From 3.0.6 to 3.0.9: Reactions to changes

[Daven_26d1]

I may have been playing forever, but I wouldn't call myself a veteran, I'm still rubbish.

Even if you are pants at the game, 14 years of experience means that your opinion should count for something when it comes to interface features. Thats really what I was alluding to, you must have seen a lot of different approaches to many things within V.

I bet you're over the moon about floor piles finally being handled well, for instance - I know I am, and I only picked angband up during 2.9.summat I think...

[Faust]

you must have seen a lot of different approaches to many things within V.

I bet you're over the moon about floor piles finally being handled well, for instance - I know I am, and I only picked angband up during 2.9.summat I think...

When I started playing there was no stacking, 1 item per floor square & wands/staffs only stacked if they had identical charges (which was annoying when your inventory was full as you dropped 1 each time you used 1).

I play with autopickup and then filter the junk once i'm full (If your lucky when you're attacked it's only a piece of junk that gets destroyed), I had a brief look a the menu driven pickup system but I haven't played with it enough to coment.

[Daven_26d1]

When I started playing there was no stacking, 1 item per floor square & wands/staffs only stacked if they had identical charges (which was annoying when your inventory was full as you dropped 1 each time you used 1).

Yeah, I'm aware of the old stacking issues, a holdover from Moria, I guess. The identical charge thing was only completely removed fairly recently, I'm no stranger to wasting charges so that wands stack.

I play with autopickup and then filter the junk once i'm full (If your lucky when you're attacked it's only a piece of junk that gets destroyed), I had a brief look a the menu driven pickup system but I haven't played with it enough to coment.

I'm not keen on autopickup, because it takes time (I think) and I don't like the idea of losing a character because my speed drops by 2 points when I auto-grab a lance or something. ToME has that nice heavy-item prompt, but its not been introduced in V, and I don't see it happening as Andrew's philosophy seems to be to simplify, not complicate. I just use flip-pickup when I deem it desirable, tho conversely, I assume you do this when you need to walk over piles mid-combat.

I'm into my third ironman char in a row now, and my inventory is usually nearly full. I guess it depends what depths you are reaching, for the first 5-10 dlevs it might be more convenient your way. Just seems a bit nethacky to me!

[Faust]

I'm not keen on autopickup, because it takes time (I think) and I don't like the idea of losing a character because my speed drops by 2 points when I auto-grab a lance or something.

Speed is a problem especially with puny mages. I used to play with prompt for pickup so I'd get a Y/N on everything (this is the one thing I miss), so i'd just go N through everything whilst in battle and come back to them later.

ToME has that nice heavy-item prompt

I like the sound of this.

I just use flip-pickup when I deem it desirable, tho conversely, I assume you do this when you need to walk over piles mid-combat.

Hadn't thought about this, have to give it a try. I tend to try and bring the enemy to me rather than charging straight at them, so I'm generally either staying still or backing away.

I'm into my third ironman char in a row now, and my inventory is usually nearly full.

Ironman's to mental for me (my friend wrote the original berfore it got absorbed into V, I always told him he was mad ).

[Daven_26d1]

Ah-ha! After 14 years of play, and still feeling like a poor player, I think we have it!

Sounds to me like you need to stop and think a bit more. You should not be sacrificing tactical advantage over easy input - at least not after this length of time playing. Put up with inconvenience if it means you live longer; you will eventually learn some typing hacks that render it all moot anyway.

Basically, I kind of sense that 14 years without a win irritates you somewhat? I have a queer feelinmg that you don't play at light speed, but that you don't really slow down during critical encounters either. Stop me if I'm wrong.

If I'm not wrong, have you ever tried saving and coming back later when the game gets hairy, instead of tap-tap-tapping frustratedly? Analyse your play for an hour or two; I find this helps pass the time at work/uni/college/boring party and come back later with a strategy (and an eager hunger for the game ) - then try to play that strategy out well with thoughtful tactics. Even if your dude dies, you may find that you learn something profound.

Sorry wholeheartedly if I'm barking up the wrong tree, but I have noticed that weaker players tend to save the game religiously in the town, rather than at better moments, like "I'm tired" or "I'm probably gonna die".

I guess a similar point is just to analyse your play more deeply between characters; why did this one die and what could I have done different? I can only think of 1 or 2 chars that I could not have saved if had concentrated more or adopted another tactic.

Hope this doesn't sound too lecture-like, I'm basically trying to help you out.

This is sooo the wrong thread for this pst, too....

[Faust]

Ah-ha! After 14 years of play, and still feeling like a poor player, I think we have it!
Basically, I kind of sense that 14 years without a win irritates you somewhat? I have a queer feelinmg that you don't play at light speed, but that you don't really slow down during critical encounters either. Stop me if I'm wrong.

Fairly accurate I start slowly but then become over confident and start charging round like a luney, take on things I really know I shouldn't and refuse to run even when I know I'm going to die.
Have won but not without backing up the save file, this year is the first year I've tried without for a very long time and I'm heading for my 50th @.

Hope this doesn't sound too lecture-like, I'm basically trying to help you out.

No offence taken.

This is sooo the wrong thread for this pst, too....

Yeh we seem to have gone of on a wild tangent.

[takkaria]

Fairly accurate I start slowly but then become over confident and start charging round like a luney, take on things I really know I shouldn't and refuse to run even when I know I'm going to die.
Have won but not without backing up the save file, this year is the first year I've tried without for a very long time and I'm heading for my 50th @.

I've been playing much shorter than that. I just tend to dive like crazy and die from not running away from the monsters much more likely to kill me than I am to kill them. (Normally because by the time I realise I'm about to die, I've run out of teleport/CCW/whatever.)

It's a good way to notch down your confidence; just keep diving whenever you feel you might be able to manage the current level.

[Daven_26d1]

I've been playing much shorter than that. I just tend to dive like crazy and die from not running away from the monsters much more likely to kill me than I am to kill them.

I'm not dissimilar, TBH - I tend to die because I can't let go of a prize. I love the battles where I almost die, because I feel alive... I'm smart enough to use my items, and use them effectively, its just that I tend not to recall if I've nearly killed that unique or almost cracked that vault. I take adversity as a personal challenge.

Survival is the real prize though, but I have to say I'm getting much better at accepting big sacrifices over the ultimate one these days. Again, Ironman mode can teach you much about this. I'm consistently getting deeper and to higher clevs than in standard play, although you could put this down to less keystrokes means less chance of dying from idiocy.

I won with a ranger about a year ago, no cheating, just lots of patience. I dived slowly, and didn't find myself in too many situations like I mentioned above. I really have lost that zen touch it seems, besides, I like to dive - the first 1000' are dull! I rarely get beyond 2500' now, mind.

@faust: what depths are you reaching? I think if you invested in a little patience, you might find that less time hitting buttons is worth it when you start making consistent improvement. Glad my drunken rant last nite didn't offend you; OMG my spelling!

Way, way off topic...

EDIT - I'd best point out that my win was in standard mode, I suspect endgame may be extremely tricky in ironman without some serious intervention from the RNG.

[takkaria]

Survival is the real prize though, but I have to say I'm getting much better at accepting big sacrifices over the ultimate one these days. Again, Ironman mode can teach you much about this. I'm consistently getting deeper and to higher clevs than in standard play, although you could put this down to less keystrokes means less chance of dying from idiocy.

Ironman teaches you a lot of things, including tactics for avoiding needing so many CSW/CCW (when fighting orcs, get into a corridor, sleep one, and rest until he wakes up, repeat), how to do long dungeon dives before needing to come up for air, and how ID isn't quite as necessary as you thought it was before (at least before egos start showing up). And that's just from a couple of games yesterday.

[Daven_26d1]

Ironman teaches you a lot of things, including tactics for avoiding needing so many CSW/CCW (when fighting orcs, get into a corridor, sleep one, and rest until he wakes up, repeat), how to do long dungeon dives before needing to come up for air, and how ID isn't quite as necessary as you thought it was before (at least before egos start showing up). And that's just from a couple of games yesterday.

Intense ain't it? It's unbelievable how phenomally useful relatively mundane items become, like rods of light. Its also nice to have an excuse to use the status wands.

Then there's really clever/sad stuff too, like leaving the gold on the floor (you can't spend it!) to alert you when Smeagol is creeping near. He's extra annoying, but even more satisfying to slay.

[Faust]

@faust: what depths are you reaching? I think if you invested in a little patience, you might find that less time hitting buttons is worth it when you start making consistent improvement. Glad my drunken rant last nite didn't offend you; OMG my spelling!

Normally don't get much beyond 1200ft, paitence isn't it, it's stubbornness (i'm a taurus). Glad i'm not the only one who was drunk (entire bottle of sherry to myself.) my grammer sucks too.

[Big Al]

Drunk 'banding has killed so many of my chars...

[takkaria]

Intense ain't it? It's unbelievable how phenomally useful relatively mundane items become, like rods of light. Its also nice to have an excuse to use the status wands.

Then there's really clever/sad stuff too, like leaving the gold on the floor (you can't spend it!) to alert you when Smeagol is creeping near. He's extra annoying, but even more satisfying to slay.

I was playing a High-Elf, who get SInvis, so Smeagol wasn't an issue for me. Figured the XP penalty was worth it, given that I'd get much more stuff for my money at the beginning of the day due to naturally high CHR. Odd that I'd never considered playing an ironman char properly before, but glad I did/am.

Of course, one can argue that since I tweak the game as I go along, I'm not playing the same ironman as everyone else.