Sil 1.0.1

[Fendell Orcbane]

Whirlwind attack only works when there are no adjacent obstacles (walls, closed doors, rubble).

Webs are traps.

Speed is either 1, 2, 3, or 4 (4 is only available for monsters, not the player). It is a linear system and affects when you get a turn. You can do whatever you like with a turn (attack or move). Thus it affects both.

Why should monsters have more speed available than players? That seems kinda unfair.

[Narvius]

Because you're slightly superhuman at best, and they are the finest elite forces of darkness?

I recently started playing V again, which showed me just how different games they've become.
It's a good time for variants, it seems, with completely new games like ToME 4 (2 was still pretty bandy at heart) and Sil emerging... (actually, not so much emerging as suddenly appearing after quietly gathering strength.)

[Psi]

Erm, how exactly are short swords superior in any way to curved swords? Short swords do 1d7 damage, while curved swords do 2d5. In addition to 2d5 being intrinsically better than 1d7, due to the way that strength bonuses work (adding sides to the dice), curved swords get twice the strength bonus of short swords. I suppose short swords might have a smaller accuracy/evasion penalty, but the difference is pretty trivial - I forget exactly but it's something like -2 for curved swords vs. -1 for short swords. And since both weapons are single-handed, and curved swords are heavier, the curved sword has a higher maximum strength bonus, too!

...it will be because shortswords are more likely to hit criticals with their lower weight.

[Narvius]

In fact, with the right skills (finesse and subtlety) it is downright UNLIKELY to deal the base damage with a shortsword. IF you hit, you often overroll by at least 5-6, at which point you already deal an additional die of damage (2d8). At 10 or 12 (depending on the weight), you get another die. In the extreme case, you might get as high 6d8 (overroll by 25 with a light one - hence d8, assuming +1 strength bonus limit).

[Psi]

*edit* this is purely anecdotal but it seems like whatever piece of armor I find first I find three or four of them before I fill any other slots.

The same also goes for weapons. I found 2 defender shortswords within a few squares and I've now just found two stacks of 3 special throwing axes - which do stack to make 6. It seems to be very often that I find the exact same type of object in close proximity.

[Morik]

Just had an appcrash. Had 99 arrows plus another stack of about 4, shot a few off. I went to pick up the arrows afterwards. Sil crashed when arrow count went over 99 again.

[Psi]

Regarding weapon weights is 2.1lbs actually any better than 3lbs for criticals? (or 2lbs better than 2.9lbs - not sure how you are rounding).

Thanks!

[Narvius]

I'm pretty sure it truncates towards zero. Thus 2.1 == 2.9 != 3

[Scatha]

Actually it calculates the critical thresholds by multiplying by the number of criticals in question and rounding to the nearest 1. So 2.1lb is pretty similar to 2lb (difference will only show up with 5 or more criticals), and 2.9lb is pretty similar to 3lb.

There are really relatively few monsters with speed 4. Bats and birds, dragonflies, darting horrors, and a couple of uniques.

[will_asher]

I'm pretty sure it truncates towards zero. Thus 2.1 == 2.9 != 3

Actually, in the code (of V and Sil) object weight is x10, so a weight of 2.1 = 21 in the code, which means there's no need for truncating.

[Fendell Orcbane]

Its funny because one part of me doesn't want to learn much of the workings of Sil, and yet another part of me wants to know how everything works so that I can make the best choice in any given situation. Honestly I feel like the player has very limited control of the situation as compared to V and so the only choices that can be made should be best possible choice.

BTW how many people actually play Sil? I feel like maybe 15 or 10 people but I could be wrong. I actually feel like all the people that cry about V not benign hard enough should be playing Sil...because Sil is hard.

[Psi]

Actually it calculates the critical thresholds by multiplying by the number of criticals in question and rounding to the nearest 1. So 2.1lb is pretty similar to 2lb (difference will only show up with 5 or more criticals), and 2.9lb is pretty similar to 3lb.

Thanks - that makes sense!

[half]

Why should monsters have more speed available than players? That seems kinda unfair.

Why can a horse run faster than a human?

[half]

I recently started playing V again, which showed me just how different games they've become.
It's a good time for variants...

Indeed, I don't really consider Sil to be a Variant of Angband. Obviously it is descended from Angband and shares most of the display code, but almost every system that involves numbers is different. I think it is quite a bit more different from Angband than Angband 1.4 was from Moria (possibly more different from Angband than Angband 3.0 is from Moria) and we don't tend to think of Angband as a Moria Variant. So I'd probably say an 'Angband descendent' rather than an 'Angband Variant'. I'm not too bothered either way though.

[Scatha]

Its funny because one part of me doesn't want to learn much of the workings of Sil, and yet another part of me wants to know how everything works so that I can make the best choice in any given situation. Honestly I feel like the player has very limited control of the situation as compared to V and so the only choices that can be made should be best possible choice.

I think this is a good question. Compared to many games we've tried to be quite transparent about the mechanics (many are explained in detail in the manual, and a few more perhaps should be). We think they offer fun and interesting decisions, and it isn't suddenly obvious what to do when you know how the game works.

On the other hand if you enjoy exploring to discover first hand what is or isn't effective, then this could be a good reason to keep yourself from reading this information!

BTW how many people actually play Sil? I feel like maybe 15 or 10 people but I could be wrong. I actually feel like all the people that cry about V not benign hard enough should be playing Sil...because Sil is hard.

Hmm. There are eight players who have winners on the ladder, and another ten or so who have got to at least 600ft, which I think suggests that they have played at least a moderate amount. I really don't know what the actual number of players is, but I guess it's likely to be quite a bit higher than this because many players may not post on the ladder: there's some discussion of the games on other sites, and some people have registered on the forums here only to report bugs with the game (suggesting there may be more who never register).