YACD High-elf Ranger

[Parcae]

Since my High-elf Mages kept dying horrible deaths on level 10, I decided on something with a little more staying power. Here's the dump.

I have a number of questions.

1. What is an appropriate strategy at this stage? I see all these characters on the ladder with marvellous equipment at clvl 20, and I'm wondering what I'm missing.
2. Those extra shots per round. How do they work? I still fire one arrow at a time. Does it give me an extra action per round, like being hasted to +10?

[Parcae]

Oh, and one more thing. Do the extra ranger shots apply only to longbows, or to crossbows as well? I just found a Light Crossbow of Extra Shots (+1), and the char sheet still only lists me as having 2 ranged attacks rather than 3. Also, when do you get the extra ranger shots?

[Psi]

1. You find the good equipment by diving deeper. Try and keep your CL < DL for starters. Enchant your bow up to (+9,+9) as quickly as possible.

2. Yes, you get two shots per round.

Not sure about the specific ranger questions for V, but in FA (via rapid fire speciality) and NPP - additional ranger shots are with a bow.

[Dragonboneman]

In V, rangers only get extra shots with bows (not crossbows). I *think* they come at CL 30 and CL 40, but I could well be mistaken.

[Djabanete]

When I played a V ranger (must have been 3.0.5 or 3.0.6) I got extra shots at levels 20 and 40. And yeah, you only get extra shots on a bow, not a crossbow. (I never tried a sling, but slings are wimpy anyway.)

[Dragonboneman]

You're right, the first extra shot comes at 20, not 30.

http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=7111

[Magnate]

2. Those extra shots per round. How do they work? I still fire one arrow at a time. Does it give me an extra action per round, like being hasted to +10?

In Angband, your character has an "energy" stat, which is not shown. Each game turn you gain an amount of energy which is determined by your speed (10 energy at speed +0). Whenever you reach 100 energy you get to take a turn (so one "player turn" equals 10 "game turns" at normal speed).

Almost all actions (moving, melee attacking, disarming, spiking/bashing a door, using a scroll/potion/device, putting on a piece of kit etc.) take exactly 100 energy. In some variants some actions take less time (dropping stuff, dousing your lamp), but these are minor.

The one big exception to the 100 energy rule is extra missile shots (whether granted by equipment or the ranger bonus shots). The game works out your total number of shots per turn and divides this into 100. So if you have 2 shots, each takes 50 energy. If you have 3, each takes 33 energy. Etc. It's a bit of a kludge really, but it seems to work.

Monsters have the same energy issue as you - they get 10 energy per turn (adjusted by speed) and they get to move or attack when they pass 100 energy.

So with extra shots you get a lot of "double moves" on monsters - you get to shoot, then you get another turn before they can do anything. This opens up lots of "pillar dancing" possibilities.

So the short answer is that your first extra shot is actually better than +10 speed. Your second is almost-but-not-quite as good as another +10 speed. Each extra shot (you can theoretically end up with six shots as a ranger with a +3 randart bow) is worth slightly less than the last. This is why rangers usually prefer Extra Might bows to Extra Shots bows, since they get the two most valuable extra shots anyway.

CC

[Parcae]

Thanks, that was very helpful. I'll post another dump soon - right now I'm on level 30, scumming for stat potions.

[Paffa]

Well, you can't really help with the equipment thing, your kit seems pretty normal for that depth. I usually hang around at level 20 until I find shield or armour of resistance.

If that xbow has big pluses, you might want to use it until you get a better bow. In the endgame normal bow is really the only option, with those two extra shots from being a ranger and possibly more from the bow itself.

[Parcae]

The promised update.

Still scumming for stat potions. It looks like a long wait...

[Parcae]

OK, I have no clue what just happened.

I'm clearing a vault, and shoot an arrow at a Scruffy-Looking Hobbit. It was standing on a trap. I then get a series of messages indicating items disappearing from the vault. What happened?

[Djabanete]

When items are generated as monster drops they tend to appear in unoccupied squares at or around the monster. While items can stack on top of other items if necessary, they can't stack on top of traps (or runes for that matter). So if you kill a monster and there are no nearby trap-free squares, the swag will just disappear. I believe that if it's an artifact it will just "jump" to somewhere else on the level; I once tested this in Town with runes.

[Parcae]

Updated dump, updated question.

Stat gain is winding to a close, and I'm wondering how deep I can safely go. Problems are:

1. Bow is less than overwhelming - I do MUCH more damage in melee. Thinking of trying a Paladin or Rogue next time....
2. No rBlind, no rConfu, no rPoison (although the last can be supplied temporarily via spell).
3. Weight. Even with Str near-maxed, ammo and books ensure that I am slowed (even after +2 speed from my weapon) most of the time. I do have a very lucky find, a Rod of Speed, to help out, though.

Against this, I have (I think) decent HP for the level (650), rBase, rDark, rLight and a good saving throw, as well as Hold Life. So: How far can I dive safely?

[Nick]

1. Bow is less than overwhelming - I do MUCH more damage in melee. Thinking of trying a Paladin or Rogue next time....

Compared to your melee weapon, that xbow is not that great for a ranger. I would sell it (and all the heavy bolts), buy a regular longbow and enchant it up to (+9,+9); and an ego longbow should be near the top of your wanted list. Also, enchant your arrows. Buying enchant scrolls for this is good use of your money.

2. No rBlind, no rConfu, no rPoison (although the last can be supplied temporarily via spell).

rConfu is probably the thing you need most, although !Speed, !CCW and teleport will mostly get you out of bad situations. RBlind is less important as you have RLite and RDark. RPois is OK for the next few levels, but big poison breathers become a threat after dl40. Detect monsters often.

3. Weight. Even with Str near-maxed, ammo and books ensure that I am slowed (even after +2 speed from my weapon) most of the time. I do have a very lucky find, a Rod of Speed, to help out, though.

Ditching the xbow and bolts would help a lot. Try carrying only 2 copies of the town books, and recall if they get burnt.

So: How far can I dive safely?

I'd be heading steadily down toward 50ish, detecting carefully and running when necessary. Slow down if it's feeling too dangerous for you.

[Djabanete]

Ranger bow damage is *massive*. It becomes incredibly powerful when you have a good bow (Bard, Belthronding, or a Bow of Lothlorien) and/or Tenser's Transformations (with which you can easy brand all arrows and enchant all bows and arrows to +9+9, or +15+15 if you feel like it).

In the meantime, a +9+9 longbow and whatever arrows you can find will serve you very well. Rangers get extra shots with the longbow; so while it might not look like you're doing as much damage as melee, you'll actually be making more shots per monster movement.

So yeah, what Nick said: get a +9+9 Longbow ASAP, and make use of the best arrows you can find, buy, or enchant. Don't be afraid to use up really good arrows; it's what they're there for.