The Tavern

There needs to be a better way to stack nets in inventory. Undamaged nets stack. Damaged nets do not stack, even if they have the same status (torn). This is poor form. How can we fix this?

Aren't there different levels within the {torn} status, a la the old missile enchanting rules? (i.e. both a -3 net and a -4 net are considered "torn" or something). I guess it's still kinda stupid either way (though I'm not sure I've ever run into many situations where having 3 or 4 different stacks of nets was a major problem).

Wasn't there a suggestion to give nets a small chance of complete destruction on use rather than a slow progression of tears?

It's not like we have arrow, arrow {ruffled}, arrow {bent}.

Igxfl wrote:Wasn't there a suggestion to give nets a small chance of complete destruction on use rather than a slow progression of tears?

Yes, and bh said he supported it IIRC.

I don't like how nets consume a lot of slots, but I like how they work. Their mechanic is unique unlike most other ammunition. This might sound strange, and I know that expanding inventory is forbidden by gods, but maybe we could have some extra slots for nets exlusively?

^ What is the merit of that proposition? Why wouldn't we just do the 'remove wear, add fixed chance of destruction' thing that reaver describes? It's statistically similar while removing the annoyance of manually managing a distinction you won't usually care about.

It *might* be statistically similar, but not practically. It's not ok if I throw a net and it's immediately destroyed and it's not ok if it holds a monster in place possibly forever.

Agreed on the second scenario, not so sure about the first.

Surely we can crib some blood potion code here and have a vector of enchantments( a vector of timers seems much more complex)? but then the question of which net do you want to throw arise.

The chance for a monster to break out of a net could increase each time they struggle against it, I guess. That would prevent the stuck in net forever scenario.

Grandiloquent Gentleman wrote:Surely we can crib some blood potion code here and have a vector of enchantments( a vector of timers seems much more complex)? but then the question of which net do you want to throw arise.

Blood potions had several bugs related to the timers getting out of sync that lasted for five or more years. They have to be handled all over the code: anywhere that could split, merge, resize, or otherwise manipulate item stacks. http://s-z.org/neil/git/?p=crawl.git&a= ... ood_potion

Granted, we could generalise the blood potion code somewhat to take advantage of bugs we have fixed there, but since net merging would not be quite the same thing (enchantments rather than timers), there would be plenty of opportunity for new bugs.

Not that I'm advocating avoiding things just because of potential bugs, but if there's any way to improve nets that doesn't involve stacking disparate items, I'd prefer that for technical reasons. The same holds for potions of blood, too...

Stacking wouldn't work because nets degrade. For some monsters I want undamaged nets or at least not the worst ones, but for some I'm ok with severely torn to give me opportunity to land one stab.

We could of course think of a different mechanic of destruction that would work similarly, I guess, but I'm not sure that we can do exactly the same practical use for nets with other mechanics. Well I don't think that nets taking some space is a big deal, you probably shouldn't walk with a full inventory anyway.

Nets are one of the strongest (mostly)unresistable disabling tool, so I don't think that for the sake of balance there should be a way to preserve them if you are fast, or I would use them every time and this would break my game.

Amnesiac wrote:Nets are one of the strongest (mostly)unresistable disabling tool, so I don't think that for the sake of balance there should be a way to preserve them if you are fast, or I would use them every time and this would break my game.

I think a formula along the lines of

Code:: Net breakage chance = X + f(HD) + g(N)

Where f(HD) is some function of the monster's HD (or XL I guess) and g(N) is some function of how many times that monster had previously tried to break the net. So the net would only have "memory" when it's attached to a monster, after that monster is killed it goes back to being the exact same item.

I'm not sure on the exact numbers or functions right now because I don't know the current formula, but I think this would give a pretty similar effect to the current system if the numbers/formulas were done right. Leaving a monster in a net for a short while would leave the net pretty safe, putting it in the net for a long time will probably make you lose it.

e: I'm assuming the current net breakage rate is based on monster HD, but I'm not actually sure. Also obviously any extra factors like claws could be included in the formula too.

Just give nets a 0% chance to mulch on a miss (This might already be the case, not sure), give escaping monsters or players a greater chance each turn to escape, and let the nets do a mulching check every time a monster gets out (by wiggling out, cutting the net, or dying, doesn't matter)

+1 to the above post. PLEASE.

Leafsnail wrote:Leaving a monster in a net for a short while would leave the net pretty safe

That what I think is not really a good idea, because it think it's good that it get's gradually and noticeably damaged. It's not usually destoyed, but you can't keep if for a long use even if you are careful.

reaver wrote:
Igxfl wrote:Wasn't there a suggestion to give nets a small chance of complete destruction on use rather than a slow progression of tears?

Yes, and bh said he supported it IIRC.

I even implemented it. Kilobyte had a counter-proposal for implementation (completely removing floor items), so I never committed my patch.

The Tavern

Why are nets consuming my inventory?

Why are nets consuming my inventory?

Re: Why are nets consuming my inventory?

Re: Why are nets consuming my inventory?

Re: Why are nets consuming my inventory?

Re: Why are nets consuming my inventory?

Re: Why are nets consuming my inventory?

Re: Why are nets consuming my inventory?

Re: Why are nets consuming my inventory?

Re: Why are nets consuming my inventory?

Re: Why are nets consuming my inventory?

Re: Why are nets consuming my inventory?

Re: Why are nets consuming my inventory?

Re: Why are nets consuming my inventory?

Re: Why are nets consuming my inventory?

Re: Why are nets consuming my inventory?

Re: Why are nets consuming my inventory?

Re: Why are nets consuming my inventory?