Re: CF: Cone spells

[Jeffrey Hantin <jhantin@derringer.net>]

> Another play balance issue. We have found NO_CONE_PROPAGATE to even up 
the game
> a lot.

> Should this be the default behaviour? Has anyone else tried using this 
option
> recently?

I think that's not the real problem with cones though.  Cones are 
currently hyper-powered because a cone spell in fact fires three 
overlapping cones, one from each initial square, due to some odd 
behavior in cast_cone(), which also causes cones in flight to chew up 
3 times as many active objects as necessary (which can make a server 
drag if you're being spammed by a mob of skulls or the like).

John, you might want to try the attached patch and remove 
NO_CONE_PROPAGATE.  It removes this triple overlapping behavior, and 
depending on whether you #define BALANCE_CONES, either leaves the net 
damage as before (by tripling the damage from each cone cell), or cuts 
it to 1/3 (by leaving the damage numbers alone).

Any comments, questions, flames, lightning bolts, or other feedback? 
:-)