User talk:Netzhack

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Revision as of 22:32, 8 August 2018 by Phol ende wodan (talk | contribs) (Terrain selection on des-file format page)
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"chance to" = opportunity; "chance of" = probability

I've started checking pages systematically for misuse of "chance to", and correcting them.

I realize the expression "chance to hit" is a regular part of D&D jargon, but nothing is lost by changing it to standard English ("chance of hitting" works just fine even on the page To-hit) along with the rest of the occurrences, most of which look like the product of simple (understandable) ignorance on the part of non-native English speakers, many of whom show a preference for infinitives where English idioms use gerunds. —Netzhack (talk) 14:11, 28 December 2016 (UTC)

Ten months later and no one has reverted a single one of those many corrections! Thanks for your acceptance of this little bit of pedantry, gang. Netzhack (talk) 12:31, 19 October 2017 (UTC)

"due to the fact that" -> "because"

I just changed every instance of "due to the fact that" in this wiki to "because". I bet no one notices. Netzhack (talk) 15:15, 4 May 2018 (UTC)

Terrain selections on des-file format page

Noticed you're also taking a look at this page. A persistent semi-erroneous holdover from 3.4.3 goes like:

place is either a coordinate, a RANDOM_PLACES place, or random

This is technically true, but incomplete: in fact what the level parser is using there is a ter_selection_x, which can be a single coordinate, a line, a bunch of different types of shapes, a floodfill from a point, a bunch of other types of things (see lev_comp.y for a full list), or any combination thereof. Experimenting with this a bit, it seems that it's valid to do weird things like

$mySelection = selection:line(02,02),(10,02)
SINK: $mySelection

and get a line of sinks. Do you have any ideas for the best way to convey this much more versatile way of specifying the location(s) for something on that page? --Phol ende wodan (talk) 22:32, 8 August 2018 (UTC)