Post by goombaboy on Feb 23, 2006 16:01:12 GMT -5
NewAngband has a wealth of monsters. However, once you figure out how a certain creature acts, it becomes easy to plan for the various percentages of how they will attack. Would it be feasable (and desirable) to add a few tweaks to both individual and group dynamics via way of new monster flags? A few examples:
Monsters with heal ability can heal not only themselves, but other creatures they are with. (You hit vort. you miss vort. the kobold shaman heals vort. vort misses you...)
give certain monsters group morale rolls. For example, if fighting a room of orcs and you kill over half, the entire remainder might choose to loose nerve and run. Or even just some individuals, as opposed to 'only run if hurt for EACH monster' used now. A leader type could modify these chances.
intelligent group monsters all wake if one spots you. Like a sentry, if a single troll in a group wakes and heads towards you, it is not unreasonable that he would bellow a warning and wake the rest of his brethern in a single turn. Thus stealth and the ability to kill without waking becomes a factor. (It also would make sense to then develop a new effect spell called silence. which stops monsters from waking other monsters. maybe even prevents verbal type spells. But that is another thread...)
along the line of communication: if invisible and a monster hits you, will communicate location to other monsters as to general location, so all not just wandering around as randomly. again, only for group intelligent monsters.
while a kobold might not be intimidated by a 1st level character, a 25th level character with glowing armour and weapon is another matter. Maybe make monster reaction variable based on equipment/level. (non leveled low monsters might flee high level characters, wearing demon equipment infuriates angels but makes demons more likely to be neutral, dragon armor will certainly infuriate dragons, at least those of the same color, etc...)
more intelligent monster reaction to spells. After seeing a few comrades hurt by a noxious cloud, or taking some damage himself, an intelligent monster might choose to retreat out of the range of the spell if it has any distance/magic alternate attacks. (IE an 'avoid aura' type flag for casters/archers)
allow some monsters to use the same stratagies players use, such as hit and retreat for faster speed monsters or pillar dancing in the right type of room.
I'm sure there are more, and I don't know how much work this would be. But it seemed like a possible way to make the game more diverse without simple keying in yet another monster type.
Monsters with heal ability can heal not only themselves, but other creatures they are with. (You hit vort. you miss vort. the kobold shaman heals vort. vort misses you...)
give certain monsters group morale rolls. For example, if fighting a room of orcs and you kill over half, the entire remainder might choose to loose nerve and run. Or even just some individuals, as opposed to 'only run if hurt for EACH monster' used now. A leader type could modify these chances.
intelligent group monsters all wake if one spots you. Like a sentry, if a single troll in a group wakes and heads towards you, it is not unreasonable that he would bellow a warning and wake the rest of his brethern in a single turn. Thus stealth and the ability to kill without waking becomes a factor. (It also would make sense to then develop a new effect spell called silence. which stops monsters from waking other monsters. maybe even prevents verbal type spells. But that is another thread...)
along the line of communication: if invisible and a monster hits you, will communicate location to other monsters as to general location, so all not just wandering around as randomly. again, only for group intelligent monsters.
while a kobold might not be intimidated by a 1st level character, a 25th level character with glowing armour and weapon is another matter. Maybe make monster reaction variable based on equipment/level. (non leveled low monsters might flee high level characters, wearing demon equipment infuriates angels but makes demons more likely to be neutral, dragon armor will certainly infuriate dragons, at least those of the same color, etc...)
more intelligent monster reaction to spells. After seeing a few comrades hurt by a noxious cloud, or taking some damage himself, an intelligent monster might choose to retreat out of the range of the spell if it has any distance/magic alternate attacks. (IE an 'avoid aura' type flag for casters/archers)
allow some monsters to use the same stratagies players use, such as hit and retreat for faster speed monsters or pillar dancing in the right type of room.
I'm sure there are more, and I don't know how much work this would be. But it seemed like a possible way to make the game more diverse without simple keying in yet another monster type.
Also, coding level 1 monsters to run away if you are too powerful is not very useful. If you're level 25 with strong items... why are you fighting level 1 kobolds at dungeon level 1? They won't be worth anything.