Notification about Zig in Pan

[Sandman25]

Sometimes I am really unlucky and have to fully explore 30+ pan levels before I can find a single zig. It is boring, time-consuming and leads to unnecessarily OP characters. I suggest to display notification about zig presence immediately after entering a new floor (or at least in Pan) like is done for unique pan runes. I think it doesn't change balance because the portals never time out. I hope I will be able to create a patch for that.

PS. Yes, I know Ash announces portals.

[pratamawirya]

I think it doesn't change balance because the portals never time out.

And all other non-timed portals are never announced, so what's the issue here?

[Bloax]

Because if you're looking for a ziggurat, you're not gonna stop until you find one. Might as well just do them a favour and lessen their misery.

[dpeg]

I don't think the idea is unreasonable. It says a bit about the issues that Pan has, though. Elsewhere, portal vaults are announced to make players change their approach to exploring the level (or not -- but it's a choice). Permanent portals don't need an announcement since we can expect players to fully explore the level anyway.

I would support a patch if it came in, but this is just a personal opinion. No idea if others would be resistant -- perhaps just ask on ##crawl-dev?

Probably a whole lot could be done about Pan, but I've never really been there, so ziggurats may be my only contribution ever to that branch

[Lasty]

Is there any reason not to guarantee a ziggurat on every floor of Pan, just to avoid making people grind for them? If they're planning to tackle a zig, they can breeze through any given level of Pan.

[dpeg]

Lasty: This is bordering on meta-game questions. If there was only a single ziggurat per game, then the decision about when to leave would be a lot more meaningful. Given that Pan generates arbitrarily many ziggurats (if slow), the choice matters less. Moreover, on the one hand all this grinding potential seems pointless and could be remove; on the other, important people told me that it is good to keep grindable content in clearly defined niches (mummy, Pan). In other words, I am at a loss

[Kalma]

Is there any reason not to guarantee a ziggurat on every floor of Pan, just to avoid making people grind for them? If they're planning to tackle a zig, they can breeze through any given level of Pan.

Much lesser character can visit a Zig for some nice loot, they are not only for late-late game grinding.

[Lasty]

Is there any reason not to guarantee a ziggurat on every floor of Pan, just to avoid making people grind for them? If they're planning to tackle a zig, they can breeze through any given level of Pan.

Much lesser character can visit a Zig for some nice loot, they are not only for late-late game grinding.

If zigs spawned on every floor, would players be more likely to seek them out at a point when they cannot handle Pan monsters with ease? If so, would it matter, given that a) they probably can't leave Pan quickly afterwards, and b) they paid a lot of money to get access to that zig?

@dpeg, I take your point. I'm not much for grinding, but I'm sure there are those who are.

[Kalma]

I'm just saying it would be relevant to "normal" games too. People do go to Pan even before it's a breeze. I think most would enter the guaranteed Zig on the same visit they get the runes on.

[Sandman25]

I created the patch

(I have no experience with ##crawl-dev so I just added the patch to mantis, it is literally one line change).