Monster friend/friends flags

[CunningGabe]

There are currently monster flags FRIEND and FRIENDS. Except FRIEND isn't used by any monster in monster.txt, and monster generation doesn't seem to take it into account. Was this flag previously used? If so, why in particular was it removed?

[takkaria]

There are currently monster flags FRIEND and FRIENDS. Except FRIEND isn't used by any monster in monster.txt, and monster generation doesn't seem to take it into account. Was this flag previously used? If so, why in particular was it removed?

As far as I know it's a Ben-ism going back to 2.7.something. I doubt any monsters ever did have it and it'll just be something Ben didn't get round to implementing.

[CunningGabe]

Do you (and/or others) think it would be worthwhile to more explicitly control pack size? I see that the way things are currently set up, pack sizes are random and depend only on the difference between the monster's native level and the current dungeon level (so that monsters appearing deeper than their native depth are in larger packs, and monsters appearing shallower than their native depth are in smaller packs.) It might be nice to have a finer control here; we could add an optional line similar to the new M line in object.txt, specifying that we should create XdY of these monsters at a time. That way we can tune the pack size of different monsters differently, and we can even create small packs of tougher monsters if we like.

[Nick]

There are currently monster flags FRIEND and FRIENDS. Except FRIEND isn't used by any monster in monster.txt, and monster generation doesn't seem to take it into account. Was this flag previously used? If so, why in particular was it removed?

It is currently used in O/FA for monsters that come in pairs (or occasionally threes). I rather like the idea of having pack size in monster.txt - in fact, I'm tempted to do that for FA040 (although I'm also tempted to finish 040 in this lifetime).

[takkaria]

Do you (and/or others) think it would be worthwhile to more explicitly control pack size? I see that the way things are currently set up, pack sizes are random and depend only on the difference between the monster's native level and the current dungeon level (so that monsters appearing deeper than their native depth are in larger packs, and monsters appearing shallower than their native depth are in smaller packs.) It might be nice to have a finer control here; we could add an optional line similar to the new M line in object.txt, specifying that we should create XdY of these monsters at a time. That way we can tune the pack size of different monsters differently, and we can even create small packs of tougher monsters if we like.

It's a nice idea, but I don't think xdy style dice are a good idea; something closer to the way monster HP is dealt with would be good (average number around which there is some randomisation).

[will_asher]

I use the FRIEND flag for pairs in DaJAngband and also added FRIEND1 which makes smaller groups than FRIENDS.