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CF: Re: crossfire (fwd)



On Mar 17,  1:35am, Frank Tore Johansen wrote:
> Subject: crossfire (fwd)
> Hiya, I guess this was either meant for the list or for you.
> As for literacy skill, it should probably be moderated somewhat.
> I haven't tested the newest version yet thou.
> Maybe scramble the chars a little if you have no litteracy, and scramble
> then less the higher your skill get?  Or maybe just make it not apply
> to the starting town and its buildings.
>
> -Frank.
>

 I am not sure how all the literacy stuff works out (Brian could probably state
in better terms), but various readables can have a level which makes it harder
to read them.  By default, all old readables don't have any level, but I don't
know if this means you don't need the literacy skill to read them or not.

> Forwarded message:
> > From evanse@rpi.edu  Sun Mar 17 01:26:48 1996
> > Date: Sat, 16 Mar 1996 19:26:42 -0500 (EST)
> > From: "E. Tobias Evans" <evanse@rpi.edu>
> > X-Sender: evanse@vccsouth25.its.rpi.edu
> > To: frankj@ifi.uio.no
> > Subject: crossfire
> > Message-ID:
<Pine.SUN.3.91.960316190025.4206A-100000@vccsouth25.its.rpi.edu>
> > MIME-Version: 1.0
> > Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
> >
> >
> > 	I kind of liked the new skillsystem, it made the game more
> > interesting.  I especially liked the meditation skill of the monk class.
> > I found it kind of impossible to use any of the prayers because my
> > characters just didn't seem to gain experience with "turn undead" which
> > was the only prayer that had any of them had enough grace for.  Well,
> > anyway, they never increased in level with the use of that spell so they
> > couldn't really use any of the other prayers.  But this didn't really
> > bother me since the only spells I like anyway are "cure poison" and the
> > healing spells which I prefer to access through a rod.  [And leave my
> > spell points for offensive spells.]  That was with version
second-to-newest.
> > 	I have a big, HUGE problem with this illiteracy thing in the
> > newest version.  If you can't read scrolls or books, [in order to use
> > magic, go on quests, or learn spells], than the game is just slash and
> > hack to use your phrase.  And how often does a skill scroll of literacy
> > come along?  How are new players supposed to get oriented with the game if
> > they can't read signs [like in beginners?].  How are THEY supposed to
> > identify things?  The only time its worth it to pay the twenty gold coins
> > to identify something is when its magical.  This version is not playable.
> > AT ALL.

 I also am curious to how much literacy scrolls cost.  Most of the skill
scrolls are not all that cheap, so this could be another consideration.

> > 	If you want to make literacy a skill, fine, put it in the mental
> > category and make everyone born with it like they are born with the
> > skill of "find traps".  The way the game is set up, it makes a lot more
> > sense for someone to be born with literacy than with find traps.  In
> > other words, you can still play the game and just deal with traps as
> > they go along.  But without the ability to read scrolls and books, the
> > game IS NOT PLAYABLE!  There is no wand of identify.  Ball lightening
> > only comes on scrolls, I've never seen a spellbook for it.  The
> > spellbook for destruction is something like level 16.  Remove curse and
> > Remove Damnation are also prohibitively high-level and its stupid to
> > try and learn those spells when you only use them very infrequently.
> > What is a beginning character supposed to do when they apply a weapon of
> > Woe?  They're stats are going to be so low that they won't be able to raise
> > enough money to buy a skill scroll of literacy even if they do come
> > across one.

 This is a very valid point.  To add some color to the game, it would be nice
to have some spell casting altars (drop 200 gp, get remove damnation cast on
your - maybe even alter the cost of the spell if the altars and players god
match/disagree)

> > 	By the way, I find it interesting that there are so many
> > high-level dungeons when I've been playing this game for almost a year and
> > I have yet to get past level 12.  I have played for at least 200 hours
> > cumulative in the last nine months.  And this is when my characters were
> > equipped with a rod of medium healing, and ring of Acid, and amulets of
> > reflect missiles and reflect spells.

 I can get to about level 10 in under 20 hours of play.  The main 'trick' is
being able to fighter monsters that are hard to kill, but not too hard such
taht you die. Fighting orcs/kobolds/goblins might be good for the first few
levels, but the experience quickly drops after that.  You then need to find
ogres and skeletons, then perhaps small trolls and hill giants.

 I am not sure how the high level stuff is balanced now, but before, it was
once you could kill a big dragon without too much difficulty, you were pretty
much set - you can kill them, get a good amount of experience and a lot of
treasure.   With the treasure you could then increase your weapon to be really
powerful - really powerful weapons tend not to be harder if you use the new
weapon code.

> > 	I do know people who have gotten to such high levels but they
> > edited their player files and gave themselves creative artifacts like ring
> > (dam+50) and amulet of awesome (immune:drain, fire, cold, ghosthit,
> > electricity, poison), etc..  They did not actually get to such high
> > levels by just playing the game.
> >

 It is possible.  One big difference can be if NOT_PERMADEATH is used or not.
 If it is used (which means when you die, you lose a stat point, experience,
and go back to starting town), it is easier.  This is simply because you can
take on the tougher monsters and perhaps die once in a while, but you are not
quite as worried (if you play that you die and that is pretty much it, you will
tend to play very cautiously).

 The newer skill stuff may change this.  With the skill system, it is very
important to have high stats in the appropriate skill, because you get more
experience that way.

> > sincerely and respectfully yours
> > -Ehren Tobias Evans
> >
>
>-- End of excerpt from Frank Tore Johansen



-- 
 --Mark