feature/monster

[Ingwe Ingweron]

But I'm not sure about moving Nazguls to >75 lvl.... nazguls was a 'gradually' threat, which was increase in time. Also Nazguls made mid-game more interesing to new players; and killing your first Nazgul it's always a big achievement: I remember how I was happy to do so first time, so proud

As I suppose that this particular change (moving to >75) made to follow Tolkien's lore (as Nazguls should be together etc). But imho it's not 'angbandish'

I agree about the desirability of having the Nazguls appear as a more gradual threat (though I tend to dive fast enough that I avoid them at first and by the time I fight them they can all show up together). As for Tolkien lore, they were gradual in their pursuit of Frodo. If I recall, one went to Bag End, four were at the Brandywine, five were at Weathertop, etc.

[Thraalbee]

+1 to that. First Nazgul (Uvatha) is nice to meet early. But following lore it should probably be someone you ran from rather than fought or repeatedly got instakilled by.

[Thraalbee]

monster viewer updated, added table and filters

Added ability to switch between plot and table once datafiles are uploaded. You can also alter groups or filter and then click Plot or Tabulate to look at subsets of the data

https://thraalbee.azurewebsites.net/monview/

[Nick]

Added ability to switch between plot and table once datafiles are uploaded. You can also alter groups or filter and then click Plot or Tabulate to look at subsets of the data

https://thraalbee.azurewebsites.net/monview/

That is AWESOME

[Thraalbee]

No more changes planned for monster view. But I am open to suggestions, it's easy to add stuff now that all data is in an internal SQL database.

I just started with a similar page for artifacts and randarts

[Nick]

Hmm, if I try & change this in my own copy (pre-compiled but not yet run & in a fresh directory) I get a parser error, what's the deal here?

I don't know, that should work fine. What was the exact error?

As for the Ringwraiths, here is my reasoning:

1. They were meant to be Sauron's most powerful servants
2. The only one that was distinguished in any way was the Witch-King, so spreading them out seems artificial
3. Uvatha is currently at the same level as spirit trolls

If anyone can point out the flaw in that, let me know

More generally, once I've had a go at all the monster bases, it will be time to assess how the overall balance is. Things may then get moved around considerably relative to each other. Some of the ideas I'm having may not be viable (wait until you see blood falcons...), but I figure better to throw them all out there and then moderate later.

[wobbly]

Hmm, if I try & change this in my own copy (pre-compiled but not yet run & in a fresh directory) I get a parser error, what's the deal here?

I don't know, that should work fine. What was the exact error?

Parse error in monster line 1 column 1

Same error if I change the depth back again.

Windows 10 & notepad if it matters.

Ok, tested something. Opened it in notepad, changed nothing, hit save, same error.

[Nick]

Windows 10 & notepad if it matters.

Ok, tested something. Opened it in notepad, changed nothing, hit save, same error.

Yes, notepad is not the editor you want for any sort of code. I have heard good things about notepad++ (and I have occasionally used wordpad successfully).

[wobbly]

Energy hounds used to be lit right? They are now not. Deliberate?

[fph]

if Nazgul are meant to vary a lot in power, it would be good to give them different colors, otherwise it's easy to mix them up. (Which of them was the easy one again?)

[Thraalbee]

In my imagination they all look alike.

[Nick]

Energy hounds used to be lit right? They are now not. Deliberate?

Monsters lit or carrying light used to get a standard intensity of 2 (so they would light their own grid, and the grids immediately next to them). With the introduction of variable light intensities, I had the choice for each monster, and I basically went with

• Really light intensive monsters (eg shimmering vortex) get an intensity of 3 (so radius 2)
• Monsters that carry light (eg apprentice) or are fire-based (eg fire spirit) get an intensity of 2 (radius 1, like the old monster lights)
• Monsters which are electricity based (eg energy hound) get an intensity of 1 (radius 0, but they are lit)

[Nick]

if Nazgul are meant to vary a lot in power, it would be good to give them different colors, otherwise it's easy to mix them up. (Which of them was the easy one again?)

They're not and there isn't one

[wobbly]

You should be able to see just as well without the lantern, and carrying a light hurts your spell failure rates

My necromancer's fail rates are indeed better without a light, except for the bit where the game tells me I can not see if I try to cast without it. I can't read scrolls either.

[Nick]

My necromancer's fail rates are indeed better without a light, except for the bit where the game tells me I can not see if I try to cast without it. I can't read scrolls either.

Hm, OK. This must be a bug from the light revamp. I'll look into it.