Class/magic feature branch

[Sky]

new mage is cute, but .. no TS, no Light, and limited to 2 books. we'll see what happens next, but i can already feel weaker.

lack of stinking cloud means you cannot pull mobs who sleep around a corner. electric arc is very cool when it comes to killing many low level mobs.

[Sky]

let's see.

[mrfy]

Weirdness happening in the shops too, which I think Voovus reported in a previous message. Seeing things like "40 Shovels (1d2) (+0,+0) {??}" in the General Store, and even after purchasing said shovel. I bought a Wicker Shield [2,+0] {??} from the Armoury which turned out to be [2,+2] which was fine, but the Armoury still has it listed as [2,+0] {??}. Mauglin the Grumpy had more than one in inventory.

[Nick]

Started a new druid character and ran across the Book [Survival Skills] at 50'. Thought it was odd that it was the same color as the Druid book Lesser Charms, so i've been carrying it around thinking I'd eventually get to see the spells in it. But of course that's not how the books work, as I see it's a book for Rangers.

So I guess my question is, should that still show up in the same color? it's a bit confusing.

Yeah, I should do the O/FA trick of making those books show as grey in the inventory.

[mrfy]

Started a new druid character and ran across the Book [Survival Skills] at 50'. Thought it was odd that it was the same color as the Druid book Lesser Charms, so i've been carrying it around thinking I'd eventually get to see the spells in it. But of course that's not how the books work, as I see it's a book for Rangers.

So I guess my question is, should that still show up in the same color? it's a bit confusing.

[mrfy]

OK thanks, will check.

I can confirm this bug too. Just downloaded the recent version of the branch (Angband-osx-4.1.2-144-g25a064f.dmg), unpacked, copied the new monster.txt to lore.txt, and the monster memory is a bit sparse.

[Nick]

Okay, at Gwarl's urging I've finally started a feature branch @, and found my first bug before even descending.

Not wanting to recreate monster memory from scratch, Gwarl copied monster.txt to lore.txt for me on angband.live. Unfortunately, the @'s monster information shows only 2 uniques known (maggot and christmas). I'm going to download and see if the same problem occurs for offline play.

EDIT: Yes, same thing occurs for offline play.

OK thanks, will check.

[Nick]

Here's a savefile in town, where the armoury has some ??'s and stealing from Farmer Maggot causes a crash.

Just experimented a bit with the speed theory, and I think you may be right. Can't test Uldor specifically, but very likely had >28.

Thanks, will check later.

If I'm right, the crash occurs when player speed is greater than or equal to monster level + monster speed.

[Ingwe Ingweron]

Okay, at Gwarl's urging I've finally started a feature branch @, and found my first bug before even descending.

Not wanting to recreate monster memory from scratch, Gwarl copied monster.txt to lore.txt for me on angband.live. Unfortunately, the @'s monster information shows only 2 uniques known (maggot and christmas). I'm going to download and see if the same problem occurs for offline play.

EDIT: Yes, same thing occurs for offline play.

[Voovus]

If my theory is correct, you would have had speed > 28 when the Uldor crash happened?

Yes, that would help.

Here's a savefile in town, where the armoury has some ??'s and stealing from Farmer Maggot causes a crash.

Just experimented a bit with the speed theory, and I think you may be right. Can't test Uldor specifically, but very likely had >28.

[Nick]

Stealing has crashed with a couple of others too. Had it with Uldor and with Wormtongue, both when they were far deeper than normal (around 3500').

If my theory is correct, you would have had speed > 28 when the Uldor crash happened?

Oddly enough, the stores bug doesn't seem to be there at the very beginning, but to start appearing when you return from the dungeon.

I can generate a savefile, if that helps.

Yes, that would help.

[Voovus]

OK, I think I know what this might be. Has it only been Farmer Maggot? If not, what else?

Is this at the start of a game only and goes away, or is it ever working OK and then this starts happening?

Stealing has crashed with a couple of others too. Had it with Uldor and with Wormtongue, both when they were far deeper than normal (around 3500'). Could it be that it crashes if you steal from a particular unique a bit too often?

Oddly enough, the stores bug doesn't seem to be there at the very beginning, but to start appearing when you return from the dungeon.

I can generate a savefile, if that helps.

[Nick]

Played through a necromancer with randarts and my observations are:
The staying in darkness for extra con gets very painful later, both because of the non-use of the light spot and the need to avoid items with +light. After early - mid game, I gave up trying.

Most of the spells are useful, although Annihilate feels a bit expensive, and crush is almost never useful - it could be doubled or trebled in power without being excessive. Curse also seems too weak, especially given the HP cost.
I also never found a use for Command. If you didn't need line of sight, it would be useful. Vampire Form was extremely effective and used for taking down most of the late uniques (all the living ones).

I think I preferred the balance of 3 town, 2 dungeon books. It does feel odd that undead are the hardest creatures for a necromancer to deal with.

Thanks, that's helpful.

I have some ideas to make darkness work a bit better, and will keep thinking about that.

Command may still need some work; there should be lots of variability depending on what monster you command. Possibly if the commanded monster attacks another one, the other one should attack it rather than the player.

Curse should be mainly good for finishing off stuff.

[Nick]

Are you also going to change the the Ranger bonus to apply to different launcher types based on race? Or is it still only bows? I've always thought hobbits should have the bonus applied to slings, maybe half-trolls to crossbows, humans to either bow or crossbow, etc.

I'm leaning toward just leaving it as rangers having bow-skill, especially as blackguards will get something that inclines them toward crossbows.

The hobbits and slings thing gets mentioned a lot - can anyone tell me why? I would have thought they'd be good at throwing if anything.

[Nick]

Stealing occasionally causes a crash.
Trying to steal from Farmer Maggot
Assertion failed!
(File z-rand.c Line 169 Expression M <= 0x10000000)

OK, I think I know what this might be. Has it only been Farmer Maggot? If not, what else?

Stores don't always display AC, to-hit, to-dam bonuses and known runes properly, and write a "{??}" instead.

Is this at the start of a game only and goes away, or is it ever working OK and then this starts happening?