More Noob Questions

[shadowtongue]

So I played Tome 2.XX a while back, and certainly my share of angband variants, but I'm new to this one, and while I mostly grok the mechanics there are somethings I am unclear on.

Mastery...

What is the meaning of the value for the different talents?

Weapons...

Damage is no longer XdY but a simple range (or is it?). How is the actual value calculated?

Alchemist...

Bombs? You can throw them with no gems, or you can make gems and equip them, and they get automatically used when you throw a bomb?

Item Classes

Do you need the appropriate 'skill' to use them? Or just the stat requirement?

Minimap/Items/Specials

Somethings show up on the minimap, more things do not. Is there a setting for this (to see items for example)? I suppose it just may take some getting used to, but I have a hard time seeing items on the main map (especially if they are out of LoS) and would like some way to quickly 'list' or 'show' all items/specials (monsters show up as red dots at least).

Well I'm sure I'll have more, but thanks in advance for any answers.

[Sirrocco]

Alchemists: I don't believe you can throw bombs without alchemist gems. If you make alchemist gems (which you carve out of normal gems) and equip them, they'll be used for all of the gem-using powers you have. (You start with throw bomb and the one for interacting with your golem, but can get more later). Generally, higher-quality gems will give you better effects (or so I've heard).

Damage is somewhat complicated. To the best of my knowledge, you start with the base range, then add appropriate attributes (times weapon-specific modifiers), then multiply by any percentage effects from passives and powers (and I'm not really certain how those stack) then reduce by enemy resistance.

For items - weapons only require stats. Cloth and leather armors only require stats. Heavy armors require the heavy armor skill, and massive armors (which, unlike the other armor types, are body-armor only) require the massive armor skill (which has the heavy armor skill as a prerequisite).

Mastery sometimes means very little and sometimes means a fair amount. Basically, your effective skill level in a skill is equal to the number of skill points you've sunk into it (up to 5) times your mastery level in the tree. There are a number of trees where, for example, every class that has the tree will have it at a 1.300 multiplier. At that point, the fact that you have it at a 1.300 multiplier means very little - the same number of skill points is going to get the same result for everyone. On the other hand, if you have one class with a skill tree at a multiplier of 1.000 and another with a multiplier of 1.300, then they're going to have rather different payoffs for resources spent.

[shadowtongue]

Thanks for getting me started

So for damage...

I have a Mace of Electricity (or however it's called here) which has a range of 7.2-9.8 and then adds 8 electricity damage. Other modifiers from talents might add another 50%.

The damage is rolled (7.2-9. then has 8 added to it, then is multiplied by 150%. That gives a total damage which is then applied to target and reduced accordingly? Or is the elemental damage a separate value added to the base value and thus resisted separately depending on the targets resistances?

The character sheet does show a main hand damage value, I guess, what is that value? Because it's not a range.

[escargot]

As far as I know, the damage in the character sheet is calculated from weapon's power plus all your skills adding percentage to your damage. For damage calculations it's the power range of the weapon considered.

As for elemental damage, it's counted outside the damage equation, as you said, considering elemental resistances and so on.

[greycat]

I k eep meaning to look into combat formulas some time, but I haven't done so yet. But as far as I can tell, it goes approximately like this:

• Base damage is rolled within the weapon's (or shield's) natural range.
• Enemy armor is reduced by your armor penetration (APR). The remainder (or 0 if it's negative) is subtracted from the base damage.
• All your multipliers are applied to that. That means +physical% (e.g. rings of massacre), Strength bonus, etc.
• This determines your physical damage. This is then reduced by the enemy's physical resistance (+ "all" resistance).
• Each elemental damage type is applied separately. If you have +7 dark and +8 dark from two sources, that becomes a 15-point darkness attack. This is multiplied by any +dark% you have. Then it's reduced by the enemy's darkness resistance (and "all" resistance).

Take with a grain of salt. Also, I'm not sure when critical hit bonuses are applied, but I do know that the critical hit bonus is 50%, plus whatever +critical-damage% bonuses you have. (So if you have +20% critical damage, that means you multiply by 1.70 at some point. I just don't know when.)

[Sirrocco]

I know that if you have enough armor, you can take 0 damage from nonphysical melee attacks. This may apply only to direct elemental attacks (like from a staff) rather than added elemental damage.

I'm also pretty sure that the stat bonus is an add. At least, that's what the weapons seem to suggest.

[Massimiliano Marangio]

Highlight to read the spoiler on the physical damage calculation.
The Stats determine the basic part of the raw damage, i.e. a warrior with Strength 60 has a starting raw damage of 60 with a longsword (100% Str), and a starting raw damage of 72 with a greatsword (120% Str).

This is multiplied by a factor based on the sum of weapon power, bonus to combat damage, arcane destruction, and bloody frenzy bonus. For example, if the sum is 10,20,30,40,50 the factor is 100%, 133%, 158%, 180%, 199%.

This is then multiplied by a factor based on Weaponmastery that ranges from 100% (talent level 0) to 200% (talent level 10) or more, and divided by 1.5.

This is the basic raw damage shown on your character sheet. It is reduced by armour minus armour piercing as stated above. This number is then multiplied by a random number between 1 and the range of the weapon, by the critical damage modifier if the hit was critical (usually 150% for a critical hit), and by the talent multiplier (normally 100%)/offhand multiplier for offhand weapons (normally 50%).

This damage is then increased by the bonus to physical damage (%) and reduced by the all/physical resistance of the target.

Oh, and the electrical bonus is applied separately and is only increased by the bonus to lightning damage and reduced by the all/lightning resistance of the target.

Edit: changed the critical damage modifier (see below).

[edge2054]

The critical damage modifier is 150% as greycat said not +100%.

[shadowtongue]

Is there a way to see what you have equipped your golem with?

Also, when in a store, is there a way to swap between equip and inventory panes?

When replacing runes/imbues is there a way to compare the inventory one with the inscribed?

[Final Master]

No
No
No

[Frumple]

1) Equip the golem with something else, then check what got swapped out. S'the only way, at the moment. Also, remember the search feature exists. Searching for 'golem inventory' sees this question answered in the first page of results.
2) As FM says.
3) When you try to replace them, it gives a list of what's inscribed, you can check there. When you pull up the 'm' menu, it shows the runes and what they do. When you look at a rune/infusion in your inventory, it tells you what it does. It's not a direct side by side thing, but if you can remember a couple numbers (Inventory item info, 'm' talent menu info) for about five seconds, it's not an issue.

[Ataraxzy]

Frumple,

I disagree. My thinking is that if people are asking regularly about a particular feature-set, then lack of those features *is* an issue, and an important one. None of these frequently asked questions impinge upon game balance, they just make the UI friendlier, which is a big deal in a roguelike. It's hard enough to get people to overcome their reluctance towards keyboard-driven interfaces, but those three things are at the top of my and many other's wishlists.

That you personally don't find any of these irritating doesn't mean that others, indeed, many others, don't. Indeed, my first few hours with the game were quite frustrating trying to figure out how to compare items quickly and easily.

I'm not attacking you, just offering a different perspective.