FAangband 1.0

[Nick]

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.)

Wilderness ain't what it used to be - it's almost tame now. It's mostly the 'p's you're talking about, I think - beastmasters, druids and animists. With the latest race changes, a lot of druids and animists won't be hostile any more.

[JimmyMike]

I realize that I'm new around here, and this may be a silly question and all, but I noticed on the "Big Things" page (planned new features for FAangband) that there will be "No Selling to Shops" and just wondered that really means what I think it means and what the reasoning for this is. Can anybody shed some light on it?

-JimmyMike

[Nick]

I realize that I'm new around here, and this may be a silly question and all, but I noticed on the "Big Things" page (planned new features for FAangband) that there will be "No Selling to Shops" and just wondered that really means what I think it means and what the reasoning for this is. Can anybody shed some light on it?

This is an idea of Eddie Grove's. The basic idea is that it removes the collecting of gear just to sell, and gets away from "Angband:Game of Shopping". You can't just ban selling and do nothing else, because then you don't have enough money to buy consumables; Eddie's solution is to increase gold drops.

I actually have a new idea on this, but I'll post it in a separate thread.

[buzzkill]

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).

It is cheesy, but that wimpy firebolt is quite formidable when your supply of them is unlimited. Cheesy, but irresistibly tempting. Even relatively strong enemies falls easily to the firebolt (x10)/phase/activate/repeat combo. It will carry you to DL20 quickly. It used to work for 1/2 casters too, but I think that has been disabled.

[Pete Mack]

Heh, fair point for many chars but sneaking around with a Longbeard tends to turn into a firefight pretty damn quickly...
Yellow perils - druids

Yellow perils, as in yellow p (Beastmaster) or h (Gavernians) that cause no end of headache in the wilderness.

[JimmyMike]

This is an idea of Eddie Grove's. The basic idea is that it removes the collecting of gear just to sell, and gets away from "Angband:Game of Shopping". You can't just ban selling and do nothing else, because then you don't have enough money to buy consumables; Eddie's solution is to increase gold drops.

I actually have a new idea on this, but I'll post it in a separate thread.

I'm glad to hear that; I was a bit worried that it would be impossible to sustain ration reserves, let alone get new equipment. So this would mean that a player would have to simply drop items they felt they didn't want? Would this also impact the amount of found items?

-JimmyMike

[Nick]

So this would mean that a player would have to simply drop items they felt they didn't want?

Yes, that's right

Would this also impact the amount of found items?

Well, my favoured option (today, anyway) is the squelch for gold idea. This means that squelched items, instead of being still there but hidden, get turned into gold - probably in an amount that is some fraction of their sale price.

The no selling idea does remove one of the current chief purposes of the towns - so I will probably have a rethink of all the town functions as well.

[Seany C]

Yellow perils, as in yellow p (Beastmaster) or h (Gavernians) that cause no end of headache in the wilderness.

Ah - it's only the summoner (beastmasters/animists/druids) that I have a problem with, once my CL's into double figures. Archers can be nasty for low-level chars but a decent AC seems to cut the risk down significantly...

Nick - 15+d10 sounds good - that should stop it from being ready to recharge as soon as your mana's depleted...

[Seany C]

Two questions I forgot to ask - are the mobs of mixed 'p's, without any guarded items, deliberate? I seem to encounter them reasonable frequently from DL2 onwards...

Secondly: I spotted the change about reducing the number of artifacts generated at Anf58 - however, this seems, at first glance, to have nerfed the number of items of any quality appearing at Anf 56/58 - or is it that the items are there but just hidden by sand dunes?

[Psi]

Secondly: I spotted the change about reducing the number of artifacts generated at Anf58 - however, this seems, at first glance, to have nerfed the number of items of any quality appearing at Anf 56/58 - or is it that the items are there but just hidden by sand dunes?

The change to nerf artifacts is purely reducing the bar for the autoscummer on levels with dungeon entrances. So that will not have caused that.

I believe it is probably to do with the sand dunes, but I haven't actually investigated it too deeply.

[Nick]

Two questions I forgot to ask - are the mobs of mixed 'p's, without any guarded items, deliberate? I seem to encounter them reasonable frequently from DL2 onwards...

Yes. The way this now works is that if a player-race monster (for example, an Easterling novice mage) that normally appears in groups is generated, instead of a group of novice mages, you will get a mixed group of Easterlings. Another thing to note is that a given player-race is more common close to its home town.

Secondly: I spotted the change about reducing the number of artifacts generated at Anf58 - however, this seems, at first glance, to have nerfed the number of items of any quality appearing at Anf 56/58 - or is it that the items are there but just hidden by sand dunes?

It's basically the sand dune thing. Previously, deserts were made up of rock and rubble, so all items had to be generated on floor or grass, and tended to concentrate on the paths. Now there are a lot of sand dune grids, which can also have items generated on them - so the number of potential spots for items has grown enormously, and the (same number of) items are more spread out.

[Psi]

It's basically the sand dune thing. Previously, deserts were made up of rock and rubble, so all items had to be generated on floor or grass, and tended to concentrate on the paths. Now there are a lot of sand dune grids, which can also have items generated on them - so the number of potential spots for items has grown enormously, and the (same number of) items are more spread out.

I assume you can you see objects on sand dunes rather than them being disguised like on rubble? (If it wasn't for other dunes removing LoS anyway).

[Nick]

I assume you can you see objects on sand dunes rather than them being disguised like on rubble? (If it wasn't for other dunes removing LoS anyway).

Yes, that's right - in particular, they're visible if you use Object Detection.

[Bandobras]

Congratulations!

1.0! Ho-ho! Some variant maintainers are really brave.

[Nick]

1.0! Ho-ho! Some variant maintainers are really brave.

Meh - it's just a number. It doesn't mean it has any less bugs than previous versions.