Poll: changes to zephyr hounds

[Magnate]

I thought polling this issue might be a good idea. I've tried to keep it simple: no change, a little, a lot, or remove them entirely.

[The Sparrow]

I wasn't sure how to vote. I think the problem with hounds is a combination of how common they are and how many there are. I get dungeon levels where I cant do anything because there are a half dozen packs of different hounds, all with 20 or 30 hounds, that my character cant deal with, and really has no place to run except to stairscum. And I dont like doing that.

I guess I will go with increase their rarity. I almost went with slimming the packs down instead, but then you dont need to run away usually.

[Donald Jonker]

I went with major nerfing, but my heart isn't wholly in it.

As it stands, a pack of zephyr hounds will compel you to leave the level, which isn't a big problem for me, as I have an itchy trigger finger when it comes to abandoning levels anyway.

The only way to remedy this would be to reduce pack size so that -telOther would be effective, which I can't imagine being a bad thing. There are enough reasons out there to leave a level as it is - removing one or leaving it in won't make too big a difference.

[Malak Darkhunter]

I think everybody knows how I feel, thanks for the poll Magnate, I wanted to start one, but I didn't know how to do it. There's been a lot of different opinions, and the issue needs to be addressed. Obviously I went with major nerfing.

[Jungle_Boy]

I picked minor tweaking. I don't really have a problem with hounds but it would be nice if it was slightly easier to get them to follow you into a corridor and maybe reduce the pack size a bit on some of the nastier ones.

[Atarlost]

I'm going to say axe them completely just for thematic reasons. They don't belong in Angband any more than Tiamat did.

[Pete Mack]

@Jungle_boy:
If you actually want to fight hounds, rather than evade them, you can turn of the "smart packs" birth option. They are easier to fight, and a little harder to evade. (I think they are less interesting that way too.)

Another point:
hounds are most prevalent in the 20s, because there are so many native hounds that they tend to swamp out other monsters. By the time you get to stat gain, dragons and other monsters have diluted their frequency by a lot.

If you MUST change hounds' frequency, it should only be the ones in the 20s. Note that this merely changes exploring the 20s from "strategically useless and actively annoying" to merely "strategically useless". I am not convinced it's a useful change.

[Donald Jonker]

I think there are two distinct threads and two distinct polls going on here..

One is what should be done with zephyr hounds.

The other is what should be done with hounds in general.

Unless I'm mistaken zephyr hounds are unique for being able to move through walls, and occur very late in the game, and are thus very different from your typical hounds.. so make sure you know what you're voting for/talking about, folks. The poll was about zephyr hounds only.

[will_asher]

I always turn off smart_packs. Hounds are way too annoying with it turned on. I voted for major nerfing. I definetly think they should be less common. Other than that, they should EIther be dumber OR significantly weaker.

about the 20s levels being strategically useless: I think it would be ideal if there were no set of levels in the game which were strategically useless. But how to make it that way, I don't know. In some effort to make it that way in DaJAngband, I made stat potions native to an earlier depth and made them slighly less common to spread out stat gain a little.

I thought all hounds in Angband were zephyr hounds (hence the "Z" symbol). Only the ethereal hounds can move through walls. I think you're thinking of a variant (or else thinking of wherever zephyr hounds came from).

[Pete Mack]

Unless I'm mistaken zephyr hounds are unique for being able to move through walls, and occur very late in the game, and are thus very different from your typical hounds.

Zephyr hounds is the official designation for hounds--take a look at the knowledge menu. The ones you are thinking of are ethereal hounds, and they are not very common; I usually see maybe two packs in a game.

[pav]

The hounds stay in the picture.

[Donald Jonker]

Zephyr hounds is the official designation for hounds--take a look at the knowledge menu. The ones you are thinking of are ethereal hounds, and they are not very common; I usually see maybe two packs in a game.

No kidding? My mistake. So that's why I couldn't find them in the spoiler tab.

I withdraw my vote (edit: which as for major nerfing) and previous comments (which pertained only to ethereal hounds).

No change to the hounds.

[Magnate]

No kidding? My mistake. So that's why I couldn't find them in the spoiler tab.

I withdraw my vote and previous comments.

No change to the hounds.

Sorry for the confusion - I meant to indicate clearly that the poll is about Zs, as opposed to canines in general (which includes hellhounds and other Cs).

CC

[Nick]

Hounds are ultra-annoying - and therefore should stay as they are.

EDIT: Hey, 1000th post.

[buzzkill]

I'm going to say axe them completely just for thematic reasons. They don't belong in Angband any more than Tiamat did.

Quite the opposite. Leave the hounds alone and bring on Tiamat and even more high demon uniques.