Have you ever lost your light source in the dungeon?

[Nemesis]

Having to wait a turn until you've quaffed a health potion before you can cure your blindness and read that teleport scroll can sometimes be fatal. Having no potions at all and being forced to wait out your blindness can be even more so. But have anyone here ever run out of fuel for that lantern or torch?

I haven't (yet) but it would be nice to hear some anecdotes, both as inspiring survival stories and downright mean sadistic enjoyment.

Also, I got an idea for future versions of Angbands. Why not give Time Hounds a "Destroy Lantern Attack"? They seem to be a bit too wimpy otherwise...

[Mondkalb]

I remember several occasions running out of torches or oil. I don't recall why it happened exactly, but it may have been an unlucky combination of falling through trap doors and running away from monsters so that I found myself - or my hero - without a light source in the dungeon.
It is quite an experience to touch your way through the corridors hoping to find a light source or upstairs and not to run into any dangerous monsters.

[buzzkill]

My latest 'run out of light' experience was in Ironband. My torch died, but not a problem because I could cast the light spell. My plan was just to teleport about the dungeon, detecting objects and detecting stairs, light up the place when I needed to. I found the flaw in my plan after my first teleport left me in a dark room, when I suddenly realized I needed light to cast light. Worse yet, there some wimpy, yet fast moving enemy (I don't remember what it was) in the room with me. I tried to fight blind, I tried to run blind, neither worked well. I remember looking at the tomestone screen thinking 'I Could have killed that'. The lesson is, once you're really low on light, start unequipping your light source when you don't absolutely need it.

[Pete Mack]

Or always carry a rod(s) of light.

[Ghen]

I've run out of light numerous times because of my horrible memory. It never ends well, but fortunately I only have lost light on casters with light spells and only on early depths where most rooms are lit.

I never teleported without light and always searched for the quickest way back up when I do.

[rjhii]

It happened to me just recently. I was a high elf mage, and I read a WoR without buying oil, and suddenly I was on the bottom of the dungeon with no light sources whatsoever. I thought I was screwed. I had a staff of mapping, which really helped me get around, so I wandered around praying for a lit room. I think I had to go up 3 levels before I went up a stair and the room was lit. From there I could read a scroll of WoR. Can't believe I survived it. Of course, I died soon after, out of depth Death Drake.

rjhii

[Magnate]

I've run out of fuel several times, almost always as a result of having my last ?WoR burned. I think they all resulted in death, though I may once or twice have found a source of recall before dying. It's only ever happened since the Phial went from rarity 1 to rarity 5, which was somewhere around 3.0.0 IIRC. Before that I would always find the Phial, but since then I've been beyond 3000' without finding it.

[Nightmarjoo]

I've run out of fuel several times, almost always as a result of having my last ?WoR burned. I think they all resulted in death, though I may once or twice have found a source of recall before dying. It's only ever happened since the Phial went from rarity 1 to rarity 5, which was somewhere around 3.0.0 IIRC. Before that I would always find the Phial, but since then I've been beyond 3000' without finding it.

Yeah, though I usually land the phial from killing smeagol/wormtongue/brodda/bullroarer, and sometimes one of the yeeks too. I haven't lost my light in a long time, but I don't play ironman.

[PowerDiver]

A +light item, even a ring of light or item with random ability of light is also good enough.

Of course, if you just dive fast enough, 2 torches should be more than enough light to find the phial. I've run out of light playing ironman when I started with only 1 torch, but never when I started with 2.

[Maupin]

I don't know, maybe it's just bad luck but in the recent Vanillas I've sometimes gone for ages without finding the Phial. I remember years ago when I was playing it was almost always guaranteed to pop up after killing Smeagol or Wormtongue (especially), but these days I just tend to get some crappy (+1,+2) trident or some such from those guys, and don't find the Phial until I've gone much deeper.

[Nemesis]

By the time I find the Phial I usually have a Lantern giving some sort of bonus that the Phial lacks, like resistance to blindness or extra wisdom, so I usually just stick with the Lantern.

Thanks for the horror stories, by the way, I can imagine how the mix of desperation and hummiliation feels when you lose a promising character that way (was that a smart thing for me to say, now the RNG will punish me with a similar fate for gloating at other peoples misfortune)!

Remember that joke I made about giving Time Hounds an attack that destroy your light source to make them meaner, that was of course I joke but I actually found in the monster.txt file that such an attack exists in the code! I think it was called eat_lite or something, I don't know exactly how it works but I guess it subtracts from the remaining fuel of your light source. Luckily only some pathetic loser monsters that you encounter early in the game have that ability, imagine how deadly it would be if the deep nasties had such an attack! Not that I think it's a good idea to implement, sure it could tech a few confident veteran players a lession they've never had before, but apart from that I guess they'd just force players to use an extra inventory slot for a staff of light or extra fuel.

[buzzkill]

... but I actually found in the monster.txt file that such an attack exists in the code! I think it was called eat_lite or something, I don't know exactly how it works but I guess it subtracts from the remaining fuel of your light source. Luckily only some pathetic loser monsters that you encounter early in the game have that ability...

It's given to (a few) monsters in the early game because thats the only time it would be effective. Later in the your source of permanent light would render the attack useless. Now to make them fast moving, with a respectable AC.

[zaimoni]

It's given to (a few) monsters in the early game because thats the only time it would be effective. Later in the your source of permanent light would render the attack useless. Now to make them fast moving, with a respectable AC.

Enter...adaptive monster spawning (a wide-ranging approach by which ineffective troops are not sent into the breach).

[will_asher]

I have this annoying habit of unwielding my lantern while resting to preserve fuel as if fuel cost something significant, but I just have this thing about not being wasteful. When my inventory is full, this means I often drop my lantern while resting and I have lost it at least once this way and had to go back to using torches. But I've never had trouble with not being able to recall for lack of light because I carry rods of light as soon as I find them.

In DaJAngband, there are a few deeper monsters that have the EAT_LITE attack so there's good reason to stick to the permanent light sources when you find them. ..but then those lanterns of darkvision can be useful.

[Nick]

Enter...adaptive monster spawning (a wide-ranging approach by which ineffective troops are not sent into the breach).

That is one of the most evil ideas I have ever heard. I like it a lot.