[Announce] PosChengband 1.0.0

[chris]

The first official version of PosChengband has been released. You can download windows binaries and source code here.

So, what is it? First and foremost it is a Chengband derivative, though with rather extensive changes. Enough to warrant it being a completely new variant in my opinion. Most races and classes have been altered in at least minor ways and quite a few classes were completely redesigned. Dual wielding has been completely redesigned. There is a new resistance system. Player hitpoint evolution has changed and ... I've made too many changes to remember them all at the moment!

But the big change is the addition of Posband style monster races. Have you ever wanted to play as a Gelatinous Cube? As a Dragon? As a Phase Spider? If you are like me, then the answer is a resounding Yes! At the moment I've added 10 new monster races (Angel, Beholder, Demon, Dragon, Giant, Hound, Jelly, Lich, Spider and Xorn) and a few more will be coming shortly. Like Posband, each monster race (excepting Xorn) has a boss monster which will drop a special racial artifact.

Pav, would it be possible to allow ladder posts for this variant? I've redone the character dump to clean things up a bit and I'm trying to attach a sample. Thanks!!

Chris

[Arendil]

Yay! That was sorta unexpected...you've got some really cool ideas here. I'll give it a shot.
As far as reworking goes how about changing 1-18/*** scale to something like 1-40? Or showing numerical values of skills in character dump?

[Roch]

Played a quick xorn that died an ignominious death at the hands of an ewok in the warg quest. Plays fine through that point, thanks Chris!

[pav]

The Ladder now accepts PosChengband dumps.

[Nick]

Wow, you are utterly bananas - and I say that with the deepest admiration. Is it ready for a competition?

[chris]

The Ladder now accepts PosChengband dumps.

Thanks, Pav!!!

Wow, you are utterly bananas - and I say that with the deepest admiration. Is it ready for a competition?

At the risk of encountering embarrassing software bugs, sure

[emulord]

I just found scrolls called "wascally wabbit".

[ekolis]

PosChengband? Genius! Now I can play as a Metal Slime! (Err, "metal babble"...)

[ekolis]

Hmm, I can't find the Possessor class anywhere...

[chris]

Hmm, I can't find the Possessor class anywhere...

Sorry, no Possessor class. Actually, judging from the Posband ladder it was actually player monster races that were popular.

As far as reworking goes how about changing 1-18/*** scale to something like 1-40? Or showing numerical values of skills in character dump?

I'm OK with the 3 to 40 stats but will probably hold off until 2.0. For skills, I'm not sure how much a numerical value will mean to the player since you really need to grok the code to understand what, say, a 237 Fighting skill actually means.

[Arjen]

... So thats where you went. Already noticed that you weren't posting a lot anymore. I was fearing you dropped the best variant of Angband and retired to somewhere in RL.

But, you actually combined my two most favorite variants into 1! *faints* Where is the download of my new top one variant?? Need to spam the ladder with some mutating stuff! *inhales* *exhales*

[Arjen]

Can I use this tread to spam things I notice?

Like, where can I see my attacks? Got the answer to this one Thx

*edit*

Ahh, chardumps still show.

*edit2*
but not correct as you see the amount of blows you have. Which is in my case (dragon) 1, but I do claw and bite as attacks which so wouldn't it be 2 blows?

*edit3*
Is it normal for a normal speed orc to have 8 hits in a round? Mauhur just wacked my ass this way. Didn't saw it coming that he would do over 75% of my total life in one round.

*edit4*
the game drops multiple spellbooks which can be extreemly munchin when you start to find the dungeonbooks, easy way to make insane amounts of cash. Ofcourse I don't knwo if the 3rd and 4th books also drops in packs. Noticed the dungeonbooks drop with just 1 at a time

*edit5*
Shouldn't the weapon/shield slot be 'left hand/right hand'? You hold your weapons/shield with your hand and not with your arm.

*edit6*
Just noticed that i missed a Sabertooth tiger twice. That's pretty normal, but I also noticed the sabertooth tiger died at blow 1 and after he died I actually attacked (missed) him 2 more times... I think it's a bit cruel to attack a dead opponent. I'm a Master Lich with no weapon equiped.

*edit7*
equiping/unequiping stuff as crossbowmaster makes the game crash.

*edit8*
Maybe the rewards from the bandit and warg quests should be a little bit more focused on the monster. As floating eyeball I still got a sword and a shield. With which hands am I going to wield those.

[Arendil]

Arjen,

Under '~" you have knowledge menu with detailed info about attacks. Still, would be nice to have it in the character screen.

[getter77]

Looks quite promising indeed.

[chris]

equiping/unequiping stuff as crossbowmaster makes the game crash.

This is a nasty bug, and I must confess to not having played any sort of shooting class since forever. A fix has been uploaded here. While I was at it, I fixed a couple other minor bugs, added support for information on shooting and changed the character display to give options to view 'w'eapons or 'b'ows.

The other issue I've heard mentioned are the 'x' characters for unkown grids. That is actually the way Hengband displays them but I guess I must have poked the view_unsafe_grids option to default on at some point. I changed the default back to off for this option but you may need to turn it off manually for existing savefiles if it bothers you (It is on the Map Screen Options page).

but not correct as you see the amount of blows you have. Which is in my case (dragon) 1, but I do claw and bite as attacks which so wouldn't it be 2 blows?

Dragons have two different kinds of innate attacks, and the blows displayed are only for the attack in question. Eventually, you can get 4 blows with your claws and 2 with your bite for a total of 6.

Is it normal for a normal speed orc to have 8 hits in a round? Mauhur just wacked my ass this way. Didn't saw it coming that he would do over 75% of my total life in one round.

Yup! That's just a double move by Mauhur which is nothing unusual.

the game drops multiple spellbooks which can be extreemly munchin when you start to find the dungeonbooks, easy way to make insane amounts of cash. Ofcourse I don't knwo if the 3rd and 4th books also drops in packs

Only first and second books will stack in 1.0.0. I changed this to just first spellbooks in 1.0.1. Another bug was that stat potions in the Black Market would stack (only relevant if you are extremely rich) but alas, that too has been fixed

Just noticed that i missed a Sabertooth tiger twice. That's pretty normal, but I also noticed the sabertooth tiger died at blow 1 and after he died I actually attacked (missed) him 2 more times... I think it's a bit cruel to attack a dead opponent. I'm a Master Lich with no weapon equiped.

I tried to fix this but am not sure. I guess I need to play a Lich too?

Anyway, thanks for feedback!!