[FA] FAangband development

[Wisp]

Now if you add traps to that, life gets REALLY easy...

[Psi]

Druids use the natural world directly. I probably want them a bit more powerful, and my first port of call here is to give them increased power over terrain.

There's all sorts of fun you could have there then! Allow druids to create tree/rubble/water/wall/lava grids (probably in that order for any you decide on) and you can suddenly make a much more tactical game where you can shape the battlefield you wish to fight on. Dig yourself in and fling spells from the other side of a lava pool to avoid melee perhaps? Slow your enemies progress down with a stream of water down the corridor etc

[Nick]

I'm still a bit confused as to whether a Druid should be treated as a Warrior-Mage or a bare-handed Paladin type... but that's probably a matter of player choice...

Here's my rough intention for the spellcasting classes:

Necros are fairly obvious - power derives from use of the energy of souls captured between death and reaching the halls of Mandos.

Priests should draw on the powers of the Valar, whatever that means. Of the four, I'm least sure about priests, which is probably why I've largely left them untouched so far.

Mages are kind of technologists - the best with devices, use "invented" magic.

Druids use the natural world directly. I probably want them a bit more powerful, and my first port of call here is to give them increased power over terrain.

[Seany C]

Druids can dish out a decent amount of barehanded damage but they can't take much of it - making it tempting to wield Balli/Calris/some sort of artifact with a decent CON bonus.

The relative nerfiness of their shop-book attacks is the other problem - I've had two Druids down to 2700-3000 but as they didn't have Books 7-9, they couldn't do anything approaching the damage that a Necro could do (and with much higher failure rates than a Mage with Frost Ball/Fire Ball for their Book 4 attacks)...

I'm still a bit confused as to whether a Druid should be treated as a Warrior-Mage or a bare-handed Paladin type... but that's probably a matter of player choice...

[Psi]

...however Druids seem tough. They are supposed to be able to fight effectively bare-handed - however they are barely better than a necro at combat and they don't get an attack spell until CL4 which mages and necros do at CL1. Potential changes:
o An additional thn bonus when unarmed to make combat more viable (and prevent them from just using weapons)...

Whist exploring the source I have realised that this is already true - and quite a hefty bonus it is too. If only I could get a druid that far to test it out...

[Psi]

Gah - I knew I shouldn't have posted without coffee inside me, Psi - I'd forgotten that traps are for rogues and rangers(?).

Rogues get traps by default. Rangers and warriors can take the trapping speciality.

[Seany C]

Gah - I knew I shouldn't have posted without coffee inside me, Psi - I'd forgotten that traps are for rogues and rangers(?).

Sounds promising, Nick - there's lots of interesting extra ego-items out there in other variants that could be lifted from them with hopefully not too much extra work (like the ego-lamps in NPP and the fancy amulets in newer versions of V).

On a positive note, having played a bit of NPP over the weekend, the ease-of-use and intuitiveness of the FAA UI really shine through...

S.

[Nick]

I think this highlights the problem really, most of the big speed items have a lower pval (Cubragol and Feanor lose +5 each) and a lot of other arts do not have speed at all (Thalkettoth, Aglarang etc). This makes acquiring the necessary speed very difficult - you either need Ringil or a *very* good RoS.

New version with randart/ego item reform may well do something for this. If I ever get it done

[Psi]

Or the Fury speciality, but you'd still be at risk of a double-move for the first few combat turns (unless you speed-buffed by hitting some Snagas first - sort of like nets practice)...

But casters can't take Fury (not that they could hit Morgy anyway) ...

Still haven't tried a rogue yet - might try an assassin just to see how trap setting and mana burn work out...

...and assassins can't take trap setting.

[Seany C]

>>Thanks... also, my ability is the ever useful Unlight... Combined with the boots of stealth I found, dare I say it, my DERogue may be one of the stealthiest classes! *Gets mobbed by Hill Orcs*

Still haven't tried a rogue yet - might try an assassin just to see how trap setting and mana burn work out...

[Seany C]

>>This makes acquiring the necessary speed very difficult - you either need Ringil or a *very* good RoS.

Or the Fury speciality, but you'd still be at risk of a double-move for the first few combat turns (unless you speed-buffed by hitting some Snagas first - sort of like nets practice)...

[Psi]

One problem that I have hit now that I am diving faster is that I do not tend to have the speed I need for Morgoth by the time I reach the bottom of Angband. For example my current char is now having to scum between Ang98 and Ang99 to get an additional +5 speed in order to be able to haste to +30 (with my HP, a double move by Morgoth would be fatal). In most other variants (except O?), I would be at that point already as Cubragol would be +10. I think this highlights the problem really, most of the big speed items have a lower pval (Cubragol and Feanor lose +5 each) and a lot of other arts do not have speed at all (Thalkettoth, Aglarang etc). This makes acquiring the necessary speed very difficult - you either need Ringil or a *very* good RoS.

[Wisp]

Thanks... also, my ability is the ever useful Unlight... Combined with the boots of stealth I found, dare I say it, my DERogue may be one of the stealthiest classes! *Gets mobbed by Hill Orcs*

[Nick]

I'd try pressing '+' and then a direction, or pressing ctrl-arrow. That's what it is in Sangband. I think in O/FA, you can modify the trap with another distance of the same command, or maybe it's like S, and you have to drop stuff in that the trap will use.

Yep, that's right - '+' to set, another '+' to modify. FA traps are like O, not S - traps can be modified, but not loaded with items. And traps are really useful.

[camlost]

I'd try pressing '+' and then a direction, or pressing ctrl-arrow. That's what it is in Sangband. I think in O/FA, you can modify the trap with another distance of the same command, or maybe it's like S, and you have to drop stuff in that the trap will use.