Sil: What are your least liked features of Sil?

[Patashu]

If the intent behind 'Gorged' is to make there be a downside to guzzling lots of potions and herbs, why not separate it from hunger (which is, after all, an orthogonal issue), and have some kind of 'Potiondrunk' (for lack of a better word) status, which comes on if you've drunk/eaten too many potions/herbs recently, stops the consumption of more (or makes them weaker?) and goes away when the hidden counter dips back below a threshold?

[BrewFall]

What about a command to induce vomiting?

[Infinitum]

Yes, but it's such a non-factor in gameplay otherwise its very easy to overlook unless one has experienced it, or have been explicitly warned of it beforehand. The underlying mechanic being mentioned in a accompanying text document doesn't really recitify that.

[taptap]

Hmm. The Gorged status? The only place it has ever been an issue to me is in the throne room (what with the excessive buffing and near-constant consumption of Rage Herbs and Healing items), yet it's ridiculously dangerous in that one context. Optimal play being hungry on the 1000' descent is opaque and unintuitive to unspoiled players, and removing it entirely wouldn't impact the game otherwise.

Does spoiled / unspoiled really apply? It is explained in the manual after all.

[Infinitum]

Hmm. The Gorged status? The only place it has ever been an issue to me is in the throne room (what with the excessive buffing and near-constant consumption of Rage Herbs and Healing items), yet it's ridiculously dangerous in that one context. Optimal play being hungry on the 1000' descent is opaque and unintuitive to unspoiled players, and removing it entirely wouldn't impact the game otherwise.

[Psi]

Another minor one about the display. The dark colour of a down shaft & an un-lit stair case are the same (or look the same to me). I can get round it with the look command, but a more obvious differentiation would be nice.

+1 to that.

[wobbly]

Another minor one about the display. The dark colour of a down shaft & an un-lit stair case are the same (or look the same to me). I can get round it with the look command, but a more obvious differentiation would be nice.

Edit: & is it my imagination or does a target for thrown weapons remain targeted after it moves out of throwing range. Seems to happen a lot for me with spears & str 1 characters.

[debo]

Big weapons and fighting them around corners are definitely advised. If you have 49HP and any defenses whatsoever, you should probably be able to flee around a corner and then take a few chances at sneaking back and hitting them. It's much worse when they find you in the middle of some other melee

[taptap]

I like sword spiders a lot, although (because?) they kill me quite often especially with Naugrim or other low dexterity builds. My main tactics against them are ranged attacks (and doors and corners) even with dedicated melee fighters, a single thrown spear that connects before you go into melee can easily make the difference. Distended spiders can be hairy in melee as well, but they are even easier archery targets due to lower speed.

[half]

Sword spiders are certainly an outlier spike in the melee combat difficulty curve, at 150 ft. And they are very very common. If I had to guess at their theoretical game design purpose, I'd guess that they're designed to teach the player that some monsters should be avoided rather than fought. Which is why they're designed to be avoidable. But the cases where they're not, can be pretty frustrating.

The main design goals were to have a difficult creature, an interesting lone quick creature (most are in packs), to make spiders noticeable since they are so important in the lore. I think they are the most difficult creature for their depth (though some people have more trouble with orc archers). When I see them, I stop, take my hands off the keyboard and think. That is as intended. One additional technique to deal with them is a good attack. They have terrible protection (1d4) and not that much health (12d4).

[BlueFish]

Sword spiders are certainly an outlier spike in the melee combat difficulty curve, at 150 ft. And they are very very common. If I had to guess at their theoretical game design purpose, I'd guess that they're designed to teach the player that some monsters should be avoided rather than fought. Which is why they're designed to be avoidable. But the cases where they're not, can be pretty frustrating.

[wobbly]

As of right now, Sword Spiders. The combination of speed, accuracy and high (albeit random) damage means encountering one is essentially a tossup, esp. if it jumps you in the darkness away from corners. Just had one jump a Fingolfin warrior and happily chew through not only the full 49 Hp but 3 Orcish Liqours to boot without much I could do about it.

Fuckers are like the thunderdome on eight legs s'all I'm saying.

Playing high protection by any chance? I find they'll punch straight through mail of protection & a kite shield pretty easily if your evasion is too low. High evasion & high melee seems to work well on them. Best is a good light (or keen senses) & either a bow or stealth+a closed door. I tend to find that only 1 or 2 extra pts in melee/evasion or the right item(doriath weapon for instance) is the difference between very nasty & very easy for sword spiders.

[Infinitum]

As of right now, Sword Spiders. The combination of speed, accuracy and high (albeit random) damage means encountering one is essentially a tossup, esp. if it jumps you in the darkness away from corners. Just had one jump a Fingolfin warrior and happily chew through not only the full 49 Hp but 3 Orcish Liqours to boot without much I could do about it.

Fuckers are like the thunderdome on eight legs s'all I'm saying.

[BlueFish]

Re the original topic, I feel that violet molds add a decidedly irritating, unfun aspect to the game. Actually they're most of the reason I haven't played Sil in ages.

In my personal copy, I made violet molds glow, so you can see them in the dark. This balances them pretty well IMO. If you want to do this, go into lib\edit\monster.txt and change the last number in the I: line for Violet molds from 0 to 1.

[BlueFish]

I am a bit puzzled that there is advocacy for 4 lb curved sword for rare 4 STR builds unwilling to invest in melee and evasion (extreme niche build?)

I have no idea why you'd characterize it that way. This isn't special pleading in service of some strange build. It's an extension of an established design principle - no randomness, but rather fixed average stats, for things at the start that people might find "optimal" to start over for.

but none for a humble spear (which would make the start a bit more equal for strong and weak alike).

That would be a separate issue, but you're free to advocate for it.