New objects in the dungeon - barrels, crates, statues, altars, obelics, etc

[tangar]

Angband interactive objects

In my variant, which is based at PWMAngband (which is based at latest V) - I'm adding new 'monsters', which will work like an 'objects' - barrels, crates, statues, altars, obelics, etc. They will have ~ such config:

name:wooden crate
base:hybrid
color:y
speed:10
hit-points:1
hearing:1
armor-class:0
sleepiness:0
depth:10
rarity:1
weight:0
experience:0
flags:NEVER_BLOW
flags:FORCE_SLEEP | NEVER_MOVE | STUPID | EMPTY_MIND
flags:COLD_BLOOD
flags:NO_CONF | NO_SLEEP | NO_FEAR | DROP_40
desc:Crude old wooden crate. Small beetle sits on it's lid.

So you could smash them and get a treasure (sometimes).

It's cool, but there are some problems come with such implementation:
1) as this objects appears as 'monster' - they interfere with monster's population and exp gain in the dungeon; they take place of regular monsters which breaks game balance a bit
2) it's not possible to assign to this objects some interesting effects. For example, barrel could explore (mmm.. Diablo barrels), altar could strict you with a lightning, from the crate which you smashed could appear scorpion or snake, etc. And without such effects it's too EZPZ way to get a treasure, which breaks item/gold income balance.

I see certain workaround with EFFECTS - to assign spells to monster-object (mobject) with very low probability, eg:

spell-freq:100
spell-power:1
spells:S_ANIMAL | S_MONSTER | S_SPIDER

..which together with very small 'monster' speed could work somehow. But still, it won't solve all troubles.. and it's not possible to bind EFFECTS on monster's death.

Yet another workaround is to put mobject to deep sleep (255), give him normal speed and spell-freq:1. But it will ruin aggro players, and shrieks will create a real bedlam

It will be great if V devs could consider to create a new type of 'mobject' in V which will not interfere with monsters and will have EFFECT bahaviour - like traps, but no traps

The minimalitic solution (without adding new 'mobject' type) could be just to add new flag to monsters which will generate certain action on monster's death. It could also enhance some other monsters to good (expoding golems could be fun.. remembering dolls from D2 hehe)..

[wobbly]

Is there a particular reason you want to do this as a monster, rather then a chest?

[wobbly]

Originally Posted by tangar

It will be great if V devs could consider to create a new type of 'mobject' in V which will not interfere with monsters and will have EFFECT bahaviour - like traps, but no traps

I suspect what you want is more like a glyph/trap then a monster. At some stage I'll look at how hard it is to make a glyph that works at distance, but unless you can compile you'll have to convince Powerwyrm or Nick to get it in your variant.

[tangar]

Thanks for a suggestion! It's yet another good workaround. But there are reasons why mobjects could be better:

1) chests are hardcoded, it's not possible to customize them in

- terms of loot, eg mobs got
DROP_20/40/60, ONLY_GOLD, DROP_1 etc flags

- in type of behaivour, eg altars or statues could help surrounding monsters (servants)

2) all this objects - barrels, crates, statues, altars, obelics, etc - are fun to smash, destroy them in pieces to ge the loot.. You know - this feeling in Diablo when you smash barrel

But it's good idea to enhance chests with some more objects, thanks!

[fph]

A great part of Vanilla is already walking around stealthily at depths where you don't belong and nabbing objects on the ground.
If you add loot pinatas to the game it might get even more extreme.

[Nick]

Originally Posted by tangar

chests are hardcoded, it's not possible to customize them in

Thanks for pointing this out. Clearly chests should be in a datafile, but somehow I've failed to realise that before now.

[tangar]

Originally Posted by fph

A great part of Vanilla is already walking around stealthily at depths where you don't belong and nabbing objects on the ground.
If you add loot pinatas to the game it might get even more extreme.

Yeah! Especially if these pinates won't be harmful, but actually will be able sometimes to summon something bad or cast lightning or two (gift from ancient gods!)

Originally Posted by Nick

Thanks for pointing this out. Clearly chests should be in a datafile, but somehow I've failed to realise that before now.

It will be splendid to have chest customization! Then certain 'chest'-type objects, for example, could include altars at which you could kinda 'prey' to receive something good/bad (I mean - it will be possible to add such objects, if chests mechanics will be unhardcoded)

[tangar]

Just some new idea.. Atm I'm adding new class to Tangaria - assassin. And this class will have some Diablo 2 Rogue class flavour in it (also some WoW rogue class too).. eg it will be able to put sentries - fire sentry, lighning sentry, blade sentry... kinda traps which shoot different stuff around. I'm implementing them as NEVER_BLOW | NEVER_MOVE 'monsters' which Assassin will be able to summon So it's yet another continuation of this topic's idea