LCC4 progress

[LCC]

Promoted clvl 25 @435140 turns, HP124, SP43, 1339 killed. Found a ring of FA and now wearing it instead of protection, to AC51 without prayer. Just as I used up my last scroll of identify on a !DEX (to 16 base), and was about to read recall, a bunch of novice rogues came pouring in out of a hallway. I shot them and got a mace. When I got back to town and identified, it was mace Taratol! I SWEAR the RNG must read the forum, because I just now complained about no artifacts and needing free action. Now I am going down to dlvl 25, in hopes of finding ACM Caspanion and bow Amrod (regeneration). Ready to recall @446010 turns with 1392 killed.

Edit : Now hitting 1@19.5/34.5 electricity vulnerable and shooting 1@28.5

[Pete Mack]

You have most of the basic resists, with RCold covered by the spell.
You have FA and SI, and you have any number of attacks vs adult dragons. So go to dl 30 and start mopping them up! And get away from some of the nasty hounds that inhabit dl 20-25...

Also, keep an eye out for methods of escape in the Black Market. (Scrolls of Teleportation, Teleport Level, Deep Descent, and wands of Teleport Other.)

[LCC]

You have most of the basic resists, with RCold covered by the spell.
You have FA and SI, and you have any number of attacks vs adult dragons. So go to dl 30 and start mopping them up! And get away from some of the nasty hounds that inhabit dl 20-25...

Also, keep an eye out for methods of escape in the Black Market. (Scrolls of Teleportation, Teleport Level, Deep Descent, and wands of Teleport Other.)

I REALLY want ESP before I go down to 30. Let me try out 25 for a while. The hounds are worth a lot of points to me at this clvl 25. I want the following artifacts :
The Cloak 'Colluin' [1,+15] Level 5, Rarity 45, 1.0 lbs, 50000 AU
The Phial of Galadriel Level 5, Rarity 5, 1.0 lbs, 10000 AU
The Set of Leather Gloves 'Cambeleg' (+8,+8) [1,+15] Level 10, Rarity 6, 0.5 lbs, 36000 AU
The Pair of Soft Leather Boots 'Dal-i-thalion' [2,+15] Level 10, Rarity 25, 2.0 lbs, 40000 AU
The Small Sword 'Sting' (1d6) (+7,+8) Level 20, Rarity 15, 7.5 lbs, 100000 AU
The Hard Leather Cap of Thranduil [2,+10] Level 20, Rarity 2, 1.5 lbs, 50000 AU
The Short Bow of Amrod (x2) (+12,+15) Level 25, Rarity 10, 3.0 lbs, 9000 AU
The Augmented Chain Mail of Caspanion (-2) [16,+20] Level 25, Rarity 9, 27.0 lbs, 40000 AU
Edit : There are 66 artifacts at level 25 or less. Level 30 adds 20 artifacts and the only one that I really want is :
The Long Bow of Bard (x3) (+17,+19) Level 30, Rarity 20, 4.0 lbs, 20000 AU

[Pete Mack]

Object frequencies.

You are not taking into account the frequency of good drops as a function of depth. Your base chances of getting a "great" (artifact or ego) item are:

(25/100)*(50/100) = .125      at dl 20
(30/100)*(60/100) = .180      at dl 25
(35/100)*(70/100) = .245      at dl 30
(45/100)*(1)      = .450      at dl 40

This swamps out the modestly higher chances of getting a specific artifact because of the limited object types available at lower levels. Add in the much higher chances of getting stat potions at dl 30, and there's just no contest.


Note: no potions or scrolls are considered "good", so your chances of getting a stat potion go down insanely fast past dl 30
This is a bug

EDIT: Two mistakes!
Fixed the numbers! (Can't add!)
Stat potions don't start going down in frequency very much until around dl 50-60, when item frequency is greatly diluted, and the chances of monsters dropping "good" starts to go up.

[LCC]

Thank you VERY much for that information Pete! Going down to 30!

[LCC]

http://angband.oook.cz/forum/showthread.php?t=2142

is a thread discussing what subwindows I am using.
I recalled to 20 with the firm intention of going to 30, but there was an orc pit nearby and no stairs. So I decided to see if I regenerated mana faster than casting protection from evil and cure serious wounds consumed it while fighting orcs in a hallway. It turns out to be a good source of treasure. There was plenty loot, best of which was :
k) a Set of Caestus of Power (+2,+8) [2,+6] (+3) +3 strength.
That made fighting an orc pit worthwhile all by itself. But no artifacts found...
Recalling from town @453139 turns, AC52 without prayer, 1514 killed, hitting 1@29.5+, shooting 1@31.5, carrying second copy PB WoW and 15 ?identify - ran out last trip. Speed normal versus -1 speed at 112.7 pounds, up 10 pounds burden.

[LCC]

I had difficulty finding stairs down, but finally reached dlvl 30. I had to portal six times before I had a pack full of loot. Best of all was :
g) Leather Scale Mail of Resistance (-1) [10,+13] Provides resistance to acid, lightning, fire, cold. Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
which I immediately wore. Level 30 is DANGEROUS compared to level 20! I sold the ring of resist fire and wore protection [+12] from home. I used up a stack of ?enchant weapon to-dam getting my bow to +9. Now AC70 without prayer, shooting 1@34.5, hitting 1@29.5+, 1584 killed, experience 19330 @471327 turns ready to recall. I looked at the dump of LCC3, who reached dlvl 30 at clvl 22 @643731 turns, and went no deeper until clvl 27 @777537 turns. So I plan on scumming dlvl 30 until I am clvl 30+ or turn 600k, whichever may come first.

[Pete Mack]

I recalled to 20 with the firm intention of going to 30, but there was an orc pit nearby and no stairs. So I decided to see if I regenerated mana faster than casting protection from evil and cure serious wounds consumed it while fighting orcs in a hallway. It turns out to be a good source of treasure.

This is what I (and others) were trying to say earlier: don't waste time killing orcs until you can kill them by the dozens. Then mow them down and watch the loot pile up.

It takes less time and risk to kill 95 orcs at dl 25+ than it does to kill 12 orcs at dl 6, and the loot is orders of magnitude better.

I had difficulty finding stairs down, but finally reached dlvl 30. I had to portal six times before I had a pack full of loot. Best of all was :
g) Leather Scale Mail of Resistance (-1) [10,+13] Provides resistance to acid, lightning, fire, cold. Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
which I immediately wore. Level 30 is DANGEROUS compared to level 20!

That's what diving is all about -- you get what you need a lot faster. The greater danger (per move) can be more than made up by the fewer moves needed to get something useful.

And the extra risk makes the game a whole lot more interesting. (Or less boring...)

[LCC]

And the extra risk makes the game a whole lot more interesting. (Or less boring...)

I LIKE boring! Boring is SAFE! Boring is WINNABLE!
Recalled to dlvl 30 and cleared an orc pit, then killed Azog (who dropped Ethereal Openings), and Golfimbul. Promoted clvl 26 @485468 turns with 1760 killed, HP130, SP45. Recalled and bought a ring of slaying (5,+6) in the BM, and 20 arrows of flame (+5,+9) in the WS. Now hitting 1@35.5+, shooting 1@34.5, 55.5+, 61.5+ depending on ammunition. Ready to recall @488695 turns with 1789 killed. I have identified 14 rings, 6 amulets, 23 potions, 26 scrolls, 10 wands, 10 staffs, 7 rods, and 3 mushrooms. Character dump is attached.

[will_asher]

I LIKE boring! Boring is SAFE! Boring is WINNABLE!

That's great for you. I even think that it's kindof admirable. But most people don't have the patence to get very far with your playstyle.

[LCC]

Promoted clvl 27 on second trip to dlvl 30, HP136, SP46, killed 1950 including Lugdush. Found gloves Cammithrim and stashed them. Found and wielded a better bow. Found = damage +6, wearing it, stashed = protection +12. Found and carry a wand of teleport other. I wish that I could find an amulet of wisdom +6 like I had in LCC3! Quaffed ! to base STR 18/01 and DEX to 17. Now hitting 1@41.5+ (usually miss), shooting 1@43.5+ depending on the ammunition. So I still prefer to shoot - my shooting is superb. Ready to recall @530260 turns with 1978 killed. Character dump is attached - I forgot last time.

Edit : I thought that I forgot because when I scrolled down while typing this message, the attachment was not shown...

[LCC]

Promoted clvl 28 on second trip to dlvl 30 @565824 turns, HP160, SP48, killed 2176 including Ugluk and Grishnakh. Found a better ring of damage, better shield, and bought a better armor of Elvenkind (+3 stealth to superb) in the armor shop to AC66 without prayer. I quaffed a ! CON to 17 base, 18/10 adjusted. Killed includes 222 canines, 66 ogres, 317 insects, 213 men, 593 orcs, and 85 hounds. Now hitting 1@46.5+, shoot 1@40.5+ - bow disenchanted. Ready to recall @569644 turns with 2182 killed.

[LCC]

After 130k turns on dlvl 30, I went down to dlvl 40. The first thing that happened was "it breathes fire" with PB1 and a scroll of recall destroyed. I read my scroll of recall, then shot the varmint. It was a red dragon bat. Oh well. Without PB1 I could not pray detect evil, which I REALLY need since I lack telepathy. Found a "WIS+4 in the BM, to SP64, which helps. My stats and equipment suck for dlvl 40. Hopefully the RNG will deliver things which I really need. I have identified 21 rings, 8 amulets, 25 potions, 27 scrolls, 15 wands, 14 staffs, 10 rods, and 3 mushrooms. Ready to recall @609590 turns with 2311 killed.

[Pete Mack]

I see you are changing your ways to less risk averse but greedier for loot--it makes the game more fun and more exciting.

DL 40 is a good level, because Rings of RPoison and Potions of Augmentation are native. However: watch out for Gravity Hounds and Kavlax. Both are insanely dangerous until you have decent speed and/or HP. And don't fight most monsters* native to dl 40+. They will kill you until you unless you are significantly more powerful.

For future reference: the most critical levels in the early game are dl 20 where Free Action is common (if you don't know which monsters can paralyze you) and dl 30 (where stat potions are native.) Any turns spent messing around before those levels are essentially wasted. Once you know all the paralyzers, any turns before dl 30 are wasted.

* This includes: Sorceress, (Dark Elven) Sorceror, Gorlim, Kavlax, Ancient Green Dragon (unless you have a Ring of RPoison), etc.... On the other hand, you can pick of any number of Mumaks and higher demons for a lot of EXP, if you are careful.

EDIT: keep your eyes on the main prizes, though. ESP (which can turn up any time after dl 20) and full detection, which is native to dl 50 for a Priest. If you decide you are ready to go for full detection, don't mess around until you are at dl 50, and make sure you carry a source of Detect Objects once you get there.

EDIT2: also, don't put your trust in a ring of RPoison: you don't have enough HP to take a full breath from a Drolem or AMHD even with RPoison. At HP160, Detection (and ESP) are the #1 most important objectives. A whole lot more CON is the #2.

[LCC]

Thanks for all the info Pete! I shall TO and portal lots, which reminds me that I need to carry ? recharging next time I recall...