Messages

16

Off-topic (Locked) / Re: Let's get rich and watch the world burn

« on: April 07, 2020, 02:24:09 PM »

The problem is covid-19 is simply a spark, a catalyst, a scapegoat to endorse the administration of a higher dose of the same drugs which are already determining the grounds for a major recession.

I agree that many governments are riding the wave in order to be more governing and govern harder. Which is a bad thing. Laws being passed so governments cannot be criticized for their management of the crisis, massive socialization of industries...  some ministers have given the order to shoot at people who is troublesome during confinement period.

But I still sustain that the virus is its own crisis. Will it aggravate a different, impending crisis? Maybe, maybe not. But the virus is a very destructive agent and deserves to be considered as such.

17

Off-topic (Locked) / Re: Let's get rich and watch the world burn

« on: April 04, 2020, 06:26:33 PM »

Stocks are there just for rich people to make money from nothing. Maybe we should think about not having stocks at all. Just real life economy based on actual reality. Some people are already in panic about economy, but why? Most people still have jobs, or if they lose their jobs they can get new ones. Jobs don't just disappear, they will be there. Some people will also have more money, not less, because they don't spend it to vacations and other stuff like that. And, even this is terrible thing to say, in theory there will be more open jobs, because people will die.

The stock market is an artifact that is used in order to gather funds for big, big projects and operations, without having to ask for big loans to a bank. Thus, you can capitalize the firm by offering participations/shares of it to investors rather than having to sell your soul to some banking cartel. It is done all the time in "real life" when Joe needs to open a shoe workshop and does not have the money, so he joins up with Jack and they set workshop together.

Also, people are in panic because in many places, lockdown orders are preventing people from working. That is, they are prevented from producing necessary goods. Most important, they are prevented from making a living. As I said on other thread: try to live 5 months without a job in some places.

You answered that a socialist State will take care of you if you have it. Fine. But your socialist State can only last for so long if activity is frozen. If factories are closed and necessary goods are no distributed, you starve, no matter the color of your government.

Jobs will be there after the crisis, yes. But you first have to survive the onslaught.

Good luck with that.

18

Off-topic (Locked) / Re: Let's get rich and watch the world burn

« on: April 04, 2020, 06:16:58 PM »

Just to clarify, I don't think the virus will be the reason, but only the trigger for this incoming recession.

If you close the corn fields because you are afraid your citizens will get infected, people will starve and die. Massive shortages are not a trigger for a crisis, they are the crisis.

Stocks and economicists' numbers are just a representation of that grim reality.

19

Off-topic (Locked) / Re: Corona virus

« on: March 25, 2020, 03:28:55 PM »

There is much world out of the Western civ.

Welfare for all at Western levels is not sustainable in most of the world. Socializing it would not work because there are no resources to beign with, much less resources to spare during a crisis. A lot of Westerns forget that just because they have resources to spare, it does not mean everybody else has.

If you shut down the flour factory in order to avoid infection, people starves necause there is no flour production going on. I suppose some government will think they can print money in order to trick the market and purchase flour from somewhere else, but that only works so far. Specially if your new providers are in distress themselves.

20

Off-topic (Locked) / Re: Corona virus

« on: March 23, 2020, 04:03:21 PM »

In many countries jobs will be there waiting for people to return, so in that sense I think the economy panic is hot air.

Try losing your job for 5 months in certain places. Even if you are guaranteed a job at month six, making it through those 5 months is a problem. Specially if you have kids or pets or other big responsibilities.

21

Off-topic (Locked) / Re: Corona virus

« on: March 22, 2020, 03:21:03 PM »

I think the panic is going to be worse than the virus itself. A lot of people in affected areas is rejecting to access some basic services because they don't want to risk it and get exposed to the virus. Also, lots of people losing their jobs in places where mandatory lockdowns are being enforced. It is going to be worse than the Great Depression.

22

Classic Roguelikes / Re: Rogue - let's beat it

« on: March 22, 2020, 03:18:24 PM »

I started restarting unless I find at least a long sword on first two floors, which is why I'm playing the Epyx version now. People probably check the 'Recent Games' board online, and if I played like this online I'd have it filled up with myself and 'quit on lvl1' and 'quit on lvl2'. But I'll be dropping in from time to time to play without restarting.

That is a bit extreme :-)

I usually find that my problem is more related to lacking potions, wands and items than cool weapons. Oftentimes you can get hosed because you didn't have a "free-from-jail" card even if you are walking around in enchanted plate armor and carry a 2h sword.

23

Classic Roguelikes / Re: Rogue - let's beat it

« on: March 20, 2020, 03:55:20 PM »

Made it to lvl20 in the Epyx 1.48!  Medusa killed me. We met in the hallway, and I started backing away, but strangely, she did not confuse me. Or maybe she did but I still landed hits? I don't know for sure, that's the first time in my life that I've seen her. Anyway, I had lots of tricks to deal with the situation, but I grossly underestimated her, thinking that I can kill her just by hitting. It's because I read somewhere that she's weak. Such a stupid death. I had a wand of polymorph, a wand of teleport away, a ring of stealth, a 2H sword (which I didn't use because I enchanted my mace), and plate armor. Great stash. And all because I thought she was weak, I didn't use the wands! I will never underestimate you again, Medusa.

It looks like I'm alone posting here, this is a little bit embarrassing. 

There are conditions that make you immune to Medusa's gaze, maybe that explains it.

Also, when you are confused, you can still land hits afaik. If you are in a corridor, you only have two ways to go, so you have a 50% chance of moving to the proper direction and performing an attack on the intended target.

24

Classic Roguelikes / Re: Rogue - let's beat it

« on: March 18, 2020, 11:55:05 AM »

So is v5 really supposed to be that difficult?

The maintainer of rlgallery thinks it is. His rationale is that the developers tested the game with the bug (ISRUN bug from now on) and found it suitable for release, therefor implying that they were satisfied with the game balance.

After looking at the code myself, I think the game is not supposed to be that difficult. Long story short: there is code which is designed to grant any creature in the game a +4 bonus to hit anything that is paralyzed. The problem is that the checks that verify if a creature or the player is vulnerable to this bonus are botched. Monsters always get the bonus; the player never does.

25

Classic Roguelikes / Re: Rogue - let's beat it

« on: March 17, 2020, 05:06:43 PM »

And I must say that the UNIX version seems more difficult than the DOS 1.48 (by Epyx) I used to play before!

Rogue V4 and V5 at rlgallery have a bug/feature that causes monsters to strike at you with a +4 bonus to hit.

If you play Rogue V3 you will notice the difference. V5 is still more fun in my opinion.

26

Classic Roguelikes / Re: Rogue - let's beat it

« on: March 16, 2020, 03:30:04 PM »

Hello, I want to say that it's a great topic and I'm in the process of reading, whilst trying to avoid spoilers simultaneously, as I haven't yet been beyond lvl17. It's the spirit of discovery, gotta see those monsters myself first! I don't know what got into me, but I got addicted to Rogue and really want to beat it one day.

And I have a question:

It's embarrassing, but I don't get how to use wands on my own self. Once I had a wand of teleport away. But all wands asks for a direction, and I think I pointed it to a monster that was attacking me?.. I don't quite remember, but I died twice because I couldn't figure out how to use wands on myself and did something that the game considered stupid.

P.S. rlgallery is an amazing site, especially the recordings saved on it that can be analyzed! I stay away from them for now, because I want to fumble on my own for a while.

You don't really point at yourself with the wands. A wand is either directional, in which case you aim it at the target; or it isn't, in which case you aim at any direction. It makes no difference.

27

Classic Roguelikes / Re: Rogue - let's beat it

« on: February 29, 2020, 02:16:10 AM »

Some IRC developer has commented me that there is a patch for it, which was submitted to the person running rlgallery, but I don't know whether it has been made available anywhere.

The question is do you want it patched?  I guess you could have it as a separate option. Now that we have a winner or two it's hard to go back and change the challenge.

I wanted it patched in my local copy. And it would make sense to have a patched version available somewhere. Not necessarily at rlgallery as I understand it is a public game with some competitive component. Hard to undo the changes.

But really, some deaths in V5 feel very cheap and I think the 20% bogus bonus monsters get to hit you is at fault at many of those.

I miss useful potions, scrolls and wands more than a 2-handed sword most of the times. I think you only need the big steel when you are halfway there... I think resetting the game because you don't find one on level 1 is too hardcore. You have about 10 levels to find one IMO.

28

Classic Roguelikes / Re: Rogue - let's beat it

« on: February 27, 2020, 12:13:24 PM »

Some IRC developer has commented me that there is a patch for it, which was submitted to the person running rlgallery, but I don't know whether it has been made available anywhere.

29

Development Process & non-technical / Re: I am new and unsure.

« on: February 24, 2020, 10:16:44 PM »

I think that playing single-players videogames is way more anti-social than playing MtG, Warhammer and DnD, for what it is worth.

When you have minority hobbies, you are bound to face a certain degree of rejection. It is not exclusive of games. What matters is being able to build a group of friends who share the hobby, so you all can live in your own pocket of resistance and not care what others think. I can assure you that all those Magic players don't give a crap if you don't like them or their club.

As for developing a game, I would consider taking an existing one that is close to your vision, and building from there. Another people has already done the heavy lifting for you. Take what you like and rm -rf what you don't :-P

30

Player's Plaza / Re: Nice comprehensive list of roguelikes I've found (pastebin link)

« on: February 23, 2020, 07:40:30 PM »

Low complexity.

Heh, you could arqgue that Rogue itself was not very complex. But I get what you mean.

Hyper Rogue has a Tactical Mode, by the way, in which you can stash orbs in your inventory and use them when you need them. One thing I don't like much about Classic Mode is precisely that you can unlock lots of cool orbs during the game, and not have them around when you need them.