noob question : how to deal with hundreds of monsters

[buzzkill]

To be fair some new people to the game could quickly become frustrated without lack of progress and constant dying, this gives them an option to actualy just play so to speak.

Obviously the problem my_hobbit is having is lack of knowledge of rogue-likes in general. It's not the monsters that are killing him. It's lack of a FAQ for absolute beginners. Cheat death isn't going to help with that, and I feel that cheating (death) is poor advice to give anybody who has barely had a chance to get his feet wet.

[buzzkill]

You might not have any other option depending on the circumstances.

What the hell are you talking about? Hypothetically, what would these circumstances be, and how is anything concerning banishment/mass banishment relevant to a player who can't surpass dlvl 10?

Maybe you should turn cheat death off?

[Malak Darkhunter]

What the hell are you talking about? Hypothetically, what would these circumstances be, and how is anything concerning banishment/mass banishment relevant to a player who can't surpass dlvl 10?

Maybe you should turn cheat death off?

lay off the trolling, please, why does a few people on these forums turn everything into an argument?
Use your head a little bit, if you think i'm stupid, It's not uncommon to find scrolls of banishment in the black market(Go figure)duh. You can amass enough wealth to buy one by level 10. And since you can't seem to look into what situations might arise, I will explain it to you, your staff of teleport might burn up, and everything else, but guess what you just might have a scroll of banishment to save the day.
before you think that your right, you know some people that's new to the game might just enjoy playing it, and learning it before getting serious, but anyway that's his choice, he can play the way he wants to . Bite me.

[buzzkill]

if you think i'm stupid... your staff of teleport might burn up, and everything else, but guess what you just might have a scroll of banishment to save the day.

Forgive me wise one, I didn't realize that scrolls of banishment were fireproof, and otherwise indestructible, which they would have to be for this to make even the slightest bit of sense.

And even if that were the case, which it isn't, there are literally hundreds of more piratical solutions. Say no to drugs!

[Malak Darkhunter]

Forgive me wise one, I didn't realize that scrolls of banishment were fireproof, and otherwise indestructible, which they would have to be for this to make even the slightest bit of sense.

And even if that were the case, which it isn't, there are literally hundreds of more piratical solutions. Say no to drugs!

And this isn't a viable way of escaping death? you must be a less knowledgable player than I thought.
I didn't start this crap, i simply mentioned something that nobody else did, quit thinking you are the only one who has an opinion.
I dread even trying to discuss anything about this game anymore, because of you and a few others ready to verbally beat the hell out of somebody for their suggestions or ideas. This is why nobody want's to maintain angband, because of idiots like you. That's my final say on it, fool.

[Derakon]

Okay, this is getting ridiculous. Cool it, guys.

Malak: the odds of having a Banishment scroll before even 1000' are exceedingly slim, let alone by 500'. Given that, I'd rather not introduce concepts that are practically irrelevant to someone who's still learning the more important basics of the game. There's time enough to learn about that stuff later.

Both of you: it should be possible to disagree with someone without being argumentative about it. No need to go "what the hell are you on about" or "lay off the trolling". Nobody in this thread is trolling. Let's keep things amicable, hey?

[dying_is_my_hobbit]

Thanks Derakon for the good points, the fact that the people having an argument are all just trying to help makes it worse.

Malak, thanks for the advice, but my opinion as a noob is that losing from the beginning the fear of dying would at the same time remove the feeling/ambiance of the game and probably prevent me from learning the reflexes. I guess it depends of the player but people trying this kind of games today are probably more here for the particular experience than for an easy and welcoming game.

It's totally true that I'm not used to rogelike games (which may be a little strange because I was yet coding on unix 20 years ago and am still on linux) hence maybe some difficulties with a few conventions (and I confirm that the interface isn't always totally clear and may be a little too much tuned for people having a prealable knowledge - eg my misadventure with the scrolls).

Thanks all !

[thapper]

(yes yes, über noob, I was just lured last night into the game due to the wonderful graphics and a post on reddit...)

What was the post on reddit about? I'm curious!

[dying_is_my_hobbit]

What was the post on reddit about? I'm curious!

The link : http://www.linuxlinks.com/article/20...SCIIGames.html

(the words that made me try Angband were "single player" as I am the kind of player who read printed papers and program freewares while playing and chatting with my wife... not really a hardcore gamer...)

The comments :

http://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/nc4qu/8_best_free_ascii_linux_games/

[thapper]

Yeah, I can clearly see that those screen shots lured you into the game

[dying_is_my_hobbit]

Another question, as I've clearly found kind people never tired of helping the noob :

What exactly does mean the last +10 in the description of this wonderful item I just equiped ?
The Set of Leather Gloves 'Cammithrim' (+5 +5) [1, +10]


(now a level 19 warrior, always fully loaded with scrolls of phase door and words of recall....)

[Timo Pietilä]

What exactly does mean the last +10 in the description of this wonderful item I just equiped ?
The Set of Leather Gloves 'Cammithrim' (+5 +5) [1, +10]

I guess you are asking a wrong question. That is just enchantment to AC, like any enchanted armor. The (+5,+5) is probably what is confusing you, those are combat bonuses (like in a weapon) and they do not usually appear in armors. There are several gauntlet types that have them however.

Short guide: if it is in parenthesis "()" it is combat bonus, if it is in square brackets "[]" it is AC and if it is separated by angle brackets "<>" it is PVAL. PVAL is item power value (stealth, stats, speed etc.).

I think order is also always that, first combat, then AC, then PVAL. The very first would be dice if it has one (weapons).

Exception is a launchers that show damage multiplier (x2, x3, x4 and so on) in parenthesis before damage.

Also note that damage bonus from STR and other items than weapon and ammo does not apply to missile combat. To hit bonus does.

[dying_is_my_hobbit]

Thanks, that's now clear.

My warrior just found the most useless bonus for him :

Tulwar (Holy Avenger) (2d4) (+17, +7) [+3] (+4)

Beautiful for a small dungeon explorer but I'm not sure a wisdom+4 is the best thing when the explorer is a warrior...

[Angelus]

the wisdom isn't terrible useful to you, no-but the other bonuses on the item are. Holy Avenger will always have see invisible and slay evil, undead and demon (i.e., it does extra damage to monsters of those types). It will also sustain one stat, though that's not a crucial bonus. The see invisible, if you don't have it from another source, can save your life. Ghosts can be scary. Be on the lookout for items similar to Holy Avengers (i.e., weapons that say "Defender", "Westernesse", "Gondor"), they're kind of like super-items for the early game, and a good Westernesse or Defender is better than most artifacts for the first part of the game.

[dying_is_my_hobbit]

Hello again.

After a lot of hours of noobing in the game, I start to do a little more than run and hide, and I'd like to hear the advices of the old players to help me progress more.

I'm not trying to score high. After all I choose human without bothering optimizing in order to enter the game faster and I must confess that I reloaded an old game after dying a few times (err... not so few...).

But, anyway, I'll make it hardcore the next time, now I want to learn. My biggest problem is the optimization of equipment and, even if I'm a little less bad than before, I still think I need advices on this topic, and on the normal progression (should I race deeper now that I'm a little stronger ?).

It seems to me now that in order to survive the most important was (in order)

dexterity
protections
speed
strength
constitution
damage
armure

After a few encounters with generous wyrms, I'm not sure about the optimization of my equipement.

Name   canop                                    Self  RB  CB  EB   Best
 Sex    Female       Age             17   STR:  18/23  +0  +5 +17 18/***
 Race   Human        Height          62   INT:     16  +0  -2  +4     18
 Class  Warrior      Weight         156   WIS:     16  +0  -2  +3     17
 Title  Lord         Social      Lordly   DEX:  18/93  +0  +2 +13 18/***
 HP     626/669      Maximize         Y   CON:     14  +0  +2  +7  18/50
 SP     0/0                               CHR:  18/38  +0  -1  +7  18/98

 Level               47   Armor   [47,+119]     Saving Throw         67%
 Cur Exp        3356298   Fight   (+40,+35)     Stealth             Good
 Max Exp        3356298   Melee   (+50,+50)     Fighting       Legendary
 Adv Exp        3500000   Shoot   (+51,+14)     Shooting       Legendary
 MaxDepth   3700' (L74)   Blows      6/turn     Disarming            80%
 Game Turns     1152374   Shots      1/turn     Magic Device          53
 Player Turns    124526   Infra        0 ft     Perception       1 in 13
 Active Turns    118649   Speed          14     Searching            39%
 Gold            876706   Burden  155,8 lbs

rAcid:......++*.... rConf:.............
rElec:.+....+...... Sound:........+....
rFire:++*.+.+...... Shard:.............
rCold:.+....+...... Nexus:.............
rPois:....+........ Nethr:.............
rFear:+.+.+..++...+ Chaos:........+....
rLite:.....+....... Disen:+.....+......
rDark:.....++...... S.Dig:..+..........
rBlnd:............. Feath:..........++.

Light:............. Aggrv:.............
Regen:.++......+... Stea.:...........+.
  ESP:..+.......... Sear.:..........+..
Invis:+.+..+.+..... Infra:.............
FrAct:+.+....++.+.. Tunn.:.............
HLife:.....+....... Speed:..+++......+.
ImpHP:............. Blows:.............
ImpSP:............. Shots:.............
 Fear:............. Might:.+...........

a) The Long Sword 'Anduril' (3d5) (+10,+15) [+10] (+4)
     +4 strength, dexterity.
     Slays evil creatures, undead, orcs, trolls.
     Branded with flames.
     Provides resistance to fire, fear, disenchantment.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
     Sustains strength, dexterity.
     Blessed by the gods.  Prevents paralysis.  Grants the ability to
     see invisible things.  
     
     When aimed, it creates a fire ball with damage 72.
     Takes 96 turns to recharge at your current speed.
     Your chance of success is 91.4%
     
     Combat info:
     6 blows/round.
     Average damage/hit: 71.8 vs. evil creatures, 81.8 vs. undead, 81.8
     vs. orcs, 81.8 vs. trolls, 81.8 vs. creatures not resistant to
     fire, and 61.8 vs. others.
     
b) The Short Bow of Amrod (x4) (+11,+14) (+2)
     +2 strength, constitution, shooting power.
     Provides resistance to lightning, fire, cold.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
     Speeds regeneration.  
     
c) The Ring of Power 'Narya' (+6,+6) (+1)
     +1 strength, intelligence, wisdom, dexterity, constitution, 
     charisma, speed.
     Provides immunity to fire.
     Provides resistance to fire, fear.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
     Sustains strength, constitution.
     Slows your metabolism.  Speeds regeneration.  Prevents paralysis.  
     Grants telepathy.  Grants the ability to see invisible things.  
     
     When activated, it grants you protection from evil for 1d25 plus 3 
     times your character level turns.
     Takes 489 to 960 turns to recharge at your current speed.
     Your chance of success is 78.5%
     
d) a Ring of Speed (+8)
     +8 speed.
     
e) The Elfstone 'Elessar' (+7,+7) [+10] (+2)
     +2 strength, wisdom, charisma, speed.
     Provides resistance to fire, poison, fear.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
     
     When activated, it heals 500 hit points.
     Takes 480 turns to recharge at your current speed.
     Your chance of success is 82.3%
     
f) The Arkenstone of Thrain
     Provides resistance to light, dark.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
     Sustains your life force.  Grants the ability to see invisible
     things.  
     
     When activated, it detects treasure, traps, doors, stairs, and all 
     creatures nearby.
     Takes 74 to 144 turns to recharge at your current speed.
     Your chance of success is 85.3%
     
     Radius 3 light.
g) The Mithril Plate Mail of Celeborn (-3) [35,+25] (+4)
     +4 strength, charisma.
     Provides resistance to acid, lightning, fire, cold, dark, 
     disenchantment.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
     
     When activated, it removes all non-unique monsters represented by 
     a chosen symbol from the level, dealing you damage in the process.
     Takes 1200 turns to recharge at your current speed.
     Your chance of success is 87.7%
     
h) The Cloak of Thorongil [1,+9]
     Provides resistance to acid, fear.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
     Prevents paralysis.  Grants the ability to see invisible things.  
     
i) The Small Metal Shield of Thorin [4,+25] (+4)
     +4 strength, constitution.
     Provides immunity to acid.
     Provides resistance to fear, sound, chaos.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
     Prevents paralysis.  
     
j) an Iron Helm of Regeneration [5,+7]
     Speeds regeneration.  
     
k) a Set of Alchemist's Gloves of Thievery (+1,+3) [0,+10] (+5)
     +5 dexterity.
     +25% to searching.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
     Feather Falling.  Prevents paralysis.  
     
l) The Pair of Leather Boots of Wormtongue (-1,-1) [2,+8] (+3)
     +3 intelligence, dexterity, stealth, speed.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
     Feather Falling.  
     
     When activated, it teleports you randomly up to 10 squares away.
     Takes 48 turns to recharge at your current speed.
     Your chance of success is 92.8%

And I always have with me 2 rods of identify, 1 rod of mapping (would love to have another one), a rod of curing, at least a dozen word of recall (they burn so easily!) and as many potions of cure critical wounds as I can save.

What I don't wear but I'm not sure I shouldn't :

o) The Ring of Barahir (+1)
     +1 strength, intelligence, wisdom, dexterity, constitution, 
     charisma, stealth.
     Provides resistance to poison, dark.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
     
p) an Amulet of Trickery (+4)
     +4 dexterity, stealth, infravision, speed.
     +20% to searching.
     Provides resistance to poison, nexus.
     Sustains dexterity.
     
q) The Augmented Chain Mail of Caspanion (-2) [16,+19] (+3)
     +3 intelligence, wisdom, constitution.
     Provides resistance to acid, poison, confusion.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
     
     When activated, it destroys all traps and doors surrounding you.
     Takes 24 turns to recharge at your current speed.
     Your chance of success is 90.6%
     
r) The Leather Shield of Celegorm [4,+20]
     Provides resistance to acid, lightning, fire, cold, light, dark, 
     blindness.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
     
s) The Mithril Shield of Gil-galad [10,+20] (+5) (charging)
     +5 wisdom, charisma.
     Provides resistance to acid, lightning, dark, disenchantment.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
     Sustains wisdom, dexterity, charisma.
     
     When activated, it fires a line of light in all directions, each o
     ne causing 10d8 damage.
     Takes 240 turns to recharge at your current speed.
     Your chance of success is 78.5%
     
     Radius 1 light.

t) The Set of Gauntlets 'Pauraegen' [3,+14]
     Provides resistance to lightning, light.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
     
     When aimed, it creates a lightning bolt (that always beams) with d
     amage 6d6.
     Takes 16 to 28 turns to recharge at your current speed.
     Your chance of success is 93.9%
     
     Radius 1 light.


q) a Ring of Ice [+20]
     It brands your melee attacks with frost.
     Provides resistance to cold.
     Cannot be harmed by cold.
     
r) The Leather Scale Mail 'Thalkettoth' (-1) [10,+25] (+3)
     +3 dexterity, speed.
     Provides resistance to acid, shards.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
     Prevents paralysis.  
     
s) The Scythe 'Avavir' (5d3) (+18,+12) [+30] (+3) (charging)
     +3 dexterity, charisma, speed.
     Branded with flames, frost.
     Provides resistance to fire, cold, light.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
     Prevents paralysis.  Grants the ability to see invisible things.  
     
     When activated, it returns you from the dungeon or takes you to th
     e dungeon after a short delay.
     Takes 480 turns to recharge at your current speed.
     Your chance of success is 87.7%
     
     Combat info:
     6 blows/round.
     Average damage/hit: 79.1 vs. creatures not resistant to fire, 79.1
     vs. creatures not resistant to cold, and 56.3 vs. others.
     
     Radius 1 light.

t) The Glaive of Pain (9d6) (+0,+30)
     Provides resistance to fear.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
     
     Combat info:
     5 blows/round.
     Average damage/hit: 103.3.
     
u) The Pick of Erebor (3d4) (+5,+20) (+5)
     +5 strength, constitution, tunneling.
     Slays demons, orcs, trolls.
     Branded with acid.
     Provides resistance to light, dark, chaos.
     Cannot be harmed by acid, electricity, fire, cold.
     Sustains strength.
     
     Combat info:
     6 blows/round.
     Average damage/hit: 83.3 vs. demons, 83.3 vs. orcs, 83.3 vs.
     trolls, 83.3 vs. creatures not resistant to acid, and 66.3 vs.
     others.

The reason I don't wear the ring of Barahir is my need of speed boost. Is that reasonable ?

And last question : is money totally useless past level 30 or did I miss something ?