Sil: advice for newbies

[Pete Mack]

I can get to around 450' pretty regularly, but getting below that is proving very difficult. I'm not sure what the right tactic is for the huge mobs patrolling the level. Any tips? Been using generic 3443 Fingolfin with finesse and dodging

[wobbly]

Hard to say without knowing where you're going wrong or right. Have you watched debo's vids? Some of the best players actually playing. Str 3 finesse is very solid if you straight warrior longsword & board. It seems stupid to say it, as maybe you already know, but the way to handle packs on a solid warrior is always take them at the mouth of a corridor. Have 2 light or keen senses to see the guy sneaking up behind you. When you turn red you're injured enough that when you back up they follow. Big evasion penalty for fighting a lot of adjacent monsters, smaller when you draw them in to a corridor.

[seraph]

those videos are helpful but i love to see some 1.3 vids. also i don't think a 3443 fingolfin is possible.

[wobbly]

Yep. 3443 would be a feanor layout. If I can ask, what do you tend to die to? Stealthy or not? heavy armoured or dodgy? 2-hander, sword & shield etc.?

A random tip is to try getting a stealth run to work with poor stealth by using walls & doors. You want to build in an automatic habit of glue-ing yourself to the walls whether you're playing stealth or a bruiser.

[Pete Mack]

I do stick to the walls pretty reliably, though what about dark rooms?Should I just not look for loot? I don't really know what stealth to aim for, and I mostly play with a round shield, but with heavy weapons for big low-AC hitters like trolls and spiders. I reckon a quarter of losses involve archers

[Pete Mack]

I found one way to do better: Get lucky
a) Wielding : a Battle Axe (-2,3d7)

[wobbly]

Are you finding loot in the middle of dark rooms you couldn't find somewhere safer? If it's a special room, then yeah, you learn to recognize them. Otherwise chances are there's nothing there & your taking a heap of little risks that are going to stack up till eventually you get caught. A big thing for me here is light. 1 light, no keen senses, no sprinting, you've got zero reaction time to a situation. 5 light & sprinting you can casually dance back & forth from the wall knowing you've got time to react. Also matters if you know you've got known free space on the level to back up to if things get hairy.

Easterling archers have long bows. A pack will rip through you fairly quickly. Bows 1/2 your evasion I think? If you know there ai & have an ideal situation you can draw them to a corner 1 at a time. Most of the time I'd just rather be somewhere else. Close the door & walk away if they haven't spoted me. Run away if I have sprinting. Get off the level if I need to.

Stealth-wise for non-stealth warriors, the 6 for opportunist is worth the pts. Trouble is grabbing it early leaves you not sneaky enough for pure sneakers, not solid enough for straight warriors. This is simpler if you get opportunist from follow-through as you don't need assassination so can afford disguise. Just take 1 in the 50-150' range (as it's only 100xp). Get disguise round about easterling warrior depth, give or take. Maybe another pt when balrogs, or giants or something you want to avoid turns up. 6 near the end.

Edit: For sneakers it's as much as you can grab without dieing to wargs/vampires/werewolves or traps or such, until you've got total control of the level, can do as you please & just need to think about how to handle the throne room.

[seraph]

for archers it's a good idea to have heavy armour that you can swap to. since your evasion is cut in half (and half again if you can't see them) protection is the way to go. crit resistance (in the will tree) helps too but i think most people get it later. opportunist is great for killing archers.

but really the best thing is learning how to manipulate their ai. retreat to another room and stand near the door until one of the them comes out, then move towards the wall with the door and one of them will move into the room. then you can close the door, pin it against the wall and kill them one at time. if there are also melee fighters stand in a doorway and let them block the archers until they are dealt with. here's one of clouded's vids on debo's channel that shows some ai manipulation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FzfIEPUpAY

[Pete Mack]

Thanks Seraph . That link helps, especially now I have a little experience playing. Usually I can do it either by jumping on them in a small room after one comes in the door, or zap them down a hallway when they are still a room away.
Managed to get to 500' twice now. Here is recent dump. Lore master probably would have saved me, from a distended spider in concert with one of the many wraiths that...for some reason...were disturbing my peace. Really need to study the object and ego items data pages.

http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=19810

[seraph]

here's a guide to the id game: http://angband.oook.cz/forum/showthread.php?t=6986

wraiths drain stats so it's best to leave them alone if they aren't guarding something good; they're territorial. if you must kill it, either shoot it with a longbow or take some will and go at it with a two-hander.

[Pete Mack]

Doing 3 levels with a lantern of flickering shadows was exciting!

[Pete Mack]

OK, back at 600', with 7600 EXP to spend. What skill/ability should I get next? (Besides some will.)

http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=19824

Edit: also, what should I drop? I have too many weapons.

[debo]

Dodging, flanking, song of trees would be next on my list. If you want the will anyways, inner light combined with keen senses (which you already have) would probably keep you going for a while. Dump the rest into melee and/or evasion, depending on whether you're going for heavier armor or not.

[seraph]

eat ,sustenance until full then drop the rest. drop _imprisonment. refuel your lantern ("use" the extra lantern then drop it.) drop either the spears or a stack of arrows, probably the regular arrows if you don't shoot often. you're close to lore-master so you can drop that empty _understanding.

you get an archery ability free; if you don't plan on adding more take the free ability, otherwise wait for flaming arrows/dex. as noted above you're close to lore-master. more will is a must, then probably hardiness/crit resistance.

[Pete Mack]

Dead now. Got ambushed from behind and could not escape.