angband in that time was MarbleDice's bitflag code (z-bitflag.c).

I haven't seen that code, but I can believe you. I was tempted to do something similar myself. The "(r_ptr->flags3 & (RF3_ESCORT))" type stuff is ridiculous.

I do think you've had some superb ideas though. I hope you don't mind if some of them are borrowed for V or v4. I'm thinking particularly of the tutorial...

That is absolutely fine. I'd love to see some of the things I worked on migrate to V (or any variants).

Btw, Shockbolt's tiles are now working in both V and v4. The person to ask for help is Blubaron - it's almost all his work.

Thanks for the pointer.

[bio_hazard]

Regarding the tutorial- maybe I was rushing through it the first time, but I actually missed the exit from the rubble-filled room (and all the content after, obviously). Don't know how idiot-proof you want the tutorial to be, but maybe take out a rubble tile or two or place the exit in a more obvious position.

Also- I checked the messages for the special short sword and it never gave a glowing message with the first orc or two. It wasn't until a later combat that it ID'ed.

[Narvius]

Because it doesn't give a message. It actually gives you +1 light radius. I didn't even get that during the tutorial, but when it came up during normal play, and I realized I'm holding a Slay Orc weapon because of that, I giggled for like five minutes from happiness from my discovery.

[ekolis]

Hmm, one more thing - on the third page of the help screen, there's a section marked "Unnecessary", containing some rather useful commands. Perhaps "Miscellaneous" would be a better title?

[HallucinationMushroom]

How do you make a character dump in Sil?

[Narvius]

Okay. I'm playing Feanor Noldors usually, concentrating on Fighting and Evasion, plus Smithing. The complete noob build, basically.

The first forge I find I usually make myself a light longsword, light longbow and a mattock. If it has more charges, and if necessary, arrows.

Then, I usually do fine until I meet orc archers. Often, I defeat them, but barely. And the few cases I don't defeat them, I'm meat.

I'd avoid them, but usually once I realize they are there, they notice me and chase me through the entire level. Effectively.

I could make a run for the stairs every time, but... eh. :/
So, any hints on how to dispatch them? I'll try putting a few points into Song/Elbereth in the next few games and see how I fare.

[Edit]
@Chardumps:
On the character screen (accessible with @). It's one of the options listed at the bottom.