New Challenge

[Donald Jonker]

So I started a second Troll:
Funny how I found a very similar randart cloak again.

I too found a similar randart cloak - it was slightly better (had another immunity and different high resists) i'm not saying this to compete, because I lost it on account of the char dump crashing my game... which very nearly broke my sanity, but your account of repeat finds gives me new hope

[Estie]

Im glad I had part in saving your sanity

Well, Rust got offered symbiosis by the last FF in Mordor, so I incresed it to 25 and beat Trone and some more princess quests with the help of a dragon horde.

Getting the ring from Shelob I ventured to have it destroyed, but things took a nasty turn immediately as I enetred the summit. Right in the first hallway Cantoras lurked and summoned demons on me. With no room to initiate a counter summon, I recalled and fought a loosing battle till the recall kicked in.
Upon return, I somehow managed to get the upper hand, but right after the second room a druj managed to summon on me again. This time undead; soon nightcrawlers, -walkers and dracoliches were pounding on me and got replaced as soon as I managed to kill one with pulverize ("It shrugs off the attack"). Eventually I got the upper hand again, but all my stuff is disenchanted and the stock of healing potions depleted. Its been a while since Ive done this with neither Flare nor the recall spell :/

The next room isnt looking promising, either; in the mix are Carcharoth, Lungorthin, Ancalagon and Sauron himself waiting. I need new healing potions and disenchantment resist from somewhere. I guess Ill take a break, not sure if I feel like going through that soon.

http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=8341

[madmonk]

Well done! Rust is looking pretty shiny in spite of his name...

You should probably scum Erebor and restock on your potions.

Good luck!

[MrCba]

Just reach level 3 well I far from reaching level 43 It doesn't matter, I've got a lot of fun playing a Summoner.....

[bio_hazard]

I've never really played a summoner before- I have a few questions:

Can totems be destroyed by monsters or traps (acid, fire, etc.)?

How can you tell which of your pets has more hitpoints? Does the order in your inventory mean anything?

Is there any way to see how many pets you have active? I'm running around mirkwood with about 20points in summoning, and usually I can have 2 or 3 pets out without a quick decline in mana. Sometimes I realize that all of a sudden I'm losing pets due to zero mana. I hit dismiss, and it asks me about multiple firebird pets that I hadn't summoned or even met yet- presumably somewhere on the level. Was I paying mana on the firebirds?

thanks!

(edit- another question- I can't find the option to have my pets' actions show up in the text- if I go back to the log their attacks are there but I'd like to see their battles as they happen, or at least have that option).

[MrCba]

About totem I suggest you to read thi thread http://angband.oook.cz/forum/showthread.php?t=1163

[Estie]

I've never really played a summoner before- I have a few questions:

Can totems be destroyed by monsters or traps (acid, fire, etc.)?

How can you tell which of your pets has more hitpoints? Does the order in your inventory mean anything?

Is there any way to see how many pets you have active? I'm running around mirkwood with about 20points in summoning, and usually I can have 2 or 3 pets out without a quick decline in mana. Sometimes I realize that all of a sudden I'm losing pets due to zero mana. I hit dismiss, and it asks me about multiple firebird pets that I hadn't summoned or even met yet- presumably somewhere on the level. Was I paying mana on the firebirds?

thanks!

(edit- another question- I can't find the option to have my pets' actions show up in the text- if I go back to the log their attacks are there but I'd like to see their battles as they happen, or at least have that option).

1. Totems can not be destroyed by the elements. Im not entirely sure about chaos damage, but once you have the resist they are safe. They can be stolen though, or dropped if you step on the wrong trap. I think i havent lost a single totem yet, so I guess its unlikely.

2. Im not sure what you mean with pet hit points and inventory.

3. To get info about your pets, type "P" (petcommands). If you have any on that level, "P" will prompt a list with possible pet commands; otherwise, youll get a failure message.
Sometimes coaligned monsters are created on the level, like the Firebirds you mentioned. These never cost mana, and some uniques are pretty powerfull.
The only way I know to find out how many pets you have is to select the "dismiss pets" command and go through the list (you dont have to actually dismiss them, but it will ask you for each of your pets).

4. Do you have the option "clear `more...´ prompts" checked ?

As a rule of thumb, its usually better to get more mana than to get higher summoning skill. In lategame, where everything is about summoning, you have 2 options: a) prevent hostile monsters from summoning on you (by LOS breaking or sea of runes or whatever), or b) initiate a counter summoning. Having pets out pretty much makes option a) impossible; you _will_ get summoned on. So your only way is b), and for that, you wont have near enough mana/skill to sustain a big enough army. The solution is having your first pets summon of their own, and then dismiss the initial summons.

However, this is not easy to get working. I havent found a good way to dismiss mana-draining pets and leave the others, as it doesnt tell you which type it is when you go through the "dismiss" list. More often than not, I ended up with no mana in the middle of a huge battle. I miss 2 commands in the "P" list: dismiss pets that cost mana, and pets freeze (stop moving). If these 2 commands were available, play would be much smoother.

I much prefer the summoning you get from symbiosis, as it only costs initial mana and none to sustain pets once they are out.

[Estie]

For more information about summoning, I suggest reading GreyCats excellent Ditl: http://wiki.t-o-m-e.net/DayInTheLife..._of_the_Valley

Andrea is a "pacifist", and not allowed to kill anything herself; if you can cope with the writing style (personally I enjoyed it after I got used to it), there are many tricks of the trade to be found in that long story.

[bio_hazard]

thanks for the advice, everyone. I had an unfortunate experience in a vault with this guy, but I'm starting up another one as we speak.

leave it to the character who can't use metal to find 2 'thancs so early in the game...