Hi Eric
On 18.03.2023 07:25, Erik L wrote:
Janis, hello I'm Erik (hackemslashem), I've actually read a bunch of
your posts over the years. I have developed a variant called Hack'EM,
which I originally based on EvilHack, but my main intention was to
port SLASH'EM to the 3.6.x codebase. I have also ported a lot of
stuff from other variants (Splice, Un, xnh, THEM, dnh, etc, and of
course Evil) so it's not SLASH'EM exclusive. Anyway, you might enjoy
it, check out the wiki page for info on the changes: https://nethackwiki.com/wiki/Hack%27EM. It's also live on hardfought
and has a windows binary available if you need it (https://github.com/elunna/hackem/releases/tag/v1.1.0).
If you check it out, let me know what you think - it's still very
much in development. I'm not sure if replies here will show up in my
email, but I'll try to check back. Otherwise I'm usually in the
#hackem and #evilhack IRC channels on libera, or on the roguelikes
discord.
I'm coming back to your post after having switched to Hack'EM, now
playing it for about a week. I read (parts of) the Wiki page, and
occasionally I had a peek into the source files (objects, artilist,
monst, and some *.des files). Not much experience yet to provide a
qualified response. But since I'm not active any more here in RGRN -
apologies if some open replies have remained unread and unanswered -
I wanted to provide some impressions at least about your suggestion
to try out Hack'EM since you explicitly asked for my opinion.
My first characters died, and I suppose my current randomly chosen
dwarven Valkyrie is still alive at T:35k because it's as in Vanilla
one of the easier race/role combinations. I finished Sokoban and the
Mines, and I had just visited the Town branch. Early altars provided
a good melee artifact, the Gungdir (a spear), and later I also got
Mjollnir (never used it; the expert +5 artifact spear is very good).
I also got the artifact shield Pridwen, and I am currently at Expert
skill (and I'm able to enhance it to Master, but yet abstained due
to the skill slot limits and skill management tactics).
The problem with that game was that I did not find any portable bag
or sack, most vulnerable items (scrolls and potions) thus stashed at
various places and unidentified. All the spear variants I collected
for ranged attacks occupied quite some inventory slots as well, but
having an effective ranged missile attack proved to be quite good to
survive. Very late I finally found a leather bag, but I mistook it
for a medical kit, so only a lot later I tried to put things into
that bag. Two blessed smoky potions got only one vanishing djinn.
A late appearing magic lamp - the haunted orc mine town had only
oil lamps - got blessed and the djinn provided Perseus' Wallet,
thanks to the artifact wish counting implementation! The fun thing
was that the previously found bag was also a bag of holding, as a
full inventory identification showed; it didn't occur to me that
this "leather bag" could also be this sort of bag (something I'll
have to get used to, and next time I know). - Good that I haven't
tried to put that bag into the artifact bag of holding by accident.
The levels thus far were fine. I did not miss Gollum's branch.
Being able to enter mine-town - even though the orc variant isn't
that interesting - was good. I had some respect for the mines-end
level; on entry I feared it was that "Deluxe variant", but it
turned out that it was the beehive-level. I finished it without
problems but abstained from the air elementals and left the wand
where it was, didn't descend deeper. Had a luckstone, so I left.
Some new Sokoban levels were not as hard as I perceived Slashem's,
and the zoo could be cleared with some care taken. The bad news
was that I didn't get the bag but a marker. (See above about my
dire need for some bag at that stage.) I cannot say that I like
the predominant implementation in some variants that determine
the prize randomly; I think it would be okay to have the 1-in-3
choice of the prize type without an additional 50% random choice.
I would find it better if all these items could be found in some
branches (like Slashem's speed boots @spiders or magic lamp @sea).
But okay. The Town branch was also new to me and from the infos I
had I wasn't quite sure how the design actually is. In practice
it was (in my game) three levels (the dat/*.des files show more);
open land with rivers, then some detailed level with thugs, and
a final town level (resembling one of Slashem's kobold levels).
The documentation about the level design provides some more infos
(longer branches instead of single-level branches, cavernous hell,
outdoor sceneries) and the Town branch already shows that very
well. I like it.
The monsters I met were manageable; but I also had an excellent
artifact weapon and don't know how that would be with a race/role
that isn't as easy as a dwarven Valkyrie. On the Wiki page I read
that there's locusts and shambling horrors, but yet I haven't met
these in this variant. I've already written (for another variant)
what I think about these monsters in general and especially if
they appear early. I cannot tell whether I was just lucky to not
have met them, or whether they appear later in Hack'EM. I don't
think adding these as I know them from Evilhack is a good thing.
Yet I don't know how many instant-deaths are to expect; after my
recent experiences in Evilhack (and since there's a lot borrowed
from that variant) I fear that I had been just lucky in my game.
(So I cannot yet tell an opinion here about that crucial point.)
Generally it seems that variants borrow features from each other,
thus adding a lot of complexity. Personally I think that the
resulting bazillions of combinations (thinking of weapon types
and materials) add more to complexity than to game-play. Maybe
we can consider that junk pile of object variants littering the
dungeons as a realistic picture of our consumer-item-polluted
Real Life earth. ;-) Some changes I read about in the Wiki seem
quite reasonable to me, but yet I've seen and experienced only a
subset. Certainly worth further exploration.
So much for my first impression on Hack'EM. - Happy hacking! :-)
Janis
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