Well, that's the crux of it right there: monsters don't have mana, they have a "spell frequency" which imposes a speed limit. Monsters can't cast spells any more often than the given frequency. They don't always have to cast spells when they have the chance, there are some circumstances (like a monster near death, especially an intelligent one) where they don't cast spells even when they have a chance, preferring, presumably, to flee.
If monsters had mana this could be workable. The problem with monsters having mana, though, is that the AI would have to be that much stronger or monsters would squander their mana ineffectively. And the system would have to understand the difference between things like breath weapons (and arrow shooting, which is lumped in with spells) that should be repeatable as often as you want, and things like heal, that maybe should not. It may be doable but it's very ambitious... and I think the end result would be making the game easier for the player rather than harder (because of monsters running out of mana, which they currently can't do).
Also, what you said about fear is basically the way it works now. Monsters get afraid when they take big hits; it's based on the ratio of damage to total hp.
Eh. One thing I'm grappling with in my head is that the whole idea of monster memory becomes a lot shakier when you are faced with random uniques. I'm still not sure how they can be used in the game properly. They probably need to be somewhat predictable... if you run into a unique orc, you should have some notion of a power range you expect it to be in; if the variation is too wild, random uniques will become things you should probably avoid at all costs until late in the game.
If monsters had mana this could be workable. The problem with monsters having mana, though, is that the AI would have to be that much stronger or monsters would squander their mana ineffectively. And the system would have to understand the difference between things like breath weapons (and arrow shooting, which is lumped in with spells) that should be repeatable as often as you want, and things like heal, that maybe should not. It may be doable but it's very ambitious... and I think the end result would be making the game easier for the player rather than harder (because of monsters running out of mana, which they currently can't do).
Also, what you said about fear is basically the way it works now. Monsters get afraid when they take big hits; it's based on the ratio of damage to total hp.
AND.. that random generator is looking pretty good. Once perfected, it could eliminate the need for most 'standard uniques'. You know, the ones you never heard of before you started playing Angband.
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