Greater identify: tell more information
issueid=2652 01-18-2014 12:28 PM
Junior Member
Number of reported issues by stgatilov: 3
Greater identify: tell more information
making it useful for unspoiled players

I remember my own unspoiled days.
Quite rarely I found a scroll of greater identify, so I tried to use it on some item hoping to learn something new about the game.

For example:
------------------------------------ si ------------------------------------
Weight: 10s
When used in melee combat it grants a +0 bonus to hit and causes 1d4 points
of damage. When used as a missile it grants a -4 bonus to hit and causes 1d4
points of damage.
I was very angry to see this trash.
------------------------------ blessed ring of ice-----------------------------
When used in melee combat it grants a +0 bonus to hit and causes 1d1 points of
damage. When used as a missile it grants a +0 bonus to hit and causes 1d1
points of damage.
Indeed this info helps the players to get past ToEF (by the way, I never got past it unspoiled).
----------------------- blessed potion of gain attributes----------------------
When used in melee combat it grants a +0 bonus to hit and causes 1d2 points of
damage. When used as a missile it grants a +0 bonus to hit and causes 1d2
points of damage.
I really wanted to know it.

Actually, greater identify shows info that is not useful. DV/PV can be measured by equiping. Damage and toHit is not important except for weapons, in which case you can also learn it by equiping. Weight can be easily measured by dropping it. Autocursing items can be remembered after equiping them as a great threat.
Intrinsics is perhaps the only interesting thing. However, it is not really valuable because:
1. Most items don't grant them.
2. There are potions of insight, so you can deduce intrinsics for common artifacts after playing long enough.
3. You see your instrinsics (and which of them are granted by item) when you die. Dying is actually a thing that an unspoiled player does A LOT.

I propose to write manually a description for each item that would be shown when 'greater identify' is used on them. This description should at least say what are the results of the normal usage of the item. Of course, the nontrivial usages should not be told to the player.
It is necessary to remove the spell "Greater Identify". Only the rare scrolls should be the source of such a valuable information.

Examples:
blessed SI - multiples quickly when carried; selling is the only way to get rid of it
uncursed ring of ice - when worn, it protects your items from fire
blessed ring of ice - when worn, it protects your items from fire very well
blessed potion of gain attributes - when drunk, it grants +1 to all attributes permanently
blessed oil of rust removal - if an item is dipped into it, the rust is removed from it, and it becomes rustproof
cursed potion or water - if an item is dipped into it, it becomes cursed
blessed scroll of vermin control - when read, stops breeding monsters from multiplying at the current level (??temporarily??)
blessed scroll of identify - when read, identifies all items in the inventory and detects their status
cursed scroll of identify - when read, identifies a single chosen item
uncursed hatchet - can be used to cut down a tree
etc.

Obviously, such a change means nothing to spoiled players.
However, it means a lot for unspoiled ones. They can gradually learn what the items are used for (at least normally).
It can clarify how much something helps (in number). Or at least explain that the effect greatly depends on the BUC status.

P.S. To the guys who managed to win ADOM unspoiled: you are like gods for me =)

EDIT: found a related issue
http://www.adom.de/forums/project.php?issueid=782
Issue Details
Issue Number 2652
Issue Type Feature
Project ADOM (Ancient Domains Of Mystery)
Category All
Status Suggested
Priority 10 - Lowest
Suggested Version ADOM 1.2.0 pre 21
Implemented Version (none)
Milestone (none)
Votes for this feature 13
Votes against this feature 2
Assigned Users (none)
Tags (none)




01-18-2014 02:46 PM
Ancient Member
I've always been disappointed by the greater identify info – there's a lot of stuff missing for a lot of items. I would like this to be implemented.

01-18-2014 02:59 PM
Ancient Member
I do think TB started on improving the information, but there is A LOT of items multiplied by 3 statuses, so it will probably take some time to complete.

Edit - Lol, that RFE you just linked is what I was talking about. :)

Anyway, what I enjoyed about learning the uses of items unspoiled was that it teaches you to be very attentive and I thank ADOM for that. I don't know whether it would be so good to take that away from new players.

01-18-2014 09:28 PM
Member
maybe just change what the scroll looks for:
To hit, Damage (melee)
To hit, Damage (thrown)
DV, PV
Intrinsincs gained
Blessed/Uncursed/Cursed status

IDK if it would make things simpler, but maybe if we changed the variables on what the scroll looked for by having it look for a wider variety of stuff, the game could write it up itself IDK I'm not a programmer.

01-18-2014 11:33 PM
Ancient Member
Quote Originally Posted by stgatilov
It is necessary to remove the spell "Greater Identify". Only the rare scrolls should be the source of such a valuable information.
Why? The spell is rare and expensive.

I like anything that buffs Greater Identify and this would be very good (as long as it doesn't reveal everything; one of the nice things in ADOM is finding the less obvious uses each object can have), but since Mr. Biskup has already said something like this would be a lot of work, it's unlikely that it would get implemented :(

Although perhaps we wouldn't need three explanations per item. The manual already explains what the three possible B/U/C statuses can do to their base functionality.

05-18-2016 07:47 PM
Senior Member
It would be nice if one could find out the effects of prefixes/suffixes of armor and weaponry with GI.

05-20-2016 02:23 PM
Ancient Member
Quote Originally Posted by SinsI
It would be nice if one could find out the effects of prefixes/suffixes of armor and weaponry with GI.
That has always been possible.

05-21-2016 05:35 PM
Senior Member
Quote Originally Posted by anon123
That has always been possible.
Not for the interesting ones, i.e. weapons of hunting.

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