Noob question: Farmer Maggot

[Max]

Hello,

I'm sorry for this may be stupid question for experienced Angband players. In the town I can see Farmer Maggot, and his dogs on the dungeons. What should I do with him? Is it a kind of quest or so? Should I find his stolen mushrooms inside the dungeons and bring them to him, or should I just bring those dogs to him, or ... what?

[Derakon]

Your interactions with NPCs in Angband are basically limited to two options:

1) If they're shopkeepers, then you can buy and sell goods with them.
2) Otherwise, you can kill them.

Vanilla Angband doesn't have any "sidequests". Some variants have them though -- and they usually take the form of "Go kill X powerful monsters that I've put on dungeon level Y".

[ghengiz]

there are no quests in vanilla. you can just kill him and his dogs for loot...be warned, however, that they are a bit tough for their dungeon depth
Farmer Maggot, his dogs, the mushrooms, smeagol, the phial of galadriel and *a lot* of other monster and objects are just flavour, citations from Tolkien's Lord of the rings, on which angband is based.

[Max]

Thanx for the answers.

Another question. Are there any connections between character level and the dungeon level? I.e. if my character has level X, can it safely go downstairs to the dungeon level X+1? Usually monsters kill my character when its level is near the dungeon level. One time I used the Scroll of Deep Descent, however monsters killed me very quickly there. Generally, can this scroll be useful for smth? As far as I understand, the Scroll of Word of Recall can be used to bring the character to the deepest dungeon level it visited. In this case why is it necessary to pass unexplored levels and go directly to the deeper levels where the death is at every dungeon cell or passage?

[buzzkill]

Another question. Are there any connections between character level and the dungeon level? I.e. if my character has level X, can it safely go downstairs to the dungeon level X+1? Usually monsters kill my character when its level is near the dungeon level. One time I used the Scroll of Deep Descent, however monsters killed me very quickly there. Generally, can this scroll be useful for smth? As far as I understand, the Scroll of Word of Recall can be used to bring the character to the deepest dungeon level it visited. In this case why is it necessary to pass unexplored levels and go directly to the deeper levels where the death is at every dungeon cell or passage?

Generally dungeon level (DL or dlvl) will exceed character level (CL clvl). The amount of this excess depends on the style of the player and the race/class combo chosen as well lucky/unlucky finds.

EDIT: re monster difficulty: You can look at a monster with the l key (followed by directional key presses), and then recall what you know of it with the r key. The experience point (XP) award is a good indication of how powerful a monster is compared to @. Uniques are almost always extra-powerful the first time you encounter them. Approach them with extreme caution and don't be afraid to flee. The more you flee, you longer you live. Always have an escape handy (phase/teleport are the choices usually available to beginners).

Deep decent is useful for useful for moving deeper quickly (diving) and also as an escape in a tight spot. Some people like to live on the edge pushing the limits, moving as deep as they can without regard for danger. Some prefer to play conservatively staying rather shallow and never putting their @ in real danger. Most players probably fall somewhere in between.

WoR is essential to get to town and back to the dungeon. The dungeon is 100 levels deep (and then some). Walking that distance, or a large portion of that distance, to restock on necessary supplies would be extraordinarily tedious.

[Derakon]

There are 100 dungeon levels, but only 50 character levels. I wouldn't say there's any kind of intentional rule of what depth you should be at for a given character level, especially since the gear you've found plays a much bigger role in your ability to take on bigger threats. You should play at the level where you're having the most fun, whatever that means for you. I would caution against trying to stick to "safe" depths, though -- the dungeon is not safe, and playing too shallow will just make you bored and unready for when something dangerous manifests.

If I'm playing a warrior, paladin, or rogue (the strong melee classes, in other words) then I tend to hit dungeon level 20 by around character level 20-25. But I play very aggressively, avoiding many fights that I'm not able to handle, and I do still kill off my young characters somewhat frequently. I would expect a newbie to die regularly trying to emulate that playstyle -- though the deaths should at least be educational!

[Max]

Now I've encountered smth strange. I shot in the dark passage to ensure that there was no monster there. However after that I saw the following message: "The 36 gold pieces worth of copper was really a monster!" There was Creeping Coins in the passage, but I didn't see any coins in this passage as it was unrevealed yet! Is it a bug or what? I'm using Angband 3.3.2 under Win.

[myshkin]

If I'm playing a warrior, paladin, or rogue (the strong melee classes, in other words) then I tend to hit dungeon level 20 by around character level 20-25. But I play very aggressively, avoiding many fights that I'm not able to handle, and I do still kill off my young characters somewhat frequently. I would expect a newbie to die regularly trying to emulate that playstyle -- though the deaths should at least be educational!

Confusing...do you mean dungeon level 40 here? My very incomplete Hall of Fame includes a level 28 Dwarf Priest killed by Uriel at dungeon level 65, and a level 30 Kobold Rogue killed by Azriel at dungeon level 80, but I admit those are extreme cases.

[ghengiz]

Now I've encountered smth strange. I shot in the dark passage to ensure that there was no monster there. However after that I saw the following message: "The 36 gold pieces worth of copper was really a monster!" There was Creeping Coins in the passage, but I didn't see any coins in this passage as it was unrevealed yet! Is it a bug or what? I'm using Angband 3.3.2 under Win.

don't worry, it,s not a bug.
the Creeping Coin IS a monster, which has the same aspect of coins, in this case of the amount of 36 gold pieces
what happened is simply that the arrow or bolt you shot in the dark corridor did hit it

[Derakon]

Confusing...do you mean dungeon level 40 here? My very incomplete Hall of Fame includes a level 28 Dwarf Priest killed by Uriel at dungeon level 65, and a level 30 Kobold Rogue killed by Azriel at dungeon level 80, but I admit those are extreme cases.

Okay, you're more aggressive than I am then. Congratulations.

Regarding the 36 coins, that's probably a bug since you couldn't see the coins to know that they were a monster. The "foo was really a monster" message should just be suppressed in that case.

[ghengiz]

Regarding the 36 coins, that's probably a bug since you couldn't see the coins to know that they were a monster. The "foo was really a monster" message should just be suppressed in that case.

what I meant with "it's not a bug" was simply to explain to Max that the message he read is not a surprising one, if you know what a creeping coin, and in general a mimic, is
but you are right, of course some code to suppress that message if a mimic has not been previously seen should probably be added

[Max]

Thanx again for the answers.

I've found two another issues. Actually, I don't know either these are the bugs or they are the 'features' of the game.

First. I command to 'ignore' some item by pressing 'k' key and answering 'This item only'. After that this item is dropped and it is invisible for my character. OK. Then I close the game and open it again. All 'ignored' items are visible in the map.

Second. My character has the Staff of Identify. It is very useful item. However, as it had only 2 charges I decided to sell it in the shop. This time there were no such items in the shop. I sold it, and after that I saw this item in the store with 13 charges (instead of 2, which I was expected)! What is it?

[ghengiz]

Thanx again for the answers.

I've found two another issues. Actually, I don't know either these are the bugs or they are the 'features' of the game.

First. I command to 'ignore' some item by pressing 'k' key and answering 'This item only'. After that this item is dropped and it is invisible for my character. OK. Then I close the game and open it again. All 'ignored' items are visible in the map.

Second. My character has the Staff of Identify. It is very useful item. However, as it had only 2 charges I decided to sell it in the shop. This time there were no such items in the shop. I sold it, and after that I saw this item in the store with 13 charges (instead of 2, which I was expected)! What is it?

the first one is a feature: you said to the game to ignore just that single item once. if you want to never see it again (for that character), answer 's', not 'y'.

the second issue could be a bug, although my bet is that the shop had its inventory renewed in the meantime, and a new staff of identify was created. IIRC, the shops change their inventory every 1000 turn or so

[LostTemplar]

Stores recharge sold items. You can buy it back.

[Derakon]

The Magic Store recharges items that you sell it that it can normally sell. You can't use it to recharge later items like Staves of Speed or Wands of Annihilation, which is a bit of a pity because the store is the only way to recharge an item without risking it blowing up. Oh well.