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  • Donald Jonker
    Knight
    • Jun 2008
    • 593

    Comp #61 notes

    Maybe the following will be helpful/interesting to people attempting the current comp.

    After dying a few thousand times, I decided to dive blindly ahead... with results that are almost humorous. I've copied and pasted the following from my dump comments.

    ...So it turns out that being underpowered in O is different than being underpowered in V . It isn't too difficult to just dive: I somehow managed to reach lvl66 while gaining only a single level (which a nether hound took from me before killing me). There's actually a potential exploit: since you can choose to go down or up 2 levels at any staircase, one could conceivably dive to 4950' without ever leaving the stairs. I've been keeping myself to a rule of only going down one flight if I've just gone up one.

    I might have survived if I had read a ?phase instead of accidentally hitting a ?WoR. The lack of infravision for HE's in this variant is troublesome, and the fact that you can't build a monster memory when reusing old savefiles means having to rely on organic memory... which in my case is faulty. So many things can paralyze you...

    I'm also not sure how to select weapons in O. Would it be better to dump the rapier for a 2-blow weapon? Are slings better than longbows for assassins? The help file seems to say lighter weapons are better for assassins, but I don't know how often nor to what extent this is true.

    Also not being able to reset recall is problematic. It makes this challenge character all the more challenging. Perhaps the sane thing to do is to repeat the first dive once or twice before continuing on at 1500'.
    Bands, / Those funny little plans / That never work quite right.
    -Mercury Rev
  • Nick
    Vanilla maintainer
    • Apr 2007
    • 9633

    #2
    My 3rd character did something like what you suggest - dived aggressively, but by walking down the stairs from town. Reached about 800' on that dive, then recalled back to town. After that, I tried recalling (to 1500'), but then going upstairs as frequently as possible and dodging most combat; this worked for a while, and I'll probably try it again with my next attempt.
    One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
    In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

    Comment

    • buzzkill
      Prophet
      • May 2008
      • 2939

      #3
      Originally posted by Donald Jonker
      There's actually a potential exploit: since you can choose to go down or up 2 levels at any staircase, one could conceivably dive to 4950' without ever leaving the stairs.
      I've noticed this exploit if FA also. In FA, while in a dungeon, it occasionally ask if you would like to go up or down a second level, "the stairs continue up/down". I've never tried it, but I'm assuming you you can get as deep as you'd like without ever leaving the staircase by simply stair scumming, 2 down, 1 up. Reverse the process for fast ascension.

      Maybe it's just me, but it kinda seems like cheating, maybe even more evil than "normal" stair scumming, since it's approximately equal to a free "teleport to a particular level of this dungeon" spell, plus start out on a staircase.

      Maybe this "go up or down a second level" should only be available when playing with disconnected stairs, or a staircase memory to prevent "staircase diving".
      www.mediafire.com/buzzkill - Get your 32x32 tiles here. UT32 now compatible Ironband and Quickband 9/6/2012.
      My banding life on Buzzkill's ladder.

      Comment

      • Psi
        Knight
        • Apr 2007
        • 870

        #4
        Watch out for Dwarven armour - it doesn't give FA in O.

        Comment

        • Narvius
          Knight
          • Dec 2007
          • 589

          #5
          Since XP/TC is a winning criteria, wouldn't it be best to quickly kill some stuff and suicide?
          If you can convincingly pretend you're crazy, you probably are.

          Comment

          • Nick
            Vanilla maintainer
            • Apr 2007
            • 9633

            #6
            Originally posted by Narvius
            Since XP/TC is a winning criteria, wouldn't it be best to quickly kill some stuff and suicide?
            Maybe in a comp with a newborn character (although I suspect not, unless you got a really good first kill). You get so much more XP/turn later on that a higher level character should be better.

            One thing I did just try was starting a mage, casting magic missile (no need to waste a turn learning in O) for 2XP, then suiciding. 20 game turns, for a turn/XP value of 1/10. The current top char on the comp ladder is not quite up to this, but getting there; my recent level 45 Necro (RIP ), not a fast diving char at all, had a turn/XP of less than 1.
            One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
            In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

            Comment

            • Jungle_Boy
              Swordsman
              • Nov 2008
              • 434

              #7
              Quick question about this Unlight ability. Does that mean it's better NOT to wield a light source? Cause my current character found the Phial of Galadrial and I'm wondering if I should have it on or not.
              My first winner: http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=10138

              Comment

              • Bandobras
                Knight
                • Apr 2007
                • 726

                #8
                Yes, don't wield it. Especially now that you need the stealth badly (and damage reduction, etc.). But Galadriel is not a contender even later on.

                Comment

                • Jungle_Boy
                  Swordsman
                  • Nov 2008
                  • 434

                  #9
                  I think there are two apects of this competition at which I am fairly good. Unfortunately neither is a criteria for winning. One is a high turncount and the other is killing Harrys.
                  My first winner: http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=10138

                  Comment

                  • buzzkill
                    Prophet
                    • May 2008
                    • 2939

                    #10
                    OK, I killed Smeagol at about 1600'. And sure, he died with a single blow. But all he dropped is garnets. It this normal? No weapon, no ring, what's up with that!
                    www.mediafire.com/buzzkill - Get your 32x32 tiles here. UT32 now compatible Ironband and Quickband 9/6/2012.
                    My banding life on Buzzkill's ladder.

                    Comment

                    • Nick
                      Vanilla maintainer
                      • Apr 2007
                      • 9633

                      #11
                      Originally posted by buzzkill
                      OK, I killed Smeagol at about 1600'. And sure, he died with a single blow. But all he dropped is garnets. It this normal? No weapon, no ring, what's up with that!
                      Just bad luck. My current Harry has had that happen with pretty much every unique - except Wormtongue, who dropped the Phial
                      One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
                      In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

                      Comment

                      • Psi
                        Knight
                        • Apr 2007
                        • 870

                        #12
                        Originally posted by buzzkill
                        OK, I killed Smeagol at about 1600'. And sure, he died with a single blow. But all he dropped is garnets. It this normal? No weapon, no ring, what's up with that!
                        I've lost count of how many times I've killed Smeagol in this comp and yes, he has dropped gold every time. Actually a quick look in the spoilers says "He will carry up to 3 treasures", so he won't drop objects.

                        Comment

                        • Seany C
                          Swordsman
                          • Apr 2007
                          • 283

                          #13
                          Smeagol dropped a potion + gold one time but I suspect he had picked up the potion since generation.

                          Anyone else struggling to find Speed potions? I'm regularly getting through 20 early DLs without seeing any (admittedly, diving quite quickly, mostly picking off uniques). Also, both monster drops and dungeon item generation seem lower compared to the FAA equivalents - bad luck, or tougher %s in O?

                          Comment

                          • Nick
                            Vanilla maintainer
                            • Apr 2007
                            • 9633

                            #14
                            Originally posted by Seany C
                            Anyone else struggling to find Speed potions? I'm regularly getting through 20 early DLs without seeing any (admittedly, diving quite quickly, mostly picking off uniques). Also, both monster drops and dungeon item generation seem lower compared to the FAA equivalents - bad luck, or tougher %s in O?
                            There were some item generation changes in 1.1.0, which was after FA forked:
                            Code:
                            Dungeon item quantity reduction:
                            - Reduced all drops by 1/3.
                            - Reduced big drops by up to another 3X, but gave them a object
                              generation level boost.
                            - Changed some drop flags to accomodate this all.
                            - Monsters with are native to shallower levels have an increased
                              chance of dropping gold, even if they normally drop only items.
                              [Similar to Sangband].
                            - To to compensate for the increased gold chance, shallow monsters may
                              sometimes get a boost to item generation level.
                            - Increased the chances of "good" item enchantments my 5%.
                            - Reduced the chances of items being dropped below thier native depth.
                              This is gradual effect.
                            One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
                            In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

                            Comment

                            • buzzkill
                              Prophet
                              • May 2008
                              • 2939

                              #15
                              Stupid question... Will Gloves of Power hurt my ability to cast spells (as most gloves do)? Just wondering, cause I have the opportunity to buy them.
                              www.mediafire.com/buzzkill - Get your 32x32 tiles here. UT32 now compatible Ironband and Quickband 9/6/2012.
                              My banding life on Buzzkill's ladder.

                              Comment

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