Sil-Q 1.5 beta, first release

[Quirk]

Full details up at https://github.com/sil-quirk/sil-q/r.../v1.5.0-beta1a, including a brief overview of changes; the most important is of course that this is the first official appearance of MicroChasm's new tileset.

Windows binaries are at https://github.com/sil-quirk/sil-q/r....5.0-beta1.zip.

Please download it and try it out.

[Zorbus]

The link asks to log into GitHub (I don't have an account).

Is it a compiled version?

[Quirk]

The link asks to log into GitHub (I don't have an account).

Is it a compiled version?

Apologies, I pasted the wrong link! I've edited, please try again now.

[HugoVirtuoso]

Oh snap. Though...Gwarl says we were supposed to have an Oposband compo first though

[Bill Peterson]

How is the Windows version built? Mingw, MSVC? I'll assume makefiles since I don't see any VC project files or anything hinting at Cmake. I see some Apple Xcode files, are you building a Windows application on a Mac?

[Quirk]

How is the Windows version built? Mingw, MSVC? I'll assume makefiles since I don't see any VC project files or anything hinting at Cmake. I see some Apple Xcode files, are you building a Windows application on a Mac?

Mingw. The Mac support is dead, as I have no access to a Mac, but all traces haven't been removed in case one of the occasional Mac lovers who wishes Mac support wants to put some time in to restore it.

[ussgordoncaptain]

Well now the plan on getting sub 2k turns before the next version won't happen. It was fun while it lasted though

[Infinitum]

Played around a bit with the tiles, looks great overall! Especially like the wolves. Do like the extra earlygame monsters as well. Did find a few angband weapons as well. Neat, although that's a lot of extra XP for the ealry-midgame? Has anything been changed/removed to compensate?

Removing Danger/Smithing bonuses was the right call, didn't really notice any cost reductions to compensate though? Artifact shortbows can still be imbued with resistances which makes them effectively a third jewelry slot for melee characters.

Haven't played around with the new abilities yet. How do the Oaths work? Do they straight up forbid you from certain actions or are the bonuses forfeit if you do or what?

[Quirk]

Played around a bit with the tiles, looks great overall! Especially like the wolves. Do like the extra earlygame monsters as well. Did find a few angband weapons as well. Neat, although that's a lot of extra XP for the ealry-midgame? Has anything been changed/removed to compensate?

Some of the more powerful egos are a good deal rarer now, and in particular the stat-boosting egos "Of Might" and "Of Resilience" are now mithril-only. Mid-game you may have more experience, but you're less likely to have that end-game-worthy stat point.

Removing Danger/Smithing bonuses was the right call, didn't really notice any cost reductions to compensate though? Artifact shortbows can still be imbued with resistances which makes them effectively a third jewelry slot for melee characters.

End-game smithing should be a little weaker, but early to mid-game should benefit from the guaranteed forges now being at 100, 300 and 500 and the greater variety of egos. I had the aid of some smiths very adept at breaking the game to test this in what was originally the 1.4.3-beta before tiles entered the picture.

Haven't played around with the new abilities yet. How do the Oaths work? Do they straight up forbid you from certain actions or are the bonuses forfeit if you do or what?

The bonuses are forfeit if you do; however you will be warned when taking an action that will violate an active Oath and need to confirm you are willing to break the Oath before going through with it.

[Infinitum]

Got a few games in with the new tiles. Stupid deaths midgameish so far, pretty rusty.

Scatha the Worm lacks a tile, making it invisible. Being under the effects of Rage also replaces enemy tiles with black boxes. The Whispering shadow blurb could perhaps use a editorial, the "sounds (voices?)" looks a bit rough.

[Quirk]

Got a few games in with the new tiles. Stupid deaths midgameish so far, pretty rusty.

Scatha the Worm lacks a tile, making it invisible. Being under the effects of Rage also replaces enemy tiles with black boxes. The Whispering shadow blurb could perhaps use a editorial, the "sounds (voices?)" looks a bit rough.

Hey thanks Infinitum, this sort of feedback is amazingly useful.

[Infinitum]

Glyphs of Warding also miss tiles. Don't suppose you have a known to do list? Otherwise can just keep mentioning what comes up.
EDIT: As do Shadows enemies, not sure if intentional though.
EDIT: Also, there are no uniquely colored artifacts in tiles (that I've seen yet). Not of great importance, but it does the player an edge using ASCII graphics.
EDIT: No tile for Silent Watcher

[Quirk]

Glyphs of Warding also miss tiles. Don't suppose you have a known to do list? Otherwise can just keep mentioning what comes up.
EDIT: As do Shadows enemies, not sure if intentional though.
EDIT: Also, there are no uniquely colored artifacts in tiles (that I've seen yet). Not of great importance, but it does the player an edge using ASCII graphics.
EDIT: No tile for Silent Watcher

Have opened three issues here:

https://github.com/sil-quirk/sil-q/issues

so it's publicly visible what's being tracked.

I probably will fix Whispering shadow text, but it's not changed since Sil so I'm not prioritising it, and unique artifacts are on the "would-be-nice" list, but it would be good to get the missing tiles fixed first.

[Infinitum]

Cool. Picking up ID'd ego items from skeletons erroneously displays them as (special).
EDIT: Not really a bug, but noticed many of the new items are kind of difficult to manually ID compared to Vanilla. Course, could be me not being used to the new ID metagame. Makes inventory managing somewhat frustrating in the midgame, even with Channeling and _Understanding. Not inding self knowledge either..
EDIT: Speaking of, Channeling doubles the effect of each _Recharging charge, making it effectively four times as efficient.
EDIT: Were blunt weapons changed? They no longer trivializes statues?
EDIT: Wolf-Hame of Drauglin tile is missing
EDIT: The inventory glow of slaying egos seems bugged, eg half the battle axe icon disappears when Dramborleg is close to raukar.
EDIT: Speaking of Hames; there are currently no acidproof non-artifact cloaks far as I can tell. I'd prefer if item decay was nixed altogether tbh, blundering into traps/horrors is just feels frustrating and gamey.
EDIT: Glaurung's tile kind of looks like it has wings, which it doesn't have in the lore (maybe swap it with Gostir).
EDIT: Mithril Greaves of Nogrod seems weird. Nogrod is a Dwarfen city, but all Mithril in Middle Earth was brought by the Noldor from the west (prior to Moria).
EDIT: Old exploit, but digging through walls with Mattocks of Belegost is usually more turn efficient than walking the long way around. Also trivializes chasms.
EDIT: Dragohir, the Elfbane's tile is missing.
EDIT: Galvor Armour tile is missing.
EDIT: Got a "you emerge even deeper in the dungeon" message whilstmoving from 950' to 900' (min depth 900')? (Was able to repeat it; doesn't show the message every time though).
EDIT: Got it wrong earlier, there is a tile for the silent watcher, only it looks more like a floating yellow eye and not like a statue? The original inspiration were the screaming Stone Chimeras during Sam's rescue of Frodo from the orc watchtower in the Return of the King iirc.

[Quirk]

Cool. Picking up ID'd ego items from skeletons erroneously displays them as (special).

Good catch. Might be a tricky one to figure out, and it's fairly minor so I might come back to it at a later point.

EDIT: Not really a bug, but noticed many of the new items are kind of difficult to manually ID compared to Vanilla. Course, could be me not being used to the new ID metagame. Makes inventory managing somewhat frustrating in the midgame, even with Channeling and _Understanding. Not inding self knowledge either..

Any particular items or types of items that you're finding this with? I think most weapons should still be fairly easy to ID.

EDIT: Speaking of, is _Recharging still in? I recall it recharging oher staves twice per charge with Channeling last version, which seemed unintentional.

Yes - largely this is because Channeling basically lets you use half charges, and Recharging recharges a full charge. Arguably this is a bit too good, but I'm planning a larger overhaul of consumables and it's probably still not as broken as Earthquakes was...

I'm thinking of having rebooted staffs be off-hand items that gain Focus depending on time spent and Perception skill, which can be spent on a variety of "Word of" abilities e.g. "Word of Opening" or "Word of Whetting". Focus will be a bit like spell points, and each staff will have a random assortment of abilities. It's a bit Gandalfy, and not very First-Agey, but it's much more Tolkienish than the limited-use consumable way staffs work currently and it incorporates the "word of command" and "spells of men and elves" in a way that makes staffs meaningful and doesn't overlap with songs. Quarterstaffs will then perish.

This is a ton of work though so it may not happen soon.

EDIT: Were blunt weapons changed? They no longer trivializes statues?

Yup, in 1.4.2, addressing feedback from Scatha. Sceptres got removed, and IIRC warhammers and quarterstaffs got buffs.

EDIT: Wolf-Hame of Drauglin tile is missing
EDIT: The inventory glow of slaying egos seems bugged, eg half the battle axe icon disappears when Dramborleg is close to raukar.

Great stuff, will raise issues.

EDIT: Speaking of Hames; there are currently no acidproof non-artifact cloaks far as I can tell. I'd prefer if item decay was nixed altogether tbh, blundering into traps/horrors is just feels frustrating and gamey.

Yeah I dislike acid too tbh, it's more the question of how to redo the enemies to make them somewhat interesting with a different mechanic. I come up with new mechanics every so often (met attercops yet?) so they will get the chop sometime.

EDIT: Glaurung's tile kind of looks like it has wings, which it doesn't have in the lore (maybe swap it with Gostir).

Will pass on to Microchasm.

EDIT: Mithril Greaves of Nogrod seems weird. Nogrod is a Dwarfen city, but all Mithril in Middle Earth was brought by the Noldor from the west (prior to Moria).

Well, the founding of Moria - Khazad-dum - comfortably predates the start of the First Age, and it grew wealthy from trading mithril. Did Telchar and Gamil Zirak have the chance to trade for and work Moria-silver? I'm happy to believe so.

EDIT: Dragohir, the Elfbane's tile is missing.
EDIT: Galvor Armour tile is missing.

Great, will update relevant issues.