[Announce] PosChengband 1.0.0

[Arjen]

I'm away for a week and suddenly we can go throw monsters? I knew that going on vacation was a bad idea.

[clouded]

I declare this game of one-upmanship on.

You toss Meng You, the Brother of Meng Huo.
Meng You, the Brother of Meng Huo hits King Mulu, the Chief of Southerings. 
King Mulu, the Chief of Southerings shouts, 'AAAARRRGGGHHH!!!'
King Mulu, the Chief of Southerings dies.
Meng You, the Brother of Meng Huo cries out in pain.

(If only I could have killed his brother with him)

[chris]

YAR (Yet Another Release ... 1.0.35) is available here:

The big change this time is to move blows calculations to a system of fractional blows. It is a big change, affecting every class in the system as well as all the monster innate attacks and monk attacks. Obviously, I didn't test everything, but I did run thru my vast array of "characters on hold", about 20 or so.

First, how does it work? Well, instead of starting with say 1 attack, and having to wait until you receive the correct combination of stat boosts to click into 2 attacks, you might get 1.75 attacks. Improve your dex a bit, and maybe now you get 1.83 attacks. Of course, each time you attack a monster you either get 1 blow, or 2 blows. But you have a 75% or 83% chance of getting those 2 blows, and this is rolled each time you attack. It is best to think of this as a bonus since the old system would just round down those fractional blows to 1.

Second, why the change? Well, the early game can be rather frustrating to get melee going, especially for characters with poor starting dex. Also, characters that should be favoring heavy weapons often switch to light weapons simply to chase extra blows.

Also, I went ahead and bumped the max blows numbers for many classes and monsters. I've always been bothered by the 5 attacks for melee characters, except warriors who get 7 blows. Now, some of the strong melee hybrid classes (Paladins, Samurai, Chaos Warriors, Cavalry) get 5.5 max blows. Weaker melee classes (Priests, Rangers) stay with just 5.0 blows.

Anyway, this is a big change, and I hope you will like it. You might give monks a whirl to really notice the difference, since now they get blows in .25 attack increments

Other changes this release include some rebalancing to giants, including adding penalties for wielding tiny weapons and bonuses for wielding favored weapons. Also, there is a slight monster surprise in store awaiting the unwary!

[HugoVirtuoso]

YAR (Yet Another Release ... 1.0.35) is available here:

The big change this time is to move blows calculations to a system of fractional blows. It is a big change, affecting every class in the system as well as all the monster innate attacks and monk attacks. Obviously, I didn't test everything, but I did run thru my vast array of "characters on hold", about 20 or so.

First, how does it work? Well, instead of starting with say 1 attack, and having to wait until you receive the correct combination of stat boosts to click into 2 attacks, you might get 1.75 attacks. Improve your dex a bit, and maybe now you get 1.83 attacks. Of course, each time you attack a monster you either get 1 blow, or 2 blows. But you have a 75% or 83% chance of getting those 2 blows, and this is rolled each time you attack. It is best to think of this as a bonus since the old system would just round down those fractional blows to 1.

Second, why the change? Well, the early game can be rather frustrating to get melee going, especially for characters with poor starting dex. Also, characters that should be favoring heavy weapons often switch to light weapons simply to chase extra blows.

Also, I went ahead and bumped the max blows numbers for many classes and monsters. I've always been bothered by the 5 attacks for melee characters, except warriors who get 7 blows. Now, some of the strong melee hybrid classes (Paladins, Samurai, Chaos Warriors, Cavalry) get 5.5 max blows. Weaker melee classes (Priests, Rangers) stay with just 5.0 blows.

Anyway, this is a big change, and I hope you will like it. You might give monks a whirl to really notice the difference, since now they get blows in .25 attack increments

Other changes this release include some rebalancing to giants, including adding penalties for wielding tiny weapons and bonuses for wielding favored weapons. Also, there is a slight monster surprise in store awaiting the unwary!

Arrrgh...you had to release this on a Sunday. I'll have to wait until next weekend for my next 8 - 10 hr session.

Having the fractional blows + increased max blows for BOTH players and monsters is a great way to make the game easier, yet harder in other ways. Quite an ingenious way to balance the game!

Also...
The Troll Monster's pseudo-ID works for weapons but not for Rings anymore.... Is this working as designed? Or Troll Monsters are normally supposed to be INCAPABLE of doing a Ring/Amulet pseudo-ID? Apparently, my current Troll Monster [Combat Nefaric Kalmah] start to PosCheng 1.0.35 was *way* faster than it was in PosCheng 1.0.34. I just don't remember if the Troll Monster race had ANY Ring/Amulet pseudo-ID capability before version 1.0.35.

And also...
Did you remove the display indicating the STR and DEX requirements indicating the next increase in number of blows? Working as designed?

[Brouhaha]

Class power spoilers?

Four kids and a full time job here, so I don't get to play as often as I'd like. Rather than take the time to explore each class, could I get spoiled as to what each one will offer me as I advance?

Also, a request for the Magic Eater. There are a /lot/ of buttons to push before you can cast a spell with these guys. Could you simplify their casting menu by eliminating the top later? Just go straight to Offense, Detection, Utility, etc... Would it be possible to combine similar effects as well? Or are the power levels between, say, a rod staff and wand of fireball too great to make a single fireball ability?

Minor magic eater bug: the rod of pesticide doesn't have its damage listed in the power info.

[chris]

Four kids and a full time job here, so I don't get to play as often as I'd like. Rather than take the time to explore each class, could I get spoiled as to what each one will offer me as I advance?

I'd rather not do spoilers as it is a very labor intensive for something that "spoils" the game, IMO

Ideally, the class descriptions during the birth process should be enough for new players to get a feel for how each class will play, as well as hinting at the types of strategies involved. For example:

The Mauler favors extremely heavy weapons, and possesses powerful
abilities whose effectiveness depends on the weight of the weapon. While
they only gain a limited number of blows which can never be magically
increased, they are capable of hitting opponents very hard to make the
most of each strike. The Mauler is required to use both hands on a single
weapon when wielding if they wish their talents to function properly.

This should be enough for new players to get the idea of how to play. Heavy weapons, two-handed wielding, strong melee.

Of course, the descriptions for some classes might need improvement and I'd like to get feedback from new players on specific instances where the descriptions are inadequate.

Also, during the birth option, I grouped the classes into categories based on how they play: Melee, Archery, Martial Arts, Magic, Stealth, etc. This should give a strong hint as to the type of class involved.

You can access the help files at any stage in the birth process by pressing '?'. Again, these files might need some improvement (I inherited them from Hengband, and ultimately, Zangband, so I'm sure they could use some updating). The help commands during the birth process are context sensitive, bringing up files appropriate to your current options.

Also, a request for the Magic Eater. There are a /lot/ of buttons to push before you can cast a spell with these guys. Could you simplify their casting menu by eliminating the top later? Just go straight to Offense, Detection, Utility, etc... Would it be possible to combine similar effects as well? Or are the power levels between, say, a rod staff and wand of fireball too great to make a single fireball ability?

I have to agree with this. Its odd, since only a single keystroke has been added relative to normal casters (4 versus 3), but it is very noticeable. Perhaps the best option is for the zap, aim and use commands to redirect to the appropriate magic-eater submenus since it is normal for magic-eaters to eat all their devices. This would return to 3 keystroke power selection.

I'd rather not remove the categories as having a single level with all choices is a bit overwhelming (Hengband does this though). You end up with 30 to 40 choices and of course, your screen might not be big enough to display them all.

Minor magic eater bug: the rod of pesticide doesn't have its damage listed in the power info.

Fixed. It does 4hp damage, by the way.

EDIT: OK, some of the class descriptions really, really suck (e.g. The Duelist, Blood-Knight, Time-Lord). When I get time, I'll work on improving these.

[AnonymousHero]

A minor buglet with Golems: It seems that _get_flags() is missing a couple of blocks of code, specifially for the "Eog Golem" and "Spellwarp Automaton" forms.

(Btw, do you prefer bugs be reported here or should we use the Github issue tracker thingy?)

[Brouhaha]

Death Sword bug?

I got a long sword of slay demon as a quest reward! Ate the thing and didn't get Slay Demon as an ability. My average damage did go up slightly, though I didn't gain any visible pluses or base damage (still 2d5 +2/+4).

[chris]

A minor buglet with Golems: It seems that _get_flags() is missing a couple of blocks of code, specifially for the "Eog Golem" and "Spellwarp Automaton" forms.

(Btw, do you prefer bugs be reported here or should we use the Github issue tracker thingy?)

I'm not sure I follow ... There are blocks of code for both of those forms, they are just empty placeholder blocks in case, during design, I add a new ability that requires an update to the character sheet. Also, the Spellwarp Automaton gets resistance to teleportation and stun, and these are currently not showed to the player, but should be. So in the future, there should be some code in at least the Spellwarp's code block.

Sometimes I leave empty stub functions in the code as well, for similar purposes of reminding a forgetful developer (me!).

Reporting bugs here is more likely for me to notice as I don't check the Issue Tracker on Github (though perhaps it will email me?).

[Arjen]

I got a long sword of slay demon as a quest reward! Ate the thing and didn't get Slay Demon as an ability. My average damage did go up slightly, though I didn't gain any visible pluses or base damage (still 2d5 +2/+4).

You have 2 types of to-hit to-dam as Death Sword monster. The ones you can see on your sword (the +2 +4) and the ones gained from draining weapons who are shown in the abilities menu (~x) with the other abilities like the slayings.

The first one will grow with levels or scrolls/service.

And I think you need 2 sources of slay demon before you actually get the appropriate slay. You will even need more when you evolve further.

[chris]

I got a long sword of slay demon as a quest reward! Ate the thing and didn't get Slay Demon as an ability. My average damage did go up slightly, though I didn't gain any visible pluses or base damage (still 2d5 +2/+4).

Check out the Extra Character Info display (Press '~' then 'x'). Here you will see a list of all the essences you have drained, as well has how many you need in order to receive a bonus. Slay Demon is probably 1 essence if you are still a Broken Death Sword and 2 essences if you are a Death Sword and even more essences if you have evolved further.

[chris]

I copied this from another thread

Originally Posted by Nick:
Er, like now. I'll set it up soon; continue changing or not as you choose

No, I'd rather take an entire month off from coding!!

I was hoping to finish some cosmetic changes to helpfiles, but that is such dry tedious work that its hard to stay motivated. Anyway, I pushed one last release (1.0.37) here:

* 1.0.36 fixed a bug with Quylthulgs entering the town Arena. Normally, the town Arena blocks character and monster summoning rendering our poor Q hero defenseless. But now, I enabled both player and monster summoning whenever the player is a Quylthulg.

* 1.0.36 fixed a bug with new virtue effects causing any monster to become friendly. The monster selection is supposed to be themed to the virtue in question (e.g. Unlife influences undead, Faith influences angels, etc).

* 1.0.37 fixes a stupid coder error for the reforging service. Reforging is supposed to limit the maximum object creation depth to 100, and did so by applying the MAX function. Of course, when you want to set a max, you need to use MIN.

* 1.0.37 also adjusts the reforge power down a bit. Fame is more important and you should probably try for at least 100 fame before doing anything big. The town service now tells you your numeric fame value.

* 1.0.37 improves the in game helpfiles, adding more information on some new monster races (Quylthulg, Elemental, Golem, new Giant evolutions).

You can pretend I uploaded this last release last night before the new competition started if you like

[AnonymousHero]

I'm not sure I follow ... There are blocks of code for both of those forms, they are just empty placeholder blocks in case, during design, I add a new ability that requires an update to the character sheet. Also, the Spellwarp Automaton gets resistance to teleportation and stun, and these are currently not showed to the player, but should be. So in the future, there should be some code in at least the Spellwarp's code block.

Sometimes I leave empty stub functions in the code as well, for similar purposes of reminding a forgetful developer (me!).

I didn't realize that RES_TELE/STUN didn't show up in the character sheet. But surely, the speed flag should be showing up as it does for the other golem forms? (This whole "do-modifications-to-player-and-flag-grid-separately" thing screams out for a refactoring so everything doesn't have to be done twice, but I must admit I don't currently have any good ideas of exactly how to do it.)

Reporting bugs here is more likely for me to notice as I don't check the Issue Tracker on Github (though perhaps it will email me?).

It should email you, I think, but I'll keep the bug reports here. (I think you can also disable the Issue Tracker completely for your project if you don't want people to accidentally report bugs on github.)

[HugoVirtuoso]

I'm playing as the Troll Monster for Competition 143. On the birth screen, I picked the Spirit Troll (that's what I remembered!). Upon reaching clvl 20, I became an Ice Troll!! Is this part of the Spirit Troll evolution?! I don't recall this being part of the Spirit Troll evolution or even any other form? I was expecting to be an Algroth...

[chris]

I'm playing as the Troll Monster for Competition 143. On the birth screen, I picked the Spirit Troll (that's what I remembered!). Upon reaching clvl 20, I became an Ice Troll!! Is this part of the Spirit Troll evolution?! I don't recall this being part of the Spirit Troll evolution or even any other form? I was expecting to be an Algroth...

You get Ice, Fire or "Poison" as a random branch point in the middle. Don't worry, evolution converges back on the Olog form soon enough. The form you pick (Spirit in this case) only influences the final evolution for trolls.

Take a look at your weapon branding, though. An Icy touch is pretty nice