Issues on current master

[Nomad]

Just downloaded 1782d7a and randart generation is now extremely slow. The first time I started a randart character the game hung so long at the end of character generation I shut the program down because I thought it had frozen. On subsequent tries it did eventually load the town after pauses of about 10-30 seconds.

ETA: randart.log is 66,854 kb for this game, compared to files of 2-6k generated in previous nightlies.

[PowerWyrm]

I don't mind waiting for the monster list, but I think once pathfinding has been worked out the changes that have gone in since 4.0.5 (sans status effects ) justify a new minor version.

Looking at the following list of changes (taken from my own changes.txt file from the list of changes implemented in PWMAngband since 4.0.5 up to Mar 16, 2017), I don't really think that's a *MINOR* version:

- Add ?? inscription for unknown runes
- Improve player screen object property grid
- Add rune knowledge screen
- Give messages on learning jewelry and ego types
- Remove trap detect edge
- Add shimmer to shimmering monsters
- Add flicker to blink dogs, phase spiders
- Make known to-dam/to-hit values appear when only one rune is learnt
- Remove text screen dumps
- Change monster names to appropriate English case
- Adopt some of James Doyle's suggestions from the forum (flavors)
- Don't notice brands on wield (only notice when hitting a monster susceptible to the brand)
- Transfer object knowledge on walkover
- Don't learn the flavor of jewelry with obvious properties until all of them are learned
- Remove IDENTIFY activation
- Remove staves and rods of Identify, scrolls of Identify still exist but are not sold in the Alchemy Shop anymore
- Remove IDENTIFY_PACK effect (from potions of *Enlightenment*)
- Remove pseudo-id
- Temporarily swap all stats around when hit by nexus in addition to teleporting
- Make dice and ac (runes) known at birth
- Make IDENTIFY effect (scroll + spell) identify an unknown rune on an item
- ID flavored consumables on first use
- Make basic lights and diggers have innate not magical properties
- Make *Slay*s have a random power or base resist
- Learn sustains if their item also boosts the stat
- Identify obvious effects on abort (IDENTIFY, RECHARGE...)
- Make devices that affect monsters require a target to ID
- Make standard body armor to-hit penalties not part of the to-hit rune
- Remove search command and searching status
- Remove search frequency skill
- Introduce trapsafe status and trap disabling, change trap destruction spells
- Secret doors only inside rooms
- Only set traps in corridors, replace some tunnel junction doors with traps
- Make door detection miss secret doors, generate many fewer secret doors
- Nomad's new template rooms with placed traps
- Split disarm skill to physical and magical
- Add new traps, improving effects where necessary
- Add rubble fall effect
- Allow summon effect to have an added out of depth element
- Change pit behaviour
- Make chests rarer and more valuable
- Add DRAIN_LIGHT effect
- New curses: defined by power (1 = easily breakable, 100 = permanent), to_a/to_h/to_d values, object flags/modifiers/elements, effect, tval
- New curse system: implement curses as runes, update object info and description, restore curse removal, allow branding of cursed items, know curses on wield (instead of pickup), turn cursed egos into curses, replace OF_TELEPORT with OF_NO_TELEPORT, redo teleportation jewelry as cursed
- Enable fizzix's probability tweaks from 2012
- Allow passable rubble in the dungeon
- Activate new dungeon profiles (modified, moria)
- Activate new room types (moria room, Interesting room, huge room, room of chambers)
- Activate new vault types
- Make lava passable and hurt the player
- Allow hot and cold projections to create or destroy lava
- Allow lava to appear in vaults
- Stop monsters from moving into lava, hurt them if they're pushed
- Weight slays and brands by fixed weights, adjust monster feelings
- Make player know all combat runes at birth
- Tone down greater vaults for non-classic profiles
- Adjust slays, brands and modifiers on randarts
- Some improvements to curses on randarts
- Distinguish between ratings for template rooms
- Remove "Find Traps, Doors & Stairs" spell (priest, paladin)
- Replace "Find Traps, Doors & Stairs" spell by "Detect Stairs" (rogue, ranger)
- Remove trap/door/stair detection from "Detection" spell (paladin)
- Remove trap/door/stair detection from CLAIRVOYANCE and DETECT_ALL activations
- Remove DETECT_TRAP and DETECT_DOORSTAIR activations
- Remove scrolls of Trap Detection and Door/Stair Location
- Remove trap/door/stair detection from potions of *Enlightenment*
- Move objects when lava is created
- Make stone to mud destroy passable rubble
- Reduce the supply of gold, in line with its value in older versions
- Make a hard cap of 6 on non-speed randart mods
- Curse a few randarts
- Adjust class and race searching skills
- Implement basic trap searching
- Add visibility ratings for traps
- Change create traps to radius 3, make created traps and vault traps only appear one in four times
- Add heal-other monster spell and low-level healer monster

And I left out all bugfixes and coding changes, which would add another page or two of changes...

[PowerWyrm]

From the old thread:


You are probably right, but I'm probably going to ignore that

Although I have just looked at my original plan post, and monster list is firmly under 4.2. I will consider further. What do others think?

That was just for selfish reasons, as I'm currently already revamping the monster list for PWMAngband (new monsters, tile remapping)... and after spending probably half of the last three weeks doing that, I've just completed dungeon level 40 and I have 87 more dungeon levels to go. Sigh...

[gameplay appreciator]

I have no plans at this point to remove teleport other or summoning. My feeling is that they support one of Angband's distinguishing features: things happen suddenly, and the player needs to react quickly.

It's true that instant deaths, monster removal, teleportation, and generation of large numbers of permanent monsters make angband different from other games.

[Nick]

Latest builds are up, with the following changes:

• Randarts are now restricted in power to 3/2 times the average for the slot, in an attempt to prevent overpowered lights, cloaks, etc. Please let me know how this seems to be going
• Secret doors now get properly dealt with on detection, preventing doors opening out of sight bug (thanks PowerWyrm)
• Fix buffer overrun in monster_flag_table (thanks t4nk)
• Potions of Enlightenment now detect rather than sense objects (PowerWyrm again)
• To-hit chance in monster memory is now correct
• Fix to "roll beneath your feet" message (thanks Pete for these last two)
• ssize_t replaced with int

[Sky]

does it? i was under the impression that light area always did the same size. (i dont really use it once i get ESP ..)

also: still finding ridiculously OOD items on a regular basis . Annihilation on DL3, rod of healing DL25 !!, two useful staves DL2, etc. too many drops. just had another westernesse dropped by a minor mob on DL25, and i found a freakin' amulet of trickery on DL21. these are all drops i have found since typing the post on page 3.

[Gwarl]

i'd like a buff to the light area spell. currently it can light up an entire cave, but when cast in a map area which the game doesnt see as "room", it only lights up a 3x3 square (1 in each direction). i'd like this to be buffed to 5x5 (2 in each direction), which is equivalent to a lantern.

Level up a bit, it gets better.

[Sky]

i'd like a buff to the light area spell. currently it can light up an entire cave, but when cast in a map area which the game doesnt see as "room", it only lights up a 3x3 square (1 in each direction). i'd like this to be buffed to 5x5 (2 in each direction), which is equivalent to a lantern.

[Gwarl]

From the old thread:


You are probably right, but I'm probably going to ignore that

Although I have just looked at my original plan post, and monster list is firmly under 4.2. I will consider further. What do others think?

I don't mind waiting for the monster list, but I think once pathfinding has been worked out the changes that have gone in since 4.0.5 (sans status effects ) justify a new minor version. In particular I think the new ID system and the curses are strokes of brilliance.

Although that does remind me, remove curse has some strange behaviour where you can remove unidentified curses sometimes and not others, which acts as a free pseudo-ID. I haven't been able to pinpoint the exact circumstances where this happens, but it's a wrinkle to be ironed out.

[Nick]

What we want to do is to give the player more meaningful options. This can be accomplished both by giving them more tools, and by taking tools that are too dominant away. For example, I believe all this is leading up to the removal of Teleport Other and other cheap unlimited teleportation.

(That will, incidentally, probably require removing some tools from monsters as well; mass- and chain-summoning being the most obvious problems)

I have no plans at this point to remove teleport other or summoning. My feeling is that they support one of Angband's distinguishing features: things happen suddenly, and the player needs to react quickly.

[Sky]

back to the bugs.

if i try to squelch a cursed weapon, such as Sword (+0,+0) [cursed] i will get the message "squelch all non artifact swords?" because the game sees the cursed sword as an Ego weapon.

[Nick]

From the old thread:

IMO the monster list revamp should be left out for 4.1, which already has a ton of new features, especially if it's gonna impact the list drastically.

You are probably right, but I'm probably going to ignore that

Although I have just looked at my original plan post, and monster list is firmly under 4.2. I will consider further. What do others think?

[Gwarl]

Two clarifications on the minor build issues I reported in the last thread -

The build process creates 'score' and 'save' directories in /lib/user/ but the game looks for them in /lib/

running version.sh in /scripts/ doesn't seem to create a version file in the root directory.

[Gwarl]

Actually I think teleport other is a great candidate for allowing a monster save.

I just want to say that in 4.0.5 status effect wands/spells aren't completely useless, they just pale in comparison to hitting things with your sword in most instances.

[gameplay appreciator]

Improving monster behavior, e.g. reducing their extreme susceptibility to stealth, better pathing/AI (which seems to be happening), is good. You got to stretch out the timescale encounters evolve on. Axe the high impact, instant effects (summoning, banishment, all kinds of teleportation, destruction). Reduce the player's control over situations. No-save monster statuses go the wrong way on that.

edit: didn't see the derakon post before hitting post. Teleport other removal sounds good.