What do you do after you die...?

[Grotug]

This isn't an existential question. I mean, when you die in Angband do you immediately play again? Do you mutter curses and slam the table? Do you take it in stride? Do you take a break from the game? If so, how long? Or do you jump back in immediately?

I guess my other curiosity is how much time do you spend playing in a day when you are really into it. I've been playing too much Angband of late, but I like playing a lot this time of year, when it's cold out and there's a virus running around anyway.

I just killed like 6 human rangers in a row, every one soon after reading a ?DD pretty early. Even though these are early games, the disappointment still stings and I find myself saying to myself I don't want to play anymore, (I do want to play but the icky feeling makes it hard to launch another player). It's not that long before I recover and am eager to throw another @ at the dungeon (15-30 minutes usually), though.

That all said, I've actually had a few characters around 1700' that I was becoming bored with and didn't even mind that much when they died. Sometimes after a long string of slow progress I get impatient and find myself wanting to start over again (it doesn't really make sense, since treasures at 1700' are better than at 50') but I hate going upstairs, so if I keep going deeper into the dungeon but my power doesn't increase I'll often start despairing to the point that I'll just be waiting to die so I can start a new character.

I'm currently trying to play without forced descent (which is how I normally play) because I've had some really strong characters reach the bosses without really being quite ready and also because I haven't found any crazy good artifacts in a looong time. My last mage didn't even get to use mana storm for the final fights.

Anyway, would be nice to hear how others approach the game generally, as far as how chunks of time are allocated to the game and how they respond to dying.

[Estie]

I cant see any patterns in my behaviour after a death. I might restart or take a break or whatever.

These days I play less than I used to, no longer is it common for me to finish a game in one day if not one session. This is detrimental to the survivability of my @s as the danger is extreme when picking up an ongoing game. I would guess one in ten or so die during the first 20 minutes after a cold restart. I know about the danger and try to be extra careful, but to no avail.

What is the reason for that ? Not remembering the status of my resistances for example, and generally unawareness of the danger level I am currently playing at. It is possible to survive with a weak @ in dangerous depths, but it requires a very different play style from, say, a warrior on dlvl 20. When playing along my style auto-adjusts to the situation, but after a long break that connectivity is gone.

And generally, focus deteriorates with age of which I am painfully aware.

I do get angry sometimes, about unpleasant game situations or about things I dislike about the game design. It is of course pointless but I cant always help it. I dont get angry about deaths, they just happen occasionally.

[VeritasAequitas]

if its a big character that ive taken ages to get somewhere i do stare at the tombstone screen for a minute or two cursing quietly at the monster that killed me then cursing at myself for not being more careful. mostly because i have limited time to play and throwing away a deep character is frustrating.

if its a newish character i dont sweat it and just go next character and forget about it

jk

every time i die i smash a keyboard.
an average angband session when starting a new character involves the death of not just the characters, but between 4 and 5 keyboards.

[will_asher]

I only get mad if it's a game I've done especially well, like getting past dungeon level 50 and killing at least one unique native to dl50+, which hasn't happened since I picked up playing again about a week ago.

[Sky]

early game - probably start playing right away.

midgame (CL20/25) it depends, sometimes you just can't do much, get swamped by orcs, and die. Bad luck, start again.

Some other times when you hit a lucky !Exp or a good artifact and level up quickly, and no matter how careful you are and how much you focus on finding gloves or boots of FA the game ******* refuses to drop them or sell them to you, and a single illusionist paralyzes you at range and you die from 250hp to 0 ..

yeah maybe a bit of calming down is necessary, before i play again.

If i die a stupid death in late game, there's a case for mourning. Specially if it's something *outside* of the game world that killed me, like command queue stacking, or lag, or my excessively-sensitive keyboard deciding i will move not once but twice.