Chaco
Level: Smitemaster
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So, we all know the Gentryii - a horrible invulnerable roach-like monster on a chain.

But, is there any reason a Gentryii should be the only monster that can be chained to a wall, or pull taut a chain? How about being able to put any one-tile monster (evil eye, rock golem, guard, etc.) on a chain, allowing it to either be chained to the wall to restrict its movement, or pull a chain behind itself?

EDIT: An even further extension of this idea could be to have a bear-trap on a chain, lying on a certain tile, so that when a small enough monster, double or Beethro steps onto the trap, it closes and then that entity becomes attached to the chain.

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[Last edited by Chaco at 09-24-2016 06:13 PM]

Xindaris
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I'm all for this, but there are at least a few considerations to worry about, like how chained constructs handle trapdoor dropping.

If we think about it more, this behavior could be made customizable enough to make things that resemble "custom snakes", which would be really awesome.

If even this feature alone existed it would make sense to have a "generate entity Gentryii" command (which just makes the head) + a "build chain for entity" command of some sort, which would allow one to dynamically create gentryii, currently impossible in every way. At the moment, the only way to make it seem like a gentryii appears is to have it in the room to begin with and use the "attack tile kill" command to make it not exist until it's supposed to.

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[Last edited by Xindaris at 09-24-2016 07:16 PM]

uncopy2002
Level: Smiter
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Well, there was this joke gif I made for skell's contest:

Insoluble
Level: Smitemaster

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If this happens can we please for the love of everything that is good and pure NOT use whatever horrid arcane chain straightening mechanics are currently used for gentryii? Gentryii chains are unfortunately a horrible pain to predict in most cases due to the recursive and unintuitive straightening rules.

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Bent
Level: Delver
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Registered: 12-11-2015
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Very cool idea! I would really like to see this as well. But if this were to be added, I think it's key that the new chained monsters behave identical to gentryii in all relevant ways, as to keep the ruleset as consistent as possible.

I too have a hard time predicting chain movement, but I feel it would be doubly confusing having to keep track of two different sets of chain movement rules – even if the new “chain” is in the form of a rope or something, and even if the new rules are much more intuitive. In lack of a working time machine, I think the only real solution is keeping the current chain mechanics, and somehow try to get used to it.

As for what would happen when a chained construct drops a trapdoor: The most similar thing currently in DROD is when part of a gentryii's chain is on the same tile as a falling bridge, which snaps the chain in half at the mentioned tile, and the part that is no longer connected to the gentryii is pulled into the pit/water.
I think it would be intuitive for the constructs to behave the same way: When a construct moves away from a trapdoor while pulling on its chain, it causes part of the chain to be on the trapdoor when it drops (and it's always the part directly linked to the construct), causing the whole chain to snap and fall into the pit/water.

Dying Flutchman
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Xindaris wrote:
...

If we think about it more, this behavior could be made customizable enough to make things that resemble "custom snakes", which would be really awesome.

If even this feature alone existed it would make sense to have a "generate entity Gentryii" command (which just makes the head) + a "build chain for entity" command of some sort, which would allow one to dynamically create gentryii, currently impossible in every way. At the moment, the only way to make it seem like a gentryii appears is to have it in the room to begin with and use the "attack tile kill" command to make it not exist until it's supposed to.

Hi Xindaris,

Could you give me at example scriptlet of how to make a Gentryii appear? I can't seem to get your idea working. Thnx!

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Xindaris
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1531
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What I was referring to was literally putting the gentryii into the room, let's say the head is at (10, 10). Then you put a script that says:

If [condition]
   Attack tile kill (10, 10)
If End

(or you could put the attack tile kill in the else of the condition too.)

Since ATK command removes the gentryii head (thus the entire gentryii) from the room, to the player it looks like there was no gentryii, up until the condition gets fulfilled. This only works if the "on/off" condition for a gentryii existing toggles in a different room, like the player comes in, does some stuff in a gentryiiless room, leaves to another room, comes back and...whoops now there's a gentryii there.

So, no, this method will not work for a horrifying "Gentryii queen" element concept, not unless the queen only lays eggs when the player is not in the room XP

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[Last edited by Xindaris at 04-26-2019 10:17 PM]

Dying Flutchman
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Aha, now I see what you meant. Makes perfect sense. Thnx.

Just to give you some peace of mind: I do not intend to script a gentryii queen


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Autocorrect is not my friend. Apologies for the typos.