[Un] Unangband 0.6.3 prerelease

[andrewdoull]

This is a pre-release of 0.6.3. It should be stable, and just requires extensive playing to sanity check all the changes and find weird edge cases. Unfortunately, I had to cut trap regions before release, as this would otherwise extend an already late release unnecessarily.

You can download the source code from http://prdownload.berlios.de/unangba...3-pre1-src.zip. You can download a precompiled Windows build from http://prdownload.berlios.de/unangba...3-pre1-win.zip and a precompiled OSX build from http://prdownload.berlios.de/unangba...3-pre1-osx.dmg

Unangband 0.6.3 "Death to the Case Statement" aka "The Projected Release"

### Game Play ###
- Compress dungeon levels from 0 - 100 to 0 - 60 to speed up the end game.
- Allow player to assemble friendly monsters and carry eggs to hatch friendly monsters.
- Prohibit certain races from acquiring particular equipment flags. - Penalize shape shifter mana. - Add ability to tattoo and woad yourself.
- Change earthquakes and destruction to use projection code.
- Add wilderness paths (from FAAngband).
- Try harder to prevent escape from Moria.
- Add firearms.
- Updated druidic spells to use new region code.
- Add in new sorceror spells that allow them to create traps from objects and other spells.
- Make body armours appear earlier in the dungeon. This is to try to make them a more viable option...
- Tweak weapon values as per blog. Note there are some additional tweaks here not mentioned in the blog entry.
- Add additional trap types.
- Add poisonous levels.
- Change how traps themes work.
- Sneaky monsters can now disarm traps.
- Implement sticks to snakes and familiars. Somewhat hackish.
- Tweak spell lists for mages based on 'Designing a Magic System - Part 14'
- Add some useful low level rings so that first rings !cursed. Now the first cursed rings occur at level 15, and are actually mixed cursed and beneficial.
- Altered amulets so there is no duplication in ring and amulet abilities. Amulets now occur deeper and are almost always useful.
- Make freeze have an ice effect.
- Increase power of torch and chill spells.
- Added slow poison potions and spells back. Slow poison now delays the onset of poison effect.
- Added slow digestion temporary effect.
- Added spells and mushrooms of slow metabolism.
- Improve Sauron end game. Morgoth end game still to be done.
### User Interface ###
- Reenable tunnelling using the alter key.
- Added Dubtrain Angband Sound Pack v3.1.0
- Remove original Angband sounds.
- Added cheat_wall option to pseudo-colour walls for debuggingpurposes.
- Make permanent rock distinguishable from normal rock.
- If an item/spell is known, display the area of effect when targetting to better allow the player to use the ability.
- Change druid starting light spell.
- Windy rooms and items give the player good defense against archery.
- Tweak names of throwing items.
### Bug fixes ###
- Many, many bugfixes, particularly due to code rewrites in a number of areas.
I would like to thank the numerous Unangband contributors, especially darke, for the work put in here.
Undoubtedly, I've introduced plenty of new bugs.
### Build / Platform ###
- Rowan Beentje (Lebannen): Significant updates to the Mac OS/X platform as well as some general platform updates.
- Significant rewrites of the projection and blows code.
- Remove another set of case statements: this time for describing item effects.
- A number of improvements to dungeon generation to allow map designers to improve specific dungeon designs. You can now create 'special' levels of various types, and use level and special room flags as a part of the dungeon zone set up. This allows a lot more granular control of dungeon architecture and special scenarios.
- In addition, added ability to have Mario style hidden access to dungeons. Note Gandalf taking one such route in his fight with the Balrog.
- Update class and race code to use new skills array.
- Make mushrooms tval 79. This simplifies code all over the place.
- Implement ability to regenerate the last dungeon level as per Bug #15115. Because this uses the simple random number generator, you have to switch this capability on explicitly.
Wizard command S specifies a dungeon seed. If dungeon seed is not zero, we generate levels using the simple random number generator and store the last seed used.
Wizard command L will then regenerate the last level using the last level dungeon seed.
Let me know if you need the ability to see what the seed and last seed currently are, or modify the last seed in any way.
- Switch over to using 'modern' Angband timed effects on the character.
- Player spell and ranged attacks now use the new do_cmd_item interface.
- Darke: Dumps out html files of various lib/edit/ text files; needs to be run from the 'root' unangband directory

[Arralen]

Reports "broken save" for a unangband062-beta2-win savegame.
Save from unangband-062gold2a-win works fine, though.

Ok, make that mostly fine: Why is a "Magical Bag of Supplies" now only "Supplies" ??! Upon (I)nspecting it still says it's a bag, and it seems to work ok at least for dropping and picking up torches.

Lost some ID when loading the gold2a savegame, and gained some:
A "Thunderhead" rapier upon (I)nspection (The char does not have any rune knowledge 'bout this equipment.) shows: "You can apply 5 Storm runes to any Sword, Polearm or Hafted Weapon to make an ego item 'Thunderhead'. You can apply 2 Storm runes to any Sword, Polearm or Hafted Weapon of Lightning to make an ego item 'Thunderhead'" .. and this additionally to the normal ID info.
I was able to re-ID all potion, but all weapons, armor and scrolls remain IDed, but do only show the flavour description, not the true name. "I"nspecting does show the properties of weapons and armors, but not rods, wands etc.

All stores seem to restack on every visit, which turns townscumming into marketscumming with very little delay ...
After several tries I got a "WDSM of Resist Darkness (-2) [30,+18]" for only 138705 gold .. a real bargain! Buy now, do not pay later ! Sadly, I only had 20k gold left ...
This makes for an excellent way to test the black market, though, and it seems that very few melee weapons turn up there, but lots of scrolls, potions, bags, armours, rings etc. ...
Sadly, after a while, it says "BUG: Maximum number of stores reached." And the game crashed when I tried to enter the sewers in Bree (something like "you have reached the. and found a secret shaft to the -more-" .. and that was it. Had to kill the process ..)
After starting a new char, shops worked ok in Hobbiton and Bree, though.


"- Add firearms." : "an Orcish Blunderbuss (x5) (+0,+0) (2 charges)"
No, really, no. AFAIK the only one with knowledge about gun powder in Middleearth is Saruman himself, and only him. So please do not turn UnAngband into Pirates of the Caribbean IIX ..
edit No2: I must correct myself: obvisouly, Gandalf (another wizard..) knows enough 'bout it to create complicated fireworks, but seemingly never even thinks about using it in warfare ...


Btw.,
why are sub(W)indows display settings stored in the savefile (apparently), but font size and visibility are not (ok, I see they're set using different UI mechanisms, but still ...)
And while at it - which other settings are stored in the save file, making a special player or char .pref file superflous maybe?

[andrewdoull]

All stores seem to restack on every visit,

Ugh - nasty bug. I'll track down tomorrow and fix.

Andrew

[Arralen]

It's most likely from loading a 0.6.2 version save file ... so no need to worry, unless you want to guarantee savegame compatibility ...

What bothers me more is:
... an excellent way to test the black market, though, and it seems that very few melee weapons turn up there, but lots of scrolls, potions, bags, armours, rings etc. ...

[andrewdoull]

Ok, make that mostly fine: Why is a "Magical Bag of Supplies" now only "Supplies" ??! Upon (I)nspecting it still says it's a bag, and it seems to work ok at least for dropping and picking up torches.

Will fix. It's just a user interface issue.

"- Add firearms." : "an Orcish Blunderbuss (x5) (+0,+0) (2 charges)"
No, really, no. AFAIK the only one with knowledge about gun powder in Middleearth is Saruman himself, and only him. So please do not turn UnAngband into Pirates of the Caribbean IIX ..
edit No2: I must correct myself: obvisouly, Gandalf (another wizard..) knows enough 'bout it to create complicated fireworks, but seemingly never even thinks about using it in warfare ...

I had a long hard think about firearms and decided to ultimately to include them. I'm not really persuaded by the mythology arguments - there was definitely enough evidence that gun powder existed in LotR to suggest this possibility. But from a game play point of view, having a weapon with a multi-turn reload is sufficiently different that it is worthwhile including. Note that this is not the same as recharging items - which don't require additional actions by the player to recharge.

Of course game play requires players - so if this turns you off completely, feel free to squelch them as you find them.

Btw.,
why are sub(W)indows display settings stored in the savefile (apparently), but font size and visibility are not (ok, I see they're set using different UI mechanisms, but still ...)
And while at it - which other settings are stored in the save file, making a special player or char .pref file superflous maybe?

That's as per the default Angband design. Font and visibility are platform specific, and save files are platform independent.

Andrew

[andrewdoull]

What bothers me more is:
... an excellent way to test the black market, though, and it seems that very few melee weapons turn up there, but lots of scrolls, potions, bags, armours, rings etc. ...

This is the main focus of what will be the next set of development efforts in Unangband. I know the balance of item distribution is out, but I don't have a good feel for how to rebalance this.

At the moment, I'm happy with the overall distribution of monster drops and special rooms, but 'found on the floor' and 'available in the black market' - both of which are generated using the same method so the fix will be the same, needs tuning.

What also needs tuning is the relative distribution of differing types of what internally is the same tval. e.g. the balance of healing potions vs. buffing vs damaging, also needs to be tuned. This will also involve the redesign of healing potions that I've mentioned previously in my blog. I suspect it'd make sense to include the massive simplification of the identify system as well that Bandobras has been thinking about.

I think what needs to happen is that items which fill each equipment slot should appear about as frequently as each other - this implicitly occurs with monster drops now, with perhaps a fudge factor to make melee weapons more common to encourage the use of a 'swap weapon'. It may be sufficient to ensure that each tval is dropped with the same frequency.

But the relative frequency with which the kit item for each equipment slot gets upgraded also needs to be taken into account.

Then there's the balance between consumables vs wearables, and consumables anyone can use vs class specific consumables... and so on. Given that inventory management is at the heart of the game, this could make or break the game.

Andrew

[Bandobras]

Congratulations on the new (pre)release!

[...] 'found on the floor' and 'available in the black market' - both of which are generated using the same method so the fix will be the same, needs tuning.

You are probably right, but if so, then the Black Market simulates deep floors. So, it would follow, deep items are rarely weapons. A way to fix that may be by explicitly controlling that weapons are generated 1/nth of the time or by tweaking the "good" drops generation routines, so that weapons are good often enough. Am I right? Both methods have their drawbacks...

I suspect it'd make sense to include the massive simplification of the identify system as well that Bandobras has been thinking about.

How bad I won't be able to do that. But there are some nice ideas newly implemented in other variants and with some playtesting behind them. The ID in the variants is usually even simpler than what we want, but I feel it's generally the goal we want to head towards, only we may want to stop half-way (and we head towards that sweet spot from the opposite direction that, say, V).

Good luck!

[Lebannen]

Sadly I just get errors trying to download the Mac build - but then Berlios is very slow at the moment for me anyway, so maybe it's just that?

[Arralen]

Is it WAD that bards get more mana on char creation from points in CON then in CHR?
Help file suggests otherwise, but then help files are mistakable, misleading or outdate at times
female Dwarf, Bard, ring specialist (yes, I'm gonna restart that char from scratch - again )
Starts with CON 16, CHR 11.
Going from CHR 12 to 13 gives +1 spell point, and that's it (up to 18/16).
CON is +1 spell points at 17, 18/16 and 18/28, 18/39 etc. 'til 18/63.

[andrewdoull]

Is it WAD that bards get more mana on char creation from points in CON then in CHR?
Help file suggests otherwise, but then help files are mistakable, misleading or outdate at times
female Dwarf, Bard, ring specialist (yes, I'm gonna restart that char from scratch - again )
Starts with CON 16, CHR 11.
Going from CHR 12 to 13 gives +1 spell point, and that's it (up to 18/16).
CON is +1 spell points at 17, 18/16 and 18/28, 18/39 etc. 'til 18/63.

Yep. Mana from CON doesn't scale with level, whereas mana from your mana spell stat does.

Andrew

[andrewdoull]

Sadly I just get errors trying to download the Mac build - but then Berlios is very slow at the moment for me anyway, so maybe it's just that?

I just tested this and it ran fine. However I did accidentally link to an old windows debug build instead of the latest Mac build on the unangband.blogspot.com site - so give it another go.

Andrew

[Arralen]

Is it WAD ...

... that a female dwarf bard ring specialist starts with a "Beryl Ring" equiped, getting the message "You feel yourself gain a measure of control" every 10 turns or so?
Message made me suspicious, so I backed up the savegame and quitted, and examined the equipment, and - it's really a "Ring of Teleportation {cursed}" which "was an inheritance from your family" ... And guess what happens if you try to rest/sleep while wearing this ring

... that this cursed ring (which does not show "cursed" in the beginning, before pseudo-ID sets in) does not show up as option in the (t)ake off menue, making clear that it must be cursed?

... that all equipment that was there at start shows "It may burden you with random and uncontrolled activiation" ... not only the ring, but also quarterstaff and torch as well !!

... that bards learn spells like priests do (or was it always that way, and I'm confusing variants again) ?

... that bards are seemingly lousy fighters now? STR 17, DEX 15 .. fighting "bad" and not able to hit anything, therefore dying on the entry level of Maggots Farm to absolutly anything !!

... that the bard seems better at shooting than at throwing (again), yet he cannot use a shooter because he usually wields an instrument in this slot ?!

... that the @ feels very clumsy and sluggish - and is only hit by the dart afterwards?

... that in the object recall window (term-5, in this case), the object description does not wrap, being show as 150 character long one-liner ..

... that the ******s for targets/monsters are always shown as [------], even is the top text says "you see ... (wounded)" ?


It is good, though, that (at least in this case) the ring specialist (who cannot use shields without losing the 3rd ring) starts with a quarterstaff now. Really like it ... seems thematic for a bard on the tramp, and all.

[Lebannen]

I just tested this and it ran fine. However I did accidentally link to an old windows debug build instead of the latest Mac build on the unangband.blogspot.com site - so give it another go.

Hmm. Still no luck for me. I'm going here:

http://prdownload.berlios.de/unangband/Unangband-063-pre1-osx.dmg

Which offers me two download locations:

http://download.berlios.de/unangband/Unangband-063-pre1-osx.dmg

http://download2.berlios.de/unangband/Unangband-063-pre1-osx.dmg

Which redirect me to:
http://download.berlios.de/error/HTT...FOUND.html.var (download.berlios.de)
Server timeout (download2.berlios.de)

Do I need to sign up for a Berlios account first?

[andrewdoull]

Hmm. Still no luck for me.

Do I need to sign up for a Berlios account first?

No. It should just work. I'm not sure why you're getting a breakage. Could someone mirror this build?

Andrew

[andrewdoull]

Is it WAD ...

... that a female dwarf bard ring specialist starts with a "Beryl Ring" equiped, getting the message "You feel yourself gain a measure of control" every 10 turns or so?
Message made me suspicious, so I backed up the savegame and quitted, and examined the equipment, and - it's really a "Ring of Teleportation {cursed}" which "was an inheritance from your family" ... And guess what happens if you try to rest/sleep while wearing this ring

The messages are now less frequent in SVN. As for starting with cursed rings - blame Bandobras...

... that this cursed ring (which does not show "cursed" in the beginning, before pseudo-ID sets in) does not show up as option in the (t)ake off menue, making clear that it must be cursed?

... that all equipment that was there at start shows "It may burden you with random and uncontrolled activiation" ... not only the ring, but also quarterstaff and torch as well !!

Will have to fix. (Fixed in SVN).

... that bards learn spells like priests do (or was it always that way, and I'm confusing variants again) ?

Bards should always learn spells in order (similar to priests except the order of spells learned is fixed, not random).

... that bards are seemingly lousy fighters now? STR 17, DEX 15 .. fighting "bad" and not able to hit anything, therefore dying on the entry level of Maggots Farm to absolutly anything !!

... that the bard seems better at shooting than at throwing (again), yet he cannot use a shooter because he usually wields an instrument in this slot ?!

I may have changed the bows/throwing skill order. I'll double check. EDIT: I did. Fixed in SVN.

... that in the object recall window (term-5, in this case), the object description does not wrap, being show as 150 character long one-liner ..

Known problem. Not a trivial fix.