{UN} play by play impressions & a couple questions.

[will_asher]

What's an istari? Is that a replacement for the paladin? It looks pretty similar except with better shooting ability. That's nice, I like being a shooting paladin.
[enter game as hobbit istari]
Wow, I didn't think I'd start with this much stuff.
I can't figure out what magic type I can use, usually the X command will list the spells of a spellbook I can use, but it's not listing spells for prayerbooks or magicbooks (or songbooks -just felt like trying them too).
killed by Fang almost as soon as I enter Farmer Maggot's dungeon.

Starting a new game
hmm, same class & race but didn't start with all the stuff I started with last game, I guess it must be social class that decides if you get more stuff. A shovel is only 14 gold, that'll pay for itself real quick when I find some ore. (Does the "@w0" inscription work the same way?)
killed by a spiked pit. ..ugh

Let's try again..
the prices of all the magic stuff seems to skyrocketed. I hope there's more treasure to compensate or else how am I going to afford enough healing?
I wonder if there's a purpose to the Brandywine bridge, it seems quite empty. Hey, I just noticed there's a difficulty level on the list of travel locations, that's cool. I guess 0 means there's no dungeon there. Bree has a lower difficulty level than Farmer Maggot's farm. That's seems odd, but now I know not to go to the farm first. I like how my home inventory moves from town to town with me.
Is there a way to turn off mouse support? I don't want to accidently move when I'm clicking my mouse between windows.
I have to use arrows to kill a grey icky thing. Then I can't melee a shrieker either. How can I miss something that doesn't even move? I guess I should carry around lots of arrows. An object appeared when I found a secret door, is that supposed to happen? Is there any way to kill this animated limb to make it give back that scroll it picked up and stop blocking my way?
All for now, I've gone back to Bree at clvl 3

{EDIT: I'm a longbowman who starts with a potion of berserk rage but I can't shoot when I berserked? that stinks. ..killed by Fang on L2 of the dungeon in Bree because I panicked because I couldn't shoot.}

[andrewdoull]

What's an istari? Is that a replacement for the paladin?

If you pressed ? while highlighting Istari, you'll see a help screen, which says the following:

The Istari are fine warriors who can also use the priestly
and magical arts as well as magical devices and bows. They
are intended as an easier class to play in order to learn all
about Unangband, but a win with an Istari is not considered
as challenging as a win with any other class.
A Istari's Intelligence determines the number of spells
that they can learn, Wisdom determines the mana that a Istari
may safely use and Dexterity determines the failure rate of
their magical and priestly spells. Because of the divine
mandate of the Istari, they may use weapons freely and are
not hindered by wearing gloves, although heavy armour can
penalise their magic.

I can't figure out what magic type I can use, usually the X command will list the spells of a spellbook I can use, but it's not listing spells for prayerbooks or magicbooks (or songbooks -just felt like trying them too).
killed by Fang almost as soon as I enter Farmer Maggot's dungeon.

An Istari can use any spellbooks

Starting a new game
hmm, same class & race but didn't start with all the stuff I started with last game, I guess it must be social class that decides if you get more stuff.

Yep.

A shovel is only 14 gold, that'll pay for itself real quick when I find some ore. (Does the "@w0" inscription work the same way?)

Yep.

Let's try again..
the prices of all the magic stuff seems to skyrocketed. I hope there's more treasure to compensate or else how am I going to afford enough healing?

Yep.

I wonder if there's a purpose to the Brandywine bridge, it seems quite empty.

There was a purpose to it - since lost.

Is there a way to turn off mouse support? I don't want to accidently move when I'm clicking my mouse between windows.

If you're on windows - there should be a menu option. Not sure what Nick decided for Linux.

I have to use arrows to kill a grey icky thing. Then I can't melee a shrieker either. How can I miss something that doesn't even move?

Its too noisy for you to attack successfully...

In general, you don't have to kill everything you find...

[Bandobras]

Bree has a lower difficulty level than Farmer Maggot's farm. That's seems odd, but now I know not to go to the farm first.

A good idea. It would be nice to find a way to tell players already in Hobbiton that the Farm is difficult, or perhaps teach them about the travel menu and its levels display, using as as example the Farm.

I have to use arrows to kill a grey icky thing. Then I can't melee a shrieker either. How can I miss something that doesn't even move?

Hobbits are pathetic in melee. But don't worry, just buy the first prayer book and cast Bless before every fight and you should be OK. BTW, you can also use magical wands or throw whatever you find in the dungeon (even old boots do some damage).

An object appeared when I found a secret door, is that supposed to happen?

No clue.

Is there any way to kill this animated limb to make it give back that scroll it picked up and stop blocking my way?

Sure, just be creative, melee is not always the answer (especially when you are a Hobbit ).

I'm a longbowman who starts with a potionof berserk rage but I can't shoot when I berserked? that stinks. ..killed by Fang on L2 of the dungeon in Bree because I panicked because I couldn't shoot.

Oh, those young magic users...

[will_asher]

I'm now playing with a wood-elf paladin (because paladin is my favorite class, and not many races can be a paladin). Wood-elf paladin I think is working well since, as I mentioned before, I like being a shooting paladin.
Also I don't want to be a race or class that's made to be easier than the others with no penalties.
Two new questions/possible bugs: On the birth menus, whenever I pick male - wood elf - paladin - prayer books it sends me back to the male/female option. So I'm a wood elf paladin specializing in slay evil because it won't let me choose prayer books. Then, the help screen says the paladin can use any weapons, but the game says I don't feel comfortable with my long sword.
Also, I can't find the option to turn off mouse support, where is it? (I am using Windows).

[Bandobras]

On the birth menus, whenever I pick male - wood elf - paladin - prayer books it sends me back to the male/female option.

Do you use letter or arrows? Anyway, no such problem here (Linux, latest SVN). Perhaps try enlarging your window, so that the display of books fits on the screen, or something?

So I'm a wood elf paladin specializing in slay evil because it won't let me choose prayer books. Then, the help screen says the paladin can use any weapons, but the game says I don't feel comfortable with my long sword.

The game must have wisely decided that you will fare better as a priest. Check you 'C' screen.

There must be something totally borked with key handling in the Windows Port.

[Nick]

If you're on windows - there should be a menu option. Not sure what Nick decided for Linux.

There are no menus in Linux (the X11 port, at least), so the only options are in-game and you're stuck with mouse support. Having and in-game option to turn it off altogether might be a good idea.

[will_asher]

Do you use letter or arrows? Anyway, no such problem here (Linux, latest SVN). Perhaps try enlarging your window, so that the display of books fits on the screen, or something?

The game must have wisely decided that you will fare better as a priest. Check you 'C' screen.

There must be something totally borked with key handling in the Windows Port.

You were right, the game made me a priest. Why does it do that? I don't like being limited to blunt weapons. (I did wonder why so many prayers were listed as L1)

I was using arrow keys the first time, but I tried again using the letters and it still won't let me specialize in prayer books with a wood elf paladin. It already fits on the screen without resizing the window.

BTW, I found out how to disable the mouse. When you said 'option' it made me think birth option, not pull down menu option. Nick's post made me realize my mistake.

Okay, I started a new game and this time I do have a woof elf paladin and it still says I feel uncomfortable with my long sword. In my (C)haracter screen, it says my fighting is (-22, -20)! Without the long sword it's still (-20, -18), why is this??
..Then I weilded a (+2, +1) cutlass and my fight went to (-1, +0). weird.

[Matthias]

If you cast bless/holy chant/holy prayer your weapon will be temporary blessed as well, removing all penalties. As holy characters tend to have those spells activated anyways while in battle, they aren't limited to blunt weapons in Un at all.

[Bandobras]

When you said 'option'[...]

Andrew uttered those wise words; Andrew, the real Maintainer. I'm only a humble sidekick.

Okay, I started a new game and this time I do have a woof elf paladin and it still says I feel uncomfortable with my long sword. In my (C)haracter screen, it says my fighting is (-22, -20)! Without the long sword it's still (-20, -18), why is this??
..Then I weilded a (+2, +1) cutlass and my fight went to (-1, +0). weird.

What is your Style displayed in the 'C' menu? Is this problem reproducible when creating other characters?

Me and others don't have such problems, so perhaps something is broken with your installation. Could you rename the installation directory for a moment, then download anew and install again and check if the problem persists?

Guys, is there anybody running Un on Windows succesfully? Could you test the Paladin problems? Thanks

BTW, Matthias, paladins have _no_ penalties for weapons, any weapons. Tested again on my Linux install here.

[andrewdoull]

Two new questions/possible bugs: On the birth menus, whenever I pick male - wood elf - paladin - prayer books it sends me back to the male/female option.

That's a bug, because you haven't seen any prayer books yet, you're not getting the choice of using one.

So I'm a wood elf paladin specializing in slay evil because it won't let me choose prayer books. Then, the help screen says the paladin can use any weapons, but the game says I don't feel comfortable with my long sword.
Also, I can't find the option to turn off mouse support, where is it? (I am using Windows).

Its actually on the window menu, under options (The menus should be File, Window, Options, Help), as opposed to the in-game option menu.

[andrewdoull]

BTW, Matthias, paladins have _no_ penalties for weapons, any weapons. Tested again on my Linux install here.

I think you'll find that paladin prayerbook specialists inherit the requirement to need blessed weapons. That's probably an unintended effect of the way its set up, and can be fixed by making them always blessed in the style.txt.

[Bandobras]

I think you'll find that paladin prayerbook specialists inherit the requirement to need blessed weapons.

Not in my version of Un (latest SVN). As I've said, I've just tested it.

[andrewdoull]

Not in my version of Un (latest SVN). As I've said, I've just tested it.

Potentially the problem is weapon weight then. e.g. Str < weight of the weapon in lbs.

[Bandobras]

Potentially the problem is weapon weight then. e.g. Str < weight of the weapon in lbs.

Then the penalty would be (-12, 0) for STR 6.

[Satyr]

I did some testing with wood-elf paladins on a windows pre-compiled binary. It seems that the strange bugs only happens, when you use the option with reduced choices during character generation. If I use the "advanced" starting procedure with all choices, everything works fine, no problem with style selection and no penalty for my long sword. But if I use the starting procedure with limited choices I can't select prayer books, get a "do not feel comfortable" warning and even get a complete different set of style options (unarmed, hafted, magic/prayer books, instruments, slay evil/undead/demons) instead of the standard paladin ones (one handed, weapon/shield, prayer book, instruments, slay dragons).

The selection code for your race seems to look only at the position of the choice, e.g for wood-elfs paladins appear at the (c) position that normally is the slot for priests, so the game seems to treat you in many aspects as a priest. E.g. my level 1 wood elf created that way could learn the first 5 spells out of the blessing book.

Or I just tried to create a Hobbit Istari (slot h, normally archer) and indeed started with the option to select an archery style and without any spellcasting abilities.

EDIT:
unrelated to that: some classes (like rangers) start with a "school" selection, the description tells you that you will start with a book of that school, but a few keystrokes later you enter the world without any book. Is the description off, or the code that creates your starting kit?