Halls of Mist 1.3.0

[Mikko Lehtinen]

EDIT: New version 1.3.2 is out! See this thread.

You wouldn't have expected version 1.3.0 so soon after 1.2.3, would you?

EDIT: And 1.3.1 so soon after 1.3.0. Download links updated.

• Windows executable
• Mac OS X executable (courtesy of Darian; some info about the build here)
• 64-bit Linux executable (runs fine on Debian and Ubuntu)
• Source

Highlights:

• Mana now works much like in Ironband. You have lots of mana, but it only gets refreshed on new dungeon levels.
• Summoned creatures are mist-phantasms. They don't give loot or experience, and they have a 3% chance of dissolving each game turn.
• If you spend too much time on a dungeon level, mist-phantasms start appearing spontaneously! This is another "clock" that makes you think how you spend your time -- don't rest if you really don't need to.
• Simplified proficiencies. The points are now called identify, recover, and escape. Forget everything you know about Lore. Everybody has exactly two identify points. To identify an item, make an Alchemy skill check. In a Circle of Knowledge, you may instead try to Identify Pack or to Fully Identify.
• There are now more alternative routes to many rooms. Bypassing difficult monsters should be easier than before.
• Tweaked healing spells and items. A healing effect now always heals a percentage of wounds plus some hit points. (You get full info by inspecting items or by browsing spells.)

For a quick introduction to Halls of Mist, see the Roguebasin page.

Excellent critical feedback inspired me to try to fix the perceived problems. I'd especially like to thank buzzkill who thought playing mages was boring and who doesn't like resting in general, and Scatha, who found proficiencies too complicated and who also critiqued tree-shaped dungeons levels that didn't allow you to circumnavigate difficult monsters.

I had to break savefile compatibility. Finish your old characters in version 1.2.3.

The balance might be a bit off after such radical changes. Keep the feedback coming! For example, it's still possible to make radical changes to the mana system if this one doesn't seem to work.


Full change list:


Ironband Mana

• Mana now works much like in Ironband! You have lots of mana, but it only refreshes when you enter a new dungeon level.
• If you raise levels mid-dungeon-level, you get mana points with the new levels. If you lose levels, you also lose the mana points that came with them. Mana may go to negative.
• Mana now depends solely on your class and level, not on your spell stat. Spell stat still affects fail rate and the number of known spells.
• Modified the spell stat/number of spells table.
• Added 6 to fail rates of all spells.
• Experience level reduces failure rate less. (Was 3*, now 2*.)
• Restore Mana restores 20% of max mana.
• Ring of Mana and similar items changed. They sometimes let you cast spells for free.
• Casting Phlogiston does not consume any fuel from the torch. (Because the mana cost matters much more now.)
• Mage gets +1 to hit die side.

Mist-phantasms

• All summoned creatures are shaped out of the mist. Mist-critters have a 3% chance of dissolving each turn. They drop no loot and killing them gives no experience. To make them stand out, mist-creatures' color alternates constantly between different shades of blue and violet.
• If you spend a long time on a dungeon level, mist-critters start appearing spontaneously! The dungeon uses your own imagination against you... Monster counter starts at 250. Every game turn the counter has a (1d1000 < monster counter) chance of decreasing by one. Every game turn there's also a 1 in (monster_counter) chance that a new mist-critter appears. You get a message when the counter reaches the bottom. Here's another clock that should make you think a bit before resting -- sometimes you may want to recover hits while travelling. (After one Wooden Torch the counter is usually somewhere around 30. After two torches it might be somewhere around 3. While you are wielding the third torch, the counter probably reaches 1, meaning that a new monster gets generated every turn.)
• Mist-phantasm breeders spawn new mist-phantasms.
• Circle of Summoning and all summoning scrolls may summon a bit more out-of-depth monsters. (But they are only mist-creatures.)
• Weapons of Reality dissolve phantasms with a single hit. (A new flag: KILL_MIST.)
• Ring of Range replaced with Ring of Wind Control and made deeper (DL 28). Increase powder radius and thrown/archery range by pval. Nearby mist-phantasms have a 30% chance of dissolving each turn.
• Torch of Truth. Bonus to perception. Nearby phantasms have a 30% chance of dissolving each turn.

Simplified proficiencies

• Greatly simplified the proficiencies. The points are now called identify, recover and escape.
• Forget everything you know about Lore. Everybody has exactly two identify points. To identify an item, make an Alchemy skill check. In a Circle of Knowledge, you may instead try to Identify Pack or to Fully Identify. For each object, make an Alchemy skill check.
• The proficiency Alertness doesn't exist anymore.
• Templar loses the fencing and archery proficiencies. He now has fencing always on.
• Templar has always gained an extra shot at level 25, just like Ranger, but it wasn't mentioned in the docs. (To tell the truth, I didn't even remember it. But it's a good special ability now that Templars don't have special proficiencies anymore.)
• Scroll of Lore replaces Scroll of Identify. Gain one identify point.

Tweaked healing spells and items

• Potion of Healing renamed to Cure Mortal Wounds. Potion of *Healing* renamed to Healing.
• Cure wounds spells and items altered and probably made stronger (inspired by Squeak, thanks). They used to cure either a percentage of wounds or a minimum amount of hits; now they cure a percentage of wounds *plus* some hit points. Potions and spells of the same name now heal the same amount -- potions do cure extra status effects, though. Here's how much they heal: Cure Light Wounds: 15% of damage + 5 hits. (Spell & Staff.) Cure Serious Wounds: 30% of damage + 10 hits. (Spell & Potion.) Cure Critical Wounds: 45% of damage + 15 hits. (Spell & Potion & Recover proficiency.) Cure Mortal Wounds. 60% of damage + 20 hits. (Spell & Potion.) Healing. 75% of damage + 25 hits. (Spell & Potion.)
• Made taint worse. Tainted players get only 60% benefit of any healing of hit points. (They used to get about 4/5.) Show the player how many points got drained.

Item tweaks

• Short Sword damage upgraded to 1d8. Shortspear, Short Sword and Broad Sword are more expensive. Quarterstaff is cheaper.
• Light branded weapons blind monsters less frequently. Golden Hatchet was still too good after my previous nerf...
• Wand of Polymorph is much cheaper.
• Mushrooms of Cure Poison and Cure Disease combined into a Mushroom of Antidote.
• Added a rare Mushroom of Fortification. Increases all resistances by one. When eaten by a Shaman, it increase all resistances by two.
• Detection staves are cheaper. (I've now halved their price several times... Is this cheap enough?)
• Rings of Acid, Flames and Ice shallower, but still very deep.
• Ring of Sustain All shallower, DL 40.
• Rings of Resist Poison and Resist Disease shallower, DL 26, and slightly more uncommon.
• Ring of Mighty Throw made shallower (DL 18).
• Changed the item flag MYSTIC_RANGE to BOW_THROWN_RANGE. It doesn't affect spell range anymore.
• Combined ARCHERY and THROW_SKILL flags to MISSILE_SKILL to make room for a new flag. Changed a couple of items because of this.
• Ego torch fuel reduced to 4000.

Monster tweaks

• Monster groups are smaller. Reduced GROUP_SIZE_BASE from 9 to 6. GRP_9, GRP_18, GRP_27 changed to GRP_6, GRP_12, GRP_18. (Thanks, Scatha.)
• Chaos Cocroach's speed lowered to 115. (Thanks, Scatha.)
• Elnora now sometimes shoots arrows. (Thanks, ekolis.)
• Death Sword is dark red, Doom Sword is violet. They lose the ATTR_MIMIC flag to make the new colors really show. (Thanks, Starhawk.)
• Creeping coins and gems shine suspiciously -- every other turn they are pure white. "It looks a bit TOO shiny..." (Thanks, ekolis.)
• Wormy renamed to Whiskers the Rebel. He's a wererat. (Thanks, Squeak!)

Other changes

• Dungeon generation now builds additional tunnels after all the rooms have been connected. This should give you more alternative routes around tough monsters. To make the resulting dungeon a bit tidier, reduced the required room_distance a bit when connecting rooms with tunnels. Also, tunnels automatically terminate when they hit other tunnels. (Thanks, Scatha and others.)
• Rooms are a tiny bit larger vertically on average. (More walls for the extra tunnels to pierce through tidily.)
• The game tries not to use any one room style too often. For example, if you have had a couple of levels with lots of wilderness, the next level will probably not have any.
• Kyrrus have only 115% exp penalty, reduced from 120%.
• Lizardmen can be priests.
• Cleanse Taint gives bless for a little while if it cured taint. This protects from being tainted again on the following turn. (Thanks, Squeak.)
• Chant spell costs one mana less. Duration lengthened by about 60%. (Thanks, Squeak.)
• Batman flavour to attack messages when hallucinating!
• Give a message when you can't search a bookshelf, a rack, a closet, an interesting vegetation, or a fountain because you are confused. (Thanks, buzzkill.)
• You can now check what you have learned about the deities' blessings from the knowledge menu. No need to keep notes anymore.

Bugfixes

• Unidentified rods didn't show (charging). (Thanks, ekolis.)
• Circle of Permanence didn't make temporary resistances permanent. (Thanks, Squeak.)
• Weapons of Reality has some weird prerequirements of the weapon's material.
• The monster "race" Lycanthrope wasn't implemented properly in all places, like in the monster recall.
• Powder Vial of Darkness always completed a Circle of Summoning. Now getting a Circle of Nexus is possible too. Sorry!
• Class help still referred to Intelligence, not Memory. (Thanks, ekolis.)

[getter77]

Congrats on another meaty looking release.

[buzzkill]

Arghh. No escape points/proficiency? How are we to survive?

[Mikko Lehtinen]

Arghh. No escape points/proficiency? How are we to survive?

Escapes hasn't changed. The proficiency points are now called identify, recover and escape; each can be used for the power of the same name. Everybody has two identify points, and one recover point per 10 experience levels.

Faery races get escapes at levels 5, 15, 25, 35, and 45. Since version 1.2.3 even non-faeries get escape points at level 15 and 35 while they are blessed by at least one goddess.

[buzzkill]

Random thoughts and observations (v1.3)

Identify (points) on side bar not capitalized ("identify").
How about "leap" instead of hop. Leaping onto tables and over bushes sounds less bunny rabbity.
Maybe change the color of (tried) locked doors that you cannot open to darker brown.
Ditto indecipherable runes, darker red. Also, maybe a rune's beam (once established) could turn the floor to red.
Identifying a scroll or powder (identify points) requires an alchemy skill check?
(Y/n) prompt in stores now works, but is presented as "Y/n". Looks a little wonky.
Was able to spot an invisible "lost soul" with infravision, WAD?
I've met Smeagol .
Too many light is growing feint messages.
White wolves seem to have a hard time jumping (for being wolves).
HELP: q = drink a potion or drink from a fountain
HELP: "within the dungeon" should contain a few words on fountains and altars (rather than rambling on about the town)
Items lost when transforming into another shape could be placed in your inventory or on the floor.
Door placed inside of room. Next to flat wall, but not blocking access to anything.
Room was larger than shown and corridor leading to it was 2x wide (but you get the idea). Also contained an armoury rack in a far corner.

########
#      ###
#  +   
#########

I suppose the PC is immune to the negative effects of circles, even when in a different form (shapechanged)???
Also, becoming a naga didn't alter my PC's sex (or may have actually changed it to male, IIRC she was female). Aren't they female only?
How about a "timer bar" just above the XP bar, one tick for every 100 turns spent on the level (green<1000, yellow>1000, red>2000).
[++++++++++]= approx. 1300 turns.
Give "slow" creeping coins (maybe not copper) the ability to "grab" you, maybe a sticky secretion, to prevent hack n' back.

[Mikko Lehtinen]

Identify (points) on side bar not capitalized ("identify").

Maybe I should capitalize it? I tried to make the proficiency point words different from Hits and Mana and similar to each other, conveying a sense that these three words belong to a group.

How about "leap" instead of hop. Leaping onto tables and over bushes sounds less bunny rabbity.

Right. Noticing differences like this is much easier for people with English as the first language.

Maybe change the color of (tried) locked doors that you cannot open to darker brown.
Ditto indecipherable runes, darker red. Also, maybe a rune's beam (once established) could turn the floor to red.

Perhaps. Mist is unfortunately limited to 16 colors. I'll check if there are enough colors.

Making the rune's beam visible might be too difficult to be worth it, but perhaps not. Would it bother you if it only showed on empty floors, not on tables or altars?

Identifying a scroll or powder (identify points) requires an alchemy skill check?

Identify always requires an Alchemy check. Remember to wear all MEM-boosting equipment before identifying attempts!

If you want to get all of your stuff identified, save a couple of Lore scrolls for extra identify points, and use them after you have successfully completed a Circle of Knowledge. Identify Pack allows you to make a separate Alchemy check for each object in you inventory.

(Y/n) prompt in stores now works, but is presented as "Y/n". Looks a little wonky.

With the capitalization I was trying to convey the idea that it was the default, and pressing return means yes.

Was able to spot an invisible "lost soul" with infravision, WAD?

Maybe the ghost is colder than the surrounding area?

Too many light is growing feint messages.

Yep.

White wolves seem to have a hard time jumping (for being wolves).

Perhaps. But having 40% as the default is simpler for the player than having different jumping skills for every creature. Perhaps there should be three possible values for Jumping: bad 20%, normal 40%, good 70%?

HELP: q = drink a potion or drink from a fountain
HELP: "within the dungeon" should contain a few words on fountains and altars (rather than rambling on about the town)

Agreed.

Items lost when transforming into another shape could be placed in your inventory or on the floor.

Right. I'll make it a bit more intelligent.

Door placed inside of room. Next to flat wall, but not blocking access to anything.

Thanks. I try to fix the remaining bugs with the dungeon generation. It's kinda fun, actually. Generating hundreds of dungeons and hunting bugs is a trance-like experience.

I suppose the PC is immune to the negative effects of circles, even when in a different form (shapechanged)???

Yep.

Also, becoming a naga didn't alter my PC's sex (or may have actually changed it to male, IIRC she was female). Aren't they female only?

Right. Harpies and nagas should be female. I'll add a sex-change.

How about a "timer bar" just above the XP bar, one tick for every 100 turns spent on the level (green<1000, yellow>1000, red>2000).

Maybe. Let's try first how well the time limit works on practise.

I'm very interested in your experiences with the time limit, since I'm very familiar with your playstyle based on the AARs. You have a natural tendency to avoid resting. I suppose you should only rarely have problems with mist-phantasms. Let me know if it happens too rarely or too often.

Give "slow" creeping coins (maybe not copper) the ability to "grab" you, maybe a sticky secretion, to prevent hack n' back.

There are perhaps too many slow monsters at the moment. Some of them could use twists like this.

I had another idea: zombies could become faster (angry) when damaged.

[Mikko Lehtinen]

I had another idea: zombies could become faster (angry) when damaged.

Sleepwalker: a type of animated undead. They walk around slowly, in a dream-like state, following the simple orders programmed in by their masters. Only when they suffer pain they awaken to the horrible reality, and fight for their life.

[ekolis]

You can still rest for SP in this version, despite SP not being restorable by resting - not sure if this actually wastes turns or not!

[Mikko Lehtinen]

You can still rest for SP in this version, despite SP not being restorable by resting - not sure if this actually wastes turns or not!

Thanks.

I think a bugfix release before the comp would be a good idea. I already fixed some dungeon generation bugs. When does the competition start, exactly?

[Darin]

Thanks.

I think a bugfix release before the comp would be a good idea. I already fixed some dungeon generation bugs. When does the competition start, exactly?

Usually 1-3 days before the end of the current comp. The current comp has about 6 days left. If you want the comp to wait for a bugfix version it is probably best to contact Nick so he doesn't start the new comp before you are ready. Also if you need more time he may be able to set up a quick filler comp to allow for that.

[Mikko Lehtinen]

Usually 1-3 days before the end of the current comp. The current comp has about 6 days left. If you want the comp to wait for a bugfix version it is probably best to contact Nick so he doesn't start the new comp before you are ready. Also if you need more time he may be able to set up a quick filler comp to allow for that.

I'll release the bugfix version on Wednesday then. Nothing critical, mostly just aesthetic things -- I want my dungeon to look tidy before the visitors arrive.

[Starhawk]

I was already feeling squeezed by the 'timer' of only being able to do each level once. I'm leery of these no-XP, no-loot mist creatures.

Are mist-creatures going to be clearly marked as such, in the event that they get spawned early? Would hate to waste time/consumables stomping a worthless creature because I thought it was real.

You also mentioned Circles of Summoning now summon mist-creatures -- therefore they are no longer useful for XP generation, and Scrolls of Summon Monster are 100% junk for the same reason -- right?

[Scatha]

• Summoned creatures are mist-phantasms. They don't give loot or experience, and they have a 3% chance of dissolving each game turn.
• If you spend too much time on a dungeon level, mist-phantasms start appearing spontaneously! This is another "clock" that makes you think how you spend your time -- don't rest if you really don't need to.

I like the phantasms-as-level-timer mechanic a lot. There's lots of room for you to tweak variables to get the balance right.

To echo Starhawk's second question, though, I thought when you talked about introducing the mist phantasms that you wanted to keep the one-off summoning sources making genuine monsters to make them an interesting choice. You've come down on the side of it being too flavourfully weird for you to want to summon enemies?

By the way, I suspect that the Glyph of Warding spell (or whatever it's called) could do with a serious reduction in mana cost or fail rate or both. It seems like these were previously high to pseudo-balance the fact that you could do powerful things by spending a lot of turns to drop it everywhere. The new mana system and level timer both act quite strongly against that.

[Mikko Lehtinen]

Are mist-creatures going to be clearly marked as such, in the event that they get spawned early? Would hate to waste time/consumables stomping a worthless creature because I thought it was real.

They are dark blue/light blue/violet, changing color every turn. They also have "mist" in their status line.

Mostly you will see them after 4000 rounds or so.

Let's say there's a 1 in 30 chance of generating a phantasm every turn -- that's the situation after one Wooden Torch (2000 turns). Every phantasm also has a 1 in 30 chance of dissolving every turn. Even if a random mist-phantasm gets generated early on, you probably won't see it before it dissolves.

Usually it's not hard to clear a level within 2000 turns. Or so I imagine -- I have only playtested early levels.

You also mentioned Circles of Summoning now summon mist-creatures -- therefore they are no longer useful for XP generation, and Scrolls of Summon Monster are 100% junk for the same reason -- right?

Right. But I can easily reverse my decision about them. I'm starting to feel that I should. Especially Circles of Summoning didn't feel right in my last game.

[Mikko Lehtinen]

By the way, I suspect that the Glyph of Warding spell (or whatever it's called) could do with a serious reduction in mana cost or fail rate or both. It seems like these were previously high to pseudo-balance the fact that you could do powerful things by spending a lot of turns to drop it everywhere. The new mana system and level timer both act quite strongly against that.

You're right, I'll make it cheaper.

The new mana system allows me to try lots of new spell ideas. Like enchanting weapons!