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The easiest way to tell is probably to place a print_str or whatever in each of the two states and see which is printed first.

Note to anyone trying and failing to find it: the typo in "macpreist" might be to blame; Versiontracker and Macupdate aren't too tolerant of typos.

If designers will be going through their graphic files anyway, why not change the graphics format to something that works simultaneously on Windows and Mac? As it currently stands, Windows users can't create Mac graphics files without access to a Mac.

What's wrong with using the esc key to pause?

I have that problem as well; you're not imagining it.

Now really. Killing off innocent people? Murdering all Shapers without hesitation? And calling my PC a charismatic evil leader, despite the fact that I invested barely any points in leadership? Let us not assassinate this PC further, Emperor. You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?

Quote: Originally written by Emperor Tullegolar: This is also how the Nazis managed to come to power in Germany. People had to choose between the failing government or the communists. Then Hitler came along with his third option, and people joined, despite how extreme it was. So you see, the Trakovites are really just Nazis. You should be ashamed if you agree with them. I take offense to that. I sided with the Trakovites because I thought the other two options were too extreme. Why am I suddenly the bad guy? I see absolutely no parallel between the Nazis and the Trakovites. The Trakovites want everyone to be equal! Explain yourself.

Quote: Originally written by Retlaw May: Like servile sex changes. Well, if they can be shaped, then where's the problem?

Kelandon: Agreed. Slarty: Intention is relevant, because although the probability of getting three thahdskin tunics in a row is very small, there are many events which could be considered "unlikely," the occurrence of any of which might prompt one to post a new topic about it. For instance, we could just as easily be reading a new topic about getting four consecutive vlish tentacle drops or doing 66 damage with an ice crystal three turns in a row. I guess what I'm saying is that 1) although the probability of three thahdskin tunics is small, the amount of surprise derived therefrom may be unwarranted, and 2) the random number generator need not necessarily have any bias, since the odds of any surprising event happening are probably not too low.

Quote: Originally written by Everything Remains To Be Done: Further Thahds have not, so the game isn't broken, but geez. What are the odds? If only I have this luck when collecting Glaahk Eyes. Given that it already happened, the probability is 1. This is not just nitpicking — you didn't set out in advance to try and get three of these things in a row. If you started a game and thought, gee, I wonder if I'll get three thahdskin tunics off the next thahds I see, that would be a little more impressive when it actually happened. As it is, though, it seems to be unlikely only because it was unexpected. The question you should really be asking is, "what is the probability that the random number generator should bring about an event that would bring my level of surprise past the threshold required for me to post something on Spiderweb about it?" I'd guess the probability for that would be greater than that for causing three thahdskin tunic drops.

Did you try the sdf cheats I mentioned?

Try the following (I'm not sure if this will do anything): Enter shift-D to bring up the cheat dialog. sdf 100 1 4 sdf 42 13 1 Then enter the shaper camp. Let me know if it works!

Shaftoe took me the longest to find the right strategy. I went through a lot of frustration on that fight — eventually hasted battle alphas with spines did the trick (his own melee attacks helped finish him off), along with two cryoas from a distance. I went through lots of save/reloads to figure that one out. The alphas served to distract him and his golem servant, which allowed my lifecrafter to keep out of sight and the cryoas to attack unmolested. I basically had to kill him quickly enough to avoid the huge essence blast attack. I wasn't even worrying about the servant minds there — when trying to kill him quickly enough to avoid the essence blast, there weren't really too many creations to avoid. Eliza was pretty straightforward; I think I used the same alphas + cryoas combo. She just took a little longer to die, as I recall.

I'm concerned about allowing people who enter scenarios to judge other categories. Wouldn't it be in their best interest to select the worst possible scenario to move on to the finals, so as to give their own scenario a better shot at taking the top prize?

I believe anything that is a container, a sign, or has a terrain script on it can be searched, regardless of what te_can_look_at is. Do your trees satisfy any of those criteria? If so, that's the trouble.

"Chains" is very good and has almost no combat whatsoever.

Also, if the speed is set to "fast" in the preferences, animated terrain won't be animated.

Are there supposed to be semicolons after the "if" statements?

post code

I think that creatures will receive a message in the same turn that it is sent iff their number is higher than that of the sender; otherwise, they'll get it the next turn. Maybe you might look into that?

Thuryl's method has the advantage of being able to customize the response for the particular square at which the party digs. That flexibility isn't currently called for, but if Pyrulen decides to change it later, it would have to be changed to Thuryl's implementation anyway.

Quote: Originally written by Vlishnu: Shadow47 = Ed. I'd thought so too, given member number and time intervals between posting. Apparently Shadow47 is still around though.

Quote: Originally written by Dintiradan: Just a thought: the convention of making TALKING_STATE link to a dialog node is just that, a convention. You could give all the enemies a special version of basicnpc that does whatever special thing you want to do in TALKING_STATE. I haven't tested this, though, it's just a thought. Conversely, dialog mode doesn't actually have to involve talking to an NPC. You can use it for more complicated special abilities, such as maybe special spell selection. I think Bahss used this for item identification, though in the form of an NPC, probably to work around the limitations of both item identification and the "This conversation is over" message.

OK. All of this was pretty much what I was hoping to hear; it's nice to have it affirmed. Thanks all.

So, if a scenario were to have no combat in it, what would be a good reward, or motivation? The trouble is that if there is no combat, then the party can really be any level, and so there would be no way to tell if items would benefit them or not. Is advancement of plot sufficient for completing quests? (I mean "quests" in the loosest possible sense: anything that requires the player or the party to complete a given task) Or should there be something else? Flashy technical tricks? Special spells? The reason I ask is that I'm not very creative when it comes to making combat, and I have no particular desire to be so because I don't particularly like combat myself. So, any ideas? I know some BoE scenarios didn't really have combat — how did they handle this issue?