Stealth

[Antoine]

Hello

Please can someone be so kind as to explain, or point me to an explanation of, how stealth works in V?

Ie what actions make noise, how much noise causes mobs to wake up, and is there any other way for mobs to wake?

Would be much obliged
A.

[Nick]

This

	/* Apply Skill -- Extract noise from stealth */
	state->noise = (1L << (30 - state->skills[SKILL_STEALTH]));

and this

		/* Anti-stealth */
		notice = randint0(1024);

		/* Hack -- See if monster "notices" player */
		if ((notice * notice * notice) <= p_ptr->state.noise) {
			d = 1;

			/* Wake up faster near the player */
			if (m_ptr->cdis < 50) d = (100 / m_ptr->cdis);

			/* Still asleep */
			if (m_ptr->m_timed[MON_TMD_SLEEP] > d) {
				/* Monster wakes up "a little bit" */
				mon_dec_timed(m_ptr, MON_TMD_SLEEP, d , MON_TMD_FLG_NOMESSAGE,
					FALSE);

				/* Notice the "not waking up" */
				if (m_ptr->ml && !m_ptr->unaware) {
					/* Hack -- Count the ignores */
					if (l_ptr->ignore < MAX_UCHAR)
						l_ptr->ignore++;
				}
			} else {
				/* Reset sleep counter */
				woke_up = mon_clear_timed(m_ptr, MON_TMD_SLEEP,
					MON_TMD_FLG_NOMESSAGE, FALSE);

				/* Notice the "waking up" */
				if (m_ptr->ml && !m_ptr->unaware) {
					/* Dump a message */
					msg("%s wakes up.", m_name);

					/* Hack -- Update the health bar */
					if (p_ptr->health_who == m_ptr) p_ptr->redraw |= (PR_HEALTH);

					/* Hack -- Count the wakings */
					if (l_ptr->wake < MAX_UCHAR)
						l_ptr->wake++;
				}
			}
		}

[Antoine]

Very simple then - to avoid waking a monster up, wear stealth kit and try to stay a long distance from it?

This could be improved on I think.

Do variants have more complex stealth/noise systems?

A.

[Patashu]

Do variants have more complex stealth/noise systems?

Sil has a complex Stealth system, and it also explains everything about how stealth and noise works in the manual and tutorial.

[wobbly]

Sanband & Dajangband are 2 others. Dajangband has some sort of perception systems where monsters hide as well & lots of mimics. It's interesting but I struggled to get very far without some part of the dungeon eating my characters.

[Nick]

O/FA have a noise flow map which allows monsters to chase the player by sound (in the same way as update_smell in Quickband allows them to chase the player by smell). The amount of noise made by the player is also dependent not just on stealth, but on noisy activities (like digging).

[Antoine]

You would think it would be good to get some of this into V.

A.

[Nick]

You would think it would be good to get some of this into V.

Not if I want to maintain my competitive advantage

[scud]

Piggyback question: did stealth get stealthier between 3.3.2 and 3.4.1? In the couple of games I've had that have gone beyond CL25 I've consistently felt far sneakier than I should be...

[Derakon]

Not to my knowledge. Maybe you've just been playing innately stealthier characters? Or getting lucky with speed items; speed effectively makes you stealthier since the monsters get fewer turns to be disturbed in before you encounter them.

[scud]

Not to my knowledge...

Must just be my perception of events, then. Both games have been dwarven priests, so innate stealth is a modest +1. The current character is enhanced to an 'excellent' +8 stealth and has a base speed of +30 so is probably beyond caring, but not that long ago was a 'good' +4 with a sub+20 speed and even then could carve out pretty patterns in gaggles of barbazu etc etc. Earlier on in the game, when first encountering dreads and without enhancement to either stealth or speed, they seemed to take rather a lot of coaxing out of the brickwork.

Not that Stumbo is complaining, obviously.