Third attempt at a "variant"

[Therem Harth]

Conviction Angband, based on OAngband. Third time's the charm, I hope.

Basically it's Strawberry, with O as a base and somewhat less crude hacks. Current "highlights" include...

- Font fixes for X11.
- Theme-style stat boosts every five levels.
- A tentative tweak for more reliable trap detection.

The last is set up quite differently from in Strawberry. INT and WIS don't matter, instead the class and race bonuses are applied every five levels (as of now, the frequency is subject to change).

The upshot of this is that, if I'm calculating right, most race/class combos will eventually get perfect searching and perception... Key word being "eventually." A human warrior will reach that point at about level 35, but a troll warrior will only reach it at level 50, which seems about right to me. Again, this system is subject to change, I may replace it with something radically different if it proves to be no good.

Future plans include increasing the number of monsters in the early game, and possibly new abilities and spell changes...

Edit: oh yeah, it's on Gitorious. http://gitorious.org/cangband/cangband

And FWIW the searching and perception changes aren't actually working for some reason. Not sure why, I'll look into it...

[Nick]

I gather you've started with Oangband 1.1.0u - if there's anything weird about that codebase, I'm likely responsible...

Also, I am planning to move O110u to AngbandBase at some point - not that that has to affect you if you don't want it to.

Like the name, btw

[Therem Harth]

Now I'm wondering what the versioning should be... CAngband no-version-yet-this-is-git-dammit? Maybe I'll just settle for "beta".

(And I still have to get Perception and Searching working right. Funny, the hack I used SHOULD have worked, but it looks like the race and class modifiers for various skills are never applied, ever. I think this may be a bug.)

[Therem Harth]

Okay this is just too weird. As far as I can see the code is exactly the same for determining disarming and perception... But disarming increases with level and perception doesn't at all.

[Therem Harth]

Stranger and stranger... I am double and triple checking the code, and I cannot see ANYTHING that would keep perception from scaling with level while disarming scales fine. It's not just a display bug either - characters who should have good perception just fail to detect traps. There is something extremely strange going on here.

[Therem Harth]

Ah got it... All the time it was the edit files. Most races and classes get no level-based modifier to perception whatsoever, so it just never increases. I'll have to figure out another way...

[Therem Harth]

Okay this is not working out, the prospects for maintaining my own variant look like of grim at the moment....

[chris]

Okay this is not working out, the prospects for maintaining my own variant look like of grim at the moment....

Don't despair! I'm trying to do the same sort of thing, and it is rather difficult to get started. Also, some things are just hard to figure out.

I'm a total noob, and I'm not even looking at the same code base as you are, but in Zangband related variants there is a function called calc_bonuses() in xtra1.c that is your friend. Its a 2700 line function but it basically figures out all sorts of stuff based on current equipment, level, race, class, etc.

Of course, your base variant (what did you say, Oangband) probably does it differently, and I should just keep my mouth shut

Anyway, good luck! Don't give up, and I'm sure there are other people here that know waaaay more than I do and could actually help you out.

[Nick]

I'm a total noob, and I'm not even looking at the same code base as you are, but in Zangband related variants there is a function called calc_bonuses() in xtra1.c that is your friend. Its a 2700 line function but it basically figures out all sorts of stuff based on current equipment, level, race, class, etc.

Of course, your base variant (what did you say, Oangband) probably does it differently, and I should just keep my mouth shut

You're quite correct, and that's the place I would start looking.

@TH - I'll try to have a look at your code at some point, but I'm not sure exactly when that will be...

[Therem Harth]

It's back up...

Still not sure what direction to take with trap detection. For now I'm just going to leave it alone; I figure I might eventually add a trap-detecting ability (maybe with some other bonuses).

[Therem Harth]

Okay the trap detection thing is done.

First of all adj_int_dis[] has been removed. Instead a flat bonus of INT * 7/2 is applied to searching, perception, and disarming. For a human warrior this gives perfect trap handling at around 18/100 INT, which is exactly what I want.

(Obviously rogues will get perfect trap handling pretty fast, whereas half-trolls will need intelligence-boosting items to benefit... Exactly as intended.)