FAangband 2.0beta

[Arralen]

Yeah, it's more deadly.

And I thought it was me, having not played for a year or two.
Couldn't get out of Menegroth or Ephel Brandir, even with save scumming.
Didn't even try Gondolin.

Guess it's back to playing Hobbit Slingers. Or a Beorn Black-thingy. Yeah, that sounds like fun.

How is that "combat regen" supposed to work?
It seems I don't quite get it ... I have to cast spells during combat to regain health, ok, but what does "... and fading SP replenish your health more efficiently" mean?
How is this all supposed to work out in combat?

I am @lvl6 now, moving through the Eriador plains (5) towards the town.
"Whirlwind Attack", the use of that is obvious, but "Berserk Strength" with -10AC and nulling any HOT? And what does "Seek Battle" do for me other than draining SP?

Btw., I noticed some ... complainer material, obviously:

- auto clear "-more" prompts clears all message from the main window, not only "all but the last"

- I found a trap at 7N 17W, that is a range of 18.something steps away; Beorn Blackguard, Lvl 6 w. "Fury" .. is this due to "Search 37%" thanks to "a Ring of Utlity <+3wis,+4search>" I found on dlvl 2?

[archolewa]

How is that "combat regen" supposed to work?

It seems I don't quite get it ... I have to cast spells during combat to regain health, ok, but what does "... and fading SP replenish your health more efficiently" mean?
How is this all supposed to work out in combat?

I am @lvl6 now, moving through the Eriador plains (5) towards the town.
"Whirlwind Attack", the use of that is obvious, but "Berserk Strength" with -10AC and nulling any HOT? And what does "Seek Battle" do for me other than draining SP?

Assuming its the same as Vanilla, Berserk Strength also makes you immune to fear and gived you a to-hit bonus. Not worth it (except the fear resistance) early, but once your AC gets higher, -10 is pretty negligible. "Seek Battle" is a detection spell that detects all monsters who can feel fear. Which is most monsters.

"Combat regen," Blackguards lose mana over time if they are not fighting. As that mana drains your health regeneration is faster. Basically, as you lose mana (both from spellcasting and over time) you gain health.

[Nick]

I had a couple of goes with a high elf paladin and then I had a go at FA 1.4 with a high elf paladin. My conclusion is that blackguards aren't the problem. The problem is a whole bunch of other stuff that changed between 2.9.3 and 4.x: monster power, monster density, improvements to pathfinding etc.

I mean just compare these 2:

snipped for brevity

Its average hps have gone up, it has an extra attack, it appears earlier etc.

I think this is a question of general balance that will get sorted out over time. Many things are different from FA1.4, so comparing just a monster record doesn't tell the whole story - healing potions coming from V are much better, for example. Remember, this is not even a released version yet, and FA in its early days had some wild swings in difficulty (at one point wilderness monster density was cut by a factor of 5...).

- auto clear "-more" prompts clears all message from the main window, not only "all but the last"

- I found a trap at 7N 17W, that is a range of 18.something steps away; Beorn Blackguard, Lvl 6 w. "Fury" .. is this due to "Search 37%" thanks to "a Ring of Utlity <+3wis,+4search>" I found on dlvl 2?

The first of these is a change requested from angband.live, and seemed reasonable under the assumption that anyone playing with auto_more will have a message window open so can see the messages there. It's still open to be reverted if enough people don't like it.

The trap thing is working as designed. The new trap system in V (and new FA) roughly works as:

• You get one chance (depending on searching skill) to detect any trap, when you first see the grid it's on
• Most classes don't get to detect or disarm traps, but devices exist to temporarily disable them

[MITZE]

More RFEs/Bug Reports

Felt like trying FAA archery again; this is a list of RFEs/bugs that I came up with up through killing Mim.



Apologies if some of these are already decidedly handled, or already in the issue list. Also if any of these are things just fixed.



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RFEs
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Give certain weapon base types (mostly polearms, as the generic polearm flavor text implies it) an innate AC bonus, bringing them in line with both their flavor text and their original implementation in old FA.


Flavor text for specific weapon base types implies an AC bonus for the following:


Main Gauche (because of the hand guard)

Long Sword (ditto)



Thrusting Spear
Awl-Pike



Magestaff
Quarterstaff



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Implement some easy way to clear all auto-inscriptions in the related menu, rather than making one go through each individual thing and changing it manually.


EDIT: Actually, this might not be necessary; the player can just save their default preferences to whatever.prf, and load from that if necessary.



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List the power of any known curses on an object upon [I]nspection; currently, it only lists the curses themselves. I see no reason why it shouldn't list the powers too, for convenience.


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Rune description alterations:


Change Velocity from "powerful shooter" to something more definitive and grammatically correct; "It it an usually deadly shooter," perhaps?


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Slings and crossbows are still shafted when it comes to egos/standarts, making them boring options compared to bows. More standarts and egos for the both of them, please!


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We're still missing the general store ordering system, if that's something you had planned on actually implementing (FWIW I don't think it's necessarily needed anymore, due to how non-scarce resources are now).


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We're also still missing being able to quiver throwing weapons, as per old FA functionality.


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Bugs
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The summon demon curse at least (might apply to other runes as well) seems to not check what it is on properly when it activates; my *weapon* just gave out a demonic shriek (summoned a demon), even though the rune itself was on my ring.


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There are still problems with wilderness level generation; I've gotten spawned in a small niche separated from the rest of the level.


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Certain egos (at least Wolfhide armour) display combat bonus information even when there are no bonuses or maluses (i.e. +0,+0), they probably shouldn't for conciseness.


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Blacklock mages (probably other monsters too) have a problem with their monster recall: "He may cast spells which *insert black space here*, produce magic missiles (15), blind, confuse, or create darkness, about 1 time in 5."


The *insert black space here* is a literal long space with nothing in it, or at least nothing legible on the black background *bands tend to use.


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Various sporadic effect curses probably need their proc frequency changed still, if you intend people to actually potentially use them. Currently using Wolfhide armor, and it's proccing its poison and hallucination curses multiple times within a minute or two of play.


EDIT: Actually, if this is a result of curse power affecting curse proc frequency/intenseness then this one might be alright.



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'Cammithrim' activates for Illumination rather than Magic Missile; I mention it mostly because it doesn't align with pretty much all other *band experience. If it's intentional, ignore this one.



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There's an issue with the spawning of enemies in at least certain wilderness vaults; I came across orcs being placed inside actual walls (rather than rubble).


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If I recall correctly, some choices under ~ had to be removed because choosing them caused crashed. Well, the options are no longer there, but crashes can still happen; pushing most buttons from [1] to [9] still causes a crash.


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Pretty sure this one is already on the docket, but for posterity Staves of Starlight claim to fire hundreds of millions of balls of weak light—I didn't actually use it to see if it was true, because if it *was* true it sounded like something that would take a while to process.

[Nick]

Felt like trying FAA archery again; this is a list of RFEs/bugs that I came up with up through killing Mim.

Thanks. Detailed answers below

Give certain weapon base types (mostly polearms, as the generic polearm flavor text implies it) an innate AC bonus, bringing them in line with both their flavor text and their original implementation in old FA.

List the power of any known curses on an object upon [I]nspection; currently, it only lists the curses themselves. I see no reason why it shouldn't list the powers too, for convenience.

Change Velocity from "powerful shooter" to something more definitive and grammatically correct; "It it an usually deadly shooter," perhaps?

The summon demon curse at least (might apply to other runes as well) seems to not check what it is on properly when it activates; my *weapon* just gave out a demonic shriek (summoned a demon), even though the rune itself was on my ring.

If I recall correctly, some choices under ~ had to be removed because choosing them caused crashed. Well, the options are no longer there, but crashes can still happen; pushing most buttons from [1] to [9] still causes a crash.

Pretty sure this one is already on the docket, but for posterity Staves of Starlight claim to fire hundreds of millions of balls of weak light—I didn't actually use it to see if it was true, because if it *was* true it sounded like something that would take a while to process.

Now done.

Slings and crossbows are still shafted when it comes to egos/standarts, making them boring options compared to bows. More standarts and egos for the both of them, please!

Noted.

We're still missing the general store ordering system, if that's something you had planned on actually implementing (FWIW I don't think it's necessarily needed anymore, due to how non-scarce resources are now).

I suspect probably not necessary too.

We're also still missing being able to quiver throwing weapons, as per old FA functionality.

It can be done by inscribing with @v0, @v1 etc.

There are still problems with wilderness level generation; I've gotten spawned in a small niche separated from the rest of the level.

Yes, known bug.

Certain egos (at least Wolfhide armour) display combat bonus information even when there are no bonuses or maluses (i.e. +0,+0), they probably shouldn't for conciseness.

Blacklock mages (probably other monsters too) have a problem with their monster recall: "He may cast spells which *insert black space here*, produce magic missiles (15), blind, confuse, or create darkness, about 1 time in 5."
The *insert black space here* is a literal long space with nothing in it, or at least nothing legible on the black background *bands tend to use.

I can't reproduce either of these, but noted.

Various sporadic effect curses probably need their proc frequency changed still, if you intend people to actually potentially use them. Currently using Wolfhide armor, and it's proccing its poison and hallucination curses multiple times within a minute or two of play.

These are frequency 1d500 turns, and the effect lasts for 10+d10, so I think you're just being unlucky.

'Cammithrim' activates for Illumination rather than Magic Missile; I mention it mostly because it doesn't align with pretty much all other *band experience. If it's intentional, ignore this one.

It is intentional.

There's an issue with the spawning of enemies in at least certain wilderness vaults; I came across orcs being placed inside actual walls (rather than rubble).

Yes, this happens to objects too. Haven't tracked it down yet.

[wobbly]

Qyluthugs summons don't seem to be answered in the Sirion Vale. At least I saw it fail a couple of times.

I ate a mushroom of second sight and could see the neutral 'p's from 130 away or so, not sure if that was intended.

[Arralen]

Amon Rudh - lvl 16 "This place does not seem too risky".
also:
"The red worm ('d') ... is normally found at a danger level of 22 ... is worth 905.88 points for a 17th level character."

37.5% ooD should qualify as maybe a little bit, just a tiny little bit, maybe, too risky at least, I think ...

Actually, that bunch of in-depth uruk looks quite risky to engage, but maybe they don't qualify for "too risky"


Oh man, Orfax, Boldor, Balcmeg are there, too ... all three bunched up. They are 6-8 levels "overdue", but this all adds up and promises to get nasty soon ...

[Arralen]

Blacklock mages (probably other monsters too) have a problem with their monster recall: "He may cast spells which *insert black space here*, produce magic missiles (15), blind, confuse, or create darkness, about 1 time in 5."
The *insert black space here* is a literal long space with nothing in it, or at least nothing legible on the black background *bands tend to use.

I can't reproduce either of these, but noted.

Priest does this, too:

[Nick]

Blacklock mages (probably other monsters too) have a problem with their monster recall: "He may cast spells which *insert black space here*, produce magic missiles (15), blind, confuse, or create darkness, about 1 time in 5."
The *insert black space here* is a literal long space with nothing in it, or at least nothing legible on the black background *bands tend to use.

I can't reproduce either of these, but noted.

Priest does this, too:

OK, so this is a thing.

[MITZE]

Even More RFEs/Bug Reports

Up through killing Glaurung now.
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RFEs
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For ammo, display damage per shot as well as per round; it's not as big a deal with melee since you have theoretically unlimited chances to do it, but you're limited by ammo with archery and one might opt to go with whatever does the most per shot rather than the most per round, especially since ammo destruction (especially arrows) is pretty high.

EDIT: Actually not as annoying as I originally thought; it's pretty easy to calculate damage per shot since both shots/round and average damage/round are both transparently displayed.
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Staves of Remove Curse are still mostly pointless; they function exactly like the lesser scrolls (which are available in the shops in unlimited quantities), but are not available in town. As it is, the only real use they have is to rangers, as Create Ammo fodder.
I would suggest making them have a max power in between the Remove and *Remove* scrolls, but with more of a total range. Alternatively, make them try to dispel all potentially dispellable curses with a single use (with slightly higher power than a scroll, maybe), and if it fails to remove multiple curses treat it as only failing one.

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Bugs
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The flavor text for standarts (which I'm pretty sure is actually implemented) doesn't display; looking at Thalkettoth, I just get the regular Leather Scale Mail flavor text.
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Certain monsters that shouldn't still can spawn asleep (just recalled into the wilderness and am staring at a sleeping fire vortex).
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The change to polearms giving them AC makes their display a little weird; it only displays the base value, like the bug with normal armour that you fixed (but since you said you don't intend on letting them get AC enchantments, could also leave this one as is).

[Gauss]

First of all congratulations Nick, i was testing the 2.0beta last week and feels great. Just wanted to point that the wizard mode is broken. When activating the -w flag the game crashes after the starting message. I can open a github issue if you prefer.

[Nick]

First of all congratulations Nick, i was testing the 2.0beta last week and feels great. Just wanted to point that the wizard mode is broken. When activating the -w flag the game crashes after the starting message. I can open a github issue if you prefer.

I can't reproduce that exactly - it doesn't crash, but doesn't seem to put me in wizard mode either. Any info on the crash?

[MITZE]

Even *More* RFEs/Bug Reports

I'm pretty firmly in the endgame now and am starting to run into difficulty again—when I'm not abusing Decoy broken-ness, that is. I need a long bow of ossiriand with +2 might, enough things resist slays brands that the extra mult would be useful.

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RFEs
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The Ranger's 'Create Arrows' should be a bit more lenient I think; I would expect to get mundane arrows from town staves, but I don't think I should ever get them if I'm nearly CL50 and making them from a _Healing. IMO if you're making them from anything past DL50-60 they should be practically guaranteed to be mithril/seeker arrows; as it is, Create Arrows is only being so useful to me right now because I have a bow with brand ammo, making the mundane arrows useful. If I didn't, it'd be very hit-and-miss, missing far more frequently than hitting.

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Bugs
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You can blow up artifact devices by attempting to recharge them, I'm pretty sure that's not supposed to happen
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I think 'Summon Winged Dragons' as a monster spell should be rethought; currently, some monsters that can be found outside Angband (such as Sauron) have it as a spell and will attempt to cast it, even though said spell won't actually result in a summon unless you're *in* Angband.
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Sauron also has 'Summon Ringwraiths' as a spell; those don't exist yet as per Middle-Earth canon, or in the game AFAIK.
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The Black Breath that the Ranger's 'Herbal Curing' spell is supposed be highly convenient for doesn't exist AFAIK either; without that, Herbal Curing only cures stunning and heals cuts, and isn't worth it for either (curing stunning might theoretically be useful, except it would mean that you were stunned, which penalizes spell fails).
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The Ranger's 'Decoy' spell seems OP/bugged; if something does not have LOS on your decoy but it does have LOS on you, it seems like it won't target you at all, and will instead just maneuver to get LOS on the decoy.
If it *can't* maneuver to get LOS on the decoy, it'll just wander about like it's confused—I had a situation where I stuck the decoy behind some rubble, which was behind me in a corridor, when I had LOS on Cantoras and he didn't attack me once, just wandered aimlessly while I dakka'd him to redeath.
EDIT: For posterity, both Cantoras and Sauron were deaded without them attacking me at all, thanks to Decoy shenanigans.

[MITZE]

Consistent Crash Bug

This one wasn't from my character; making it for another player on the webserver that I was spectating, Zabutor.


firstageangband: cave-square.c:1195: square: Assertion 'square_in_bounds(c, grid)' failed.


Crash kept happening around a nether worm mass outbreak on the goblin-drums special level; not sure what was triggering it, but there were traps and permanent walls nearby, so maybe it has something to do with them?


From Zabutor:

[19:13] Zabutor: it was happening when they were in detect range but other side of a perm wall
[19:14] Zabutor: as I was digging to try to get there
[19:14] Zabutor: sort of like it was supposed to say something like "this appears to be perm rock" but no message, just crash

[MITZE]

firstageangband: cave-square.c:1195: square: Assertion 'square_in_bounds(c, grid)' failed.

It's happened to me now too; even worse, mine is preventing me from continuing the game, game crashes on save load now.
Consequently, there's a save available if you want it, you'll just have to wait for someone with server access to show up to retrieve it for you.