First game in a while, and off to a smooth start

[Pete Mack]

At DL 52, CL32 and 34K player turns, with High-Elf Warrior, version 4.1.3. (I don't much care to play half-casters without resistance spells, so Warrior and Mage are pretty much it for me.)

What made it easy:
* Replacing (0,0) Main Gauche with Forasgil at DL 9(!)
* Finding boots of Elvenkind <+4> at DL 27, followed by Amras and
* a spectacular Elvenkind Cloak of Magi <+2,+4,+1>, with regeneration. 4 stealth and 1 speed make a huge difference.
* RBase at DL 11 from Arvedui
* And ESP at DL 30 from an ego hat, quickly replaced by Thranduil

And finally, this doesn't hurt:
* A Large Metal Shield [12,-1]
It means I stun or confuse about half the monsters, and more if I catch them asleep. Managed to kill Gorlim the Betrayer in melee without haste self (speed +6), and without any healing at all. Just stomped him in the first round of melee, and he went with barely a whimper.

[Pete Mack]

Oh nice! I was starting to stall out, trying to choose between Lotharang (260 dam/turn) and Barukheled (260 vs evil and a few more HP.) Then on DL 54, what should show up but Eowyn, for 295 vs evil. And this back to back with Carlammas, for 555HP.

Edit: Replaced =Strength with =Dex for more blows, sinc Eowyn gives plenty of STR. This gets me to 5.2 from 4.7 blows, and 312 vs evil.

[Estie]

Very nice. Recently I played a standart game, as well....not intentionally, I realized I had forgotten to set randarts at birth when at a similar depth than for you the */5 feeling turned out to be caused by a *thanc dagger. I distinctly remember that it also replaced a (0,0) main gauche.

I had some fun with it, got Wrath soon after from Lokkak and later the GoP - but I didnt finish that @; not many con potions during the run meant I was looking toward a lengthy grind.

[Gauss]

Lol, i don't know why in my last games i always get my first randart at DL 30 or so.
Such a bad luck i have.

[Pete Mack]

@Gauss-
It doesn't matter that much. I lost that character to "bad luck"--a teleport into a room with a 150' corridor going straight to a pit full of nexus breathers. They breathed; I died. Yeah, I shouldnt have teleported at dl 60. But I was down to very few guaranteed escapes, and I had a good chance of survival for a single jump. So YASD, but also bad luck.

Then I started again, and ended up with Narthanc at DL 22 and Cammithrim at DL 34, with very little in between. Now I am using Dagmor and to RoDamage at DL 40. Yet the biggest lack in comparison with last game isn't artifacts; it's those glorious early <+4,+2> Boots of Elvenkind. I even have ESP since DL 24, on a swap weapon. But without those boots I am a whole lot weaker.

[Pete Mack]

version 4.1.3:
Just went down to level 68, and who do I see with a rod of detection on my first turn? Smaug the Golden, whom I killed at DL 64. I know that Enchantresses (and perhaps others) can shape-change into him, but surely they only do so after encountering the player?

Things are getting seriously hairy. No CON items found except a lousy Armor of Dwarvenkind and some Rings +3 (none which I am not bothering to use.) And only +3 speed, from Collanon and Amras. I have been diving hoping to find un-IDed rings. And *something* with useful CON. 545 HP and Speed 3 isn't particularly good for a Mage at this depth, let alone a warrior!

[Nick]

version 4.1.3:
Just went down to level 68, and who do I see with a rod of detection on my first turn? Smaug the Golden, whom I killed at DL 64. I know that Enchantresses (and perhaps others) can shape-change into him, but surely they only do so after encountering the player?

Yes, that's a concern (assuming you mean latest master). I don't suppose you have a relevant savefile?

[Pete Mack]

It's just a straight download of 4.1.3 source code compiled on an Android Linux VM (in curses mode, obviously.)

I can upload a savefile--with some difficulty--if you like. I stopped playing when I saw this. (I fear I will have to install link/lynx or equivalent to do the upload from the VM, but I have been meaning to do it so that I can post characters anyway.)

[Nick]

It's just a straight download of 4.1.3 source code compiled on an Android Linux VM (in curses mode, obviously.)

I can upload a savefile--with some difficulty--if you like. I stopped playing when I saw this. (I fear I will have to install link/lynx or equivalent to do the upload from the VM, but I have been meaning to do it so that I can post characters anyway.)

It would be helpful - I would also need your randart file if you're playing with randarts. And just to clarify - this is source of latest (or at least recent) master, rather than 4.1.3 release (of more than a year ago)?

[Pete Mack]

Hmm. There are a variety of problems, but the foremost is that I have no idea where save files are stored. There is a ~/.angband directory, but it only has an empty directory structure, as is angband-dir/lib/user/save

[Pete Mack]

Well, gave up on that idea. I realized I really am playing 4.1.3 in any case. And how is this: Finally found the first speed ring, in a special room at DL 72 (Level feeling 6.) And it is +16! So went from speed 7 to speed 22 in a single turn. (Still only have 613HP, since I had to give up RoCON<+4> to use it.)

Also: Rename Itangast, whose name is very much non-canon. "The Beast of Gondolin" has a nice ring, especially if it comes with a posse of (lesser) Balrogs.

[Pete Mack]

a) Wielding The Longsword Ringil (+22,+25) <+10,+1>
Dropped by an Elder Vampire at DL 84

It took a single speed ring and 2 medium vaults ("Hallway" and "Infinity") to go from pathetic to endgame powerful. Ringil was from a monster in the second one.

[Pete Mack]

Easiest Sauron fight ever, with 2 Rings of Damage, and Ringil doing 660 dam/turn vs evil (Blessed and Berserk.)
4 !CCW, no additional healing of any sort. He got me down to 570 HP at one point, but I reatreated a couple squares back in an ASC, and quaffed CCW. Shield of Hammerhand is excellent in 4.1.3, since it leads to easy stunning. Sauron dropped Thorin, so I have a difficult decision to make. The only easier fight is to use a long hockey stick with Rune as a ranger. (But that is so lame.)
The hardest fight so far *by far* was Maeglin, since he summoned really horrible nasties, and an ASC is mostly useless against him.

[Pete Mack]

Feagwath committed suicide! His first turn, he summoned a Great Bile Wyrm, and that was all she wrote: 1500 damage for thee, but with Thorin, 0 for me. He also summoned a dracolisk, but he was pushed aside, so I didn't even need !rHeat. 2 breaths, and he was done.
I love it when that happens.

[Estie]

Ah, a good run. With my rare standart playthroughs, I havent seen Ringil in a long time.