new to ToME4

[rangerjeff]

Hey, just getting started with ToME4. Have a question. Where is encumbrance displayed?

In general, sorry, but the interface is rather challenging for me. I use a laptop without the full numpad so I had to redefine some keymaps. Can't switch the mouse to my normal one (although I found the option for that, it doesn't seem to do anything) and the game's mouse is really annoying the way it disappears and leaves a trail, etc. Also, hard to see very much, many times monsters show up as dots on the map but I can't see them on the screen and have to go through a lot of effort to find them on the screen so I can right click and pull up their info. Also, maybe it's because I'm playing on normal, but it's it too much information to tell me so much about a monster? Makes it very easy to decide whether to just charge up and smash it or run away.

Hmm. I'll give it some more time. Wanting to like it, especially as I see so many people saying such good things. But so far it just doesn't feel smooth, feels like work to play it. I'm used to Angband and no mouse so maybe it's just the difference that's striking me so strongly.

[Grey]

Encumbrance is listed at the top of your inventory window (default keybinding 'i') - it displays both current and max.

If you're having trouble seeing the full playing field on a smaller screen then try decreasing the tile size to 32x32 - you'll get a wider view of the map at the expense of not as pretty graphics.

Personally I love all the monster information (which is why I requested that feature). It can be overwhelming at first, but it does let you make informed choices. In too many other roguelikes you can be killed in a couple of turns because you didn't know how strong a monster was. Picking your battles is important in ToME4, so it's important to have the necessary information for that.

Any suggestions you have on improvement of the interface is very welcome. The game isn't exactly optimised for laptop play, so there's bound to be ways to make things a little better.

[Helios]

Also new here.

A few question:

How does size category affect gameplay? I have two pieces of +1 size equipment on my dwarf bulwark and now he is a "huge" dwarf...though I didn't really see the difference.

And how should melee class with anti-magic deal with mobs like ghost and it's siblings? All the see-invisible stuff I could find is arcane-powered, and they are quite hard too hit even while they can be seen.

[jotwebe]

How does size category affect gameplay? I have two pieces of +1 size equipment on my dwarf bulwark and now he is a "huge" dwarf...though I didn't really see the difference.

Not much. Brawlers can only grapple one size category larger than themselves and halflings get a racial talent that increases their defense against larger targets.

And how should melee class with anti-magic deal with mobs like ghost and it's siblings? All the see-invisible stuff I could find is arcane-powered, and they are quite hard too hit even while they can be seen.

The perfect strike talent maxes out your accuracy for a couple of turns, so you can kill them without seeing them. Area damage from warshout might help.

[rangerjeff]

Well, with a laptop keyboard there's no getting about the missing numpad. Fortunately, I'm so used to using the Home-PgUp-PgDn-End keys in the top right corner as my diagonals for Angband that I just remapped those there, and pushed the hotkey pgup-pgdn to Insert and Delete. Character page is now c, and Numpad 5 is now Backspace (rest one turn). Though I'm also getting more comfortable with and appreciating the mouse. To get it to just be my regular mouse all I had to do was quit and restart.

At this point, I've been through 3 or 4 characters, most dying at level 8 or 9, and am now using a Wood Elf Arcane Blade warrior to pretty good effect, on level 12 or so. Had to back out of one dungeon where you need underwater breathing (found armor in a slave den that did that.)

Doesn't really feel like a roguelike, and not in a bad way. More like Ultima 4 or 5, or Baldur's Gate. More permanence and quests. And yet I can see how it's an evolution from ToME 2.3.5 (minus the middle earth). Pretty impressed at this point that something like this has been put together by amateurs. A lot of work has gone into it, obviously. Thanks!

[Pyris311]

Doesn't really feel like a roguelike

Are you suggesting ToME isn't a roguelike?

[rangerjeff]

Busted!

On a scale of 1-100, ToME is a 50. For me anyway, a roguelike is very simple. Random dungeon straight down with permadeath. The fact that ToME even has an "Adventure" option where you can get extra lives takes 10 points off its rogueness right there. Then you have permanent levels (once generated) which yes I've seen in other roguelikes, but for ToME and them both that's another 10 points off. Quests are another nice innovation which nevertheless are not purely rogueish, another 10 points off. Pretty tiles? -10. BGM and sound effects? -10. So, 50/100. But remember, I said it was not entirely roguelike in a good way! I'm currently playing this rather than Angband (at least until the next competition over at oook) because it's such a well put together package.

My first roguelike was in the early 80's, something my dad brought home called simply "Hack". My second was one I wrote for my TI-81 calculator (or whatever series it was with like 2400 bytes of memory). Then the internet happened and I rediscovered the wide world of roguelikes. Believe me, I'm a fan! But as I said I also appreciate some of the best RPG's out there, from Ultima to Baldur's Gate to Neverwinter. So far, ToME feels like it sits right between the two, a roguelike RPG, kind of like Diablo only turn-based and so more tactical and therefore better. And with a better world.

[Rectifier]

Points off for tiles that you can turn off and audio that you can turn off? Glad to know there's one more person not to take seriously.

[rangerjeff]

No, definitely don't take me seriously. That would be a big mistake.

In other news, greyfox's walkthrough I discovered was quite helpful! Some basic strategy points, plus a couple spoilers perhaps about how to not lose most of your escorts and a couple other things. Thanks greyfox!