Deeper level suggestions for V

[ewert]

This is primarily for those who play mostly in the deeper regions. Personally I play so little time in shallower levels that I feel those levels are fine, but that may be tinted rosy because I skip past those levels so fast I don't notice problems. Atleast stat gain level (30s) is IMHO pretty darn good now.

Now, about them 80+ levels, what are my feelings:

Hounds. Yuck, ungh, argh. Annoying, not due to being dangerous, but just by numbers and the freaking ubiquitous nature of them. I'm currently playing with Magnate's hounds patched monster file. I feel it has the hounds smack on right, they appear, there are some, they cause concern and avoidance, but definitely I have not felt any annoyance in these last few chars I have played due to hounds! So, I propose Magnate's hounds rarity patch to go into basic V, it rocks. Hounds do their job in smaller numbers and lower rarity much better IMHO than just being like, EVERYwhere. =P

ID. Yes, still about id even though it is many times less annoying than before. Mostly it is just annoyance and non-tactical issues to id stuff. That makes it detract from the game in the deep levels, as there is just soooo muuuch stuuuuff (clear U pits, dragon pits, gagaga, stuff lying around like crazy). With my rogue now, I feel the problem is not bad, because pseudo id is quite fast. But tbh, I feel like it could be made faster or stronger at the end levels (char and/or dungeon levels). Or have mass identify like NPP.

First choice: give pseudo-id upgrades, make it full ID anything not ego at say char lvl 30, and instant on pickup also (this goes only for armor/ammo/weapons of course not potions etc.). Make it full ID anything but artifacts at lvl 40 on pickup. I think most chars don't sell stuff for cash anymore by mid 30s or so class level anyways. Definitely don't sell by char lvl40 usually.

2nd choice: make ID spell mass id like NPP at char level 30. I'd just add a test on the code for class level right into the spell so no need for new scrolls, staves or spellbook spells. The mass id works pretty nice, I didn't feel bothered by hoarding all the stuff from the pits into a huge pile and firing the mass id off, or just firing it off near some junk. I think this would be the easier choice, just steal it from NPP and add it to the id spell.

And for me I've been thinking about ring choices for end game. It's pretty boring besides artifacts tbh. The new branding rings brought some life into the stuff though. I've toyed with the idea of Ring of Elements and Ring of Elemental Force. Rings of Elements would be a rare ring with base resists, and activation for resistance, with a random immunity for one of the base 4. Note the "rare" ring part. Think of the high rods style rare. Then Ring of Elemental Force would be a branding ring on crack, giving brands to all the base four, and a nice big +hit bonus. Did I say also rare like ... rare? I feel amulets have enough going for them, but rings ... they are boring in the end game. Anyways, rings that people would think about actually wearing in the end game are pretty rare aside speed and artifacts, I think that could use some help ...

Also as a side note, not for deep level gameplay but I just remembered it so decided to have it mentioned here since I said I feel low levels are fine, well rings of escaping for mages = not fine. Change the spell failure to minimum fail rate so that they are not cheap +4speed rings for mages in the early game. It makes me feel dirty playing mages with escaping rings.

So anyone else got ideas for the deep level gameplay stuff? I'd love to read some other ideas too. And discuss these couple.

[PowerDiver]

Originally Posted by ewert

So anyone else got ideas for the deep level gameplay stuff? I'd love to read some other ideas too. And discuss these couple.

If you find that DLs before 98 tend to be dull, that just means you need to dive faster.

If you find DL 98 and DL 99 dull, that generally means you are scumming for consumables, and IMO that is a problem with too few non-wieldables in object generation. This is a result of the war on TMJ.

I'd like to see drops at least doubled, and probably quadrupled, and then increase the rarities of weapons and armors by at least a corresponding amount. There is a problem with DROP_GOOD monsters, or at least there used to be, that would need to be fixed to do this.

Another partial fix is to revert to drop depth = avg {mon depth, DL} so that to get the deep items you need to go deeper. Unfortunately, that would be disasterous with the currently stingy drops.

[Tiburon Silverflame]

How about making the non-wieldables less prone to getting trashed? A *notable* percentage of one's potions gets lost to cold attacks, for example.

Hmm, how about extending the quiver so you can also park potions in there? Potions are, by far, the most important consumables.

[ewert]

Hmm interesting idea of expanding quiver ...

Utility belt!

Cool!

IMHO weight limit matters more than slot limit anyways, it's not like you really need to pick up lots of stuff often (now with *id* gone ... well maybe with greater vaults).

It would massively change item slot management though. But maybe something like scroll case holds 15 scrolls per slot, potion belt 10 potions per slot and wand belt 5 wands per slot...

Feels beyond the scope of Vanilla though. But otherwise neat idea.

[Tiburon Silverflame]

Demon, dragon, troll, and giant pits also generate massive numbers of items dropped. You still have to pick up the junk before P-ID kicks in. And how much you need to carry, varies with class, and whether you need to do (or want to do) equipment swaps.

And quiver's already in place in vanilla; right now it's just ammo only. The only change would be to expand what can go into those slots. I think separate 'belts' for scrolls, items, and wands is just getting a bit absurd.

[StJude]

Where might one find this Hound patch?
IMHO hounds are by far the most annoying part of the game, at least for me. I will spend hours scumming for Celeborn or a staff of banishment purely so that I can play a level without hounds.

[ewert]

http://angband.oook.cz/forum/showpos...77&postcount=9

[Magnate]

Originally Posted by StJude

Where might one find this Hound patch?
IMHO hounds are by far the most annoying part of the game, at least for me. I will spend hours scumming for Celeborn or a staff of banishment purely so that I can play a level without hounds.

Splendid. The church of the Z-haters grows in number ... let's promise Takkaria $10 each if he'll put the patch into V ...

[buzzkill]

Originally Posted by Magnate

Splendid. The church of the Z-haters grows in number ... let's promise Takkaria $10 each if he'll put the patch into V ...

I thought we agreed, no more politics... but I'll drop my opposition for $10 .

[takkaria]

Originally Posted by Magnate

Splendid. The church of the Z-haters grows in number ... let's promise Takkaria $10 each if he'll put the patch into V ...

Last time I checked, you had the ability to commit to svn too