FAangband 1.1

[Nick]

Did this one get dealt with already? I have a FA115 save that's one critter away from triggering it if it would be useful.

That would be useful - my email is on the opening screen.

[Fendell Orcbane]

for some reason wcrolls of brand missiles cause weirdness with tiles. I have a screen shot with two@'s one @ is on the tile that I dropped the brand missiles scroll on. I can email it if you are interested.

[Nick]

for some reason wcrolls of brand missiles cause weirdness with tiles. I have a screen shot with two@'s one @ is on the tile that I dropped the brand missiles scroll on. I can email it if you are interested.

Yes, that would be good.

[Bostock]

Picked FA back up again, and five hours of play after the start :P, finally up to Dungeon number 1! Some thoughts:

- The only difference I can see between attempt-ID-on-pickup and attempt-ID-on-walkover that I can see is that the former encourages tedium (drop old, pickup unknown, then potentially drop-now-known + pickup old) if you want to make use of slot w.

- Charging a turn for trying to attack while afraid leaves me fighting the interface, not the situation.

- Trying to make me learn to soldier on with drained stats by being really stingy with the stocks of restore stat potion in each town's store simply causes me to make an obscene gesture at the monitor and trek from town to town until I get what I want... Not Having Fun in the process. Of course it's also my own decision not to have fun, but you shouldn't help me in it.

- Trying to make me conserve my WoR by being stingy wit... well, you know.

- The solution for WoR is slick.

- Paths are awesome.

- The world map PNG is awesome.

- The Longbeard starting location is not awesome.

[Bostock]

Hmm, looking closer, I think I was just unlucky with WoR, and/or too stingy my own self (maybe no-sell, which I use, makes money tighter than usual - ISTR that at first I didn't feel I could afford many).

[buzzkill]

No sell in FA drops less gold than no-sell in most other variants (or at least that's the way is was). It's tough, but I don't mind it. It makes your purchase and recall decisions all that more important as a lack of gold isn't just an early game problem. Running a class that can pick-pocket helps quite a bit. So does standing atop rubble while fighting.

[LostTemplar]

- The only difference I can see between attempt-ID-on-pickup and attempt-ID-on-walkover that I can see is that the former encourages tedium (drop old, pickup unknown, then potentially drop-now-known + pickup old) if you want to make use of slot w.

Some items have cannot_be_dropped curse, so it is intended, that you have to pick up for pseudo id, and it is not completely safe.

[Bostock]

Buzzkill - What do you mean about standing atop rubble?

LostTemplar - I see. Still rather a shame though.

[Nick]

Buzzkill - What do you mean about standing atop rubble?

Standing in rubble makes it harder for monsters to hit you.

I have been thinking, btw, about your "it's too far to walk" comments, and I think you have a point. Possible solutions include:

1. Remodelling the map so that there is less wilderness;
2. Adding more dungeons;
3. Making some form of shortcut between Belegost and Amon Rudh, and possibly other places.

The first one I have done before; I'm not sure if more of it is a good idea.

The second one is a possibility. Possible new 'dungeons' include Nogrod, Himring, Mt Rerir, Menegroth, Ossiriand - but these would be more complicated to justify thematically. There's also the possibility of putting dungeons in the middle of Eriador, say, and I may even be able to come up with some sort of thematic excuse. More thought is required here.

The third one is intriguing, and ties in with the discussion in the wilderness thread. There could be a 'travel' command between areas, indicating that this is a safe place to travel and nothing happens (a la UnAngband); or there could be a special type of 'wilderness' which is relatively safe and quick to follow; or maybe some other possibility.

Opinions on all this are welcome.

[LostTemplar]

Well we can connect Thargelion 12 to east Beleriand 13, and east Beleriand 14 to Amon Rud, it seems logical that it is possible to travel this way directly without going far south. It will also improve wilderness ironman for many races.

[buzzkill]

I'll suggest horizontal underground movement again, but I've done so before and it's never caught your attention. Upon personal review, I'm thinking that it would play a lot like the mountains if done poorly, so maybe it's not such a great idea.

Maybe a few random (hidden/non-obvious/hinted at) dungeons scattered throughout the wilderness. Something like 2d6 levels with an in depth guardian unique at the bottom that would grant an in depth artifact if defeated. Since an artifact is the reward, maybe even make these mini dungeons play Ironman style. You must defeat the guardian or recall to escape. Make it one and done. Once discovered (gained LOS) the dungeon enterance will cease to exist upon exiting the area.

OTOH you already have dungeon only mode, so what's the problem? If one dosen't like wilderness or so much wilderness, play dungeon only, or thrall, or pick a race that starts near a dungeon. If you do like the wilderness, play classic FA. It seems that hairs may be being unnecessarily split here.

[Whelk]

OTOH you already have dungeon only mode, so what's the problem? If one dosen't like wilderness or so much wilderness, play dungeon only, or thrall, or pick a race that starts near a dungeon. If you do like the wilderness, play classic FA. It seems that hairs may be being unnecessarily split here.

Agreed. Wilderness time should only be a "problem" one-way if you have recall scrolls, and I've never found it too time-consuming to go through wilderness areas that I'm just passing through, except maybe mountains. But then, they're mountains, after all.

This opinion may change once I manage to get further in the game (though I doubt it), but if people are impatient to get to dungeons, as Buzzkill said, there's dungeon-only mode. I don't see this whole thing as an issue beyond very minor inconvenience that can already be bypassed completely by simply toggling an option.

[Fendell Orcbane]

my 2 cents

I think that wilderness is fine as is, the reason being that if you have short cuts then it makes races like High Elves easier to play. But if you have to cross a lot of wilderness to get to an easier area or dungeon then it makes playing high elves much easier. BTW I have been trying to get a High Elf going in wilderness mode. Its pretty damn hard.
However if short cuts became available after you cross an area, then I could see how that would be a great help. Like maybe you could find a secret passage or something. Hell maybe the passage could be hidden like a secret door or it could be buried under rubble.

[HallucinationMushroom]

I don't think it takes too much time to walk from any one place to another. However, I played the original wilderness many times which makes the current one feel so easy that I doubt I could ever really complain about it again.

When I think 'travel option' perhaps maybe something like fast traveling from one town to another for a price based on distance. Maybe the general store, I dunno? T.o.M.E. has Thunderlord lairs, perhaps FA could have elaborate beer caravans.

"Eastbound and down, loaded up and truckin',
We're gonna do what they say can't be done.
We've got a long way to go and a short time to get there.
I'm eastbound, just watch ol' "Bandit" run

In any case, I think you still ought to have to walk from the nearest town to Amod Rudh. I like the tradition of having "getting to Amod Rudh" as a major playing milestone.

[HallucinationMushroom]

The boys are thirsty in Ossiriand and there's beer in West Beleriand.
And we'll bring it back no matter what it takes.

Okay, I'm done now. I couldn't help myself.