Sil 1.0.2

[Psi]

Talking of game over, I had this horrid situation recently...

# #
#M#
#@#
#+#

@ is stuck in a web
The shadow spider (M) could not be seen even before I was blinded by it
The door (+) is locked

Without foolproof trap detection it is a pretty much unavoidable death situation. I did manage to free myself from the web eventually using the ',' key (as I could not step in either direction), but I was dead before I got the door open.

[half]

Originally Posted by decoy

Any chance of toning down worm reproduction rates (or maybe worm awareness, or both) in 1.0.3? They are annoying in Angband, but can be downright crippling in Sil, particularly on the early levels. If you can't get to them before they get out of control, the smaller levels are a write-off. If they're occupying the (only) stairs, it's game over.

Interesting. I've almost never had a problem with them, and when I have it has been an interesting problem. One thing to be aware of is that if you are more than 5 squares away from them, they don't reproduce. In addition, there are always at least two stairs (up/down), but the worms could cut you off from both of them. There are also many in-game ways of dealing with them such as Follow Through, herbs of rage etc, though this might be difficult right at the start.

Anyone else care to weigh in on whether they are good or bad in their present form? I'm certainly inclined to leave them as is for now.

[half]

Originally Posted by Psi

Talking of game over, I had this horrid situation recently...

# #
#M#
#@#
#+#

@ is stuck in a web
The shadow spider (M) could not be seen even before I was blinded by it
The door (+) is locked

Yeah, that is pretty nasty. Any suggestions as to what to do about it (if anything)?

[Fendell Orcbane]

Originally Posted by half

Interesting. I've almost never had a problem with them, and when I have it has been an interesting problem. One thing to be aware of is that if you are more than 5 squares away from them, they don't reproduce. In addition, there are always at least two stairs (up/down), but the worms could cut you off from both of them. There are also many in-game ways of dealing with them such as Follow Through, herbs of rage etc, though this might be difficult right at the start.

Anyone else care to weigh in on whether they are good or bad in their present form? I'm certainly inclined to leave them as is for now.

I never had a problem with worms myself...They DO reproduce like crazy...but you can avoid them for the most part.

[Psi]

Originally Posted by half

Yeah, that is pretty nasty. Any suggestions as to what to do about it (if anything)?

Only allow webs where there are two adjacent free squares?

[Philip]

Yeah, for example I had that happen in one of the mazes with a distended spider, who are usually slow, territorial and dangerous. I had no chance, considering my build was stealth, smithing(I made 3 +2 stealth items in the first forge) and a bit of melee/evasion.

[Scatha]

Originally Posted by Psi

Talking of game over, I had this horrid situation recently...

# #
#M#
#@#
#+#

@ is stuck in a web
The shadow spider (M) could not be seen even before I was blinded by it
The door (+) is locked

Without foolproof trap detection it is a pretty much unavoidable death situation. I did manage to free myself from the web eventually using the ',' key (as I could not step in either direction), but I was dead before I got the door open.

There are a couple of good answers to this. Using a Staff of Freedom (or the Song), opening the door, and moving away; or quaffing a Potion of Strength, bashing down the door, and escaping. In either case it looks like the spider gets two attacks on you, which is nasty but normally not unavoidable death (but it does require an item).

I've had a similar, in some ways nastier situation where I was chased down a corridor into a web and the spider appeared in front of me. This one wants an item to get you out of the web quickly, and then you still have to fight, unable to take advantage of the fact that spiders are territorial. It's more avoidable in that you can try not to enter new corridors with enemies following, but it is a bit mean.

I guess that disallowing webs in corridors would make get rid of both of these issues, but it might be a bit too generous. If any traps are disallowed in corridors, I'd be inclined to put false floors in that category too, since they can effectively disconnect a level. On the other hand, both false floors and webs in corridors have powerful flavour.

[debo]

Is there any kind of debug-switch or wizard-mode I could use to test out all the smithing options? I'd love to be able to basically have 99 skills + all smithing abilities enabled (even just in browse mode) just to develop some plans for specific builds.

I've tried creating characters with all skill pts invested in smithing and then sprinting madly for the 2nd forge (I even have a save of a character who survived the trip), but even that limits my options by quite a bit.

[Philip]

How do you suggest I get out of this situation

#.#
#M#
#@#
###

where the spider was created from a web, there is no escape(there is no secret door beneath me, I checked at the death screen) and my character is too weak, to kill a distended spider?

[HugoTheGreat2011]

Originally Posted by Philip

How do you suggest I get out of this situation

#.#
#M#
#@#
###

where the spider was created from a web, there is no escape(there is no secret door beneath me, I checked at the death screen) and my character is too weak, to kill a distended spider?

Just before you got killed by the Distended Spider, did you have any spare Healing potions? Any potions of Strength/Dex/Con? In a situation such as this, I would attack back or quaff/eat a healing source, as a last ditch move. And by the way, the Murky Brown Potions of Orcish Liquor DO heal you, as well! The chances of a successful strike at that spider depend on your 'Melee,' on the 'C'haracter Screen. Weapons of Spider Slaying are helpful here. When attacking back, I usually prefer heavy weapons, like a Greatsword or Battle Axe to do big damage to the Spider. This is my play style, though.