random thoughts

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  • Sky
    Veteran
    • Oct 2016
    • 2321

    random thoughts

    why do passwall monsters forget they have passwall when fleeing?
    unber hulks, for example, when fleeing they stop digging but rather follow the map.
    on the same note, i like passwall but feel mobs should take time to passwall. it's a scary ability as it is already.

    Polyphaemus doesnt have passwall, yet he can earthquake and lock himself in rubble. Chronos probably should pw too. And, CHRONOS doesn't breathe time?? Ok ok never mind, he's too strong already.

    Tensener as mage? yes or no?
    I almost always ditch Tensener's when playing as mage in favour of a inventory slot. There's only elemental brand (useless once you get shots of slaying) and greater recharge, and i'd rather use Rift than wands of annihilation. (does GR work better on stacks than it does on individual wands?)
    Also, i'm greatly upset that Tensener's doesnt have Berserk, which is the one D&D spell that it was good for (and that mages could actually use).
    I feel that Mages should have the enchant spells instead of rangers, too. THEY ARE LITERALLY MAGES - THE ONES WHO ENCHANT STUFF.

    is ESP overrated?
    sure at the beginning it's great, but when you can spam detect spells with almost no mana? also, leaves you the head slot to get more useful stuff, like stat boosts.

    How much HP do mobs regen each turn? how does that work?

    rods of speed should have a lower power rating OR recharge faster. they are too rare to be used against morgoth, !Spd still more important, and by the time you find one, you already have a stack (or spell, obviously).
    tbh there are a ton of items that have badly placed depth, and by the time you find them, there's something better. Rings of light???
    for example, in my entire gaming career in V, i've gained stat points from *Enlight exactly ONCE.
    (didnt this used to be "self knowledge" back in the days?)

    i'd love to know the stats of things like "staff of power vs staff of dispel evil" and "scoll of holy word vs scroll of bless" etc.. like, how much damage do they do, how much hit bonus, and so on.






    these are (some) random thoughts i have had over the years but never thought they were important enough to create a thread for them individually.
    "i can take this dracolich"
  • archolewa
    Swordsman
    • Feb 2019
    • 400

    #2
    I don't have an opinion on most of these comments, except ESP.

    In my opinion ESP is not overrated in the endgame because it protects you from monsters sneaking up on you while you're fighting something else. When you're in a knock out drag down fight with Ancalagon, you *really* don't want Maeglin or a Greater Balrog to suddenly show up behind you. I don't know about you, but I really don't want to spend precious actions casting a detect spell while I'm fighting something dangerous.

    Also makes it easier to sneak up on a sleeping monster whose out of LOS because you don't have to waste time casting detect every few steps.

    ESP also protects me from user error. Too easy to get lazy and go one too many turns without casting detection, and then get ambushed by a Reaver, Greater Balrog and the Tarrasque.

    I will agree that there are a lot of egos and evocables that aren't particularly useful. Like, the * of Gondolin looks awesome..except it's very often not as good as the artifact weapon I found 10 floors ago (though maybe this is different for mages, haven't played as many of those). I feel the same way about Rod of Healing. The cooldown is *SO* long that it's basically a single potion of Healing that can fail. In theory it could protect against losing your healing potions one at a time over several battles, like with rods of Teleport Other. However, I rarely find that I need *one* potion of Healing. Either you don't need them at all, or you screwed up and need a whole bunch at once, especially by the time you find a Rod of Healing.

    Comment

    • fph
      Veteran
      • Apr 2009
      • 1030

      #3
      Originally posted by Sky
      tbh there are a ton of items that have badly placed depth, and by the time you find them, there's something better. Rings of light???
      I agree completely on rings of light. They would make a nice early ring, but they are underused right now. They could completely replace rings of searching, appearing at the same depth, and they wouldn't be too unbalanced.

      Another example are gain-one-lose-one potions (Brawn, Contemplation, etc.). They are a great mechanic in my view, but they appear too close to stat potions to be interesting. And DLVL20-30 is a depth that I tend to dive through quite fast. If they were relevant for 10 more levels they would be more fun to use. I know that stat-gain=30 is a depth that is very well ingrained in the minds of us all, but maybe a way to fix gain-one-lose-one potions could be moving stat potions slightly deeper, like 35?

      EDIT: grammar'ed.
      Last edited by fph; April 25, 2020, 09:56.
      --
      Dive fast, die young, leave a high-CHA corpse.

      Comment

      • DavidMedley
        Veteran
        • Oct 2019
        • 1004

        #4
        Originally posted by fph
        I know that stat-gain=30 is a depth that is very well ingrained in the minds of all us, but maybe a way to fix gain-one-lose-one potions could moving stat potions slightly deeper, like 35?
        Whoaaaaaa... that's the most brave or foolish thing I've seen someone say in these forums. May Eru have mercy on your soul!
        Please like my indie game company on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/RatherFunGames

        Comment

        • Sky
          Veteran
          • Oct 2016
          • 2321

          #5
          basic egos are better than stronger egos due to the random chance of having ESP. So a glaive of *Slay Orc* is better than a Glaive of Gondolin if you are a starting character just for the chance of having that ESP bonus on it. Even more so if you are a mage of priest.
          "i can take this dracolich"

          Comment

          • Pete Mack
            Prophet
            • Apr 2007
            • 6883

            #6
            Gondolin has ESP as a possibility. I do not believe *slay orc* does.

            Comment

            • Sky
              Veteran
              • Oct 2016
              • 2321

              #7
              ..ooh .. they do, brother. they do.
              "i can take this dracolich"

              Comment

              • Adam
                Adept
                • Feb 2016
                • 194

                #8
                One more slightly useful thing: if you have ESP you see the monsters even when you are blinded.
                I don't now how much to hit penalty you have in this case though. but devices can be used the same way i guess.

                Comment

                • Bogatyr
                  Knight
                  • Feb 2014
                  • 525

                  #9
                  Originally posted by Pete Mack
                  Gondolin has ESP as a possibility. I do not believe *slay orc* does.
                  In fact in my current game, my 4.2.0 human warrior found a Cutlass of Gondolin with ESP fairly early and it has been a total game changer. It is still my swap-to weapon for movement, and often also for combat!

                  Comment

                  • wobbly
                    Prophet
                    • May 2012
                    • 2631

                    #10
                    Gondolin & blessed get a random power. It can be awesome like slow digestion or crud like ESP. *slay gets a power or base resist, esp is less common because of the chance of a resist, still possible. HA and defender are random sustain.

                    Edit: I'm still unsure what happens with squelch now rune id is a thing. If I squelch *slay orc does it squelch *slay orc + unknown rune?
                    Last edited by wobbly; April 28, 2020, 12:20.

                    Comment

                    • Nick
                      Vanilla maintainer
                      • Apr 2007
                      • 9637

                      #11
                      Originally posted by wobbly
                      Edit: I'm still unsure what happens with squelch now rune id is a thing. If I squelch *slay orc does it squelch *slay orc + unknown rune?
                      Yes, because it's ignore by ego, and the ego (as defined in the datafile) is slay orcs powerfully + random power.
                      One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
                      In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

                      Comment

                      • wobbly
                        Prophet
                        • May 2012
                        • 2631

                        #12
                        I'm not convinced that is actually ideal or consistent.

                        Ideally I'd prefer not to be squelching anything with an un-ided rune. If I've found armour of resistance then rings of resist fire and cold are no longer useful to me, however rings of resist fire and cold with an un-ided curse are useful as I can use it to id another curse rune. This is even more true with weapons that could have telepathy. However I'd prefer to just take my chance missing out on a telepathy weapon, then not be able to squelch useless *slays because 1 might have telepathy. Unfortunately I have no squelch these unless it has an un-ided rune option. It's all or nothing.

                        When you find a ring with rfire most players know its fire and cold but it doesn't id until you learn the 2nd rune. It seems the logic should be similar for fire + cold + curse. The player knows there are no rings of resistance, however there are amulets of resistance & I'm pretty sure cursed amulets of acid resistance show their name even though the rune may be a curse, or may be a bunch more resists. Same with shields & body armour.

                        Why does a shield with known relec + unknown runes get named if it's resist lightning & not named if it's resistance/elvenkind?
                        Last edited by wobbly; April 28, 2020, 15:47.

                        Comment

                        • DavidMedley
                          Veteran
                          • Oct 2019
                          • 1004

                          #13
                          Originally posted by wobbly
                          I'd prefer not to be squelching anything with an un-ided rune.
                          Yes! This would be great.
                          Please like my indie game company on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/RatherFunGames

                          Comment

                          • Nick
                            Vanilla maintainer
                            • Apr 2007
                            • 9637

                            #14
                            Originally posted by wobbly
                            I'm not convinced that is actually ideal or consistent.

                            Ideally I'd prefer not to be squelching anything with an un-ided rune. If I've found armour of resistance then rings of resist fire and cold are no longer useful to me, however rings of resist fire and cold with an un-ided curse are useful as I can use it to id another curse rune. This is even more true with weapons that could have telepathy. However I'd prefer to just take my chance missing out on a telepathy weapon, then not be able to squelch useless *slays because 1 might have telepathy. Unfortunately I have no squelch these unless it has an un-ided rune option. It's all or nothing.

                            When you find a ring with rfire most players know its fire and cold but it doesn't id until you learn the 2nd rune. It seems the logic should be similar for fire + cold + curse. The player knows there are no rings of resistance, however there are amulets of resistance & I'm pretty sure cursed amulets of acid resistance show their name even though the rune may be a curse, or may be a bunch more resists. Same with shields & body armour.

                            Why does a shield with known relec + unknown runes get named if it's resist lightning & not named if it's resistance/elvenkind?
                            Yeah, I'll buy that.
                            One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
                            In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

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