A Few Questions/Observations From an Old Player

[Mondkalb]

As a rogue I usually don't want any attention. I just go past monsters or take them out one by one without any of their neighbours even would wake up.
Difficult monsters in the way get teleported away.

[Timo Pietilä]

Haven't rogued a great deal, but I found myself carrying a copy of Raal's simply because cloudkill got monsters' attention.

Cloudkill is just poison cloud, stinking cloud does same thing but doesn't cost you a slot. It just damages less (and maybe has a smaller radius, not sure though).

[scud]

Bedlam ist utterly useless. I don't know why it is available for rogues at all. Same for cloudkill. I wouldn't waste a slot for any of them.

Haven't rogued a great deal, but I found myself carrying a copy of Raal's simply because cloudkill got monsters' attention. Assuming you already have a Raal's then Kelek's is definitely on the squishlist.

[Mondkalb]

Bedlam ist utterly useless. I don't know why it is available for rogues at all. Same for cloudkill. I wouldn't waste a slot for any of them.

[Oramin]

Bedlam?

http://www.juti.nl/hugo/Angband/Spoiler/books.spo

That's the confusion ball spell, right?

Heck with it, time to kill Sauron and Morgoth even if Polyphemus hasn't spawned yet.

[Derakon]

Well, they certainly aren't going to get Banish, Mass Banish, or Manastorm, which are all the spells I can remember being in that book, so who cares?

[Oramin]

Ok, clearly the game doesn't want my Hobbit Rogue to find Kelek's. Found a half dozen Wrath of God books, but no Kelek's. Vilya, sure; Narya, sure. But Kelek's? Nah.

So I don't spend the rest of my life on 97/98 trying to find Kelek's just so I can find out what the *one* spell is from it that Rogues can cast, perhaps somebody would put me out of my misery and just tell me?

Thanks.

[Derakon]

It's not possible for warriors to get their full base 6 blows/round with a Mace of Disruption (IOW they wouldn't be able to achieve 7 blows/round with that particular mace). Everyone else can reach their natural max (5 for paladins/rogues/rangers, 4 for mages/priests).

No stat has any additional meaning past 18/220, except as padding against stat drain having a meaningful effect on your character. Some stats stop being "useful" earlier, e.g. there's no value to CON above 18/200.

[Oramin]

After I realized that I could have avoided the problem by simply using the Create Doors spell so there were no empty square available for Summons to land in, I realized I was an idiot and took it out on the Uniques of Angband. My kill list for the day includes:

Maeglin
Glaurung
Carcharoth
Lungorthin
The Tarrasque
Ancalagon
The Witch-King of Angmar
Qzzqllzuup, the Emperor of the Quylthulgs
Pazuzu
Draugluin
Kronos
Gothmog
Vecna

I've dived to 98 and I'm going to hang out on 97/98 for a bit. My rampage has only left me with a few Uniques other than Sauron and Morgoth. They are:

Huan
Cantoras
Polyphemus

and, of course,

Bert, the Stone Troll

Who, for whatever reason, hasn't spawned. Go figure.

Edit:

I also found a Mace of Disruption of Extra Attacks (+1). What I found odd is that I'm getting the full 6 attacks/rd with it. I thought we had discussed earlier that it wasn't possible. Is this because I have:

STR: 18:230
DEX: 18:240

In other words, does the calculation for blows/rd not stop at 18:220?

[Oramin]

I just realized that I'm an idiot.

I could have created doors around myself prior to attacking Maeglin. No open squares = no Summons.

[Oramin]

It was somewhat funny with the Tarrasque since I'm using Eonwe and the Tarrasque decided to breathe Frost in his 2 attacks before I could get rid of him. Didn't hurt me (Cold Immunity) but damaged the other monsters (killed one, in fact).

Also, I *did* pick up Vilya in the same Vault before going after Maeglin, so I'm definitely happy about that. Handy to be running at +32 when facing Uniques running at +20 or so.

Glaurung was in a single square nook and got clobbered quickly. I Teleported Carcharoth and Lungorthin out of the Vault before looting it.

That leaves me with:

The Tarrasque
Ancalagon
The Witch-King of Angmar
Carcharoth
Lungorthin

And sundry high level critters like a Great Wyrm of Chaos wandering around the level. Might as well chop 'em up while I have them looking for me. Time to start digging tunnels.

[Derakon]

This should amply demonstrate why I make sure all the Uniques are dead when I take on Morgoth.

The difference between Maeglin and Morgoth is that Maeglin's only spells are summoning spells; Morgoth also has mana bolts/balls, nether storms, and brain smashing. That said, it sounds like you got pretty unlucky with the summons, since Maeglin's summons are slightly weaker (in terms of the level he pulls from and his selection of spells) and he's not supposed to cast as often as Morgoth does.

[Mondkalb]

Summoners summoning summoners is always annoying. Qlzqqlzuup in an open vault garanties loads of uniques and other troublesome monsters.
What is a Quylthulg supposed to be anyway? Certainly nothing Tolkien invented. ^^

[Raajaton]

Good kill. My heart was racing just reading that.

[Oramin]

I *hate* Maeglin, the Traitor of Gondolin. He's really annoying because he tunnels through walls so it is kind of nice when he shows up in a Major Vault with permanent walls. Well, 'shure 'nuff, he did - and in a fairly enclosed spot so I could go pound on him with little damage from his Summons.


Well, the first thing he did was Summon a bunch of Gravity Hounds. A pack of these can kill even high level characters so I had to Banish them. Next, he decided to Summon Uniques. Yep, that's right, he plopped Ancalagon the Black *and* the Tarrasque right next to me plus a few sundry Great Wyrms as escorts for Ancalagon. I Teleported the Uniques away and Mass Banished the rest. Next, he Summons "Fiends of Darkness" - what does that mean? A Greater Balrog *and* the Witch King of Angmar. More Teleports Away.


Finally, I kill the little twerp but now I have a bunch of Uniques wandering around the level.


This should amply demonstrate why I make sure all the Uniques are dead when I take on Morgoth.