Perception required to open chests?

[protopulse]

Anyone know?

A lot of the time I try to open a chest 20 times, and if that fails, I just leave it. When I play Naugrims, I get 1 perception to get Eye for Details and then leave perception alone for a very long time. 1 perception, as far as I know, means I shouldn't even bother with trying to open chests I come across, so I've been doing exactly that.

But anyone know the ideal perception needed to open each of the chest types?

Small wooden chest

Big wooden chest

Small steel chest

Big steel chest

Small jeweled chest

Big jeweled chest

are the 6 types I believe.

[ebering]

I didn't code dive long enough to find out if steel and jeweled chests are a result of fine and double-fine flags, but here's the skinny.

Chests are generated with an object_level equal to the level they're found on, +2 for fine and +4 for double fine (again not sure if that actually makes them steel/jeweled from the light code reading I did).

Here's the deets

dc to disarm chest trap = 1+(level/4)
    (+5 if you can't see the chest)
    (+5 if confused)

dc to open chest lock = trap dc + 5

It checks against perception. Quick calc with anydice shows that with a total perception score of 3 (1 per + 2 gra) you've got:
21% chance of opening a chest from 50-150ft
15% chance of opening a chest from 200-350ft
10% chance of opening a chest from 400-550ft

so early chests might be worth the effort. Or if you find some perception gear.

[wobbly]

There used to be a bug where locks were harder to open if you didn't stick a floor light next to them, as far as I'm aware this was never actually fixed. Though you'd have to play around or check the code to be sure. Just looking at the odds you posted & comparing to how many tries it takes to actually open a chest I'd say it's still there.

[Infinitum]

You can also open them using staffs of freedom. Sometimes I carry lighter chests with me until I can be bothered to spend xp on perception or find perception gear (holding on to certain artefacts eg Orcrist can be a good idea for this same reason).

[protopulse]

Huh, maybe opening chests with 1 perception wasn't as hopeless as I had thought it was.

I'll have to try the staff of freedom trick too. Always dropped those in favor of other staves (I like to carry as many staves of light as possible, and earthquake/treasures/foes/revelations always take priority) because I thought the only thing they do is open locked doors. Does song of freedom work the same way?

@wobbly, so I just drop say a wooden torch next to it? Does it have to give off light by itself (i.e. only faenorian lamps and lesser jewels)? Or do you mean I have to use a staff of light or pick up the chest and put it in a lighted room?

[wobbly]

I meant a lesser jewel or similar. Here's the original thread:

http://angband.oook.cz/forum/showthread.php?t=6694&highlight=chests

[Infinitum]

They also clear rubble, close pits and close chasms (albeit you need a pretty high will score to succeed ith that). The song is all that and also confers free movoment iirc.

[protopulse]

Now I see why people sometimes put song of freedom on their crowns when doing smithing builds. It doesn't just remove rubble if you lack a digger and want to access the blocked parts of the map. It also lets you close chasms, pits, open chests, and maybe even grant free action? Whew.

Normally song of freedom requires song of elbereth as a prereq. Smithing lets you circumvent that. And I'm going to pump song anyways for song of aule.

Maybe rather than rushing to put resists on your artefacts, it's better to put songs like song of the tree or song of freedom on there first. So much utility.

Edit: It removes traps too huh...I guess it'd be more appealing if I don't take Eye for Detail in the very start of the game.

[seraph]

is there another command to search for traps in the chest that i'm not aware of? i never seem to identify traps. i plan to do some debug mode testing when i get home and that would be useful.

[wobbly]

The wait command (5) gives +5. They're pretty hard to spot but with high end perception (up in the 20s) you find them just walking in to the room.