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okay, that infinite loop is absolutely beautiful.  let's go in the tunnel on the right, I guess?
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May 1, 2021 05:08
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May 1, 2021 08:01
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FredMSloniker posted:Buckle up, boys and girls. It's time for one of my favorite bits of bullshit in Creature of Havoc. Not bad indeed (IIRC there's one of the History titles that did the same thing if you decided to side against William the Conqueror at Hastings) ; but to me not the absolute worst. The absolute worst is : you can go through the *entire book* without the crystal club, and autodie like a chump in the very last room. 200ish sections of dead man walking, which has got to be some sort of record. (and of course I know, because no matter how many times I tried this book as a kid, I never found the way to get it - but then I'm not sure I ever cracked the language code either, it's a bit tougher to work out than J.H. Brennan's Caesar ciphers) Kobal2 fucked around with this message at 12:33 on May 1, 2021 |
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May 1, 2021 12:30
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Reference 182 posted:After following the tunnel for some time, you begin to hear clinking noises and voices from somewhere ahead. You round a corner and enter a large chamber lit by the flickering light of many torches, where creatures of all sizes and shapes are swinging implements at the rock-face. Their hard work is watched by several large, heavily armoured guards, who brandish long bullwhips, and any pauses in the work are rewarded by painful slashes from these whips. The creatures at work seem to be digging out the rock-face and loading it into trucks. The trucks are then pushed along the tracks you have found by other minions. Will you try to creep through the chamber, keeping out of sight of the guards (turn to 78)? Or will you step behind one of the trucks and see where it is to be pushed to (turn to 94)? We're not really suited for a stealth mission, but we can certainly try! Reference 78 posted:You watch each guard in turn and wait until they are preoccupied with whipping the miserable creatures, when you are able to move slowly across the vast chamber unnoticed. But as luck would have it, a small creature turns a corner round the rock and bumps straight into you! You both jump in surprise. But then your lips curl back and a delighted growl comes from your throat. Your tongue licks lustily round your mouth as you grab the unfortunate Hobbit that has walked straight into your clutches! Its screams are quickly silenced, but not before the guards are aware of your appearance in the mine. They surround you, brandishing their bullwhips, and you are trapped. The penalty for you is not death - though some would consider death more merciful. Killing you would be a wasted opportunity. You are much more useful spending the rest of your life toiling as a slave in the mines of Zharradan Marr. Bad End #2: Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work we go for the rest of our lives! Maybe blending in will go better? Reference 94 posted:You creep up behind one of the trucks and join a team of creatures who are pushing it. Suddenly a guard with a bullwhip taps you on the shoulder. You suspect trouble and tense yourself for battle. But the guard has not spotted you as an impostor. He is simply motioning for you to leave the truck you are pushing and move over to another one which has to be pushed in a different direction. You shuffle over to the truck. A rather emaciated Troll is your only partner. You and the Troll, coaxed by a guard who is clearly waiting for an excuse to use his bullwhip, push the truck through the cavern, along a tunnel, past a side tunnel to the left and towards an opening. Light enters the tunnel through the opening. Death #19: I'm really getting sick of this poo poo! So following the tracks was a bust. Let's try the other way. Reference 424 posted:You follow the passage until it becomes impossible for you to see in the total darkness. Now you must grope your way along, feeling the walls with both hands. Eventually a faint red glow appears on the left-hand side of the passageway and you realize you are at another fork. To the left, the way seems to lead to some kind of light-source. To the right, the passage is still pitch-black. Will you choose the right-hand passage (turn to 108) or the left-hand passage Left leads back to the tracks, so we'll head right. (Also, just to be sure, I checked 404 and 444. Both are references we've been to before, unrelated to secret doors.) Reference 108 posted:You must stoop to enter this tunnel and you inch forward, feeling the walls ahead with your hands. The ground underfoot is becoming wet and each footstep comes down with a splash. Then you lose your footing and slip down a muddy slide, until eventually you land up to your chest in what feels to be a pool of thick mud. You try in vain to drag yourself from the pool. Death #20: Mud wrestling is more dangerous than it looks. Being unable to understand language when we get to 369 is inevitably fatal, then. We need to know what Darramouss is saying in order to properly defy him. (For that matter, his speech only makes sense if we've been exposed to both vapours we've encountered so far, so decoding his message without that is a continuity error.) That knocks our number of new states down to 2,592, and going ahead and purging those visited flags at 369 (since at this point I'm sure we won't be going back to the first part of the dungeon) knocks it down to 288. Kobal2 posted:but then I'm not sure I ever cracked the language code either, it's a bit tougher to work out than J.H. Brennan's Caesar ciphers Once you understand how to decode it, it's actually fairly easy to do on the fly. The trick is figuring out how to decode it when the instructions you're given are for encoding it. (And how did you get past this point without figuring out the language thing?) Time to go kick Darramouss's rear end. Reference 90 posted:You growl defiantly at the voice. The four lights flicker and extinguish. Almost immediately a background luminosity begins to light up the area and you can see where you are. The room you are in is large and appears to be quite important, judging by the rich drapes and gilt-framed paintings which hang on the walls. The scenes depicted in the paintings seem to be of Hell itself. The four faces you saw are elaborate carvings in a soft clay-like material. Standing before you is a tall, gruesome creature dressed in a flowing black cape. Two red eyes shine out from the depths of its hood. Darramouss turns to speak to you: We're up to 1,008 new game states now. Which is strange, because you'd think going from one choice to three would mean it'd be 864...
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May 1, 2021 17:12
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We've already seen this gag with that squishy red guy way back. Strangle that wizard before he can choke out his spell.
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May 1, 2021 17:51
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Wait and see. I got a good feeling about this one.
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May 1, 2021 17:54
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Incidentally, I've found a site where someone's already done the legwork on mapping the One True Path through Creature of Havoc and done some simulations of the odds to win. I won't link it to avoid tempting you with spoilers, but it's helping me optimize things behind the scenes by telling my program not to bother calculating past 'dead man walking' situations we've encountered. e: after marking all the 'dead man walking' scenarios we've reached, it takes 10,560 detected losing states to enumerate the new game states, as opposed to 21,046. It also takes much less time for the program to run. FredMSloniker fucked around with this message at 18:34 on May 1, 2021 |
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May 1, 2021 18:09
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McGavin posted:Wait and see. I got a good feeling about this one. Reference 286 posted:Darramouss picks up a jar while he reads from the book. He concentrates his thoughts and seems to focus them on the jar. Then he reaches inside, pulls out a handful of grains of rice and sprinkles them over you. Before you can react, his spell has taken place. The grains of rice have formed into Death Maggots - small grubs with voracious appetites and sharp teeth which will rip even your tough scales to shreds! Scores of the tiny creatures are now feasting hungrily on you and you desperately try to swat them with your hands. Although you do succeed in killing many of them, many more have wedged themselves between your scales and even bored into your flesh. You look up in agony at the undead creature. But Darramouss will show no mercy. His hand reaches into the jar and he tosses another handful of rice over you... Death #21: I hope you weren't planning on sleeping this week, Jesus! Ignatius M. Meen posted:We've already seen this gag with that squishy red guy way back. Strangle that wizard before he can choke out his spell. Reference 402 posted:Your hand closes round his neck. As you tighten it, you can hear the grinding sound of bones being crushed. But Darramouss's expression is unchanging; he shows not the slightest concern. You release the neck and drop the limp body to the ground. But the instant you release him, his body snaps back to life and the incantation continues! You set your claws and bring them ripping across his chest. As soon as you make contact, the body goes limp and it flies through the air, in response to your blow, like an empty sack. But before it lands, it once more fills out and takes shape. As the life surges quickly back into it, the creature flips in the air and flies back to land where it was! This time, the creature opens one eye wide and glares at you. You are caught in a vice-like grip of agony! The pain is overwhelming and you sink to your knees whimpering in front of the desk. You must deduct 4 STAMINA points. While you writhe in agony, Darramouss finishes his incantation. Well, that's a non-starter. Maybe we could try running? Reference 384 posted:Test your Luck. If you are Lucky, you manage to reach the doorway before Darramouss can react We've been to 79. Nothing good comes of turning to 79. Any ideas? By the way, the website I mentioned in my previous post has a complete flowchart of the book, showing every reference where you're a dead man walking (and there are a lot of those). In order to maximize our 'enjoyment' of the book, I'm considering instituting a new rule: when we reach a point where one or more decisions will keep us from finishing the book, we must explore all of them before we're allowed to make the right call. I'd indicate the correct path(s) in italics. Does anyone have any objections?
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May 1, 2021 19:11
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I do believe we already have the solution for this.quote:Reference 360 posted: Let's see, we were given the option to grab him on page 90, so... 140, I think?
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May 1, 2021 21:20
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I've no objections to going through the death sections before the progress sections first. Feels more authentic that way.
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May 1, 2021 21:29
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Stabbey_the_Clown posted:Let's see, we were given the option to grab him on page 90, so... 140, I think? The reason we went from 288 new game states to 1,008 instead of 864, as you correctly pointed out, is that we have four options, not three, one of which is to use the bulbous ring. However, since we can't use it if we don't have it, and not all paths to 90 have it, we wound up at 1,008 new game states instead of 1,152. To win the book we absolutely must get the bulbous ring, which narrows our list of states down to 144. With it, we can add 50 to 90 and get... Reference 140 posted:You remember the words of the blind wizard Hannicus and you hold up the silver ring before Darramouss. "What is it? What sort of gesture is... the Ring of Holy Blessing! Where did you get that? Give it to me! This instant!" Very poor choice of words. Reference 140 posted:His sunken eyes narrow and his gaze becomes fierce and pierces deep into your eyes. For a moment you feel him entering your will and your hand extends the ring towards him! His hand reaches out to take it from you... Reference 79 is still bad. Reference 184 posted:You are glad to be out of the room and away from the vile creature. You take long strides and follow the passage north. It turns to the west and your nose twitches at the foul smell of sewage. A strong wooden bridge takes you across the stinking Bilgewater. [incoherent screeching] Reference 184 posted:You are forced to hold your breath as you cross, but on the other side you quickly leave the filthy river and the passageway turns once more to the north. You arrive at a heavy door carved out of the rock which blocks the way onwards. As you are considering what to do, the door opens. Can I just digress for a moment? Why is it so often in sci-fi or fantasy you see Klingons, Orcs, or what have you, but humans are almost never Humans? Any work in these genres that is consistent about the case of its sapient species names gets a point from me. Reference 184 posted:His face is badly scarred and one of his eyes is half-closed. His lips curl back in a sneer which shows his few, dirty teeth. "Well?" he asks. "What is it? Has Darramouss sent you? Have you permission to leave Marr's dungeons? Come on! Where's your tongue?" Will you nod to let him know you have been allowed to leave by Darramouss (turn to 3), will you play stupid and see what he does next (turn to 169), or will you grab him in your claws and do battle (turn to 73)? If we play dumb... Reference 169 posted:Pretending not to understand, you stare at him wide-eyed. "Stupid creature!" he says scornfully. "You'll not be much use outside if you don't speak the language. Got lost, did you? Turn round and go back the way you came, serpent-face. And if it's a journey you fancy, jump into the Bilgewater and see where it takes you!" The guard laughs and turns back to his room. The only way you are going to get past him is by attacking. Turn to 73. ...we don't get anywhere. So let's fight! Reference 73 posted:With a snarl you leap at the guard's throat and send him sprawling back into the room. You both land on the floor amid piles of old clothes and half-eaten meals. There is a foul smell in the air, a mixture of stale sweat and rancid ale. He manages to free himself from your grip and grab a club from a table. Turn to 98. Reference 98 posted:Resolve your combat with the dark-skinned guard: Reference 349 posted:The guard lies dead on the ground and you step back to catch your breath. You may feast on the guard's body, but if you do, you will gain only 3 STAMINA points, for his taste is not to your liking. The way onwards seems to be through the metal door in the wall opposite your entrance. You step up and try it: it is locked. You strain to see through the small barred viewing-hole set in the door. You can see a stone stairway leading upwards, and a soft cool wind caresses your cheek. Will you look for the key to the lock (turn to 112) or try to break down the door (turn to 128)? Well, there's bound to be a key somewhere. Reference 112 posted:Alas, this choice will do you no good. Having never come across keys or locks before, you have no way of knowing what a key would look like or what you should do with it! In any case, your large, clumsy fingers could never manage to insert a small key and turn it. Unless you wish to try battering the door down (turn to 128), you have reached the end of your journey. Wow. I know we're no Mensa candidate, but dang. We're too stupid to door? Reference 128 posted:You charge into the door. It clangs loudly, but does not budge. This only angers you even further and you try again. But once more the door shows no sign of weakening. You, on the other hand, have hurt your arm and must lose 1 STAMINA point. If you wish to keep trying, turn to 150. Otherwise you may look for a key Reference 150 posted:You try beating the door with your fists. It has been specially made to withstand batterings of this sort and all you succeed in doing is injuring your hands. Lose 1 STAMINA point. If you wish to continue trying to break down the door, turn to 398. Otherwise you will have to search for the key Uh oh. I've got a feeling of... Reference 398 posted:You pick up a chair and fling it at the door. The chair shatters. By now your anger and frustration are twice what they were before! You try kicking the door with your huge foot. The door seems to shudder a little more than it did before, and a few grains of dust fall to the floor from where the hinges are attached to the rock. But still the door remains intact. You must lose 1 STAMINA point for the injury to your foot. If you want to keep trying the door, Death #22: Deja vu: the feeling you are doing something you have done before. (Also, apparently we have more chairs than STAMINA.) ...why, yes, we are on an errand for Darramouss! Reference 3 posted:He eyes you suspiciously. "Is that so? Well, no doubt he gave you the gesture too. Come on, then. Let's have it!" What will your gesture be? Uh. Is it... this one? Reference 387 posted:He looks deep into your eyes for several moments. Eventually he grunts and stands aside to let you through into the guardroom. The place is dirty, and smells of rancid ale and stale food. Across the room is another door. This one is made of metal and has a small barred viewing-panel at eye-level. Through this panel you can see steps leading upwards. But while you gaze at the door, you are not watching what the guard is doing. Suddenly you feel a heavy blow on the back of your head. You slump to your knees, dazed by the impact, and turn to see the guard advancing towards you holding a heavy club. Lose 4 STAMINA points for the blow and Death #22: Deja vu: the feeling you are doing something you have done before. Right, right, it was this one. Reference 22 posted:"A circle, eh?" he mutters. "All right, then, in you come." Amazed at your success, you enter the guardroom. It is a dirty place, with clothes and food strewn around and an unpleasant smell - a mixture of stale sweat and rancid ale - hanging in the air. When you are in the centre of the room, you turn to the guard. Crack! Had you turned an instant earlier you may have been quick enough to avoid the heavy blow which has landed on your head. You fall to your knees in a state of near-unconsciousness and you must lose 4 STAMINA points. Meanwhile the guard is advancing towards you with a heavy club in his hand. Death #22: Deja vu: the feeling you are doing something you have done before. Well, I'm out of ideas. Reference 437 posted:"No gesture? Darramouss gave you no gesture?" The guard is incredulous. You shrug as if to say that you did not see Darramouss. "But Darramouss is always in his chamber. Look, wait here for a moment. I must check his room." The guard grabs a club and rushes off down the passage, leaving you on your own. Will you keep your word and remain where you are until he returns (turn to 38), or will you step into his room and look for a way out (turn to 54)? Oh, like we're not going to loot. Reference 54 posted:You wait until the guard has disappeared round the corner and sneak into his room. It is dirty and untidy; old food moulders in corners; the bed is filthy, and dirty blankets are strewn about on the floor. And there is a smell hanging in the air which is a mixture of stale human sweat and rancid ale. On the far side of the room is a metal door. A barred viewing-hole is open and through the hole you can see stairs beyond, leading upwards. Suddenly a noise from behind startles you and you swing round just in time to see a huge wooden club descending on your forehead! The blow knocks you to your knees and you must lose 4 STAMINA points. Death #22: Deja vu: the feeling you are doing something you have done before. Anybody else read a story as a kid where some bears are going to have a picnic, only they forgot the mustard or something, and the little kid says he'll go get it, only he gets them to promise they won't start without him, so his parents wait for ages and ages, but he doesn't go back, and finally they decide it won't be a big deal if they have a little snack, only he pounces out of the bushes where he's been hiding this whole time and yells at them for breaking their word? Yeah, that little kid was a jerk. Reference 38 posted:Eventually the guard returns, panting, "It seems you were right." He shrugs. "There's no sign of him anywhere. Mind you, I can't let you through here. No one's allowed through without Darramouss's permission. At least, not unless... er... certain... ahem... special arrangements are made, if you understand my meaning." Uh. Reference 38 posted:He looks at the pendant around your neck. Oh thank god. Reference 38 posted:"That's a handsome little piece," he says. "Now I'm sure special arrangements could be made if you were to leave this behind. Just our - shall we say - bond to make sure you return. And mine to keep if you don't!" If you wish to give him your pendant, he will let you through his guardroom, but you may never again find secret passages without it. Make your choice. If you will pay his price, turn to 442. If this price is too high, the only way you are going to get through is by attacking him Death #22: Deja vu - okay, yeah, no, this time we have another option. It pains me to say it, but we must now part with our trusty pendant. (There aren't any secrets for it to find after this point anyway.) Reference 442 posted:The guard draws a bunch of keys out of his pocket and opens the metal door to let you through. You grunt in thanks, and begin climbing the steps. At the top, you find yourself in a cold, stone-walled room with a large stone platform in its centre. Carvings and symbols decorate the platform, which is lit up by a beam of light from a crack in the ceiling. You edge around the room until you reach a door, which you shove open. The sight which greets you makes your eyes open wide... Well, at least the view is worth it. The question is: what now? As you can see, there's only one right answer, but at least one of the wrong answers leads to a huge chunk of the book you can only see if you're already doomed...
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May 1, 2021 21:56
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When I went through this book myself I had to wonder how the guard managed to miss finding Darramous's body. Did it turn to dust? Or did he just decide it was inconvenient to raise the alarm?
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May 1, 2021 22:28
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Loot this building first.
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May 1, 2021 22:50
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BraveLittleToaster posted:Loot this building first. We can't go to the building yet; it's the correct path. Our choices are the stones or the woods.
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May 1, 2021 23:27
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FredMSloniker posted:We can't go to the building yet; it's the correct path. Our choices are the stones or the woods. Oh, I didn't notice that. In that case, stones
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May 1, 2021 23:29
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I'm going to guess the woods make up the bigger section.
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May 1, 2021 23:58
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Ignatius M. Meen posted:I'm going to guess the woods make up the bigger section. You guess correctly! There's some 'fun' stuff the other way too, though, so we'll get there eventually. Reference 261 posted:The path takes you along towards the trees. You pass a sign on the edge of the forest, which reads "Knot Oak Wood". Once in the wood, the going is more difficult as the light is obscured by the tall trees. If you wish to rest by one of the trees, turn to 362. If you would prefer to keep going, turn to 162. Both of these lead to the same place, so I'll show both. Reference 362 posted:After a few moments you find it difficult to keep your eyes open and your head begins to nod. Resistance is useless. You roll over on the ground and fall soundly asleep. But your sleep is disturbed by dreams of dark creatures, humans with sharp swords and magical encounters. In the centre of your dreams is yourself, understanding nothing, for ever wondering where you are, and why. In one dream you are running from a hideous figure, who is pursuing you in a ship which flies. The faster you try to escape, the easier it is for the ship to catch up. Leering sadistically, the figure drops a net over you! You crash to the ground, trapped in the net, trying desperately to escape... Reference 162 posted:A cloud drifts overhead and blots out the moon. In pitch-blackness, the going is difficult for you. You grope your way along, trying to be as cautious as possible. Suddenly you step into an unseen ditch! You lurch forwards and your head cracks against a low branch. Consciousness fades, and you slump into the ditch. When you open your eyes once more, it is light! You rub your sore head (you must lose 2 STAMINA points for the injury) and pick yourself up. You continue your journey through the wood. Turn to 244. The damned need not STAMINA! (If we had a swollen eye from a bat encounter, it'd be cured at this point.) Reference 244 posted:You continue east until you reach a junction, where another path joins from the north. There is a signpost at the junction. The sign pointing northwards reads "Coven". To the south the sign reads "Bilgewater", [foaming at mouth] Reference 244 posted:though no path runs that way. To the east the sign reads "Testing Grounds". Which way do you want to go: north (turn to 191), south (turn to 57) or east (turn to 12)?
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May 2, 2021 03:13
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South, just to annoy the LPer
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May 2, 2021 03:15
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Leraika posted:South, just to annoy the LPer *twitch* While I was prepping this update, I discovered there was an error on the flowchart I was talking about; one of the paths is missing. Don't fret, it won't save us. Reference 12 posted:You follow the trail until you reach the top of a hill. The trail winds down into a valley. You pick your way cautiously down and reach the bottom safely. But as you pause to rest for a moment, you are startled by a rustling in the bushes behind you. You swing round just in time to avoid the sharp blade of an axe, which misses your face by inches! You growl deep down in your throat and turn to face the tall Woodcutter who has attacked. Resolve this combat: Reference 17 posted:You can see ahead that a river runs through the valley, and you make your way to its banks. As you get closer to the water, you notice that the vegetation is changing. The lush green colour of the trees and bushes higher up the valley is replaced by a darker olive colour and the plants down here are decidedly less healthy. Spindly branches reach out at unnatural angles as if pleading for mercy. On the ground, many of the roots of the contorted trees are exposed and have been eaten away. The surrounding bushes are often leafless, and the effect is rather eerie. A faint smell hangs in the air. (The path from here to 57 is the one that isn't on the flowchart.) One of these paths leads to near-instant doom. Another path can lead to near-instant doom. And at least one path leads where we need to go... without the thing we need to bring there.
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May 2, 2021 04:45
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Head on up the stream.
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May 2, 2021 04:53
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Reference 12 is the most  fight we've had yet. A random woodcutter attacks you, and then the next reference doesn't even acknowledge that at all. You don't even get to eat them!
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May 2, 2021 07:10
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Arcvasti posted:Reference 12 is the most Which is especially odd because there's no other way to get to 17. BraveLittleToaster posted:Head on up the stream. Reference 427 posted:You follow the river up the valley until you reach a point where it comes out of a cave in the side of the hill. There is no path into the cave, just the river. If you turn around and follow the river downstream instead, Uuuuuuugh we have to go into the river again! Reference 345 posted:You stumble down the rocky bank and splash into the river. The dirty water feels greasy to the touch and the stench is horrendous. You force your way forward against the fast-flowing current, deeper and deeper into the darkness of the cave. Your presence is noted by a host of fish and other animals living in the Bilgewater. Most are not capable of harming you. But there is one river creature who thrives in vile waters. Known as the Devil's Locks, it is a huge burrowing creature with long stinging tentacles. In rivers it will bury its body in crevices, allowing its deadly tentacles to waft in the current. The effect is rather like seeing a long-haired disembodied head lying on the bed of the river (hence the name). You, of course can see nothing. Nor do you know anything of the terrible creature. The last things you remember are soft fibres wrapping themselves around your leg and a sharp pain as the first sting releases its quick-acting poison... Objection! You don't remember things when you're dead. Death #23: I thought we were done with this poo poo! You can still go into the undergrowth (57) or follow the river downstream (423).
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May 2, 2021 07:20
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Sort through the undergrowth.
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May 2, 2021 07:36
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In other news, I finished, for certain values of finished, writing a program that'll calculate our odds of reaching the end of the book from the beginning with perfect play. Right now, if I haven't made any mistakes, I'm calculating a roughly 82.1% chance of finishing with maxed-out stats. (Minimum stats give a mere 4.8% chance of victory. I plan on adding code to determine the odds of winning from before stats are rolled.) This doesn't yet handle the effects of getting hit by a bat near the beginning; I know how to do it, but it's too late to be coding. It also autowins all combats, which is a trickier problem to solve, as the person I got the flowcharts from noted. It's not an unsolvable problem if I throw enough computer at it, but basically it has to ask itself after every round of combat if Testing its Luck to get a better result is, on average, a good idea or not. The vast majority of the program's processing will be devoted to analyzing every possible combat state; there are twelve mandatory fights and one you may be forced to win if the dice don't go your way. I don't know yet if I have enough computer for that. Even the alternative of deciding on some sort of strategy for LUCK usage and hard-coding it in may not help. There's only one way to find out, though!
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May 2, 2021 07:39
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It bodes ill that a gamebook requires that much effort to complete. And that's coupled with everything else that's already happened. So, that's one ugly picture.
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May 2, 2021 07:45
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FredMSloniker posted:Once you understand how to decode it, it's actually fairly easy to do on the fly. The trick is figuring out how to decode it when the instructions you're given are for encoding it. (And how did you get past this point without figuring out the language thing?) Brute force. I was desperate enough to read sections in order until I found the one that told me the right thing in context. I was a very dumb but very *determined* little poo poo...
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May 2, 2021 11:35
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BraveLittleToaster posted:Sort through the undergrowth. Reference 57 posted:You make your way through the undergrowth. Your progress is very slow. Your bulky body is impeded by branches and vines, and the going is both difficult and tiring. And you are not certain which way you should go, when all directions look the same. You try various different directions until you find yourself passing a tree which you can remember passing just a short time before! You have been travelling in circles! Your anger builds up and you thunder through the foliage. An unnatural click beneath your foot should have been a warning. But in your rage, it is a warning which you choose to ignore. An instant later, the trap has sprung. Your foot has stepped into a rope noose attached to the supple stem of a sapling. The noose tightens around your ankle and with a whip-like action you are hoisted into the air, until you dangle helplessly from the tree-top! Turn to 175. Reference 175 posted:Your attempts at freeing yourself are all to no avail. Night comes, followed by the morning sunrise. Birds are beginning to circle round you and you are feeling decidedly weak. But in the distant sky, a tiny shape comes into view. As it comes closer, you realize it is not a bird. It is much too large to be any living creature and its size eventually frightens off the birds circling above you. When it comes close enough for you to see, you can make out its shape clearly, although it is something with which you are not familiar. A huge vessel, with billowing sails above it, is heading towards you! You watch as it gets closer and closer, and eventually stops over you. A pole is lowered over the side. It grabs the rope from which you are hanging and hoists you on to the deck. You are too tired and weak to resist as rough hands shove your neck through the nearby guillotine. This foraging expedition has been most successful. The crew of the Galleykeep will have a hearty meal tonight... Death #24: Cannibalistic turnabout is fair play. That just leaves following the river downstream. Reference 423 posted:You pick your way along the river-bank, following it downstream. The going is not easy. At one point you must climb carefully down a rocky cliff, where the river passes over a waterfall. Eventually you reach a calm pool where the waters slow and spread over a wide expanse. Steam rises lazily from the pungent water and you halt in your tracks as the smell - now stronger than ever - reaches you. Through the steamy mist you catch a glimpse of a creature further along the bank. It stands tall on four legs and is drinking contentedly from the foul waters. You creep closer, keeping hidden in the bushes. The creature stands on long, cloven feet. Its skin is covered in tough scales and its tail ends in a spiky ball. Its head is sleek and serpent-like, with a long, thin tongue that darts in and out as it drinks from the river.  Reference 423 posted:It has not noticed you. Will you creep round the creature so as not to disturb it (turn to 120)? Will you attack it in the hope of gaining a much-needed meal (turn to 238)? Or will you approach it gently, try to keep it calm, and then mount it (turn to 127)? FredMSloniker fucked around with this message at 17:38 on May 2, 2021 |
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May 2, 2021 16:37
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Update on solving the book odds: with the fix for a swollen eye added, and with code to generate all possible combinations of SKILL, STAMINA, and LUCK (6 ^ 4, or 1,296, states), the odds of beating the book even with instantly winning every fight are about 39.4%.
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May 2, 2021 16:51
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Let's try to ride the dinosaur?! 127. I've been picturing us to look sort of like a hodag, a folklore monster from Wisconsin. 
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May 2, 2021 17:15
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Maigius posted:Let's try to ride the dinosaur?! 127. Turns out there's an illustration online, so I've added it to the update. Reference 127 posted:You creep forward until you are quite close to the creature. As you stand there motionless, patiently waiting for the right moment, a bird flutters down to land on a bush in front of you. You must now decide how you will approach the Ophidiotaur that you have encountered. Roll two dice. If the number rolled equals or exceeds your SKILL, turn to 238. If the number is lower than your SKILL, turn to 5. The doomed have no SKILL. Reference 238 posted:You creep as close as possible to the Ophidotaur and finally spring out of the foliage at it! The startled creature is caught unawares. It splashes in the water and kicks high with its hind legs. But its fright is momentary. The creature rapidly composes itself and turns towards you, tail swinging and tongue darting in and out of its wide open mouth, in which two dangerous-looking fangs are poised to strike. It is ready for battle and you must resolve your combat: Reference 416 posted:You feast heartily on the creature. Add 4 STAMINA points for the nourishment. After resting to digest the food, you pick yourself up and continue downstream along the river-bank. Turn to 388. Reference 388 posted:The going becomes a little steeper and the river splashes faster over its rocky bed. Ahead you can see that it seems to disappear over a ledge and, when you get closer, you see that the river plunges over a tall waterfall and crashes into a natural pond far below, before continuing along a narrower stream through a gully carved in the rock. The effect is quite spectacular, but it presents a problem to you. How do you get down? Following the path along the river-bank is impossible. You will have to continue through the undergrowth. 57 is death by snare trap, so let's rewind to 127 and succeed at that Test of Skill. Reference 5 posted:Thinking quickly, you snatch the bird from the branch! It flutters in your hands, but a sharp squeeze silences it. The Ophidiotaur hears the rustling and turns to see what is happening. You step slowly from the undergrowth, holding out the bird towards it, as an offering. At first the creature is startled by your arrival, but your slow approach seems to reassure it. You hold the bird closer and its tongue darts out to snatch the food from you. You calm it down for a short time, then swing yourself up on to its back. It shrugs and snorts for a moment or two, but its protests are few and you realize that you now have a steed! After allowing the Ophidiotaur to drink from the river, you grasp its neck with your wide fingers and dig your heels into its haunches. Reference 366 posted:You step back into the bushes and search the clearing suspiciously. All is quiet, until a shrill cry breaks the silence. This is followed by the sounds of a struggle and finally three figures tumble into the clearing from the undergrowth, locked in combat. Two rough-set Brigands are grappling with another creature. The Brigands are burly humans, with leather breastplates and boots. The belts around their waists hold throwing-knives, but they are using their bare fists in this battle. Their adversary is thin and nimble, with long white hair and angular features. He wears a silky robe and appears to be unarmed. He is putting up a brave fight, but is clearly losing the battle as blow after blow from the brigands thuds into his stomach, ribs and head.  Reference 366 posted:He is crying out for help. Will you help him? If so, turn to 429. If you would rather keep hidden until the Brigands have left, turn to 295. e: I've implemented combat in my solver. Its rule for testing LUCK in combat is simple: if testing LUCK could make you not die (i.e, you've been reduced to exactly 0 STAMINA, so a successful test would leave you at 1 STAMINA instead), it tests LUCK. Otherwise it doesn't. It's at 115,000 scored game states and counting. FredMSloniker fucked around with this message at 17:56 on May 2, 2021 |
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May 2, 2021 17:54
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Let's be a hero!
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May 2, 2021 17:57
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Let's save this guy! Ignatius M. Meen fucked around with this message at 18:01 on May 2, 2021 |
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May 2, 2021 17:58
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Let's be a hero, for once. Maybe he's got more jewelry we can steal.
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May 2, 2021 18:07
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The solver continues to run; it's at about 590,000 states scored. More on that at the end of the update.Leraika posted:Let's be a hero! Reference 429 posted:As you crash out of the bushes into the clearing, the battle halts temporarily and all three combatants stare incredulously at you. You must resolve your battle with the Brigands, who will fight you together. The thin creature is too badly beaten to be of any help and drops to the ground moaning: Reference 448 posted:Exhausted from your battle, your attentions turn to the white-haired creature lying moaning on the ground. Seeing that the battle is over and that you mean him no harm, he turns towards you. As he speaks to you he winces in pain from his beating: "I offer you - aaaaah! - my thanks for your aid. My name is - oooh! - is Whiteleaf. I am - unnngh! - an Elf. Home for me is the village of Ethelle Amaene." He turns over on to his back and continues: "Aaahhhh, that's better... I know these woods well. Perhaps I can be of service to you in return?" What would you like him to tell you: Here's a peek behind the scenes. (If you don't care, you can safely skip everything after this.) Any situation we can be in when playing Creature of Havoc can be described with a game state. These can be fairly complicated, but all the solver needs to track are our SKILL, STAMINA, and LUCK; our Initial values of those; the reference we're currently at; and whether or not those darn bats tagged us. (We don't need to track inventory because we know what it will be on any given step of the winning path. We only need to know about the bats because they give us -1 SKILL, and we need to know to reverse that at daybreak.) Internally, the solver stores a game state as a string, but it's actually a Lua table; when the solver needs to make changes to it, it converts it into a table, makes the changes, and converts it back into a string. Since the same game state is always encoded into the same string, we can compare two game states this way to see if they're identical, something we can't easily do with tables. The references of the book we visit are stored in a table called references. For those unfamiliar, a Lua table is a set of keys and values; you look up the key and get the value. (If the key isn't in the table, you get nil, Lua's way of saying 'not anything at all'.) In this case, the keys are reference numbers, and the values are functions that take a game state and return its score. (Scores are between 0 and 1 and are the probability of victory from the given game state.) Only the references we actually visit on the winning path are stored, and even then, if we're just going through a series of references without anything of note happening, we compress the series to reduce the number of game states we have to calculate scores for. So how are the scores calculated? Well, for that each function calls one of several helper functions:
So. scoregamestate calls references, which calls one of several helper functions, which call scoregamestate. How do we get off of Mr. Bones's Wild Ride? Well, there are a few special references. The reference doom's function simply returns 0, while the reference win returns 1. Eventually, when scoring any given game state, we'll recurse our way down to one of those two. If we're at a 50-50 crossroads of death or victory, freechoice will return 1 (since we can choose to win), while randomchoice will return 0.5 (since it's a coin flip whether we win or lose). Any game states that lead to that state will use that value to calculate their scores. And so on, back to the beginning. (For those hip with the lingo, the program is traversing the game state space depth-first, calculating the scores of any game states that a given game state's score depends on before calculating that game state's score.) There are a couple of other special references. Reference 1 has special code for generating our initial stats. Reference 324 (where we see daylight on the winning path) adjusts our SKILL by 1 if we have the swollen eye status or 0 if not. Then there are the references for handling combat... but more on that next time, if there's interest!
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May 2, 2021 20:57
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Ask our new pal about himself.
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May 2, 2021 21:57
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BraveLittleToaster posted:Ask our new pal about himself. Reference 167 posted:Whiteleaf beams with pride at the chance to tell of his adventures. "My family is well respected in our village," he starts. "My mother - rest her soul - was a lady-in-waiting to our Queen Ethilesse, while my father served in the Royal Guard. I earn my living tending our aviaries, for we of Ethelle Amaene are great bird-lovers. Our birds are trained to work for us, gathering food for our cooking-pots and herbs for our potions. Anyone who is trained in the art of bird-caring can communicate with the birds, whose wisdom is great. They know the solutions to most of our problems and want to help us. They carry me about in the woods and, any minute now, I expect Cheree and Chitta will arrive to take me back to patch up my wounds." He looks anxiously into the skies. Birds fly about above the trees, but none come down into the clearing. After waiting for a few moments, he decides to leave and sets off in the direction you arrived from, with a wave and another expression of thanks. Turn to 414. Reference 414 posted:A path leads from the clearing to the north, although you can see that it soon forks left and right. Will you go east (turn to 272) or west (turn to 139)? The solver is on 814,000 states.
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May 2, 2021 22:18
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Eastern.
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May 2, 2021 22:25
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BraveLittleToaster posted:Eastern. Reference 272 posted:You follow the path through the woods until you reach a clearing. Here there is a small pond. The water is not stagnant, as a small stream leads from it deeper into the woods, and it is a favourite watering-hole for the woodland birds, although they flit high up into the branches when you arrive. The water shines with a silver sheen and you can see quite clearly the reflections of the tree-tops and clouds. Will you rest here beside the pond and perhaps drink from it? If so, turn to 176. If you would prefer to pass by and continue along the path, turn to 52. And since the whole 'perhaps drink from it' is a bit ambiguous: Reference 176 posted:If you simply rest by the pond, turn to 453. If you drink from it, turn to 391. If you would prefer to bathe in it, turn to 26. So four options in all. Also, the solver is now at over one million scored states. I'm curious if it'll run out of memory before it runs out of states.
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May 2, 2021 23:35
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Take a bath in the pond, we definitely deserve it by now.
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May 2, 2021 23:45
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| # ? Jun 9, 2024 18:49 |
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Drink the water, which I imagine will be just as lethal as bathing in it.
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May 3, 2021 00:59
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