[POWDER 062] Various comments from the deep

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In this remarkable world strange things happen. Thus, we now know that
dead adventurers have come back and told us what they liked about this
dungeon.

They were mostly happy. These people seeked adventure to fill their
boring lives and got what they wanted.

Now hear what they have to say:
- grid bugs hit too hard, or should be marked as one level tougher
- keys are hard to reach. perhaps 'g' could also pick things up so
things stay leftish. maybe 'X' (crawlism) also for 'm'ap
- why do grid bugs dance?
- why do spellbooks have instructions on how to wear armour?
- sometimes the god of the world keeps repeating the same message
after acknowledging it with a key, thus far it has happened with '?'
and 'S', only on the latest version. last tried was 058 or such
- how about 'e'ating off the ground
- '>' , the supposed key to use stairs is not universal to all
adventurers. this finnish one seem to use ';' (minor note but bothered
the adventurer on the first day)
- a little more use for some weapons: short sword, club and such
- *a spiritual hug consumes you*

 

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Lauri Vallo wrote:
> In this remarkable world strange things happen. Thus, we now know
that
> dead adventurers have come back and told us what they liked about
this
> dungeon.
>
> They were mostly happy. These people seeked adventure to fill their
> boring lives and got what they wanted.

True. A quick death at the sparks of a grid bug is anything bug
boring.

> Now hear what they have to say:
> - grid bugs hit too hard, or should be marked as one level tougher

A good point. Grid bugs are quite a bit more powerful than their
danger level suggests. While this was intentional, it likely wasn't
the wisest of moves. I think the author is a bit enamoured with grid
bugs and gave them special privelages.

Look for a nerf in grid bug strength in next version.

> - keys are hard to reach. perhaps 'g' could also pick things up so
> things stay leftish. maybe 'X' (crawlism) also for 'm'ap

I should make an external keyboard map at some point.

In any case, you are quite correct. I had forgotten most people don't
have their arrow keys underneath cvm,. I like 'X' for the overview map
- I should have done that from the start, come to think of it. (It
only makes sense to copy keylayouts from other roguelikes, no sense
inventing one's own standard) 'g' to pick up also makes sense.

> - why do grid bugs dance?

Short answer: Wouldn't you be dancing for joy if you were given
absurdly high levels of strength for your level?

Long answer: (from the encyclopedia)
The grid bug dismissed by most as just another type of vermin.
However, scholars often have wondered at the origins of these
purple xs. Why is it that they crackly with electric power? Are
they some form of electric elemental? What grants them the
ability to move in directions unavailable to anyone else? Do they
come from some higher dimmension where more degrees of freedom are
present? Barbarians report that the corpses are spicy if eaten
fresh.

Ie: the best scholars do not know. Perhaps your observations could
reveal some unknown aspect to grid bug sociology?

> - why do spellbooks have instructions on how to wear armour?

Merely reading instructions is not enough to give you the skill in
wearing armour. The instructions also contain the magical spell which
grants you the equivalent of practice and training! (Point taken...
Look to them being mere books in later versions)

> - sometimes the god of the world keeps repeating the same message
> after acknowledging it with a key, thus far it has happened with '?'
> and 'S', only on the latest version. last tried was 058 or such

062 saw some changes to the keyboard buffer. This has likely caused
this problem. I shall try and investigate.

> - how about 'e'ating off the ground

A good idea that has wandered on and off my todo list. I haven't
bothered as I thought it wouldn't help me on the GBA much. I can
certainly see why it would be useful in the SDL version, though, so
will raise the priority of this.

> - '>' , the supposed key to use stairs is not universal to all
> adventurers. this finnish one seem to use ';' (minor note but
bothered
> the adventurer on the first day)

Is ; shift-, or shift-. by any chance? SDL is somewhat frustrating to
parse the keycodes from. I'll see if there is an alphabetical key I
could assign this to as well, as those are less likely to run into
problems.

> - a little more use for some weapons: short sword, club and such

If I ever get around to dual-wielding, these will likely be much more
useful as they are size SMALL, so would be available for dual-wielding.
In any case, they are the most powerful edged and blunt weapons in the
small category, so if you learan Small Weapon proficiency, they are
good.

I'd also point out that some adventurers have reported that a club
could be used to make an light source...

> - *a spiritual hug consumes you*

I read that as "bug" the first time, and was afraid that my patronage
of grid bugs had come back to haunt me...

I'm very glad you are enjoying POWDER!
--
Jeff Lait
(POWDER: http://www.zincland.com/powder)

 

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

Lauri Vallo wrote:
> I wrote:
>
> >- sometimes the god of the world keeps repeating the same message
> >after acknowledging it with a key, thus far it has happened with '?'
> >and 'S', only on the latest version. last tried was 058 or such
>
> reason: held the key down too long
> This is problematic because meditating to see god status takes 1
turn.

That makes sense. I'm likely not clearing the keyboard buffer
somewhere. It is still using a hybrid version of keyboard buffer and
direct key response.

> More:
> Can't change the adventurer when he dies. I'll have to drain the same
> spirit over and over. :-(

I've already done this in the not-yet-released 063, so for once I'm a
step ahead.

> http://koti.mbnet.fi/lava/noooo.gif
> So so cruel.

Ouch! I feel for you!

Well, those hiking boots *could* be water walking. Or jump. The good
news is that ghast is on the wrong side of the lake from you.
--
Jeff Lait
(POWDER: http://www.zincland.com/powder)

 

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

I wrote:

>- sometimes the god of the world keeps repeating the same message
>after acknowledging it with a key, thus far it has happened with '?'
>and 'S', only on the latest version. last tried was 058 or such
reason: held the key down too long
This is problematic because meditating to see god status takes 1 turn.

More:
Can't change the adventurer when he dies. I'll have to drain the same
spirit over and over. :-(

http://koti.mbnet.fi/lava/noooo.gif
So so cruel.

 

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

On 3 Feb 2005 03:25:43 -0800, "Jeff Lait" wrote:

>Lauri Vallo wrote:
>> - why do spellbooks have instructions on how to wear armour?
>
>Merely reading instructions is not enough to give you the skill in
>wearing armour. The instructions also contain the magical spell which
>grants you the equivalent of practice and training! (Point taken...
>Look to them being mere books in later versions)

not too far fetched, but maybe the simple fix is more worthy

>> - '>' , the supposed key to use stairs is not universal to all
>> adventurers. this finnish one seem to use ';' (minor note but
>bothered
>> the adventurer on the first day)
>
>Is ; shift-, or shift-. by any chance? SDL is somewhat frustrating to
>parse the keycodes from. I'll see if there is an alphabetical key I
>could assign this to as well, as those are less likely to run into
>problems.

it is shift-, if that can help

[combinopost]
>> http://koti.mbnet.fi/lava/noooo.gif
>> So so cruel.

>Ouch! I feel for you!
>
>Well, those hiking boots *could* be water walking. Or jump. The good
>news is that ghast is on the wrong side of the lake from you.

He got out by pointing all of his wands at the water and walking
through the steamy flaming poisoned acid. All in all things were much
betten than for his brotherly soul:
http://koti.mbnet.fi/lava/teleek.gif

But for some reason you always get out of nasty situations like that
in powder..
...then you try to get a good balance of skills, while having nothing
to throw at your first imp/dragon
...or use healing when poisoned, only to get strongly poisoned by your
conservative wargod
...or almost starve and get nibbled dead by your food (my favourite)
Funny that it can be considered good use to zap wands against rats.

 

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

Lauri Vallo wrote:
> On 3 Feb 2005 03:25:43 -0800, "Jeff Lait" wrote:
>
> >Lauri Vallo wrote:
> >> - why do spellbooks have instructions on how to wear armour?
> >
> >Merely reading instructions is not enough to give you the skill in
> >wearing armour. The instructions also contain the magical spell
which
> >grants you the equivalent of practice and training! (Point taken...
> >Look to them being mere books in later versions)
>
> not too far fetched, but maybe the simple fix is more worthy

Fixing it would be less typing than trying to justify it to everyone
who asks :>

> >> - '>' , the supposed key to use stairs is not universal to all
> >> adventurers. this finnish one seem to use ';' (minor note but
> >bothered
> >> the adventurer on the first day)
> >
> >Is ; shift-, or shift-. by any chance? SDL is somewhat frustrating
to
> >parse the keycodes from. I'll see if there is an alphabetical key I
> >could assign this to as well, as those are less likely to run into
> >problems.
>
> it is shift-, if that can help

Yep! That explains it exactly. I'm parsing shift-, as < (which is
treated the same as >), thus the confusion.

I just read the SDL docs carefully and realized that what I should be
doing is using the unicode key values, which would give me the raw
ascii. Hopefully with 063 > will be the climb key.

> [combinopost]
> >> http://koti.mbnet.fi/lava/noooo.gif
> >> So so cruel.
>
> >Ouch! I feel for you!
> >
> >Well, those hiking boots *could* be water walking. Or jump. The
good
> >news is that ghast is on the wrong side of the lake from you.
>
> He got out by pointing all of his wands at the water and walking
> through the steamy flaming poisoned acid. All in all things were much
> betten than for his brotherly soul:
> http://koti.mbnet.fi/lava/teleek.gif

There is special code to make sure monsters don't teleport onto water.
If only you were so lucky... :>

> But for some reason you always get out of nasty situations like that
> in powder..
> ..then you try to get a good balance of skills, while having nothing
> to throw at your first imp/dragon
> ..or use healing when poisoned, only to get strongly poisoned by your
> conservative wargod
> ..or almost starve and get nibbled dead by your food (my favourite)
> Funny that it can be considered good use to zap wands against rats.

I am glad to hear that! That is pretty much the gameplay I am aiming
for with POWDER. My reckless gameplay gets me in really nasty
situations all the time, so I like there to be lots of ways out.

What is the deepest you have got? Fought the minotaur yet?
--
Jeff Lait
(POWDER: http://www.zincland.com/powder)

 

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

Lauri Vallo wrote:
> On 4 Feb 2005 00:11:33 -0800, "Jeff Lait" wrote:
>
> >What is the deepest you have got? Fought the minotaur yet?
>
> Few versions back I made it to level 15 or so (lich, dragon, turtloid
> ground) on my second try. It was totally crazy with many close calls,
> running around using every spell and missile I had. Lots of
> polymorphing and confusion, and wands.

Cool. Almost to the Minotaur. If you didn't encounter any green
dragons that run, I'll warn you of them now. You may wish to keep Slow
Poison around.

> After that I have mostly tried to please too many of the gods.

Ah, true. Can't please them all :>

> That brings to mind the question: how do you use the ghastify spell?
> I tried it on enemies that were 'on the brink of death', undead, and
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> corpses too (just to be sure), but didn't get it working.

Let's check the encyclopedia (which you probably did already):

Ghastify:
This ghastly spell does not wait for the foe to die. Any creature
at death's gate can be the target of this cruel magic. The
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
remaining life force is used to power a grisly transformation from
life into unlife. The resulting ghast makes an excellent addition
to any necromancers undead army.


A creature near death isn't sufficient. It must be at death's gate.
Ghast seeking necromancers are recommended to use weak weapons so as to
increase the chance of achieving the proper balance of life and death.

(If you find yourself at death's gate, you may even consider casting it
on yourself! A true follower of T'losh wouldn't mind being a ghast,
no?)

Good luck!
--
Jeff Lait
(POWDER: http://www.zincland.com/powder)

 

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

On 4 Feb 2005 00:11:33 -0800, "Jeff Lait" wrote:

>What is the deepest you have got? Fought the minotaur yet?

Few versions back I made it to level 15 or so (lich, dragon, turtloid
ground) on my second try. It was totally crazy with many close calls,
running around using every spell and missile I had. Lots of
polymorphing and confusion, and wands.

After that I have mostly tried to please too many of the gods.

That brings to mind the question: how do you use the ghastify spell?
I tried it on enemies that were 'on the brink of death', undead, and
corpses too (just to be sure), but didn't get it working.