Tweaked version of vanilla

[AnonymousHero]

I have one request so far: Would it be possible to put a stop-gap measure for down staircases that forces you to either answer (y)es or (n)o? I'm usually hammering the spacebar and miss the prompt, which defaults to a 'no' answer.

Nooooooooo! This is by far the easiest way to skip the prompt and I'd hate to see this way of skipping it go.
T
(Well, actually I don't use the space bar, but the Return/Enter keys, but still...)

[HallucinationMushroom]

Haha! Yeah, I don't care so much, but it was just something I screw up about half the time. I'm trying to take more care concerning them, so, feature request retract! Clumsy mode - engaged! Is autoscum assumed to be on? Actually, is there some catch-all noob thread about how angband works... I apparently need it.

[clouded]

I was a little surprised there was a prompt at all, I was expecting it to be like Sil/FA/etc and have stairs/shafts as seperate features.

[fizzix]

I was a little surprised there was a prompt at all, I was expecting it to be like Sil/FA/etc and have stairs/shafts as seperate features.

Yeah, A long time ago I tried adding new terrain features in angband and broke everything terribly. The code is so horribly outdated in this regard it's embarrassing. I know more about the code now, so maybe I should try again, but I have such horrific memories from that attempt...

The current behavior is a kludge for sure, but it was one that I could get working to test the effects with only a small amount of effort. I think that's the way to go for answers to questions like, "how does the game proceed if I do XXX"

[takkaria]

Haha! Yeah, I don't care so much, but it was just something I screw up about half the time. I'm trying to take more care concerning them, so, feature request retract! Clumsy mode - engaged! Is autoscum assumed to be on? Actually, is there some catch-all noob thread about how angband works... I apparently need it.

V hasn't had autoscum for years, but I think fizzix's changes make up for its removal.

[HallucinationMushroom]

Cool, thanks for info. Letting years of updates go by is interesting! For me, it's a mixed bag of, hey, cool... and, what?! and, huh? and yah! and boo. I guess, just like any game should do that gradually shifts and moves over the years.

[AnonymousHero]

So, I've played a Warrior using this "variant" and I must say I like this much better than the current vanilla. My character got quite lucky and found a pair of Boots of Elvenkind (+9 speed, +2 stealth) quite early and also found a very usable weapon soon after. (I'm playing with randarts.)

He's not quite ready for the endgame (only ~300 dpr and the best armor so far is (Dwarven)), but is hanging around Dlvl 80ish trying to scrounge up gear. Some weapons of Extra Attacks (+2) are starting to show up, but no MoDs as of yet.

Another issue is consumables. There have been quite few potions of Healing and *Healing* so far, and all(!) have been used up at this point, so the mid-range uniques (the ringwraiths, for example) are often not killable simply for a lack of healing. I don't know how big an issue this is with vanilla warriors, but there it is (it's been a while since I had one at this level in Vanilla).

One of the major things stumbling blocks for me in vanilla is the Nexus stat swap. Knowing that it can ruin characters mean that I'll usually play very consveratively once Nexus breathers show up, and will usually not dive further until I can get a pair of Boots of Stability (even in preference to BoS, sometimes.) This tends to slow the game down a lot. This was not an issue in this game.

The "uniques are more likely to drop great stuff" change is also good, I think. It encourages players to take a chance even if you're not quite sure you can beat that unique. It certainly did encourage me to take on a few of the lower level uniques before I knew I was completely ready.

My vote for these changes: +1

EDIT: Forgot to add: I haven't yet looked at the randart spoilers, so I'm not sure about what's available, but I find randarts in vanilla have always been a bit hit-and-miss since their introduction.

[Mondkalb]

Among other things you can find new special rooms with consumables, which is an improvement. If you didn't find any, maybe it was just bad luck.

[Nick]

Here's an OSX port if anyone wants it.

[AnonymousHero]

Among other things you can find new special rooms with consumables, which is an improvement. If you didn't find any, maybe it was just bad luck.

Yes, I've found quite a few of those (nice addition, btw!), but they've been stingy with *Healing* and Healing.

Still this is a single run with a a single class, so like you say it could easily just be bad luck.

[scud]

Here's an OSX port if anyone wants it.

I'm confused. As usual. Is this what people are referring to as 'v3.5'?

Anyway... no-one else appears to have mentioned this so it might be a me-specific issue: with both 3.4 and this version, under OSX 10.7.5, the ASCII font scales to the size of the window.

If I make the window full-screen playing 3.3 I can pretty much see an entire dungeon at once. With more recent versions I end up seeing a much smaller area of the dungeon but with all ASCII scaled up to the size of 1990s Hollywood rom-com email exchanges.

I'm assuming it's just me, because I simply can't play the game like that and I can't believe other sufferers haven't dissented.

[Nick]

Anyway... no-one else appears to have mentioned this so it might be a me-specific issue: with both 3.4 and this version, under OSX 10.7.5, the ASCII font scales to the size of the window.

OK, so there are two mac ports - one based on Carbon (the legacy display code) and one based on Cocoa (the new display code). This version is using the Cocoa port, which is better than the Carbon one in every respect except for the one you identify. The devteam is hoping to get this issue fixed, but hasn't yet.

The Carbon port code is still in there, so if you can compile on OSX you could do that. If not, I may get around to doing a compile at some stage.

[scud]

Cheers, Nick.

*has a quick look at threads on compiling*

*returns to 3.3.2*

Actually I think I'll take a variant for a spin. Wish me luck.

[debo]

I was insomniac last night and so, after struggling to figure out how to build the Cocoa port on OS/X, I ended up just building the X11 port and playing that.

I played a half-troll warrior all the way up to DL32 (CL23) and then suicided him to ensure that I won't burn all my spare time in the next week playing Angband

It's been a long time since I played V, but my general impressions of this run was that it was really fun. I killed ~10 uniques, and they all dropped reasonably useful stuff. I found 5 very good ego weapons before DL25, although none of them were as immediately useful as my (+7,+9) whip that I enchanted up with scrolls I'd found.

Some of them were actually pretty crazy -- an executioner's sword of *slay undead* (+15, +15), for example. A couple very good lead maces as well. I had a full complement of useful rings too. (Was =reckless attacks always in the game? Damn that thing is strong for the beginning.) I also had three sources of free action by DL 20 (ring, gloves, boots, although the boots were purchased from the armor store.)

The stairs thing is very nice, especially for a char like half-troll warrior who breezes through the first part of the game anyways.

The only thing that seemed off -- I dunno if it's just because I haven't played V in a long time, but the game seemed to be raining books. Every unique I killed dropped at least one book, and I'd clean out hordes of Gallants and basically slog through a corridor full of colored ?s afterwards. I saw Resistances of Scarabtrices twice before DL25. (This might be normal, I don't remember.)

I also saw a large variety of priest books, but I don't know those ones as well since I hate the priest-type characters in V.

I found exactly one artefact (on the floor) at DL30.

Finally -- I noticed pack sizes were smaller -- I believe this was part of the changelist. THIS IS WAY BETTER. I forgot about other super annoying monsters like Phase Spiders -- getting teleported-to a pack every turn is really jarring and irritating, but with only a handful of them in a pack, it was tolerable.

Anyhow, it was fun. I remember playing 3.4.1 a couple times and getting bored because I dove all the way to DL 20 and hadn't found jack shit yet. At least this game kept me entertained right from DL1.

[fizzix]

The only thing that seemed off -- I dunno if it's just because I haven't played V in a long time, but the game seemed to be raining books. Every unique I killed dropped at least one book, and I'd clean out hordes of Gallants and basically slog through a corridor full of colored ?s afterwards. I saw Resistances of Scarabtrices twice before DL25. (This might be normal, I don't remember.)

Thanks for the feedback! It seems like I can get away with lowering the drop percentages for town books and for dungeon books. The gallants dropping town books is new. The idea being that extra drops aren't a problem because you can just squelch them, but still, other people think that they drop too often, so it makes sense to lower the drop probs. Once I get the version up to date with all the refactoring changes going on, I'll make these tweaks.