Ridiculous death due, in my opinion, to flawed design.

[Derakon]

Fizzix: that really depends on how powerful you are compared to the dungeon level and what all is on that level. If teleporting stands >4% odds of landing you next to a graveyard, then it's more dangerous than trying to use a destruction staff at 96% success rate, IMO. If nothing else, teleport can get you stranded away from parts of the level that you've rendered safe, which means that if you run into trouble again you may well not be able to reach stairs.

Depending on the dungeon layout, you might want to phase door away and then try destruction. That of course depends on if you can rely on phase door taking you out of LOS of most of your enemies.

And fyonn, destruction is the only guaranteed escape in the game that can't land you into hot water immediately afterwards. Yes, it makes a hash of the level, but levels are easily replaced.

[fizzix]

well, T.level (via deep descent) was what stuck me next to the ethereal hounds in the first place, so doing it again seems as dangerour as T.self (except perhaps that I'd get the first move, which I guess is a valid point).

and I've never liked destruction. never liked earthquakes etc. messes up the map, but perhaps I should get over my sense of neatness?

The first move is key. That's by far the most important part.

Ethereal hounds aren't nearly as dangerous as gravity or time hounds. Each unresisted nether breath is only 60 hp I think, so you can easily survive multiple breaths. Failing destruction is better than teleporting self. and tele-level is always the safest solution. You can continue teleporting level until you either run out of scrolls or land in a safe spot.

@Derakon: no way 4% of teleports kill you at any depth. If failing the destruction means likely death, teleporting at 0% fail is a much better option than doing something with a 4% fail.

[fyonn]

T.level, destruct, create doors, etc. I actually completely stop using teleport self at some point, usually when I got my first *Destruction* item.

well, T.level (via deep descent) was what stuck me next to the ethereal hounds in the first place, so doing it again seems as dangerour as T.self (except perhaps that I'd get the first move, which I guess is a valid point).

and I've never liked destruction. never liked earthquakes etc. messes up the map, but perhaps I should get over my sense of neatness?

[Derakon]

Yeah, I would've destructed in that situation. Even the 96% success rate on a destruction staff is better than the death rate on teleport at those deaths IMO. Though of course if it's a matter of life or death you should be using a scroll of destruction.

[LostTemplar]

that felt to me as somewhat of an inevitable death that I could little about, but it's the nature of the game. sometimes bad things happen. what can you do?

T.level, destruct, create doors, etc. I actually completely stop using teleport self at some point, usually when I got my first *Destruction* item.

[d_m]

And the frequency only gets higher as you get deeper and add in things like druj and black reaver.

[fizzix]

that felt to me as somewhat of an inevitable death that I could little about, but it's the nature of the game. sometimes bad things happen. what can you do?

after dlevel 50 (or whatever the native depth of gravity hounds are) you should consider teleself to have something like a 0.01-0.1% chance of insta-death, unless you've banished Z or destructed the sides of the map. It used to be higher before the frequency of hounds were reduced.

So yes, it's a bad break, but it should happen about once very 1000-10000 teleports. Happened to me with gravity hounds twice in my career.

[fyonn]

I don't consider myself to be an expert, but I would say I'm relatively experienced having played the game for about 15 years and having won twice. that said, I just lost my clvl 47 hobbit mage on dlvl 71.

a scroll of deep descent dropped me next to a pack of ether hounds. decided they were a bit too dangerous so I teleported away and landed next to a pack of time hounds who were all awake. without even getting the chance to move I got time breathe'd to death.

that felt to me as somewhat of an inevitable death that I could little about, but it's the nature of the game. sometimes bad things happen. what can you do?

dave

[Adley]

My friend beat the game with a Ranger before learning about macros, for example.

I learnt about macros when bridging a chasm to reach the oute wall in Un...

[tigpup]

I think it's time to locker this game, considering I just lost a level 26 mage because I held down the right arrow button for too long on a level that I thought was empty. I would suggest that the programmers implement something to prevent those types of deaths, but I'm sure a dozen fanboys will jump to defend that "aspect" of the game as well.

The game gives you everything you need to avoid this death. Detection, ESP, probing and the run (shift) command.

It's not possible for "programmers implement something to prevent those types of deaths"; those types of deaths can only be prevented by the player. You've had some very good advice from great players in this thread. I'd suggest you stop mourning, and start reading.

Good luck

[chris]

Vogrim, I'm guessing you've been holding down arrow keys? That's a recipe for death if there ever was one. Shift will make your life so much easier!

This has killed many a spectre of mine ... The run code does not work with passwall. Usually, Babbles and The Destroyer can get me before I can react

[Djabanete]

I'm pretty sure he's not. Angband is a sufficiently fun game that people will work through some truly tortuous self-imposed UI restrictions before realizing that the interface is actually smart. My friend beat the game with a Ranger before learning about macros, for example.

Vogrim, I'm guessing you've been holding down arrow keys? That's a recipe for death if there ever was one. Shift will make your life so much easier!

[Lord Fell]

It boggles my mind that someone could play a 39th and also a 26th level character both without learning about auto-move. I'm even more shocked that someone would have the patience to put in that much play time single-stepping through Angband's enormous dungeons.

Are you sure you're not Trolling us?

[Djabanete]

It's called the Shift key, and it's essential. Shift+direction moves you in a direction until disturbed.

[Derakon]

You can also hold the shift key down when using the numpad to move.