Thanks for the compilation, Tyrant.
A small U/X suggestion based on my recent experiences with DRL:
It would be convenient if we had a way to show how much ammo is left in your inventory for the current weapon you're wielding. Feels like there's space to the right of the weapon itself, at least.
I know you can open the menu to look, but not having to stop the action to look and keep track may make gameplay flow better, especially with ammo-hungry stuff like rapids.
There's a lot to go through and respond to here, but for the moment, +1 to having an upgrade to the basic pistol that isn't a special drop you could never see in a given run.
EDIT: Also, after once again staying up until almost 3 AM playing the game, I think it'd be -extremely- helpful to have a clock display somewhere >~<
It can maybe be toggled or something but it'd certainly help with keeping track of time, especially when playing in fullscreen.
ToME has this as an add-on and it's probably the only reason I don't stay awake playing until ungodly hours
I miss the ability to select items by pressing a letter key corresponding to each row of the inventory. It is much more efficient than scrolling to the item and pressing enter. Both methods of selection should be available.
The volume of the sound from using the arena master staff on multiple enemies should be reduced, or it should only be played once regardless of enemy count.
I'm not sure if knockback has been fixed; I haven't tested enough 0.9.9.8. But in 0.9.9.7 knockback occurred at a different time to damage, so hitting enemies with tactical rockets would frequently cause them to get knocked back but take no damage.
Also, I think that you can get knocked back twice by enemies with splash damage if they knock you back into a tile where the splash hasn't resolved yet. I'm not sure how this affects damage.
I suggest not basing knockback distance on damage so that son of a bitch doesn't increase knockback. This is a nerf to son of a bitch, which is very powerful. You could add increased knockback to the reloader trait, which would synergize well with the shotgun and rocket focus, though you might need to change the name of the trait.
Maybe a guaranteed combat pistol somewhere would be nice, like in Phobos lab.
UI change: When using look mode, the screen should scroll if you try to look near the edge of the screen. I'm not sure if there's a way to scroll the screen without using the mouse, but I don't like using the mouse to check around the map.
I personally hated this and was glad to see it removed, as too many times I misclicked on the inventory screen and it made me waste a medkit or other consumable item. I suppose there is no harm though in adding it as a toggle in the legacy settings if people really want it back though (assuming there is no coding complications with it).This would be a nightmare to sensibly support alongside keybinding rebindings unfortunately, that's why I removed it.
This would be a nightmare to sensibly support alongside keybinding rebindings unfortunately, that's why I removed it.
I think the problem with Entrenchment isn't that Entrenchment is bad, but that chain fire is bad. Chain fire should be changed, then Entrenchment can be reëvaluated. Right now, I only use Chain fire to save ammo. I suggest removing the 2/3 fire speed shots penalty from the first turn (so you fire full shots from the start), and make chain fire the default firing mode. Then make burst fire as an alternative fire which fires 2/3 shots and cancels any current wind-up. This is a buff to chaingun (which kinda needs the buff, imho). It's only a slight buff to plasma gun since we are usually more concerned with ammo efficiency than raw output on plasma gun. Hyperblaster might need nerfing though if this goes through.
I'm wondering how OP Entrenchment would be if it gave you defense any time you take any action except for moving. Maybe the defense could build up based on the time spent standing still. Or, to keep it attached to rapid fire weapons, the defense could scale with amount of chain fire wind-up.
Related to Chain-Fire, Entrenchment could remove the current limit of 3/2 number of shots after the third turn. Just how far the number would go may need to be tested.
I suppose it could be done as just a general buff to chainfiring even outside of Entrenchment as Khashishi suggests
- Levels that only have Nightmare enemies should have their own feeling, feels appropriate. Something along the lines of "A dreadful silence rings in your ears..." to tie into the fact that they do not make noise.
- Acid Spitter should reload -much- faster, given how finicky it is to do so in the first place.
- Enviroboots should have more plasma resistance. I understand preferring to keep the bloodboots as the only one with 100% immunity, but the enviroboots should have at least 50% if not more.
-Nightmare enemy only levels having a special message can be nice, but I'll note it's proposed to give them sounds (+ sounds to all the silent bosses too) and it has been discussed in the Discord, due to it seeming unintentional and the current modding grey area that exists with modding them in sounds yourself like I do (Kornel also mentioned he forgot to give them sounds when adding all the new Nightmare enemies).
-I wouldn't oppose the Acid Spitter reloading faster, but it ultimately wouldn't matter, as it's not a weapon you can reload with enemies around regardless, whether its reload time is 1.2 seconds or 0.1 seconds (reload time only matters when you got an enemy in vision/pursuit or some time sensitive event is going on). In any active combat scenario, you get one shot with it, and then you have to wait until the immediate threat is gone before you can get to scooping the acid back up.
-Yeah Enviroboots aren't great for plasma protection (only reducing blood damage from 12 to 9, 1 more than unmodded Plasteel Boots), but as mentioned in the Discord, it doesn't affect their usage that much; in A100 you're still building Cerberus Boots regardless, and in the standard game, they'll be virtually identical except with Enviroboots being worse for Limbo and the rare late blood cave but it won't require the massive mod cost that Cerberus Boots does, making Enviroboots still a very valuable find. So I would be ok with Enviroboots getting that plasma buff, or keeping it as is to give some extra flavor difference between them and Cerberus Boots.
Crates should be buffed/diversified, especially for late game.
Their utility early on is somewhat nice since you can find an armor or boots here or there, with the obvious prizes being ammo boxes... but their utility drops off as you advance along the game. In later levels you're not likely to find much of anything of use - if you open them in hell (or Beyond, for ao100), you're likely to still be getting just green armors, bullets, the occasion steel boots.
I'd like to propose that as levels increase, you can find other stuff that could be useful in the crates. The main idea would be plasma cells and rockets (their associated ammo boxes too maybe?), although there's plenty of other stuff to consider - medkitz, maps, phase devices, red armors... could even consider a mod pack here or there. This is without even considering if any uniques could have a super-low chance of appearing.
Crates are funny to blow up and see what goodies may be inside, and replicating that feeling beyond Phobos seems like it -shouldn't- be that difficult. It'll help add some more variance, and IMO shouldn't be too problematic, especially since in later levels a lot of enemies are prone to just destroying them along with any goodies they may contain. So it sets up its own sort of minigame of how to approach and dodge/tank if you want to try to open up the crate without the given enemy destroying it first.
I know stuff like exotics and rare mod packs are off the menu (maybe in Ao666?), but even with what I've mentioned above it feels like it'd improve the treasure hunting experience, so to speak.
QuoteMaybe a guaranteed combat pistol somewhere would be nice, like in Phobos lab.
This would be very strong for Pistol builds and worthless for every other build; special level rewards should avoid only benefiting a small amount of builds, the guaranteed Combat Shotgun is a far better reward in Phobos Lab and Military Base (being an invaluable utility weapon for every build in the game and not just benefiting Shotgun builds).
Additionally, the suggestion for a new stronger common Pistol already does cover Pistol builds being handicapped by the lack of a guaranteed upgrade (first point in the equipment section of the New Content post).
[ ] Disallow nukes from being activated in Hell Fortress altogether. Additionally have any active powerups get turned off when entering Hell Fortress, so you cannot take an Invulnerability or Berserk stack into Hell Fortress to trivialize it. 1I strongly disagree with arbitrarly disabling powerups: Messing with normal flow of the game in ways requiring to die-and-retry is painful.
*Have dying to John Carmack count as a normal death instead of as a partial win.I'm not sure. I think killing Carmack shuld be more rewarding for this to make sense.
Wow, nice compilation. Thanks for all this work.
I just discovered 0.9.9.8 and completed my first game (UV, kept my 0.9.9.7 player.wad)
Most suggestions I've seen here looked relevant to me.
After reading most of this thread (but about nothing else yet), here's my 2cts hot-feedback, for you to consider/inculde/ignore :)
note : While I notice the improvements, I rarely send flowers about what's good. What I focus on is always the issues.
No quick selection keys anymore for weapons is extremely painful.
My usual run uses no more than shotgun/chainsaw(scythe)/plasma(laser) rifle/tac RL. I don't want to bind them manually every game, which even seems to need de-equipping them first so they are in invertory.
The old system where every weapon could have its quick key (and I did bind every one of them) was MUCH more efficient. Its only issue was quick-keying did give a movement-cost reduction, which was nonsense and shouldn't be paired with what is just a UI feature.
Is keybindings.lua not meant to come back ? I also had some bindings to use items. Especially both medkit and phase devices. Having to open inventory for this is an annoyance
And a BIG annoyance, since I now also have to scroll manually to item slots. I've read that for some technical reason, inventory bindings would be complex to keep (I wonder why, yet), but remain surprised by such sacrifices. I think this will hamper playability too much for me and while I'll try a few more games, may very well end-up sticking with 0.9.9.7 if UI remains like this in the future.
Oh, and having to press space to go downstairs feels weird. First roguelike I play where I can't press > for it.
I can deal with this, but knowing I'll someday mistakenly go downstairs because I accidentally pressed spacebar is a bit more annoying. Secondary for sure, but a small loss remains a loss.
Shoudl'nt "blood boots" be "Butcher's boots" ? Could even pair for a set with some cleaver ♥)
Phobos lab might be too early, or maybe we need some more ego pistols and get a random one. (Lack of variety is a bit sad here).
Thing is : the issue is more how pistols work than the drop itself. Guaranteed or not, CP is always useless unless you're a pistol freak.
Alternatively, some rewards (pistols or other) could depend on picked skills. E.G. you could get a guaranteed pistol in HA if you skilled at least SOG2.
As a side note, I never pick-up a combat shotgun anymore. And I always play mostly shotgun all game long (unless I get a nano for my plasma rifle).
I genuinely think regular shotgun with SOB2+ and/or P mods is MUCH more powerful. Hence, I don't agree with it being of any more use than a pistol.
... except maybe for the 5 ammo I salvage from it :)
I strongly disagree with arbitrarly disabling powerups: Messing with normal flow of the game in ways requiring to die-and-retry is painful.
Phobos lab's exception is terrible-enough already, we don't need more of this ! Isn't anyone fighting an apostle berserk and already steamrolling anyway ?
Plus, these edge cases need specific roguelike luck. From what I see, you currently can't activate a thermobomb in this level ? Well, remove this then. I already lost more than one character due to supid exceptions of this kind in several games --which might include this case--, and unless the game tells you in advance, this shit is just frustrating. Game should just follow the rules, not require you to parse the wiki/forums or die until you know every surprise trap.
Also, this kind of vicious additions removes some tactical play, like fast-diving through 4 levels because you just found 3 invu globes in Hell4 and wanna try some fun ending. Love diversity, let players use rare cool cases instead of inciting them to rely on a generic safe strat ! THIS . IS . ROGUELIIIIIIIIIKE !
Previous case reminds me of my first visit to UC. There should definitely be some warning telling you you can't shoot when entering. It could be as simple as a lone lost soul facing you 3 squares away...
I'm not sure. I think killing Carmack shuld be more rewarding for this to make sense. A lot of players probably play it like I do, and just routinely kill it because "100%". The notion of partial wins seems enough to me : it's a fun notion when reading your stats.
We could imagine something bigger (Like what JH has near the end), but it looks decent to me in its current form.
If I wanted a rework, I'd say boss fights after anomaly could be made more interesting (I now always berserk into Cyber and nuke/berserk for ending... yeah, these could definitely use some rework :p)
Have less restrictions on Dual Angel combinations
Yes, but please, make them a separate category for medals.
There's a small bunch of badges/medals like N! shotty I only got because I Angel-of-overconfidence'd into Dis, probably relying on some luck (be it invu, berserks, or any other great drops trivializing the ending)
This feels absolutely lame, and wayyyyy less deserved than the badges I got for winning say, my first nightmare games (which were also conqueror 8)).
I'm sure medals for dual angels can make sense too, but as long as an angel challenge gives any positive counterpart, we probably need to make them specific.
An alternative could be to note for every badge what were the winning conditions : Soldier class, challenges... could even be linked to mortem.
and with a properly seeded game to the full replay -- Yeah, I'm going a bit further... but I think replays in these kind of games should always be available. They don't just help us boost our ego, they also help making tutorials or reporting/understanding bugs !)
Thanks for the detailed answer. (Btw, I tried 0.9.9.9b7 yesterday, and joined the Discord. I'm "Balmipour" out there
(bug) shooting the last 4 ammo with my plasma gun gives me 65k ammo via some overflow. Cool (and works the same with a chain-fired chaingun), but needs fix :D. I've read about it on Discord too, but it looked 100% reproducible to me. Even got saves if necessary
I think my suggestion of adding a lone lost soul facing you a few squares away when entering UC is decent-enough to be added to the list.
Any veteran will just enter and stomp it even before it wakes-up, but it would help every noobie trying to shoot it, which is valuable
And unless I forgot a point, reworking boss fight looks quite relevant to keep in the "TO-DO list" as well. I must say JC's fight being a dummy one and this poor spider being nuked every time we meet it is a bit sad. Complex point, I must agree... but worth a thought.
(unrelated to version, but useful) : have a "rename character" command ! Reading about Tormuse's AoHu badge did remind me how I tanked the mortuary (Went for a survivalist marine --0996 or 0997 survivalist--), since my scouts were all dying to a clumsy-moves-into-lava with their 10hp. Had to manually rename my guy in the mortem (possibly screwing checksum xD) because I wanted my hero to be "Homer simpson"
But I'll aslo ask whether the difficulties have been reworked.
The reason I try UV before HNTR is because it feels much easier to me !
HNTR gives little XP (and stuff), and I often ended-up with stupid death, because I was lacking things (be it traits, mods, or even a common plasma rifle). None of these is necessary, of course, but I don't think lesser difficulties feeling harder than higher ones is a good thing. Doom or quake never felt like this to me.
I'd suggest giving an XP boost to balance for the lack of enemies in these difficulties, but slightly better items drops would probably be a good thing too.
Might be the occasion to give back some accuracy to enemies in these skill levels.