v4 update

[Magnate]

Ok, so the latest v4 (b9c762e) fixes a bunch of little things:

- descriptions of bolts and Deep Descent corrected
- speed items now much more expensive (maybe still not enough though)
- level feelings recalibrated to use the square of object value, so better objects have much more significant effect
- speed removed from "Trickery
- stat gain potions pushed a little deeper
- notes are now limited to 70 chars so that they don't get truncated in the history
- door fiddling/bashing messages use the monster's name if it's visible
- enchanting now works up to +20 rather than +15, and is a little easier in general
- fuzzy detection now shows squelched objects as asterisks again, reverting the recent change
- ghost pvals no longer show up on randarts
- affixes which boost to-hit and to-dam now do so a little more generously
- it's a tiny bit easier to get better quality affixes from good drops and more affixes overall
- the first seven dungeon levels no longer have unusually high chances of generating artifacts
- items with negative pvals will no longer cause pricing overflows (thanks PowerWyrm)
- to-hit values are now properly revealed by shooting
- lanterns can refill each other again

If any of these don't seem to be fixed for you, please post a savefile. In addition, in case people haven't been paying attention, there have been three big changes recently:

- Blubaron's extended mouse support - you can now pretty much play the full game with the mouse, including shift-click to cast spells, ctrl-click to use stairs and alt-click to search. Right-click for a context menu.
- fizzix's monster depth changes.
- the APW borg.

There are a bunch of extant issues in v4 that have already been reported but not yet fixed for various reasons:

- ego item names don't list all affixes (Nomad is working on this)
- dumps and spoilers sometimes omit loads of text (unreproducible)
- inventory no longer shows "burden" (missing from V also, no idea why)
- random names occasionally duplicated (hard to reproduce)
- pseudo ID messages sometimes happen after the item is known and/or don't seem to make sense (ID needs tidying up)
- question marks appear in the character details screen for properties that are known to be absent (regression)
- the popup squelch menu doesn't allow you to squelch non-ego lanterns (?)
- UTF-8 display still dodgy on OSX
- combat messages can appear in the wrong order
- digging without a digger is too easy (maybe only for dwarves?)
- teleportation can get stuck pinging between two points

... so don't worry about reporting these, but do post a save if you can make them reproducible. There are probably others too.

[Nomad]

- the popup squelch menu doesn't allow you to squelch non-ego lanterns (?)

I think the problem here is twofold:

1. Lights are now identified only when you wield them, so prior to wield-testing your only squelch option is to squelch all torches/lanterns.

2. When you do wield-test, they're discovered to have the Light Radius rune, which means that all lights are automatically splendid egos and your only squelch option is to squelch all non-artefact lights.

[Antoine]

Sounds like some of those changes could come back to core V?

A.

[flechette]

Smeagol on dlvl 6 dropped the Jewel of Nimras <+3>.

+3 Strength, Intelligence, infravision
immunity to fire
resistance to cold
prevents paralysis.

I'd just been looking for better armor and some consumables, and happened to find two wands of light on the same level as Smeagol. I like the drop, but artifact amulets at 300ft seems a bit outta whack. Ah well, such is the life of a randart player.

[Magnate]

Smeagol on dlvl 6 dropped the Jewel of Nimras <+3>.

+3 Strength, Intelligence, infravision
immunity to fire
resistance to cold
prevents paralysis.

I'd just been looking for better armor and some consumables, and happened to find two wands of light on the same level as Smeagol. I like the drop, but artifact amulets at 300ft seems a bit outta whack. Ah well, such is the life of a randart player.

This will still happen, but no longer quite so much more often than in V. V is incredibly mean with artifacts in dls 1-9, and much much more generous later. v4 is much meaner for most of the game, and now only slightly more generous in dls 1-7.

@Antoine: I ported all the non-controversial changes to V (i.e. the bugfixes) before I posted - feel free to check github. But if I don't in future, anyone else is welcome to do so.

[Magnate]

I think the problem here is twofold:

1. Lights are now identified only when you wield them, so prior to wield-testing your only squelch option is to squelch all torches/lanterns.

2. When you do wield-test, they're discovered to have the Light Radius rune, which means that all lights are automatically splendid egos and your only squelch option is to squelch all non-artefact lights.

Thank you, that's an excellent analysis. The solution is clearly to redefine the LIGHT flag as not being splendid - which fits with a post-affixes overhaul of the pseudo tiers anyway.

[Prismatic]

Thank you, that's an excellent analysis. The solution is clearly to redefine the LIGHT flag as not being splendid - which fits with a post-affixes overhaul of the pseudo tiers anyway.

Is it possible to have a flag count as Splendid when it's on some slots but not others? I would guess a glowing sword should still count, but a lantern really shouldn't...

[Derakon]

Is it possible to have a flag count as Splendid when it's on some slots but not others? I would guess a glowing sword should still count, but a lantern really shouldn't...

Really it's that the flag should only count as splendid if it's unusual for the item. Lanterns have a base light pval of 2, so only if the pval is 3+ should it be splendid. Similarly, if we had a hypothetical boot that innately gave +1 stealth, say, then it wouldn't be splendid by default, but would be if it got generated with an "of Stealth" affix to boost it to +2.

[Magnate]

Really it's that the flag should only count as splendid if it's unusual for the item. Lanterns have a base light pval of 2, so only if the pval is 3+ should it be splendid. Similarly, if we had a hypothetical boot that innately gave +1 stealth, say, then it wouldn't be splendid by default, but would be if it got generated with an "of Stealth" affix to boost it to +2.

Hmmm. IMO the whole concept of "splendid" is wrong-headed, because it's based on "what can I deduce from a careful study of the character sheet". The whole pseudoID system is based on this kind of metagaming, and an assumption that the player knows the entire contents of object.txt, ego_item.txt etc. I'd rather see it re-done from the ground up, based on in-game heuristics rather than metagaming ones. But I can only conceive one such rewrite at a time ;-)

[Magnate]

Update tonight (c7ef0aa) - changes since the above list:

- uniques should now always have drops (if we create an item that hurts the monster, we ignore it and create something else instead)
- stat potions now have depth 36 not 40
- the burden line is back at the top of the inventory
- the quiver is now correctly shown
- bugfix with HTML screendump
- some mouse bugfixes
- no extraneous commas in pvals (no more Ring of Light <, +1>)
- artifact spellbooks now don't show their title until you pick them up
- there should now be *significantly* more +hit/+dam on weapons
- there should now be noticeably more artifacts, and high-end ego weapons (HA, Gondolin, etc.)
- some monsters now have -5/+5/+15 speed

Many thanks to Blubaron for the fixes (which are also in V), and to fizzix for the monster speed changes (which are not!).

[Magnate]

Ok, latest update is 960e030:

- number of affixes reduced - hopefully drops are now somewhere between their previous stinginess and the recent excess
- more affixes added to "good" and "great" drops, so with there should be fewer disappointing unique drops
- bug with random names fixed (thanks myshkin) - hopefully no more duplicate random names (post a save if you find any), and the rune names should now use the correct fragments and have a more norse feel
- artifacts now give a minimum object feeling of "there may be something worthwhile here"
- monsters can once again be generated carrying items that hurt them
- the rune names for Weak Acid and Weak Elec brands are now correct
- numerous affixes are now downgraded to "good" or "average" at deeper depths, which should improve generation (thanks Nomad)