Caverns of Xaskazien II

Not sure what to tell you, as I've never seen that happen.  If you figure anything out, let me know, and I'll keep an ear open for anyone else experiencing this!  Thanks for the report!

Alright, solved the mystery of the amulet.  Previous to the last update, Rings/Amulets of Elemental Protection (etc.) and Rings/Amulets of Lycanthrope Protection (etc.) were 2 distinct enchantments (suffix 23 and 24 respectively).  With the introduction of more sub-types of monsters in the last update (Spiders, Demons, etc.) and the creation of 6 new enchantments that protect you from those specific monster types, I didn't want the player constantly finding suffixed jewellery that was specific to these sub-types - so I consolidated all of them to suffix 23.  Now if it finds suffix 23, it generates a new random number from 1 to 7.  On a 1 it leaves it as suffix 23 (Elemental protection), but on a 2 through 7 it rewires the suffix to be 300 to 305.  The problem was the variables hasprefix and hassuffix that it was temporarily storing the prefix/suffix in while it generates it was of type char which can't store a number as high as 300.  Now hasprefix and hassuffix are of type int, allowing them to properly store the numbers.  Bug fixed.

The Cave Columns bug is an ongoing issue.  I tried to solve it in the last update and may have made it worse.  You're allowed to enter them if you have the Spelunking perk or if you are under the effects of a Wallpass spell/effect.  If the latter and the wallpass runs out while you're in a Cave Columns, you'll die on the next turn.  It seems easy to fix in my head, but the code there is really tangled.  I'll have to spend a lot of time revisiting to figure out how to fix it.  I'll let you know if I think I've achieved success.

I like the idea of the merchants stopping if you move adjacent to them...  I'll have to communicate it to the player in the manual because it could get a merchant killed if you're banking on the fact it may move out of a monster's way last second, but I think it's a good idea.  I'll try to implement that.  Also going to implement the auto-center on your character idea.  Not sure I have time for any of the above today.  We'll have to see!  

I'm so glad you're enjoying it!

The Lycanthropy thing sounds like a bug.  I've never seen it happen, but I'll investigate.  The most recent update did add 1 new Lycanthrope - the Were-Dragon.  I'm betting the bug has something to do with that, but I'll have to check.

The level 26 enemy on Level 8 CAN happen, but it would be rare.  Events could cause monsters to appear out of depth, but certain rare map tiles can too.  For instance a Sewer Grate can spawn Goblinoids of any level at any level, and a Toothy Cave can do the same for Giant-types.  These types of squares have a low chance each turn of spawning a new monster of the appropriate type, and when they do, a small chance of then sealing forever.  If they don't seal forever on their own, you can try to seal them if you can find the square.  But probably not a bug, just a situation that can arise.

The Nightmare and Giant Worm would be native to Ilastra.  Not all Legendary Lands have such scary inhabitants, but some do.  The entry text does give a warning:  "While the dungeon's inhabitants are, for the most part, of low strength, the wizard who lives there has summoned a few particularly nasty pets."  Most Legendary Lands have great rewards balanced by pretty steep risks, but since they are pre-designed, you can at least learn which ones you deem worth it after you've visited them.

The Blunderbuss issue sounds like a bug too.  I'm looking at the code right now, and it SHOULD have said, "DEX required: X   INT required: X"  (Where the INT requirement BTW would be 70% of the DEX requirement).  Based on the code, not sure how it output Max Health required...  Obviously a bug I'm overlooking somewhere...  I'll have to keep an eye open.

You're not the first person to mention the desire to have the map stay centered after an auto-move.  It wouldn't be hard to implement, (I think), so I'll look into it for the next update.

I'm not sure the Skill Point reposition would work.  Even if there's open space, other stuff goes there sometimes, under the right circumstance.  But I'll check and see if I'm wrong.

It would be really hard within the current system to rework the inventory.  There's a lot going on under the hood...  (for instance, and offhand, if your equipped Weapon is Inventory item 96, it means you don't have a Weapon equipped - no inventory can ever expand beyond 95 slots)...  I'll keep it in mind, but it won't be a priority right now.

I very much appreciate your desire to contribute more to the project!  I'll look into a donation button.  Not sure how that works.  The truth is, after 29 years of working on the game, it's only in recent months that I opened up the possibility of people donating even when they download.  

Thank you for the bug reports!  I'll dig into the lycanthropy one literally this instant!

Hey, thanks for posting that!  I really enjoyed watching it :)  I'll answer a few of the questions you posed and share some observations in the comments on the video itself!

I suspect there's nothing missing because it's been downloaded dozens of time and no one's said anything - must be some weird error in the general transfer to you.  If you send me your email at stopthesaturnians@gmail.com I can WeTransfer you copy I'm playing - hasn't been updated much, I don't think.  Just let me know here if you've done so, because I never check that email and might forget otherwise!

I've been searching for the slide from grease into stalagmites bug.  I cannot find any loophole that would allow sliding from grease to put you into stalagmites in the first place...  I'll keep looking, but I'll be up front and say I'm not sure how to fix this one right now.

Congratulations!  (Out of curiosity, what race/class/religion combo won it for you?)

Xaskazien could have been missing health from passing through dangerous terrain, falling in a pit, etc.

Immediate combats on descending should be quite rare, but aren't a bug.  It would be easy to put in a catch to ensure it doesn't happen, but I don't really see a reason to do that...  I like the possibility, at least.

Enchanted Arrows do exist!  (As do Armour Piercing Arrows).  They're not toggleable - if they're in your inventory and you're using a bow, they automatically take effect.

Best of luck with your next go around!  I'm about to dive into another playtest, myself

Thank you for the comments and thanks for the bug report!  That boat query bug I've already addressed behind the scenes recently.  We're still about 2 months out from the next release, but it's already going to be ungodly huge in size, including a lot of major QOL improvements.

You're not the first person to mention the desire to use items from the ground...  I'll have to think about it.  It's doable within the framework of the existing code, but it might be tricky to implement...  I'll have to give it thought.  Re-centering on the character after a mouse move, on the other hand, shouldn't be hard at all...  after I've finished today's workload, I'll look into it.

There are 2 magical trunks that can appear in the game:  Melgrim's Teleporting Trunk and Yorick's Dimension Hopping Trunk.  Melgrim's has a 10% chance of appearing on any level, though Yorick's only has a 1% (and can be purposefully conjured via a Vestonian miracle, too).  With Melgrim's, anything you drop in the trunk will still be in it if the trunk shows up again later in your game - so it's a way to set aside things you don't have space to carry but which MIGHT come in handy if you're lucky later.  With Yorick's, anything you drop in the trunk will still be there when the trunk appears, even in separate games.  So if you find something awesome that's not of use to your current character, you can drop it in there in the hopes that some future character will find and benefit from it.  (Yorick's also includes whatever items I've dropped in it before uploading here, so if you want a pure game that only contains your own stuff, you can reset it via the high score screen by clicking "Reset"). 

If you're using an older version of the game, there was a glitch where you could open the Recharge screen from a Recharge Station and then walk away, leaving it open, and that could cause all kinds of problems.  Fixed that in the last version (or perhaps the one before) though.

Yes.  Fire the game up in full screen, go into the Options menu, and left click the Windowed/Full Screen toggle.  When you leave the Options it will save your preference so next time it will launch in Windowed.

Weird - it was just a stack laying there?  Or did you do something and then they appeared?  Never seen that before.  The one potion you drank was probably a Sleeping Draught.

Anyway I am still trying to figure out how wine works to try to debug it or I will just set up VirtualBox.  Maybe after I get a little work done.  Just asking in case anyone has run it with Wine before.  Really nice character creation screen though.

Unfortunately, no.  It's designed for a Windows PC only.  There must be some aspect to a handheld device that it just can't grasp.   

Hey, thanks for the feedback. I’m always tweaking and balancing, so good to keep an eye on what other people are experiencing. Coincidentally, the perks I’m just finishing coding are for the Warlock class, which is a spellcaster devoted to summoning. I have a Female Centaur Warlock who worships Talltioward on the go, and my fearful eye has been kept on whether or not summoning is overpowered. But through this playthrough I think I’m realizing it’s okay, at least for now. Let me answer your question with some detailed thoughts.

 Firstly, very cool that you’ve found a race/class combo you like. I hadn’t thought about it, but a Barbarian is a perfect starting class, since it pretty effectively removes spellcasting from the table, allowing a player to learn other core mechanics first. I think if someone asked for a beginner combo in the future, an Agnostic Half-Orc Barbarian might be my recommendation, since that would also remove Miracles from the list.

 If you’re exclusively playing the same character type, though, it’s important to bear in mind that the experience of other characters would vary widely, making certain things more or less useful. As an example, Hornas’ Striking miracle you mentioned, which costs only 10 Faith Points and allows you to automatically hit on your next swing - I can see how this would be especially devastating for a starting Barbarian character to use. The Barbarian starts with the most powerful weapon among all starting characters - the Small Axe. This is to compensate for their total lack of spell access, but bear in mind its massive damage of 1 to 15, and contrast this with other classes who would start with weapons that do either 1 to 3, 1 to 4, 2 to 4 or 1 to 6, and it immediately becomes clear that Striking serves the starting Barbarian better than any other class. The Small Axe also comes with a massive -18 to hit penalty, so automatically hitting overcomes a big obstacle to its use. A character starting with a Pitchfork, by contrast, has +6 to hit, so Striking, while still useful in many circumstances, is maybe not as necessary to land that blow.

 Now let’s look at Summoning spells as a whole. The purpose of summoning is, generally, to bring into play a monster that will go and kill other monsters for you, so let’s compare it to another common way to use magic, which is with direct damage spells. Invisible Hammer, in terms of raw numbers, is the most powerful Low Power direct damage spell, doing 8 to 15 physical damage at a cost of 35 Spell Points. In the early game, this is an insanely powerful spell that can kill most monsters with a single application. But it does have some drawbacks - firstly, it’s only useful against a single monster. Once you’ve cast it, the spell points are gone, and you may now be defenseless against other monsters. Secondly, it only works against the monster in your square, meaning to cast it, you have to first engage in a single round of combat, possibly taking damage, possibly even being killed before getting a chance to cast it. And thirdly, it always does physical damage, limiting its effectiveness against monsters with physical resistance, most notably various types of Golems who would be unaffected.

 For 35 Spell Points, you could instead (provided you had access) cast the Summon Minor Fiend spell. This summons a low level Diabolic monster (a monster that would most commonly reside on Dungeon Levels 1 through 10). There are some key advantages to this vs. the Invisible Hammer spell. Firstly, depending on what you summoned, it might be able to kill multiple enemies. On a particularly early dungeon level (say Dungeon Level 1 through 5), there’d be a decent chance the summoned monster would outclass everything else on the level, and could rampage through killing literally every enemy without you ever having to face them, while you still reap all the EXP rewards. Secondly, you don’t have to (in fact, can’t) cast it in a square with an enemy, so you don’t have to put yourself at risk in order to cast it, the way you would with most direct damage spells. Thirdly, the potentially summoned monsters are varied, some having attacks other than physical attacks, so while an Invisible Hammer spell could never affect a Golem, your summoned monster might be able to.

 There are drawbacks to Summon Minor Fiend, of course, and that’s that it doesn’t scale as you level up. It’s extremely useful early on, but as you progress deeper in the dungeon, it becomes obsolete. Because of its wide variation in what gets summoned, it’s even possible to use it on Dungeon Level 1 to bring into play a lowly Demonic Larvae, and have that get killed by the first thing it meets, doing no damage whatsoever, so it’s risky. Invisible Hammer isn’t going to kill anything with a single cast beyond a certain depth, either, but it will still do some damage. (Of course, even the Demonic Larvae could get lucky and get a single hit on a Dragon before it dies, but it’s not as sure a thing as Invisible Hammer).

 So they both have advantages and disadvantages to balance each other out. Finally let’s compare Summon Orcish Champion to Summon Minor Fiend. With the Miracles, I always did my best to correspond Faith Point costs to the Spell Point costs of an equivalent spell, if one exists, and right away we see that Summon Orcish Champion costs 40 Faith Points instead of Summon Minor Fiend’s 35 Spell Points, so it had better be more powerful, but not too much more powerful. Summon Minor Fiend brings in a monster of random power (again, between level 1 and level 10) with a median of 5.5. Orcs are a level 6 monster, so we’re pretty in line. But the Summon Orcish Champion miracle doesn’t just summon an orc, it summons a buffed up orc, a little more powerful than the average orc, putting its 40 point cost right about on the money.

 Like Summon Minor Fiend, Summon Orcish Champion only really has application in the early dungeon levels, but can be devastating there. Again, bear in mind that not every character can go toe to toe with enemies (even lowly enemies) and expect to live the way a Half-Orc Barbarian can. For some (like my Centaur Warlock), summoning monsters to do the dirty work, while fleeing or luring enemy monsters back to where the summoned monster lurks may be the only way to survive

Fixed it!  It'll be in the next update, early to mid-August :)

Interesting.  It looks fine on my screen.  I'll see if I can casually tweak it without making it look weird.

I wouldn't even know how, in truth.  If it's a simple process and someone can direct me to info on that process, perhaps.

Thanks for the idea.  I've implemented a new key/button that toggles on or off your swinging at enemy monsters, so you can turn off your side of the combat if you're engaging a monster you don't want to kill (though they'll keep hacking at you).  Will be include in the next upload in a couple days. 

Interesting idea.  Hadn't considered it.  At present, it'll just be a toggleable option.  Won't have time to implement something more complete before the next release.  I'll bear it in mind for later.