1.1.3 various bugs and UI suggestions

[fizzix]

Compiled a list of bizarre stuff, some of it is bugs, some of it is UI issues.

Bug: Monsters kill each other out of sight of player. Monster seem to randomly use abilities injuring each other when the player is not around. It's easy to see this with track or telepathy. In one vault in high peak, I teleported out, and then everything killed each other except for a couple cryomancers. This seems to be a bug in the monster AI, unless monsters are supposed to be fighting each other.

Bug: Turn difference between autoexplore and manual exploration. For whatever reason, if you manually explore you usually get the first turn when seeing an enemy. When you run or autoexplore, the enemy gets the first turn. The best place to test this out is in the orc prides in the switch rooms on the top and bottom. If you autoexplore in, they always cast first. If you walk in, you can often get a move before they can do anything.

Bug: Maps do not center near the edge. I pointed this out somewhere else, and I think DarkGod added a black square or two on most maps on the edge so the hotkey bar doesn't cover up stuff. But there still is a problem when near the edge of the map on certain maps with stuff getting covered up by the message log or the health bars. Orc breeding pits and maps that have that dungeon layout seem to be the most problematic.

Bug: Some monster attacks that usually trigger sound sometimes do not (like dragon breath). Haven't been able to figure out why, but there are often attacks that don't get an accompanying sound. Because message logs are too spammy (see below) taking cues from the sounds is very important.

Bug: Talking to Tannen's door teleports you to his tower even after he's dead. Not sure if both lines do this, but the one where he gives you the demonic orb and you go back to accuse him has this bug. You get the same dialog, which is nonsensical since Tannen is dead. Thankfully, everything is still dead in his tower.

Bug: Norgem (or whatever his name is) is perpetually dwelling in Reknor. If you go back into the dungeon later, Norgem is still happily hanging out by the stairs. Poor guy.

Bug: Monsters use healing infusions when at full health. I get that monster AI is fun when dumb, but this is exceptionally dumb.

Bug-ish: Blue NPCs go hostile even when they do something stupid. In one game I used a spell that left a light spot that does damage on the floor on Subject Z. He moved. The yeek stepped in the spot, and then promptly went hostile on me. As far as I know, there's no way to make an AI unhostile once they go hostile. I had the same thing happen with the elves in santascape. They spawned on a square with light damage and was immediately hostile.

Bug-ish: The "trick Melinda into not following you" should be fixed. The easy way to get Melinda to not follow you is to dig a circuitous path underground, lead her into it and then teleport or movement infusion out. Her AI pathing is too dumb to escape so she sits there allowing you to clear out the level before leading her to safety. All this adds is a bunch of player annoyance. Allowing the player to tell Melinda not to move until they clear out a path would be far better. The alternative of preventing a player from digging in the runed crypt would make the Melinda escort quest far too annoying to do. (All escorts quests are maddeningly annoying, but at the very least this one shouldn't be considering how risky it is to take this optional dungeon)

UI: unequipped items should be grayed out on the bar. Using an item ability on the bar should not equip it (current behavior).

UI message spam: Ingredients should only prompt messages the first time they appear. "found new ingredient, troll intestine" should not appear after every troll you kill.

UI message spam: Combat logs are too expansive. A brief rundown of damage totals should be all that's displayed and the nasty raw breakdown can be saved in a separate combat log. Often I need to scroll back a page to see what hit me.

UI message spam: repeated messages. There are some of messages that get repeated a lot. In the last game I used Anmalice and got tons of "Anmalice turns its eye on xxx" or if nothing was around "Anmalice turns its eye on something." Similarly in the Charred Scar there can be up to 15-20 messages that look like "fire drake hatchling takes 0 damage from lava floor" on every turn. A nice use of (x2), (x3) tags could cut down on a lot of message spam.

This is all I had written down. I'm sure I forgot some.

[fizzix]

Oh, one other UI:

Game needs ability to rest even when at full health. For when you get stuck in a corner in the sandworm lair and you have to mash wait 100 times until a sandworm comes. The workaround to use a seldom-used ability with a long cooldown and resting for it to restore is plain silly.