Blackguards: 4.2.0 to 4.2.1

[DavidMedley]

Yep, I agree with that, too. Happily, I'm not in charge of shapeshift mechanics

[Hounded]

Come to think of it, I have a colony of little brown bats 'round here and they manage to get into the craziest places. Perhaps they're like mice with that ability to somehow squeeze through a keyhole or underneath a door without opening it. Immunity to doors & traps?

[DavidMedley]

BGs Now Detect Fear

Nick is implementing an idea I had a while ago where BGs detect fear/rage/emotion. I put in Detect Life ("Seek Battle") instead because it was close and it didn't require me to program it

I think this will be pretty neutral to overall BG effectiveness, but will make the class even more distinct.

Here's the list that are living but not fearable (BG will lose the ability to detect these)

select name, depth, rarity from angband_420_monster where flags like "%NO_FEAR%" and (flags not like "%UNDEAD%" and flags not like "%nonliving%") order by CAST(depth AS signed) desc limit 200;
+-----------------------------------+-------+--------+
| name                              | depth | rarity |
+-----------------------------------+-------+--------+
| Morgoth, Lord of Darkness         | 100   | 1      |
| Wolf-Sauron                       | 99    | 0      |
| Serpent-Sauron                    | 99    | 0      |
| Sauron, the Sorcerer              | 99    | 1      |
| Huan, Wolfhound of the Valar      | 90    | 1      |
| Qlzqqlzuup, the Emperor Quylthulg | 79    | 3      |
| master quylthulg                  | 76    | 2      |
| greater demonic quylthulg         | 71    | 2      |
| greater rotting quylthulg         | 71    | 2      |
| greater draconic quylthulg        | 71    | 2      |
| Fëanorian raider                 | 65    | 2      |
| werewolf of Sauron                | 63    | 2      |
| hezrou                            | 53    | 3      |
| hasty ent                         | 52    | 1      |
| death mold                        | 47    | 1      |
| berserker                         | 45    | 2      |
| demonic quylthulg                 | 45    | 1      |
| rotting quylthulg                 | 45    | 1      |
| draconic quylthulg                | 45    | 1      |
| black-hearted huorn               | 42    | 1      |
| death quasit                      | 40    | 3      |
| troll chieftain                   | 40    | 5      |
| disenchanter worm mass            | 40    | 3      |
| trapper                           | 36    | 3      |
| chest mimic                       | 35    | 4      |
| memory moss                       | 32    | 3      |
| nexus quylthulg                   | 32    | 1      |
| huorn                             | 31    | 1      |
| ring mimic                        | 29    | 3      |
| spectator                         | 28    | 2      |
| shimmering mold                   | 27    | 1      |
| wolf chieftain                    | 26    | 5      |
| abyss worm mass                   | 26    | 3      |
| nruling                           | 25    | 2      |
| black ooze                        | 23    | 1      |
| scroll mimic                      | 21    | 3      |
| quylthulg                         | 20    | 1      |
| blood falcon                      | 20    | 2      |
| red mold                          | 19    | 1      |
| Old Man Willow                    | 19    | 3      |
| evil eye                          | 18    | 3      |
| potion mimic                      | 18    | 3      |
| shambling mound                   | 18    | 2      |
| gelatinous cube                   | 16    | 4      |
| homunculus                        | 15    | 3      |
| magic mushroom patch              | 15    | 2      |
| lurker                            | 14    | 3      |
| ochre jelly                       | 13    | 3      |
| grape jelly                       | 12    | 3      |
| spotted jelly                     | 12    | 3      |
| nether worm mass                  | 12    | 3      |
| old forest tree                   | 11    | 2      |
| tengu                             | 10    | 1      |
| hairy mold                        | 10    | 1      |
| disenchanter mold                 | 10    | 1      |
| clear mushroom patch              | 10    | 2      |
| lemure                            | 8     | 3      |
| green mold                        | 8     | 1      |
| red jelly                         | 7     | 1      |
| bloodshot eye                     | 7     | 3      |
| brown mold                        | 6     | 1      |
| purple mushroom patch             | 6     | 2      |
| blue ooze                         | 5     | 1      |
| rot jelly                         | 5     | 1      |
| green jelly                       | 5     | 1      |
| red worm mass                     | 5     | 1      |
| disenchanter eye                  | 5     | 2      |
| blue jelly                        | 4     | 1      |
| blue worm mass                    | 4     | 1      |
| green ooze                        | 3     | 2      |
| yellow mold                       | 3     | 1      |
| silver jelly                      | 3     | 2      |
| yellow jelly                      | 3     | 1      |
| radiation eye                     | 3     | 1      |
| clear worm mass                   | 3     | 2      |
| yellow worm mass                  | 3     | 2      |
| spotted mushroom patch            | 3     | 1      |
| white jelly                       | 2     | 1      |
| green worm mass                   | 2     | 1      |
| yellow mushroom patch             | 2     | 1      |
| shrieker mushroom patch           | 2     | 1      |
| grey mold                         | 1     | 1      |
| floating eye                      | 1     | 1      |
| white worm mass                   | 1     | 1      |
| grey mushroom patch               | 1     | 1      |
+-----------------------------------+-------+--------+
85 rows in set (0.002 sec)

And here's the list of non-living but fearable monsters that the BG will newly be able to detect after this change

select name, depth, rarity from angband_420_monster where flags not like "%NO_FEAR%" and (flags like "%UNDEAD%" or flags like "%nonliving%") order by CAST(depth AS signed) desc limit 200;
+--------------------------------------+-------+--------+
| name                                 | depth | rarity |
+--------------------------------------+-------+--------+
| Vecna, the Emperor Lich              | 92    | 3      |
| The Witch-King of Angmar             | 85    | 3      |
| Khamûl, the Black Easterling        | 84    | 3      |
| Hoarmurath of Dir                    | 83    | 3      |
| Dwar, Dog Lord of Waw                | 82    | 3      |
| Ji Indur Dawndeath                   | 81    | 3      |
| Ren the Unclean                      | 80    | 3      |
| Akhorahil the Blind                  | 79    | 3      |
| Adunaphel the Quiet                  | 78    | 3      |
| Uvatha the Horseman                  | 77    | 3      |
| Feagwath, the Undead Sorcerer        | 77    | 2      |
| black reaver                         | 74    | 3      |
| nightwalker                          | 73    | 3      |
| nightcrawler                         | 69    | 3      |
| Tselakus, the Dreadlord              | 68    | 2      |
| Thuringwethil, the Vampire Messenger | 67    | 4      |
| archlich                             | 64    | 2      |
| dreadlord                            | 62    | 2      |
| nightwing                            | 61    | 3      |
| elder vampire                        | 59    | 3      |
| dracolich                            | 55    | 2      |
| demilich                             | 54    | 2      |
| dreadmaster                          | 54    | 2      |
| nether wraith                        | 54    | 2      |
| shadow                               | 50    | 3      |
| black wraith                         | 49    | 2      |
| vampire lord                         | 46    | 1      |
| grey wraith                          | 45    | 1      |
| undead beholder                      | 45    | 3      |
| dread                                | 44    | 2      |
| master lich                          | 41    | 2      |
| phantom                              | 40    | 3      |
| spirit troll                         | 40    | 3      |
| night mare                           | 39    | 3      |
| white wraith                         | 38    | 1      |
| spectre                              | 37    | 3      |
| emperor wight                        | 37    | 2      |
| master vampire                       | 36    | 1      |
| lich                                 | 34    | 2      |
| shade                                | 34    | 3      |
| barrow wight                         | 33    | 3      |
| ghost                                | 31    | 1      |
| ghast                                | 30    | 3      |
| grave wight                          | 30    | 1      |
| vampire                              | 27    | 1      |
| ghoul                                | 26    | 2      |
| banshee                              | 24    | 2      |
| forest wight                         | 24    | 1      |
| moaning spirit                       | 12    | 2      |
| lost soul                            | 7     | 2      |
| green glutton ghost                  | 5     | 1      |
| poltergeist                          | 3     | 1      |
+--------------------------------------+-------+--------+
52 rows in set (0.002 sec)

While there are more monsters being missed now, the monsters now being detected seem more dangerous. Plus this change will help non-spoiled players know who they can Howl at.

At first I was wary of this change (even though it was my idea!) because I thought it would make the BG miss some crucial enemies. But now I'm pretty excited for it! What say you all?

[DavidMedley]

Above depth 15 this is a net win for the BG. Being able to detect 4 invisible annoyances is great and puts BG High Elves at a more thematically-aligned disadvantage. Ochre Jelly will be more annoying than it already is, as I've found most mobiles with acid melee to be. Same for Gelatinous Cube later.

The homunculus at depth 15 will be more troublesome. I gave "Grim Purpose" at CL13 so BGs could avoid death at the hands of these and Umber Hulks. As long as you encounter the homunculus with enough SP to cast GP you'll be fine. If not, they're pretty rare, normal speed and low HP so they're not deadly if you know to keep away.

In the middle there we're trading a lot of Qs for liches and the like. That's probably good...? Interesting swap. Deeper you probably have better detection than this spell, but Nazgul are always good to detect. I notice Werewolves of Sauron drop out. I've been one-shotted by one of those out of depth before.

Not being able to detect the bosses shouldn't matter too much. You know they're there, so obviously you'll bring or wear something to detect them.

Anyway, still looks like a very interesting change that will present unique challenges to this class!

[fph]

I spy with my little eye a SQL query there. Is there a way to generate an SQL-queryable database of monsters automatically? If there is one, that would seem useful information to me!

[DavidMedley]

I wrote a script for this that was supposed to be flexible across multiple versions/variants to populate wiki.angband.live. But that stalled at the point of automated creation of wiki pages. I should post this script tho. It works for sure on vanilla 4.2.0 and 2.9.3 and with not too much effort it could work on many others. Mainly you need to paste the header on monster.txt and fudge it just a bit to get a new version to work.

addendum:
Stalled largely because I got busy with BG and Gwarl got a job and then I got a job. So resources got scarce!

[Nick]

I spy with my little eye a SQL query there. Is there a way to generate an SQL-queryable database of monsters automatically? If there is one, that would seem useful information to me!

If you're interested in that sort of thing, there's Thraalbee's monster plotter. Also there is a fairly sophisticated setup using sql to get stats on the game.

[Bill Peterson]

I'm playing a Blackguard in the 320 nightly, haven't been any lower than 300' and I've found 8-10 lanterns. Also finding, IMO, too many weapons, especially heavy ones. The weapons I can understand as part of the WIP Blackguard changes, but lanterns?

[DavidMedley]

I don't think BG drops are any different from any other class's.

[Nick]

I don't think BG drops are any different from any other class's.

Correct, it's just the RNG messing with you.

[DavidMedley]

Into DL and CL 20+ with new detect spell. As expected, spotting invisible spirits very helpful, not knowing where Qs are very troublesome (but not unfun). I kept getting the message "you hear monsters appear nearby" or something like that and had to hunt down the Q summoning them.

[DavidMedley]

4.2.1 Sprint

OK, going to take one more quick pass at the Blackguard before 4.2.1. Below is what's on the docket. These are all quick fixes, but I'm not sure if I'll get to them all, or what else I'll tweak along the way. I'll monitor this thread closely for any suggestions in the next 14 hours.

- Make Venom cost less, fail less
- Small increase in Taunt duration
- Any flavor text I can improve
- - Better wording for Seek Battle / Detect Fear (emotion, feeling, rage, anger)
- - Reword "S" text
- - Anything else I see along the way
- Remove minimum mana decrease (will make SP last longer at lower levels especially)
- Remove any extraneous comments I've left in the code (I think Nick did this for me when he merged)
- Leap into battle takes direction for adjacent monster (arrow)
- Whirlwind needs no target
- Leap into battle should go through open/broken doors

[Cuboideb]

Leap into battle should go through closed doors

[DavidMedley]

Leap into battle should go through closed doors

But not walls?

[Cuboideb]

Only if your character is a half-troll... Nah, I was joking before!