[V3.2.0] Was I really really unlucky or does this happen a lot?

[flammableBen]

Haven't played any Angband, let alone V for years. The last few days I've played a few characters, one getting down 2000ft ish and two getting to about 1000ft (I didn't say I was any good).

I don't remember ever seeing anything so OOD as this. Boggins, my Dunadan Ranger, just bumped into Baphomet the Minotaur Lord in a little vault at 950ft. According to his info thing he shouldn't be popping up until 2900ft.

I wasn't expecting to run into anything that nasty, unsurprisingly he smashed me up whilst I was picking off all the hill orcs and stuff. I might have had a turn to teleport out if I was paying more attention, but I'm not sure.

So is it unusual to have something ~40dungeon levels OOD to pop up that early? I can't remember anything like that from my last VAngband playing, but it was some years ago. I'm very out of practice.

I should have properly checked the monster list when I was detecting monsters, to have a proper look what was in the vault. I would have probably gone for it anyway though, I'm playing more as a curious explorer than a winner at the moment (I don't think I've ever played as a winner ). And anyway, Boggins is (was!) a fearless chap, he'd have stood up spear in hand and ready for battle, whatever the inevitable outcome was to be.

I'm enjoying this new (to me) version though, the game feels nicer than when I last played. Thanks to all those responsible!

[Derakon]

It's unusual but not unheard-of. Vaults can routinely generate very out-of-depth monsters, and the game is also willing to generate fairly out-of-depth monsters in addition just as part of normal monster placement. This helps keep you on your toes.

[flammableBen]

Good stuff, I think I might have scummed for a level feeling which didn't end in "filled with old junk" or something, which probably didn't help. I think I got to excellent. I know it wasn't superb. Superb is better than Excellent isn't it? Or is it the other way round? I can't remember what the first bit said.

Boggins VII will probably be a more cowardly chap than his ancestors, or maybe not. It depends if I get too excited after finding a sexy weapon. A weapon so wonderful that I'll be sure I can just hold down the left button to kill all these weak monsters.... oh.

[buzzkill]

This is man that knows how to play the game. Every character should a personality, maybe even a backstory.

[flammableBen]

ARGHHH!! Boggins descendent, a lvl 28 dunaden rogue just had his strength swapped for his charisma and is now fucked.

ARGHGHGHGHGHGHGHGH

My first promising character of 3.3 proper too. Not sure he's worth the hassle of saving.

[Derakon]

Yeah, nexus can leave characters alive while rendering them not worth playing. It's a pain, and you should avoid nexus monsters for precisely that reason.

What do people think of changing Nexus so that it always does a random +(1-3)/-(1-3) swap in addition to its various teleportation effects? So you could get blasted off the level while at the same time trading one point of STR for two points of CHA, for example.

[fizzix]

Yeah, nexus can leave characters alive while rendering them not worth playing. It's a pain, and you should avoid nexus monsters for precisely that reason.

What do people think of changing Nexus so that it always does a random +(1-3)/-(1-3) swap in addition to its various teleportation effects? So you could get blasted off the level while at the same time trading one point of STR for two points of CHA, for example.

I would favor it, but mostly because I hate nexus stat swap.

[Nick]

I would favor it, but mostly because I hate nexus stat swap.

I'm in two minds. The fear you get when you see nexus hounds without RNexus, the decision as to whether to try to kill them, the moment when they breathe and you *hope* they teleport you - do we really want to lose those?

[Derakon]

I think that a guaranteed, lesser stat swap would, at least in terms of brown-pants factor, make nexus hounds into the shallow game's time hounds -- horribly dangerous, avoid if at all possible, but you can survive minor engagements. The current setup is more like a 1% chance of making your character no longer fun to play, which is more cruel on the game's part than anything else IMO.

[flammableBen]

I'll probably try and rescue boggins tomorrow. I'm not actually sure what did it, I guess a nexus something. I was hovering around 1700ft, worrying about lack of poison resist, so struggling for proper stat gain territory and not really being able to venture around it. Had quite high str and dex through saving brawn and nimbleness potions (with intellect and the constitution ones to push towards ugly/notwise).

I guess I'll try and keep poor boggins alive, but permanent stat swaps that early do seem a bit unfair. A fun distraction when you have nearly 18/100 in everything, otherwise a needless game over.

I can upload the save if anybody wants to point out my moaning is unjustified and I should just get on with it ?

[Timo Pietilä]

I guess I'll try and keep poor boggins alive, but permanent stat swaps that early do seem a bit unfair. A fun distraction when you have nearly 18/100 in everything, otherwise a needless game over.

You could try to locate another nexus whatever (not Q) and hope for getting your STR back to useful number. Doing that might be kind of fun (or not depending of your state of mind). I sometimes do very complex things for very small reward just for fun of doing that thing.

[Nick]

I can upload the save if anybody wants to point out my moaning is unjustified and I should just get on with it ?

If you want opinions on your character, the best thing to do is make a character dump ('C', then 'f'), and post it to the ladder (tab at the top of the page).

[Timo Pietilä]

If you want opinions on your character, the best thing to do is make a character dump ('C', then 'f'), and post it to the ladder (tab at the top of the page).

Or here. Just put it between [code] [\code] -tags. I find commenting easier here than in ladder.

OTOH if you update your CD often then ladder is better place because then there is just one dump that everyone is reading.

[Zikke]

IThe current setup is more like a 1% chance of making your character no longer fun to play, which is more cruel on the game's part than anything else IMO.

I completely agree with this.



How about having the stat swap be more frequent, but have the effect be temporary?

[Narvius]

A scroll that repairs nexus swaps.