[FA] FAangband development

[ekolis]

Hmm, I seem to recall some variant or other put the inscription on as soon as you wielded the item, seeing as you get the "oops, it feels deathly cold!" message right away - I just assumed it was standard :P

[Nick]

Hmm, I seem to recall some variant or other put the inscription on as soon as you wielded the item, seeing as you get the "oops, it feels deathly cold!" message right away - I just assumed it was standard :P

Well, you're right. I just found (while doing something else) how vanilla does it, and it wasn't what I was looking for before. So that will now be in 0.3.0. Thanks

[Seany C]

Is FAA 0.3.0 coming soon? *dons flame-retardant something*

[Nick]

Is FAA 0.3.0 coming soon? *dons flame-retardant something*

Like a snazzy new randart ring with IFire, maybe

I've been in two minds about this. I have done all the gameplay changes I'm going to for now, I think (although I haven't done any AI changes yet - they'll probably wait for a later version); I've done a major code cleanup and modernisation (but there's always more to do here, especially with Vanilla improving so fast); and I've incorporated a lot of the new Vanilla UI and features, and am currently incorporating the mouse interface cleanly into this. In some respects it would be nice to release very soon and get feedback on the changes, but my original plan was to have all the heavy code work done before 0.3.0, and there's still a bit to do.

So I guess the answer is a fairly definite maybe. Any opinions?

[Seany C]

Like a snazzy new randart ring with IFire, maybe

Heh - I've already got a Plain Gold Ring (well, platinum, actually, but that's not in theme) with PERMA_CURSE on, IRL...

So I guess the answer is a fairly definite maybe. Any opinions?

If you've got a bit more work on the new one that's worthwhile, take your time. 0.2.3 is perfectly playable and personally, I'd rather wait for one that's mythically just-right, rather than a rush bug-ridden beta...

[pav]

So I guess the answer is a fairly definite maybe. Any opinions?

The esr's mantra Release early. Release often. fits here nicely

[Arendil]

So I guess the answer is a fairly definite maybe. Any opinions?

Hmm...you can as well rename what you have already to 0.29 or something similar, release that, and then think about major changes in 0.30

I, for one, would love *slightly* smaller/redone wilderness so far none of my characters managed to discover any dungeon...but, on the other hand, maybe that's because they just die too quickly...

[Arralen]

Wilderness is fine as it is - in fact, it's one of the strong points of FA.
I would rather see overland travels be much longer - and recalling from wilderness or from town to town removed: no more townscumming ... .

If you have such troubles finding your first dungeon (entry) - have your read the help files and used the "M" key? And if you die early - where do you start? Maybe you should consider a easier starting position?

[buzzkill]

Having recently encountered my first few Gelatinous Cubes with a reasonably competent character (20th Paladin, though ill equipped to fight the cube with his Saber of Shocking and Wand of Lightning Bolts). Although its acid attacks destroyed most of my armor my biggest problem with the cube was its speed. It simply moved too quickly. It shouldn’t be able to keep pace with you. An average character should be able to outrun a cube without the aid of ‘speed’. You can’t always stand and fight a cube, due to its constantly showering you in acid, buy you should certainly be able to outrun one. It should be more of a nuisance than a deadly enemy.
Slowing the cube (maybe just -2 or as much as -5 or more) seems like an obvious fix. On the flipside, make it resistant to normal arrows and bolts, on the premise that they would simply be absorbed, inflicting very little damage. This will prevent the cube from falling prey to the run and shoot offence. As an additional compensation, perhaps it should also be at least somewhat resistant to normal melee damage inflicted by blunt weapons, since slicing into it with a blade would seem to be the preferred way to inflict damage to gelatin.
I also encountered one in the wilderness, which seemed out of place. They should be confined to dungeons corridors as per the description.
It also seemed to have the ability to unerringly track me down when I ‘teleported’ away from it. However, I think this may be a problem with most, if not all, FAangband creatures. Once you are out of line of sight even intelligent creatures should have a hard time finding you without the aid of magic or telepathy. Maybe they can logically figure out where you ran off to on foot, but all too often creatures seem to know exactly where you are, even when out of sight, even after a ‘blink’ or ‘teleport’.

[Nick]

Having recently encountered my first few Gelatinous Cubes with a reasonably competent character (20th Paladin, though ill equipped to fight the cube with his Saber of Shocking and Wand of Lightning Bolts). Although its acid attacks destroyed most of my armor my biggest problem with the cube was its speed. It simply moved too quickly. It shouldn’t be able to keep pace with you. An average character should be able to outrun a cube without the aid of ‘speed’. You can’t always stand and fight a cube, due to its constantly showering you in acid, buy you should certainly be able to outrun one. It should be more of a nuisance than a deadly enemy.
Slowing the cube (maybe just -2 or as much as -5 or more) seems like an obvious fix. On the flipside, make it resistant to normal arrows and bolts, on the premise that they would simply be absorbed, inflicting very little damage. This will prevent the cube from falling prey to the run and shoot offence. As an additional compensation, perhaps it should also be at least somewhat resistant to normal melee damage inflicted by blunt weapons, since slicing into it with a blade would seem to be the preferred way to inflict damage to gelatin.
I also encountered one in the wilderness, which seemed out of place. They should be confined to dungeons corridors as per the description.

This is all fair enough comment. There are a few other monsters like this which don't really belong in wilderness. Resistance to missiles is an interesting thought, too.

I must say, the easiest way for me to deal with all this is just to rename the monster and rewrite the description

It also seemed to have the ability to unerringly track me down when I ‘teleported’ away from it. However, I think this may be a problem with most, if not all, FAangband creatures. Once you are out of line of sight even intelligent creatures should have a hard time finding you without the aid of magic or telepathy. Maybe they can logically figure out where you ran off to on foot, but all too often creatures seem to know exactly where you are, even when out of sight, even after a ‘blink’ or ‘teleport’.

OK, here's my explanation of what goes on without looking at the code. Monsters have a detection distance; once you're inside that, it's assumed they just know where you are. Outside that, some monsters also follow scent trails, which require them to follow where you have been on foot. I think it is the detection range aspect which you are finding odd, and it probably is a bit, especially in wilderness. I'll think about that for when I overhaul the monster AI generally (probably version 0.4.0).