eytanz
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In the thread about queens and invisibility, Zex said:

I don't think it's a bug...I remember a discussion where someone important to the creation of DROD said something like: all monsters act as if Beethro is not there, but snakes still move. Then, when Beethro is in smell-o-range, they start up again.

If this is indeed the desired behavior, then there is a bug - serpents don't move while Beethro is invisible.

In any case, could either Erik or Mike let me know what the proper behavior is (whether it's correct now or not)? I'm designing a puzzle with invisibility and serpents and I need to know what to take into account.

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mrimer
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Looking at the original feature request for invisibility rules:

http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=542842&group_id=10939&atid=360939

I believe it says that "1) serpents will move if their head senses you". So when Beethro's invisible, move just like any other monster (i.e. when it smells Beethro).

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Gandalf the Grey. That was my name.
I am Gandalf the White.
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eytanz
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Ah, then the current behavior is the correct one. Thank you.

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The_Lucky_Mutt
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Ummm... that seems really odd to me... I mean the serpent can't stop when he is facing certian death at a dead end, even when guided by a brain, but he stops when he doesn't know your around?

-TLM

Oneiromancer
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Perhaps the presence of Beethro drives the serpent into a mad frenzy, but when he can't be detected it calms down and waits? I thought the new behavior was noninutitive too, but I can deal with it. Either way you can design puzzles around it.

One thing that might be nice for a future release would be "house rules" for certain holds...letting the hold author declare monster behavior when Beethro is invisible (serpents, brains, roach queens and tar mothers) and some other things that have come up that not everyone agrees on. The player would be reminded of the unofficial rules whenever they start playing, so there is no guessing what the author had in mind. But there are probably some very good reasons not to implement this.

Game on,

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mrimer
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An interesting effect of Beethro's invisibility is that it can actually be detrimental to killing snakes since they won't move into a dead-end unless you're next to them. At the same time, grabbing an invisibility potion can prolong (even indefinitely) one of those "shorten themself to death" snake timers. I think either of these can provide more interesting puzzles in tandem with the new rule of multiple invisibility potions reversing the last effect. (People like to find justifications for their decisions, but in coming up with new rules, we're trying to keep things balanced. Any time Beethro gets a new ability, the monsters get something analogous to offset it. And you'll love what future things are in store!)

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Gandalf? Yes... That's what they used to call me.
Gandalf the Grey. That was my name.
I am Gandalf the White.
And I come back to you now at the turn of the tide.

The_Red_Hawk
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This sounds like a good idea...
I'm going to use it in the third level of Deep Hold.

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