chessboard vault

[Lasty]

Second try at a vault, this time a pair of vaults, one representing a chessboard of monsters set up and ready to battle, the second being the same chessboard after the monsters have fought and killed one another. The idea is to make this an infrequently-appearing vault (because it is a bit silly . . . ), and when it is selected, one of the two versions gets used. Each version of the vault tests and loads fine if included individually, but when I include both at the same time, even when they have their CHANCE elements commented out (as below), the application won't load. Does anyone know what issue I'm running into here?

Also, any general feedback on the idea would be welcome (too silly, too much loot, too dangerous, etc).

  Code:

# a chessboard with two opposing sides set up.
NAME:    lasty_chessboard_before
#CHANCE:  50 : 1%
TAGS:    no_monster_gen
#, chance_chessboard_group
DEPTH:   D:9-18
KFEAT:   X = .
KFEAT:   Z = .
FTILE:   Z = floor_sand
KFEAT:   A = .
KMONS:   A = goblin
KFEAT:   B = .
FTILE:   B = floor_sand
KMONS:   B = kobold
KFEAT:   C = .
KMONS:   C = orc priest
KFEAT:   D = .
FTILE:   D = floor_sand
KMONS:   D = orc priest
KFEAT:   E = .
KMONS:   E = centaur
KFEAT:   F = .
FTILE:   F = floor_sand
KMONS:   F = centaur
KFEAT:   G = .
KMONS:   G = ogre
KFEAT:   H = .
FTILE:   H = floor_sand
KMONS:   H = ogre
KFEAT:   I = .
KMONS:   I = 8
KFEAT:   J = .
FTILE:   J = floor_sand
KMONS:   J = 8
KITEM:   I = *
KITEM:   J = |
MAP
 xxxxxxxxxx
 xGFCJIDEHx
 xBABABABAx
 xXZXZXZXZx
@+ZXZXZXZX+@
@+XZXZXZXZ+@
 xZXZXZXZXx
 xABABABABx
 xHEDIJCFGx
 xxxxxxxxxx
END MAP

# a chessboard after the sides battle
NAME:    lasty_chessboard_after
#CHANCE:  50 : 1%
TAGS:    no_monster_gen
#, chance_chessboard_group
DEPTH:   D:9-18
KFEAT:   F = .
KFEAT:   E = .
FTILE:   E = floor_sand
KFEAT:   G = E
KFEAT:   H = F
KFEAT:   X = x
#: dgn.delayed_decay(_G, 'C', 'orc corpse')
#: dgn.delayed_decay(_G, 'D', 'orc corpse')
KITEM:   C = nothing w:40 / % w:20 / * w:5 / | w:1, \
           nothing w:40 / % w:20 / * w:5 / | w:1
KFEAT:   C = E
KITEM:   D = nothing w:40 / % w:20 / * w:5 / | w:1, \
           nothing w:40 / % w:20 / * w:5 / | w:1
KFEAT:   D = F
KMONS:   Q = 8
KMONS:   R = 8
KFEAT:   Q = F
KFEAT:   R = E
SUBST:   E = E:90 C
SUBST:   F = F:90 D
SUBST:   E = E:95 R:5
SUBST:   F = F:95 Q:5
SUBST:   E = E:50 G
SUBST:   F = F:50 H
SUBST:   x = x:50 X
KPROP:   G = bloody
KPROP:   H = bloody
KPROP:   X = bloody
MAP
 xxxxxxxxxx
 xEFEFEFEFx
 xFEFEFEFEx
 xEFEFEFEFx
@+FEFEFEFE+@
@+EFEFEFEF+@
 xFEFEFEFEx
 xEFEFEFEFx
 xFEFEFEFEx
 xxxxxxxxxx
END MAP

[rchandra]

I can't comment on the vault details, but I think it would be neat if the before/after have non-intersecting areas to be found in, and the after is deeper than the before, and the after appears if and only if the before has appeared. This might not be possible.

[Lasty]

I can't comment on the vault details, but I think it would be neat if the before/after have non-intersecting areas to be found in, and the after is deeper than the before, and the after appears if and only if the before has appeared. This might not be possible.

What's the intention of having players run into both versions of the vault in the same game? I'm inclined to feel that you should run into one or the other, but not both.

[JeffQyzt]

The loot dispensing seems reversed - you're giving star items in the version with dead defenders. If you just want to get across the point that you've got corpses and equipment strewn about from the finished game, specifically set the equipment (and make it average quality, so it's not really a bonus; e.g. a longsword or mace on D9+ won't raise eyebrows.)

OTOH, perhaps you could have the winning royalty still be alive...perhaps a Lich or something?

You might also want to give the opponent creatures descriptive adjectives, "black garbed" and "white garbed" for the opposing sides, just to make it drop dead obvious

It's a pity - I can't think of any way to script them to attack eachother without potentially giving you free XP or allies...

[Lasty]

The loot dispensing seems reversed - you're giving star items in the version with dead defenders. If you just want to get across the point that you've got corpses and equipment strewn about from the finished game, specifically set the equipment (and make it average quality, so it's not really a bonus; e.g. a longsword or mace on D9+ won't raise eyebrows.)

OTOH, perhaps you could have the winning royalty still be alive...perhaps a Lich or something?

You might also want to give the opponent creatures descriptive adjectives, "black garbed" and "white garbed" for the opposing sides, just to make it drop dead obvious

It's a pity - I can't think of any way to script them to attack eachother without potentially giving you free XP or allies...

I like the black-garbed and white-garbed idea, and that seems eminently implementable.

I don't think the loot is backward -- you'll get way better loot from the "before" board than the after one: the "before" board is guaranteed to have two * and two | items in exchange for its difficulty (four "8" monsters, some smiters behind a huge wall of meat shields . . .).

That said, I might well have amount of loot on the "after" board miscalibrated. The "after" board should contain an average of 3 "8" monsters, and on average contain 64 * (1/10) * (5/66) * 2 = 0.97 high quality items, and 64 * (1/10) * (1/66) * 2 = 0.19 super-high quality items, so the average loot payout is (I think) not overwhelming.

If that's still too much loot, or too much loot in a potential very-lucky condition, I'd be happy to reevaluate. If you think so, please let me know what you think a good target amount of loot would be.

I played around a little with the two sides attacking one another, and I found that if I flagged one side as "neutral_good", they would fight and I wouldn't gain experience, but that no matter how fast I ran to the vault, the fight would be completely over with almost all the monsters slaughtered. I think I'd have to LUA-trigger them to switch allegiance once they come into player view to prevent them from waking and fighting as soon as the vault gets loaded.