Sil-Q 1.4.1-beta release

[Quirk]

There's a new Sil-Q beta release out.
https://github.com/sil-quirk/sil-q/r...g/v1.4.1-beta1

It's got a very substantial overhaul of archery, and things look quite different at fifty feet.

My own runs suggest that archery is still very strong, as long as you don't run out of arrows. Arrow drops should on average give you more non-special arrows and fewer special arrows. (I found out incidentally that the arrow drop code in Sil was always bugged: it wanted to give you low multiples of 12, instead it gave you 2d40 arrows, using the numbers for pieces of mithril.)

So, to roughly fill in some details:

Precision and Flaming Arrows and Rapid Fire are all gone. Poison arrows are rare and few. I haven't restricted bow weight as yet until we see how other changes pan out. The bug where you could smith Poison arrows (+3) has been rectified.

Steady Hands, Dedication, Deadly Hail and Running Shot are in. Arrows of Gondolin and Doriath are now occasionally available. Piercing arrows are more common and easier to smith than Poison ones.

Fifty feet looks somewhat different, with rubble and patches of sunlight. Orcs and undead will avoid passing through sunlight, and the usual Sil light bonuses apply. There's a new enemy too.

Curved swords start equipped.

There are a few new egos and artifacts to discover.

Please have a play and give me some feedback.

[Quirk]

Some small hiccups in deployment; all should be fixed now. Please redownload if you downloaded already.

[Gobbopathe]

Sorry, my last time here was 4 years ago, so I am just wondering : is Sil-Q a fork from the official Sil "the way you think Sil should be" ?
Or is it official (whatever it may mean) ?

[Gobbopathe]

Originally Posted by Gobbopathe

Sorry, my last time here was 4 years ago, so I am just wondering : is Sil-Q a fork from the official Sil "the way you think Sil should be" ?
Or is it official (whatever it may mean) ?

I think this thread is my answer, I searched for it before posting here but could not find it before, sorry

http://angband.oook.cz/forum/showthread.php?t=8577

[Pete Mack]

The answer to this question is Yes.

Originally Posted by Gobbopathe

Sorry, my last time here was 4 years ago, so I am just wondering : is Sil-Q a fork from the official Sil "the way you think Sil should be" ?
Or is it official (whatever it may mean) ?

[Blinkhog]

Hi Q, love your work.

I haven't played enough archery heavy characters to be sure yet but I feel like archery is still not powerful enough to completely forgo melee. That might be by design, but if I'm using archery just as a supplement to melee, there's not much point in buying abilities because the points are better spent elsewhere.

In my playthroughs trying to main archery I've found it begins well but starts to drop off in power around 500-600 feet.

Re: the changes to 50 ft I haven't found them to have made much of an effect on gameplay, but it is extra flavour which is always good. I like the idea of a sunlight mechanic - maybe this could be worked into other areas of the game somehow (eg staves or blasting upwards with a horn of blasting).

[Quirk]

Originally Posted by Blinkhog

Hi Q, love your work.

I haven't played enough archery heavy characters to be sure yet but I feel like archery is still not powerful enough to completely forgo melee. That might be by design, but if I'm using archery just as a supplement to melee, there's not much point in buying abilities because the points are better spent elsewhere.

So, this is interesting in its own right, and probably related to playstyle. I think the ladder and July comp have a total of eight Morgoth kills. Three of them are entirely pure archers, and one was not a pure archer but relied on archery to kill Morgoth. A number of the most experienced players have said to me that archery (pre-beta, with Flaming Arrows) is overpowered. This means I haven't been trying to strengthen archery, but rather to spread the power around a bit and weaken it toward the endgame.

Playstyles differ a lot though, and what clicks for one person doesn't necessarily work for another. So it's good for me to know what works for you, and if it's any easier or harder to use for the purposes you'd normally use it for than it was before.

Can I ask what skills you've tried and any thoughts you've had on them?

Originally Posted by Blinkhog

In my playthroughs trying to main archery I've found it begins well but starts to drop off in power around 500-600 feet.

Now this is the kind of point before when people would have been switching to Flaming Arrows, so this is again interesting. Both Flaming Arrows and bows of Slaying have gone, so there is less of a damage ramp-up, and poison arrows are less common, so the old 5d8 or 5d9 arrow before crits is now a thing of the past. I am a little concerned in case I've cut back too much in the late game; it depends how much Dedication, Deadly Hail and Running Shot can compensate for the losses.

Originally Posted by Blinkhog

Re: the changes to 50 ft I haven't found them to have made much of an effect on gameplay, but it is extra flavour which is always good. I like the idea of a sunlight mechanic - maybe this could be worked into other areas of the game somehow (eg staves or blasting upwards with a horn of blasting).

Yes, I didn't want to make 50 ft too challenging, it was more a bid to entice some of the new players who have commented on how spartan the original 50 ft looks. I also would like to find more uses for the sunlight mechanic though it's been harder to consider how it would manifest deeper in the dungeon - perhaps there could be some vaults with sunlight coming through shafts to the surface in the upper levels?

[Jamba]

Love the release.

Noticed two possible bugs:

1. On rare occasions, the first floor doesn't generate a down staircase.

2. Was able to identify limpid potions twice: once by drinking and again by a staff of understanding.

Thanks for buffing expertise btw. Smithing is fun again!

[Quirk]

Originally Posted by Jamba

Love the release.

Noticed two possible bugs:

1. On rare occasions, the first floor doesn't generate a down staircase.

2. Was able to identify limpid potions twice: once by drinking and again by a staff of understanding.

Thanks for buffing expertise btw. Smithing is fun again!

Thanks for the bug reports Jamba!

I suspect in the first case the down stairs are possibly hidden behind some kind of secret door, but if you have a savefile I can take a look into it.

[Jamba]

Originally Posted by Quirk

Thanks for the bug reports Jamba!

I suspect in the first case the down stairs are possibly hidden behind some kind of secret door, but if you have a savefile I can take a look into it.

I went back and double checked the limpid potion thing. You only get XP once (from either quaff-ID'ing or staff ID'ing first), but all it looks like is that the staff gives you the option to ID it again after you already quaff-ID it.

For the downstairs not generating, it only happened twice out of maybe fifty runs, and I haven't been able to get it to happen since. I suicided both times out of sheer stubbornness just to see where the staircases were hiding, but I just couldn't find them anywhere. I'll back up a save if it ever happens again, so you can take a look.