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Messages - Rabiat

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31
Classic Roguelikes / Re: Never beat Crawl? Enter here! :-)
« on: April 12, 2010, 05:16:57 PM »
The bone lantern can be wielded. [spoiler]It reduces your field of view, it'll occasionally summon friendly shadows, and it'll also negate stealth (bad if you're stealthy, good if you're unstealthy). It's necromantic, so good gods will dislike it.[/spoiler]

I've been playing the 0.6.0 version recently. The upper levels of the main dungeon and the Lair/Swamp have definitely become more interesting. The early game also seems to be even harder than before (with an increased possibility of meeting some early uniques that rival Sigmund). In the new version I only got one rune (Swamp) and visited the Shoals once (just the upper level). Somehow I keep dying in the Elven Halls, although the upper levels are a breeze if you have magic resistance, Mephitic Cloud and a bow of flame. :)

32
Early Dev / Re: Infiniverse
« on: February 12, 2010, 01:15:16 PM »
I tried your LEE alpha a couple of days ago. First of all, the ASCII graphics are amazing - if you're not using the Doryen library, you've done a great job at creating the effects it is known for. I especially liked the nebulae and star systems. The planet surfaces, not as much. I can see the difficulty in procedurally generating a continuous surface in real time, but it would look a lot better of you could get rid of the visible edges on map sections.

Infiniverse reminded me of Noctis' enormous universe, and, unfortunately, its lack of game elements. Using procedural generation to this extent is a feat in itself, and both Noctis and Infiniverse are wonderful demonstrations, but they're not games. As a foundation for a game however, the LEE version looks very promising, and I'll keep an eye out for future versions.

(Coincidentally, along with Infiniverse, I tried Prospector RL, which is also in early development and also has a space exploration theme. It complements Infiniverse in that it offers in gameplay what it lacks in presentation. I think the good qualities of one could inspire the other's development.)

It'd be awesome to see this develop into an MMO which allows players to somehow persistently alter the game world (colonization, development, terraforming, named locations, etc). Though I'm sure handling lots of non-procedural content in a practically infinite procedural universe would be challenging.

33
Off-topic (Locked) / Re: How to load a saved game in classic rogue?
« on: December 03, 2009, 08:33:16 PM »
Supply the saved game file as an argument to the rogue executable. Type "rogue savefile", where "savefile" is the filename of your saved game.

Or press R, T, F, and M, in quick succession. ;)

34
Off-topic (Locked) / Re: Experimental Gameplay Project
« on: November 29, 2009, 11:46:16 AM »
Sorry about that, I think D. meant to post in another topic in the first place, then Omni had a fresh question, then I somehow didn't connect all the right dots in my head.

It took me a while to be sure, but judging from his/her/its posts I think D.Veicy is a spambot. The posts appear somewhat related to threads by keywords, but they're just way off (in an amusing way, I have to admit).

Of course, I may also be a spambot, calling out spambots to appear human... ;)

35
Other Announcements / Re: How do you like your roguelikes?
« on: November 20, 2009, 04:01:14 PM »
I don't care if a game is graphical or in text mode. But if it's in text mode, I usually prefer actual full screen text mode to a console window. If it's graphical, and the game allows movement in eight directions, I prefer hex tiles to square/isometric.

The only thing I dislike is 'cosmetic' 3D. Viewing a spinning @ through a tilting chase cam may be fun for ten minutes, but if the game remains grid-based and/or turn-based, the extra dimension is essentially meaningless.

36
Programming / Re: View of a Scrolling Dungeon
« on: November 18, 2009, 09:47:00 AM »
I once had an idea about a cross between a roguelike and a shoot'em up: the dungeon is of screen width and of infinite height, and it is constantly scrolling upwards. The player has to be faster than the game is scrolling.

I thought of the same thing when I read about Eller's maze generation algorithm. Somehow the idea of getting squished between a moving wall and the bottom of the screen is both disturbing and fascinating (especially if some passages loop back enough to create the tension of having to escape from dead ends). Other than that I'm having trouble thinking of how such a game could be fun to play, or even fair. If someone can think of some simple, decent game mechanics, I'd be willing to try a 7DRL type implementation.

(Sorry for going entirely off-topic, btw.)

37
Programming / Re: View of a Scrolling Dungeon
« on: November 16, 2009, 10:03:33 AM »
Scrolling when the player reaches the edge (as in Angband) is the traditional way to go, but IMHO scrolling with the player in the center (as in Crawl) is the most user friendly. I believe 'Angband mode' was invented so the program can do partial screen updates, which is easier on the CPU. 'Crawl mode' is easier to code, but the game must be able to handle the extra screen updates smoothly. 'Angband mode' requires the game to keep track of the player's location on the display, determine edge collisions, prevent off-screen attacks, and it would make sense to implement partial screen updates.

You could prevent off-screen attacks in 'Angband mode' by scrolling the map display >1 tiles away from the edge, but that would cause overlap in the displayed sections, and/or the player character jumping several tiles in a single turn.

38
Classic Roguelikes / Re: Never beat Crawl? Enter here! :-)
« on: November 10, 2009, 08:57:34 AM »
This sounds good to me.  A top 20 characters that is on the first post of the thread.  As for how many per person, I don't know.  One for me is fine, but all characters are different and score can vary a lot compared to how far you made it or what you are carrying.

Personally I don't think score is very meaningful in itself, so I'd suggest to sort the list by Win, Orb, Runes, Score. There could be some debate over the question whether Runes must be carried, or if stashed Runes count too. In my opinion stashed Runes count, but players would have to be trusted to report truthfully (which would be self-evident if players are trusted not to save-scum).

Is being full or greater (Ive not pushed it beyond engorged) pose a risk with continuing to eat? Does carrying the status of full or higher reduce my character's capabilities in any way (like reduce chance to hit or something)? the status is coloured green which indicates its safe to have, but I come from a Nethack background where its not, so I jsut want to make sure ;)

There are no side effects to satiation, so it doesn't reduce speed or chance to hit, for example. And if your character is engorged he'll simply refuse to eat more. The only dangers related  to eating are starvation and possibly sickness, poisoning, mutation, or rotting from eating chunks. Undead characters are exceptions; Vampires cannot starve, Mummies cannot eat, and Ghouls won't go hungry (but they'll rot instead).

39
Classic Roguelikes / Re: Never beat Crawl? Enter here! :-)
« on: November 06, 2009, 01:05:17 PM »
No, and probably yes.

Axes skill increases the effectiveness of hand axes when they're wielded; Throwing skill increases it when they're thrown.

I think I've seen hit and damage modifier effects on thrown daggers. On the other hand, I don't remember having seen branding effects (e.g. poisoning or electrocution) in NPCs from thrown weapons, which would make sense if modifiers apply. Perhaps we can find out in wizard mode, or see what the source code says.

40
Classic Roguelikes / Re: Never beat Crawl? Enter here! :-)
« on: November 03, 2009, 07:11:20 PM »
As far as I know there is no reliable way to prevent banishment to the Abyss. Of course raising EV to ridiculous levels helps to prevent getting hit by a weapon of distortion. Also avoid wielding unidentified weapons in the mid game; unwielding a weapon of distortion can cause banishment as well. Finally, you can choose to follow Lugonu to be able to leave the Abyss at will, but that's probably not an option if you'd rather avoid the Abyss altogether.

The power of hydras comes from their multiple attacks. They're not much of a threat if you can reliably lop off their heads with a flaming blade. But even without a flaming weapon, most characters should be able to deal with a hydra by the time they meet one - unless they make the mistake of blindly hacking away with a non-flaming blade (or unarmed as a Troll).

If you're going for a high score, don't forget to hang on to your gold and keep valuable items in your inventory. If you die, your stash of 12 Runes and 20 fixedarts on Lair:2 isn't going to count. That's also the reason I don't rate my games by final score. "Orb taken/Runes collected/Artefacts snatched/Branches cleared" is hardly quantifiable, but I think it's more meaningful than score.

41
Classic Roguelikes / Re: Never beat Crawl? Enter here! :-)
« on: November 03, 2009, 10:37:22 AM »
The Abyss is a dreadful place unless you're at least CL15 or so. I've lost lots of characters there with a portal in sight. Just out of curiosity, Karzack, did you wind up there because Rupert hit you with a blade of distortion in the Snake Pit? My MiBe (earlier in this thread) was very lucky on Snake:3 to get hit by Rupert three times and just blink.

Teleportitis is extremely annoying, but if I get it, I usually survive long enough to get rid of it. Teleportitis in the Abyss can be either deadly or lifesaving because there's a chance the level is regenerated when you teleport.

myang26: there is no such thing as 'the best' weapon brand. Crawl can be frustrating when it comes to the usefulness of items. A poisoned weapon is extremely useful in the upper dungeon, the Lair and the Orc Mines, but after that it's almost worthless. Holy wrath is a pretty useless brand unless you make it to the Crypt and the Tomb. Speed and vorpal brand at least are useful at all times, but in general, you'll be using lots of different branded and artefact weapons because you'll have to adapt to circumstances, and you'll keep finding better ones.

After Omnivorous' recommendation I tried a Centaur Monk of Okawaru. I'm not very impressed by its capabilities, but it's still alive, and so far this has been a relaxing dive. The char has both good melee and ranged skill, very useful movement speed, and decent survivability. I'm not so sure about its AC/EV though, so I rely on ranged combat a lot more than I'd like. Also it hasn't had the playtime it deserved, because lately, real life keeps interfering with my escapism at the most inconvenient times. ;)

42
Classic Roguelikes / Re: Never beat Crawl? Enter here! :-)
« on: October 30, 2009, 10:18:20 AM »
That centaur monk looks promising for a somewhat exotic character. I don't remember ever playing an archer character. I'd be interested in your observations on gameplay/strategy with this particular combination.

You can drop part of a stack of items with the 'd#i' command. Press 'd' to drop, then enter a number like '4' or '12', followed by the letter of the item in question (or click the item in your inventory).

If you want to be able to cast spells with a non-spellcaster, you'll have to raise your spellcasting skill to level 1 by reading lots and lots of scrolls. I don't know if raising your Int would help, but it just might.

This evening I'll -finally- have a couple of hours spare time to go for another dive with a new char, and hopefully be able to submit another valliant death to the high score list (but not too soon). I'm undecided about which race/class to choose, so if anyone has a recommendation/challenge, I'd be glad to hear it. I'm not going to play a Spriggan Wanderer, though. ;)

43
Classic Roguelikes / Re: Never beat Crawl? Enter here! :-)
« on: October 29, 2009, 09:11:53 AM »
I don't expect to find flaming edged weapons (let alone axes) before having to deal with hydras in the Lair or the Swamp. The existence of hydras alone is reason enough to build maces & flails skill. Big races can stick with blunt weapons anyway, since they'll be able to use giant spiked clubs for 20 damage per hit. Smaller races in fighter classes should eventually go with axes, since an executioner's axe is the only way for them to deal 20 damage per hit. Luckily, high maces & flails skill makes it easier to increase axes skill, and vice versa.

It's often safer to deal with hydras from a distance. They have no resistances except for poison, so you can blast them with fire, ice, lightning, draining or disintegration, and even slow, confuse, frighten, teleport or enslave them. Followers of Trog can call in reinforcements and retreat while their pet keeps the hydra occupied.

BTW Karzack, that's a pretty good set of equipment for a L12 character.

44
Classic Roguelikes / Re: Never beat Crawl? Enter here! :-)
« on: October 28, 2009, 10:11:35 AM »
Quote from: Char Dump
As you read the scroll, it crumbles to dust.
You smell .
Scroll of Rudeness?

EDIT: No, really, I got this message.

That's supposed to be the message of a Scroll of Random Uselessness (e.g. "You smell {something weird}." where the part in curlies is randomly generated). I think what went wrong is that the random part was pulled from an array with an out of bounds index.

You could report this as a bug.


45
Classic Roguelikes / Re: Never beat Crawl? Enter here! :-)
« on: October 27, 2009, 11:16:11 AM »
111 damage!? :o

That's just not fair.

Boris is a formidable spellcaster though. I looked him up in the Crawl Wiki and he has no less than 22 hit dice of power. From the description of the Bolt of Cold spell I figured out he can hurl one at you for 32d3 (32 to 96HP). Which is multiplied by some number if you're vulnerable to cold...

So it's not even a bug. :(

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