FAangband 1.4

[Nick]

On "Eriador 10" I dropped through a trap door (how can a batform drop down a hole in the ground? ... more complainer stuff I guess .

Batform has a 2/3 chance to miss invisible traps - account for the other third however you like

At least the bat-intrinsic featherfalling worked so I didn't get damage ...) and the only way to get out of underground alive was to recall to Eriador Town.

There should have been upstairs somewhere on that underground level.

Upon recalling to wilderness I landed on the surface, not underground (as expected), and the map shows a dungeon here?!
I thought only "real" dungeons" show up as (Dungeon) on the map, but ... :

Yeah, that label is technically a bug - the underground levels are a big hack, and the map doesn't deal with them correctly.

[Mondkalb]

So after some hiatus, I played with the new version a little bit today.
It is still showing the weird commutation I have already mentioned: using the Gervais tileset, caps on the map are shown with a glove graphic. If I switch to Shockbolt tiles, caps are shown as caps.

[Nick]

So after some hiatus, I played with the new version a little bit today.
It is still showing the weird commutation I have already mentioned: using the Gervais tileset, caps on the map are shown with a glove graphic. If I switch to Shockbolt tiles, caps are shown as caps.

OK, I'll check that out.

[Arralen]

Is trap detection with rods not 100% any more?
Zapped a rod and detected a murder hole some 8 steps north from my position, then made 6 steps to the north and stumbled into a shimmering portal, which clearly should have been within the detection radius?!

[AnonymousHero]

Oh, quit yer whinin'!

(I keed, I keed. Sounds like a bug.)

[Nick]

Yes, does sound like a bug, unless a trap somehow got created there in that time (by scroll or monster).

[mrrstark]

Do you have any plans to pull in some of the varied room layouts from vanilla etc. into FAangband?

Although I really like the idea of the overworld and FAangband's different dungeons, the layouts seem boring, samey. For example, the dungeons I saw while playing were entirely simple rectangle rooms and simple corridors. And the overworld's mountain/caves were also a bit dull due to mainly being long lines of corridors. I think with a bit of variation in level generation, FAangband would be way more fun.

[Nick]

Hm - you make a good point. FA has inherited from Oangband a much more flexible room generation system, but I haven't taken enough notice of the V room improvements. It's clearly time to regain the lead (although it is good to throw them a bone occasionally...).

FA already does have "nightmare mode", which boosts the generation of vaults and interesting rooms as you get deeper, but it still leaves early levels with a majority of plain, square rooms. I've always taken it that those are the bread and butter of dungeon generation, but I'm actually starting to wonder of that's the case. Maybe square rooms are just boring. Would people get sick of endless room variation, though?

[Derakon]

I've always taken it that those are the bread and butter of dungeon generation, but I'm actually starting to wonder of that's the case. Maybe square rooms are just boring. Would people get sick of endless room variation, though?

I'd say variety is good, but with the caveat that non-rectangular rooms can be irritating to explore simply due to the fact that running gets interrupted more often and LOS can be tricky. This is mostly a problem for that section of the game where rooms are often unlit, but the player lacks reliable access to detection/mapping.

[Mondkalb]

Well, I think the early dungeon levels are still a bit more interesting than vanilla levels, because they may contain water and rubble in the mid of rooms which blocks line of sight, maiking them more dangerous (if you fall through a trap door early on) but also making them more interesting than just plain empty halls.
Maybe, they just look more boring compared to the rich in variety wilderness.

[Mr Mushroom]

I go away for a bit and you sneak a new version out on me. Awesome.

Not had time to play much yet but so far I'd say it seems a little easier, I'm not having to start a new mage so often.

[Mr Mushroom]

Getting odd looks from the misses when I turn GTA off to play some FA. So ar so good, no decent characters to dump or cool war gear but far fewer bugs and glitches than before. My problem with light sources when loading hasn't shown up yet, got the same issues as mentioned before with the "press any key" at start up requiring a click and trying to recall to dungeons, but these are minor things.

Enjoying casting classes much more this time round, you might even see a mage dump from me at some point! Some of the early spells are excellent, getting ID, telekinesis and teleport self by clvl 11 is a big help, phase door can only do so much.

Now the question, is the activate on a mage staff always for 10mp or can you find better ones? If it doesn't get any better will the activate timer still count down while its in my inventory allowing me to carry a few of them?

[Nick]

Now the question, is the activate on a mage staff always for 10mp or can you find better ones? If it doesn't get any better will the activate timer still count down while its in my inventory allowing me to carry a few of them?

No, they're always only 10 MP and they don't recharge unless wielded. The basic idea is to help in the early game.

[Narvius]

They do help the early game, and make it so much more fun. I did at one point carry two swap staves, though, so I could recover more MP in a pickle, at the cost of some interface annoyance (swapping around the staves to recharge them after battle). I almost felt cheesy doing that, but ultimately decided it's a neat way to utilize available tools, and it's not like it's super effective throughout the entire game.

And on the wilderness/dungeon thing: Having died countless times in the mountains and forests, I actually felt comfort when reaching the dungeon.

[Mr Mushroom]

Would be awesome if you could find higher power ones, but upon a bit of reflection I'm sure it would unbalance the game later on. Found a nice ring with +1 INT and res confusion, sometimes cuts me but curing that is a first book spell so I'm all fine and dandy really. If I can make it past clvl 20 I'll post a dump.