Please remove lava from town

[Stephen2]

Just fumble fingered in town, into lava. Dead. No "are you sure?", no 2nd chances just dead.

This is anti-fun.

Can we please remove lava from town? OR add a confirm prompt?

[Nick]

There should be a confirm prompt, unless you are confused. Can you give more detail about what exactly happened?

[grumbleguts]

On another note regarding lava, I noticed giant bats won't cross it in hallways. But given that they can fly, I would have thought they'd be able to cross it.

[PowerWyrm]

Originally Posted by grumbleguts

On another note regarding lava, I noticed giant bats won't cross it in hallways. But given that they can fly, I would have thought they'd be able to cross it.

The temperature of lava at the height where bats fly is probably still a good thousand degrees...

[Estie]

Isnt it supposed to be just hot slag ?

[grumbleguts]

Originally Posted by PowerWyrm

The temperature of lava at the height where bats fly is probably still a good thousand degrees...

No it isn't.

The temperature decreases rapidly and varies with the square of the distance from the surface. I am a geologist and have stood near lava. While it is uncomfortable a few feet away, ceiling height should be doable if you are flying over.



These guys are a lot closer than I imagine the ceilings of these dungeons to be. And they are clearly uncomfortable, but if this temperature were a thousand degrees they'd be dead; they are just standing there. The surface of the lava is 1100 degrees here.

[Estie]

Yes, that is outside though. In confined spaces (like a room) it would get too hot quickly.

[smbhax]

Is Angband's town meant to be an off-putting hellscape? It's visually, socially, and morally ugly, and horrible to be in. It's the first a new player sees of the game world, and it's awful looking; even just the ASCII colors are bad, and then people come and spit on you or whatever. Generally I breathe a sigh of relief once I get back to the relative sanity of the dungeon. Maybe that's supposed to be the point? Anyway I hate it. ; P Would really rather just have a quiet place with some trees (rocks, in a pinch?) and shops.

And I can never remember what the darn shop numbers mean. Hm except 8 for home, somehow I've managed that one. Huh.

[kineahora]

Originally Posted by smbhax

Is Angband's town meant to be an off-putting hellscape? It's visually, socially, and morally ugly, and horrible to be in. It's the first a new player sees of the game world, and it's awful looking; even just the ASCII colors are bad, and then people come and spit on you or whatever. Generally I breathe a sigh of relief once I get back to the relative sanity of the dungeon. Maybe that's supposed to be the point? Anyway I hate it. ; P Would really rather just have a quiet place with some trees (rocks, in a pinch?) and shops.

And I can never remember what the darn shop numbers mean. Hm except 8 for home, somehow I've managed that one. Huh.

Yeah, coming back to the real substance of this thread aside from command prompts--is there any purpose of having the town contain LAVA?

I would think not from a game-play perspective. So what about lore? Well, the presence of Morgoth and his creatures did turn Beleriand into a hellscape when it had been beautiful. This game contains though some creatures from the 3rd age (like the ringwraiths) and the 2nd age like Ar-Pharazon--so it's not really entirely a 1st-age thing but an amalgam. We could also consider the town to be right at the edge of Mordor in the 3rd age which obviously wasn't nice, much like ruined Beleriand.

So actually, I think a bleak town is reasonable. Maybe put Lava behind granite so the character cant step on it, but it's just nasty-looking.

Or better, what about a birth option for town style, from forested (Beleriand/Shire), to Island (Numenor), to hellscape (edge of Angband/Mordor/Maybe Gondolin)--would function more like a game skin--purely aesthetic choice for the player?

[Ingwe Ingweron]

Originally Posted by kineahora

Yeah, coming back to the real substance of this thread aside from command prompts--is there any purpose of having the town contain LAVA?

I would think not from a game-play perspective. So what about lore? Well, the presence of Morgoth and his creatures did turn Beleriand into a hellscape when it had been beautiful. This game contains though some creatures from the 3rd age (like the ringwraiths) and the 2nd age like Ar-Pharazon--so it's not really entirely a 1st-age thing but an amalgam. We could also consider the town to be right at the edge of Mordor in the 3rd age which obviously wasn't nice, much like ruined Beleriand.

So actually, I think a bleak town is reasonable. Maybe put Lava behind granite so the character cant step on it, but it's just nasty-looking.

Or better, what about a birth option for town style, from forested (Beleriand/Shire), to Island (Numenor), to hellscape (edge of Angband/Mordor/Maybe Gondolin)--would function more like a game skin--purely aesthetic choice for the player?

Having lava on the edges of town makes some sense to me, and I appreciate the change that Nick made for two reasons:

1. Thematically, having lava in the charred desert of the Anfauglith to the north of Beleriand, created by the fires of Thangorodrim during the Dagor Bragollach seems completely appropriate.

2. Educationally, it helps to make beginners aware of the terrain and its properties, just like the rubble and passable rubble that also appear in town. I really can't wait for Nick to implement water terrain.