{S} Min skill costs way too high

[magnate]

Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.angband (More info?)

Hi All,

I've just fired up the latest S (beta18) - I know it was released back
in June when Leon magically reappeared, but I've been addicted to
Dominions2 for most of this year and have done hardly any *banding.

Anyway, I read Leon's changelogs avidly and I paid barely any attention
to the comment about adjusting the rate at which skill cost minima
rise. Now I actually come to play it, it's having a *huge* effect -
does anyone else share this experience??

In the previous betas (14/15) the min skill cost didn't rise until
power level 18, and then at 20, 23, 25, 28, 30 etc. The minima now
start rising at something like power 8 or 10. Since the first ten power
levels are almost entirely taken up with developing a single killing
skill, your chance to develop any other skills cheaply is vastly
reduced (things like saving throw, perception, magic devices etc.).

I guess the aim is to force you to specialise early, but I don't really
see why we should be forced to do that. To me it just slows everything
down as buying skills gets more costly. Just interested in anyone
else's views.

Oh, and the scoring algorithm has changed a lot. My current char has a
score of 92 at power 13 and depth 400' - this is about six times the
score any of my previous characters has ever achieved. The only unique
he's killed is Grip, quite recently!

Ho hum.

CC

 

[magnate]

Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.angband (More info?)

This is ridiculous. I'm only raising seven skills (Karate, Burglary,
Stealth, Perception, Disarming, Dodging, Spell Resistance) - I can't
even keep those ahead of the rising minima. I've just got to power 18,
and my karate skill is at 25 (the other six are all at 18 or 19) - my
burglary skill has just leaped up in cost, meaning that it's not
possible to keep a character ahead of the skill minima unless you
specialise in only half a dozen skills. This seems to me a bit silly.

I'll see if it gets any easier later on.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.angband (More info?)

I haven't played a full character in the beta18 so I don't have
experience with the skill changes. There was a change back around b13
or so that changed the scoring algorithm into the one that has been in
the release for the past couple years - I think the b18 release backs
out this change so it's back to the older behavior. Seems like scores
can get up to around 4000ish - that's where the high scores on oook.cz
come from.

Scott

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.angband (More info?)

Yeah, there were a lot of good updates in beta18, but a lot of painful
ones as well. I play a heavily modified version of beta18. The skills
penalty and the significantly reduced effectiveness of ranged attacks
really bug me the most. I also noticed some problems with impact
weapons crashing, and mushrooms of metamorphasis not completely changing
your race until you quit and restart, and never rerolling hit points
(based on new race). Also, I hate not being able to hurt townsfolk who
can hurt me. Most of the rest is just new items and stuff, which I
hardly ever use (haven't gotten very deep since I started changing the
code).

Changelog
----------
# Allow stores to improve when you sell them goods under cost.
# Missing via inaccuracy in ranged combat is greatly decreased, and can
be eliminated with sufficient skill.
# Stores stock 2 dice ammo from the start of the game.
# Experience penalty for low-level skill is returned to b15d levels.
# You may now kill townsfolk.
# You may now craft in the dungeon, although it is at 75% effectiveness
(Might consider only allowing crafting of ammo)
# Added amulet of telepathy, activates to expand
# Tulkas now has (+4,+4) in combat
# XMight and XShots now are cheaper to get via forging.
# Amulet of Mana also grants temporary mana regeneration
# Added missile launcher of pulverising (impact, might, str) not for
triple xbows
# Added armor of dwarfliness (con, infra, -stealth)
# Added armor of preservation (con, sav, holdlife)
# Gorlim now margainally useful for warrior-types (+4, +8), only -5 pval
# DSMs are now margainally more common
# Added rings of rogue (dex, speed, freeact), and youth (sustdex,
freeact, sust_cha) -Rings of deadliness now get a bonus to str, accuracy
to dex, and combat to both
# Armors with either a todamage or tohit modifier will display both of
them (to avoid ambiguity)
# Base penalty for wielding 2 weapons is reduced to -5 (from -10)
# Mushrooms of metamorphasis now change race immediately, instead of
when you restart, and they also correctly recalculate hitpoints based on
new race's hitdice
# Fixed bug with impact melee weapons crashing the game


Joshua

magnate wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> I've just fired up the latest S (beta18) - I know it was released back
> in June when Leon magically reappeared, but I've been addicted to
> Dominions2 for most of this year and have done hardly any *banding.
>
> Anyway, I read Leon's changelogs avidly and I paid barely any attention
> to the comment about adjusting the rate at which skill cost minima
> rise. Now I actually come to play it, it's having a *huge* effect -
> does anyone else share this experience??
>
> In the previous betas (14/15) the min skill cost didn't rise until
> power level 18, and then at 20, 23, 25, 28, 30 etc. The minima now
> start rising at something like power 8 or 10. Since the first ten power
> levels are almost entirely taken up with developing a single killing
> skill, your chance to develop any other skills cheaply is vastly
> reduced (things like saving throw, perception, magic devices etc.).
>
> I guess the aim is to force you to specialise early, but I don't really
> see why we should be forced to do that. To me it just slows everything
> down as buying skills gets more costly. Just interested in anyone
> else's views.
>
> Oh, and the scoring algorithm has changed a lot. My current char has a
> score of 92 at power 13 and depth 400' - this is about six times the
> score any of my previous characters has ever achieved. The only unique
> he's killed is Grip, quite recently!
>
> Ho hum.
>
> CC
>