YACD - Angdiira II

[Derakon]

Curious, what do you usually end up getting for pConf? I've gotten so used to never seeing it on anything usable (in randart games) that I just do without these days...

[Timo Pietilä]

Curious, what do you usually end up getting for pConf? I've gotten so used to never seeing it on anything usable (in randart games) that I just do without these days...

Four games in a row: Thengel. Usually way before I find any ego-helmets. After some time it gets upgraded to Holhenneth.

Rohirrim, Isildur and Caspanion usually turn up sooner or later, and I almost always use Caspanion (for CON). Sometimes I get lucky and find Aman with it (I think it is now in blessed/magi/lordliness etc. ability?).

Lack of confusion resistance + spell range being same as LoS range killed my last char. I was running away from giant pit where I had teleported Greater Titan away earlier. Having Wormtongue I was slightly faster than giants so I got away, but needed to get far enough that they don't follow me. BAM! teleport to followed by confusion melee (GT moves at +10). Double-digit HP, no better healing than CCW, attempt to use teleport staff fails, RIP. I never saw GT before entering its spell range.

[SSK]

Curious, what do you usually end up getting for pConf? I've gotten so used to never seeing it on anything usable (in randart games) that I just do without these days...

Last 4 games:
Thengel 2x
Dal-i-thalion 2x.

I am usually looking for something other than than thengel though when I find thranduil--I want the ESP so I have to find another source of Confu--so hopefully I get dal-i-thalion or Rohirrim...

[Derakon]

Lack of confusion resistance + spell range being same as LoS range killed my last char. I was running away from giant pit where I had teleported Greater Titan away earlier...

I would argue that in this situation, staying around when you know there's a titan in the area is what killed you. But you can always push the cause of death back one step if you want to. I've now won with several characters who either never found pConf or only found it in the endgame; one of the things you have to do in that situation is stay away from titans, nightmares, Thuringwethil, the Cat Lord, and anyone else with a confusing melee attack. Well, unless you're my most recent hobbit warrior, whose AC hit 250 and speed hit +36 unhasted...not much could hit him reliably at that point.

SSK: thanks for the info, further confirming my suspicion that the standarts are designed to give you pConf fairly early on.

[Timo Pietilä]

I would argue that in this situation, staying around when you know there's a titan in the area is what killed you. But you can always push the cause of death back one step if you want to.

Leaving level without time to reach stairs or without any level-teleporting gear available was impossibility. It could have been many things at that point, it didn't need to be the Greater Titan. Ethereal Dragon could have done it in single turn.

With spell range being same as LoS range you are vulnerable to instant death every time you move with long corridor in sight without 550+ or 471+ HP with nether resist left.

[Nolendil]

I'm really not a fast diver (even though I improved that a bit) and I missed Salt Water too. Maybe they are are not common enough.


* Small update of the dump:

I'm now clvl 37 at dlvl 46, with all stats maxed.
I don't usually have problem to find my way at this depth but I feel that I could get killed easily around dlvl 50.
The reason for this feeling, is that while fighting a Nalfeshnee, it summoned the Balrog of Maria right on me (with full escort to make it more fun). I was down to half my HP in one turn and teleported out of there as fast as I could. Quite scary
By the way, "summon demon" allows to summon uniques? And out of depth, just to make it worse? I didn't know that.

So, what should I aim for before going deeper?

Otherwise, I found two new junk artifacts: Paurnen and Dethanc. Selling them is a no-brainer, right?

I have the feeling that the less powerful artifacts are found way too late in the game. I believe I never used any of the the *thanc daggers, except out of curiosity when I was still discovering the game.

I also found a =oLightning[+12], could it be useful at some point?

[Max Stats]

I'm really not a fast diver (even though I improved that a bit) and I missed Salt Water too. Maybe they are are not common enough.

I nearly died from Salt Water a little while back. I had recently learned the Satisfy Hunger spell, so I ditched all my food. Quaffed an un-ID'd potion, then vomited and went to fainting from lack of food. Unfortunately, I only had enough mana to cast Satisfy Hunger twice, and failed. I sustained myself by quaffing CLW potions in order to rest for mana, although I was still fainting. I think I failed one more time before finally succeeding.

It could be literally decades since the last time I was in danger of starving to death in this game. Usually hunger comes on quite gradually and even if you are out of food with no access to Satisfy Hunger, you can at least recall and restock. This came on all at once and completely took me by surprise. It amazes me that after all this time it is still possible to find new ways to (almost) die.

[Derakon]

The 'thancs are bloody awesome weapons, frankly. They can show up early, when you're still running around with at best an elemental-branded weapon. And they are themselves elemental branded weapons, with dice like battleaxes, but weighted as daggers. And they have +12 to damage! Compare:

Warrior with 4 blows with a Main Gauche (+6 to damage): 36 average damage/round.
Warrior with 2 blows with a Morningstar of Melting (+8 to damage): 58 average damage/round when the brand applies.
Warrior with 4 blows with Dethanc: 132 average damage/round when the brand applies.

Oh hey, someone nerfed the 'thancs down to 2d4 instead of their old 2d6. Okay, so their average is 108/round instead. Still almost twice what you could expect to be dealing with other weapons at this stage.

Of course they're pretty useless once you've started finding mid-game weapons. That doesn't change that they make the early game a cakewalk if you find them.

[Nolendil]

Yes, the *thancs are certainly great when you find them early. It just never happened to me

Dump updated.
Now clevel 38, still at dlvl 46.
42 uniques slain among 44 known.

Found Thorin, yay!
I suppose wearing it instead Celegorm and losing rLight and rDark to gain immunity to Acid, rFear, rSound, rChaos, +4 to Str and Con is a good deal
As a side effect, my =oCon(+5) becomes useless (Con drops from 180/*** to 180/210 and HP doesn't change).
Wearing the =oLightning doesn't really improve damage output though but I have nothing else to use right now. Is there any better (and not too hard to find) ring that I should wear?

I'm again facing lack of space in my home and inventory and need your help:
- I haven't sold Dethanc yet, but it will be the first thing to go, I guess.
- I reduced the number of each base prayer books I carry from 4 to 3. Even when they get burnt and I couldn't buy them back in town immediately, I never went below 2 so it feels safe enough to do that and reduces my burden.
Maybe I should completely ditch [Beginners Handbooks] since all useful spells in it are covered in a more powerful form in the other books. I still occasionally use it to save mana when a weak spell is enough for my needs though.
- My new-found Cloak of the Magi looks less interesting than my current one (which has ESP) since Hold Life is not that useful in my opinion and I might need to use my current one for ESP if I remove Thranduil. Sell it?
- Will any of my 2 Defenders be useful some day? The damage is not great but having rBase, Regen, FA and SeeInv on a single item seems quite nice.
- I never felt the need to use my Mushrooms of Vigor so far. I'm now often using stat gain potions I found in the dungeon when I'm drained (which doesn't happen often). Should I still keep them for future use?
- I had stored !rPoison to be able to double resist poison, but never felt the need so far. Sell them?
- It has already been suggested to sell my Boots of Stability (rNexus). Confirmed?

Any confirmation on those choices and other suggestions are very welcome

[Timo Pietilä]

Wearing the =oLightning doesn't really improve damage output though but I have nothing else to use right now. Is there any better (and not too hard to find) ring that I should wear?

Rings of damage, slaying, DEX and STR. At 18/200 +2 RoSTR gives you four points of extra damage, DEX gives you more blows. Glaive of Pain is great weapon. Also carry Firestar, Immunity to Fire (as swap) is great thing to have.

You have Telepathy from Cloak of Magi, which means that Holhenneth is better than Thranduil, and that allows you to wear Thalkettoth instead of Caspanion with RoRPoison in place of RoLightning. You just need to find that RoRPoison first.

[Derakon]

Sell the Defenders. In my experience they're almost never useful, unless you're a caster mage. Everyone else needs more damage from their weapons, not more defense.

I generally keep Vigor for the last fight, since I usually melee Morgoth. Otherwise it's not really worthwhile, but if you have the space, keep 'em; you never know when you might run into a pack of Time Hounds.

Double-resisting poison damage isn't a big deal. With single-resist you're already down to only 233 damage, which is only a bit more than double-resisting the basic four. Potions of resist poison are mostly for people who want to fight drolems but don't have a permanent source yet.