Multi Arrows Change, and returning ammo fix

[sekira]

Here is my code to make the Multi Arrows ability of the marksman a passive ability that just boosts your number of shots per round like items with + to number of shots do. I really hated that you had to shoot all the arrows at once in an all or nothing, hit or miss style, and you only got the venemous shots, burning shots, and brand damage once no matter how many you shot. That didn't make much sense. So now, instead, it just makes you shoot one arrow at a time, but lets you do so multiple times per action.

Another thing I didn't like... the way it was before, if you had some way of getting + to number of shots from your equipment, and also had the multi arrows ability, you could fire your "slavo" of arrows as many times as your equipment boosted your number of shots. I just thought it would be better to standardize, and have all the abilities that let you fire more than once in the same round work the same.

oh, and I also fixed the way returning arrows and bolts always disapear and don't return, and the way having base shooting skill above 70 caused ALL ammos to always disapear and never return. It was as simple as wrapping the inven_increase, inven_optimize, inven describe around that if statement near the bottom.

	-- Shoot once for every ranged weapons equipped.
	for weap = 0, 1 do

		if (weap == 0) then
			totfire = p_ptr.num_fire
		else
			totfire = p_ptr.num_fire2
		end
		-- Multiple Arrows ability.
        	if (p_ptr.abilities[(CLASS_MARKSMAN * 10) + 7] >= 1 and (inven(INVEN_WIELD + weap).itemtype == 1)) then

			totfire = totfire + (p_ptr.abilities[(CLASS_MARKSMAN * 10) + 7] / 5) + 1

        	end

		for j = 1, totfire do

			dir = 0

			-- Look for a ranged weapon.
			if (inven(INVEN_WIELD + weap).tval == TV_RANGED) then

				-- Look if we have the proper ammos.
				if (inven(INVEN_WIELD + weap).itemtype == inven(INVEN_AMMO).itemtype) then

					if (inven(INVEN_WIELD + weap).pval2 >= inven(INVEN_WIELD + weap).extra2) then

						-- Determine the needed amount of ammos.
						totalammos = inven(INVEN_WIELD + weap).extra2

						-- Multiple Arrows ability.
        					-- if (p_ptr.abilities[(CLASS_MARKSMAN * 10) + 7] >= 1 and (inven(INVEN_WIELD + weap).itemtype == 1) and multishot) then

                				--	local tmpstring
						--	local maxarrows

                				--	maxarrows = (p_ptr.abilities[(CLASS_MARKSMAN * 10) + 7] / 5) + 2
                				--	if (maxarrows > inven(INVEN_AMMO).number) then maxarrows = inven(INVEN_AMMO).number end
						--	tmpstring = string.format('Shoot how many arrows? (Max: %d)', maxarrows)
                				--	totalammos = get_quantity(tmpstring, maxarrows)
                				--	if (totalammos <= 0) then totalammos = 1 end
        					-- end
				
						-- Look if we have the proper quantity of ammo.
						if (inven(INVEN_AMMO).number >= totalammos) then

							-- The ammo we're gonna shoot(and possibly drop).
							drop_ranged = inven(INVEN_AMMO)
					
							-- Direction
							dir = lua_get_aim_dir()

							-- Return if we abort this step.
							if (dir == 0) then return end

							-- Determine the element.
							-- The shooter has priority over the ammo.
							if (inven(INVEN_WIELD + weap).extra1 == 0) then
								element = inven(INVEN_AMMO).extra1
							else
								element = inven(INVEN_WIELD + weap).extra1
							end

							-- 0 defaults to physical.
							if (element == 0) then element = 15 end
					
							-- Determine damages.
							current_weapon = inven(INVEN_WIELD + weap)
							dam = ranged_damages()

							-- In case of arrows, more damages can be dealt by shooting multiple of them.
							-- if (inven(INVEN_AMMO).itemtype == 1) then

							--	dam = dam * totalammos
							-- end

							-- Determine radius
							-- Again, shooter has priority.
							if (inven(INVEN_WIELD + weap).extra5 >= inven(INVEN_AMMO).extra3) then
								rad = inven(INVEN_WIELD + weap).extra5
							else
								rad = inven(INVEN_AMMO).extra3
							end

							-- Called shot?
							called_shot = calledshot

							-- Are we returning?
							returning = 0
							if ((p_ptr.skill_base[3] >= 70 and not(inven(INVEN_WIELD + weap).itemtype == 3 or inven(INVEN_WIELD + weap).itemtype == 4)) or (get_object_flag4(inven(INVEN_AMMO), TR4_RETURNING))) then

								returning = 1
							end

							-- Determine if the ammo will drop on the ground.
							-- A couple of global variables are used here to make
							-- things a lot easier.
							if ((lua_randint(100) > inven(INVEN_AMMO).extra2) and returning == 0) then
								dropshots = TRUE
								dropnum = totalammos
							end

							-- Actually fire a shot!
							-- The "ranged_attack" variable is set to true.
							-- See elements.lua for extra code for ranged attacks hitting
							-- a monster. Nevermiss is set to true to prevent Physical from
							-- being treated differently than other spells.
							-- Finally, "shoot_type" is the type of shooter that was used.
							shoot_type = inven(INVEN_WIELD + weap).itemtype
							ranged_attack = TRUE
							fire_ball(element, dir, dam, rad)
							ranged_attack = FALSE

							-- Shooter loses some ammos(except for bows).
							if (not(inven(INVEN_WIELD + weap).itemtype == 1) and returning == 0) then
								inven(INVEN_WIELD + weap).pval2 = inven(INVEN_WIELD + weap).pval2 - totalammos
							end

							-- Reduce ammos in inventory.
							if (returning == 0) then
								inven_item_increase(INVEN_AMMO, -totalammos)
                        					inven_item_describe(INVEN_AMMO)
                        					inven_item_optimize(INVEN_AMMO)
							end

							-- Take a turn.
							energy_use = 100

							-- Update.
							update_and_handle()
						else
							msg_print("You need more ammos!")
						end
					else
						msg_print("This weapon needs to be reloaded!")
					end
				else
					msg_print("Cannot shoot these ammos with this weapon!")
				end
			end

		end
	end

[Gando]

whats with the screen stretching effect? grrr.... anyway...good job if that works.

[Variaz]

I believe the returning bug is fixed in the upcoming release.

The screen stretching is because the code is too long.

Anyway, this script may be nice for some peoples, but I will not implement it in the official release. The idea of Multiple Arrows wasn't to give players extra shots per turns. The "all or nothing" thing was exactly what I had in mind when I made this ability, being more of a boss killer than a crowd control ability.

[sekira]

Apr 19, 2008 11:24:01 GMT -5 Variaz said:

I believe the returning bug is fixed in the upcoming release.

The screen stretching is because the code is too long.

Anyway, this script may be nice for some peoples, but I will not implement it in the official release. The idea of Multiple Arrows wasn't to give players extra shots per turns. The "all or nothing" thing was exactly what I had in mind when I made this ability, being more of a boss killer than a crowd control ability.

Well, then that is just one more way that guns are more powerful than bows. The extra shots of repeating guns lets you do both crowd control AND boss killing, not one or the other. Not to mention that the brand damage and venemous/burning shots damage works for every shot of a repeating firearm. Heck, even High Velocity Fanning lets you do crowd control in a straight line, and every shot for that gets the brand/venemous/burning damage.

That isn't even the main reason I made the change. The main reason is because the mechanics of it just boggled me. How exactly is it supposed to work? How do you fire more than one arrow and have them all hit together or all miss together? Even if you are explaining it as the shooter is knocking several arrows at once and firing them all with a single draw and release of the bowstring, that still wouldn't guarantee all of the arrows either hit together or miss together. Just seems strange to me.

[Variaz]

I thought about it a bit more, and remembered why I did it that way as opposed to have multiple shots. Because extra shots were too strong in the past, they took less than a move, and "kiting" (shoot while moving backward) was just too easy.

However, now it has changed, it works differently, and having 10 extra shots doesn't break the game as much as it did. I guess there would be nothing wrong in changing Multiple Arrows to give extra shots, although there are some cases where you might actually want to deal big damages as opposed to many small damages. For example, if there were any monsters that soaks a specific amount of damages as opposed to percentile resistances, Multiple Arrows would be much more useful. Just because there aren't any at the moment doesn't mean there'll never be....they might even come sooner than you think... For fire/poison shots, fixing the damages would be really easy, you multiply them by the number of shots fired at once.

Still, having bows get extra shots is definitly a nice thing, but perhaps it's the skill that should be modified as opposed to Multiple Arrows. The "Rapid Shots" could be modified so that it provides an extra shot for every 20 or 30 points.

[sekira]

Well, I thought about it some more too, and I think I see the wisdom in leaving multi arrows the way it is, for just the reason you gave, though I do think that the venomous and burning shots abilities and brand damges should be multiplied as well. It isn't really that strange that a bowman would knock several arrows at once and fire them all with a single pull. and it also opens up a different strategy. The reality of it shouldn't be too much of an issue, because this is a game, and not only a game, but a very fantastic game with high cinema components, so the fun of an idea should outweigh the realism component...

I guess I've changed my vote, to leave multi arrows the way it is. As far as changing the quick shots feat, are you talking about the shooting feat quick shots (passive, level 40) or the bows feat rapid shots (passive, level 80) ? Either way, giving an additional shot for every 20 or 30 of any skill would be too much in my opinion.

I would vote to change the bows rapid shots feat. I think a good replacement would be to have each shot when they are firing have a chance to not count towards their maximum (not increment the loop counter) so they get a free additional shot, and that one can give a free additional, etc, etc. The percentage chance should be low though, like 50% at the most (personally I think 33% would be better), or bows could really get broken. Perhaps a good thing would be to give 1 extra shot allways, and also a low chance that every shot can be a free shot?

Another benefit of this, is that it takes away the possiblity of 0 time action that the original rapid shots provided... That could be unbalancing, even if it is only 25% of the time.

[sekira]

Hmm, I just found out that the shooting feat quick shots doesn't add an extra shot for the 2nd hand... is that right?

That means if you are wearing a sword and a pistol, you get 0 bonus if the pistol is in your second hand.

I think it should add one shot to both hands.

[Variaz]

Indeed it should, oversight from me. I just fixed it.

I would vote to change the bows rapid shots feat. I think a good replacement would be to have each shot when they are firing have a chance to not count towards their maximum (not increment the loop counter) so they get a free additional shot, and that one can give a free additional, etc, etc. The percentage chance should be low though, like 50% at the most (personally I think 33% would be better), or bows could really get broken. Perhaps a good thing would be to give 1 extra shot allways, and also a low chance that every shot can be a free shot?

It does add an element of randomness and unpredictability though. Instead, maybe an additional shot every 50 points? And of course, it's a feat, so boosting the skill using items would not work. This way, I don't think it breaks anything, you'd get 10 extra shots at skill level 500, and it still provides a good bonus.

[sekira]

Sounds good.

I gotta say that was a quick response.

So, since it is going to be 1 extra shot per 50 skill, are you going to lower the feat level to 50? I'm not even sure I have an opinion, mostly just curious.

[Variaz]

Yes, obviously, the skill will take effect at skill level 50.