svn branch

[Pete Mack]

I decided the time was right to give the latest svn branch a whirl, so I rolled up a nice High-Elf Warrior. So far:
* Starting with 5000 GP (effectively) is just too much. (I ended up with AC 16, a Main Gauche +4, and stacks of ?Phase, !CSW, !oil, and ?detect stairs/doors, and was rolling through unique kobolds and orcs without noticing them.)
* Ordinary armor is actually useful now. (Augmented chain mail [42,+0] means I can fight Khim and the like without worrying about disenchantment.)
* Bonus AC means that strengthened Rings of Reckless Attacks are a no-brainer. I bought mine--(+4,+5)[-14]--in the black market, without a second thought.
* A "good" feeling at 1400', with a mumak wandering around left me with a happy feeling. Of course, taking it in melee at cl 20 made me happier still:
Welcome to dl 21
Welcome to dl 22
(Cambeleg at 600', AC 65 and Reckless Attacks helped too.)

Character dump

[Derakon]

The extra value of armor is a known problem. Rings of Reckless Attacks will need a nastier AC malus, though.

[Magnate]

The extra value of armor is a known problem. Rings of Reckless Attacks will need a nastier AC malus, though.

... and warriors don't get to start with chainmail. Fixing that now!

[Pete Mack]

... and warriors don't get to start with chainmail. Fixing that now!

Thx. That was just a crazy start! (Though I admit it was fun, just this once.)

[PowerDiver]

* Ordinary armor is actually useful now. (Augmented chain mail [42,+0] means I can fight Khim and the like without worrying about disenchantment.)

Doesn't that mean the AC change is broken? The point of Khim et al is that you are supposed to be afraid to melee them at their native depth.

Speaking of which, for balance purposes, shouldn't all monster AC be increased by 30% or so? However much player AC goes up proportionally wielding Celeborn + Anarion in a typical endgame kit.

[ewert]

I think this general AC change should go hand-in-hand with warrior class getting +1% armor every 2 class levels. (+25% max at clvl 50)

[Pete Mack]

@Eddie-
Actually, I was a bit afraid of Khim: I took of Cambeleg while I fought him. Otherwise, I didn't have any equipment I cared about. Nevertheless, he didn't disenchant much.

[PowerDiver]

* Starting with 5000 GP (effectively) is just too much.

If the value pricing I hate so much is here to stay, I think the time has come to get rid of birth_money as an option and make it mandatory. Put MB1 and PB1 into the general store so casters are guaranteed to have them available to start the game.

[Derakon]

Mm, I don't agree. It's good for newbies to start out with some vaguely sane gear already equipped. Otherwise they're liable to spend several lives dying before realizing that combat is hard because they're butt-naked.

However, the different classes should start with roughly equivalent total value in starting gear. We could change things so that the starting gear is debited from their starting cash. For example, you start with 600 AU, then the game automatically buys you a shortsword, some soft leather armor, some torches, some rations, the first mage book, and a scroll of Word of Recall, out of that account. You get to keep whatever money is left after those purchases are made.

This would have the side-effect that charismatic characters would start with slightly more money.

[PowerDiver]

Mm, I don't agree. It's good for newbies to start out with some vaguely sane gear already equipped. Otherwise they're liable to spend several lives dying before realizing that combat is hard because they're butt-naked.

The problem is that every time the valuation model gets tweaked, you can no longer use the gear you coded last time. You're right about it being bad for newbies. I guess I don't have a solution.

[Pete Mack]

Additional points:
* removing heavy curses seems too easy. I accidentally wielded Calris, but no problem: a stack of 9 Enchant Weapon to_dam solved that.
* Rods of Trap Detection are strangely rare. (I've found one all game, around 3000'.)
* I am finding lots of artifacts, early, almost all useful and many endgame. Maybe I'm just lucky, but still:

     39341    600'   12   Found The Set of Leather Gloves 'Cambeleg'
    106656   1300'   19   Found The Phial of Galadriel
    151507   1650'   25   Found The Dagger 'Narthanc' (LOST)
    160388   1700'   26   Found The Soft Leather Armour 'Hithlomir'
    206817   1900'   28   Found The Set of Leather Gloves 'Cammithrim'
    208354   1950'   28   Found The Morning Star 'Firestar'
    252024   2150'   29   Found The Iron Helm of Dor-Lomin
    295648   2300'   31   Found The Pair of Leather Boots of Wormtongue
    304551   2350'   31   Found The Bastard Sword 'Calris'
    347772   2850'   33   Found The Short Bow of Amras
    355209   2950'   33   Found The Short Sword 'Dagmor'
    355217   2950'   33   Found The Pair of Leather Boots 'Dal-i-thalion'
    361111   2950'   34   Found The Spear of Orome
    361232   2950'   34   Found The Halberd 'Osondir

I've obviously used Cambeleg and Dorlomin(!), of course. Also, fire immunity at 1950'(!).
Also: Wormtongue, Calris, Dal-i-thalion(!), Orome, Hithlomir, Galadriel. That is 9/14--way, way higher than I am accustomed to.

[PowerDiver]

Additional points:
* removing heavy curses seems too easy. I accidentally wielded Calris, but no problem: a stack of 9 Enchant Weapon to_dam solved that.

It was usually not hard to uncurse Calris.

Would you prefer to revert to resting 10K gameturns on DL1 4 or 5 times to collect enough enchant to_hit to break the curse?

[d_m]

I think you got lucky. My current gnome warrior game on r2025 has only found 4 artifacts in 423k turns so far (I'm currently clevel 32 and at 2900'):

    299760   1700'   26   Found The Phial of Galadriel
    354942   2150'   29   Found The Steel Helm of Hammerhand
    378770   2350'   30   Found The Dagger 'Narthanc'
    406589   2600'   31   Found The Set of Leather Gloves 'Cammithrim'

[Pete Mack]

@d_m:
Or else you got unlucky. Ouch!
Also:
* I'm liking the new archery. (Bard does 320 vs Dragons with Seeker arrows. That seems quite fair.)
* Plenty of ego ammo; not so much choice in launchers.
* Do damage rings top out at +9? (I've found several, all +9.)
* 4000': Found 3 BoChaos in same small vault, and 5 in game. Big 3 weapons are much more common than they used to be.

[Sirridan]

@Pete, I found a +11 =damage