Frogcomposband mechanics questions

[HugoTheGreat2011]

Originally Posted by Sideways

The pattern in that quest is pretty out of place, usually they are much longer and you only see them in large vaults.

If this is out of place, why is the pattern in the Renegade Sorcerer quest?

[CyclopsSlayer]

Not specific to Frog, but it seems to only affect PCB and its descendants.

I play on a 1920x1080 screen. I have a large Game window on the left (Term0)
while on the right I have stacked 3 windows, Inventory (Term1), Monster List (Term2), and Messages (Term3). Inventory sized to display all slots a-z, Monster just 12 lines, Messages set to 25 full lines.

However, every time I restart the game the Term 1-3 windows lose a few pixels of height and width. Inv & Messages cutting the text on the bottom line in half. Eventually, it seems to stop shrinking after trimming the entire bottom line off the windows and portions of another.

Any clue what is happening and how it might be fixed?
I've been living with this since 2015 or so, and it annoys the hell out of me.
In the SS the Term1-3 used to have no gap between them and the game window. The windows overlapping so only a horizontal sliver of white was between them. And the bottom message was a full line.

Ah damn... my image host no longer allows linking unless I pay $$$

[Saru]

Is there a specific set of depths for where valuable objects such as !restore mana, !healing & *healing* appear? I've not really been able to find any, and can't approach the serpent without quite a few more. Is there a safe/reliable depth to scum for these?

As an aside, are staves of restore mana a thing? I don't think I've seen any but one can always hope

[Sideways]

Originally Posted by Saru

Is there a specific set of depths for where valuable objects such as !restore mana, !healing & *healing* appear? I've not really been able to find any, and can't approach the serpent without quite a few more. Is there a safe/reliable depth to scum for these?

As an aside, are staves of restore mana a thing? I don't think I've seen any but one can always hope

Staves of Restore Mana do exist, but they're very rare and very high-level.

Generally, I would say that deeper is better for finding !RestoreMana and !Healing and !*Healing*. Usually, it is not necessary to scum for them; if you always pick them up when you find them, and always buy them when they appear in a Black Market, you will have enough by the time you get to the Serpent. (I've only ever needed to scum once, when I accidentally destructed the Serpent after having already spent most of my supplies.)

There's quite a lot of guaranteed !Healing and !*Healing* in the game - mostly in quests, but also the arena, and Polyphemus's drop; also, some of the wanted rewards. !RestoreMana can be more hit-and-miss.

[budswell]

Originally Posted by CyclopsSlayer

Not specific to Frog, but it seems to only affect PCB and its descendants.

I play on a 1920x1080 screen. I have a large Game window on the left (Term0)
while on the right I have stacked 3 windows, Inventory (Term1), Monster List (Term2), and Messages (Term3). Inventory sized to display all slots a-z, Monster just 12 lines, Messages set to 25 full lines.

However, every time I restart the game the Term 1-3 windows lose a few pixels of height and width. Inv & Messages cutting the text on the bottom line in half. Eventually, it seems to stop shrinking after trimming the entire bottom line off the windows and portions of another.

Any clue what is happening and how it might be fixed?
I've been living with this since 2015 or so, and it annoys the hell out of me.
In the SS the Term1-3 used to have no gap between them and the game window. The windows overlapping so only a horizontal sliver of white was between them. And the bottom message was a full line.

Ah damn... my image host no longer allows linking unless I pay $$$

Yep, I find this mildly annoying too. Wish I could open file and play without having to fiddle with window sizes. But then 30 seconds later I'm playing and don't think about it. I always assumed it was my fault for changing font (I play in courier-11)

[CyclopsSlayer]

Originally Posted by budswell

Yep, I find this mildly annoying too. Wish I could open file and play without having to fiddle with window sizes. But then 30 seconds later I'm playing and don't think about it. I always assumed it was my fault for changing font (I play in courier-11)

While I am sorry it is happening to you as well, I am glad it isn't just me.
I use the default font and just adjust the sizes, Lucida Console Bold-18 for the game, and the default Courier-11 for the side windows.

Yes, it just takes a few seconds to fix. But I still wonder, I have never seen window creep in any other application or game.
One time the main window position got randomly shoved from 0/0 out to like 30,000/30,000. Needed to edit the .ini

[Saru]

In the faq file it states that life points can be recovered through vampiric attacks. I've used wands of vampirism to restore lost life points in the past, so I was a little puzzled when the 'vampiric drain' spell on my current sorcerer failed to do so. Is this intended, and only wands and melee can restore life points?

Haven't gotten true vampirism yet, so I don't know if that restores life points either. Thanks!

Edit: sort of forgot I've been meaning to ask about invulnerability. Is it always a 12/13 chance to resist damage, or do stronger or unique monsters get a better chance at breaking through? And is there ever a way for the player to get a spell akin to psycho spear to pierce the invulnerability that angels cast? (or dispel magic, that works too)

Thanks again!

[Sideways]

Originally Posted by Saru

In the faq file it states that life points can be recovered through vampiric attacks. I've used wands of vampirism to restore lost life points in the past, so I was a little puzzled when the 'vampiric drain' spell on my current sorcerer failed to do so. Is this intended, and only wands and melee can restore life points?

I think vampirism true does restore life points, that's why it's called vampirism true Note that vampiric drain, unlike wands and melee, feeds the player.

Edit: sort of forgot I've been meaning to ask about invulnerability. Is it always a 12/13 chance to resist damage, or do stronger or unique monsters get a better chance at breaking through? And is there ever a way for the player to get a spell akin to psycho spear to pierce the invulnerability that angels cast? (or dispel magic, that works too)

Thanks again!

Pretty sure it's a flat 12/13 chance. There might be some special mechanic for some specific monster, but I don't remember any.

Mindcrafters (and monster-mode Angels) get their own psycho-spears, and Axemasters get a melee attack that ignores invulnerability.

Regular characters can "hope" to find a death scythe, as they penetrate invulnerability, but they're also, well, death scythes... So a more practical hope is to find Dragonchip, or just to wait out the invulnerability.

[Saru]

Is there a formula for how likely is death ray to work on a given monster? And what should I be using mass stasis (sorcery) for? I feel like it could be good, but just haven't used it much.

btw just thought I'd mention I just found two restore mana staves within 10 minutes on my current mage. Think I've got a winner.

[Sideways]

Originally Posted by Saru

Is there a formula for how likely is death ray to work on a given monster? And what should I be using mass stasis (sorcery) for? I feel like it could be good, but just haven't used it much.

Monsters resist your death rays if (monster race level + 1d20) > 1dX, where X is CL*2 plus spellpower adjustments (Fell Sorcery, +spellpower/-spellpower equipment, etc). Uniques have an additional 887 in 888 chance to resist.

I used mass stasis on more or less everybody pre-nerf, but the nerf did hit its usefulness quite a bit. You can experiment on what situations it works best in now, but higher-level monsters are more likely to resist; so the most obvious use case is monsters who are not-that-high-level but still dangerous enough to matter, say a spectral tyrannosaurus or an iron lich.