Exploring vs Combat

I am a fan of simple-to-understand rules. In the next release you will always be either in exploring mode or combat mode.

The Modes

You are in exploring mode whenever you are not aware of any awake monsters around you, that is: you cannot see or hear any awake monsters. Detecting monsters don’t count.

When you are in exploring mode, the following applies:

• You can rest
• You can equip and unequip items freely
• You can be victim of a surprise attack, in particular you can’t avoid spells (since everything would take you by surprise).
• Spacebar will always autorun (unless you turned it off in the options)

If you on the other hand can see or hear an awake monster, you are in combat mode. In combat mode the following applies:

• You cannot rest
• You cannot equip or unequip body armour, helmets, gloves or boots (“big equipment”). However, you can still swap weapons, ammo, launchers, shields and jewellery.
• Spacebar will always wait a turn
• You are too preoccupied to avoid any traps (avoid traps is 0%)
• You cannot use some “complex” dungeon features or make complicated actions (such as mining).
• You cannot use any service (such as a merchant).

Your current mode will always be seen first in the “status” panel. This replaces the text “normal” that displayed when you had no status effects. The whole status window will change colour when you are in combat mode.

Why Modes?

1. The modes make the game a bit more dynamic and adds some realism to the game. No longer will you be able able to casually put on your plate mail while a barbarian is standing right next to you and beating you up. Neither will you be able to go chatting up a pretty enchantress while a dog is biting you in the foot, and you certainly don’t have time to carefully look around for hidden traps while hearing the mighty steps of a furious giant you are running away from. This is also a step towards restricting equipment swapping which the game really is in need of (more on that in another post).
2. You have slightly more reason to kill monsters than before. This makes the game more difficult, which is fine since recent changes have made it easier.
3. The modes make the rules simpler. You will no longer wonder whether the spacebar will run or wait. You will also directly know when you can rest and not.
4. This actually allows you to rest among sleeping monsters, which is more logical (in previous releases you can’t). On the other hand, you will not be able to sleep if you can hear a monster (who would dare?).
5. It forces you to plan ahead a bit. Once in combat it may be difficult to get out of it again. So it is important to make sure you have made your decisions about what armour to wear before heading out in unknown territory.