Starting as archer without smithing

[reatter]

Tried to play a smith, and the first bow I found was a 1d7 at 550' with clock at 300'! Bad luck. Next game I find a shortbow of Gondolin and poisened arrows at 150'...

[Arjen]

Thank everybody for some good advice how to start! (And some ideas about lasershooting hoards of cyborg-shadowspider?)

[wobbly]

Taking Spriniting from the start also works till you find a bow. A pt or 2 in melee + power isn't much of an investment either.

[Fendell Orcbane]

I always thought that shadow spiders should come in packs - otherwise you can occassionally see them with a large light radius.

My non-archers are always tripping over bows in the early levels. I'd suggest playing a non-archer and then switching once you've tricked the RNG into generating a bow.

Yes ! This is what I tend to do : ) lol. Granted I just tend to play with what I find so if I find a bow early on, I tend to get some archery. But if I have a high strength character and I find a great sword early on...then its melee all the way. But honestly I think with 1.1.1 its pretty easy to find a bow...much easier than before, I was surprised when I played the comp at how many bows were turning up.

[Philip]

Ah yeah, forgot about that. Perhaps the effect should be magnified? I would like to see shelob and a gwathrauko teaming up.
EDIT: What I had in mind was a system where the monster figures out whether trying to move to darkness makes sense and then does it, like archers already do. Inevitably their retreat would drive them into a monster you can pin him against or a shadow bat/spider. Then the fun begins as they turn around.

[taptap]

Apart from Nick's alphabetical knowledge of any of Tolkien's writings, a point was made by Psi that Shadow Spiders should come in packs. I think they shouldn't, I think darkness monsters should seek out the lowest light tile available. This would mean characters with a lot of light would be able to avoid all but mobs of Gwathrauko and any Balrog, since those don't run from ANYTHING. It would mean players would get mobbed.

Fun fact: Light sensitive monsters incl. but not limited to all darkness monsters already are afraid of light and will run if you get seriously high light.

[Philip]

Apart from Nick's alphabetical knowledge of any of Tolkien's writings, a point was made by Psi that Shadow Spiders should come in packs. I think they shouldn't, I think darkness monsters should seek out the lowest light tile available. This would mean characters with a lot of light would be able to avoid all but mobs of Gwathrauko and any Balrog, since those don't run from ANYTHING. It would mean players would get mobbed.

[Nick]

There were "serpents of bronze and iron" that coiled themselves up into a big heap and broke the gate of Gondolin, and then opened up and lots of orcs and trolls came out. I guess there are a few ways you could mimic that.

[Scatha]

Pretty sure they're implied to be more akin to cars/mechanized battering rams - one idea is to have it spawn Orcs upon "Death" ("You have slain the Hissing Monstrosity -more- Orcs emerge from the beast's carcass!").

That's a pretty interesting idea.

[Infinitum]

Pretty sure they're implied to be more akin to cars/mechanized battering rams - one idea is to have it spawn Orcs upon "Death" ("You have slain the Hissing Monstrosity -more- Orcs emerge from the beast's carcass!").

[sudaj]

..

BTW, Speaking of Arachnotrons - didn't Tolkien describe Morgoth using iron engines in the siege of Gondolin (because industrialization equals evil obviously)? Maybe do without the plasma rifles but it is an idea for a monster subset for the middle/lategame dungeon.

Mechanized golem

[Infinitum]

..Maybe just have the game always generate a Shortbow with a smallish pack of arrows at 50'. Mayhap even a guaranteed Leather Armor? It'd alleviate some early-game frustrations and simultaneously encourage the player to explore the early dungeon as opposed to diving as fast as possible.

BTW, Speaking of Arachnotrons - didn't Tolkien describe Morgoth using iron engines in the siege of Gondolin (because industrialization equals evil obviously)? Maybe do without the plasma rifles but it is an idea for a monster subset for the middle/lategame dungeon.

[debo]

I guess we just found a way to make Umuiyan stronger...

[Scatha]

Sounds like you agree with Psi that our first evidence for their existence is late SA? But the question is whether we have any reason to think that they weren't around earlier. We're happy to put into the game things which we only have later evidence of, on a speculative basis that they could have existed then (e.g. Mewlips, Smaug).

[Nick]

I don't think that plasma rifles were in use until late in the second age.

From the Akallabęth (story of the downfall of Númenor at the end of the Second Age):

...and a fiery bolt smote the dome of the Temple and shore it asunder, and it was wreathed in flame.

If that's not a plasma rifle, I don't know what is.