Sil 1.0.2

[Patashu]

Hi,

Playing Sil. Never made it very far. This char has a nice shield, cloak and bow and plays well so far. Could use some advice for the next few levels.

(Can't upload on ladder, same name - less xp than previous, so pasted below.)

1. Getting STR restored: Good/bad idea to keep eating all new stuff I find?

It is my opinion that you should eat every unidentified herb as long as you have a slight amount of hp loss and are otherwise safe when you eat it. This way you automatically identify healing, and all other herbs except restoration/sustenance/emptiness.

2. Identify? I'd like to save up xp for archery and smithing, spending xp for lore mastery as well seems impossible. What is your recommendation for this?

Lore master is something I've started to aim for in every game - use-iding is such a useful source of experience that you want to carry around un-ID'd stuff for the exp it will give later, yet all the tricks of identifying without identify will still leave you with an inventory crammed full of junk sooner or later. Getting it doesn't mean you should neglect use-iding tricks nor should it be rushed for - get it after you're comfortably skilled elsewhere and when inventory space is a real issue, as a concession.

However... If you are planning on going smithing ANYWAY, you can grab the smithing skill to make artifacts and make a helmet of lore master. If you were going to make artifacts anyway, that saves some experience in the long run.

3. The -5 Greatsword - Could it be Calris? Any safe way to find out soon? Is it worth keeping for later?

Yes, it is Calris. It's cursed, so I think it will wield on identify. If encumberment isn't an issue, tote it around for the 200 exp on identification later.

4. What is the ideal weapon for a dwarf with a shield? Battle axe is "less effective" with shield so I recently swapped to the throwing axe, seems ok for now

IMO sticking with a shield if you're going heavy in melee is a losing proposition later on - I always found myself wanting to swap to something with 3dx hit dice for the bigger impacts and to be able to make use of knock back and so on, but maybe that's just how I play.

[Scatha]

Playing Sil. Never made it very far. This char has a nice shield, cloak and bow and plays well so far. Could use some advice for the next few levels.

Sure! One general comment is that I don't think you've made life very easy for yourself with your stat allocation. 7 Con gives you an incredible health pool, but without instant escapes that may not be enough, as you need some ways of dealing with the messes you find. For the early to mid game Dex is probably the most important stat, and a little Strength will help you kill things faster.

(Can't upload on ladder, same name - less xp than previous, so pasted below.)

Just so you know, if you check the "don't overwrite" box on your old character dump you can upload the new one too.

1. Getting STR restored: Good/bad idea to keep eating all new stuff I find?

There's a potion and a herb which will work to restore this. If you haven't found them already, trying new ones is a good plan.

2. Identify? I'd like to save up xp for archery and smithing, spending xp for lore mastery as well seems impossible. What is your recommendation for this?

I tend to go for identify-by-use, but that's definitely easier after you know the game and can set up situations to identify as many things as possible (I think I can do better than Patashu with herbs ). In the later dungeon there are Staves of Understanding.

3. The -5 Greatsword - Could it be Calris? Any safe way to find out soon? Is it worth keeping for later?

It is cursed, but could be a good damage source -- useful against heavily armoured enemies.

4. What is the ideal weapon for a dwarf with a shield? Battle axe is "less effective" with shield so I recently swapped to the throwing axe, seems ok for now

The "less effective" just means it's a hand-and-a-half weapon, and you get two extra damage sides without a shield. You can see the manual for details of how the combat system works.

Anyhow, good luck, and have fun!

[Thraalbee]

Thanks for advice! Makes me understand things a bit better. I did die further down of course, got trapped in a corridor with enemies from both sides. But now I have a bit more effective starting setup and strategy.

[Patashu]

Thanks for advice! Makes me understand things a bit better. I did die further down of course, got trapped in a corridor with enemies from both sides. But now I have a bit more effective starting setup and strategy.

If you find your deaths are often due to becoming surrounded, a 'quick fix' is to work Exchange Places into your skilling strategy.

[Philip]

Does anyone know how much stealth is necessary for being essentially invisible to everyone and anyone?

[debo]

Does anyone know how much stealth is necessary for being essentially invisible to everyone and anyone?

20 will save you from almost anything. Cat assassins and cats in general will still catch you once in a while, though.

Hugging the walls and taking Disguise can help a LOT.

23 stealth has been enough to keep me basically invisible for the lategame and ascent.

For an Assassination character, more stealth is always better, since it contributes directly to your melee score when a foe is unwary.

Edit: Also, don't forget about Stealth Mode. +5 is no joke, and it can be very handy when e.g. wandering cats slink by.

[Philip]

I was looking through the edit files and found a (Balanced) weapon type. I haven't found it in game, because it appears to have max_depth 0. What should I do to make it work?

[Philip]

Oh, does throwing bypass half of monster evasion or not? It appears not from the calculation screen, but I thought I'd ask. Also, how do criticals work on throwing?

[Scatha]

I was looking through the edit files and found a (Balanced) weapon type. I haven't found it in game, because it appears to have max_depth 0. What should I do to make it work?

It should be commented out; that's why you've never found it. We used to have balanced throwing weapons in the game (giving (+3) when thrown, I think), but removed them for not adding much. In case of a change of heart, half just commented it out rather than delete it. There are a couple of other items commented out for similar reasons.

In any case the special items generally have a bit of an overhaul in the upcoming version.

[Scatha]

Oh, does throwing bypass half of monster evasion or not? It appears not from the calculation screen, but I thought I'd ask. Also, how do criticals work on throwing?

Throwing is treated just like a melee attack (including criticals), except that the weight required for each point of strength bonus is 0.5lbs rather than 1lb. The idea is that arrows go fast enough to make dodging after they shoot nearly impossible (hence evasion is halved), but thrown items don't.

[Philip]

I hope it is commented back in, or I suppose that I can do it myself, because I like throwing. Balance works ok, with throwing being powerful early on, but it soon becomes sort of weaker, with most weapons, (even double criticaled spears) not harming easterlings and such. I think (Balanced) being reintroduced would be nice, or atleast making them forgeable. Nevertheless, it is a feature noone really uses much, so it isn't worth it changing. Anyone can do it themselves anyway.

EDIT: Or not. Apparently the flag PERFECT_BALANCE is causing trouble at the load screen.

[bron]

So I started playing Sil recently since the whole "smithing" thing strikes me as interesting. But I hit a part of the user interface I didn't like. I use the "curses" version, and I have this really spiffy gigantic screen. The "-b" (big screen) option works well enough, but when I try to use the more useful and interesting 4 terminal default option, sil insists on using just 24x80 in the upper-left (dungeon map) terminal, despite there being lots of additional room.

So I changed it.

Attached is a version of main-gcu.c that allows me to put extra screen real estate into the upper-left portion when using a screen that is big enough to allow it. The code was already doing all the hard parts correctly; this was just a matter of changing the way the rows/colums were computed within init_gcu for the four terminal windows. It should (I hope!) not make any difference when the screen size is less than 50x160. But on screens larger than that, it puts the additional room into the map view. Feel free to use this (or not) as you see fit.

[Patashu]

I just had a thought. Would it be unbalanced for stairs to change colour and interrupt you (your light radius) number of turns before enemies spawn through it?

[debo]

I just had a thought. Would it be unbalanced for stairs to change colour and interrupt you (your light radius) number of turns before enemies spawn through it?

I personally like having enemies burst around me just as I'm about to reach the stairs Then again, I usually play stealthy characters.

[HugoVirtuoso]

I just had a thought. Would it be unbalanced for stairs to change colour and interrupt you (your light radius) number of turns before enemies spawn through it?

Unbalanced, yes. But, that could be fixed by having monsters spawn from stairs much more often.