Ironband new release

**Antoine** · January 13, 2008, 21:04

Originally posted by Antoine

Hi all

There is a new Ironband beta release out. It is savefile compatible with the previous beta and I recommend updating.

Should have mentioned that the downloads are at angband.oook.cz/ironband.

**flight2q** · January 17, 2008, 05:33

Ironband new release

No longer have easy floor option.
No longer have option to have running interrupted by doors/etc.

Definitely more useful stuff lying around. Even so, combat potions/scrolls end up getting depleted since there is no infinite magic. Game seems meant to be played avoiding battles, got to take one's chances until detect evil?

**Antoine** · January 18, 2008, 00:23

Originally posted by flight2q

No longer have easy floor option.
No longer have option to have running interrupted by doors/etc.

Definitely more useful stuff lying around. Even so, combat potions/scrolls end up getting depleted since there is no infinite magic. Game seems meant to be played avoiding battles, got to take one's chances until detect evil?

Are those options important to you? I am happy to put them back if you want.

Yes you will have to avoid some battles, which is dicey until you get a means of detection. Either that or play a HT Warrior and just kill everything you meet

If you find yourself using all your consumables up in the early game then you are probably doing something wrong.

A.

**flight2q** · January 18, 2008, 06:50

Thanks! It would be super to get those options back.

Easy floor makes it easy to confirm picking up stuff with the left hand on keyboard.

There are a bunch of different options of places to interrupt running; I turn them all on. But I think doors are the important one. You might ask around about defaulting the door option to on. IIRC, with this setup
-+-+-
--*-- where +/* are doors
it will run you past the door (*) that you haven't opened yet. Obv it will also run you past a place where you might want to search for another door too.
(Added: Trying to duplicate this, but I can't.)

Talking about running, and sand, riddle me this - why can you run through sand when it is dark?

Added: Oh, if it's convenient, the flavor text in the inventory display is really irritating.

**DaveMan** · January 22, 2008, 21:02

Hi,

Thanks for the updating. I tried to compile it under xubuntu (using both Makefile.std and Makefile.gtk) and I got the binary, but the game stops responding upon character generation (when it says I can press [ENTER] to confirm and start the game).

Also I need to run mkfontdir in lib/xtra/fonts to get the game launched.

Looking forward to the solution. Thanks!

**Antoine** · January 22, 2008, 21:05

Originally posted by DaveMan

Hi,

Thanks for the updating. I tried to compile it under xubuntu (using both Makefile.std and Makefile.gtk) and I got the binary, but the game stops responding upon character generation (when it says I can press [ENTER] to confirm and start the game).

Also I need to run mkfontdir in lib/xtra/fonts to get the game launched.

Looking forward to the solution. Thanks!

I don't know anything about this, can anyone else help?

You could also try posting the same comment on rec.games.roguelike.angband, someone there may be able to help

A.

**Nick** · January 23, 2008, 07:59

Originally posted by Antoine

I don't know anything about this, can anyone else help?

Looks like in this line (from get_name() in files.c):

Code:

	put_str("Select Name Using Random Name Generator? (y/n)", 24, 10);

the 24 should be a 23, which is the bottom line in a standard angband term. So when it's apparently hung, it's actually just waiting for a y/n answer. Enlarging the window shows the prompt correctly (if you use Makefile.std and -mx11; gcu and gtk still don't show line 24 as far as I can see).

**DaveMan** · January 23, 2008, 14:30

Thanks, Nick, making this change does the trick!

Antoine, it seems only the old (8x8) tiles work at the moment, is that true? I tried Adam Bolt's but the dungeon itself remains ascii.

Now diving to lvl3 ...

**Antoine** · January 23, 2008, 21:09

Originally posted by DaveMan

Thanks, Nick, making this change does the trick!

Antoine, it seems only the old (8x8) tiles work at the moment, is that true? I tried Adam Bolt's but the dungeon itself remains ascii.

Now diving to lvl3 ...

Oh, I thought that was how it supposed to be. I will look into it.

Will put Nick's fix into next release...

A.

**DaveMan** · January 24, 2008, 15:27

Very eager to keep trying new versions.

I really like this dive-or-die concept. It removes a lot of unnecessary (and personally a bit annoying) aspects, especially shopping (only above the dungeon) and all sorts of junks/useless items -- and ultimately a lot of painful key presses, without sacrificing any fun of it. To me this simplifying does very well to keep the game focused. The dive-or-die mode really stands out, even right from the beginning of playing.
After dying for around 7 or 8 times (mostly at levels 4 and 5), my L13 human dungeoneer is now doing pretty well at Level 6. Strength, perception and agility have hit over 18 after "self-discovery" twice. No danger so far with a 1d8 (+2,+5) Cutlass, a full body of plus armor, hunting wildly on steroid (potion of berserk strength) ...
(Sorry I am not very used to the band-talk and band speech. I just love *banding.)
But isn't this all too easy? My feeling is that surviving in Ironband is actually (a lot?) easier than in Sangband. Stats seem to go up pretty easily. I don't think I have ever managed to get to that high character level in dungeon level 5 or 6 in other *bands. Good and excellent (ego) items seem more common than cursed ones (perhaps because I got Luck at 15?). Or maybe life is getting hard at some point very soon??

Just one small request: there are too few light sources to pick up. The stock torches went away very quickly. I spent most of the time at dungeon level 5 and half of level 6 in the dark, before I came across one brass lantern.

**Antoine** · January 24, 2008, 20:30

Originally posted by DaveMan

Very eager to keep trying new versions.

I really like this dive-or-die concept. It removes a lot of unnecessary (and personally a bit annoying) aspects, especially shopping (only above the dungeon) and all sorts of junks/useless items -- and ultimately a lot of painful key presses, without sacrificing any fun of it. To me this simplifying does very well to keep the game focused. The dive-or-die mode really stands out, even right from the beginning of playing.
After dying for around 7 or 8 times (mostly at levels 4 and 5), my L13 human dungeoneer is now doing pretty well at Level 6. Strength, perception and agility have hit over 18 after "self-discovery" twice. No danger so far with a 1d8 (+2,+5) Cutlass, a full body of plus armor, hunting wildly on steroid (potion of berserk strength) ...
(Sorry I am not very used to the band-talk and band speech. I just love *banding.)
But isn't this all too easy? My feeling is that surviving in Ironband is actually (a lot?) easier than in Sangband. Stats seem to go up pretty easily. I don't think I have ever managed to get to that high character level in dungeon level 5 or 6 in other *bands. Good and excellent (ego) items seem more common than cursed ones (perhaps because I got Luck at 15?). Or maybe life is getting hard at some point very soon??

Just one small request: there are too few light sources to pick up. The stock torches went away very quickly. I spent most of the time at dungeon level 5 and half of level 6 in the dark, before I came across one brass lantern.

I am glad you are enjoying the game!

You will see that it will get harder a bit deeper. In the first few levels there is a lot of nice kit to get you started, and you are getting frequent stat boosts.

It should be noted that DL 10 in Ironband has about the same difficulty of monsters as DL 15 in Angband. So, you should expect to be a higher level at the same depth.

Light sources - this is by design

. If you unwield your torches when you are crossing lighted areas, they won't run out as fast. Eventually you'll find a better light source and you won't have to worry about it.

A.

**DaveMan** · January 27, 2008, 10:58

Originally posted by Antoine

I am glad you are enjoying the game!

You will see that it will get harder a bit deeper. In the first few levels there is a lot of nice kit to get you started, and you are getting frequent stat boosts.

It should be noted that DL 10 in Ironband has about the same difficulty of monsters as DL 15 in Angband. So, you should expect to be a higher level at the same depth.

Light sources - this is by design

. If you unwield your torches when you are crossing lighted areas, they won't run out as fast. Eventually you'll find a better light source and you won't have to worry about it.

A.

How true.

Lighting source: Alright, now my char grabbed a shiny Helmet of Herin from a dwarf and he also starts to cast megalight (how environmentally friendly!) as needed...

Some surprises to me:
-- The poison dart trap is really dangerous! Not that it will poison my character, but strength drain!
-- Stats drains... yes, my human adventurer got Strength, Dexterity, Agility, Constitution and Perception all pulled down below max for various reasons (monsters, traps ... my shortsighted char has got the lowest value Perception...) after DL10, until I started to find potions of restoring them one by one approaching DL20. Spooky. This comes more often than I expected.
-- Dragons: hey, they can do better! My char is quick and strong enough to close in the baby black dragon to deal a few fatal blows before their acid breaths get around my driftwood amulet of resist acid. I'd say the waterhorses are far more dangerous, just because they always come in groups breathing acid at quite a distance. Don't get deceived by their low HP.
-- IDs: wow, life is easier than ever! Very early on I picked up a book of mage spells (with the identify spell), and then after DL10 something I bumped into a wand of *identify* . Remove curse comes easily in spellbooks and quite a few wands of remove curse which I don't really need). Now under a pile of dozens of ogres in a sealed room (no door, just found it by an accidental casting of detect evil) I saw a wand of mass identify ...

A quick summary from my brief experience (psuedo-spoilers?):
-- Be generous to Luck when giving birth to your char. You definitely want you char to collect good enough stuff at early dungeon levels to prepare to meet the tough folks beyond around DL10. I guess 15 is a nice start (now mine is 18/10 at DL20. I find really impressive things every few DLs, including a few horrific Artifact blades).
-- Wisdom is not that important (to me at least, I am used to fast melees), but i feel comfortable and more secure with more than a 100 points at least to spend on curing spells and identify.
-- A small trick of ID: separate the few finds that interest you at the DL. Spare some (let say 20~30) manas along the way. After clearing the DL and knowing where to do down, use the stock manas to ID these things, then dive again.
-- Constitution shouldn't be low either. Blinding, poisoning and serious wounds are *very* common. It's not easy to fix them in the heat of battles. Rather I will flee quickly or jam the door behind me to let the Cons bring life up again.
-- It's a bit tricky how to manage wands and talismans before DL20. They don't add up together. My current decision is to throw away wands and keep the talismans (now I got four) as soon as I got a spellbook with the same spells (also four books now).

Gameplay aside, I have a question about resource usage: I find my CPU running at 100% all the time when the game is running. I also have a similar issue with running Sangband in Mac OS X (temperature goes up quickly). Is that common for *bands in general?

**zaimoni** · January 27, 2008, 16:35

No, 100% CPU is not normal for most *bands; it is a front-end issue (usually spin-locking while waiting for keypresses).

**Antoine** · January 28, 2008, 10:44

Originally posted by DaveMan

How true.

Lighting source: Alright, now my char grabbed a shiny Helmet of Herin from a dwarf and he also starts to cast megalight (how environmentally friendly!) as needed...

Some surprises to me:
-- The poison dart trap is really dangerous! Not that it will poison my character, but strength drain!
-- Stats drains... yes, my human adventurer got Strength, Dexterity, Agility, Constitution and Perception all pulled down below max for various reasons (monsters, traps ... my shortsighted char has got the lowest value Perception...) after DL10, until I started to find potions of restoring them one by one approaching DL20. Spooky. This comes more often than I expected.
-- Dragons: hey, they can do better! My char is quick and strong enough to close in the baby black dragon to deal a few fatal blows before their acid breaths get around my driftwood amulet of resist acid. I'd say the waterhorses are far more dangerous, just because they always come in groups breathing acid at quite a distance. Don't get deceived by their low HP.
-- IDs: wow, life is easier than ever! Very early on I picked up a book of mage spells (with the identify spell), and then after DL10 something I bumped into a wand of *identify* . Remove curse comes easily in spellbooks and quite a few wands of remove curse which I don't really need). Now under a pile of dozens of ogres in a sealed room (no door, just found it by an accidental casting of detect evil) I saw a wand of mass identify ...

A quick summary from my brief experience (psuedo-spoilers?):
-- Be generous to Luck when giving birth to your char. You definitely want you char to collect good enough stuff at early dungeon levels to prepare to meet the tough folks beyond around DL10. I guess 15 is a nice start (now mine is 18/10 at DL20. I find really impressive things every few DLs, including a few horrific Artifact blades).
-- Wisdom is not that important (to me at least, I am used to fast melees), but i feel comfortable and more secure with more than a 100 points at least to spend on curing spells and identify.
-- A small trick of ID: separate the few finds that interest you at the DL. Spare some (let say 20~30) manas along the way. After clearing the DL and knowing where to do down, use the stock manas to ID these things, then dive again.
-- Constitution shouldn't be low either. Blinding, poisoning and serious wounds are *very* common. It's not easy to fix them in the heat of battles. Rather I will flee quickly or jam the door behind me to let the Cons bring life up again.
-- It's a bit tricky how to manage wands and talismans before DL20. They don't add up together. My current decision is to throw away wands and keep the talismans (now I got four) as soon as I got a spellbook with the same spells (also four books now).

Thanks for the post.

I know - baby and small dragons are pathetic. WIll be fixed in next release.

I think you got a bit lucky with Identify, but yes, it's supposed to be reasonably abundant.

Enjoy,
A.

Ironband new release

Ironband new release

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