aeoo
commented
7 years ago I just noticed that the douse command '|' works on a square right under me too? It was just pure luck that I noticed it. Now I can set the doors on fire without throwing the torches. So maybe torches missing the open door is intentional to force the player to look for other ways to light it?
I still find it strange how both torches and apparently the spores need to be thrown near the max range before they'll have a good chance of exploding. So a weak and clumsy mage that's really bad at throwing will reliably light a door by throwing a torch only 2 squares, but a rogue with over 18 str and dex either cannot hit the door from far away, or if throwing from up close, then the torch just doesn't explode. If this is intentional it might be a good idea let the player know via the hints system why it's happening like that so that no time is wasted on figuring out a pretty basic game mechanic.
In general ranged combat appears very inaccurate with arrows flying wildly all over the place even with what look like decent stats to me and a bow specialization. It might be intentional, but it feels weird getting used to the idea that only every 3rd or 4th arrow will hit and that's just how archery rolls. As for hitting things with daggers as a rogue with over 18 str and dex, again, I'm having a terrible time. Yea, I do hit sometimes, but more often than not I just miss. The game is telling me my throwing is 'Excellent' (lvl 10 rogue now, but I'm writing about my experience at level 9, before I killed the dungeon guardian in the Farm's dungeon) but it sure doesn't feel that way to me. If all this is an intentional design decision, it may be a good idea to let the player know (via either hints or help files) to expect to miss a lot in the early game (or always) even at high skill levels and with good stats.
My daggers are +0, +0, my shortbow is also +0, +0, but my arrows have to-hit enchantments ranging from 11 to 5, and now I'm in Buckland and seeing enchants being sold as services, so maybe it's expected that everyone will run around with a highly enchanted bow very soon and maybe the game is balanced with the expectation of plentiful enchants. I'm still discovering the game and writing about some of my experiences as someone new to this variant of Angband. Still loving the game, even if some aspects puzzle me for now.
It appears that torches only explode when they near the end of a character's maximum throwing range. I think this game mechanic doesn't add anything to the game and should be removed. Torches should always explode/flame up when thrown. The way it is now I'm forced to make a practice throw to figure out the range and then I'm forced to play a tedious positioning game before throwing a torch at a flammable object.