Chengband / Entroband

[Derakon]

Originally Posted by chem

I forget, how are store inventory refreshes triggered? Turns spent in a dungeon? Trying to wait it out by resting in the nearby wilderness didn't work. Sometimes I sell so many ego items that I need to clear out the store so they have room to buy more.

In standard Angband, at least, store refreshes happen every 10000 game turns (1000 normal-speed turns). But they won't happen if you're in the town, so you have to go into the dungeon to rest if you want to force a refresh. How that applies to Chengband is hard to say; the devs could easily have changed this rule if they'd wanted to. But have you tried going into a dungeon instead of the wilderness?

[chris]

Originally Posted by Derakon

In standard Angband, at least, store refreshes happen every 10000 game turns (1000 normal-speed turns). But they won't happen if you're in the town, so you have to go into the dungeon to rest if you want to force a refresh. How that applies to Chengband is hard to say; the devs could easily have changed this rule if they'd wanted to. But have you tried going into a dungeon instead of the wilderness?

Stores refresh are time based, but they are blocked if you have not gained sufficient experience (or leveled up) since the last time they restocked. The rational was to prevent scumming resources by simply camping out in the town waiting for stuff to restock.

After a while, you should get used to the new restock logic. Occasionally, a spellcaster might have trouble locating a required book, or you might run low on !CCW. Try to buy things preemptively, before you actually run out.

--Chris

[chem]

Originally Posted by chris

Stores refresh are time based, but they are blocked if you have not gained sufficient experience (or leveled up) since the last time they restocked. The rational was to prevent scumming resources by simply camping out in the town waiting for stuff to restock.

After a while, you should get used to the new restock logic. Occasionally, a spellcaster might have trouble locating a required book, or you might run low on !CCW. Try to buy things preemptively, before you actually run out.

--Chris

Ah, I knew something had changed. Not being able to scum the BM for potions forces me to change my playstyle: I've equipped Eonwe in the offhand to protect my potion inventory.

Any comments on kit / quest plans? I am taking a very specific route to victory: http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=12952 but am not sure what to watch out for other than uniques and Tonberry monsters.

[chris]

Originally Posted by chem

Ah, I knew something had changed. Not being able to scum the BM for potions forces me to change my playstyle: I've equipped Eonwe in the offhand to protect my potion inventory.

A couple of Chengband's changes will probably help berserkers:

[1] Monsters that "drop good" can drop useful potions (Healing, *Healing*, Life, Resistance). For example, Storm Wyrms. Because of this, you really shouldn't need to scum potions out of the BM, just kill lots of monsters that "drop good".

[2] When non-pet monsters fight each other (e.g. The Unicorn vs Oremorj) and are not in player line of sight, they are barred from summoning. So the common berserker death of wandering too far from the stairs into an amassing armada of dragons should no longer happen.

Good Luck!

[chem]

Originally Posted by chris

[1] Monsters that "drop good" can drop useful potions (Healing, *Healing*, Life, Resistance). For example, Storm Wyrms. Because of this, you really shouldn't need to scum potions out of the BM, just kill lots of monsters that "drop good".

Yeah, I've noticed that one. Actually having an easier time finding *healing* than healing, go figure.

I just browsed the CHeng ladder in detail for the first time -- a couple questions:
1. What is the game mechanic that allows Hurin or Quickthorn to reduce enemy AC used by Phayss? http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=12816 I noticed he favored weapons with extra attacks for it?

2. Is there a rundown/spoilers for the demigod race somewhere? I see that's quite popular (and new) and it doesn't exist in raceclas.txt help file.

Also I just updated my dump with abbrev_all so people can more easily make comments about what I should be doing/using http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=12952

[chem]

ah, I just answered my questions at the demigodparentage spoiler page poseidon, yeesh, a demigod melee char may be more fun than a spectre zerker

[chem]

Well, my spectre zerker finally won. yay!

Chris + crew: can I get a wizard-mode enabled version of chengband for download?

Also, I was browsing the release notes a bit and noticed a lot of changes to random artifact generation. Did that only apply to randarts which replace the standard set, or to all randarts? The randarts I found in my GCVs at dlvl1, 40, and 60 were generally bad and not useful. I might not have equipped one all game other than a couple low pval speed rings. If I had all randarts turned on and was top level dungeon scumming at dlvl 1 and 40, my new randarts be generated at... which depth? The example in the release notes talks about ringil, which I think I found at dlvl 40 and is really awesome enough to be a dlvl 100 quality item. But its replacement would be generated with dlvl 40? Or the vault-square quality, so (40+out of depth rating)? At any rate, it seems like randarts might not match up to the standard set considering how many awesome things there are now. I never found a randart with an immunity, for example, which is fairly common in V 3.2.0.

Speaking of randart rings, did I just have really weird luck to find two early and then none ever again, or were they being autosquelched? I worry that randart lights and rings and things were being squelched -- although an auto-destroy attempt should fail, right?

Not sure what race/class I want to play next. dz suggested blood knight, but looking at that class info it seems to be REALLY hard to win with -- they only shine when at low health, which is a recipe for death despite their 10 HD. I want to play a demigod, but I also want to play an android. I worry that with an android I'd actually level up way too quickly, since potions of "statistic" seem rare enough that it took forever for my zerker to max out CON -- after I had killed the unicorn. I think I'll try a Rune Knight next - no winner is posted on ladder for that. How do Rune effects stack?

Maybe I just talked myself into an Android Rune Knight?

[chris]

Congrats on the winner!

Wizard mode should be enabled already ... Go to options (=) Game play options (4) and turn on allow_debug_opts. Then you should be able to issue wizard commands (Ctl+A) and enter wizard mode (Ctl+W).

For rand-arts, the generation algorithm has been extensively tweaked. Previously, depth played no role whatsoever, but now depth is very important. So you really need to go deeper to find good rand-arts ... With vaults, they are generating at level +40 so I would think you would find good ones in the dragon's lair. Immunities are probably too rare these days, unfortunately and I'll have a look at tweaking them again sometime soon.

For classes to try, there are lots of new additions. Weaponmasters are popular and there are good spoilers on those. Blood Knights are lots of fun, but encourage risky play. I haven't tried Rune Knights too much, but if you like the idea of putting a force brand on something like Chainsword, then this is the class for you. I would just pick something new and try it out.

--Chris

[chem]

Originally Posted by chris

With vaults, they are generating at level +40 so I would think you would find good ones in the dragon's lair. Immunities are probably too rare these days, unfortunately and I'll have a look at tweaking them again sometime soon.

Hmm, maybe their quality in general just needs tweaking, or some themeing done with them like the Zangband revamp of randarts from a few years back. I dunno. The standard arts are so powerful now that the randarts generally paled in comparison. I kept some in my home in case I ever needed to cover a resist hole, but rarely used them. I think I used some randart xbows for their +stats/resists, but that's it (and it was on a zerker so I didn't care about their damage). I spent a lot of time in the dragon's lair and sold dozens and dozens of randarts to shops (over 50 mil gold at one point, then caine or whoever stole it all).

If I have multiple runes of absorption on a RK, how does the -25% spell dmg stack?

Thanks for the variant!

[Djabanete]

By how much are gold drops increased in no-selling mode? I can't tell if it's too much or if The Hoard is just that rich.

Edit: It seems balanced actually. I'm just used to playing no-selling *and* not getting enhanced gold, so I feel wealthier than usual. The Hoard was worth 100K+ for 10 minutes of scumming, but I left him alive and escaped the level when other things started getting too hairy. But 100K won't buy you anything you can't find at depth 45 anyway.

Unrelated comment: I like how monsters follow you on staircases, but I don't think monsters that can't normally follow teleport (Warriors of the Dawn) should be able to follow you when you read a Scroll of Teleport Level.