Wesband, MP dungeon-crawler (now for Wesnoth 1.9.14+ !)

[truffant]

bump and question/idea:

I was wondering whether (at some point in the future) there would be items that increase your base stats (helm [body+3] for example)?

Couldn't you borrow some of the code Bob did for his RPG modular era where the shops in the Labyrinth sell boots of +1 movement or rings of + 20% Res?

Looking forward to your next update!

[Ken_Oh]

New release. A long time coming for this one, but I think both Exasperation and I can claim heroic effort for this one.

The highlights include Exasperation getting a new magic and casting framework done. Like many of you wanted, there is a mana system. What's even better are 3 new playable races: saurians, goblins and orcs. And, there are a bunch of new non-combat spells, with potions and scrolls to go along with them. You can find all of the spells via potions and scrolls, but, since spell learning hasn't totally been worked out yet, each magic order gets one of the spells automatically, just for this release.

Many things under the surface are getting much more complex, like item appearance probability. It's all looking a lot like a real roguelike. And, of course, there are a bunch of bug fixes.

Look forward to a lot of neat things next release, like enhanced economics and a new way of dealing with NPCs.

[Thrawn]

New release. A long time coming for this one, but I think both Exasperation and I can claim heroic effort for this one.

...

Look forward to a lot of neat things next release, like enhanced economics and a new way of dealing with NPCs.

*high fives*

[Ken_Oh]

Oh man, there's a bug that gives tons of potions to bosses. This will probably make some later bosses nearly impossible to beat. I'll get a fix ASAP tomorrow morning.

[Max]

i got some unusual delays / deadlocks (1.6.4, wesband 0.2.3, no previous version installed, started new game).

npc_eval_usable event is fired a couple of hundred times (i've terminated wesnoth twice where it took longer than 5 minutes and this event has been fired >5000 times).

i've attached a save game (i usually kill the footpad and follow down the corridor that's facing south-east) and part of stderr.txt (beginning with side turn event and a couple of npc_eval_usuable iterations). let's hope it's an error you can fix and not a nasty engine bug^^ let me know if you need more infos...

edit: removed attachments...

[Exasperation]

I'm pretty sure this is the same bug that was mentioned in the post above yours - npc_eval_usable is the event that's fired when an npc gets an item like a potion to determine whether they want to keep it for later, use it immediately, or discard it. Bosses getting tons of potions would naturally cause the event to fire an equal number of times.

[Ken_Oh]

Yes, that was it. Fix v0.2.3a uploaded to the add-ons server. I was really hot to get the new version up but I really should have waited that extra day.

0.2.3b up. Fixes potions of protection from poison + magic armor, final fixes for NPC potion use, multi-use potion price fix

[Max]

everything's fine now, thanks for the quick fix...

btw.: it's no real challenge any more. i'm playing it alone, my two henchmen level up pretty quick and at least for the first 10 levels or so i guess i've got a similar strength to that of a two player game, but less creeps...

[Ken_Oh]

Yeah, I was thinking that myself. I don't know exactly when it changed, but I noticed it was pretty easy now, to the point that I don't hardly need henchmen anymore except if I run into something that my character can't handle (i.e. saurians have a real hard time vs. undead). I'm actually thinking that player characters need their exp up by 150% at least, maybe double. That might sound like a lot, but think of it; you can level your character up to level 2 by the end of the first dungeon level. After that, you've only got a few more dungeon levels until you're pushing level 4.

Currently, the level up max exp gain is (current max exp +2)*1.15. Maybe I need to take out that +2 and decrease the % gain. That 115% doubles the max exp every 5 sublevels (every level). That might be too steep, especially for those races with high-starting exp.

Max, I appreciate the help with this kind of feedback, because this is the kind of feedback I really need. Exasperation and I do so much coding (and sprite work) that it leaves very little time for play. Even if I can play recently, I only ever get to dungeon level 10 or so.

EDIT: Thinking about it more, the extra number of kills needed for races (or less, in the case of goblins) might be able to be preserved, as that number gets multiplied too. Let's think about it roughly:

humans: 20
elves: 25 (thinking not quite as good as dwarves)
dwarves: 28
trolls: 26, 27? (seems kind of lame to make them the same as dwarves)
saurians: 22 (actually, I find them sometimes harder to play than humans...)
goblins: 14
orcs: 20

I don't know. It's going to take a lot of play testing to seek these numbers out.

[em3]

Last night I was playing Wesband 0.2.3 with my pal over internet.
While we were in town, before reaching dungeon, after he finished his first turn... his character got cloned.

The double character persisted following turns and descending to dungeon. He could control both of them.

The clone appeared on one of the shops. He carried the same equipment as original.

Also: I noticed how the "magical" weapon special of magical attacks is not translated in wesband and listed next to translated one in the in-game help.

Also: Yes, saurians are hard to play.

[Max]

I'm actually thinking that player characters need their exp up by 150% at least, maybe double.

that wouldn't hurt...

regarding the number/quality of creeps: maybe there's a way to calculate this more dynamically? e.g. based on the results (damage taken/dealt, maybe record situations where the players xp got below a certain percentage) of the previous level?

since the creeps are triggered/roused in a certain perimeter the player already already has a way of influencing the difficulty. currently there are not many situations where i have to deal with more than three/four units at the same time. maybe i'm playing this game too defensively^^.

btw.: it would really be nice if the newly roused units could be run through a simple (passable/impassable only, no moving costs) pathfinding algorithm. maybe in a future version using lua?

and another one: if the number of creeps left is below 5 (or so) trigger them automatically...

[Ken_Oh]

btw.: it would really be nice if the newly roused units could be run through a simple (passable/impassable only, no moving costs) pathfinding algorithm. maybe in a future version using lua?

and another one: if the number of creeps left is below 5 (or so) trigger them automatically...

I was thinking about a way to do this with [filter_vision]. I haven't tested to see if it works. But, that second idea is a good and easy one.

em3: strange bug. I'll look into it.

About the translation thing, I'm not sure what you're trying to explain. I have to apologize though, since things are often too complicated to be translatable.

[Sapient]

btw.: it would really be nice if the newly roused units could be run through a simple (passable/impassable only, no moving costs) pathfinding algorithm.

Huh? Can you please explain what you mean by this statement, because I am having trouble parsing it into coherent thoughts.

If my guess is correct, you want to do something using [filter_radius].
Lua is not required for anything, it is merely a convenience for those who like to code in it.

[em3]

A totally separate issue with localization:
When i want to upgrade a hero, all the weapon upgrades (*** Speed and *** Power) that are available (enough Talen Points and enough Depth/Body/Mind) have names and description replaced with some meta-information about localization (with string to translate embedded).

All unavailable weapon upgrades (those with red text) have correct names and description displayed.

Also, this issue does not affect other upgrades (Evade, Abilitiy:***), only weapon Power and Speed.

I normally use the Polish (pl) localization, but tested the issue with German (de) too, the problem persists there.

EDIT:

About the translation thing, I'm not sure what you're trying to explain.

All the magical attacks use a "magical" weapon special that looks and has the same description as the "magical" weapon special in default era/mainline/core. The only difference is that in wesband it appears untranslated (it is in english), while other core abilities (like "poison") appear translated (in a language of my choice).

[Ken_Oh]

Hmmm, thanks em3. I can't promise anything, but we'll definitely look into it.

Sapient: He's talking about the fact that rousing enemies is based on a moveto event that tests for a straight radius. That means enemies are roused that are behind walls and are thus 30+ hexes away in walking distance yet are only 10 hexes away in absolute terms.

I think filtering vision of that side is my best option. The enemies would have to be within X hexes and they would have to be able to see one of our units if given X+2 (or X+3 or X+4?) max moves. This would, however, make it act just like it is now if there is already a unit of that side that can see the players' units, but it would improve it otherwise. This is assuming that stoned units get vision. I haven't tried that yet, but I guess we could temp unstone the units too.

If there are any better ideas, I'd love to hear them.