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[htabdoolb]

I ran into something that I think may be a bug in adventure mode, but I'd like to ask about it here before I make a bug report on Mantis.

By doing a little science, I figured out that the attribute bonuses/penalties selected at character creation are applied on top of semi-random(within the "average" range, as this is what unaltered attributes are always reported as in the in game menu) stats of your new character. You can see that the attributes of new adventurers are not equal to each other by genning two adventurers and comparing their speed. Speed is a result of strength, agility, and encumbrance, so if all adventurers started out with generic, identical attributes, then they'd all have the same initial speed, which they don't.
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=106233.msg3152939#msg3152939

I figured that I would abuse this randomness by re-re-re-genning (gen-scum?) until I got an adventurer with ridiculously high starting strength and agility(within the "average" range), with "superior" bonuses piled on top of that, to have a ridiculously fast character. It ended up working quite well, as my brand new human demi-god adventurer had a starting speed of 2057, much faster than any of my previous adventurers.

Happy with this result, I proceeded to go commit a little animal abuse to try to get my weapon skills up to a level I could feel comfortable with. In the process of doing this, I found that soon after I starting using and gaining skill levels my speed score would suddenly and dramatically drop over 450 points. My character was not injured in any way, sneaking, swimming, encumbered, or using a crutch(hadn't found one yet), any one of which can alter speed. Nothing that I tried would return my speed stat to its original level.

I thought that this might be a one-off bug, and decided to force-quit without saving and try again from my initial zero turn save. I found that it happened again, soon after I starting replaying from the save. A bit frustrated and perplexed, I then looked on Mantis to see if this apparent bug had been reported before. I found nothing specifically on it, but a related bug report mentioned that becoming a vampire while having high attributes in adventure mode would cause a dramatic loss in speed.

I think what may be happening is that having a strength or agility attribute that is too high is breaking something with the equation to calculate speed. Perhaps if the value of the attribute is not within a specific range, it is discounted completely in the calculation, which could account for the large drop in speed. When my very fast new adventurer started gaining attributes from using his skills, he pushed either his strength or agility past the breaking point and lost a ton of speed because of it.

Has anyone else noticed this happening to their characters, and do you guys think this should be bug reported?

[Needicla]

If it keeps happening, then it is not a bug.
Try to check if you're having something big, such as a human corpse. (lol).
Maybe if you have heavy armor, it may also weigh you down.

[Garath]

did you turn vampire?

[htabdoolb]

I had nothing in my inventory except the starting equipment both times when this happened to me, so encumbrance shouldn't have been an issue. I altered my original question to make this more clear.

I didn't turn into a vampire either. I had done nothing but a few minutes of animal killing when this happened.

[Garath]

weird, try some searches in mantis bugtracker and if it isnt there, post your safe somewhere and make a report

[NW_Kohaku]

Yes, this definitely sounds like a bug.

Try to save as often as you can keep your sanity up until you get the drop-off.  Picking up and throwing dirt at a wall can be more controllable, and train basically the same stats as other combat skills, so you might want to do that for more controllable stat gain.  (The same goes for crutching, sneaking, and swimming.)

Get a save as close to the jump point as possible.  Also, if you could post your link to the DFFD here, I'd like to see that save.

[htabdoolb]

Alright, I've got a save of my adventurer a few moments before the speed loss. I practiced swimming from novice skill to talented, and about 14 points into talented the mysterious deficit occurs. What/where is DFFD, so I can upload the save? I googled it but the only Dwarf Fortress related hit is giving me a 502 bad gateway error.

Edit: I just played around with it a bit more. You don't even have to continue swimming to see the speed loss. Just move five units in any direction and watch the number fall by 500 or so. Weird.

[NW_Kohaku]

Well, the site may simply have had a traffic-related hiccup.

DFFD is here.  If you keep getting 502s, just keep trying.  If you absolutely cannot get on, using Mediafire or something is still acceptable.

Mantis is here.  Punch in the link to the save file's download page in the "Steps to Reproduce" field.

[Leafsnail]

I have something similar happen, although I've never had a well placed enough save happen to actually document it.  At some point my demigod adventurers almost invariably just take a pretty large speed hit.

[htabdoolb]

Ok, here is the save I uploaded to DFFD.
http://dffd.wimbli.com/file.php?id=6088

And here is the bug report I submitted on Mantis.
http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/mantisbt/view.php?id=5769

Thanks, Leafsnail, for confirming that I'm not the only one to notice this.

[Peacemaker636]

Could it be possible that it is due to the adventurer gaining mass from larger muscles associated with getting stronger? Just a thought.

[RAKninja]

Could it be possible that it is due to the adventurer gaining mass from larger muscles associated with getting stronger? Just a thought.

easy test, check description before and after speed hit.

[htabdoolb]

I find it pretty improbable that gaining the small amount of extra mass from increasing a character's strength would cause speed to drop, especially since in all other circumstances increasing strength(and therefor mass) actually increases speed.

I did go and check the description though, and "He has loaded a tall body with incredible muscles." descriptor didn't change from before the speed hit to after. Interestingly it did change its position in the sentence order of the description, though, from second sentence(before) to first sentence(after). Perhaps the most recently modified descriptor is listed first in the character description.

[Nikow]

Meybe you are covered by water? In DF water can you really slow down, so try create 8 camp fires near you, wait a moment and look on your speed. And if your are increasing your fat layer, you are slower but you gain better defense agains bash weapons.

[Angel Of Death]

Meybe you are covered by water? In DF water can you really slow down, so try create 8 camp fires near you, wait a moment and look on your speed. And if your are increasing your fat layer, you are slower but you gain better defense agains bash weapons.

Nononononno. Once you're surrounded by camp fires, you can never get out. At least that's what I've heard.