Prince of Kitties

I personally found the Culture novels to get a bit... perverse as the series progressed. My suspicion is that the increasingly graphic violence, increasingly cartoonish writing, and increasing decadence of the Culture itself reflected Banks running out of ideas for that universe. (But please don't let that dissuade you from forming your own opinion.)

LOL! I knew something was wrong with the RNG all this time...

A few ideas: 1. 32 bit Linux + Wine. Wine version 1.4.1 or older can handle 16-bit Windows apps (they're bugged in current versions). In my experience this works quite well for the Exile trilogy; if you have any crashes, just turn off sound in the game, and things should be fine. This method has the advantage of being entirely free. 2. Windows XP under Virtualbox, VMWare Player, etc. Obviously a licensed copy of XP is required. This works better than Wine though, especially for ancient 16-bit applications. I wouldn't bother with Windows 3.1; XP, or a facsimile thereof, should work.

What term do you think would be more appropriate, Goldenking? Keeping in mind that I am referring specifically to people with good theory of mind, but no (or at least very limited) empathy. Such people are at an elevated risk for committing violent crimes, no? (Not that "ordinary" people can't commit violent crimes, of course...)

It works the opposite way too, actually. If you were raised in a society where murder was legal, you might not think it was so bad to kill someone. Societies like that have existed historically, and still exist today (although they wouldn't necessarily call it murder). And even if you didn't have it in you to murder someone, keep in mind that perhaps 1-2% of people are sociopaths.

What can I say, your average Exile adventurer is not exactly a well-adjusted person... I mean, they make a living hacking other sapients apart with a sword. That does take a certain lack of empathy.

I'm trying to compile the BoE char editor against Winelib at the moment. I've managed to get all the source files to compile, but winebuild fails with lots of errors like this: winebuild: duplicate resource type 0001 name 0001 language 0000 version 00000000 Does anyone know what is causing this, and how to solve it? What files should I be looking at?

So far we're not. And soon I probably won't have the time anyway. But I was thinking less "integrate gameplay changes into mainline CBoE" than "publish a BoE remix with different mechanics, for those who might be interested." That said, I'm all for making Archery useful in the mainline version.

D'oh!

http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/blades/winBOE.html Probably useful, as the CBoE scenario editor has real killer bug under Wine.

Thank you.

So I found this triple portcullis in the tomb, which I figured I was supposed to get past. The portcullises opened and closed depending on where my PC stood. "Hah," I thought; "He's a singleton, so I can take a shortcut!" So I found the one position where all three were open, went into combat mode, cast Haste twice, and ran through the portcullises in one turn like a fast stealthy ninja. Unfortunately I did not count on there being nothing of interest on the other side, except for a single lever that doesn't open the portcullises. And two of the portcullises have closed... So now I'm stuck there, like a fast stealthy ninja who didn't think hard enough about the consequences of his actions. Also, I hadn't backed up my save file. Can I get out, or is this game over?

It's alive, but mostly in the same sense as a vampire... Working on it will drain your lifeblood (and probably your sanity). Sadly no new scenarios have been released lately, AFAIK. I personally released one very short and very awful beta several months back. I have vague outlines for a couple more (and better) scenarios, but no real intention of following through with them; mostly because the BoE special node system is an incredible pain to work with. That said, I have horrible amounts of spare time right now, so you might see some progress forthcoming. Maybe.

Learn how to enchant flaming weapons, and do so for parties of adventurers. Sell skill potions on the black market. Learn a couple levels of mage/priest spells, and bet adventurers outrageous sums of money that they can't beat you in a mindduel.

Protip: quickfire doesn't destroy treasure...

I have problems getting singletons off the ground with less than 3 Dexterity or 4 Intelligence; bless doesn't work well and they don't hit often enough. (Though come to think of it, I haven't tried with just Dexterity. The low Dexterity malus might be the issue there.) Edit: yeah, Dexterity is the issue. A blessed L1 singleton with 9 Strength, 3 Dexterity, and 1 Intelligence hits often and hits hard. I will change the OP to reflect this.

Ah, thanks! I wasn't aware I'd posted in the wrong area. I'll probably register a Github account at some point today. ATM I'm experimenting with the code changes. I'll see how it goes, particularly with the new caps on bless spells.

So I'm looking through Sylae's CBoE git code, and it looks to me like some PC skills aren't actually used. Granted I don't have a terribly good eye for code, here's what I see: Archery and Throwing are loaded into a variable, and then AFAICT never used. Ranged hit chance depends entirely on Dexterity, bless level, and item bonuses. Edged/Bashing/Pole Weapons skills are never factored into hit chance (again AFAICT). This is probably why they don't appear to increase it in the character info screen. Close combat hit chances also depend only on Dexterity, blessing, and item bonuses. Intelligence, as I suspected, is not used for many spells, and even then the effect is not significant at high levels. Webs don't have any effect on critters who walk through them. This is because spiders have to walk through them with impunity, and spiders/bugs aren't distinguished from other critters in the relevant code. Now that I've cross-compiled the code under MinGW (thanks Sylae for doing all the work!), I may try to change some of this stuff and upload "rebalanced" Win32 binaries somewhere. There are also other changes I'd like to make: - Currently the Sanctuary spell is kind of useless, except maybe for keeping weak PCs out of trouble; since you can't do anything useful without becoming visible. It would be more interesting if PCs could use magic (perhaps only priest spells) while Sanctuary was in effect. - On the other side of the balance equation, the Sanctuary effect seems to be level independent in terms of how often critters can bypass it and hit you. That should probably be changed. - Likewise, Bless is way overpowered. I'm thinking I should put a cap on it; 8 levels worth of blessing should be enough for a low-level PC, and more is too much. - Poisoned arrows should be more viable. I'm thinking it should take more AP (maybe 5) to use weapon poisons, but the poison should be applied to all wielded weapons. Likewise, weapon poison should be more powerful than Envenom (so that players actually have a reason to use it). - Mindduel is largely useless because it compares against 2 * NPC level. Getting rid of the multiplier should make it usable vs. low-level opponents. - Smite, Flame Arrows, and Venom Arrows are all really pathetic. Their damage should probably increase with level. The general trend I want is for magic, poison, and archery to be more powerful at high levels, while close combat gets relatively weaker. What say you all?

Cooking? Cooking is fun (especially when you're hungry). Edit: for reading, I have oodles of SF/F recommendations... Also some nonfiction ones.

And an update: 3 Dexterity and 4 Intelligence appear to be the minimum needed to avoid maluses. These maluses seem to be applied after bonuses, so you want to avoid them!

So, further updates based on some testing outside of Spears, with a Slith singleton vs. a Haakai. Strength doesn't help much against heavily armored opponents. You want a lot of it for the HP though (and for mowing down zombies). Dexterity and other accuracy-boosting skills are still pathetic at medium levels. +50% hit chance vs. +80% is not a big difference when you're hitting a Haakai for 5-7 damage per turn. (Note also that the maximum hit chance bonus is apparently 80%... If you have 20 Dexterity, then Sword/Bashing/Polearms skills are probably redundant.) Intelligence is useless. Bless and haste spells reach their peak power from leveling, without any need to add to this stat. Damaging spells like Fireball also get boosted by leveling, and Firestorm and other high level spells are powerful no matter who casts them. Defense skill is worthless unless you have some really good armor, and not above 2 encumbrance (because that's the maximum it can counteract). Most armor doesn't block nearly enough damage to be useful. I'd recommend giving warrior characters Recuperation and lots of strength (for HP) instead And of course, with the exceptions of HP, SP, and Luck, items matter much more than stats. In conclusion, a really powerful BoE character should be a musclebound dimwit, with some magical training and a tendency to hoard powerful items. Oh well.

After a long hiatus, I'm playing through Spears, starting with an unedited level 1 singleton. I decided to try a somewhat unorthodox approach to stats. Here is what I am finding so far, for the early game... Hitpoints: I started with the minimum of 6. Don't boost it, it rises fast enough on leveling if you have enough Strength (and blessing keeps you from getting hit early on). Spellpoints: Very very useful. I'm finding it's good to put a few spare points here every time I train a character. Strength: This is the most absolutely vital stat for all characters. Start with no less than 4. In the early game it should be raised as much as possible whenever you train your characters, since more Strength means more damage and more hitpoints. Dexterity: Useless, except that too little gives you a malus to hit (and to avoid being hit). Start with 3 or 4 and don't bother raising it. Intelligence: Not actually that useful, because your spells get much more powerful with levels than with this stat. Start with ~5 so Bless/Strength works, and then ignore it for a while. Don't even raise it above 1; Bless works fine early on as long as you avoid the low Dexterity malus. Edged/Bashing/Pole Weapons: Ignore these. Characters' hit chances improve more with increasing level. Bless gets more much more powerful as you level up, and many high level opponents can't easily be hit without blessing up anyway. Thrown Missiles/Archery: Ignore. Field spells do more damage early, area spells do more damage later, and these only improve hit chances anyway (and not much). I suppose poisoned arrows may be useful what with their range, but arrow hit chances are invariably poor. Defense: If you want to wear normal armor while using magery, allocate a few points. Otherwise ignore. Mage Spells: Includes both bless and haste spells; you want this. Singletons should start with 3 points, or more if you have the skill points and want more SP. Priest Spells: Less useful early on, but healing is nice. Singletons should start with 3 points, or more if you have the skill points and want more SP. Mage Lore: Probably good to wait on this for a singleton; maybe throw in a couple points for each character in a larger party, since it's cumulative. Early spells are mostly powerful enough if used correctly. Alchemy: Maybe a few levels early, for stuff like haste and weak energy potions. However you have to find the recipes and the ingredients... I find it generally simpler to buy potions at an alchemy shop. Item Lore: Too expensive. Ignore it, buy ID early on, and just use the ID spell in a quiet place once you have enough SP. Disarming: Ignore it. Instead start with the Nimble Fingers trait, and invest in hitpoints and (later on) Luck. Lockpicking: Useless thanks to the Unlock spell. Assassination: Not useful early on. At high levels it's the only think that can damage "invulnerable" monsters, but at low levels it's prohibitively expensive and unhelpful. Actually more useful than you'd think. It appears to use the hit chance table, so even one point of it will double a PC's damage output frequently; and at high levels it is deadly, and the only thing that can damage "invulnerable" monsters. For warriors, invest in a point or two of this ASAP. Poison: Useless. Use the Envenom spell instead. Luck: The second most vital stat for all characters, but (as the BoE documentation advises) wait for it. At low levels you need strength and spell points more. Also, my take on character traits... Of course experience is an unlimited resource, so feel free to just turn on all the good ones. Human/Nephil/Slith: - Humans are okay, nothing wrong with them. - Nephils are not convincingly better. They save 3 skill points on Dexterity, and have a bonus for (useless) missile weapons... Boo ya. - Sliths save a total of 9 skill points, 6 on Strength and 3 on Intelligence. They also seem to get an intrinsic hit bonus with pole weapons... All of which make the early game somewhat easier. IMO this makes up for the experience penalty. Toughness: blocks 1 point of damage, whee! I use it, but I don't think it's worth much. Magically Apt: doesn't do much early, and levels are more important later. Ambidextrous: Enables perfect dual wielding. So good it's almost broken. Nimble Fingers: Significant flat bonus to disarming. Singletons and thief characters want this. Cave Lore/Woodsman: Used often enough in scenarios that these should each be given to at least one character. Good Constitution: Faster poison recovery? Yes please. Highly Alert: Better resistance to sleep? Yes please. Exceptional Strength: Carrying more stuff is good. Doesn't affect damage much though, and I don't think it affects HP at all. I'd take it anyway. Recuperation: Also so good it's almost broken. ... That's all for now, I may update my views on this stuff when my singleton levels up a bit.

Jerakeen - I'm trying to think of things to say, and they all seem inadequate. Losing someone that close is horrible. I'm truly sorry.

And in other news, CBoE is now on git. YES.

I stopped liking Trek a long time ago, and suspect the trend will continue apace. Re Malazan. It's got world building, sorcery, and antiheroes aplenty. It's also got plot sprawl and power inflation on an astonishing scale. It would be very good if it were shorter; more so if it weren't written as if to make every other fantasy universe look puny and realistic by comparison. Also, it has an Orc Lich Jaghut Tyrant ramming a fireball down a dragon's throat. As said dragon breaths. In the first book. Take that as you will.