Noise
Noise in the dungeon can wake sleeping monsters. Monsters that hear a sound will generally wander toward it; if you get involved in a fight, monsters can come from all different directions to see what the fuss is about, potentially overwhelming you.
Contents
Noise meter
Under default settings, the information panel in the top-right of the screen shows a noise meter. The colour and length of the bar indicates the maximum loudness of noise heard at the player's tile on that turn. Thus most player causes of noise will be reflected at their maximum loudness on the noise meter, but the noise meter will show noise centered a few tiles away from the player at the loudness the player heard, not the maximum loudness of the effect.
The noise meter colours correspond to the following loudness values:
- White: 0-6: Noise at this loudness will not propagate far beyond the player's line of sight. Most melee and ranged attacks and low-level spells are in this category.
- Yellow: 7-13: Noise at this loudness will attract monsters from outside the player's line of sight. The most damaging melee and ranged attacks, shouting, and a number of mid-level spells are in this category.
- Red: 14-29: Loud noises that will awaken and attract monsters from a large portion of the current floor. Most explosive effects fall into this category.
- Magenta: 30+: The loudest noises in the dungeon, which will awaken virtually the entire floor. Only Shatter, alarm traps, and a few other particularly loud effects fall into this category.
Noise propagation
When a noisy action happens at a position, the noise will propagate to all the adjacent cells. Each time it advances a cell, the intensity suffers an attenuation. When the intensity reaches a value less than 1, the noise is inaudible and it won't propagate further.
The attenuation depends on the following factors:
- The cell type:
| Cell type | Attenuation |
|---|---|
| Empty | -0.85 |
| Statue or Idol | -1.70 |
| Tree or Mangrove | -2.55 |
| Closed/Secret door | -6.80 |
| Wall | -10.20 |
| Permanent wall | -infinity |
This means that in open areas the radius of the area affected by a noise is: loudness/0.85 = loudness*1.176.
Ambient noise
Ambient noise makes sounds harder to hear. This idea is implemented in the game by adding, or subtracting, a branch-specific amount to loudness. The effective loudness is:
effective_loudness = loudness - sgn(ambient_noise)×{3d(abs(ambient_noise))/3 - 1}
The Swamp, the Shoals, and the Desolation of Salt are loud, with ambient noise +6. The Crypt, the Tomb of the Ancients, and the Slime Pits are quiet, with ambient noise -6. All other branches have ambient noise 0.
This effect is significant but not drastic. Shouts will not travel far in loud branches, whereas usually minor noises, such as attacking, may be sufficient to attract monsters in quiet branches.
Sources of noise
Melee combat
A successful stabbing is always silent, otherwise the loudness is:
noise_factor * damage_done / 400
This value is capped at 12. Noise is generated even if you miss your attack (in that case loudness is 1).
Other sources of noise in melee combat:
- Auxiliary attacks
- Noisy randarts: 20 (1 chance in 20)
- Attacking with a weapon of chaos: 15 (1 chance in 200)
Calculation of noise_factor
The base value of noise_factor depends on the damage type of your weapon: 150 for unarmed combat; 125 for slashing or crushing; 100 for slicing or chopping; 75 for piercing or stabbing. If your weapon has multiple damage types, the game will chose one of them randomly (you can look up the damage types of any weapon here).
Auxiliary attacks
If you get an auxiliary attack, that attack also makes noise and its noise factor is:
| Auxiliary Attack | noise_factor |
|---|---|
| Constriction | 10 |
| Kick | 100 |
| Headbutt | 100 |
| Beak | 75 |
| Tail Slap, Stinger | 125 |
| Punch, Claws | 100 (75 if Blade Hands is active; 125 if you have tentacles) |
| Bite | 75 |
| Pseudopods | 125 |
| Tentacles | 100 |
Ranged combat
There are two sources of noise when you shoot a projectile: the launcher and the missile.
The noise generated by the launcher is always made at your position even if you miss the shot.
| Launcher | Loudness |
|---|---|
| None (i.e. Throwing) | 0 |
| Blowgun | 0 |
| Hunting sling | 1 |
| Greatsling | 3 |
| Shortbow | 5 |
| Longbow | 6 |
| Hand crossbow | 2 |
| Arbalest | 7 |
| Triple crossbow | 9 |
The noise generated by the missile itself depends on the base damage of the item. It is damage/3, rounded down. It is generated at the last square it reached, even if doesn't hit anything.
| Missile | Loudness |
|---|---|
| Tomahawk | 2 |
| Javelin | 3 |
| Large rock | 7 |
| Throwing net | 0 |
| Needle | 0 |
| Stone | 1 |
| Sling bullet | 2 |
| Arrow | 2 |
| Bolt | 3 |
Spell noise
See spell noise.
Player shouts
Different forms have different shouting volumes.
- Shouting in Bat Form, Bat Swarm Form, Fungus Form or Wisp Form has a loudness of 4
- Shouting in Spider Form or Sun Scarab Form has a loudness of 8
- Shouting in Scroll Form or Serpent Form has a loudness of 10
- Shouting in Dragon Form has a loudness of 18
- All player species and all other forms' shouting has a loudness of 12.
Additionally, each level of the Scream mutation adds 2 loudness.
Other sources
- Qazlal worshipper at piety ******: 16
- Scroll of noise: 25
- The Singing Sword: 0-35 depending on tension.
- Blocking an attack with the Shield of the Gong: 40
- Monster shouts
- Monster spells with the Noisy flag
- Creaking doors: 10 (1 in
8 + 4 * Stealth / 3); "As you open/close the door, it creaks loudly!") - Alarm traps: 40
- Using the Horn of Geryon: 15
