FAangband 0.3.6

[Nick]

* "The Village idiot picks up a Ring of Skill (-8) {cursed} (squelch)."

If you had hide_squelchable set on, this is probably undesirable (best would probably be to suppress the message, but still allow the idiot to pick up stuff). If hide_squelchable was off, this is expected behaviour.

* Option "use old target by default" actually fires at that target automatically, instead of waiting for the confirming "t" which is need if targeting some monster manually. Makes it impossible to target another monster as long as the first is in range ...

This is intended behaviour (which is probably why this option defaults to off...)

* Typos:

Double space I don't have strong feelings about either way. I'll fix the other one.

Thanks, as always, for the feedback.

[Psi]

Thanks for the comments Seany!

Quick notes on 0.3.6 (from char dump):
* Lots more high-value items turning up around Anf 58 with autoscum on - monsters don't seem that much different from 0.3.5;

There are lot more artifacts showing up in Anf58 - I think egos have lessened. I also see more OoD uniques in Anf58 now. This is a consequence of 'fixing' level feelings. Previously an HA weapon generated a higher level feeling than Ringil or Feanor and OoD monsters did not contribute to the feeling at all. Now that artifacts generate a feeling proportionate to their value, the autoscummer will nearly always stop when a good artifact exists on the level rather than before when it relied on egos to make up the feeling. This is only really a problem in Anf58 because it is effectively half a level and cannot contain vaults (you can see a similar situation in SV38 - but at least you have a fullsize level there). To fix this we would probably need to make Anf58 a special case in the autoscummer.

* Shields of Preservation - lovely but almost over-powered;

I guess it depends what resistances you hit on them. I wanted something I could use instead of the Swan shield and V has something very similar.

* Boots of Elvenkind - seem a lot more common than before - or just the RNG being nice?

If in Anf58, then probably as I have raised the level feeling for those - elsewhere it will probably just be the RNG.

Regarding the 1d4/2d4 dagger prices - I hadn't realised there wasn't price code for increasing dice already (as it exists for sides). My bad.

[Mr.Peanut]

V has a "lazy move" option, which adds a tiny pause when getting a direction from the player, and if you press down + left in quick succession, it moves diagonally. I imagine it'd be useful on the DS, though it was designed for laptops.

That sounds like it could be the answer on the DS too. I'll give it a try.
edit: can't try it. DS version does not have this option.

BTW: the web page link to the development forum points to the old 0.3.4 thread, not this one.

[Mr.Peanut]

Double space I don't have strong feelings about either way. I'll fix the other one.

Ug. Of course double spaces on the DS simply eat screen real-estate with little return value. Single space after periods please. This is a rogue-like, not punctuation exam.

[buzzkill]

Interesting question. Currently weapon type is class based only, and I don't know if I want to change that. Any opinions?

Why not give him a pick as well. What kind of Dwarf travels without a pick. At best, it's going to net him a few extra GP. That'll come in handy in the end game.

[Zikke]

What kind of Dwarf travels without a pick.

The kind that claws through stone with his BARE HANDS.

[buzzkill]

The kind that claws through stone with his BARE HANDS.

Oh, now I remember, you must mean ol' Stubby.

[Nick]

Ug. Of course double spaces on the DS simply eat screen real-estate with little return value. Single space after periods please. This is a rogue-like, not punctuation exam.

I think they mostly are already, but I'll kepp that in mind.

BTW: the web page link to the development forum points to the old 0.3.4 thread, not this one.

Thanks for the reminder.

[HallucinationMushroom]

I've been monkeying with vaults, and wish to know the values for monster ood and if they get created with objects underneath them or not. I've looked through different variants and each have characters assigned to different things, and I just can't seem to find the info for FA. I've used trial and error but if someone could point me in the right direction or just tell me... I've figured out everything but the monster strengths I think. 9 and 0 creates sometimes vicious monsters with an object beneath, 8 just a monster and 7 just an object. Thanks in advance for any leads!

[Psi]

Thanks in advance for any leads!

Check out ..\lib\info\Spoil\modifying info.txt files.txt

[Seany C]

Autoscumming might want a bit more tweaking - I just found Thingol in an Orc Camp on Thargelion 11, with a level marked 'good'. Perfect for an Ent Ranger with relatively bobbins Dex and hanging out in a Dwarf town (so needing all the Chr he can find)...

[Nick]

Autoscumming might want a bit more tweaking - I just found Thingol in an Orc Camp on Thargelion 11, with a level marked 'good'. Perfect for an Ent Ranger with relatively bobbins Dex and hanging out in a Dwarf town (so needing all the Chr he can find)...

I'm tempted to throw the autoscummer away altogether - although that's probably a bit harsh. I'm certainly going to have to rethink it a bit.

Having said that, orc camps often have good stuff, and are not without risk, so finding Thingol in one doesn't sound unreasonable.

[Psi]

Autoscumming might want a bit more tweaking - I just found Thingol in an Orc Camp on Thargelion 11, with a level marked 'good'. Perfect for an Ent Ranger with relatively bobbins Dex and hanging out in a Dwarf town (so needing all the Chr he can find)...

That's not really the autoscummer. All the autoscummer does is keep repeating the dungeon generation algorithm and discarding until a sufficiently 'good' level is found. Obviously Thingol at Thar11 satisfied that requirement! I have tweaked level feeling so that it is based more on artifact value. As a relatively cheap artifact (20000), Thingol is not going to cause a really high level feeling on its own (but it will be higher than before).

[Arralen]

And more quick notes :


* Rods seem to be awfully scarce between Dlvl 10 and 23. Had to buy my RoL on the black market to get any at all .. and, come on, as a ranger (or archer) you really need that torch light to light up the dungeon corridors ... only ones I found where 2 o' Door'n'Trap detection .. marginally useful to me. Or is this just the RNG again


* "Dwarven" armor could show up earlier in the dungeon. By the time I normally encounter it, resistances are more important than AC, so it's pretty much useless.


* Nimthanc seems to break cold resistance on monsters. Atm., I have Nimthanc (1d5) (+8,+9) which is supposed to give me 2x 20 against non-resistant, 7 damage otherwise, and the Small Sword of Nogrod (2d6) (+2, +8) that says it gives me 2 blows of 13 against all.
Yet, Nimthanc kills Cold Hounds in 2 hits (or 1 *smite*), but the Small Sword needs 3 or 4 hits ?! The frost bolt from the activation seems to be properly resisted, though.


* Squelch seems to drop only things pseudo-id-ed. When I read an ID on a ring of protection which turned out to be cursed, it stayed in my inventory. A pseudo-ed pair of sandals got dropped. When I dropped the ring manually, it vanished properly, though.


* Gaveronian Berserker shouldn't be able to fire arrows. He's berserking .. all the howling, blade-swinging and salivating shurely would distract from using a bow wouldn't it? And then there's the huntslady who does the shooting ... . Actually, I would like to see them come in mixed groups, but only from Dlvl 30 downwards ...


* Weapons "of Angband" are .. tempting now, especially in the beginning when all you have is a 1d5 *thanc ... . I really like that.
Some things I noticed:

- while the + modifiers have a random part, the - mods to resistances appeared straight as they are from the ego_item.txt file. Shouldn't they have a small random part as well?
- I suppose it's possible to remove the curse and enchant the weapon up to a reasonable +skill value? Otherwise, they're still useless because with negative modifier on DEX and negative skill mod you won't hit anything, right?
(Will test that anyway, it's just too tempting ) edit: just tested, and it seems to work .. though I'm not into the (+) range, and still have to see if that would keep them save from the autosquelch ...
- Would be nice to have a slim chance of the weapon re-cursing itself every xy turns, with the curse becoming harder to dispell. Maybe with a small chance to get more negative mods and an even smaller chance to get more positive mods? That way, the player would have to pay attention not to "overuse" the weapon, and let the char get rid of it soon enough or be stuck with it forever (and most likely get killed by the weapon in some way).
- While at it, why not turn them into randarts, what would give them even more randomness. Something like the "Soft Leather Armour of Vorog" I found on Amon Rudh 24 which sadly useless because the negative modifiers where just too much.

[thapper]

Thanks for the new version, looks like good stuff (at least the list of changes, I haven't come far enough to notice much difference in the actual game yet). I found one odd thing though, in the options(=) menu I can't navigate with the arrow keys any more, it worked fine in 0.3.5. Now any "down arrow" takes me to option 2) (and left arrow to option 4). Is this intended?

(Playing on windows vista by the way if it makes any difference)