True confessions of a real-life townscummer

[PowerDiver]

V309 was much closer (at least in Eddie's patch - did he mess with store inventories?).

I made one change. Items that are guaranteed to be in stock, such as arrows at the general store, I cause to replenish without waiting for the slot to be completely empty. In 309, if you buy 98 arrows and adventure for a year, when you come back there will be only 1 arrow for sale. I don't know whether that has changed, as I only buy entire slots of ammo, phase, or recall from the general store to avoid worrying about it, even if then I have to sell the excess to the weaponsmith or alchemist.

[Donald Jonker]

To give Mr. Sidwell et al. helpful data for revising shop code, I thought it useful to reconstruct as accurately as possible my townscumming habits (not to defend them, merely to record and describe them). I play High-Elves: Warriors and Rogues, so the following will pertain only to that set. The lists that follow aren't all the things I find necessary, but the things I will townscum for. Thus, ?phase and ?WoR aren't included, because they're guaranteed.

***Start-scumming:***
I will suicide my char if he doesn't find a 3/4 blow weapon in town, meaning a whip, dagger, main gauche, or rapier. Sometimes I won't settle for a whip.

***50'-1000'***

MB1
?to_dam

The only staple item that I find myself lacking in this range is ?to_dam, which is necessary if I don't find a {good} (or should I say good {magical}) 3/4 blow melee weapon by around 700'. I'll townscum until my weapon is at least (+0,+3).

For rogues, if I by some misfortune lose MB1 and it is not in stock, I'll townscum for it. This is rare.

***1000'-1500'***

MB1
!CCW - at least 5, ideally 12.
?to_dam
_dEvil
_telSelf - at least 1, ideally 2.

Warriors need _dEvil if they don't have FA, and should have it even if they do. I won't compromise on that, and it's usually a problem. _telSelf and !CCW for are equally necessary but more common. All three become staple for the rest of the game. !CCW is usually inadequate in quantity in 3.1.

***1500'-3000'***
MB1, MB3
!CCW - at least 5, ideally 12.
?mapping/_mapping - at least 5, ideally 10.
?dTreasure - at least 5, ideally 10.
?recharging - at least 2, ideally 5.
_dEvil
_telSelf - 2.

Magic mapping becomes a strategic necessity; treasure detection is needed to catch those elusive stat pots (although the rods are nicely common). ?recharging becomes necessary to keep from pulling your hair out as you use up your _mapping, _telSelf and _dEvil, and is very rare at the alchemist's; ditto magic mapping.

***3000'-bottom***

MB1, MB3, MB4
!CCW - 12.
?mapping/_mapping - 5 to 10.
dTreasure
?recharging - 5-10.
_dEvil
_telSelf/?telSelf

-telOther
!healing
?mass banishment
!stat

Black market time. Since I've been townscumming all along, my turncount is already busted, so I might as well skip buying it out, since my macros make it easier to townscum. -telOther is extremely rare, but an absolute necessity, so I'll be looking for it. !healing and ?mass banishment are needed for the final fights but are also very rare. When I lack rNexus, and have patience, I sometimes scum for stat pots at the black market, which are in somewhat common supply. ?telSelf probably ought to be sold at the alchemist's - I see no reason why not.

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EDIT: I neglected to mention !rStat, which isn't as big a problem for me as it seems to be for most. I usually only scum for them when I get dropped down a blow, which typically happens 2-3 times/game.

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I feel I'm leaving some things out, and will add to the list if some things occur to me. At the very least, these are some of the bare essentials that I feel are being snubbed in the present version.

More generally, I find that stocks of items being in smaller supply is a problem (2 ?phase, 1 ?WoR at the general store - that kind of thing). I'm not totally clear on what level of balance/deprivation is being aimed at, but I don't think we're very near the sweet spot. V309 was much closer (at least in Eddie's patch - did he mess with store inventories?).

I hope this is helpful!