Alternate Reality: The City Competition

[Xebec's Demise]

I think just 3 trolls and one strength potion. On each troll I only got 1 level. The rest of the gains were from fighting and leveling. Every 256 hits is a strength up..

 

On the videos... 4 gigs is the size of a 64 bit integer which might have something to do with the problem you are having when the video gets to that size. What about just taking a frame every minute or so?

 

My STR has never gone up that fast from just regular fighting. Even when I'm trolling it takes a very long time to get a few points. I wonder if there is another factor fairly unique to your character? Actually, I guess a large part of it is simply that you started with a 20 in STR, and I usually don't. My starting STR is usually in the mid to low teens.

 

 

Sipping the potions on the 2nd gremlin leveled me to level 2. The first was a heal all wounds which was very nice, Unfortunately, the second potion was delusion, and it only took one sip... At least I knew about how many hit points I had to work with.

 

 

I just went back and looked at your images from the delusion episode. From 528 EXP to 648 EXP your STR jumps by 4. Do you think your STR could still be inflated due to the delusion? I wonder if some stats can get stuck in a deluded state? I guess you could check by looking at the actual values.

 

Phaeron mentioned that Video for Windows is normally limited to 4GB and what you're saying makes sense too. But with the ZMBV codec he supplied for Atari800Win in the other thread, he said it should record up to 4 hours, and it runs so much more efficiently so there's not really an issue with regard to recording videos anymore. I like recording video because then I can go back and see exactly what happened. I got the idea from watching other gameplay videos, like the one Philip Price posted of a Beta Lyrae run. Now that I have a good codec, I might try making another AR character and recording the entire thing straight through with no breaks and see how far I can get. I think screenshots and stories are better for sharing though because they're so much more creative and interesting.

Edited August 22, 2013 by Xebec's Demise

[WestofHouse]

I continued my game today and my luck has held out, but only barely.

 

 

I'm living paycheck to paycheck, as it were. I think I was snake-bitten with a low treasure-finding skill, because at one point I killed 5 muggers and didn't get so much as a single copper piece. I finally got enough money for food and drink, but I after that I was weary and I actually sat outside an inn hoping to run into a baddie or two so I could afford a night's stay. I managed to score a whole silver piece off of one monster, which gave me just enough to sleep on the floor. Now I have a bit of food and water saved up but I'm completely broke again.

[Jim Norris]

 

 

Now I have a bit of food and water saved up but I'm completely broke again.

 

With those stats, 45 hit points, enough food and water, and it's only noon, you should be just fine. You only need to find 15 coppers by nightfall.

 

Those are really really nice stats for level 4.

[Jim Norris]

I just went back and looked at your images from the delusion episode. From 528 EXP to 648 EXP your STR jumps by 4. Do you think your STR could still be inflated due to the delusion? I wonder if some stats can get stuck in a deluded state? I guess you could check by looking at the actual values.

 

After the healer removed the delusion, my character was level 4 with 24 in strength. So the delusion was showing +4. The delusion gains did not stick.

 

Looking at the pictures I see I gained strength on every level up except 1, and got 2 strength gains from guilds. This brings me to 20 + 2 + 8 = 30. I got 1 strength gain from fighting or a potion during level 6, 2 on level 7, and the rest on level 8. So I got 6 strength gains on level 8.

 

Let's see... some math... 6 * 256 = 1536 hits. This means it took around 1536 hits to score around 40,000 experience points. This means I got around 25? xp for every swing of the sword that landed. And a few of those gains were off of trolls where I was only hitting for 2 damage.... I think you get xp for each point of damage you do, plus xp for killing the monster, and sometimes for treasure.

Edited August 22, 2013 by Jim Norris

[Xebec's Demise]

My new character Thomas Anderson is currently at level 4, but he has a good chance of surviving after finding a Longsword on a Mugger, and a Jewel worth 36 gold;

 

The way that was worded it sounded like I found both the Longsword and Jewel on the same Mugger, but it's more interesting than that. I found the Longsword on a Mugger 2 spaces east of the First City Bank, which is a very rare find on a Mugger, I don't think I've ever seen that before without Treasure Finding. I mention the location because maybe it's a good location for loot. Here is the part of my video that shows this encounter:

 

 

(Did you see I did something really stupid? In my excitement of finding a Longsword, I forgot to even examine it once to see if it was CURSED!)

 

Now here's where the location bit gets more interesting! So, shortly after the encounter next to the First City Bank that yielded the Longsword off the Mugger, I ran into a Fighter two spaces west of the Granite Bank door that yielded the Jewel worth 36 gold, and a Gem worth 6 gold! Here is that segment of the video:

 

 

So, then I have to ask, do you think right next to banks could be high loot areas?

Edited August 23, 2013 by Xebec's Demise

[Xebec's Demise]

I continued my game today and my luck has held out, but only barely.

 

I'm living paycheck to paycheck, as it were. I think I was snake-bitten with a low treasure-finding skill, because at one point I killed 5 muggers and didn't get so much as a single copper piece. I finally got enough money for food and drink, but I after that I was weary and I actually sat outside an inn hoping to run into a baddie or two so I could afford a night's stay. I managed to score a whole silver piece off of one monster, which gave me just enough to sleep on the floor. Now I have a bit of food and water saved up but I'm completely broke again.

And yet, now you're in 8th place!

 

Right about level 3 and 4 is when you naturally struggle for Food and Water. You can see me having the exact same troubles in my video...until I found the Jewel. Maybe try hanging out around a bank for a while if you're near one.

Edited August 23, 2013 by Xebec's Demise

[Xebec's Demise]

My first venture into the city ended in a tragedy.

 

 

Did you love lamp?

[WestofHouse]

Did you love lamp?

 

"LOUD NOISES!"

 

You pose an interesting theory about loot being close to banks. I think I might do some loitering soon.

Edited August 23, 2013 by WestofHouse

[Jim Norris]

> You pose an interesting theory about loot being close to banks. I think I might do some loitering soon.

 

***SPOILER!***

 

Stop reading if you don't want to know :-)

 

I disassembled the treasure calculation and came up with this:

 

roll for treasure

multiply chance to find potion for this monster by 4
(I think this will eventually get set to 0)

819 ldy 1B
81B lda(()+y) 83 monster subtype data ptr lo
81D asla
81E asla
81F sta(()+y) 83 monster subtype data ptr lo

roll for potions found
821 jsr 895 roll for treasure using monster table value at y
824 beq 82E
826 jsr 8E5 draw potions found and do potions submenu

gain 78 exp
829 lda 78
82B jsr 2C1B gain experience in register a

multiply chance to find weapons for this monster by 2
82E ldy 1D
830 lda(()+y) 83 monster subtype data ptr lo
832 asla
833 sta(()+y) 83 monster subtype data ptr lo

roll for weapons (and armor) found
835 jsr 895 roll for treasure using monster table value at y
838 beq 83D
83A jsr 1450 draw weapons found and do weapons found submenu

roll for jewels found
83D ldy 1F
83F jsr 895 roll for treasure using monster table value at y
842 beq 84C
844 jsr 1DD1 draw message jewels found and add to inventory

gain 255 exp
847 lda FF
849 jsr 2C1B gain experience in register a

roll for gems found
84C ldy 21
84E jsr 895 roll for treasure using monster table value at y
851 beq 85B
853 jsr 1E0C draw message gems found and add to inventory

gain 128 exp
856 lda 80
858 jsr 2C1B gain experience in register a

85B ldy 23 not currently used, was probably going to be 'chests'

roll for gold found
85D ldy 25
85F jsr 895 roll for treasure using monster table value at y
862 beq 86C
864 jsr 1E5E draw message pieces of gold and add to inventory

gain 9 times gold found exp I think
867 ldx 09
869 jsr 887

roll for silver found
86C ldy 27
86E jsr 895 roll for treasure using monster table value at y
871 beq 87C roll for coppers found
873 jsr 1EA8 draw message pieces of silver and add to inventory

gain 1 exp for each silver found
876 lda() 8D9 number of items found
879 jsr 2C1B gain experience in register a

roll for coppers found
87C ldy 29
87E jsr 895 roll for treasure using monster table value at y
881 beq 886
883 jsr 1EF4 draw message pieces of copper and add to inventory

886 rts

 

roll for treasure using monster table value at y

895 jsr 8DA roll 0 to 100

add treasure finding level to monster's base chance of finding this treasure
898 lda(()+y) 83 monster subtype data ptr lo
89A clc
89B adca() 8FA6 treasure finding level
89E bcs 8A4

if you roll less then you find treasure
(carry flag backwards on 6502... always confuses me)
8A0 cmpa() AE result of roll = [af] + rnd 0 to [b0]
8A2 bcc 8D6

get max number possible to find for this monster and item
8A4 iny
8A5 lda(()+y) 83 monster subtype data ptr lo
8A7 sta() B0 roll max

8A9 lda() 8FA6 treasure finding level
8AC beq 8B8

if you have treasure finding, you automatically get the max number of items
but your treasure finding level goes down 1
8AE dec() 8FA6 treasure finding level
8B1 lda() B0 roll max
8B3 sta() 8D9 number of items found
8B6 bne 8C0

otherwise roll for number of items found 0 to max
8B8 jsr 2C30 roll -- [ae] <= [af] + rnd[0 to [b0]]
8BB lda() AE result of roll = [af] + rnd 0 to [b0]
8BD sta() 8D9 number of items found

if you found treasure, you always get at least 1
8C0 bne 8C7 draw treasure found screen
8C2 lda 01
8C4 sta() 8D9 number of items found

draw treasure found screen
8C7 lda 92
8C9 sta() 8C ar game script pointer
8CB lda 1F
8CD sta() 8D
8CF jsr 2C06 init screen and do script [8c 8d] points to

return number of items found (and set/clear z flag)
8D2 lda() 8D9 number of items found
8D5 rts

What this means is, your chances of finding treasure are based solely
on the monster you fought and your treasure finding level.

It is not based on wisdom, character level, or your character's location.

 

Each monster has a data table containing values for each treasure type
of the chance to find that kind of treasure and how many you find.

If you have treasure finding, your chance to find treasure is
increased by your treasure finding level, if you find that treasure
you will get the maximum number of items possible for that monster,
or at least 1 item in the event the maximum possible is 0. Then your
treasure finding level drops by one.

 

This means with treasure finding you have a chance to find stuff on monsters
that normally don't have a chance to give that stuff, but you'll likely
get only 1 :-)

 

I may not be interpreting this next part correctly :-)
It looks like the chances to find potions and weapons on monsters is
modified during the game, but if it's already 0, it will always be 0.
However, I'm not sure if this data is saved back to disk and it looks
like the monster tables share the same area as tavern and guild songs...
so going into taverns and guilds may reset the chances of finding
potions and weapons back to the original values. Probably other
places too. I think what this means is, lets say you have a 1/100
chance to find a weapon off a thief to start. If you stay out all day and
get several thieves, on thief 2 the chance is 2/100... up to thief 8
which has a chance of 128/100 which means you will get a weapon. But
on thief 9 the chance goes to 0/100 and stays there.

[Xebec's Demise]

So, how would this explain me finding a Longsword on a Mugger, and then minutes later finding a Jewel and Gem on a Fighter? Could it be a result of me Hailing, Disengaging, and Leaving multiple thief and fighter types without killing them? Then when I finally did, the chance for those creatures was high? Or is it specific to the exact creature type?

 

I also visited all the guilds, so that should have actually lowered my chances of finding good loot, right?

[Jim Norris]

So, how would this explain me finding a Longsword on a Mugger, and then minutes later finding a Jewel and Gem on a Fighter? Could it be a result of me Hailing, Disengaging, and Leaving multiple thief and fighter types without killing them? Then when I finally did, the chance for those creatures was high? Or is it specific to the exact creature type?

 

I also visited all the guilds, so that should have actually lowered my chances of finding good loot, right?

 

I have no idea. Looking at the data tables for the monsters is not a problem. I made a script once that printed out all their known stats... if I can find it I could add stuff to print out the base probability and number of items found for each monster.

 

On the potions and weapons, what I see in the code up above must not be the whole story. The potion handling and weapon handling code is not disassembled yet. Maybe something in there does further modification of the chances to find those items, otherwise you'd get to a point where you can't find them at all. The asla instruction shifts zeros in from the right... so eventually all the ones shift off the left and you end up with 0.

 

There may also be some tinkering with these values in the main walking around code but that doesn't seem likely.

 

Also, the inn and tavern code is not disassembled. Might be something in there that adjusts things while you eat and sleep? Maybe Phil remembers.... Also might be stuff in there like the Beta Lyra game where is remembers from game to game. I think there is a section on disk 2 side 1 that is written back to disk.

 

I also found some code where the monster's armor value is adjusted from one combat to another... might be more things are adjusted too...

[Xebec's Demise]

This is one of the elements I really appreciate about this game, everything is so unpredictable and has multiple intertwined layers. In most games if something happens repeatedly there's no further depth - you've figured it out and can intentionally reproduce the results indefinitely with no further study, even without looking at the code.

Edited August 28, 2013 by Xebec's Demise

[Jim Norris]

No trolls on this one. Just straight fighting.

 

This is the highest I've ever taken a character. I wish there was more stuff to do. After level 6, all there is to do is stand around and wait for encounters.

 

 

Edited August 29, 2013 by Jim Norris

[Xebec's Demise]

Congratulations, Jim Norris! You're now #1. It looks like you've got a character that will likely survive indefinitely if played carefully. Although, I suppose complacency, or a bad combination of potions, diseases, cursed items, and encounters could also spell the end. What is the alignment of your character? If you're bored with The City I'll let you borrow my Wilderness disks.

 

It's interesting to see just how different the stats are on the top three characters (all are level 9 with about the same amount of experience):

 

 

Talk about a high STR! I don't think I ever noticed how high Daodan's STR was (at 75 how could I have missed it?). Yet, Thoreandan at a similar experience level only has 24 STR. Even if Thoreandan had started with a STR of 0, his STR should have gone up to 24 or more comparatively. What is the difference? Could wielding different weapons alter the rate at which STR goes up? Did Thoreandan drink an unusual amount of potions of Dumbness and yet have the smarts to drink many potions of Charisma and Intelligence at the same time? Did he suffer from some incubating diseases that inhibited his STR gain? Or does a secondary stat facilitate STR gain? What do you think?

 

Thoreandan's Hit Points are also half of Daodan's, yet they share a similar STA stat. Was he unlucky in HP rolls?

 

Or, maybe his character is just Tired, injured or Delusional? If that were the case though, then wouldn't his CHR and INT be suffering too? Going back through old posts it sounds like Chunder's Thoreandan suffered from Brown Mold for a while, and was eventually killed by something (screenshot link dead). I wonder if Brown Mold mostly affects STR?

Edited August 30, 2013 by Xebec's Demise

[Xebec's Demise]

Actually, now that you're wealthy, Jim, you need to dress the role. In AR The City, achieving the highest level of fashion is the most difficult and expensive task of the game. Let's see if you can obtain a full set of Fine Gold Dragonskin clothing:

 

Here is a list of all the different selections:

Quality      Color        Fabric         Articles

  Cheap        Black        Dragonskin     Blouse
  Simple       Blue         Fur-lined      Breechcloth
  Fine         Brown        Linen          Cloak
               Gold         Satin          Dress
               Green        Silk           Hat
               Maroon       Wool           Jerkin
               Orange       <blank>        Pants
               Pink                        Raincoat
               Plaid                       Robe
               Purple                      Scarf
               Red                         Shirt
               Silver                      Skirt
               Striped                     Socks
               White                       Tie
               Yellow                      Toga
                                           Vest

This is from eobet's FAQ at http://www.eobet.com/alternate-reality/alt-reality_FAQ.txt

But I know there are even more! A recent one I've noticed is that there is also a whole line of Violet colored clothes.

And yes, recently I found the following Dragonskin clothes for sale in various colors:

Cheap Violet Dragonskin Robe - even this cheap version was 7537 gold!
Cheap Violet Dragonskin Toga
Fine Gray Dragonskin Vest - this was 3154 gold.
Simple Purple Dragonskin Cloak
Simple Green Dragonskin Toga
Simple Orange Dragonskin Cloak

Ever seen Plaid?

 

Edited August 30, 2013 by Xebec's Demise

[Jim Norris]

Actually, now that you're wealthy, Jim, you need to dress the role. In AR The City, achieving the highest level of fashion is the most difficult and expensive task of the game. Let's see if you can obtain a full set of Fine Gold Dragonskin clothing:

 

 

Awesome, I now have something to do :-)

 

As far as dying goes... with the elfin chain Newbinator has permanent invulnerability sharp. This renders him invulnerable to all the daytime opponents as long as he does not lunge, charm, or trick, or get sneak attacked.

 

He is unlikely to get diseased as he does not go out at night. If it rains there is a chance, but a trip to the healer will fix it before it sets in.

 

A bad potion could do it, like deadly poison, but with the decent wisdom he has, I think he would identify it before he drank it. And hopefully he'd make it to the healer before it got too bad. What he could do though, is just not drink potions unless he does get poisoned.

 

About the only way he could die is a sneak attack by an assassin that hits and delivers a one shot kill. But those only come out at night I think... I'd have to check the encounter tables but I'm guessing that encounter is pretty high difficulty and to get it, it probably has to be night, raining, and you probably have to be standing on the more difficult squares.

 

About Thoreandan's strength: I'm guessing he doesn't melee and relies on trick and charm to dispatch foes.

 

P.S. My character is good.

Edited August 30, 2013 by Jim Norris

[Jim Norris]

Congratulations, Jim Norris! You're now #1. It looks like you've got a character that will likely survive indefinitely if played carefully. Although, I suppose complacency, or a bad combination of potions, diseases, cursed items, and encounters could also spell the end. What is the alignment of your character? If you're bored with The City I'll let you borrow my Wilderness disks.

 

Thoreandan's Hit Points are also half of Daodan's, yet they share a similar STA stat. Was he unlucky in HP rolls?

 

Or, maybe his character is just Tired, injured or Delusional? If that were the case though, then wouldn't his CHR and INT be suffering too? Going back through old posts it sounds like Chunder's Thoreandan suffered from Brown Mold for a while, and was eventually killed by something (screenshot link dead). I wonder if Brown Mold mostly affects STR?

 

Wilderness disks? I didn't know such a thing existed. Is this for the Atari 8-bit version? Where did they come from?

 

On the hit point rolls... you get a random amount between 0 and your stamina added to your max hit points each level up... So if you have around 20 stamina, you should get about 10 hit points per level on average or in 9 level ups you would get around 90 hit points added to your starting value. Thoreandan got a little less than average. Daodan got way more than average and is about 3/4 the way to the max possible hit points for his character.

 

About brown mold... from the disassembly project brown mold works like this:

 

 

----------------

Brown Mold ( directory entry 562F)

----------------

karma penalty flag = YES (3)

alignment flag = evil

unused flag = true

ability to surprise = 30

base strength = 15

random strength = 15

base skill = 6

random skill = 7

base chr int = 0

random chr int = 0

base speed = 1

random speed = 2

base hitpoints = 20

random hitpoints = 31

player missiles used = 1

armor defense 0 (sharp)? max = 96

armor defense 1 (blunt)? max = 0

armor defense 2? max = 0

armor defense 3? max = 32

armor defense 4? max = 0

armor defense 5? max = 0

armor defense 6? max = 96

armor defense 7? max = 64

a burst of spores.

select roll level 100

base antiparry 3

random antiparry max 3

number of attack rolls 1

attack roll random max 1

A hit with this attack has a chance to disease character.

first time %chance - 1 (10=11%) then its 1% 99

base incubation duration high byte 0

random incubation duration high byte 0 to 0

base incubation duration low byte 0

random incubation duration low byte 0 to 0

unknown 100

time between damage applications (fixed) 8

damage to random of hit points or stat (fixed) 1

unknown 100

disease name Brown Mold

animation frame 0 lasts 240 vertical blank interrupts

x=123

y=134

So if I interpreted it correctly, the disease affects a random stat or your hit points every application. I'm not sure if that is

your max hit points that is affected... but it probably is.

Looking at the monster stats I'm tempted to dig into the disassembly more...

I see there is a 100% chance of being infected the first time brown mold hits you. After that, the chance drops to 1% I think.

Is that for the life of the character? Or for all characters? Or until you enter an establishment? Or just until the fight is over?

Looks like it takes affect immediately.

Ohh another interesting thing. It looks like it is very hard to hit brown mold with a sharp weapon. Probably better off with

a blunt weapon or your bare hands.

P.S. I have never seen plaid. Although I also never go into the shops... so technically I never see any of them :-)

P.P.S. Going into shops could get me killed. I went into that Sunset Shop on N Main and when I came out.... it was sunset!

I coulda sworn I had plenty of daylight left so I'm wonderin if there was some sort of time warp involved. I have not been

able to duplicate the effect.

Edited August 30, 2013 by Jim Norris

[Xebec's Demise]

There are also a few more ways Newbinator could die. One is by getting careless and wandering into the death traps. No matter how powerful a character is, the death traps don't care. They slowly starve and wear the most powerful characters down. Death is inevitable. Another is by technical glitch. Even aliens are not perfect coders, and even alien hardware wears out and fails. One glitch in their virtual world system and your character can be wiped. And last is perhaps the most interesting, your character can die simply as a result of abandoning him and never playing him again. I guess this would be a natural death.

 

Regarding your alignment, do you Trick or Charm humans or good creatures at any time? Is the official Cluebook wrong regarding this? What is your alignment score? Does anything besides thief and fighter types attack? I wonder if you can get to the point where even thieves and fighters stop attacking? Sometimes when fighters or thieves surprise my character they simply leave rather than engaging. I do Hail them when I surprise them and have the option and I always wait for them to attack first. In fact, I Hail all creatures except the evil when given the option. I wonder what would start happening if a character Hailed evil creatures too?

 

As for Brown Mold, it looks you have have uncovered evidence that in AR The CIty characters actually develop resistance or immunity to diseases! That has got to be a first! If I understand what you wrote then the first time a character contracts Brown Mold disease there is a 100% chance of infection, but thereafter the character develops resistance and there is only a 1% chance? Characters have an immune system!

 

I was just joking about the Wilderness disks - I WISH! Plaid was also a reference to the fact that the AR FAQ is pretty extensive and detailed, yet after all this time I discovered a new color line of clothing that had never been documented in the FAQ before. Thus, maybe Plaid exists too, although I've never seen it.

Edited August 30, 2013 by Xebec's Demise

[Jim Norris]

There are also a few more ways Newbinator could die. One is by getting careless and wandering into the death traps. No matter how powerful a character is, the death traps don't care.

 

Regarding your alignment, do you Trick or Charm humans or good creatures at any time? Is the official Cluebook wrong regarding this? What is your alignment score? Does anything besides thief and fighter types attack? I wonder if you can get to the point where even thieves and fighters stop attacking? Sometimes when fighters or thieves surprise my character they simply leave rather than engaging. I do Hail them when I surprise them and have the option and I always wait for them to attack first. In fact, I Hail all creatures except the evil when given the option. I wonder what would start happening if a character Hailed evil creatures too?

 

As for Brown Mold, it looks you have have uncovered evidence that in AR The CIty characters actually develop resistance or immunity to diseases! That has got to be a first! If I understand what you wrote then the first time a character contracts Brown Mold disease there is a 100% chance of infection, but thereafter the character develops resistance and there is only a 1% chance? Characters have an immune system!

 

I was just joking about the Wilderness disks - I WISH! Plaid was also a reference to the fact that the AR FAQ is pretty extensive and detailed, yet after all this time I discovered a new color line of clothing that had never been documented in the FAQ before. Thus, maybe Plaid exists too, although I've never seen it.

 

Wow, a lot of questions.

 

I never go to the side of the town near the death traps soo... That will likely not happen.

 

I never trick or charm 'good' creatures, or attack them.

 

I do trick or charm humans that are non good such as warriors, fighters, and the like. In particular I will attempt

to trick warriors since it seems to work. (Although the code shows there is a 50% chance of failing on next charm automatically.)

 

The official cluebook is wrong on tricking and charming always being an evil act, unless as Phillip Price said, I might be misinterpreting the code.

Tricking and charming non good creatures is actually a good act 1/256th of the time.

The rest of the time tricking and charming non good creatures has no effect on your goodness levels.

In the Dungeon, I think tricking and charming is always evil. So is attacking neutral creatures before they attack you.

 

Does anything besides thief/fighter types attack? I'm guessing you mean during the day when it's not raining, and the answer is no. All the other

stuff plays the good music and does not attack unless you attack first or are evil.

 

I could look at the hail code. If I see anything interesting I'll post it. From playing, it doesn't look like it has any effect.

 

On the diseases, I'm not sure how the 'you've been already diseased' thing works. There are only 5 creatures with a disease attack,

and it looks like after you've had each disease, or even just rolled for the chance to get the disease, the chance drops to 1%. I'd have to

look at the combat code again. I disassembled that section years ago for Acrin1.

 

On the wilderness disks, you had me secretly hoping you were Phillip Price in disguise and you kept working on AR and really did have a set of

wilderness disks prototypes lying around. LOL.

 

I looked at my character's evil level in the emulator and it is at 0.

[acrin1]

Lots of new activity I'll have to read through here. Well done Jim - see you're in 1st place!

[Xebec's Demise]

I do trick or charm humans that are non good such as warriors, fighters, and the like. In particular I will attempt

to trick warriors since it seems to work. (Although the code shows there is a 50% chance of failing on next charm automatically.)

 

The official cluebook is wrong on tricking and charming always being an evil act, unless as Phillip Price said, I might be misinterpreting the code.

Tricking and charming non good creatures is actually a good act 1/256th of the time.

The rest of the time tricking and charming non good creatures has no effect on your goodness levels.

In the Dungeon, I think tricking and charming is always evil. So is attacking neutral creatures before they attack you.

 

Does anything besides thief/fighter types attack? I'm guessing you mean during the day when it's not raining, and the answer is no. All the other

stuff plays the good music and does not attack unless you attack first or are evil.

 

I could look at the hail code. If I see anything interesting I'll post it. From playing, it doesn't look like it has any effect.

I looked at my character's evil level in the emulator and it is at 0.

 

Here is the information on Alignment from the latest Official Adventurer's Survival Handbook (1987) for the 8-bit City:

 

 

http://mocagh.org/datasoft/arcity-hintbook8bit-book.pdf

 

If the Handbook is wrong on tricking and charming then it's wrong in multiple places and multiple versions. If your alignment is zero, then doesn't that mean you are evil? That is what the handbook is saying.

 

Regarding Hail. One of the secret codes is Master of Chronos (master of time?), which results in, "Hail all Master of Chronos. But power is fleeting." I guess that could be interpreted two ways. Either that all should hail Master of Chronos, or that a Master of Chronos should hail all. Of course, it could be describing the effect of the secret code on the game.

Edited September 4, 2013 by Xebec's Demise

[Jim Norris]

 

Here is the information on Alignment from the latest Official Adventurer's Survival Handbook (1987) for the 8-bit City:

 

 

http://mocagh.org/datasoft/arcity-hintbook8bit-book.pdf

 

If the Handbook is wrong on tricking and charming then it's wrong in multiple places and multiple versions. If your alignment is zero, then doesn't that mean you are evil? That is what the handbook is saying.

 

Regarding Hail. One of the secret codes is Master of Chronos (master of time?), which results in, "Hail all Master of Chronos. But power is fleeting." I guess that could be interpreted two ways. Either that all should hail Master of Chronos, or that a Master of Chronos should hail all. Of course, it could be describing the effect of the secret code on the game.

 

Well it looks like the guidebook is right on good and evil creatures, and starting off good (0). It's wrong in that you can attack, trick, or charm neutral creatures and the game treats them as evil for the purposes of alignment penalty.

 

In the City code, good is '0'. If you interpret 'alignment 0' as an evilness of 255, then the guildbook is right on that too.

 

I disassembled the 'Hail Master of Chronos section, but did not know what the variable is changed did. I'll look again sometime soon.

[Jim Norris]

Regarding Hail. One of the secret codes is Master of Chronos (master of time?), which results in, "Hail all Master of Chronos. But power is fleeting." I guess that could be interpreted two ways. Either that all should hail Master of Chronos, or that a Master of Chronos should hail all. Of course, it could be describing the effect of the secret code on the game.

 

I did some more disassembling and came up with this:

 

"Master of Chronos": allows user to use two of [select option start] keys to affect speed of something during character roll... Im guessing hit points stats roll. There may be a cascade effect... so that multiple stat wheels are affected.

 

"sempiternal": changes character's second status flag in directory header to S which will make character display as status Immortal on character selection screen.

 

"cela saute aux yeux": changes character's second status flag in directory header to D which will make character display as status Demo on character selection screen.

 

"unseen": changes character's second status flag in directory header to I which will make character not display on character selection screen. (You should still be able to choose character and play it.)

 

I have not been able to determine if the character status flag gets passed to the game after the character selection screen or how it is used during game play.

[Jim Norris]

 

I did some more disassembling and came up with this:

 

"Master of Chronos": allows user to use two of [select option start] keys to affect speed of something during character roll... Im guessing hit points stats roll. There may be a cascade effect... so that multiple stat wheels are affected.

 

"sempiternal": changes character's second status flag in directory header to S which will make character display as status Immortal on character selection screen.

 

"cela saute aux yeux": changes character's second status flag in directory header to D which will make character display as status Demo on character selection screen.

 

"unseen": changes character's second status flag in directory header to I which will make character not display on character selection screen. (You should still be able to choose character and play it.)

 

I have not been able to determine if the character status flag gets passed to the game after the character selection screen or how it is used during game play.

 

I did some more checking and it looks like the character status flag is thrown away when you make a new character... The flag is in the section used to init character disks I think. Maybe if you abort making a new character and then init a character disk the sanction would be used for the whole disk?.

[SilverAR]

I have found some additional pokes, which are not in AR faq file:

 

8ACB Gems 65,536+

8ACC Gems 256+

8ACD Gems 0+

8ACE Jewels 16,777,216+

8ACF Jewels 65,536+

8AD0 Jewels 256+

8AD1 Jewels 0+

I couldn't find the ones for potions and treasure finding.

I also have some questions to all you more advanced AR people:

• Is it possible to combat a Spectre or Arch-Mage? There was no effect when I used a Longsword. I eventually disengaged and left.
• How to successfully combat a Small Green Dragon? I remember slaying it back in the old days, no chances this time.
• Which mobs can get you a Crystal Plate Mail? I remember getting it in the old days, but not this time.
• Ditto for the best weapon? What was the name of this magical sword superior to Longsword?

Edited September 29, 2013 by SilverAR