sdynet wrote:To avoid repeated meaningless offers, I will list the problems of throwing items.
Inventory management: There are 22 types of throwables. This makes it difficult to manage inventory.
Micro-management: You have to go around picking up ammo like money. This action increases the probability of exposing you to danger(moving monster, traps, hell effect) and wastes your turn. And it causes tiredness.
0 skill trainer: You throw throwables without training your throwing skills. This is annoying but cannot stop because it is useful.
Maintained monster's ability to long-range attack: Even after the improvement, monsters should be able to perform a similar level of long-range attack ability as they are now.
The improved system should be able to answer the following questions:
1. Don't you take up a lot of inventory?
2. You do not have to go around to get ammo?
3. Can you throw it over the lava?
4. Is it useless if you don't train?
5. Is the improved system as useful as it is now?
6. Does Merfolk still shoot 5-15 javelins, and the rock giant shoot 3-7 rocks(an amount similar to that of the present)?
no ammo, just "weapons" (revised):
sling & pouch of bullets
bow & quiver of arrows (accurate at medium and long range, but not at short range)
hand crossbow & quiver of bolts (accurate at short and medium range, not long range)
crossbow & quiver of bolts
bag of rocks (more rare to find, minimal damage)
pouch of poison darts (short range only ~4 tiles, accurate, with poison)
pack of tomahawks (chance to stun an enemy)
pack of javelins (chance to penetrate which tapers off with # of targets and distance)
pile of boulders (make it a two-handed weapon, it hits a single target really hard but is not accurate at long range)
These weapons come with limited of number of shots before they need to be reloaded (like tome, except they aren't seperate launchers+packs.) The amount of shots could vary from weapon to weapon, but I'd be careful about adding that much complexity, I think simple is better in this case. It should take a non-trivial amount of time to reload your ammo (more than 0.5), probably something more like 2-5. It should also take longer to wield these weapons than 0.5. Really all weapon swaps should probably take longer - or the time should be associated with the weapon type. For instance, swapping to a dagger takes 0.5, but swapping to a long bow takes 5 turns. Swapping to a bag of darts might take 1 turn... etc. and so on.
1. Doesn't take up a lot of inventory, if training throwing there are only a maximum number of 5 weapons, even fewer if slings, bows or crossbows.
2. You don't pick up ammo, you reload. Options can be set to auto-reload when resting, etc.
3. Can you throw it over the lava? I don't understand the criteria. Yes, you can throw over lava. If you mean, will ammo get destroyed? It could be yes or no. No, it doesn't have to get destroyed, but yes the total number of shots your weapon can fire before you must reload could be reduced by 1 for each time you fire in a manner where the ammo should be destroyed by something like lava. The total # of shots could also reduce over time like the mulching effect, such that the weapon wears out over time. Personally, I'd prefer no item destruction.
4. Nothing is ever totally useless even if you don't train for it, otherwise level 1 characters would be dead upon starting the game. People use daggers untrained on D:1 and they aren't useless at 0 skill, they just aren't as good as if they were a higher skill. The problem of ranged weapons being always useful at even 0 skill ties with the time it takes to ready them as weapons, because currently it's too easy to swap back and forth. If each weapon in the game had it's own amount of time it took to get it ready (wield it), and ranged weapons were on the slower side, the problem of ranged weapons would be no more annoying than needing to decide if you want to carry a dagger and a spear at once in inventory (in case one might be more useful than the other at different times.) Also, adding a unique amount of time each weapon takes to get ready would add additional tactics to the game. The swap times might also be affected by the weapon skill, so if you were super trained at bows, that longbow might take 1 turn to ready instead of 5 turns.
5. As useful as it is now? I'd say so, and probably more interesting as well.
6. The merfolk with javelins or the cyclops would be bound by all the same rules as players, they would have a maximum number of shots before needing to reload. The total number of shots they get could be what it is now if the # of shots in their weapons are randomized and match the current values. They might not ever totally run out of ammo, but they could be faced with a longish reload time if they don't switch to melee.