feature/monster

[mrfy]

Trying out the new monster branch, found a pit of creepie crawlies. While waiting for them to come around the corner to be frost bolted, I notice the description for a giant fire tick keeps changing in one of my subwindows. Specifically, the line "It may spit at you from a distance (#)". Each turn, the number "#" changes randomly from 5 up to max 15.

[Nick]

Trying out the new monster branch, found a pit of creepie crawlies. While waiting for them to come around the corner to be frost bolted, I notice the description for a giant fire tick keeps changing in one of my subwindows. Specifically, the line "It may spit at you from a distance (#)". Each turn, the number "#" changes randomly from 5 up to max 15.

Thanks, filed and diagnosed. Normally monster lore shows maximum damage, but the LASH effect that monster spitting uses complicates the way it's calculated. I will have to rewrite a bit.

[Nick]

New builds for Windows and macOS up on the builds page (source is here) with the following groups of monsters updated:

• Orcs:
  • Hill orcs replaced by orc trackers
  • Black orcs replaced by orc archers
  • Almost all non-unique orcs given some archery
  • Uruks given whips
  • Azog renamed Enemy of the Dwarves
• Ogres:
  • Ogre mages and Lokkak buffed and moved deeper
• Zephyr hounds:
  • Ethereal hounds replaced by hounds of Tindalos
  • Aether hounds get extra speed
• Trolls:
  • Water trolls replaced by hill trolls
• Insects (and lice):
  • Lice removed as a monster base (freeing up space...), giant white and black lice become insects
  • Hummerhorns, neekerbreekers and fireflies moved deeper
• Killer beetles:
  • Killer white beetles come back in as the deepest beetle (and stronger)
  • Fire and iridescent beetles get a spit-from-a-distance attack
  • A few types get an AC buff
• Snakes:
  • Large brown snakes replaced by serpents of the brownlands
  • Nightcrawlers become snakes
  • Large yellow snakes replaced by serpents of chaos

I had a fair bit of fun with these, I hope you do too. Testing and comments appreciated.

That's about 1/4 to 1/3 of the monsters done, I think.

[Ingwe Ingweron]

...Azog renamed Enemy of the Dwarves....

What was the issue with Azog's name? Isn't he canon? Killed by Dain in the Battle of Azanulbizar, (battle at the East Gate of Moria).

[Nick]

What was the issue with Azog's name? Isn't he canon? Killed by Dain in the Battle of Azanulbizar, (battle at the East Gate of Moria).

Sorry, I wasn't clear. I have changed it from Azog, King of the Uruk-Hai (which he fairly clearly wasn't) to Azog, Enemy of the Dwarves (which wasn't a standard title for him, but is IMHO accurate).

[wobbly]

Webs make it hard to see items on the same square, not sure what's best here but maybe a different symbol or colour for web+item?

[wobbly]

• Adding an experimental depth factor (of level/10) to allocations, making shallower monsters progressively less likely at deeper levels

Seemed an improvement at least up till dlvl 56. I can't yet speak for lower dlvls because @ karked it.

Also webs don't seem to follow the same rules of not changing on the display when out of LOS. I had a golem I couldn't see smashing up webs & they vanished from the screen just fine.

[Thraalbee]

Rune of fragile?

Failing *remove curse* on an engraved RoS+7 with constant fear (love it!) ==> ... your RoS <+7> is now fragile. You have learned the rune of fragile.
Trying *remove curse* again. The removal fails. Then when I look at the ring the engraving is the same as before all of this. No hint of "fragile" in the description. But the "learned the rune" thing makes you think it would be visible by now. Or the destroy due to second fail does something not intended?

[Nick]

Failing *remove curse* on an engraved RoS+7 with constant fear (love it!) ==> ... your RoS <+7> is now fragile. You have learned the rune of fragile.
Trying *remove curse* again. The removal fails. Then when I look at the ring the engraving is the same as before all of this. No hint of "fragile" in the description. But the "learned the rune" thing makes you think it would be visible by now. Or the destroy due to second fail does something not intended?

Thank you, the problem was that someone (ahem) forgot to put that in object descriptions. Done in development.

[Darin]

mac crash on launch for monster/feature build

I get a crash on launch for the monster/feature build, but none for the latest 4.1.3 master from the nightlies page. I am using Mac OS X 10.14.3 (Mojave), so the Console app no longer seems to give proper CrashReporter logs, but by running Console while the Angband app crashes I noticed a few interesting error messages related to possible Sandbox violations.

[mrfy]

I get a crash on launch for the monster/feature build, but none for the latest 4.1.3 master from the nightlies page. I am using Mac OS X 10.14.3 (Mojave), so the Console app no longer seems to give proper CrashReporter logs, but by running Console while the Angband app crashes I noticed a few interesting error messages related to possible Sandbox violations.

I had to create a new save file and start character over. perhaps the save files aren't compatible between versions of the branch?

[Nick]

I get a crash on launch for the monster/feature build, but none for the latest 4.1.3 master from the nightlies page. I am using Mac OS X 10.14.3 (Mojave), so the Console app no longer seems to give proper CrashReporter logs, but by running Console while the Angband app crashes I noticed a few interesting error messages related to possible Sandbox violations.

The first thing I would try is moving your lore.txt file (should be in Documents/Angband) aside and see if it now opens. Also, as mrfy says, use a new savefiles - savefiles are definitely not compatible between feature/monster and master.

Thanks for including the crash info - running into sandbox issues on macOS at some point isn't out of the question.

[Darin]

The first thing I would try is moving your lore.txt file (should be in Documents/Angband) aside and see if it now opens. Also, as mrfy says, use a new savefiles - savefiles are definitely not compatible between feature/monster and master.

Thanks for including the crash info - running into sandbox issues on macOS at some point isn't out of the question.

I wasn't even getting to choose a save file. I had tried removing all save files, with no luck. Then I tried removing the entire Angband folder from the Documents folder, and that worked. Thanks for the help!

[MattB]

I have 2 shovels, both 1d2 +0,+0 6lb
One of them is standard and clears granite in 100 turns.
The other one is cursed (airswing) and has the ??? tag. It clears granite in 29 turns.
I have tunnelled with both... am I missing something here?

EDIT: I now know all about it. The ??? was for treacherous weapon curse. But it still clears granite three times faster than a standard shovel, for some reason...

[Nick]

I have 2 shovels, both 1d2 +0,+0 6lb
One of them is standard and clears granite in 100 turns.
The other one is cursed (airswing) and has the ??? tag. It clears granite in 29 turns.
I have tunnelled with both... am I missing something here?

EDIT: I now know all about it. The ??? was for treacherous weapon curse. But it still clears granite three times faster than a standard shovel, for some reason...

That is weird. Do you have a savefile?