I've been playing Sil for a couple of weeks now and enjoying it a lot. Really a very nice game. So far, all my "wins" have used save-scumming, which I think is a perfectly reasonable learning/training technique for beginners. Deaths-per-game have dropped off a lot recently, and I'm hoping to actually win for real sometime soon.
I have accumulated a number of questions and observations (many no doubt based on mis-understandings). Any comments would be appreciated:
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I don't quite understand the reason(s) for using a Greatsword. A bastard sword seems to do the same amount of damage when used two-handed (3d5), but also gives you the option of using it one-handed if e.g. you find a really great artifact shield.
I don't fully understand the reason behind making the "sides" strength bonus for a two-handed weapon be less than the bonus for a one-handed weapon (divisor of 1.5 rather than 1). If anything, it seems like strength should have *more* of an effect when smashing something with a two-handed blow. If I'm understanding the code correctly, right now if you have strength 4, a 4.0 pound bastard sword would do the same damage if wielded either one-handed or two-handed.
To harp on strength a bit more: it seems to be under-valued. I think that the strength number should be added to the melee (only) skill, just as dexterity is now.
I occasionally get the "charge" bonus when making a "flanking" attack. This seems unnecessarilly generous; I would think the charge bonus should be restricted to ATT_MAIN attacks only.
I would like to see the "notes" file expanded to include a notation when a player increases skill points, not just when they take an ability. Something like: "(Melee increased 2 points to 8)" or whatever format seems good. This would make reading other people's dumps on the ladder more instructive. I admit it would probably double the length of the notes, but the notes are pretty short.
I was clearing some rubble with an extremely heavy mattock, and I got the message: "You have trouble wielding such a heavy weapon." I found this odd since I did *not* recieve such a message when I was wielding that same mattock while attacking a Kemenrauko. I looked around a bit, and it appears that the flag "heavy_wield" is checked in a couple of places, and set to FALSE in one place, but is never set to TRUE anywhere in the code.
Regarding the "Inner Light" ability: I admit I don't have much experience with taking this ability, but if I understand it, Inner Light makes it easier to see monsters that generate "unnatural darkness" (e.g. shadow worms) ? It seems like Inner Light should also counter the effects of the *player* generating unnatural darkness, i.e. negate the light penalty of using a shadow cloak.
There doesn't seem to be any "Will" ability that resists fear. This seems odd, since that seems like the most natural thing for Will to resist. Resist Fear should be tacked on somewhere; at the very least, "Majesty" ought to include Resist Fear.
The "smithing" exploratory mode ought to behave as if you knew all the smithing skills, so the player could look at all the options and costs of everything they might possibly create.
When selecting something from the 3rd column during smithing, the cursor position is not correctly updated (at least, in the "curses" version). The correct 3rd-column entry is highlighted in color, but the cursor itself remains on the previous column.
The guarenteed 1st forge should probably be forced to have 3 uses. This would prevent people from re-starting the game repeatedly until they get a 4-use forge (or at least until they don't get a 2 use forge).
The cost of forging poison arrows seems too high. It seems like a batch of 24 should only cost 1 strength, rather than 2.
I have accumulated a number of questions and observations (many no doubt based on mis-understandings). Any comments would be appreciated:
------------------------------------------------------
I don't quite understand the reason(s) for using a Greatsword. A bastard sword seems to do the same amount of damage when used two-handed (3d5), but also gives you the option of using it one-handed if e.g. you find a really great artifact shield.
I don't fully understand the reason behind making the "sides" strength bonus for a two-handed weapon be less than the bonus for a one-handed weapon (divisor of 1.5 rather than 1). If anything, it seems like strength should have *more* of an effect when smashing something with a two-handed blow. If I'm understanding the code correctly, right now if you have strength 4, a 4.0 pound bastard sword would do the same damage if wielded either one-handed or two-handed.
To harp on strength a bit more: it seems to be under-valued. I think that the strength number should be added to the melee (only) skill, just as dexterity is now.
I occasionally get the "charge" bonus when making a "flanking" attack. This seems unnecessarilly generous; I would think the charge bonus should be restricted to ATT_MAIN attacks only.
I would like to see the "notes" file expanded to include a notation when a player increases skill points, not just when they take an ability. Something like: "(Melee increased 2 points to 8)" or whatever format seems good. This would make reading other people's dumps on the ladder more instructive. I admit it would probably double the length of the notes, but the notes are pretty short.
I was clearing some rubble with an extremely heavy mattock, and I got the message: "You have trouble wielding such a heavy weapon." I found this odd since I did *not* recieve such a message when I was wielding that same mattock while attacking a Kemenrauko. I looked around a bit, and it appears that the flag "heavy_wield" is checked in a couple of places, and set to FALSE in one place, but is never set to TRUE anywhere in the code.
Regarding the "Inner Light" ability: I admit I don't have much experience with taking this ability, but if I understand it, Inner Light makes it easier to see monsters that generate "unnatural darkness" (e.g. shadow worms) ? It seems like Inner Light should also counter the effects of the *player* generating unnatural darkness, i.e. negate the light penalty of using a shadow cloak.
There doesn't seem to be any "Will" ability that resists fear. This seems odd, since that seems like the most natural thing for Will to resist. Resist Fear should be tacked on somewhere; at the very least, "Majesty" ought to include Resist Fear.
The "smithing" exploratory mode ought to behave as if you knew all the smithing skills, so the player could look at all the options and costs of everything they might possibly create.
When selecting something from the 3rd column during smithing, the cursor position is not correctly updated (at least, in the "curses" version). The correct 3rd-column entry is highlighted in color, but the cursor itself remains on the previous column.
The guarenteed 1st forge should probably be forced to have 3 uses. This would prevent people from re-starting the game repeatedly until they get a 4-use forge (or at least until they don't get a 2 use forge).
The cost of forging poison arrows seems too high. It seems like a batch of 24 should only cost 1 strength, rather than 2.
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