Homeless - Ironman forced descent

[Ingwe Ingweron]

For a challenge, I tried out a forced-descent, no recall, ironman game. Wasn't sure it would work out and was behind the eight-ball for quite a long time, but in the end @ had enough consumables and power for the final fights. The exercise forced me to learn a bit more about what to carry and what not. Should improve my inventory management practices in the future. Still don't have great turn count management. Need to get some lessons from Power Wyrm and Elliptic. http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=18451

[Estie]

Congrats. I have had 3 paladins get stranded in the midgame without any ?phase left, before they could find ethereal openings. Did you have any problems with that, and when did you get that book, can you remember ?

[Ingwe Ingweron]

Congrats. I have had 3 paladins get stranded in the midgame without any ?phase left, before they could find ethereal openings. Did you have any problems with that, and when did you get that book, can you remember ?

The books didn't apply in this case, "Homeless" was a Half-Troll Warrior. Ran out of ?Phase Door a few times, but managed to survive.

[Estie]

Ooops, for some reason I thought your character was a paladin, sorry.
But you did run out of ?phase. I feel like those are a major bottleneck atm, making red book casters much easier to win with.

[Ingwe Ingweron]

Ooops, for some reason I thought your character was a paladin, sorry.
But you did run out of ?phase. I feel like those are a major bottleneck atm, making red book casters much easier to win with.

I've tried the same iron-man setup with a dwarf priest, but they just get thrown into the wood-chipper within the first five or so dungeon levels.

[Thraalbee]

I have done ironman high elf warrior, dwarf priest, Dunadan mage and hobbit Ranger. After warrior, priest was easiest. I buy 10 phase doors on start but agree running out is dangerous

[wobbly]

If you turn off the starting kit, you get the gold from the useless ? Recall to spend on extra ? Phase or a spell book which can help.

[Thraalbee]

Or just turn off no-sell birth option

[Derakon]

I've tried the same iron-man setup with a dwarf priest, but they just get thrown into the wood-chipper within the first five or so dungeon levels.

Priests have a very rough early game in ironman. But once they get Orb, it's smooth sailing. Anything you can do to help them survive to get Orb will help, be it buying more consumables, sacrificing WIS for STR for better melee, buying a wand of Magic Missile, etc. It's probably also worth buying a copy of book 3 at the start of the game.

[Ingwe Ingweron]

Holy Diver - Dwarf Priest http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=18457

My latest Ironman Dwarf Priest, Holy Diver, has made it DL10. Ran out of ?Phase Door, but have found PB2 so can Portal. Just found Forasgil and am using it. It's not blessed, but it's still a better damage dealer than the Slay Undead Mace that @ had. The fail rate for PB1 spells is almost the same, even with a non-priestly weapon. Have been proceeding slowly, clearing nearly the entire level each time, yet it has still been touch-and-go on several occasions. Fear that @ will quickly become overleveled.

Turning off no-selling and starting kit in the beginning in order to buy more phase door and curing potions helped survive those first levels. Thanks for that advice!

Didn't buy PB3 at the beginning, Derakon's advice there came too late. But, if I had then there might not have been enough consumables to survive to this point.

[Thraalbee]

First time I played ironman priest I always bought pb3 due to advice on the forum. This has merit since oob is going to be your best friend for a very large part of the game but I don't do this anymore. Problems due to lack of ?phase, !clw and torches/oil/food are usually much more annoying than not having found pb3 yet.

[wobbly]

So I'm going to have a go at this too. http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=18458, not dead yet.

Problems with uniques have pushed me down faster then I would like, but I have found a few good items, so maybe ok.

I actually prioritize getting early AC with this, I figure when you don't have teleport & you don't have good stealth+detect, then you actually want some AC.

[Ingwe Ingweron]

Damnit! Spamming the keys killed Holy Diver. http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=18457

Ethereal dragon breath into the resistance hole. The RNG had not been very kind about speed or PB6. Still, DL 51 is better than DL 5, which is what I was making before. Argh! Back to the beginning.

[Ingwe Ingweron]

And another one bites it, swarmed by a nest of Mirkwood Spiders with no escape. I think I'm giving up the Ironman Dwarf Priest attempt. It feels too dependent on luck from the RNG gods for me.

[wobbly]

Hmm..., mine hasn't made it to where your 1st run died yet, but so far my feeling is that it's less dependent on luck & more dependent on grinding. Once you get portal & a decent pool of mana you're super solid. You can detect the worst dangers, you can portal away, you've got a stack of hps. It'll probably change once fast big breathers start appearing in my game but so far I've felt bored more often then in actual danger.