Angband 3.1.0 beta released

[Pete Mack]

@npp: 4gai does not mix well with V for another reason. It is common to use attenuated breath damage to kill big breathers in NPP. Taking them on at close range with 4gai is just about impossible; taking them on in V is both possible yet still dangerous. I once killed Huan in NPP as a no-rSharda rogue with a sling, ordinary ammo, and CLW spell. This just isn't feasible in V; similarly the Tarrasque is far more dangerous in V than NPP, but would be impossible in NPP withilout attenuation.

[Antoine]

@npp: 4gai does not mix well with V for another reason. It is common to use attenuated breath damage to kill big breathers in NPP. Taking them on at close range with 4gai is just about impossible; taking them on in V is both possible yet still dangerous. I once killed Huan in NPP as a no-rSharda rogue with a sling, ordinary ammo, and CLW spell. This just isn't feasible in V; similarly the Tarrasque is far more dangerous in V than NPP, but would be impossible in NPP withilout attenuation.

Can we expect attenuation in V in the medium term?

A.

[takkaria]

Can we expect attenuation in V in the medium term?

A.

Not thought about it yet—monster AI is a long way down my list of priorities.

[Pete Mack]

Not thought about it yet—monster AI is a long way down my list of priorities.

Glad to hear it. I play V more than NPP now because of the more dangerous breath attacks. But I don't think I'd like it if 4GAI were added; big breathers would be too overwhelming.

[Antoine]

Glad to hear it. I play V more than NPP now because of the more dangerous breath attacks.

LOL. I understand what you mean - but it's funny to think that you enjoy copping a 600 HP nether breath in the face!!

A.

[takkaria]

If you're finding the 3.1 release a little bit buggy, then there are nightly compiles available which fix a fair few of the bugs. I don't recommend people try the nightlies all the time, but in particular these versions have a bunch of bugs fixed:

http://rephial.org/nightlies/angband-r1122.zip (Windows)
http://beent.je/macangbandnightly/cu...-r1123-osx.dmg (OS X)

Be warned, if you're playing the competition, you shouldn't play this version, because it has a gameplay change which makes jewelery get inscribed with {excellent} on wield if it obviously modifies your stats. Many thanks for these bug fixes to Stefan O'Rear and GabeCunningham.

Bugs fixed:
(#62) Game is now available entirely under the GPL.
(#521, #597, #635) Stop the slow launches and occasional non-launches on Windows.
(#613) Prevent {!*} prompting for harmless actions.
(#672) Fix Evenstar activation message.
(#641) Fix Morgoth artifacts.
(#683) Fix !Berserk Strength being unsellable.
(#691) Make of Open Wounds similar to ther pval-less rings in that it doesn't need ID.
(#694) Fix dropped rods recharging, and any other rod-related oddities.
(#698) Added '!' to 'R' prompt to rest until mana or hp are full.
(#721) Searching bonues are now displayed as a % increase to match the character screen.
(#738) Add messages for unidentified obviouslly {excellent} items.
(#740, partial #532) Color-code monster melee attacks by how dangerous they are to the current player.
(#741) Stop generating spurious staircases under the player on recall/teleport.
(#730) Mention control+[ANU] in mosnter recall '/' prompt.
(#725) *Remove Curse* now removes all curses again.
Fix bug with rods of treasure location needing ID.
Fix birth_money so that in point-based it still gives you 500AU.
Make the {excellent}-on-wield check work for jewelery too.
Make the object knowledge list sort some items by sval rather than alphabetically.
Items trying to be dropped on the floor now attempt to delete the oldest item on that grid that's been squelched.

[Pete Mack]

Additional bugs, 3.1.0

1. With *ID* eliminated, you shouldn't charge the base price in stores for ego items. In particular:
A Crown of Magi {ESP}
shouldn't cost less than
A Helm of Telepathy

With full ID, ego item values need to include the randart valuation of the hidden power.

2. Destroy command for multiple objects should accept a _valid_ numeric (or '*') response without further validation ('y' is redundant.)

3. 100% disarm and 100 disarm are NOT the same. (100% disarm is around 150, IIRC.)

4. Drops of wimpy monsters and drops of good monsters are indistinguishable at depth. Just cleared an orc pit at dl 69 and got Hammerhand, Rohirrim, Dal-i-Thalion, a Holy Avenger (+3), and no stat potions. Killing a Bile Demon got a junk-ego item.

BTW: having the max spell fail rate at 50% is a good improvement.

[PowerDiver]

1. With *ID* eliminated, you shouldn't charge the base price in stores for ego items. In particular:
A Crown of Magi {ESP}
shouldn't cost less than
A Helm of Telepathy

With full ID, ego item values need to include the randart valuation of the hidden power.

2. Destroy command for multiple objects should accept a _valid_ numeric (or '*') response without further validation ('y' is redundant.)

3. 100% disarm and 100 disarm are NOT the same. (100% disarm is around 150, IIRC.)

4. Drops of wimpy monsters and drops of good monsters are indistinguishable at depth. Just cleared an orc pit at dl 69 and got Hammerhand, Rohirrim, Dal-i-Thalion, a Holy Avenger (+3), and no stat potions. Killing a Bile Demon got a junk-ego item.

BTW: having the max spell fail rate at 50% is a good improvement.

Prices never made any sense. E.g. a 1d4 dagger of slay evil is clearly worth less than a 2d4 dagger with the same plusses but no ego. Half the problem can be eliminated with no selling ... IMO the stores are just a lottery on anything besides staples, so I don't worry overmuch about the prices they charge. OTOH, there is an additional advantage to calling the randart evaluator to determine pricing. The more visibly it is used, the more likely annoyed users might chip in to design a better evaluator and the easier to notice bugs.

The change in monster drops to max(dLvl, mLvl) rather than avg(dLvl,mLvl) was an attempt to address TMJ. but perhaps a much more severe reduction in drops for shallow monsters is required. Drops are ridiculously good right now.

I think there is no cure for TMJ and everyone should embrace squelching and try to redesign to facilitate better squelch paradigms. However, I would be overjoyed to be proved wrong. It is worth going through a few crazy iterations trying to address the problem by mucking with drops.

[Pete Mack]

@eddie-
For most stuff I agree, but the difference between a Crown of Magi and Helm of Telepathy is ~100K gp in the black market. This is a big advantage if there's no longer a hidden feature.

[Magnate]

@eddie-
For most stuff I agree, but the difference between a Crown of Magi and Helm of Telepathy is ~100K gp in the black market. This is a big advantage if there's no longer a hidden feature.

FWIW, I am planning to implement a call to the artifact evaluation code to calculate the power (and therefore price) of an ego item. I agree with Eddie that it is high time the discussion on evaluating items was reopened.

Incidentally this should mean that a Crown of Magi ends up costing more than a Helm of Telepathy, because of its other boni.

CC

[Dragonboneman]

I finally got round to playing this version enough to start finding artifacts. I have to say I LOVE the fact that *ID* has been abolished.

[Zikke]

I finally got round to playing this version enough to start finding artifacts. I have to say I LOVE the fact that *ID* has been abolished.

Me too

[Pete Mack]

BUG: Grond appears as 3d9

I just noticed in this dump:

http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=8723

that Grond (unIDed, at least), appears as 3d9.
Is this intentional?

EDIT: fixed link

[Zikke]

If wearing a Ring of Flame [+12] increases armor by 12 and also brands your weapon with fire, how much extra fire damage does it do? When I equip the ring, it doesn't change the inspection of the weapon to tell me how much extra damage it's doing.

Does it do the same amount of damage as it gives armor? i.e. +12 dmg from a [+12] ring?

Is a Ring of Flame that gives +12 damage better than wearing a Ring of Damage +12 for any reason?

[Big Al]

You get +12 to armour and do three times the damage to non-fire-resistant creatures (similar to most other slays). It really should update the weapon damage screen though. So, the Ring of Flame is most likely better than the ring of damage. (As far as I know...)