We need more people.

[Pete Mack]

There IS a noon-band. It is called quickband, and it is utterly unforgiving yet the easiest of all 'bands to win. It teaches you:

- diving
- use of buffs
- evasion
- distance combat
- winning with weak gear
- class & race differences


In a very short time. You just have to plan on dying early and often.
It's the only band I've ever killed a baby dragon at cl 1. (yes it can be done. No it's not easy.)

[Hematite]

One or two people here have advocated save-scumming as a "learning aid" for new players. I say thee NAY!

Oh, totally! I agree that permadeath is an important part of the game, but there was a long time where I didn't know enough about the game to have any meaningful game experience to risk losing. Save scumming let me see enough of the game to actually figure out how to play it, but I'd rather there was a better way to learn how to play effectively. I'm going to check out quickband as suggested.

[Pete Mack]

Save scumming used judiciously *is* a valuable learning tool. But not for boobs. A savefile at 2000' is invaluable for getting to RoSpeed depth without dying and wasting a lot of time getting back thru stat gain.

[buzzkill]

I wouldn't advocate save scumming to newbs.

What I think is important, is to stress is that you whole game can pivot on a single keystroke. Stick around the wrong monster just 1 turn too long, even if be only a lowly novice mage, and your character can trun from promising to nearly dead in an instant. This becomes more frequent as you progress through the game, and one must learn to deal with them, be it by death or hopefully survival. Save scumming glosses over these life and decisions that one must learn to recognize.

Maybe a one page basic strategy guide, for the newb, wouldn't hurt either.

[Dragonboneman]

Maybe a one page basic strategy guide, for the newb, wouldn't hurt either.

I found the Angband Newbie Guide - http://www.thangorodrim.net/TANG/index.html - very useful when I started playing, though I now disagree with quite a lot of it.
In particular, the section on recommended depths promoted overly conservative strategy like completing statgain at very shallow depths, which I find boring, unnecessary and extremely time-consuming. Perhaps it is time for a new version. After all, it has been nearly ten years since it was last updated.

[Nick]

I found the Angband Newbie Guide - http://www.thangorodrim.net/TANG/index.html - very useful when I started playing, though I now disagree with quite a lot of it.
In particular, the section on recommended depths promoted overly conservative strategy like completing statgain at very shallow depths, which I find boring, unnecessary and extremely time-consuming. Perhaps it is time for a new version. After all, it has been nearly ten years since it was last updated.

It has been largely replaced by the User Manual now.

[Dragonboneman]

The User Manual does a great job of explaining the interface and how to actually play the game, but it doesn't contain many tips on how to stay alive.
What I'm talking about would be slightly more spoilery, with a few tips about common killers (Maggot's dogs, poison, paralysis) and general descriptions of things to look out for, like "from around 2,000' onwards, monsters with extremely powerful poison attacks, such as Ancient Green Dragons, Ancient Multi-Hued Dragons and Drolems will start appearing in the dungeon. These should be avoided unless the player has a source of poison resistance as an unresisted breath will often mean instant death."

Basically, I'm proposing a new document containing the sort of essential information that veteran players frequently find themselves posting on the boards or on chardumps.

[Daniel Fishman]

It has been largely replaced by the User Manual now.

But the most useful feature of TANG was the strategy advice (carry ?Tele, use ASCs, etc), not the "how to play" part - which I can't find in the User Manual, unless I'm missing something. The problem is that *band strategy has developed since TANG was written (for example, paralysation is still dangerous after 1000', but normal practice now is to detect & run away rather than wait for FA before going past 1000') so it is no longer as useful as it once was.

[Nick]

The User Manual does a great job of explaining the interface and how to actually play the game, but it doesn't contain many tips on how to stay alive.

Yes, I see your point. There was a discussion when the manual was being heavily worked on about a tactics guide being written too (in fact, there's mention of it in the to do section of the manual), but I think talk is as far as it got.

[Dragonboneman]

I'd be happy to contribute towards such a project if more manpower is what's needed.

[pav]

- if you meet something, you should be able to kill it using tactics appropriate to your class.

This is my tactics. I explore each level fully and I kill everything.

I admit that power-diving is a better way to beat the game quickly, but for me, more fun lies in the wrong approach. YMMV.

These forums seems to be habitated purely by power divers. Be wary!

[Nick]

I admit that power-diving is a better way to beat the game quickly, but for me, more fun lies in the wrong approach. YMMV.

Well said. The only reason to change your style of play is if you're not having fun.

[Psi]

Save scumming used judiciously *is* a valuable learning tool. But not for boobs.

Still trying to get my head around what that could mean. Makes me laugh every time though

[Zikke]

I'm certainly not playing this game to win in the fewest turns possible (heck, just to win would be novel). I find the game for fulfilling and fun when I explore entire maps. I guess it's the Diablo side of me.

[Dragonboneman]

I'm not a fast player as I prefer to hunt down all the uniques, which means my winners all have turncounts running into the millions (I townscum and rest a lot). But I have my moments of recklessness where I'll descend a thousand feet or so.