RNG love

[cinereaste]

I've been trying my hand at a troll warrior. My first few attempts died off quickly, but this character has been doing pretty well, and has been the beneficiary of some nice RNG loving.

Highlights thus far:
Found Gondricam at 650'
Wormtongue dropped a whip of gondolin with ESP, also at 650'. I've never had ESP so early, and wow, has it been great.
Found a scroll of acquirement at 1100', only to have it burned a little later by a fire vortex. I should have used it immediately.
Found my second artifact: Ringil. It dropped from a brown yeek (one of Orfax's entourage) at 1150'.

I've never found Ringil before, but I gather it's pretty rare. I decided to look it up in the spoilers here. I'm curious about the last line. The min and max levels are clear enough, but how does generation chance work?

Min Level 20, Max Level 127, Generation chance 1, 13.0 lbs (Angband 3.1.2v2)

Dump follows:

  [Angband 3.1.2v2 Character Dump]

 Name   Ugh                                      Self  RB  CB  EB   Best
 Sex    Male         Age             22   STR:     17  +4  +5  +0  18/80
 Race   Half-Troll   Height          97   INT:     11  -4  -2  +0      5
 Class  Warrior      Weight         348   WIS:     10  -2  -2  +2      8
 Title  Myrmidon     Social     Unknown   DEX:     17  -4  +2  +0     15
 HP     322/322      Maximize         Y   CON:     16  +3  +2  +0  18/30
 SP     0/0                               CHR:     12  -6  -1  +0      5

 Level               27   Armor    [19,+40]     Saving Throw         38%
 Cur Exp          37349   Fight     (+3,+5)     Stealth             Poor
 Max Exp          37349   Melee   (+25,+30)     Fighting          Heroic
 Adv Exp          42000   Shoot    (+10,+7)     Shooting          Superb
 MaxDepth   1150' (L23)   Blows      2/turn     Disarming            43%
 Game Turns      208060   Shots      2/turn     Magic Device          28
 Player Turns     21328   Infra       30 ft     Perception       1 in 43
 Active Turns     20850   Speed          10     Searching            13%
 Gold             33047   Burden   87.2 lbs

 Your mother was a Stone-Troll Cook.  You have puke-yellow eyes, mangy
 bright red hair, and green scabby skin.



rAcid:............. rConf:.............
rElec:....+........ Sound:.............
rFire:......+...... Shard:.............
rCold:+.......+.... Nexus:.............
rPois:............. Nethr:.............
rFear:+............ Chaos:.............
rLite:+............ Disen:.............
rDark:............. S.Dig:+............
rBlnd:............. Feath:...+.........

Light:+............ Aggrv:.............
Regen:+...........+ Stea.:.......+.....
  ESP:............. Sear.:.............
Invis:+............ Infra:............+
FrAct:+............ Tunn.:.............
HLife:............. Speed:+............
ImpHP:............. Blows:.............
ImpSP:............. Shots:.+...........
 Fear:............. Might:.............


  [Character Equipment]

a) The Long Sword 'Ringil' (4d5) (+22,+25) (+10 speed)
     +10 speed.
     Slays evil creatures, undead, trolls.
     *Slays* demons.
     Branded with frost.
     Provides resistance to cold, fear, light.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
     Blessed by the gods.  Slows your metabolism.  Speeds regeneration.
     Prevents paralysis.  Grants the ability to see invisible things.  
     
     When aimed, it creates a frost ball with damage 100.
     Takes 80 turns to recharge at your current speed.
     Your chance of success is 86.6%
     
     Combat info:
     2 blows/round.
     With an additional 3 strength and 4 dex you would get 3 blows
     Average damage/hit: 57.5 vs. evil creatures, 70.4 vs. undead, 70.4
     vs. trolls, 70.4 vs. creatures not resistant to cold, 96 vs.
     demons, and 44.7 vs. others.
     
     Radius 1 light.
b) a Long Bow of Extra Shots (x3) (+7,+7) (+1)
     +1 shooting speed.
     
c) a Ring of Protection [+9]
d) a Ring of Feather Falling
     Feather Falling.  
     
e) an Amulet of Resist Lightning
     Provides resistance to lightning.
     Cannot be harmed by electricity.
     
f) a Lantern (11489 turns)
     Cannot be harmed by fire.
     
     Radius 2 light.
g) Studded Leather Armour of Resist Fire [6,+5]
     Provides resistance to fire.
     Cannot be harmed by fire.
     
h) a Cloak of Stealth [1,+6] (+2 stealth)
     +2 stealth.
     
i) a Wicker Shield of Resist Cold [2,+7]
     Provides resistance to cold.
     Cannot be harmed by cold.
     
j) an Iron Helm of Wisdom [5,+1] (+2)
     +2 wisdom.
     Sustains wisdom.
     
k) a Set of Gauntlets [3,+6]
l) a Pair of Leather Boots [2,+5]


  [Character Quiver]

n) 6 Arrows (1d4) (+2,+2)
     Combat info:
     Hits targets up to 120 feet away.
     Average damage/hit: 34.8.
     35% chance of breaking upon contact.
     
o) (nothing)
p) (nothing)
q) (nothing)
r) (nothing)
s) (nothing)
t) (nothing)
u) (nothing)
v) (nothing)
w) (nothing)


  [Character Inventory]

a) 6 Flasks of oil
     Branded with flames.
     
b) 7 Potions of Cure Critical Wounds
     
c) 16 Scrolls of Phase Door
d) 3 Scrolls of Identify
e) 4 Scrolls of Word of Recall
f) a Rod of Treasure Location
g) 3 Rods of Trap Location
h) a Wand of Lightning Bolts (10 charges)
     
i) a Wand of Frost Bolts (9 charges)
     
j) a Wand of Teleport Other (6 charges)
     
k) a Staff of Mapping (5 charges)
     
l) a Whip of Gondolin (1d3) (+11,+11)
     Slays demons, orcs, trolls, dragons.
     Provides resistance to dark.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, fire.
     Prevents paralysis.  Grants telepathy.  Grants the ability to see
     invisible things.  
     
     Combat info:
     3 blows/round.
     With an additional 0 strength and 4 dex you would get 4 blows
     Average damage/hit: 22.5 vs. demons, 22.5 vs. orcs, 22.5 vs.
     trolls, 22.5 vs. dragons, and 18.4 vs. others.
     
     Radius 1 light.


  [Home Inventory]

a) a Potion of Restore Constitution
b) 7 Scrolls of Satisfy Hunger
c) 5 Scrolls of Identify
d) 2 Staves of Identify (30 charges)
     
e) The Cutlass 'Gondricam' (1d8) (+10,+11) [+50] (+4)
     +4 dexterity, stealth.
     Provides resistance to acid, lightning, fire, cold.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
     Feather Falling.  Speeds regeneration.  Prevents paralysis.  
     Grants the ability to see invisible things.  
     
     Combat info:
     2 blows/round.
     With an additional 1 strength and 0 dex you would get 3 blows
     With an additional 0 strength and 4 dex you would get 3 blows
     Average damage/hit: 21.3.
     
f) a Bastard Sword of Slay Dragon (3d4) (+4,+4)
     Slays dragons.
     
     Combat info:
     2 blows/round.
     With an additional 4 strength and 4 dex you would get 3 blows
     Average damage/hit: 32.9 vs. dragons, and 17.1 vs. others.
     
g) a Broad Axe (Defender) (2d6) (+8,+8) [+5] (+3 stealth)
     +3 stealth.
     Provides resistance to acid, lightning, fire, cold.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
     Sustains constitution.
     Feather Falling.  Speeds regeneration.  Prevents paralysis.  
     Grants the ability to see invisible things.  
     
     Combat info:
     2 blows/round.
     With an additional 6 strength and 4 dex you would get 3 blows
     Average damage/hit: 21.
     
h) a Heavy Crossbow (x4) (+5,+2)
i) 23 Bolts of Slay Dragon (1d5) (+6,+4)
     Slays dragons.
     
j) 25 Bolts (1d5) (+2,+2)
k) 18 Bolts of Wounding (1d5) {excellent}
     You do not know the full extent of this item's powers.
     


============================================================
                   CHAR.
|   TURN  | DEPTH |LEVEL| EVENT
============================================================
         1      0'    1   Began the quest to destroy Morgoth.
      1951    100'    2   Reached level 2
      5674    150'    3   Reached level 3
      8096    250'    3   Killed Grip, Farmer Maggot's dog
      8096    250'    4   Reached level 4
      9232    300'    5   Reached level 5
      9602    300'    6   Reached level 6
     11647    400'    7   Reached level 7
     17930    550'    8   Reached level 8
     34375    650'    9   Reached level 9
     37195    650'   10   Reached level 10
     37215    650'   11   Reached level 11
     37755    650'   12   Reached level 12
     37775    650'   12   Found The Cutlass 'Gondricam'
     37967    650'   13   Reached level 13
     38038    650'   13   ^^^ dropped by dark elven mage
     38459    650'   14   Reached level 14
     40275    650'   14   Killed Brodda, the Easterling
     47269    650'   15   Reached level 15
     48951    650'   16   Reached level 16
     49521    650'   16   Killed Golfimbul, the Hill Orc Chief
     52370    650'   17   Reached level 17
     56004    650'   17   Killed Wormtongue, Agent of Saruman
     59362      0'   17   wormtongue dropped a whip of gondolin with telepathy!
     62052      0'   17   Killed Farmer Maggot
     86152    650'   18   Reached level 18
     88615    700'   18   Killed Bullroarer the Hobbit
     91249    750'   19   Reached level 19
    104471    750'   19   Killed Fang, Farmer Maggot's dog
    106061    750'   20   Reached level 20
    108092    750'   20   Killed Ufthak of Cirith Ungol
    112678    800'   21   Reached level 21
    114537    800'   21   Killed Boldor, King of the Yeeks
    120700      0'   21   !CHR @800' (novice mage)
    128264   1000'   22   Reached level 22
    130526   1000'   22   Killed Lagduf, the Snaga
    132271   1050'   23   Reached level 23
    144412   1100'   24   Reached level 24
    171650   1100'   25   Reached level 25
    176031   1100'   26   Reached level 26
    180295   1100'   26   Killed Grishnakh, the Hill Orc
    180355   1100'   26   ?acquirement dropped by troll priest from a troll pit
    189235   1100'   26   and the ?acquirement just got burned when a fire vortex breathe
    189745   1100'   26   why couldn't it have been one of my ?phase door ?
    199692   1150'   26   Killed Orfax, Son of Boldor
    200443   1150'   26   !CHR dropped by blue yeek
    201264   1150'   26   Found The Long Sword 'Ringil'
    201265   1150'   26   !!!  RINGIL  !!!  dropped by a brown yeek
    202712   1150'   27   Reached level 27


  [Options]

Maximize effect of race/class bonuses        : yes (adult_maximize)
Randomize some of the artifacts (beta)       : no  (adult_randarts)
Restrict the use of stairs/recall            : no  (adult_ironman)
Restrict the use of stores/home              : no  (adult_no_stores)
Restrict creation of artifacts               : no  (adult_no_artifacts)
Don't stack objects on the floor             : no  (adult_no_stacking)
Lose artifacts when leaving level            : no  (adult_no_preserve)
Don't generate connected stairs              : no  (adult_no_stairs)
Adult: Monsters chase current location       : yes (adult_ai_sound)
Adult: Monsters chase recent locations       : yes (adult_ai_smell)
Adult: Monsters act smarter in groups        : yes (adult_ai_packs)
Adult: Monsters learn from their mistakes    : no  (adult_ai_learn)
Adult: Monsters exploit players weaknesses   : no  (adult_ai_cheat)
Adult: Monsters behave more intelligently (broken): no  (adult_ai_smart)
Score: Peek into object creation             : no  (score_peek)
Score: Peek into monster creation            : no  (score_hear)
Score: Peek into dungeon creation            : no  (score_room)
Score: Peek into something else              : no  (score_xtra)
Score: Know complete monster info            : no  (score_know)
Score: Allow player to avoid death           : no  (score_live)

[bron]

> how does generation chance work?

I'm not an expert, but since no one else responded I'll try: The number is basically a percentage chance.

Creating an object goes through many steps. First the game chooses a "base" object, based on the allocation frequency. There is then some small chance that the game might try to convert the base object into an artifact. If the object passes that initial hurdle, the game then examines the list of possible artifacts for one that matches the base object (in Ringil's case, that means that the base object must be a Long Sword to start with). If it finds a matching artifact (that hasn't already been created), the "generation chance" is then the % chance that this object will in fact be converted into the matching artifact.

Ringil has a very small generation chance, but Long Swords are pretty common. So while Ringil is indeed pretty rare, it is not so rare as say, "Deathwreaker" even though the "generation chance" for Deathwreaker is "3" vs Ringil's "1", since generating a Mace of Disruption as the base object is far less likely than generating a Long Sword.

[ewert]

Well actually if you are deep enough for MoDs, the chance is about same nowadays...

[cinereaste]

Thanks for the explanation, bron!

[cinereaste]

The good luck continues. Within just a few levels I have found Thalkettoth, Holhenneth, Paurhach, Thengel, a ring of speed +8, a set of caestus of power (+2, +7) [2, +8] with +4 str, and several stat potions.

I was thinking about how much trouble I had getting a warrior going, much worse than with other classes, and why this character has survived. It all has to do with telepathy at 650' on the whip of gondolin. Other classes have detects early on but warriors do not, and telepathy fixed that for this character.