Chengband (Now at v0.0.138)

[getter77]

v0.0.112

 

  -Throw Boulders damage toned down a bit.
    -Archaeologist Tweaks:
        Can gain 5 blows per round with any weapon, or 6 with a favored weapon (at L40 and beyond).
        No longer gains extra blows when using favored weapons. They still gain combat bonuses for favored weapons, so they are worth using if possible.
        Excavation is more energy efficient if using a digger.
        Fighting and shooting skills are now as priest, rather than as tourist.
        First Aid costs reduced.
        Pharaoh's Curse no longer does Stasis at L50, but an extra 50 damage instead.
        Class is now 120% xp rather than 75%.
    -Rogue's Gain a new Realm: Burglary. This realm hasn't been thoroughly tested or balanced yet (Please help with ideas/criticisms) and offers the following talents:
        Picking Pockets: Get the drops of Wormtongue without killing him!
        Setting Traps: Prepare a mine field and then lure your foes to their destruction.
        Negotiating: Ask a nearby thief for assistance (for a price, of course)
        Escaping: Plenty of escapes, including panic actions that perform attacks or archery before teleporting away.
        Premier detection capabilities, including spells whose range gradually increases with level.
        Assassination: Kill a sleeping monster in a single hit!
        And much, much more.
        To compensate, Rogues no longer have innate talents of Panic Hit and Explosive Rune.
        Burglary Rogues are agents of the Black Market. That is where they may find their spellbooks in the town. Also, the Black Market offers favorable pricing terms for this subclass.

[getter77]

v0.0.114/113

114

    -Tweaked odds of maze levels down. They become more common the deeper you go (1 in 150-DL).
    -New Dungeon: The Arena. Its final guardian and reward should come as a surprise to no one. I promise, this is the last new dungeon!
    -New monster surprises.
    -The Dark Caves now rewards the 4th spellbook in your first realm.
    -More work on my "Save the Egos" campaign. Crowns of Might/Lordliness/Magi now occasionally get flavorful boosts.

   
113

-WARNING In 0.0.112 cloned monsters won't drop items, even in the Cloning Pits! Fixed as an emergency patch for 0.0.113.
    -Both Cyclops and Biclops are now +5 speed rather than +10.
    -Monster Lore regarding drops was broken by pick pocket changes for 112. Should be fixed now, except that Lore won't reflect the total number of possible drops accurately if you steal all the loot ahead of time!
    -Picking the pockets of friends/pets makes them hostile.
    -Fixed targeting bug in Negotiate.

[getter77]

v0.0.117

Release notes for 0.0.117

    -Craft HM are too gosh darn hard to start unless you pick an uber race ... Replaced Infravision spell with Minor Enchantment at L1. Enchants weapons/armor to 2 + L/5, but not higher than +5. Discounts enchanted item by 99%. (Aside: This seems rather powerful, but I'm feeling generous).
    -Craft HM are too gosh darn hard to start unless you pick an uber race ... Various golem forms increase the "multiplier" when calculating the number of blows per round.
    -Mindcrafters have no business stopping time ... That is the province of the Time Lord! They get something else instead.
    -Added new Realm specific artifacts. Each is themed after its realm, and increases the effectiveness of casting spells from that realm. 8 new artifacts in all, and just so warriors don't feel left out, they get one too

Release notes for 0.0.116

    -Fixed Random Quest monster bug (added in 0.0.111). quest_uniques option now functions as it should.
    -Nerfed Random Artifacts (again). This won't be popular, but it seems like every end game art is getting +4 StrDexCon which is a bit absurd. Code reverted to nearly the way it was in Hengband with regard to biasing and the number of powers, which means rand-art quality no longer depends (much) on object generation level.

Release notes for 0.0.115

    -The Arena dungeon should now be fixed. The guardian is unique so the dungeon may now be only conquered once.
    -Giant Strength toned down a tad.
    -Craft (High) Magi may gain up to 4 blows, provided they assume the correct battle form.
    -Nature Realm redesigned a bit.

[getter77]

v0.0.118/119

    -New Fear Code. Warning: These changes are huge so there may be some playability issues!
    -Intelligence now affects experience gained.
    -Wisdom now affects rate of pseudo-id and level feelings.
    -Charisma now affects monster fear.
    -Monk "no armor" bonuses toned down to original values.

    -Fear Changes
        Fixed divide by zero bug in new fear code (I was resting near Olympians while waiting for recall to kick in.)
        Berserkers are immune to fear (since they are stuck with a 3 Chr all game and have no escapes).
    -Time Lord Changes:
        Replaced "Stop Time" with "Time Mastery." I think Stop Time made the end game a bit too easy provided you had enough potions of restore mana and were willing to use them.
        Increased duration of "Time Spurt" a bit.
        "Speed Essentia" is now L43, and can last up to 5 rounds.
        Monsters will now dispel either of Speed Essentia or Time Mastery.
    -Dave Requested Changes:
        Wisdom now has a bigger effect on saving throws.
        Psions pick best of Int/Wis/Chr when determining mana and spell fail rates.
        Psions pick best racial Int/Wis/Chr when determining racial modification to mana.

Somehow I'd not be surprised if more updates beyond 119 landed in time for ARRP this weekend.   

[getter77]

Yep....

v0.0.120/1

    -Fear Changes
        Potions of Boldness now sold in town and are more valuable.
        There now exist very few means of curing fear. See here for details.
        A few more monsters gain the dreaded scary aura!
        Shooting/Throwing is now a bit easier when afraid
        Casting Spells is now a bit easier when afraid
        Fear saving throws revamped. See spoiler page for details.
        Wizard Mode now displays both player and monster fear saving throws, their odds of success, and whether or not the save succeeded.
        Scary monsters affect the player after each action only if they are in line of sight (compared to simply visible thru telepathy).
        New Fear Mechanic: Whenever the player takes damage, they might become afraid (Just like monsters!). Conversely, healing might embolden the player. Blood Knights/Magi are not affected.
        Powerful/Unique monsters get better fear resistance.
        Recovering completely from fear is now more difficult.
        Powerful monsters scare the player more effectively ... and know it!
    -Players that used to birth with a Ring of Fear Resistance now birth with a Ring of Strength +1.
    -Railgun now activates for 300 damage.
    -The Duelist XP penalty is now 150%

-Fixed fatal bug in 0.0.120.

[getter77]

v0.0.122

    -Minor Fear Changes
        Monster fear code now uses a monster saving throw (rather than 1dX < Y). So not only will high charisma characters induce monster fear sooner (higher threshold) they will also do so more effectively.
        Player fear recovery now factors in nearby visible monsters, so it is harder to shake off your terror while facing down Gothmog, for example.
        Petrified is now 250 rather than 1000.
        Better status messages when fear is decreased.
        Monster level adjustments for fear saves now used everywhere.
    -Randart extra attack weapons now favor +1 attacks again
    -The Arena uses rubble rather than doors.

[getter77]

v0.0.123

    -Moved Fear status display to the left near Cuts/Stun/Hunger status.
    -Using racial powers now requires a fear check.
    -Monsters are scared stiff far less often.
    -Sniper gloves are now worth more gold.
    -Randomized snotling recoil. For example, if you shoot a target 10 squares to the right, and 1 square up, most of the time you will propel only to the left, but occasionally (1 in 10), you will propel downwards as well. Previously, you would always propel left and down a square which looked a bit odd (Conservation of momentum?). Also, recoil is a bit more forgiving if there are multiple valid recoil squares.
    -Duelist Fearless Duel now only grants an easier saving throw.
    -Reworked player melee fear. A fear check is applied before every strike. If failed, the player only loses energy proportional to the number of attempted blows. Thus it is now more profitable to attempt to fight thru a bout of fear. Saving throw reduced from 5x Fear to 3x Fear, just like archery.
    -Reworked player recovery from fear. Fear can only reduce by a maximum of 3 levels (e.g. Terrified -> Uneasy) and each level of reduction requires making a saving throw.

[getter77]

v0.0.124

    -Monsters that eat player food can no longer eat eternal mushrooms.
    -Monsters scare stiff odds tweaked.
    -Arcane weapons have a pval of -1d3 rather than -1d2.
    -Craft Changes
        Restored Walk through Wall. It is now a 4th book spell, doesn't last quite as long, encourages monsters to dispel, and being crushed by rock is now much more significant.
        Removed Curing
        Whirlwind Attack is now an early 3rd book spell.
        I'm not sure anybody liked all the golem polymorphs, so they all got removed. Let's try something else instead.
        Elemental Cloak replaces Clay Golem and grants all 3 auras.
        Giant Strength replaces Iron Golem. In the interest of spoilers, this grants +10+L/2 maxhp, +4L/50 Str/Dex/Con, +60L/50 melee skills, +L/40 max blow (up to 5), and grants more favorable blows calculation.
        Weaponmastery replaces Mithril Golem (+L/23). Same as the ring.
        Immunity returned from Hengband, and replaces Colossus.
    -The Archaeologist is now a pure wisdom caster
    -Reworked Player Aura damage. For reference, monster auras scale with level as (1+L/26)d(1+L/17) so they always had a level component. Player auras were always a flat 2d6. Given the lower number of monster attacks and rampant monster immunity, I think we should increase player aura damage. I'm going with 2+(1+L/10)d(2+L/10) for a start:

Lvl    Dam    Avg
1    1d2+2    3
10    2d3+2    5
20    3d4+2    9.5
30    4d5+2    14
40    5d6+2    19.5
50    6d7+2    26

    -Lets increase monster aura damage as well. The reason is that the number of player melee attacks has been reduced. Damage formula is now (1+L/26)d(1+L/12) so the Serpent inflicts 4d9 (avg 20) damage per aura per strike rather than its previous 4d6 (avg 14).
    -Warlock Changes
        Demon Pact resistance to charge draining no longer requires a saving throw.
        Demon Pact loses Teleport Level and gains +5L/50 device power.
        Aberration Pact loses horns, beak and tentacles. Gains Resist Chaos and Create Ammo and other powers moved around.

[getter77]

v0.0.126

   -Craft's Elemental Cloak now only gives Fire Aura initially. At L25 it adds a Cold Aura and at L35, it adds an Electric Aura.
    -Camelot

    -Race/Class stat bonuses adjusted to account for new role of charisma.
    -Many monsters now drain charisma.
    -Becoming Terrified or Petrified might reduce charisma.
    -Cuts no longer decreases charisma
    -Camelot monsters adjusted a bit.
    -Killing all the Camelot Knights before facing Arthur means he will just summon regular knights.
    -Camelot Knights are pseudo-unique: There are only 10 unnamed Knights of the Round Table.
    -Shop prices determined by Wisdom rather than Charisma
    -Sorcerer and Time Lord are now Charisma casters.
    -Fearless personality now gives resistance to fear, but incurs a larger experience penalty.

v0.0.127

    -Miscellaneous Camelot tweaks, including a new Camelot monster.
    -Defender weapons biffed.
    -Arena dungeon back to doors rather than rubble. Even with Poor stealth, it is fine this way and the rubble makes it too easy (e.g. You need to have Jack and Morgana roaming about early on for true fun).
    -Replacement Arts reworked. Don't be upset if your phial replacement resembles the original Sample Data (Note: Replacing powerful artifacts like Feanor can take a while (~1s for me). Let me know if this is a problem, but its hard to compete with a +15 speed standard art!)
    -Rand-art edged weapons can no longer quake.
    -Weapon scoring overhauled. Previously, Hephaestus scored at 28.8k while Grayswandir scored at 167k, which is just a tad off Should be better now.
    -Added Bow Scoring
    -Artifact Torches (only Demeter) now score like other artifact lights.
    -Hephaestus bonus now applied before force brand, if possible. (Aside: Hephaestus and Force Brand both apply to shooting as well!)
    -Kutar are now 175% xp.

[getter77]

v0.0.128

   -Replacement Art Tweaks
        I rewrote the weapon scoring. The new algorithm is now highly dependent on expected damage per round. Resistances and Stats are now fairly constant across all weapons.
        Speed is scored lower for weapons to prevent replacements spamming speed on otherwise crappy weapons.
        Randart weapons now have a path for high pluses to hit and damage.
        Comboing slay evil and force branding is now much more rare.
        Randart armors now have a path for high pluses to ac.
        Immunities are now worth much much more.
        Anti-magic and No-teleport are considered assets for an amulet (so that the plain amulets price correctly). But I toned down their values to try to limit them showing up on replacement amulets.
        Fixed replacements for The Express Card and The Stick. Both Tourists and Lazy characters are worth a go with replacements on, I think. Perhaps Lazy might think twice? (For the record, I did see this once: The Stick (60d1) (+28,+30) (+3 to speed) {SpSr;ElFi|V/X*/UL} (230.6%))

-Enchanting Gear

    First the good news. The shop services for enchanting weapons, bows, ammo and armor now prompt you with a menu for how much to enchant. You may enchant up to +25 at a time (up to the max enchantment limit, of course).
    Now, some bad news: Costs are intentionally high and depend on the quality of the item you are improving. (Except for ammo).
    Now, some worse news: Scrolls of Enchant Foo removed from the town.
    Don't despair. Here is some good news: Max enchantment (excepting ammo) is now 15! And you there are no player level restrictions! So next time you find Aglarang ridiculously early you can just spam it up to (+15, +15) ... Seriously! (There might be a catch?)

-Shops now display calculated score when in wizard mode. 

[getter77]

v0.0.129

   -Starting armor cost is too high. Fixed, but now that first enchantment costs a lot!
    -Enchantment max set to 5 + L/5.
    -Removed scrolls of Enchant Weapon To-hit and Damage as well as Enchant Armor.
    -Fixed up The Icky Caves
    -Replacement arts now reveal their source upon inspection.

v0.0.130

    -Infernal Deal will no longer restore mana for Rune Knights. Instead, they get 30hp for each kill. As a compensation, any demigod Rune Knight that upgrades to this release will get to repick their powers.
    -Toned down weapon pluses on random artifacts a bit.
    -Low HP warning no longer prompts for space key if time is stopped (since the screen doesn't display the prompt, the game hangs until the player guesses to press space).
    -Added prices for various new artifacts that have activations.
    -Fixed prices for Poison Needle and Rune Sword.
    -Reduced importance of Con somewhat. Oh, its still the most important stat, but rather than contributing up to 600hp to player hp (50-75% of total hp) it now only contributes up to 500hp. Everybody now gets +2hp per level to even things out. Also, the hp boosts tail off at the high end so you can probably get by with just 18/190 or so.

[getter77]

v0.0.131

-Mount Olympus is now L90 to L99.

    If you are currently in Mt. Olympus deeper than the max, please recall back to town, walk back to Mt. Olympus thru the wilderness, and enter back at L90. When you recall again and are asked to reset the recall depth, please do so. (This is still beta software and would be hard to fix gracefully).
    If you are not currently in Mt Olympus, but have a recall point deeper than L99, please enter from the wilderness at L90, and reset your recall depth.

-Camelot monsters now only appear in Camelot (flavor).
-Runeswords can now power up on any kill.
-When calculating AC bonus from dexterity, wielding a weapon with two hands now counts as wearing a shield.
-When calculating costs from Force Brand, we now consider weaponmastery.
-Reworked Weapon Info

    This is now (spoiled) in character dumps
    This is now accurate when displaying left-hand weapon (Previous code used right hand's bonuses).
    This is now accurate for Hephaestus
    We now display average damage and the slay multipliers
    Code now handles elemental branding from (non-weapon) armor or from spells.
    Weapon Info no longer reveals slays the player doesn't know about.

-Summoning named uniques can now summon them from the current level (If, for example, the player has teleported them away).
-Body armor of High Resistance now gets an extra high resist (starts with 2 resists rather than just 1).
-Various Reflection Changes

    Monster Reflection now reflects player arrows/bolts/shots (50% of the time, or 25% if player is an Artemis Demigod). Oberon and The Serpent of Chaos lose Reflection (so Archers have a chance to win).
    Monster Reflection now reflects player bolt spells 75% (was 90%)
    Player Reflection now reflects 75% (was 90%)
    Reflection still reflects the effect, but I think I fixed a bug in the Hengband code and I also spread out the radius a bit. Reflected player arrows won't hurt the player (but may hurt another monster).

-Monk Attack Info is now included (spoiled) in the character dump.

[getter77]

v0.0.132

-I've done some work with monk stunning. Uniques over L50 can once again be stunned, but it is really hard to stun high level uniques.
-Added Potions of Clarity and Great Clarity. Added Servings of Ambrosia (Mount Olympus only).
-[Melee Damage] now accounts for critical hits.
-Fear code toned down a little
-Potions of Boldness more common in town
-I taught the Compare Weapons function about the Shield Master.

[getter77]

v0.0.134

    -Giant Overhaul
        Basic giants redesigned a bit (Hill, Stone, Frost, Fire, Cloud and Storm)
        Giants are now more rare and should never appear in groups or pits.
        Giant uniques no longer have friends (except Kronos)
        Giants are tougher and stronger in melee
        Throwing rocks does less damage, but there is no longer any damage reduction.
        Rocks may cut (unless resist shards) or stun (unless resist sound)
        Giants have better drops
    -Gamble Shop
        Potions and scrolls implemented. The shop is in Morivant.
        The item you win is placed in your inventory.
        If your pack is full, you lose the item, but don't pay the fee.
        Your auto-destroyer preferences are consulted so that objects you have registered for automatic destruction are not placed in your pack.

    -Warrior's Guild
        Members can enchant up to +15 for armors and weapons.
        Members get a 50% discount on enchantment costs.
        Non-members can enchant up to +12 for armors and weapons.
        Current Members: Warrior, Samurai, Cavalry, Berserker, Blood-Knight, Duelist, Rune-Knight, Weaponmaster, Mauler.
    -Archer's Guild
        Members can enchant bows up to +15 with a 50% discount.
        Non-members can enchant bows up to +12.
        (Ammo still maxes at +10)
        Current Members: Ranger, Archer, Sniper.
    -Gamble Shop
        Added Staves, Wands and Rods.
        Added Armors and Weapons.
        And for the grand finale, added Random Artifacts (for a price, of course).

[getter77]

v0.0.136

    -Summoning Changes
        Monsters no longer have infinite summons, but can only manage a limited number of monsters at a time (currently 50). This includes their entourage, if they have one.
        If a monster summon would exceed this limit, the game looks for a current summon of the correct type not currently in line of sight, and teleports it to the player. So teleporting away monster summons won't rid yourself of the danger.
        Farming summoners is no longer recommended. Eventually, the summoned monsters will stop dropping loot and you will stop gaining experience.
        Summoned monsters once again spawn with random energy.
    -Breeder Changes
        Farming is a bit more restricted. After 400 kills you no longer gain full xp. After 600 kills you no longer gain drops.
        Farming is now far more risky and not recommended.
    -Fear Changes
        Fear in the early game is no longer so deadly, especially for characters with low charisma.
    -The Town Bookstore now restocks normally.
    -Players no longer start with an extra 3dX hp, where X is their hit-dice. Upgrading will remove this bonus. (This is in response to the con change in 0.0.130. Players are getting +2hp per level from that change).
    -If disturb move is turned off, you still get disturbed whenever a monster moves with 2 squares of you (rather than getting disturbed once a monster gets a free round of attacks on you).

-Fixed up The Barrow Downs Quest.