item generation process?

[vorondil]

Hi guys,

In V 4~, is the process for generating artifacts and ego items still basically the same as in the 2nd google result for the old item spoilers, less cursing?

If not, how does it work (or where could I read up on it)?

[Nick]

It's still pretty similar, although a lot of the individual item details have changed.

If you can read C code, most of the detail is in obj-make.c, particularly make_object() and apply_magic(). Even if you can't, the comments in that file may be informative.

[vorondil]

Originally Posted by Nick

It's still pretty similar, although a lot of the individual item details have changed.

If you can read C code, most of the detail is in obj-make.c, particularly make_object() and apply_magic(). Even if you can't, the comments in that file may be informative.

I have some rusty C++ rattling around in my brain, but I'm a statistical programmer and can read it as easily as any code can be read thanks Nick

[vorondil]

OK - so if I want an item of a relatively shallower depth that doesn't tend to show up in a shop (e.g. rods and wands of Light, I've lost all mine), do I have a better chance of getting it by going back to shallower levels since the list of candidate items will be shorter?

[Nick]

Yes, that's right. Unless I'm wrong, in which case Derakon will correct me shortly

[Derakon]

Originally Posted by Nick

Yes, that's right. Unless I'm wrong, in which case Derakon will correct me shortly

My only comment on this is that as a kid I once spent several hours with a paladin scumming at 1000' for Ringil, since longswords had a native depth of 1000'. I'd enter a level, cast Clairvoyance, seek out every | on the floor (this was in the days before the extended-look command), and repeat. It wasn't worth it. Deeper levels had a lot more stuff, so while the odds of any given item being the item you wanted were lower, the odds that you'd find the item you want were probably higher.

Modern Angband's Too Much Junk logic throws that out the window though, since fewer items get generated in the deeps, so I can't easily figure out how many Whatevers of Light get generated per level as a function of dungeon depth.

[PowerDiver]

It also depends upon which monsters you are killing, and how many of them. If your primary source of items is killing snagas, you want to be at the depth where you kill the most snagas. A DL15 item would be out of depth for the drop if you kill a monster native to DL6 at DL23, so the best depth for a DL10 item might possibly be DL23 for a very particular playstyle.

My advice is not to worry about any of this. Instead of thinking about what you do not have, just make the most of what you do have.