Vision types
What you see depends on your eyes. Each vision type has three properties:
- how much light a cell needs before you can see it (a threshold; full light is 100%);
- a darkvision radius: cells this close are visible however dark they are;
- whether you see UV light.
The brightness of a cell is the weighted brightness of its red, green, and blue light (green counts most, blue least). For eyes that see UV, UV light adds to it. For other eyes UV does not exist at all: they do not see it, and it does not light anything for them.
| Vision | Needs a cell lit to at least | Sees in the dark within | Sees UV light |
|---|---|---|---|
| Normal | 40 of 255 (15.7% of full light) | - | no |
| Low-light | 12 of 255 (4.7% of full light) | - | no |
| Darkvision | 40 of 255 (15.7% of full light) | 5 cells | no |
| UV sight | 40 of 255 (15.7% of full light) | - | yes |
The four types
- Normal eyes need real light. Where there is none, you see nothing but yourself. A full moon high in the sky is just enough to make out open ground.
- Low-light eyes need only about a third as much light as normal eyes, so they can see by the faint glow of fungus where normal eyes cannot, and by a half moon.
- Darkvision needs the same light as normal eyes, but also sees everything within its radius, lit or not. Cells seen only that way are drawn as a faint monochrome glow that fades out toward the edge of the radius. The darker and farther a cell is, the less color it keeps.
- UV sight needs the same light as normal eyes, and adds UV light: a UV-only source, such as a faint rune, is invisible to everyone else but lights the way for you. UV light is drawn as a violet tint, and only if you see UV.
Your vision type comes from your race: the table on Races lists each race’s eyes. Talents of the Shadow tree change them:
- Night eyes (normal eyes) halves the light a cell needs.
- Dark adaptation (darkvision or low-light) adds 2 cells of darkvision. Darkvision reaches 2 cells farther, and low-light eyes see 2 cells around them however dark it is.
- Blood scent (darkvision) sees a bleeding creature in your line of sight within 9 cells, however dark it is.
Your eyes keep their type’s name; the talents only change what it does.
Drow eyes are also light-blind. In strong light you are dazzled and see nothing farther than ten cells, whatever your vision type (see Races). Strong light means a perceived brightness of 250 or more on your own cell: the sun well up under a clear sky, or a bright fire close by.
A developer key (F3) cycles through the types for trying them
out.
Creatures have eyes of these types too, and see by the same rules (see Creatures). The game does not tell you which eyes a creature has.
See also: Light, Sight and memory, and Your lantern.