Grotug's ongoing DAR thread

[wobbly]

I actually find a bit of AC early on to be good in ironman for something loud like a dwarf priest. Playing running games burns phases quick when you wake up everything & you use up less of the !clws if you're being hit less. So you end up with less healing potions but you use less of them anyway. Bit easier to beat up a few grunts & get a bit of xp & hp behind you when you start a little sturdier in melee. +every round you have to heal is another chance for them to hit you unless you use up a valuable phase.

[Pete Mack]

Huh, I just try the scattershot approach on ironman--assume I will lose lots of early chars, so just keep trying til one is viable. I also feel the most important purchase are the first 3 prayer books. PB2 for portal, and PB3 for OOD. Lack of Detect Stairs is a huge problem for ironman, though. It used to be the most critical early escape spell, since portal is so short range, and comes later.

[Grotug]

I have 26k gold. Hmm... what to buy. I wish I got these kinds of items when I have 200k gold. 9 potions of healing it is!

[Derakon]

I probably would've nabbed one potion of *Healing* just to learn the flavor, but otherwise, Healing is a pretty strong buy here, yeah.

[krazyhades]

I probably would've nabbed one potion of *Healing* just to learn the flavor, but otherwise, Healing is a pretty strong buy here, yeah.

Or maybe could just flick on the long descriptions so you can see its flavor? Not sure if this would work, but it sounds like it might.

[Grotug]

I considered doing that, maybe it would have been the better move. Maybe it will still be there when I return, but it really sucks to run out of !healings at depth and I wanted to play to the near future since I'm diving dangerously.

So this was very pleasant. A little while ago I decided to take on Ancient Blue Dragon (7 levels OOD). Not really sure why I thought I should try taking it on, other than I was pretty sure my @ was strong enough with "minimal" risk and I didn't want to use a charge of my newly acquired wand of TO. So I !Speed and read a ?holy chant and then he breathed on my and... hey, this story is getting old. I am pretty sure I have other metal objects in my inventory? I am also pretty sure lightning does not destroy inventory very often. I keep thinking these "unlucky" TO destructions I experience regularly from one single breath are outliers and that they aren't going to keep happening.

No matter, crash diving is rewarding me big time. After hitting the down stairs in quick successions because they were there and then reading an unID'd scroll (?DD) and then reading another, I picked up BoS <+6> on DL41 and after running low on heals returned home, bought those !healings just now, figured, oh what the hey; I'll save a ?WoR and read another ?DD I had just picked up in the dungeon, realizing it could be a long time before I find another one. I take a few steps down a corridor, pick up a rod, zap it at a Grave Wight, figuring I'll get a message "It resists a lot. Your rod of cold balls is recharging." Lo and behold he disappears! It always feels so warm and fuzzy when being perfectly surprised IDing an early and unexpected rod of TO. Got 4 shrooms of ESP. We are in business.

EDIT: So awhile ago I found an artifact dagger. 1d4 (+11, +8). With a couple rings I am doing 94.2 dam a round. I can't kill anything at this depth! I had nearly finished of a Ranger Chieftain when a Berserker came from behind and trampled him. I returned home after dancing around and teleporting away from a Knight Templar and then Kavlax. This was a safe level, too (3-3). When I teleported away from Kvalax I landed at the 3 feeling and so upgrading my cloak of stealth to Aman of Stealth. The !*Healing was still there, too.

[chknflyrice]

Now.... yes. I am speaking of when stat mushrooms would make a hobbit as strong as a troll. I still believe in doing this when I play weaker @s. ATM I am attempting a win with a Hobbit Rogue and the early AC helps way more than a guess that the BM might provide an affordable missile weapon when I recall. I usually have problems finding armor other than standard and magical (last run on a HT Warrior I was still using a BCM I bought from the armor shop till around DL 40) so purchasing these items early makes more sense to me.

Not every game is played with the archetype 4 blows per round HE or Dunadan or HT and that early small AC bonus is worth it. For lower str/dex/con classes that AC is the difference between fighting a Snaga and running for your life from him. Every engagement is not 100% controllable especially in the early stages when the most you have is a few CLW and PD.

[chknflyrice]

Huh, I just try the scattershot approach on ironman--assume I will lose lots of early chars, so just keep trying til one is viable. I also feel the most important purchase are the first 3 prayer books. PB2 for portal, and PB3 for OOD. Lack of Detect Stairs is a huge problem for ironman, though. It used to be the most critical early escape spell, since portal is so short range, and comes later.

This an approach I have been liking more and more recently. I tend to hold too much value in every single @ that I start, but letting go early to start a new potentially better beginning seems to save more time.

[Derakon]

Not every game is played with the archetype 4 blows per round HE or Dunadan or HT and that early small AC bonus is worth it. For lower str/dex/con classes that AC is the difference between fighting a Snaga and running for your life from him. Every engagement is not 100% controllable especially in the early stages when the most you have is a few CLW and PD.

What I'm saying is that, for a weak character, given the choice between buying some soft leather armor or, say, a Wand of Magic Missile, I'll take the wand. I feel the wand has better value for bootstrapping the character (and typically that Phase and CLW have even greater value).

Of course if you're a melee beast then you don't need to worry about armor, but I'm saying that the weaker classes should be trying to avoid melee altogether rather than try to get better at melee. Because they'll suck at melee no matter what.

[chknflyrice]

@Derakon

Agreed. Staying out of mele range is easy if you want to burn PD to kite a standard creature around a room to burn down with missile weapons. I prefer to save those in order to really take the fight to worthwhile creatures/situations that I can benefit more from.

Also Morgul? I haven't seen one in a long time and I assumed that the current version doesn't have anymore low level cursed items.

[Grotug]

The Blue Wizard summons a Drolem.... Bastard. Teleporting right now is not ideal. I was trying to ?phase to get into LoS of the BW to TO him away. Of course I could have just teleported away at the very start of the level, as I started in this cavernous room, but there was only one nasty I could see, so I TO'd it away, then Harowen came and kept stealing my coins. Finally TO'd him away when the rod recharged. Then upgraded my spear to a Zweihander (123/rnd non-rLightning) took down a Golden dragon and then the blue wizard came and I couldn't TO him cause of all the other monsters in front of him. Yeah, sure, now I can TO him.... Gonna have to ?Teleport.



EDIT: So I landed safely not too far away to the southeast. Of course when I open a nearby door there is Wren the Unclean waiting for me (the nasty I TO'd away at the start of the level). Teleporting almost always takes you to where you TO'd. So I TO him again. I kinda wanna go back to the room and TO the drolem. He'll just be sitting where I left him and there seems to be a corridor nearby that leads me back to the cavern from below.


Nah, I'm gonna hit the down stairs (I'm on a down staircase).

I really wish the dungeon gave out !CLW beyond DL20. Every once in awhile I find a staff of CLW and unload it to save on precious potions.

EDIT: Oh hell yes! Artifact armor <+5> STR <+4> DEX <+3> CON. Bwhahahahahahahahaha weeee! I remember when I was 7 I was on the roof with my siblings after a freak October 4th snow storm and I started sliding down the roof. When I got to the edge of the roof part of me was incredulous that I was about to enter a world of hurt and another part of me couldn't see how that wasn't going to happen. I landed in a big pile of snow and burst out laughing. It was such a thrill not to die. That's kinda how I feel now. Crash diving too fast; running a good chance to get into a situation I can't survive, but instead have found sweet deliverance. (Also just found a staff of speed). I don't even know what resistances, if any the armor has. Just super psyched for the stats. ... You have learned the rune of rChaos. You have learned the rune of pConf. Not too shabby.

Also in this room a crown of might. You have to understand before finding this room the only good items I had were cloak of rDisenchant and boots of speed. Everything else average (and a shield of resistance).

You remember hearing a roar.
You shouldn't have phased door.
Your life is no more.

Heal? Phase? Teleport? You have chosen... poorly.

[chknflyrice]

Drolem claims another?

[Grotug]

No, the Time hounds! *Very* stupid death. Totally avoidable. I noticed that the breaths weren't rolling back my stats so I thought maybe a change had been made where sustenance actually works against Time hounds, but I was forgetting about the simple fact that Time hounds do a fair bit of damage. So it wasn't until I only had 1/3 health left that I realized I either need to heal or try to escape and I didn't want to teleport at 118 health or whatever I had, so I ?phased and landed smack dab inbetween the pack in a hallway. That was my last move.

"remember" was the clue that it was a Time hound that breathed on me. I just realize now I didn't leave enough info to piece together what happened. I was kinda sad to lose such a promising @ that I neglected to clarify what actually transpired.

My current @ just picked up a wand of TO but it only has 5 charges left. We'll see. I'd like to crash dive again and survive to tell the tale. I find not being able to ID potions rather annoying. I just wing it and quaff them as I find them because I can't be bothered storing them at home and playing games keeping track of what potions might be what kinds of potions based on what depth I picked them up at. With careful notetaking I could avoid quaffing an UN ID'd potion and losing STR and gaining Wisdom.... But my background in gaming is DooM the original. Point and shoot and explore; real simple, straightforward gameplay. That's why I prefer warrior to spell casters or fragile/paranoid rangers. Also, Angband is long, and I don't have the patience for the bumbling around in the early game that takes some careful play with the more fragile classes. I can make quick progress with a Warrior.

I may try Sil again, but I like the familiarity of Angband. I have awhile before I will get bored of it, methinks.

I'm on a 5-9 level on DL26 and just found a ROS <+4>. Not sure if this would give a 9 at this depth? I think I may explore some more. Nevermind! It was a ring of escaping. Come on, Tenser's.

Found a small vault on the level but I have no way of getting into it. I cannot tunnel through Granite. But Lagduf dropped me an artifact Halberd of Regen and slay powerfully Undead and Dragons and fire brand. So I went from 39/round to others to 94 vs non-rFire.

Hmm.. 6-6 level but I'm out of ?Phase.... I have one ?Teleportation. Happened to be listening to a song called "Long Highway"


I just realized my to-dam is extremely high for the amount of blows I'm doing: 1.6. Pretty high to-dam Halberd.

Well, I have the crash dive combo again: wand of TO and 2 shrooms of Second Sight.

[chknflyrice]

Doom? As in killing demons with a double barrel shotgun Doom?

[Grotug]

Doom? As in killing demons with a double barrel shotgun Doom?

Yepppppp

Apparently the forums frown upon answering a yes or no question with "Yes" or "No", but "Yeppppppp" is okay.