LCC4 progress

[LCC]

Although I was not promoted yet, my first trip clearing dlvl 40 went well. I gained 9313 experience in just 21380 turns. I found and wore a = resist poison. The loot was also much better. I rested a lot while my Taratol recharged. I killed a master vampire and emperor wight. Both drained my experience but were worth more points for killing than was drained. So Hobbit hold life is NOT perfect protection - just good. Ready to recall @630970 turns with 2377 killed and 2113 experience till next promotion to 29 - 34k gold.
Edit : Hitting 1@40.5 (swapped out ring slaying), shooting 1@40.5, gained stat potions base for CON to 18 and CHR to 11.

[myshkin]

So Hobbit hold life is NOT perfect protection - just good. Ready to recall @630970 turns with 2377 killed and 2113 experience till next promotion to 29 - 34k gold.

Hold life, whether it's from the hobbit racial trait or something else, gives you a 50-95% chance of evading XP loss entirely (the odds change depending on the kind of attack), and divides by 10 any XP loss that happens.
If you want to compare against another priest diving much faster, you might want to see http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=9155. The axe with +8 speed is a lucky find, but the character isn't otherwise too out of the ordinary.

[LCC]

Thank you for the information myshkin. I am not a diver yet. I still have to check the mon-info spoiler very often. Until I have played a few more months, I will be slow and cautious.

Promoted clvl 29 @633926 turns with 2403 killed, HP170, SP66. The level was "little lucky", but it was only dagger Dethanc (sold). I got flail Totila from an ethereal drake (stashed). I found ! to base stat of CON 18/26 (to HP184) and DEX 18. The BM had Godly Insights and a = damage +15, so I blew $36k buying them. I also bought a better bow in the weapon shop. Now hitting 1@44.5, shooting 1@64.5+ (enchanted ammo). I have better armor - now AC79 without prayer. Ready to recall @659963 turns with 2496 killed. Character dump is attached.

[LCC]

Promoted clvl 30 @670532 turns with 2540 killed, HP188, SP68. I no longer carry beginner's handbook to let me carry more arrows. I found some seeker arrows, but used most of them up killing Ologs. The shopping was lousy. Ready to recall @672553 turns with 2545 killed.

[LCC]

Was not promoted yet, but on first trip to dlvl 40 I found cap Thengel (stashed), and on second trip there was a treasure room with the phial Galadriel (worn) and mail Thalkettoth (worn) in it. So my luck is definitely improving. Also added to pack are a rod of teleport other (hoorah!) and a wand of stone to mud - JIT for the vault. I am AC93 without prayer and carrying a stack of 99 arrows to make speed +2 of +3 without haste. I lost stealth down to excellent, resists fire, cold, and sound, but gained speed and resist shards on the armor swap. I NEED ACM Caspanion, FPA Isildur, cloak Colluin, shield Thorin, helm Dor-Lomin, gloves Cambeleg, boots Thror, and a better weapon with STR and DEX to strike four blows before I go any lower. Come on RNG - deliver! Hitting 1@44.5, shooting 1@58.5, HP188, SP68. I have identified 25 rings, 9 amulets, 27 potions, 31 scrolls, 17 wands, 15 staffs, 12 rods, and 3 mushrooms. Ready to recall @696107 turns with 2645 killed and 15432 till next promotion.

[myshkin]

I lost stealth down to excellent, resists fire, cold, and sound, but gained speed and resist shards on the armor swap.

I would have kept wearing the elvenkind body armor, or at least kept it at home. Where did it go? A mature multi-hued dragon can breathe unresisted fire or frost at you for almost all of your HP, and ancients are worse. You can survive with the resist fire and cold prayer if you're careful.

I'd wear the +2 CON ring instead of the ring of damage, since you only have one blow and you're doing most of your damage with your bow. I'd also prefer Thengel for the wisdom bonus and confusion resist to your current helm, as detection should let you cast see invisible when necessary.

I NEED ACM Caspanion, FPA Isildur, cloak Colluin, shield Thorin, helm Dor-Lomin, gloves Cambeleg, boots Thror, and a better weapon with STR and DEX to strike four blows before I go any lower.

You don't *need* any of them, and you certainly don't need all of them.

[Pete Mack]

I lost stealth down to excellent, resists fire, cold, and sound, but gained speed and resist shards on the armor swap..

I don't think this is a good trade. I certainly wouldn't sell the Elvenkind armor back to the Weaponsmith.


rFire and rCold are pretty important, and rSound is a defense against getting knocked out by Plasma or Gravity hounds.

[LCC]

I am still working on my next promotion. I checked the forum while in town, and discovered the two of you saying that I should have kept the elvenkind armor. Well I checked the shop and it's gone. Hindsight is 20/20. I was so attracted to the +3 speed that I did not consider the losses significant. Next time I will stash when in doubt...

Edit : The ring of damage increases my hitting by 51% while the ring of con increases my HP by 8%. For me that is an easy choice - wear damage.

Edit 2 : I wear the helm seeing for resist blindness, not just see invisible. Once again I think that is the better choice until I get another combination of equipment.

[myshkin]

Edit : The ring of damage increases my hitting by 51% while the ring of con increases my HP by 8%. For me that is an easy choice - wear damage.

Maybe I should ask you this...how do you do damage in your fights? The damage ring is bringing your melee damage only up to par with your weakest arrows, and Orb of Draining will do more damage than that against most enemies. Melee is more dangerous for you, too, given your low HP. I will grant that the CON ring doesn't do much for you, either...

Edit 2 : I wear the helm seeing for resist blindness, not just see invisible. Once again I think that is the better choice until I get another combination of equipment.

I figure that confusion and blindness resistance are both useful, and Thengel gives you a wisdom bonus to boot. The latter should make it easier for you to use the Orb as a primary damage-dealing device.

[LCC]

I shoot whenever possible, and melee only when short on mana. I blink or portal if melee is getting me beaten. Mana is too precious right now to use on OOD except for breeders. Then I OOD the central breeder for 45+3d6, which is usually enough. I WILL wear Thengel if I find an alternative resist blindness and see invisible, but right now we will just have to disagree about how valuable resist confusion (drink a ! CCW) and SP106 versus 63 might be.

I have changed my strategy now that I can reliably cast detection and sense surroundings. I cast both and check the objects list for possible artifacts using the spoiler file. If I do not have to fight to get them, I also go for regular weapons and armor or unidentified objects. I upgraded my shield to resist fire from the redundant resist lightning - now AC98 without prayer. Anyway, if I see nothing worth getting, I rest to restore mana and portal again to a new area and repeat the process. So in the past three trips, I have killed only 11 monsters for 2893 experience in 14862 turns. I gained the shield, a !STR to 18/12 base and 2 !INT to 12 base. With money from selling loot, I bought another !STR in the BM for 24k to 18/23 base. With the added STR I am speed +3 versus +2 without haste carrying everything I need at 95% capacity. Ready to continue this scumming @710969 turns, 117461 experience, 2656 killed. What I REALLY want is an orc pit...

[PowerDiver]

if I see nothing worth getting, I rest to restore mana and portal again to a new area and repeat the process

Generally speaking, that is a mistake. If you want to explore a new area, it is much better to take the stairs or a trapdoor. After repeated resting, new creatures including hounds are spawned. A new level gets you to a new area with initial proportion of monsters to loot on the ground, while on a given level the monsters increase with time.

Even when it is safe, it is suboptimal to portal, and after a certain point it is no longer safe because of the likelihood you land in an instadeath room. You shouldn't portal then except maybe as an escape or when there is no way to walk out of your current situation.

[LCC]

Okay, I will try stair scumming 40/41 stairs. I think that will work better. Thanks for the advice!

[LCC]

I had a stroke of luck - an unidentified ! which I was hoping was augmentation turned out to be even better - a ! of experience (dlvl 65)! So I gained 60k experience in one pop. Promoted clvl 31 on dlvl 40 @713042 turns with 2660 killed, HP192, SP65. I had a run-in with a time vortex offscreen that clocked my experience back a bit, so I recalled and quaffed a ! of restore life levels. Ready to recall @718997 turns with 2664 killed.

[LCC]

My luck today continues! I now have cap Thranduil (ESP) and cloak Holcolleth. I swapped my = damage for a = see invisible, so now my hitting REALLY sucks - 1@30.5+, but I anticipate that there will be some equipment that lets me both see invisible and resist poison at some time in the reasonably near future. So the two = damage are stashed at home. Now HP192, SP125, AC89 without prayer, speed +5 without haste, shooting 1@58.5 by preference even at melee range. Killed 2708 including Sangahyando and Boldor. Ready to recall @725009 turns with 180094 experience. Character dump is attached.

[PowerDiver]

My luck today continues! I now have cap Thranduil (ESP) and cloak Holcolleth. I swapped my = damage for a = see invisible, so now my hitting REALLY sucks - 1@30.5+, but I anticipate that there will be some equipment that lets me both see invisible and resist poison at some time in the reasonably near future. So the two = damage are stashed at home.

You are unlikely to want to use a ring of damage again, and exceedingly unlikely to want to wear two. IMO you should be wearing two con rings right now, and carry =rPoison as a swap. You have detection from PB6, so if there are any invis non-esp annoyances like Q's you should know in advance to cast see_invis to deal with them.