A Few Questions/Observations From an Old Player

[Oramin]

So, it sounds like Rings of Accuracy/Slaying are kind of pointless - unless they significantly increase the probability of crits?

[Derakon]

Assuming I'm reading the chance-to-hit logic correctly, your odds of landing a blow are given by

90 * (to-hit bonus - AC / 2)) / (to-hit bonus) + 5

In other words, if you're trying to hit a Great Storm Wyrm (AC 225), then we have:

90 * (x - 112.5) / x + 5 = 72
90 - 10125 / x + 5 = 72
10125 / x = -23
x = 440

giving an overall to-hit bonus of 440. Which seems...high. Anyway, increasing that bonus to, say, 600, would increase your chance to hit to 78% against the same target. So, not very much.

On the flip side, if your to-hit bonus was only 100, then you'd have a -6% chance to hit, if it weren't for the fact that you always get at least a 12% chance to hit.

[Oramin]

Thanks, folks. I decided to stick with my existing setup since it was working fine and I'm a Speed junkie. I'll worry more about Stealth when I finish (hopefully by winning) with this character and start work on a Halfling/Hobbit Rogue.

BTW, I only have a 72% chance to hit with my (now) L50 H-T Warrior wielding Eonwe and facing a Great Wyrm. Is this an effective cap? I mean can I get into the 80s or 90s?

[Timo Pietilä]

Ok, another gear swapping issue. I'm already wearing Boots of Speed +10. I just found some Boots of Elvenkind +7 with +3 Stealth.

If I swap those in, I go from a typical speed of +19 to +16 but my H-T Warrior goes from Excellent Stealth to Superb. L49 hanging out at depth of L65.

Which is more important at this point: Stealth or Speed?

At those speeds, speed. +19 is almost at par with +20 monsters, which makes huge difference.

If your speeds were +29 and +26, then I would go with stealth.

[Derakon]

It all depends on how long it takes you to get to a given monster, I suppose. If you're able to get to them before they wake up naturally, then you have enough stealth.

[Oramin]

For reference, every +3 stealth makes you about twice as stealthy. But every +10 speed also makes you twice as stealthy.

Good to know, but from a gameplay perspective, is there really that much difference between Excellent and Superb? As it is, it seems most things already let me walk up to them.

[Derakon]

For reference, every +3 stealth makes you about twice as stealthy. But every +10 speed also makes you twice as stealthy.

[Philip]

Speed, I guess. Higher speed means that you kill stuff faster, less chance of instadeath, monsters have fewer turns in which to notice you.

[Oramin]

Ok, another gear swapping issue. I'm already wearing Boots of Speed +10. I just found some Boots of Elvenkind +7 with +3 Stealth.

If I swap those in, I go from a typical speed of +19 to +16 but my H-T Warrior goes from Excellent Stealth to Superb. L49 hanging out at depth of L65.

Which is more important at this point: Stealth or Speed?

[Derakon]

Agreed with fizzix. Stunning is potentially very dangerous (due to knockouts), but it's also rare. Confusion is all over the place, and can make a marginal situation go bad very quickly.

[fizzix]

I would prefer pConf to pStun. The reason is that both confusion and stunning will increase fail rates on staff activations. However confusion prevents you from casting spells or reading scrolls and stunning does not. If you keep an escape scroll like teleport level, then you will always have an escape, even if you are in heavy stun.

[Oramin]

So, which is more important for a L49 H-T Warrior who is hanging out on L62 - Resist Confusion or Resist Stun?

I'm inclined to think Confusion since the only time I seem to need to worry about being stunned is when dealing with Master Mystics (or Grandmasters). But I just found Numenor and I'm wondering if I should swap it in for Holhennoth.

[Oramin]

Just one more clarification, when I said "specific quiver slot" I was referring to a slot taken up by the quiver on the inventory page. Of course I understand that individual slots in the quiver (on the equipped page) only hold a single item type.

Thanks for the explanation.

[Magnate]

If I'm interpreting what you said correctly and that the total quiver (and not a specific quiver slot) has a maximum of 10 different items in it, then that might have been the problem; I had a bunch of small stacks in the quiver at the time.

Yes. Each quiver slot can only hold one type of item (like inventory slots). So an arrow (+1, +1) is distinct from an arrow (+1,+2) and occupies a different quiver slot. So if you have ten different ammo types in your quiver, you can't put anything else in (even if you have free inv slots).

Glad we got to the bottom of that.

[Oramin]

I was/am still using 3.3.2 so there weren't any save file issues.

If I'm interpreting what you said correctly and that the total quiver (and not a specific quiver slot) has a maximum of 10 different items in it, then that might have been the problem; I had a bunch of small stacks in the quiver at the time.