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[KA101]

It's hell on my RAM and I'd like to issue gear more reliably, but yeah, I like the general idea.  Never did well with the donation sites though.

[miki151]

Guys, do you have any cool retired dungeons saved? I'd like to gather some and put a bundle on the website. You can send them to my email: rusolis@poczta.fm or upload them on the forum http://keeperrl.com/smf/index.php?topic=14.0

They are the files with .ret extension, about 3mb each. No need to zip them as they are already compressed.

It's hell on my RAM

Does it use too much RAM? Most likely a bug, it shouldn't need more than 300mb.

[KA101]

Guys, do you have any cool retired dungeons saved? I'd like to gather some and put a bundle on the website. You can send them to my email: rusolis@poczta.fm or upload them on the forum http://keeperrl.com/smf/index.php?topic=14.0

They are the files with .ret extension, about 3mb each. No need to zip them as they are already compressed.

It's hell on my RAM

Does it use too much RAM? Most likely a bug, it shouldn't need more than 300mb.

I'm pretty confident I was up to the full 1 GB on my tower.  :-/  WinXP though, if that matters.  Can go into detail about what works/doesn't in the game, if you'd like.

[miki151]

Sure, please do.

[KA101]

OK.  These are all the Keeper mode; I haven't tried Adventurer.

Great:
Random worldgen and having varying resources.  Makes life much more interesting.
Controllable research tree, including found-techs.  Nice not having to simply wait for the warlocks et al.
Controllable minion-recruitment: make the army you want, more or less.
Manually having a "dispatch creature to location" function.  No substitute for a good training-room replacement, but nice for starters.

(Simply having the game.)

OK:
Minion variety.  I like having golems, undead, etc.  Beasts are pretty much wasted research ATM because they're not orderable IMO though.  Tough to tell the exact differences between the various types, though (is a mummy more effective than a stone golem, for example?)
Having most all constructions available at start
Prisoners as labor force (though I'd imagine they'd try to sabotage/escape?)
Varying enemy races, w00t
Critters automatically grab gear as available
Not sure what the Black Market stuff does, and would be nice to be able to sell off or otherwise process surplus enemy gear
Archery's Cool, but tough to tell who can/can't use it and whether it's worthwhile
Iron's a little too necessary as compared to stone or wood

Not so good:
Hostiles don't repopulate, requiring one to eventually send strike teams (which don't seem able to take prisoners!)
Prisoner-taking doesn't feel reliable
"Boss" hostiles are practically invulnerable (rarely if ever hit them, then they potion it away, making the fight between my Legendary Humanoid and the Duke, rather than a climactic struggle among the heaps of our fallen troops, a tiresome game of "who runs out of potions first?"  (Bet the Duke to win that one.)
Imps, etc can't pass boulder traps, breaking "rat run" mechanics; in some cases they can't open doors either
Mana gain is way too slow in the endgame; Vampire Lords' "study" ability apparently doesn't do anything?
Critters aren't particularly good about making sure the artifact gear gets used.  Whack one Lord, use its weapon on the next!

Can't name Keeper or critters.  I'd definitely not want to have some backer's name on my Keeper.

The Keeper xemself;
+Nifty having a physical presence, cf. Evil Genius
+The idea of being able to support my troops personally is promising
-Only reliable way to gain mana (= troops and techs) is to leave the Keeper parked in the library though :-(
-Keeper spells are poorly defined and no direct-damage available until/unless master sorcery
-Rear-echelon Keeper nevertheless takes most of the potions, rather than letting the troops take 'em to the front
-Keeper can't be shifted to the Lab to make potions xemself (support vamps, etc) or otherwise directly intervene.

[miki151]

Hey, big thanks for the solid feedback. I'm planning another release pretty soon and I'll try to sort a few of these issues.

Beasts are pretty much wasted research ATM because they're not orderable IMO though.

I think they are good for exploring and killing some peasants for mana early on. Have you tried the legendary beasts?

Hostiles don't repopulate, requiring one to eventually send strike teams (which don't seem able to take prisoners!)

No they don't and I'm working hard on the whole enemy spawning/attack mechanics to make them more entertaining.

Prisoner-taking doesn't feel reliable

The way it works now is they surrender if they are in panic mode and are the last ones standing in the dungeon (so it works only in the dungeon). But it's only my first try at this mechanic.

"Boss" hostiles are practically invulnerable (rarely if ever hit them, then they potion it away, making the fight between my Legendary Humanoid and the Duke, rather than a climactic struggle among the heaps of our fallen troops, a tiresome game of "who runs out of potions first?"  (Bet the Duke to win that one.)

Combat is pretty lame for now, and it's on the list, probably not for this release though.

Mana gain is way too slow in the endgame; Vampire Lords' "study" ability apparently doesn't do anything?

That's done on purpose, to force you to attack the good guys for mana, so you don't just fortify yourself in the dungeon. Vampire lords learn spells in the library.

Critters aren't particularly good about making sure the artifact gear gets used.  Whack one Lord, use its weapon on the next!

It's on the list to make them switch equipment for better. Artifacts will be grabbed by the Keeper and strongest minions.

Can't name Keeper or critters.  I'd definitely not want to have some backer's name on my Keeper.

Definitely

[EuchreJack]

Yeah, I've found crows are good for recon and wolves are good for fast raids on peasant settlements.  They certainly fight better than Gnomes...

I've found invisibility/blindness potions and player possession of creatures to be essential to killing lords.  Certainly more climatic than just watching!

I'd like to see mistresses and recruitment of prisoners.

[KA101]

Hey, I appreciate that you're putting in the effort.  I've tried the legendary beasts in endgame: problem is, I'd have to research two techs and then find the book in order to field 'em, so usually it's a better idea to have troops that I can order/equip first.  (If nothing else, golems can't grab the books; presuming beasts can't either.) Last Legendary Beast I loosed killed an Elf OK, but the nearby Elf Lord one-shotted it.  :-/

Ravens are great for cheap recon and I've seen wolves last a while.

Yeah, I was possessing my Legendary Humanoid at the time.  Miss, miss, miss, crush the duke's spine with your warhammer, duke drinks a healing potion, miss, duke hits you, you drink a potion, and so on.  Setting their tile on fire seems to be the best solution; lava golems and a hallway full of beds?

Mistresses are OK but I'd think it'd be a serious boost to credibility to either not sex-up the torturers or sex-up men for the job.  I understand ridiculous leather getups can be just as ...calming on beefy guys too.

[Cheedows]

I know exactly what you mean, only way to kill lords effectively is with swarms. Thrown potions to stun help immensely as well, when spammed they can be fairly hilarious and terrifying.

[miki151]

I've found invisibility/blindness potions and player possession of creatures to be essential to killing lords.  Certainly more climatic than just watching!

That's exactly my intent, at least on the hard level, that you need to control minions and use various tactics and tricks to kill the leaders. It's a roguelike after all. It should get more and more interesting as I put more content in. I'm also going to make the Keeper stronger and give minions a morale bonus when he's leading them, so you will fight major battles controlling yourself, and not hiding in the library.

[EuchreJack]

I've found invisibility/blindness potions and player possession of creatures to be essential to killing lords.  Certainly more climatic than just watching!

That's exactly my intent, at least on the hard level, that you need to control minions and use various tactics and tricks to kill the leaders. It's a roguelike after all. It should get more and more interesting as I put more content in. I'm also going to make the Keeper stronger and give minions a morale bonus when he's leading them, so you will fight major battles controlling yourself, and not hiding in the library.

Perhaps some of the mutation techs could also mutate the Keeper.  Keeper reads book and becomes Lich/Werewolf/Minotaur?

[Cheedows]

I think mutations would be interesting, and maybe more special cliché functions for your minions once town respawn is implemented. Such as having vampires requiring to sulk in the night in search of blood, maybe permanently increasing stats but increases the blood requirement. Or werewolves who have to kill and feast on livestock when they turn, provoking other factions but adding bonuses to your minions.

[miki151]

Yes, the Keeper should definitely turn into a lich when you research master necromancy. In the literature liches hide their soul in a secret place because finding it is the only way to kill them. I've been thinking a lot how to use this idea in the game in a sensible way, but can't figure it out (from a game perspective the safest thing would be to have it in your inventory).

Morphing into other things is also an interesting idea. Unfortunately I'm a bit confined by the graphics. I miss the ascii days 

Feeding the vampires with blood is on the list. I will implement day and night cycles at some point, and then vampires would need to be fed every night. And any undead leaving the dungeon during the day would be insta-killed.

[Fikes]

Yes, the Keeper should definitely turn into a lich when you research master necromancy. In the literature liches hide their soul in a secret place because finding it is the only way to kill them. I've been thinking a lot how to use this idea in the game in a sensible way, but can't figure it out (from a game perspective the safest thing would be to have it in your inventory).

Require the lich to build a "soul shrine" and make it a major target for enemies or require it to be near the surface or something.

[KA101]

Yeah, requiring a fixed power-core is probably the way to go for lichdom.

Possible bug: tried adventurer mode, got flattened by a boulder in Goblin Mines 3, started a new Keeper round afterward and found that my troops weren't leveling in the training room.  Was summarily slaughtered when the elves figured out where I was.