Tome 2.3.5 Runecrafter broken - where to fix?

[rimaur]

Hi,
I've been playing angband and its variants for years. I was hooked when as a kid - too many years ago -- my IBM micro came with the ascii game, Rogue!

My favourite variant is Tome 2.3.x. I currently have an android version for my tablet running 2.3.5. I have one pet peeve though and that is that the Runecrafter class is broken, never improving beyond the first skill point spent. I have lost track of how many times I have put the game down, only to pick up again a few months later, and waste a load of skill points in a Runecrafter before remembering it makes no difference

So I've finally decided to do something about it. I'm going to fix the runecrafter class in my 2.3.5 version. Yes, someone may have already done this, and yes there probably isn't any mileage in it long term. But I like a challenge and this is the first time I've decided to mess around with the code for this game - its a big step for me .

So I've got the source code (from here: http://www.zaimoni.com/zaiband/Angband.ref/ToME ) but before I dive into the multitudes of c-files and lines and lines of uncommented code, I thought I'd ask if anyone had any advice where to start? What I'm going to do in the first instance: a) fix the class so more skill points lowers failure rates and b) tie failure rates into int and dex (if they are not already).

So can anyone point me in the right direction?

Cheers...

[Yottle]

I wouldn't say Runecraft is broken. It never worked in the first place.

Lord Estraven worked on it in 2010 but didn't get it working. Search for "Runecraft" in the T2 forums and you will see some discussion.

I don't recall anyone else trying to get it working before that- certainly no one succeeded. The forum messages from the old days got deleted by a hacker so there is no way to find out now.

Good luck!

[AnonymousHero]

"Glad" to hear that it never really worked. Guess I'm going to remove it from my fork to get rid of junk usable-by-only-one-class items .

@OP: I you get an IDE which can find usages of symbols, you could start with a "Find Usages" for the "rune_spell" struct. Prepare to be shocked by the quality of the code. (Can't be bothered to unpack a 2.3.5 archive and the file organization has changed massively.)
Also be aware that Lua code may also be involved in rune spells -- I can't remember. I you can live with my fork, you might have better success with current master or by forking from the place where i got completely rid Lua (at that point there were very[/] few gameplay changes).

[Patashu]

I think Runecrafter works in Furyband (a ToME2 mod)?

[AnonymousHero]

I think Runecrafter works in Furyband (a ToME2 mod)?

Oh, I think it techincally "works", but it's not really usable/meaningful, if you get my meaning? (That's what I interpreted Yottle's comment to mean.)

Did FuryBand do something drastic with the Runecrafter class/skill? I can't remember it doing so, but I could be mistaken.

[Patashu]

I recall that I have a Furyband character that learned Runecrafting and made runes that sprayed glyphs of warning everywhere and stuff.

[Yottle]

On the Angband ladder there are a total of 15 Runecrafter dumps. One is from Furyband and the rest from Tome. That is a tiny number- there are 125 Bards, which is one of the least favorite classes, at least in Tome.

Most of the dumps have only 1 point in Runecrafting.

There is one winner, but he used Thaumaturgy as his main offense.

The Furyband player was one of the more positive about Runecrafting, so maybe it did work better there. She died at clvl 31.

[AnonymousHero]

@Yottle: Thanks for confirming.

It's going to go. (Maybe along with Bards/Music, actually. I love them thematically, but they just don't work in terms of game mechanics and it's got a ridiculous code footprint. We'll see on the bards, I guess.)

[Yottle]

Bards seem to serve only as a class for people who think that the regular game is too easy.

Someone ought to put in a Tourist class for masochists: bad starting stats (except for Charisma), no multipliers or starting skills. Like a yeek on anti-steroids.

[Lord Estraven]

Someone ought to put in a Tourist class for masochists: bad starting stats (except for Charisma)...

Since when have tourists been known for high Charisma, though? I mean:

[Yottle]

Sean Astin is the ultimate Tourist, and he is charismatic:



and