Noob question: Farmer Maggot

[Malak Darkhunter]

This is an interesting thread, I'm changing Farmer Maggot to wear he actualy fights back for a change, although weakly

[ghengiz]

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.

in some variant with town services, there is the possibility for the player to choose between paying a stiff price as opposed to the risk of lose the item with a ?oRecharge.
is there any chance to include this in vanilla too?

[Chud]

in some variant with town services, there is the possibility for the player to choose between paying a stiff price as opposed to the risk of lose the item with a ?oRecharge.
is there any chance to include this in vanilla too?

Hmm, I'm not sure I'm convinced that this would be good - mostly because in the later game, where you care more about not blowing up power items, money becomes sufficiently plentiful that a stiff price is probably still not all that meaningful.

I suppose you could make the price high enough to overcomet hat, though it would take some balancing to get the right number. 100,000 per charge, say?

[ghengiz]

Hmm, I'm not sure I'm convinced that this would be good - mostly because in the later game, where you care more about not blowing up power items, money becomes sufficiently plentiful that a stiff price is probably still not all that meaningful.

I suppose you could make the price high enough to overcomet hat, though it would take some balancing to get the right number. 100,000 per charge, say?

that would make something interesting to spend money for
edit: a price per charge function of the usefulness of the item would be too complicated to balance? recharge a staff of recall could be chaper than a speed one, for example

[Max]

Ethereal Openings PB

Now I'm playing as a priest. I found Etherial Openings PB. In this book there is the prayer 'Teleport self' which costs 10 mana points. What are the benefits of using this prayer comparable to the 'Portal' prayer which is in the PB-2 and which costs only 4 mana points?

[Derakon]

Teleport Self has longer range, generally. However, teleportation spells are a bit unreliable in Angband as the game has a tendency to bounce you around between two or three points in the dungeon, so Portal can actually be more useful sometimes -- its shorter range can mitigate this effect by giving you more valid areas to land in.

[fizzix]

Now I'm playing as a priest. I found Etherial Openings PB. In this book there is the prayer 'Teleport self' which costs 10 mana points. What are the benefits of using this prayer comparable to the 'Portal' prayer which is in the PB-2 and which costs only 4 mana points?

Teleport self has a longer range. But that's not much of an advantage. The main advantage is that you can optionally ditch PB2. The only spells you lose that you care about are resist heat and cold, portal, and satisfy hunger. If you don't think those are important, then you can free up the slot.

[Malak Darkhunter]

Now I'm playing as a priest. I found Etherial Openings PB. In this book there is the prayer 'Teleport self' which costs 10 mana points. What are the benefits of using this prayer comparable to the 'Portal' prayer which is in the PB-2 and which costs only 4 mana points?

teleport has a greater field range than portal, I regard portal to be just a little bit better than phase door, teleport is just like the scroll teleport, will usualy teleport you across the dungeon instead of I don't know so many squares with portal spell. 1 thing I have noticed about teleport spells, is if you teleport to one side of the dungeon and immediately cast it again then you will land close to where you originaly teleported the first time.

[fizzix]

1 thing I have noticed about teleport spells, is if you teleport to one side of the dungeon and immediately cast it again then you will land close to where you originaly teleported the first time.

I need to check but I think this was changed at some point. The way teleport works is it picks a minimum range and a maximum range (both are level dependent). Then it tries some number of times to find a valid square that fits in those limits. If it fails to find a valid square, it expands the range in both directions and tries again. This way ?phase will always take you out of a vault (icky squares are not ok for landing in). The problem with teleport was that the minimum range was about the same size as the level. So teleport would always take you to the edge of a level, and then have you bounce between corners. I think the minimum value was set lower though, so you could teleport from the edge to the middle.

[Max]

Thanx for the answers.

Teleport self has a longer range. But that's not much of an advantage. The main advantage is that you can optionally ditch PB2. The only spells you lose that you care about are resist heat and cold, portal, and satisfy hunger. If you don't think those are important, then you can free up the slot.

It's wonderful in theory. However as for now I don't see an alternative to some prayers in PB 1-4. So, I'm carrying PB1 for 'Call Light' and 'Find Traps, Doors, and Stairs' prayers, as existing items which provide the similar effect - rods, wands or scrolls - also require a slot. PB2 I'm using for 'Portal' and 'Satisfy Hunger' prayers. I believe the food is a vital thing in the dungeons . And, of course, I think it is hard for priest to survive w/o 'Orb of Draining'. So, although I think from time to time to free up the slots, but I don't see the adequate substitution for standard priest PBs...

[Derakon]

It's wonderful in theory. However as for now I don't see an alternative to some prayers in PB 1-4. So, I'm carrying PB1 for 'Call Light' and 'Find Traps, Doors, and Stairs' prayers, as existing items which provide the similar effect - rods, wands or scrolls - also require a slot. PB2 I'm using for 'Portal' and 'Satisfy Hunger' prayers. I believe the food is a vital thing in the dungeons . And, of course, I think it is hard for priest to survive w/o 'Orb of Draining'. So, although I think from time to time to free up the slots, but I don't see the adequate substitution for standard priest PBs...

Godly Insights will render PB1 completely obsolete by way of Clairvoyance (replacing Call Light) and Detection. As for PB2, the only worthwhile spell in it is Resist Heat and Cold, which is actually quite useful -- double-resisting those elements can seriously cut down on the damage you take. Food is usually no problem; eat in town until you're full and then scrounge in the dungeon. Portal can be replaced by Teleport Self from Ethereal Openings, but ideally you won't be casting either very much; teleporting is a dangerous escape because you can always end up in hotter water.

You'll never replace PB3; Orb of Draining is simply too useful. PB4's 300-HP Heal is similarly precious, since the 1000-HP one in Purifications and Healing is a bit expensive to use regularly.

[Max]

Thanx for the answer.

Godly Insights will render PB1 completely obsolete by way of Clairvoyance (replacing Call Light) and Detection.

I agree with this. However, there are some cases when it is desirable to cast Call Light - when some monster in the room casts Darkness, it seems too expensive to cast Clairvoyance. The Phial of Galadriel as a light source is not adequate solution as monster can cast Darkness again while this artifact is not recharged yet. Moreover, if the character replaces Phial by The Star of Elendil, then Star doesn't light the room but maps the area without lighting the dark areas.

[Derakon]

However, there are some cases when it is desirable to cast Call Light - when some monster in the room casts Darkness, it seems too expensive to cast Clairvoyance.

Sure, but is the extra cost of casting Clairvoyance instead of Call Light worth dedicating an inventory slot to?

[ghengiz]

Sure, but is the extra cost of casting Clairvoyance instead of Call Light worth dedicating an inventory slot to?

Good question.
I think it depends on your style of play:
1) if you play aggressively, the less mana is used for things not related to combat, the better...so it could be worth to dedicate an inventory slot.
2) if you play conservatively, then on average you have more mana to spare than the previous case, so perhaps it's not worth it.

Just my two cents.