Scoring

There are a few annoyances that arise from turn based scoring. One proposed solution is to change the scoring calculation to use Aut (arbitrary units of time) instead of player turns. I'm starting this page to catalog some of the ideas suggested in ##crawl and to provide a venue for discussing other problems/suggestions regarding scoring — n1000 2013-11-27 22:18

I am not sure if it is possible to avoid degeneration in speedrunning games. Perhaps the best way will eventually staging synchrone speedrunning (several players starting at the same time, with the same seed) — this would at least take care of stuff like early digging, or (un)lucky layouts. — dpeg 2013-12-08 04:28

• Current speedruners must employ bizarre and tedious techniques to regenerate HP. Players will wield scrolls/other non-weapons and swing them (1.5 aut delay per scoring turn) or encumber themselves and walk around in shallow water.
• Small, fast swinging weapons are heavily disadvantaged in the current system. A fast weapon which produces similar damage per aut to a big two-hander can significantly lower a player's score, adding thousands of turns worth of swinging.
• Aut-based scoring would allow us to get rid of player turns.

• Any aut-based scoring system will have to take racial travel speed into account.
• Annoying “optimal” travelling: constantly casting spider form or haste to travel.
  • While this is probably less annoying than status quo (disclaimer: I'm not at all a speedrunner), issues like these make tampering with the score unattractive: the new system wouldn't be elegant either. — dpeg 2013-12-08 04:24
• Chei high scores would become impossible.
• How much should we be concerned with compatibility/comparability with scores from the previous system?
  • Not much, I would say. Different DCSS versions can be so different (for various reasons) that no sensible comparisons are possible anyway. — dpeg 2013-12-08 04:24

• Some players have expressed annoyance at the role of digging in speedruns. Finding the spell early is a critical boon. Sapher, in the present highest-scoring game, would often dig in all directions upon entering a floor. Being able to infinitely dig lets a player create 1-tile wide tunnels with no enemies to obstruct them. This might be a topic worth discussing on a different page.