laman@sdcsvax.UUCP (Mike Laman) (07/21/84)
> ... (For whatever it is worth, we figured how "they" > encrypt the saved file. Older versions used a simple mask, 5.3 > uses one large mask and one smaller sliding mask.) Wrong! It uses two sliding masks (one points to the "old" encstr (encryption string) and another one points at statlist which is treated just like encstr) AND a local "Frob" is XORed in too. This answers your questions of why 5.3 seems to take longer to save and restore games. Earlier version (5.2, and 3.6 that I know about) just had one pointer to "encstr" that was XORed, instead of 3 XORs AND modifying the local frob (a multiplication and an addition). It all adds up when you you have to do it too each character in the save file. Mike Laman UUCP: {ucbvax,philabs,sdccsu3,sdcsla}!sdcsvax!laman
laman@sdcsvax.UUCP (Mike Laman) (08/22/84)
Yes, monsters are meaner beyond level 26. For each level you are beyond
level 26, all newly created monsters have experience levels greater than
usual, and armor class stronger than usual. These are incremented
by the # of levels you are beyond level 26!
Other fields are meaner too:
Let us call PA (past amulet level) the # of levels you are beyond level 26.
When monsters are created, the following fields are affected by this
extra value, PA.
experience level += PA;
armor class += PA; (Actually rogue 5.3 keeps armor class on a scale where
the smaller the number the stonger the armor, but you
see what I mean. The armor class is STRONGER.)
current experience += PA * 10;
Monsters created when you are beyond level 29 are initially created as
hastened!
Mike Laman
UUCP: {ucbvax,philabs,sdcsla}!sdcsvax!lamanlaman@sdcsvax.UUCP (Mike Laman) (10/01/84)
Organization: Keywords: In article <1987@ucbvax.ARPA> wall@ucbvax.ARPA (Steve Wall) writes: >> Can soemone please help me? Several times I have gotten the >>statement "You feel a strange sense of loss" after reading a scroll. >>I know this means that it was an enchant scroll with nothing to enchant, >>BUT I have always had something to enchant in my possesion(wielding or >>wearing). What is going on? I would greatly appreciate any help. I >>play v5.3. Thanks a lot. > >I believe that the scroll you are referring to is a "hold monster" scroll, >NOT an enchant weapon/armor scroll. The hold monster scroll freezes all >monsters in the room you are in (it may freeze ALL monsters at that level, >but I don't think so...). > >Steve >..!ucbvax!wall I agree it is the hold monster scroll, but it holds monsters ONLY within TWO spaces (inclusively). This is true since 3.6. Mike Laman UUCP: {ucbvax,philabs,sdcsla}!sdcsvax!laman
laman@ncr-sd.UUCP (Mike Laman) (12/03/85)
In article <11118@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> tedrick@ernie.UUCP (Tom Tedrick) writes: >What happens if you kill 2 Leprechauns in a row, on the same spot >in a corridor, and there is only one spot for them to >drop their gold? Will the gold you pick up be the total >that they had between them, or will one stash be lost? > >(this is version 5.3) In 5.3 the gold would be lost. The gold is created only if it can place it on a clear space within a square region of one space around (or under) the killed monster. The gold will not be placed under the player, on top of another object on the ground, and the gold will not be merged with any gold on the floor around the monster. Mike Laman, System Roguer UUCP: {ucbvax,philabs,sdcsla}!sdcsvax!ncr-sd!laman
laman@ncr-sd.UUCP (Mike Laman) (12/19/85)
In article <870@dcl-cs.UUCP> stephen@comp.lancs.ac.uk (Stephen J. Muir) writes: >I was in the following situation: > > # > ####### >-------+------- >|@............| >|.............| >--------------- > >and typed the letters 't', 'k' and 'e' (the arrows I started with). Guess >where I found the arrow? > > # > )@##### >-------+------- >|.............| >|.............| >--------------- Yep, It is a helpful technique for finding those ``impossible'' secret door. You know what I mean. It seems that one in every 200 games or so you get a floor layout where you KNOW there are more rooms but you can't find the hidden door/corridor. After all, you do have to find those stairs. When all else fails, I start throwing arrows into the suspected walls and sides of corridors. If you don't see it fall, then you know it's laying on a corridor => search on that wall yet some more. I had to do this one game. The old pseudo-random search gods were against me and wouldn't show me the hidden door in one of three rooms. Talk about eating up your food! The routine for placing a falling object places it in a 3 by 3 rectangle around the place where it stopped the object (the wall in the case above). [A fix is to move the object one back to it's last valid location, before calling the routine to drop the object. As a matter of fact this is a bug in 5.3. The next time you get a maze that is next to the edge of a screen, through an object ``off the screen''. If the program doesn't die, then try a couple more times. It will.] You may have to throw a couple arrows, since the arrows may fall in the ``visible'' part of the rectangle. This strategy works for 3.6, 5.2 and 5.3. I haven't played any other versions, so I can't mention any others. Mike Laman, System Roguer UUCP: {ucbvax,philabs,sdcsla}!sdcsvax!ncr-sd!laman