[Announce] PosChengband 7.0.0 Released

[HugoVirtuoso]

Especially with the class removals, NPC changes, and additions, logs and accomplishments would be utter chaos.

Odd 'bug', I still have a 6.10 install and when I open the 7.0 client and choose open characters, it takes me to the 6.10 Character directory, NOT the 7.0 one.

I had this one before even way before 7.0.0...It might have something to do with the registry if you're on Windows.

[CyclopsSlayer]

Unlikely. If that were feasible to do (for a one-dev hobby project), then it'd also be feasible to just let the new version load the old version's saves directly, automatically detecting when a migration needs to be performed.

Especially with the class removals, NPC changes, and additions, logs and accomplishments would be utter chaos.

Odd 'bug', I still have a 6.10 install and when I open the 7.0 client and choose open characters, it takes me to the 6.10 Character directory, NOT the 7.0 one.

[Derakon]

I wonder if in the future, player can go back to their home and pick an option from there to create migration files, then load those files in home back to normal saves using newer version

Unlikely. If that were feasible to do (for a one-dev hobby project), then it'd also be feasible to just let the new version load the old version's saves directly, automatically detecting when a migration needs to be performed.

[jupiter999]

I wonder if in the future, player can go back to their home and pick an option from there to create migration files, then load those files in home back to normal saves using newer version

[krazyhades]

nope, 7.0 breaks savefile compatibility with the 6.x versions

[jupiter999]

Sorry if I asked a noob question.
Is it ok to migrate saves from version 6.1.0?

[nikheizen]

More findings:

Pretty much every element can now be an aura.
Hellfire is now an element, which I have seen in the form of a hellfire lance from one of the black 'p' monsters.
A bunch of new spiders with damage auras, jump, and plenty of their damage type on their attacks.
You can no longer use Phase Door to teleport out of vaults. Instead it fails without printing a message and wastes your turn. This is really dumb.
!Healing no longer seems to cure poison, but says it does in its description.

[SPOILER]Don't melee Venom spiders without a source of poison removal. Yikes!

You probably want to be carrying around a source of poison removal for much of the game now:
_Curing !Curing !Neutralize Poison all remove 100 points off your poison counter in my experience.[/SPOILER]

[CyclopsSlayer]

Ah, how to tell your new mage character is doomed? Step down to 50' and there two steps away, a Main Gauche of Westernesse.

- Bug with the Hex spellcasting error message, Attempting the second spell without canceling the first yields the error "Can not spell while spell more."

[CyclopsSlayer]

Seems the Virtue system is friendlier, no longer as punishing to players for actually killing monsters.
I had been turning it off as uselessly annoying, but new version, so everything is on

[Montana71]

don't think I'm going to download the 7.x the melee nerfs sound way to strong 20 little things hitting me with some paralyze or somesuch and they each have a separate roll = one will roll a 20 and I'm screwed 6x just came out recently seems less brutal on melee play

[HugoVirtuoso]

Gnome mages can teleport you away, more monsters can summon, the guy at the bottom of stronghold can now summon uniques, this is a huge change
Is it just me, or have the drops improved as well

I think I have found a bug
Trying to autodestroy cursed ammo, it doesn't work and in the autodestroyer commands it says that I want to destroy good ammo

Are sappers more deadly now
Is dazed a new status ailment
Could door mimics paralyze before

Telepathy is less informative

Welcome to the world of PosChengband!

I'm not sure if the drops improved that much since I always play my staple Tonberry Skillmaster combo every time. The increased summoning is kind of new - it was toned in the version 2.x - 3.x days. The dazed ailment is a light player stun - Chris had changed the player stunning mechanics a bit. And yes, monsters can banish you away.

Sappers and packs are more dangerous now. I don't recall if Door mimics could paralyze befofre. The less-informative-telepathy is new and forces more strategy on the player.

[Nivim]

You should still post it, I think, hopefully Elliptic could use it in his ElliPosChengband

Well, here then; (Edit: It appears that spoilers cannot nest here, or have labeling, and so are less useful for organization.)
[spoiler]The advent of angband.live got me playing the current version of Poschengband again (instead of procrastinating on reading and accepting/rejecting every commit since 4.0.0), and as a result I have accumulated thoughts on the variant; they are organized by bugs, maybe-errors (irregularities), and requests for conspicuously missing features, in that order. (Edit: Originally also had a Perspectives section, but that was basically a bunch of ranting at chris for his design philosophy before I realized what he was doing.)

Bug list:

• For at least Possessors, the startpoint of the Pattern behaves like a wall instead of allowing a character to start walking the Pattern, displaying the message "There is a Pattern startpoint blocking your way.". Similarly, the other parts of the pattern display "There is a section of the Pattern blocking your way." instead of the expected "You must start walking the Pattern from the startpoint.".
• The behavior when getting items from the Home or a shop while inventory is full has regressed; instead of not getting the item and giving an error, it gets the item, exits the building, and drops the item on the ground.

Irregularity list:

• The help text for ironman_rooms should probably say "makes the game harder, but faster" since there are a lot more opportunities to get insta-killed but you can level faster and get good loot sooner.
• If you manage to get a Vampire monster body, you cannot wield a light source; this is strange, because almost all the darkness-producing items in the game take up the light source slot.

FR list:

• There is no possible Wis-based pure-caster that can have Nature as it's primary realm. Put simply; there is no Druid class. (Along a similar vein, the Ranger class can't have Craft as its secondary realm, but perhaps that is intentional for some reason.)
• The game implies there is an Orc race, but that race isn't available anywhere.

[/spoiler]It's not nearly done, as you can see, and it doesn't include other things that go on my to-do list, such as the Nanite race.

When is a good time to read scrolls of acquirement
I always try to save them for a deep level, and my character always dies before I read them

I generally call them "scrolls of Disappointment" and Artifact Creation "honorary scrolls of Disappointment"; you might get better loot for bringing them to Olympus or whatever, but practically speaking it's just delaying the time you get a single piece of loot. It isn't worth the attention, and at the time I get them I usually just sell them, since their score is high enough to always sell for max shop price.

Can anything cunning be done with scrolls and staffs of summon monster, I always just destroy them

If you play a race like Balrog or Vampire, a high-charge staff can function as a Staff of Food. Also, if you have a low-level melee character, the extra targets mean you don't have to hunt them down.

Edit: Also these questions, for you Mocht;

(1) Are random dungeons still implemented, I haven't seen one in a while

They are, so long as you're loading sections of forest, water, or mountain. If you want to force one to appear, get on a loading boundary triggering one of those areas and hop back and forth until you get a "found something interesting" while going in the right direction.

(2) How do vampiric weapons work
Is the amount of life drained a percentage of the damage inflicted, or is it more complicated than that

I skimmed the code, and it looks like it's a roll with sides based on how much damage was done, with a couple multipliers for being a Vampire, using a Hex blade vampiric effect, and having a particular mutation. Also, of course, the target needs to be Living, but you probably already knew that.

[TheQuest]

I had been building up a list of various criticisms, bugs reports, and conspicuously missing features/content, but I'm realizing that I'm better off just putting that list up as a reminder for myself instead of posting it here.

You should still post it, I think, hopefully Elliptic could use it in his ElliPosChengband

[Nivim]

I had been building up a list of various criticisms, bugs reports, and conspicuously missing features/content, but I'm realizing that I'm better off just putting that list up as a reminder for myself instead of posting it here.

Chris is very much making a version of Poschengband specialized for his long hours without internet, as well as for mitigating or leveraging his familiarity with the game, and that will slowly but steadily drift from what new or more sporadic players might want.

Makes me pine for two or three hundred spare hours I could throw into the commit trees immediately.

[getter77]

Always good to see an aggressive update!