What Eddie Plays

[Pete Mack]

Yup, the hounds made the dungeon somewhat dangerous, and they were an in-game method of encouraging players not to mindlessly clear levels. Obviously that sort of game mechanic doesn't belong.

Going to have to disagree. It doesn't take nearly so many hounds to be discouraging. The difference is it is less tedious to get thru when you really need to. If you want to make them more challenging, do it with better AI, not ridiculously large groups. (I used to pick up well over 100k EXP from a single pack of chaos or ethereal hounds. Just over the top.)

[fizzix]

Yup, the hounds made the dungeon somewhat dangerous, and they were an in-game method of encouraging players not to mindlessly clear levels. Obviously that sort of game mechanic doesn't belong.

Come on. You and I both know what kind of game play hounds in 3.0.x produced. Every single level you had to sit around the corner and wait for each hound to individually poke its head around so you can snipe it. It's not fun, it's tedious. The only difficulty it really introduced was in overcoming the urge to just quit the game and play something else.

Not only that, the hounds didn't even successfully serve the purpose of forcing players to descend. They just forced players not to hang out in specific ranges of levels where they were the most common.

[PowerDiver]

it was just hounds everywhere. They'd wreck your gear and never dropped anything to compensate.

Yup, the hounds made the dungeon somewhat dangerous, and they were an in-game method of encouraging players not to mindlessly clear levels. Obviously that sort of game mechanic doesn't belong.

[Bogatyr]

Well after killing a very promising clev 30 hobbit mage (The Shadow casts a nether bolt -- More -- You Die) who was just starting to gain stat gain momentum, I decided to try human mage. The trade off of a couple more strength points and definitely more hit points and slightly faster leveling for a few less mana and spells per level is a pretty good one (after I walked in to a few floating eyes on dlev 1 several times, doh). Found a ring of See Invisible in the BM so "G"'s shouldn't be an issue now. A chest produced an early !Strength which gave me 2, so lots of breathing room and inv weight flexibility now.

[fizzix]

Hound packs are bigger, so more breaths. This is one change I think v4 gets really right.

All grouped monsters are bigger, but hounds specifically were more frequent also. The 20s was the worst place to be in 3.0.6 because it was just hounds everywhere. They'd wreck your gear and never dropped anything to compensate. The best strategy (as I remember) was to quickly get down to the 30s where you can both find stat potions, and the elemental hounds were a bit less frequent, and then you can scum the 30s if you choose.

The problem with the hounds wasn't as much a difficulty problem as much as a tedium problem. They made the game difficult but in a not fun way. I'm glad there are less of them.

[Pete Mack]

The spell frequency is the same. If you take longer killing a monster he will get in more spells--which happens because there's no scaled damage from magic devices. Starting Mage is really not a lot of fun in 3.0.x. Other classes are significantly stronger in the early game.

Hound packs are bigger, so more breaths. This is one change I think v4 gets really right.

[Bogatyr]

I have to say, 3.0.9b is really kicking my ass. The monsters all seem harder, more deadlier, the good drops at least below dlev 25 are few and far between (as in, practically nowhere to be seen), everything is super expensive (I play low charisma chars), and mage is way, way harder with the high mana cost attack spells. It seems that hounds breathe much more frequently as well.

Starting a mage is much harder since the point roller leaves a really puny STR after going for 18/50 INT. But it definitely results in an interesting, challenging game. It's not so much inventory management as weight management. That Great Axe of Westernesse is gathering dust at home and may be destined for the weapons shop if the shopkeeper ever changes away from the (5000) guy. An even -1 speed is deadly with the (apparently) more difficult monsters (druids are beasts: they haste-self AND summon like mad), so keeping an eye on weight is key.

It definitely is taking some adjustment. For one thing, as a consolation, sleep/confuse/slow all work with a much higher frequency (at least against orcs), and are indeed a major part of the mage's arsenal, as I recall from years before. I stopped using them in recent builds since the success rate became much lower. It is annoying that the mage can't rely on his attack spells to finish off fights, because he is still a crappy melee fighter. And arrows are so heavy and costly to enchant! I really miss the potions of Intellect: getting to an early 0% spell fail rate was key in my recent builds diving strategy. I've had to really slow my dive in the mid-20's just to stay alive, and pick fights and scenarios much more carefully. Combination management is key: a lowly tengu combined with dark hounds can kill a mage fast!

But it does keep me coming back. And I'm not even trying ironman or any other restrictions.

[Pete Mack]

BOTH my computers had bad updates recently. I will look in to this after I get at least one of them straightened out. (Windows 10 reset failed on one (which I am still using via the command line in a painful way); the other needs a full ISO to upgrade from a totally wedged Windows 8 install..which I need to download on a work machine or something.

[PowerDiver]

Competition 198!

Mail me eddiegrove@hotmail.com and I'll send you the address of the guy I gave the code to. Perhaps you can get him make an executable for you.

I've never compiled for windows. In addition, my one machine with windows is dual-boot and some combination of automatic updates has made things so that it is a real pain to get to windows. With those two obstacles, I don't have the energy to try.

[Antoine]

You've got problems son.

Based on his other recent posts i'd say he's well aware of that...

A.

[nikheizen]

Be jealous of what I play and won't share.

You will be jealous.

I offered the code to the guy who invited me back.

Seems like you've already shared and our inevitable jealousness didn't prevent you from doing so.

[clouded]

You've got problems son.

[debo]

Competition 198!

If somebody "builds" it, I'm happy to setup a comp of this.

[PowerDiver]

Competition 198!

I offered the code to the guy who invited me back. If he can release an executable without the code, I won't be offended.

I love you Pete, but as long as you work with the 3.1+ dev team, you are dead to me and I won't share code with you.

[PowerDiver]

Squelched restores become visible when the corresponding stat is drained.

No destroy command, only squelch, and 'K' toggles hiding squelched objects.

I implemented perfect squelch. Squelch any particular item in the game, and everything it dominates is squelched. In addition, options for lesser weight or added bonuses. So if you invoke squelch on a mace (2d4) (+0, +0) you are also given the option to squelch a dagger (2d4) (+0,+0) along with a dagger (2d4) (+15, +15) [I think, I don't remember the plusses any more]. More boring, can squelch =con+5 without squelching =con+6 etc.

I also automated learning stuff. So if I find an unsquelched item that drains str, that means I still need to learn something that restores str, and so it would be wise to consume the str drain. And if you are wearing a str restore when you eat the needed str drain, you yell D'Oh.