Dynamical monsters

For the c-r-d email by dpeg see dynamicalcrd.

Implementation 2017/01

By lasty.

Each monster that is following you for N steps has a chance of N/(2000+N) to become bezotted (temporary name, no use discussing this now). A bezotted monster will

  • move/act faster by 2 (e.g. a speed 10 monster becomes 12)
  • +20% to HD,HP,damage
  • +2 to AC,EV
  • the name changes: orc –> bezotted orc

There is no change to XP, and the modification is permanent.

Note that only steps of a monster count when it follows the player. In particular, leaving a sleeping monster in peace does nothing.

The experimential branch (“dynamical monsters”) is a proof-of-concept. Energy randomisation has been removed because the bezotting mechanic is better at avoiding pillar dancing (for example, clearer interface).

Some comments and ideas for further changes:

    • lower rate slightly
    • increase power slightly
    • grace period for first few moves a monster makes, and perhaps also for a few moves after the character blinks
  • brannock: take care of OOD spawns (tone down or remove)
  • dpeg: the chance to bezot could depend on absolute depth, so that it doesn't add to early game threat (which we think is about alright) but does add to danger later on. It was pointed out by ontoclasm and gammafunk that this is a bad idea: dynamical monsters should not be used to balance early vs late game.
  • gammafunk: the current implementation has an UI problem: players may want to count how many turns a monster is following them (to assess bezotting chances). Printing the number of turns (or the chance) in 'xv' is not a good option either. A flat chance was discussed, but it is not clear whether there is a chance that hits a good balance.
  • SteelNeuron: exempt uniques from this.
  • Siegurt: replace the OOD monster spawns by ever increasing chances of bezotment (multiple levels too, I assume) the more time you spend on a level.
    • dpeg: perhaps time spent on a level is a better measure in general, given the above issues?

Vaults (both random vaults and branch end vaults) are problematic:

  • dynast: “you never want to see more monsters than you can kill”.
  • bel: “Bezotted enemies are dangerous, but this doesn't really fix luring. I simply don't venture into vaults which are deathtraps, and shout instead. … You want to lure weaker enemies even more. Here's a typical scenario. You spot a weak enemy and attract its attention. It shouts; you duck behind a corner and kill it. Meanwhile, other enemies wander towards the noise (but aren't hunting you – so are not bezotted).” Some suggestions by bel:
    • New consumable “upstairs pass”: if there is a monster on the level which knows your location (in or out of LOS), then you need use up one of these consumables in order to take the stairs. See forum thread. (I think this is a really good idea just by itself. — dpeg 2017-01-13 13:39)
    • an enemy shouting alerts all surrounding enemies to your location, instead of simply attracting them to the noise. In my opinion, this may fix some garden variety situations, but this would be unworkable in many vaults because they're deathtraps and are not really meant for you to be fighting near them.
    • Bezotted status could depend inversely on tension. The current version actually discourages fighting lots of monsters at once – which means that it encourages luring single monsters.
  • nagdon What if the chance of bezotting a monster does not depend on the number of monsters chasing you? Simplest implementation: after each player action there is a small chance proportional to the AUTs used that one of the monsters chasing the player becomes bezotted. Choose this monster randomly from the non-bezotted chasing monsters, if no monster is chasing the player or all monsters chasing the player are bezotted, then nothing happens.
    • When a monster starts chasing the player, no new bezottings will happen for N turns (neither the new monster nor the ones already chasing the player may bezot), where N is a function of the XP value of the new monster (so summoned and other no-reward monsters do not slow down bezotting at all and popcorn has only a small effect). These effects are additive, so if you run into a pack, then you have more bezotting-free turns to kill them. This no-bezotting status could be displayed as a status light (e.g. “Surprise”)
      • To make stair-dancing less efficient and avoid accumulating large amounts of bezot-free time, the no-bezotting time is reset to zero when the player uses stairs. Of course if monsters spot the player on the next level, then the bezot-free time is immediately increased, but if monsters follow the player on the stairs, then they may have a chance to bezot immediately.
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dcss/brainstorm/monster/concept/dynamical.txt · Last modified: 2017-03-26 10:34 by nagdon
 
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