Z+Angband 0.2.3 released

[Mangojuice]

Ironically my level 12 mindcrafter was killed by Strygalldwir in the wilderness just a couple hours after posting this. I really, really wish you got a message and an interruption upon discovering a dungeon entrance in the wilderness. Something like the wilderness quests: "You discover something unusual in the wilderness."

My normal practice is to habitually check the overhead map when exploring... I guess I just forgot this time.

Personally, I like to have the overhead map in a window, constantly displayed.

Are you using ^F in the wilderness as you go? That can also help.. and not just for Strygalldwir but also for normal tough monsters that can appear in the wild.

[perost]

I just found another bug. My priest is doing well, and has maxed out all his stats. However, I just got more intelligent as a reward for a quest, and instead of gaining intelligence I lost one point (INT is now 27.0 without bonuses). That doesn't seem right.

[perost]

Here's a couple of very minor bugs I found. I just fought the Serpent of Chaos (and won!), and in it's description there is a typo: "Unless it is stopped, the word as we know it will come to and end, all order reverting to Primal Chaos". I suppose that it should say world instead of word there

Also, I got the Massive Iron Crown of Chaos from the Serpent as usual. However, the description doesn't mention that it boost your stats, only that you get increased infravision from it. When I equipped it all my stats got maxed though, so it do indeed boost your stats.

And after I had killed the Serpent I quit, since I was getting bored with my character anyway. I tried to dump my character to file, so I could upload it to the ladder, and thought that I succeeded. But I can't find the dumpfile anywhere, so I guess that it didn't dump my character after all. Since I've already quit it's too late to make a dump now, right?

Edit: Ah, found my dump. It was in ~/.angband/Z+Angband and not in the game directory as I thought.

Edit 2: Ok, I've uploaded my character to the ladder now. It seems like the ladder doesn't recognize Z+ characters as winners though. I've noticed that other variants print out ***WINNER*** in the dump which Z+ doesn't, and I guess that the ladder checks that to determine whether the character is a winner or not.

[Mangojuice]

Here's a couple of very minor bugs I found. I just fought the Serpent of Chaos (and won!), and in it's description there is a typo: "Unless it is stopped, the word as we know it will come to and end, all order reverting to Primal Chaos". I suppose that it should say world instead of word there

Also, I got the Massive Iron Crown of Chaos from the Serpent as usual. However, the description doesn't mention that it boost your stats, only that you get increased infravision from it. When I equipped it all my stats got maxed though, so it do indeed boost your stats.

Ah. I think there's an error when something affects all your stats. It is supposed to change to saying just "all your stats" rather than listing them all. Will check.

Edit 2: Ok, I've uploaded my character to the ladder now. It seems like the ladder doesn't recognize Z+ characters as winners though. I've noticed that other variants print out ***WINNER*** in the dump which Z+ doesn't, and I guess that the ladder checks that to determine whether the character is a winner or not.

I noticed that with the other Z+ winner posted on the ladder too. The next version will do this properly.

I wonder how dumb the software is.... what if I have an item inscribed "***WINNER***"... will I be a winner?

Pav -- can you fill me in? What does the software look for? I want to make sure the next version has dumps that will work properly.

[pav]

Well, for other variants, I picked something characteristing from the dump and looked for it. In these Z+ dumps, I see nothing to use.

***WINNER*** is looked for only in [main] section, not in inventory sections.

Current list of trigger strings, BTW:

Congratulations, your Majesty (Gumband)
CONGRATULATIONS (O)
became a new force of darkness and enslaved all free people (ToME)
ou saved Arda and became a famed (ToME)
retired from the adventure after the winning (Heng)
Seppuku after the winning (Heng)
Slayer of Morgoth, Lord of (S)
Killed Morgoth, Lord of Darkness (FA)
destroyed Morgoth and saved Gerband. (Gerband)
**WINNER**
**W*I*N*N*E*R**

[perost]

Well, for other variants, I picked something characteristing from the dump and looked for it. In these Z+ dumps, I see nothing to use.

In Z+ you get a quest to kill the Serpent, so in the list of quests you can find: "Kill The Serpent of Chaos, who is guarding dungeon level 100. (Killed)". For the other Z+ winner on the ladder it also says (5000ft) before (Killed) though, so for some reason this message differs even though we used the same version. But this might be something you can use for winners in Z+.

This also reminds me, I forgot to collect the reward for Oberon and the Serpent before retiring :P

[pav]

Ok, that's something I can work with. Can you try re-posting your dump to see if it gets flagged?

[perost]

Ok, that's something I can work with. Can you try re-posting your dump to see if it gets flagged?

Yep, it worked. Although I didn't know quite how reposting worked, so now I've got double comments on my dump. Feel free to correct that if possible.

[pav]

Excessive comment deleted...

[Mangojuice]

Ok, that's something I can work with. Can you try re-posting your dump to see if it gets flagged?

In future versions there will be a ***WINNER*** in the main section for winners.

I would not rely only on a listing of the Serpent of Chaos in the kill section, because there's a way to play Z+ with options so that Morgoth is the final enemy, and currently Z+ doesn't dump birth options. Also it may be possible (I haven't checked) that there are enough enemies deeper than the Serpent to knock the Serpent off the top 10 list. But certainly anyone who does kill the Serpent is a winner.

[pav]

I would not rely only on a listing of the Serpent of Chaos in the kill section, because there's a way to play Z+ with options so that Morgoth is the final enemy, and currently Z+ doesn't dump birth options. Also it may be possible (I haven't checked) that there are enough enemies deeper than the Serpent to knock the Serpent off the top 10 list. But certainly anyone who does kill the Serpent is a winner.

I'm working with the quests section, not the deepest kill section.

[Mangojuice]

I'm working with the quests section, not the deepest kill section.

Ah, right, that should work. Don't look for (Killed) right after: (1) if "depth_in_feet" is set, it'll display a depth first, and (2) it's possible, I think, for the quest to be (Finished) instead of (Killed). If the quest appears in either the Completed/Failed quests section or the Finished quests section, it's a winner.

[Roomshaped]

Howdy,

I have a question: Am I missing something or is it extremely difficult in Z+Angband to locate potions of Restore Life Levels?

It seems like they are unusually difficult to locate in the stores in town, I hoard them away in my 'home' whenever I come across them in dungeons. This is a bit of a frustration since you start hitting LOTS of monsters which reduce XP in this variant. It's time consuming having to go back to a town where you left some of those pots, would be nicer to see them show up in stores more often.

I could be missing something - I know lots of buildings in towns can restore stats, but they don't give you the option to restore XP which has been reduced, and those pots are rare. If I am please let me know.

Obviously I could use an item providing hold life, but those are tough to come by in a flavor that doesn't mean giving up a bunch of other good things to equip em.

Thanks!

[RogerN]

I have a question: Am I missing something or is it extremely difficult in Z+Angband to locate potions of Restore Life Levels?

You may just have an unlucky mix of stores. I normally end up with at least a couple Deep Potion Stores near to the starting town - those are probably your best bet for finding !RestoreLife.

There are a few options available to you:
1) Try to find a Staff of Restoration. You might need to look in the high-level magic shops. It restores experience and all stats.
2) Go potion hunting in the dungeon. Dark Elven Warlocks drop LOTS of potions and other magic items - they're a great way to stock up on consumables (and finish stat gain).
3) Bring along an item which grants Hold Life and use it as a swap. Hold Life is fairly common. You can find it on amulets, rings, and armor without even having to resort to artifacts or egos.