Cryptband looking for testers

[RogerN]

Hahaha, you are definitely the same RogerN from the Space Empires community... I see that "Name := Giant white rat" stuff in monster.txt

Oh, that's not the worst of it. You should look at the item abilities in item.txt

Regarding health regeneration, here's what I'm going to do for now... I still don't like free health regeneration, but I've decided to place a couple magical fountains on each level. Drinking from the fountain will restore you to full HP, but you can only drink from a fountain once. Perhaps this will satisfy some of the complaints about it being too hard?

[ekolis]

Heh, at least you got rid of the stupid "Number of Abilities"... though since nothing actually has more than one ability, why do you even say "Ability 1"? Just for future expansion? Heck, I even saw some stuff that had an Ability 2 with no Ability 1... Aaron would go bonkers! :P

edit: oh, wait, the dragon helm does have multiple abilities, silly me :P

[RogerN]

Heck, I even saw some stuff that had an Ability 2 with no Ability 1... Aaron would go bonkers! :P

Lots of the weapons have multiple abilities. I don't think there's ever an Ability 2 without an Ability 1, but I do sometimes specify Amount 2 without Amount 1. In those cases Amount 2 is basically a formula for generating Amount 1.

For example, an Amulet of Protection uses Amount 2 in order to provide a random 2d10 bonus to armor.

[ekolis]

Hmm, is it intentional that inspecting my Long Bow of Velocity I bought in the weapon shop doesn't reveal any special abilities? It does have a +2 modifier to SOMETHING, but to what I don't know!

Also, I like how when you wield a bow, the damage dice on your arrows increase!

And what's the point of the heroism potion raising your max HP? So you have to use it and then a healing potion to actually get the HP? Or are there healing spells too? (Somehow I doubt there are, since MP regenerate so quickly!)

[ekolis]

Hmm, I was walking around and noticed a door that was out of my sight radius suddenly open... That's not supposed to happen, is it? Or did I "hear" it open?

[RogerN]

Hmm, is it intentional that inspecting my Long Bow of Velocity I bought in the weapon shop doesn't reveal any special abilities? It does have a +2 modifier to SOMETHING, but to what I don't know!

That's +2 damage per hit. Any modifiers displayed in parentheses (+2) refer to damage. If you look at the description of the Longbow, it should say that it does 2 base damage per hit. That's in addition to the damage dice from your arrows.

Also, I like how when you wield a bow, the damage dice on your arrows increase!

I'm afraid I don't understand. Are you saying that your (2d3) arrows changed to some other kind of arrows after wielding a bow? Arrows are arrows, and should always be 2d3 (unless they're seeker arrows, but that would be obvious).

And what's the point of the heroism potion raising your max HP? So you have to use it and then a healing potion to actually get the HP? Or are there healing spells too? (Somehow I doubt there are, since MP regenerate so quickly!)

When your max HP changes, your current HP is adjusted also so that your health percentage stays the same. In other words, you may still have 80% of your max health, but now you have 48 /60 HP instead of 40 / 50.

Hmm, I was walking around and noticed a door that was out of my sight radius suddenly open... That's not supposed to happen, is it? Or did I "hear" it open?

That's not an issue I'm going to worry about right now. Some Angband variants (don't know about Vanilla) have the same issue. Just assume that you heard it open

[ekolis]

No, I didn't see a +2 to damage on the bow... no special abilities at all, just the ego and the (+2) in the name!

Oh, for some reason I thought arrows started at 1d3, and got doubled by the bow... silly me!

Nice mechanic with the HP

OK, I won't worry about the doors :P

[ekolis]

I just started a Lunatic character and got a Title of... 3... on my character sheet :P

edit: also, a torch is described as an "oul"-soaked firebrand? Surely that's supposed to be "oil"?

edit 2: also, "rest as needed" doesn't rest for HP when in town, and I saw some bolts being sold that were more expensive than other bolts, but had no ego on 'em... though inspecting them did say they did extra damage from fire!

[RogerN]

Version 1.2 has been posted - download links have been updated at the top of the thread. Since this version includes a couple of crash fixes, as well as an attempt at compensating players for the lack of HP regen, I strongly recommend upgrading.

Cryptband v1.2
--------------
* Fixed:    Monsters attempting to cast a nether ball could cause the game
            to crash.
* Fixed:    Monsters attempting to breathe air (as in breath attack, not
            respiration) would cause the game to crash
* Fixed:    Multi-hued dragon breath attack could crash the game
* Fixed:    Attacking an invisible monster with a branded weapon could
            reveal the name of the monster (ie "The ghost gets burned!")
* Fixed:    Punctuation error in the message which indicates that the
            monster you just killed was a phantom (Lunatics only)
* Fixed:    Ego name for ammunition was not being displayed.
* Fixed:    Launchers of Finesse were increasing melee speed instead of
            ranged speed.  Also, the speed bonus wasn't listed properly
            in the item's description.
* Fixed:    Launchers of velocity were not described properly.
* Fixed:    Profession and title not displayed properly in character dump.
            How I missed this one, I'll never know.

* Changed:  Wands of spark are generated with twice as many charges.
* Changed:  Amulet of sustenance maintains your current hunger level, but
            does not make you less hungry.

* New:      A couple of one-use fountains are generated on each level.
            Drinking from the fountain restores you to full HP.
* New:      Added quit / suicide command (Q)

Also, a few tips on game mechanics since I haven't had the time to write a proper help file yet.

Melee combat
The base chance to hit is 50%. Melee skill increases this by 10% per level of the trait. Your skill also improves by 4% every level, but monsters become 4% harder to hit with depth, so these tend to even out unless you're fighting OOD monsters. Some monsters have defense bonuses of up to 25% which make them harder to hit.

Lighter weapons tend to have intrinsic speed bonuses (ie Dagger is +7 melee speed). Heavier weapons tend to have intrinsic accuracy penalties. Both of these adjustments are visible in the object's description.

Ranged combat
The base chance to hit is 50% minus 2% per grid of distance to the target. Otherwise it works just like melee combat. Unlike Angband, ranged weapons do not provide multipliers. The ammo provides the damage dice, and the launcher may or may not provide damage bonuses (hunting bow has no bonuses, longbow has +2 damage bonus, etc...). Slings are fast (+10 shooting speed).

Armor
Armor absorbs damage from physical attacks. If your AC is 50, for example, then your armor will absorb between 2.5 and 5 damage from a physical attack (yes, the game tracks your HP in tenths). High AC is crucial for surviving melee deep in the crypt, as monster damage tends to increase linearly with depth.

Evading
Unbuffed characters with no special traits will dodge enemy attacks 25% of the time. Traits such as Parry and Nimble can help you to evade attacks; read the trait descriptions for more information.

Searching
All traps and secret doors have a difficulty (0-99) associated with them. If your searching skill exceeds the difficulty then you will find the trap or door when you walk next to it. Otherwise you'll never find it (without magic), so you might as well stop trying. There is no manual search command; searching is always passive.

Lockpicking
The mechanic for picking locks is similar to searching. Locks have a difficulty (0-99) associated with them. If your lockpicking skill exceeds this value then you have a 1 in 3 chance of picking on lock on any given attempt. Otherwise it is impossible.

Magical devices
Base success rate is 50%, minus 3% per level of the item. Subtract another 30% if you're confused. The Device Skill trait increases this number by 15% per level of the trait.

[Sirridan]

Thanks for posting what things do, it helps clarify and makes some decisions easier.

Also, maybe add birth options, one of which can be "No fountains" so that way you can have your cake and eat it too, and novices can play with a softer learning curve for a while.

[Jungle_Boy]

I gave this a quick try. I think it is pretty cool, the different run button (SHIFT instead of .) messed me up some and I could not destroy items 'k' which kinda annoyed me cause I hate littering the dungeon. I only got to level three so not much more comment than that yet. Very positive impression so far though.

[RogerN]

Oops!

I had changed the relative frequency of Air Beasts to a very high number while testing, and forgot to change to back before uploading v1.2. I strongly recommend modifying monster.txt to fix the problem. Locate the Air beast entry and change Frequency from 10000 to 10.

[RogerN]

Version 1.3 posted. Download links updated at the top of the thread.

Cryptband v1.3
--------------
* Fixed:    Sound breath attack could crash the game
* Fixed:    Scrolls of Dispel Undead needed a space in the title
* Fixed:    Air beast frequency was abnormally high
* Fixed:    Scrolls of Banishment could banish Count Orlok, leaving the
            game in an unwinnable state
* Fixed:    Player would not learn flavor of items granting resistance
            if 100% of the damage was absorbed

* Changed:  Alchemist always stocks at least 1 scroll of identification

* New:      Added a couple egos for light sources

[Rizwan]

My blacksmith had his two blows per round reduced to 1.7 after wielding a normal dagger thats meant to increase melee attack speed by +7. Is this WAD?

[RogerN]

My blacksmith had his two blows per round reduced to 1.7 after wielding a normal dagger thats meant to increase melee attack speed by +7. Is this WAD?

You get 2/blows per round when punching with your firsts, but the base weapon speed is just 1/round. A dagger gets a +7 speed boost, so 1.7 is correct. Certain ego items can increase your melee speed, as can the Melee Speed trait and a ring of extra attacks.