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Nick · August 17, 2019, 00:57

Angband 4.2.0 is now available for Windows, macOS and as source. It can be downloaded from rephial.org, and played at angband.live.

This version is mainly a major overhaul of classes and the monster list.

As for the last two 4.x.0 releases, there are too many individual changes to list, so what follows is a summary.

Classes
-------
Two new realms of magic have been added, nature and shadow, to the existing divine and arcane realms.

Nature realm relies on harnessing the power of the earth, and is opposite to the arcane realm, which uses craft and cunning.
Divine realm uses harmony and light, and is opposite to the shadow realm which aligns with darkness, power and sacrifice.
Rangers now use nature magic, like the new Druid class
Necromancers are the major shadow caster class
Blackguards are fighters enhanced by shadow magic
Pure casters (mages, priests, druids, necromancers) use five books (down from nine)
Hybrid casters (rogues, paladins, rangers, blackguards) use two or three books
Classes no longer have different rates of gaining experience

Monsters
--------
Each base monster type has had its game niche reconsidered, and there has been a general push to use Tolkien-inspired monsters where appropriate. Some of the major changes include:

Ainur - most of these now align with one of the great Valar, and have corresponding powers
Dragons - these have mostly been made stronger and deeper
Humanoids - dark elves have been replaced with dwarves, gnomes with Drúedain
Hydras - each hydra type is like the previous type with a new head and attack added
People - the association of some of these with player classes has been expanded to include the new classes
Snakes - some of these are now dangerous
Spiders - more dangerous and deeper, with unique abilities
Trees/Ents - these are new, tough to kill enemies
Wights/Wraiths - wights are all now shallower than wraiths, and the Ringwraiths are much deeper

Game Mechanics
--------------
In the course of the class and monster changes, many new mechanics have been introduced, with some of the major ones being:

Player and monster shapechanges
Variable light and darkness are created by monsters, player gear and player spells, and the player has a meter to measure the light level on their square
Mages can drain mana from magic devices
Rogues can steal from monsters
Temporary brands and slays (Priests, Paladins, Blackguards)
Necromancers can see in the dark, and can cast less well in light
Healing of hitpoints every turn for a time (Druids)
Control of a monster, including making it attack other monsters (Necromancers)
Shield bashes (Warriors, Paladins, Blackguards)
Decoys which monsters will attack instead of the player (Rangers)
Blackguards can go into a state of bloodlust which improves their combat at a price
Monsters can whip or spit on the player from nearby
Monster groups act more as a group, with leaders and sometimes bodyguards
Innate spells (e.g. breaths) and cast spells (e.g. bolts) have separate frequencies
Deeper in the dungeon shallow monsters are less likely to appear
Monsters can teleport to the player
Spiders can weave webs
Monsters can have innate darkness around them
Traps added that trigger on leaving their square
Ringwraiths can inflict the Black Breath
Monster spells can have different levels depending on monster spell power
The player now has a hunger meter, and food is more important
As with classes, all races gain experience at the same rate, except for humans who are faster, and high-elves who are slower
The Temple has been replaced with a Bookseller who sells books of all realms

Code Improvements
-----------------
There have also been some improvements to the codebase, both visible and invisible to the player. The main ones are:

Addition of an SDL2 front end
Change to mostly using a single grid rather than x and y coordinates in much of the code
More readability of datafiles
Some font improvements
Some new tiles
A new online (rather than in-game) help system
A new experimental (and so far unbalanced) birth option for percentage damage
An option to start a new game after dying instead of closing the game and re-opening
Many fixes to bugs and memory leaks

All this has been achieved through an amazing joint community effort, with code provided by

Alex Mooney
Anna Sidwell (takkaria)
Bardur Arantsson
bron
Dag Arneson (sanedragon)
Derakon
Elly Fong-Jones (elly)
fizzix (Aaron Bader)
fruviad
John Weismiller (emar)
Kusunose Toru
Mikolaj Konarski
Paul Johnson
PowerWyrm
Ryan Schmidt
Stefan Strogin
Vic K
wkmanire
wobbly

and bug reports, change suggestions and contributions to discussion which has influenced this version by

Adam
AnonymousHero
Antoine
Aszazin
Atriel
bio_hazard
bunnies
Carg
Carnivean
cccfire
Chud
ClaytonAguiar
Clearshade
clouded
Cold_Heart
Combatereak
Darin
debo (cyberdemons pls)
desstorm
Diego Gonzalez
Djbanete
dos350
Dragget
Ed_47569
Egavactip
emulord
EpicMan
Estie
Estragon
Evilpotatoe
Flambard
fph
Gauss
Geoff Hill (yes, that one)
geoff_tewierik
gglibertine
Glorfindel
Goaticus
Grotug
gtrudeau88
Gwarl
half
HallucinationMushroom
Holy_Rage
Hounded
Hrrunstar
Huqhox
Ingwe Ingweron
Jeff Greene (nppangband)
jevansau
jml34
Jungle_Boy
kandrc
kaypy
khearn
Kinematics
luneya
Mark
MattB
misanthropope
MITZE
Mondkalb
Monkey Face
Moving Pictures
mrfy
Muscleguy
MWGE
Narry
Netbrian
NightLizard
Nomad
olivertheorem
Once
Pahasusi
Patashu
Pete Mack
Philip
Pondlife
Quirk
Raerick
Raxmei
Rydel
Scatha
schatz
shirish
Sideways
Sky
spara
Sparrow the Dunadan
Sphara
swaggert
tangar
the Invisible Stalker
Therem Harth
Thraalbee
Tibarius
Timo Pietilä
TJA
TJS
topazg
Vivit
Voovus
Vorczar
Werbaer
Whelk
Wiwaxia
Youssarian
Zikke
Zirael

as well as, I am sure, other people I missed. Thank you all. I hope this version is as much fun to play as it was to prepare.

August 17, 2019, 00:57	#1
Nick Vanilla maintainer Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Canberra, Australia Age: 55 Posts: 8,594 Donated: $60	Angband 4.2.0 Angband 4.2.0 is now available for Windows, macOS and as source. It can be downloaded from rephial.org, and played at angband.live. This version is mainly a major overhaul of classes and the monster list. As for the last two 4.x.0 releases, there are too many individual changes to list, so what follows is a summary. Classes ------- Two new realms of magic have been added, nature and shadow, to the existing divine and arcane realms. Nature realm relies on harnessing the power of the earth, and is opposite to the arcane realm, which uses craft and cunning. Divine realm uses harmony and light, and is opposite to the shadow realm which aligns with darkness, power and sacrifice. Rangers now use nature magic, like the new Druid class Necromancers are the major shadow caster class Blackguards are fighters enhanced by shadow magic Pure casters (mages, priests, druids, necromancers) use five books (down from nine) Hybrid casters (rogues, paladins, rangers, blackguards) use two or three books Classes no longer have different rates of gaining experience Monsters -------- Each base monster type has had its game niche reconsidered, and there has been a general push to use Tolkien-inspired monsters where appropriate. Some of the major changes include: Ainur - most of these now align with one of the great Valar, and have corresponding powers Dragons - these have mostly been made stronger and deeper Humanoids - dark elves have been replaced with dwarves, gnomes with Drúedain Hydras - each hydra type is like the previous type with a new head and attack added People - the association of some of these with player classes has been expanded to include the new classes Snakes - some of these are now dangerous Spiders - more dangerous and deeper, with unique abilities Trees/Ents - these are new, tough to kill enemies Wights/Wraiths - wights are all now shallower than wraiths, and the Ringwraiths are much deeper Game Mechanics -------------- In the course of the class and monster changes, many new mechanics have been introduced, with some of the major ones being: Player and monster shapechanges Variable light and darkness are created by monsters, player gear and player spells, and the player has a meter to measure the light level on their square Mages can drain mana from magic devices Rogues can steal from monsters Temporary brands and slays (Priests, Paladins, Blackguards) Necromancers can see in the dark, and can cast less well in light Healing of hitpoints every turn for a time (Druids) Control of a monster, including making it attack other monsters (Necromancers) Shield bashes (Warriors, Paladins, Blackguards) Decoys which monsters will attack instead of the player (Rangers) Blackguards can go into a state of bloodlust which improves their combat at a price Monsters can whip or spit on the player from nearby Monster groups act more as a group, with leaders and sometimes bodyguards Innate spells (e.g. breaths) and cast spells (e.g. bolts) have separate frequencies Deeper in the dungeon shallow monsters are less likely to appear Monsters can teleport to the player Spiders can weave webs Monsters can have innate darkness around them Traps added that trigger on leaving their square Ringwraiths can inflict the Black Breath Monster spells can have different levels depending on monster spell power The player now has a hunger meter, and food is more important As with classes, all races gain experience at the same rate, except for humans who are faster, and high-elves who are slower The Temple has been replaced with a Bookseller who sells books of all realms Code Improvements ----------------- There have also been some improvements to the codebase, both visible and invisible to the player. The main ones are: Addition of an SDL2 front end Change to mostly using a single grid rather than x and y coordinates in much of the code More readability of datafiles Some font improvements Some new tiles A new online (rather than in-game) help system A new experimental (and so far unbalanced) birth option for percentage damage An option to start a new game after dying instead of closing the game and re-opening Many fixes to bugs and memory leaks All this has been achieved through an amazing joint community effort, with code provided by Alex Mooney Anna Sidwell (takkaria) Bardur Arantsson bron Dag Arneson (sanedragon) Derakon Elly Fong-Jones (elly) fizzix (Aaron Bader) fruviad John Weismiller (emar) Kusunose Toru Mikolaj Konarski Paul Johnson PowerWyrm Ryan Schmidt Stefan Strogin Vic K wkmanire wobbly and bug reports, change suggestions and contributions to discussion which has influenced this version by Adam AnonymousHero Antoine Aszazin Atriel bio_hazard bunnies Carg Carnivean cccfire Chud ClaytonAguiar Clearshade clouded Cold_Heart Combatereak Darin debo (cyberdemons pls) desstorm Diego Gonzalez Djbanete dos350 Dragget Ed_47569 Egavactip emulord EpicMan Estie Estragon Evilpotatoe Flambard fph Gauss Geoff Hill (yes, that one) geoff_tewierik gglibertine Glorfindel Goaticus Grotug gtrudeau88 Gwarl half HallucinationMushroom Holy_Rage Hounded Hrrunstar Huqhox Ingwe Ingweron Jeff Greene (nppangband) jevansau jml34 Jungle_Boy kandrc kaypy khearn Kinematics luneya Mark MattB misanthropope MITZE Mondkalb Monkey Face Moving Pictures mrfy Muscleguy MWGE Narry Netbrian NightLizard Nomad olivertheorem Once Pahasusi Patashu Pete Mack Philip Pondlife Quirk Raerick Raxmei Rydel Scatha schatz shirish Sideways Sky spara Sparrow the Dunadan Sphara swaggert tangar the Invisible Stalker Therem Harth Thraalbee Tibarius Timo Pietilä TJA TJS topazg Vivit Voovus Vorczar Werbaer Whelk Wiwaxia Youssarian Zikke Zirael as well as, I am sure, other people I missed. Thank you all. I hope this version is as much fun to play as it was to prepare. __________________ One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.