FAangband 1.0

[Seany C]

You might think that, but my HE mage is CL29, has Mim down and is now at DL62 of Angband after 73k turns. I'd stick up a dump if it wasn't broken

Just avoid (or TA if you can) anything you can't kill and make the most of frost beam, thrust away, teleport other, telekenesis and stone to mud.

Nice work - I picked a Longbeard Mage so it's taken >100k turns just to get to Amon Rudh 16 speedily as possible...

Looking forward to this Best Spell Ever, though...

[Psi]

Looking forward to this Best Spell Ever, though...

...and that is even after I had to get Nick to tone it down because it made mages far too easy.

[Nick]

...and that is even after I had to get Nick to tone it down because it made mages far too easy.

...and speaking of which, I would like to hear opinions about whether the magestaff activation makes things too easy. It's already been toned down a bit, too, and I'm open to extending it's timeout and/or reducing the mana restored.

[Seany C]

Hmm, it definitely makes things easier for casters at the start. It attentuates a little once at CL10+, though. I think adding 10 SP is fine but I'd extend the recharge to something more like 20+d20 - with the current set-up, a char at, say, CL7 with INT 18/50 can PD and Fire Bolt almost indefinitely, making the likes of Brodda (or any normal speed monster with no ranger attacks) absolutely trivial...

[Pete Mack]

Hmm, it definitely makes things easier for casters at the start. It attentuates a little once at CL10+, though. I think adding 10 SP is fine but I'd extend the recharge to something more like 20+d20 - with the current set-up, a char at, say, CL7 with INT 18/50 can PD and Fire Bolt almost indefinitely, making the likes of Brodda (or any normal speed monster with no ranger attacks) absolutely trivial...

This is as it should be. (What else should mages be looking for than normal speed monsters with no range attacks?)

[Seany C]

Heh, I wasn't advocating any tactics other than scoot'n'shoot but the new Magestaff activation set-up gives Mages a 10SP boost every (I think) 10+d5 turns.
This gives a Mage with around 15 SPs (say around CL7 with INT at 18/50) a nearly zero-risk game against monsters with no ranged attacks as, by the time their mana is depleted, the Magestaff is recharged and ready to give them another 10 SP...

[Nick]

I think adding 10 SP is fine but I'd extend the recharge to something more like 20+d20

That sounds good. It means you can fire off all your mana and get one restore, but then you do actually run out before the staff recharges.

[Psi]

Heh, I wasn't advocating any tactics other than scoot'n'shoot but the new Magestaff activation set-up gives Mages a 10SP boost every (I think) 10+d5 turns.
This gives a Mage with around 15 SPs (say around CL7 with INT at 18/50) a nearly zero-risk game against monsters with no ranged attacks as, by the time their mana is depleted, the Magestaff is recharged and ready to give them another 10 SP...

20+d20 sounds a bit high to me. At 10+d5, you can just about get away without having to rest for mana (you can recharge every 15 steps as you run away ), which makes for a much more fun game until you get 'clear mind'.

By all means make it a bit longer if you think it is too easy, but I don't think it is that far out.

[Seany C]

I suppose it depends on how easy you think the early game should be - having near-infinite mana while running away just feels a little cheesy.
As a side issue, does the Magestaff activation work for other classes too, if they find one?

[Pete Mack]

I suppose it depends on how easy you think the early game should be - having near-infinite mana while running away just feels a little cheesy.
As a side issue, does the Magestaff activation work for other classes too, if they find one?

Do it too much in the wilderness and you will die: a running battle is not necessarily compatible with the primary strategy of sneaking around. (You'll run into one of those horrible 'p's or 'h's (yellow perils?), and that will be that.)

[Psi]

I suppose it depends on how easy you think the early game should be - having near-infinite mana while running away just feels a little cheesy.

I suppose it depends how you play. I haven't yet tried to scoot and shoot an opponent - and I wouldn't have the patience to do that with a wimpy firebolt. I've been using the activation as a means of preventing having to rest (to keep my turncount down).

As a side issue, does the Magestaff activation work for other classes too, if they find one?

We discussed this, but I'm not sure if Nick put a restriction in, in the end.

[Seany C]

Do it too much in the wilderness and you will die: a running battle is not necessarily compatible with the primary strategy of sneaking around. (You'll run into one of those horrible 'p's or 'h's (yellow perils?), and that will be that.)

Heh, fair point for many chars but sneaking around with a Longbeard tends to turn into a firefight pretty damn quickly...
Yellow perils - druids? Sounds a bit like my lovely-but-racist grandma...

Si - yep, it does get bloody tedious very quickly. I suppose it's no harm to give early-game players an extra option...

[Arralen]

Wanted to try out the new version ...

Nick, why don't you simply put a line in the readme that says "The following players are not supposed to try out this version, because they only and always file nasty bug reports: Arralen, ....". Ok, I suppose it was more fun this way, wasn't it?

============================================================
|     1054|         Brethil  20  |  4  | Killed by Nick, the Spirit.
|     1054|         Brethil  20  |  4  | Killed on 08/11/2009 at 08:54 PM.
|     1054|         Brethil  20  |  4  | Nick killed me!
============================================================

Now I'm going to delete the ghost files (as I did always before), wonder how you and the RNG will get my char killed before lvl10 on the next try


And it was all in vain - here's my first 1.00 bug report:
Redraw / windows focus problem
Running Equip (term1), Inv (t2), monsterlist (t3), message (t4), spell/monster rec. (t5), char/spec (t6).
Upon resizing term windows, the main screen goes blank apart from a yellow curser square when being in shop/browsing spell book/etc..
ESC works to get me out to main view again, though.


PS: 8 steps out from Ephel Brandier ... it lurked behind some bolders. Died on the stairs ... Looks like this will get tedious soon .... :

|     4836|   Ephel Brandir Town |  4  | Killed The Complainer
============================================================
|     5165|  West Beleriand  19  |  4  | Killed by a Tiger.
|     5165|  West Beleriand  19  |  4  | Killed on 08/11/2009 at 09:26 PM.
============================================================

[Nick]

Redraw / windows focus problem
Running Equip (term1), Inv (t2), monsterlist (t3), message (t4), spell/monster rec. (t5), char/spec (t6).
Upon resizing term windows, the main screen goes blank apart from a yellow curser square when being in shop/browsing spell book/etc..
ESC works to get me out to main view again, though.

Yes, I can repeat this. Control-R will get out of it, too.

As for my spirit, I can't be held responsible for that...

[Nick]

We discussed this, but I'm not sure if Nick put a restriction in, in the end.

I did - it's mages and necros only. How does 15 + d10 sound for the activation time, then?