Allow setting skill 'goal level'

[milo]

Accessible from the 'm' screen, an option to set a level at which a skill will stop training.

Is there some way to do this already?

Would save many future trips to the 'm' screen to check on skill progression, and would prevent overtraining. Also I'm really obsessive about getting levels to whole numbers...

[dowan]

It would be nice sometimes, but whole numbers in skills generally aren't as important as you might expect. Of course, there are still some breakpoints, and it would be nice to have skills automatically stop training at those points.

I know a while back, Sandman was talking about a mod or rc file setting where the game would indicate when a skill reached a certain level. Unfortunately I don't have any more detail than that...

[VeryAngryFelid]

I am not sure it was me, but there is a way to achieve it indeed.

Something like

  Code:

force_more_message+=skill increases

or

  Code:

{
skill_list = {"Fighting","Short Blades","Long Blades","Axes","Maces & Flails",
              "Polearms","Staves","Unarmed Combat","Bows","Crossbows",
              "Throwing","Slings","Armour","Dodging","Shields","Spellcasting",
              "Conjurations","Hexes","Charms","Summonings","Necromancy",
              "Translocations","Transmutations","Fire Magic","Ice Magic",
              "Air Magic","Earth Magic","Poison Magic","Invocations",
              "Evocations","Stealth"}

function record_current_skills(maxlev)
  c_persist.skill_list = { }
  for _,sk in ipairs(skill_list) do
    if you.train_skill(sk) > 0 and you.base_skill(sk) < (maxlev or 27) then
      table.insert(c_persist.skill_list, sk)
    end
  end
end

function check_skills()
  if not c_persist.skill_list or not c_persist.target_skill then
    return
  end
  for _,sk in ipairs(c_persist.skill_list) do
    if you.base_skill(sk) >= c_persist.target_skill then
      crawl.formatted_mpr(sk .. " reached " .. c_persist.target_skill
                          .. ".", "prompt")
      crawl.more()
      c_persist.target_skill = nil
      set_new_skill_training()
    end
  end
end

function set_new_skill_training()
  c_persist.set_target_skill = 1
  crawl.sendkeys('m')
end

function set_target_skill()
  record_current_skills()
  local str = "Currently training: "
  local first_skill = true
  for _,sk in ipairs(c_persist.skill_list) do
    val = you.base_skill(sk)
    if first_skill then
      str = str .. sk .. "(" .. val .. ")"
    else
      str = str .. ", " .. sk .. "(" .. val .. ")"
    end
    first_skill = false
  end
  str = str .. "."
  crawl.formatted_mpr(str, "prompt")
  crawl.formatted_mpr("Choose a target skill level: ", "prompt")
  c_persist.target_skill = tonumber(crawl.c_input_line())
  record_current_skills(c_persist.target_skill)
end

function control(c)
  return string.char(string.byte(c) - string.byte('a') + 1)
end

function save_with_message()
  if you.turns() == 0 then
    crawl.sendkeys("S")
    return
  end
  crawl.formatted_mpr("Save game and exit?", "prompt")
  local res = crawl.getch()
  if not (string.char(res) == "y" or string.char(res) == "Y") then
    crawl.formatted_mpr("Okay, then.", "prompt")
    return
  end
  crawl.formatted_mpr("Leave a message: ", "prompt")
  local res = crawl.c_input_line()
  c_persist.message = res
  crawl.sendkeys(control("s"))
end

function first_turn_of_game()
  for key,_ in pairs(c_persist) do
    if key ~= "record" then
      c_persist[key] = nil
    end
  end
  set_new_skill_training()
end

local did_first_turn = false
function ready()
   DmgTrack()
  if not did_first_turn then
    did_first_turn = true
    if you.turns() == 0 then
      first_turn_of_game()
    end
    if c_persist.message and c_persist.message ~= "nil"
       and c_persist.message ~= "" then
      crawl.mpr("Message: " .. c_persist.message)
      c_persist.message = nil
    end
  end
  check_skills()
  if c_persist.set_target_skill == 0 then
    set_target_skill()
    c_persist.set_target_skill = nil
  elseif c_persist.set_target_skill then
    c_persist.set_target_skill = c_persist.set_target_skill - 1
  end
end
}


Edit. It will prompt player to input a number and then automatically opens 'm' screen when any skill reaches the number.

[CanOfWorms]

gammafunk has this set up in his games, you can ask him about how he did it (assuming it isn't what was just posted above.)

[duvessa]

It would be nice sometimes, but whole numbers in skills generally aren't as important as you might expect. Of course, there are still some breakpoints, and it would be nice to have skills automatically stop training at those points.

For what it's worth, every whole skill level is actually still a breakpoint, because skill cost still only increases on the level boundaries. The addition of "fractional" levels introduced even more breakpoints for skills that affect AC, EV, SH, and HP, as well as all spell skills because the spell success formula is really stupid (there's a breakpoint at every 0.5 levels of effective spell skill).

Probably the best skills-related change you could make to crawl right now is to change the spell success formula. It's awful.

[dowan]

That's a good point about the costs following the whole numbers. I mean, of course with armor, dodging, and fighting the breakpoints are the time when your AC, EV, and HP increases, but I certainly can't predict when those things will happen, so I'm not aiming for a specific number when I train them.

So... how does effective spell skill differ from actual spell skill? Is it just spell skill + 1/4 of spellcasting skill for one school spells? Does that mean I should actually shoot for whole or half levels of each spell skill?

[dowan]

I am not sure it was me, but there is a way to achieve it indeed.

Something like

  Code:

force_more_message+=skill increases

or

  Code:

{
skill_list = {"Fighting","Short Blades","Long Blades","Axes","Maces & Flails",
              "Polearms","Staves","Unarmed Combat","Bows","Crossbows",
              "Throwing","Slings","Armour","Dodging","Shields","Spellcasting",
              "Conjurations","Hexes","Charms","Summonings","Necromancy",
              "Translocations","Transmutations","Fire Magic","Ice Magic",
              "Air Magic","Earth Magic","Poison Magic","Invocations",
              "Evocations","Stealth"}

function record_current_skills(maxlev)
  c_persist.skill_list = { }
  for _,sk in ipairs(skill_list) do
    if you.train_skill(sk) > 0 and you.base_skill(sk) < (maxlev or 27) then
      table.insert(c_persist.skill_list, sk)
    end
  end
end

function check_skills()
  if not c_persist.skill_list or not c_persist.target_skill then
    return
  end
  for _,sk in ipairs(c_persist.skill_list) do
    if you.base_skill(sk) >= c_persist.target_skill then
      crawl.formatted_mpr(sk .. " reached " .. c_persist.target_skill
                          .. ".", "prompt")
      crawl.more()
      c_persist.target_skill = nil
      set_new_skill_training()
    end
  end
end

function set_new_skill_training()
  c_persist.set_target_skill = 1
  crawl.sendkeys('m')
end

function set_target_skill()
  record_current_skills()
  local str = "Currently training: "
  local first_skill = true
  for _,sk in ipairs(c_persist.skill_list) do
    val = you.base_skill(sk)
    if first_skill then
      str = str .. sk .. "(" .. val .. ")"
    else
      str = str .. ", " .. sk .. "(" .. val .. ")"
    end
    first_skill = false
  end
  str = str .. "."
  crawl.formatted_mpr(str, "prompt")
  crawl.formatted_mpr("Choose a target skill level: ", "prompt")
  c_persist.target_skill = tonumber(crawl.c_input_line())
  record_current_skills(c_persist.target_skill)
end

function control(c)
  return string.char(string.byte(c) - string.byte('a') + 1)
end

function save_with_message()
  if you.turns() == 0 then
    crawl.sendkeys("S")
    return
  end
  crawl.formatted_mpr("Save game and exit?", "prompt")
  local res = crawl.getch()
  if not (string.char(res) == "y" or string.char(res) == "Y") then
    crawl.formatted_mpr("Okay, then.", "prompt")
    return
  end
  crawl.formatted_mpr("Leave a message: ", "prompt")
  local res = crawl.c_input_line()
  c_persist.message = res
  crawl.sendkeys(control("s"))
end

function first_turn_of_game()
  for key,_ in pairs(c_persist) do
    if key ~= "record" then
      c_persist[key] = nil
    end
  end
  set_new_skill_training()
end

local did_first_turn = false
function ready()
   DmgTrack()
  if not did_first_turn then
    did_first_turn = true
    if you.turns() == 0 then
      first_turn_of_game()
    end
    if c_persist.message and c_persist.message ~= "nil"
       and c_persist.message ~= "" then
      crawl.mpr("Message: " .. c_persist.message)
      c_persist.message = nil
    end
  end
  check_skills()
  if c_persist.set_target_skill == 0 then
    set_target_skill()
    c_persist.set_target_skill = nil
  elseif c_persist.set_target_skill then
    c_persist.set_target_skill = c_persist.set_target_skill - 1
  end
end
}


Edit. It will prompt player to input a number and then automatically opens 'm' screen when any skill reaches the number.

Wait... you can put scripts like that into your RC file? Or is that an external program?

[VeryAngryFelid]

Yes, I copied it from my online RC.

[duvessa]

So... how does effective spell skill differ from actual spell skill? Is it just spell skill + 1/4 of spellcasting skill for one school spells? Does that mean I should actually shoot for whole or half levels of each spell skill?

By "effective spell skill" I mean the average of the skills for all the schools in the spell, plus 1/4th of spellcasting skill. If you divide that by 0.5 and take the remainder, that remainder is the amount of effective skill that's "ignored" for spell success purposes. It's not necessarily optimal to aim for whole or half levels of the skills themselves (at least if you ignore the skill cost breakpoint I mentioned earlier), since 4 spellcasting + 2.25 fire + 2.75 conjurations still comes out to an effective 3.5 for sticky flame success. Also, spell power doesn't have the same breakpoints as spell success.

[Rast]

It will prompt player to input a number and then automatically opens 'm' screen when any skill reaches the number.

Yes, but you can still risk going over the desired skill level if you kill a monster that gives a lot of xp.

[gammafunk]

The target skill code is originally by elliptic, I cleaned it up some and put it in my repo. You can find instructions here:

https://github.com/gammafunk/dcss-rc#target_skill

We've talked about adding it into the default lua somehow, but it still has some issues menu-wise and probably should get a better in-game treatment.