ChowGuy

3 hours ago, Edgwyn said:

Reloading is definitely not punishment.  Perma-Death (1st Ed AD&D or Rogue) is punishment, having to create a new party to retrieve the corpses of your old party (Wizardry) is punishment.  Sorry, old person venting here

Oh PLEASE spare me the thought of watching Chessrook bludgeon his way through Nethack or Angband. And I don't even want to think how he'd approach  ADOM. But that's taking  "genre difference" to the extreme.

He has a point in complaining that constant reloading is probably not fun, either for him, or his putative audience, but at the same time, neither is his yelling questions at the screen knowing full well that he won't get an answer for a week to ten days, and then dismissing it with a "that's not what I DO" when he does. I think only once have I seen him stop his recording session to check the Read-Me file, much less to ask a question here. That's what this forum is for, not for him to lecture us on the "proper" way to play (or design) a scenario, any more then the inverse. I doubt if anyone following his target YouTube channel would think of him for announcing such a thing there, but I may be wrong.

Wow, active thread. There's been to or three replies just while I was typing this.

2 hours ago, Logic Muzzle said:

To me, this is close to a genre-level difference.  I know that if I were to play any FPS from the last 15 years, I would be pretty turned off by that particular depiction of violence.  But it would be silly for me to complain about it, because that's an intended part of that kind of game.  It's part of parcel of what it does.  I would conclude "this isn't really my thing" rather than "this way of doing things is a bad idea."

I recall having much the same reaction the first time I encountered what would today be call a "CRPG" a few yaers back. I think it was a beta version of Ultima I, so about 79 or 80? I quickly realized what it was teaching the was "the way to get ahead in the world is to get a knife, go out and mug someone (it's OK as long as they look different from you), run back to town, fence the loot to buy a better weapon, and keep doing that until you can advance to breaking and entering. Real good moral lesson there.

I came from a pen-and-paper RP background with a heavier emphasis on character development, plus a side dose of Avalon Hill style strategy games, so I was not turned off by the violence per-se so much as the gratuitousness of it. There was no "Role Playing" at all that I could see, beyond the role of ruthless mercenary. Neither the I see the fascination with "leveling up" to be a better bully (much less with playing as an invincible "god-party.") I would much prefer to get through a scenario without having or even trying to "kill-em-all" then going out of my way to seek out trouble, but that as you say is a genre difference.

And you missed Thakta, the chief supervising the farmers! So much for Destruction L3. Oh well.

He also never bothered to get Erik... I mean the Librarian, to identify  the robe he got from Possantnoss (although he probably wouldn't have worn it anyway.)

So that's L3 spell he's walked past, along with Capture/Recall Soul in Fort Alora

@Chessrook44:

The Wheel of Fire reference would be to Ixion, while the Slith standing on a lake he cannot drink from would be Tantalus (from which tale the word tantalize is derived.

1 hour ago, Chessrook44 said:

and you can ask about the Vahnatai, something completely unrelated to the expedition, seemingly unrelated to the Goddess, and unrelated to Slith history outside of LONG before the Kalthanad?  I just didn't see why it had to be asked, and expected if I did people would look at me oddly and wonder why I was

Seriously?

So long before the Empire of Kalthas that only Danren-Bok (the crystal soul in the the lava lizard cave) can remember? The Danren-Bok, whose last memories before the sleeping began knew only the sliths as servants, created by the Vahnatai? In the lava caves where you found the note about Vylas-Ihrno releasing an ancient evil in the Vahnatai Lab to the East, and warning you about the silver-tongued demon there?

The Vahnatai Lab where that very silver-tongued demon tells you Vylas "discovered" their dark lord, and you where find an ancient scrap of papyrus that reads "Thus I sing of the dark goddess Hathnazriakh and her mortal battles against good vahnatai."

Along with a crap-ton of over foreshadowing that you similarly ignored.

And you assume, that Hathnazriakh to whom you are speaking would have nothing to do with the mystery of the crystal pillars???

What does it matter what Legare or anyone else present thinks of the question. [it]They[/i] aren't the ones who found those clues, you (or your avatars at least) are.

5 hours ago, Smoo said:

seem to recall that some years back when I played BoA on a Windows 7 the game didn't work right. Some scripts didn't work at all or something. I had to play the game in compatibility mode.

Works for me under Win7 X64, Win7 32, and WinXP (SP3) in VMWare. The only problems I ever have with BoA are that some scenarios hang when displaying their initial graphics, but I suspect that's because I run a severely reduced copy of the OS to save space, and the engine is likely using some "required" feature that I don't have installed. Save files will run fine.

I should probably note too that the actual game files reside on older machine used as an NAS server, but that should not matter. I'm retired now though and have better thing to spend a month's rent on then the latest I7-7700 laptop so I don't know what effect if any the latest Kaby Lake "optimizations" may had.

--

ChowGuy - the La Choy Dragon (Lurk Lurk) - who thinks every recipe should start with "A pinch of this, a pinch of that, a Dewey button and a french fried bat."

Sorry I can't leave my sanity at the door,  it's been lost for a long time now.

8 hours ago, Cotra, when the walls fell said:

This has been an interesting thread to follow.

Double Double, toil and trouble.

Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

*stirs pot*

5 hours ago, Kelandon said:

It's also possible — likely, even! — that you're not looking as hard as one would have to look if one wanted to find everything.

 Now be fair, Kel.  He did cast Far Sight a couple times in the Dragon cave. He just didn't

1) bother to check the first mini-map, because he knew the "tricky bastard" wouldn't put more than one hidden passage back there (so no Rakshasa Cloak)

or

2) go into the second because  he knew the spellbook he was told about "must be" in the room full of dangerous creatures, and not in the twisty path leading out of it.

Quote

The weapon type was Thrown Weapons, but the item description said that it used Bows skill, and several of your characters have Bows skill.

Bows and Dexterity. Meh. It would only have given his Nephil priest what, a free 28d10 ranged attack? That's a mere 150 points average damage, as opposed to a 25SP spell that will let him summon Fetid Zombies!

Why are you surprised? He's a newbie, playing a High Level scenario as if he was still in VoDT. I asked him before what exactly he thinks "1-10 points per level of <skill>" means, but he just ignored the question.

@ChessRrook

Quote

Who WOULD stay in that kind of place longer than necessary?

And yet you wasted how many episodes trying to "take care of them" even when you KNEW you could just walk past them? And don't tell me you you didn't read in Hints.txt

Quote

COMBAT: Under Manikoss east. Proceed the whole way in combat mode. No need to kill all the monsters; just get through.
COMBAT: Under Manikoss west. Same as above.

because you even quoted it, and then disparaged the author for not giving you a step by step guide to "Kill Them All" without havving to stay in combat mode. I suppose you could claim that that was when you still "knew" Bind Foe was useless, except you also mentioned that "someone even calculated" how powerful it was. Oh wait, that was me.

This is not your youtube channel, where your fanboiz are "glad to find someone  ... who actually knows how to play them and doesn't criticize the games for own mistakes."
 
we're trying to be helpful here without actually spoiling the game. No, really we are, but your dogmatic thinking is just making things harder on yourself then they ought to be. You reject sound advice because "it's been my experience that thus-and-such" even though you don't have enough experience to make such a pronouncement. What you experienced in Baldur's Gate, or Pathfinder, or some other class-based game need not apply to BoA in general, nor Exodus in particular. If you do decide to try more scenarios with a new party, keep that in mind.

Quote

Man, the deduct_ap() bug really makes these fights boring.

This!. I don't know what's the more boring though. Watching him chortle about exploiting a bug in the engine, or watching him fight the same encounter again because he doesn't believe in "save early and often."

@Chessrook44;
Just to let you know, you wondered in a previous episode where you can find "Major Healing?" It's in a hidden tunnel just North of Manikoss. You were standing right next it at the time, you just never bothered to look for it. You also missed a rather nice ring in a second tunnel East of the riverbank where you found the boat. Plus a spell from the altar under Manikoss itself. And that's just that one zone. There's lots of special items, if you bother to look for them. As for coins, even when you find something you could sell you tend to ignore it because it's "not Valuable enough." Like those iron bars for example, or the steel arrows you "don't need." Coins are coins, whether they come in multiples of tens or hundreds. This is what, your sixth scenario in this LP? By this point your biggest problem with coins should be finding something to spend them on before you hit the 30K limit.

I will say I was mildly surprised you let Draco wear the "heavy" (15 pounds, encumbrance 1) +OMG Armor of wisdom in place of the Mithral Chain (45 pounds, encumbrance 2), I'd have thought sure you'd jump on the chance for 6000 or so coins you can get for it.

The lower damage because of the Assassin's Dagger may be true, but it should not affect her chance to hit, which seems much lower than Fawkes.  Hell, later on I actually notice that even Draco when blessed has a higher chance to hit things than Sheik when blessed.  It doesn't make sense to me...

Fawkes is a CL 80+ Elite Warrior, which gives a bonus to-hit every 6 or 8 levels. Draco is a CL 80+ Slith, which give similar bonuses when using a pole weapon. Shiek... isn't. She's also carrying more encumbrance then Fawkes though that's a minor issue. I can't tell well enough to say what other items they have equipped, but there are quite of few which give "to-hit in melee" bonuses. Check those.
--

It's also worth pointing out that you keep saying "There aren't enough consumables!" and "I have to go out and run around to restore my energy, because it's the only way." Draco, as a Natural Mage, has the "Restore Energy" ability (usable once per day) that at his current CL should be good for 60-70 spellpoints - or about what he gets from an Energy Elxir. There's also a "Shard of Restoration" somewhere in the party, also usable once a day, that's good for up to 150 points. Sure, that's more then either his or Bonnie's maximum, but what's worse, not getting the maximum possible benefit from an item, or not getting any at all?

And while we're at it, Energy Potions may not as strong as Energy Elixirs, but they're cheaper and much easier to make; at PM 3 versus PM 8 Bonnie's success rate should be around, oh. 100%. A skosh more probably with adequate luck since there's a chance of making "an extra dose." They also use Energetic herbs versus the much rarer Graymold. You have plenty of those, and Silthokh sells more if you need them. Pop a Potion or two when you can and hang onto the Elixirs for when things are really desperate.

Remember too, that quaffing a potion takes only three AP. By default unless you're hasted anyway you start the turn with four AP, so you can generally use one before casting a spell, and still get it off.

Same with wands of slowing. Give those to your warriors to use at range before the enemy closes to attack, instead of running up to them and letting them get the first strike, and the subsequent fight will go much better for you. Giving them to your mage, who can just as easily cast a Slow spell, is relatively pointless.

And finally, and I know this has been mentioned to you before in-thread, but healing potions. Those too, can be used at the start of a turn, and still let your warrior smack the guy standing right next to him.

--

@Kelandon

Resistance does not add to your protection from Acid.

Not entirely correct, at least going by the "Protection From:" displays. Although those are admittedly wonky, since they shows "total" as a straight arithmetic sum rather then an asymptotic behavior, (LUCK+RESIST) does increase base Acid Resistance by 1 (5%) per level. The effect however does not seem to kick in until you reach a minimum of I believe 4 or 5 levels. I agree though that having passed that minimum anyway, LUCK, particularly as it's cheaper, would have been the better choice.

Search the old Vahnatai village again. There's a desk there, with a note (a message pops up telling you "you hear a rat" in case you miss it). Then go through the secret exit to the South and search the body.

You can't entr the lab until Kass gives you the quest, and he won't do that until you've told him about the note.

And apparently insects are vulnerable to Bind Foe? The documentation says that they shouldn't be, but it looked as though you were able to immobilize some Foul Larvae using that spell. How odd.

Pretty much only spiders and other actual web shooters as far as I've seen. Makes sense that a creature would resist its own attack of course so I don't know why the BoA docs identify that as a racial trait. especially considering how often the Gifts talk about using web to catch "yummy bugs." Don't recall if I tried it on the Araneas but I had no trouble using it the Chitrachs either. Just another case of the docs not matching the actual mechanics. (Hope that's not a spoiler. )

That still doesn't explain deduct_ap()

Yeah, that is still a puzzler.

CG - scratching head, (this head)

I go for what works' date=' and feels fun at the time.[/quote']

And yet, like the gambler following the sunk cost fallacy, your build and your tactics depend too much on "getting lucky" and not on paying enough attention to the actual payoff. Blademaster et al are nice as rewards, but way over-priced for the effect.

 

I could barely believe it when you sold the 12d11 Greatsword of Wootness because "I don't use two-handed weapons." OK, so I GET that you're hung up on the sword-and-board image, but what exactly do you think "plus [1-n] points per level of Strength and Melee Weapons skill" means? Unless you're planning to engrave "Elbereth" somewhere, there's no real point in Fawkes' carrying around a 4d5 athamé (which by the way is not pronounced "anthem"), much less using it as his main melee weapon. You could have SOLD that turd long ago, and at least put the money toward the 7d6 Master Longsword. Even Shiek's 5d5 Assassin's Dagger beats it, to say nothing of the several 5d6 Fine Waveblades you'd also sold previously.

 

Likewise having Draco cast Fireballs (which might as well be Spitballs against resitant monsters) rather then spending the same 2 SP on Heal (and you'd be surprised how effective it is even with "only" 6 PS, given his Intelligence and Magery bonus) is not going to help you fighters stay alive. Remember, you don't win if you're dead, no matter how many spell points you had left.

 

Not even to mention the SP you regularly throw away on Arcane Summon, which even you admit pretty worthless as an offensive tactic. But that's been mentioned, and dismissed by you, enough times already.

I think some icon adjustments don't work if fast graphic settings are turned on in the game's preferences. I remember that being an issue for other SW games of around the same era as well.

I expect it it has to do with the way Windows BITBLT works, as opposed to how it handled on the MAc.

See also Lazurus post #27 in the "List of Bugs thread.

> Color swaps do work, there's no debate there, but tints certainly do not. So 128, 256, and 512 shifts don't work for windows users.

and note that Pithos and the other Slith warriors have an icon_adjust of 256.

"I hope it's not more of those frustrating slimes!" Lol again! Never fear, it is not! But I don't think what is there is any more to your liking.

You are a Bad Person!

I think it's more a matter of they can see and run up to you, but an attemt to attack will fail ("target has santuary"). At least that's how I remerber it working in the original trilogy. Of course if the creature has an area effect (as these slimes do) and only assumes the Attack pose because the statusnearby script tells himto. that doesn't help much.

But yeah, one way or another, Not Real Useful in this situation, which was the whole point I intended to make to Chessrook.

Just to put some numbers to your questions:

BIND FOE:

 

"MS 10, 4 SP, 2 + 3 * skill + B/5 levels of Webbed

 

"Bind Foe covers its target in sticky webs that immobilize him for an extended period of time."

Given a Bonus 40 (10+23+7) from the the stats shown 23:51, and assuming you know the spell at Level 2, Draco at this point should be able to inflict 16 Levels of web per casting.

SANCTUARY

 

"PS 21, 8 SP, 3 + 3 * skill + B/6 levels of Sanctuary;

Santuary only prevents a PC from being selected by a monster as an active target. If provides no protection from damage, and does not (and never did) shield you from Area of Effect attacks (including your own) nor from Attacks of Oppurtunity when you step away from a hostile. And, of course, you lose it as soon as you target a hostile.

With 46 Bonus (12+26+8), Bonnie casts this at 17 levels (turns)

Yes, I know it's confusing for the term "level" to be used for character level, stat rank, spell effect and spell tier all at the same time, but that's the way it is. Deal with it.

Not explicitly mentioned anywhere, but visible in the "Useful Skills" window of the Character Info screen:

LUCK adds +1 (5%) per level to base poison, elemental and magic resistances.

this version is potentially unstable because I have not tested every single change, so you should take this as a beta release for the moment.

Been there

If you do make a new release, I presume it will include the Death Knell glitch in Whats-his-Clyde's castle. You'd already referred to that, so I didn't mention it.

--

ChowGuy - the LaChoy Dragon (Lurk Lurk)

GAH! Notepad killed my post.

REE-LOADING!

Well, that was ... interesting.

I don't know how I would fix the bug even if I wanted to.

Dunno either, but as you noted, deduct_ap() shouldn't have worked that way in the first place. Will try to give you you my thoughts for what they're worth via email to avoid confusing the OP even furthur. I assume the contact address on your Pin && Pretty page ids the cuurrent one, and not the old one embedded in the script?

hat other bugs did you find?

Minor things mostly, Some may be intentional misdirections but they just "feel" wrong.

There are thre or four herb patches where you can get the message You Nature Lore is not high enough" although the script is actually teting for total LUCK rather then NL. Seems illogical at best. At least one I recall is the Lava Ocean but I disremember where the others were. GREP O*.txt for get_stat_total(18).

There' a ligh-weight armor somewhere (Chessrook hasn't found it yet) that gives good stat bonuses to spellcating.

Inherits from Leather Armor I think, but would make good Mage armor if it weren't intentionally made encumbering, thus making it unsuitable for anyone without the "Natural Mage" trait. Since I happen to play with glass-cannon mages, that annoyed me. Either inheriting Shadow Leather or setting it_encumbrance 0 would have IMO been preferable.

A couple other things, if I see them in the LP, I may remeber, but I've been through a couple new machines since then and don't have the editted files anymore.

ETA:

BTW @Chessrook44:

Running around in circles outdors isn't the only (or the most efficient) alternative to camping. (W)aiting in place is. Just press and hold the 'w' key and let auto-repeat d it's thing.

[q]Dude, help me out. What other bugs did you find? If you don't report them, I don't know about them and can't fix them.[/q]

Meh. Forgive the occasional Weapons Grade Snark, but it's been what, eight, nine years? I was just surprised no-one else had reported it yet to you yet. And that I remembered where it was. At my age I'm lucky if I can rememeber if I hd breakfasr this, much less what. Forty years of finding bugs in other people's code turns your brain into oatmeal, and being retired and on on the wong side of seventy doesn't help.

--

ChowGuy - Killed in Minetown by a Master Mind Flayer named Schrödinger's Cat. (Gives new meaning to the term YASD)

attacked an Invisible Black Light, and this was after he'd sucked the brains out of the watch Captain and taken the Siver Saber.

Apparently you found a bug in Capture Soul? But it's not one that I can reproduce, nor one that I can find the cause of by reading the scripts. I am at a loss as to what happened there.

That's probably because you did most of your development on the Mac.

In the Windows Edition (which the OP is using in "Exodous.txt":

beginstate 23; // casting Capture Soul
<snip>        
//*        next_state = 24; // return is to "Recall Soul" state
         next_state = 23; // Sshould be
       set_state_continue(51);



// And simillarly below

beginstate 24; // casting Recall Soul
<snip>
//*        next_state = 25; // return is to "Ant-Magic Field"
         next_state = 24; // shoud be
       set_state_continue(51);

Tiis isn't the only bug I found, but it's probably the most gross.