A Newbie says hello! (Questions inside)

[Mondkalb]

Yes, Angband is the "vanilla" version of the -bands.

To make a character dump, bring up the character screen (C), then type f to create a dump. You can either upload a character file to the ladder or use it here.

A rangers main weapon should be the bow. Make sure to always have enough arrows. Later on, with upped stats and a good weapon rangers can also be reasonable good at melee. But they get an extra shot with the bow and can do really high damage with an enchanted or artifact bow and enchanted or branded ammo.

Spells are more for helping to get along; you cannot do enough damage with spells alone or rely on them.

As for diving - char level = dungeon level should be appropriate if you have the resistances for certain depths.

As for that - rings of protection are not that great. You might want to replace them - see invisible will soon be necessary, also free action. (There are also other items that could help you with that.) I would wear that see invisible ring - some invisible creatures can reduce your stats.

Your sword at home does you no good, you can sell it. Try to get a light weapon with as many blows as possible, or at least as much damage. One of the better ego weapons would come in handy, like a sword with see invisible and / or free action.

Don't carry heavy stuff around that would slow you down.

Potions of speed can sometimes be found on shallow levels. Items with +speed are relatively rare and show up deeper.

[robbiodobbio]

I also have a bastard sword (3d4) (+4+6) at home, should I be carrying that with me too?

[robbiodobbio]

New newbie needs help

Hello, Should I start a new thread for another newb or am I ok posting here?

First things first:
Vanilla angband is the classic version right? Where you only have 1 town and just Tolkien based monsters, classes and characters, right?

I'm not really a newb as I used to play about 15 years ago. I played a bit of the original angband then migrated to Zangband for some reason. The thing is I used to play without access to forums and nobody else I knew played so now I'm reading about these different tactics like aggressive diving (my old lesson was painfully slow meticulous clearing of each and every level).

Anywho, to cut a long story short I'd like some tips. But.... I don't know how to make a character dump.

Here are some screenshots:

https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=79CFF252BEEA0A7D!295&authkey=!AGSwGV4T60V3UYU

https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=79CFF252BEEA0A7D!296&authkey=!ANSptjKqTxaDh5U

I'm currently diving to level 15, I'm a level 19 ranger. Am I diving too deep? Had a few hairy moments but I've been following the advice about steering clear of uniques until I'm ready.

As a ranger should I be relying a lot on my bow? I dont really have enough mana yet to cast spells for any length of time.

My main problem is my speed, as soon as I get weighed down with goodies I get really slow and turn into a punch bag. How can I increase my speed? Do I need to dive deeper to find speed rings or something.

I found the short sword of slay dragon recently which is nice and obviously really good against dragons but doesn't really pack much punch against other foes.

Also could you tell me a list of essential items / consumables I should be carrying at this level. I'm having trouble balancing leaving enough space to collect stuff and carrying emergency scrolls / potions / staffs etc.

Sorry, bit of a long post but any help you could give me would be most appreciated

[Derakon]

Armor class does make a fairly significant difference in how hard you are to hit, but its effects will be more subtle in the lategame -- certainly you can't expect to have monsters missing you 50% of the time like you might reasonably achieve early on. AC damage mitigation also only affects "physical" attacks (ones that have no attached effects, like burning, blinding, or paralyzing, as well as not using verbs like touch, gaze, etc.). Such attacks are common early on, but later there's a lot more attacks which it doesn't help you with. Timo mentioned one of the standouts: Greater Titans have 4 12d12 melee attacks, all of which hit to confuse; thus, AC doesn't reduce the incoming damage any (though it still makes you harder to hit).

[Oramin]

It is my understanding that AC reduces damage taken. I could be wrong on this.

AC never becomes irrelevant unless you never get into melee range. After a point, AC becomes less important than other things. For example, I once got instakilled by an Ancient Multi-Hued Dragon since I was running around without a source of Poison Resistance, had no Telepathy to locate it before I got into LoS, and had a lower Speed so it attacked before I could react.

[Alice]

Some questions...

Does AC truncate damage as well as make it harder for enemies to hit you?
Also, I've noticed that as I dove, the monsters scaled in difficulty (more or less) to my armor. When I finally cap my AC (while monsters continue to get more difficult), would I expect AC to play less of a part in my survivability and eventually become irrelevant over time?

[Timo Pietilä]

I recommend keeping =FreeAction for now, in case you find a better weapon before you find an alternate source of Free Action.

And yeah, Rods of Curing are junk, mostly because Cure Serious Wounds does everything they do and more, with no failure rate.

I use those in early game. They are useless in combat, but afterwards I can use single turn to fix poison or cuts without using healing potions. Saves me some potions that way.

Of course if you have lack of inventory space then those are (almost) first to go.

[Oramin]

The takeaway lesson here is to not bother killing him. Fights in Angband can always be put off until later when you're better equipped; if you're having trouble and not enjoying yourself you might as well just skip it for now.

1. Who said I wasn't having fun? If it ain't insanely difficult, it ain't worth doing (check out "The Henchidiot Challenge" thread at The Amazon Basin). My apologies to the grammar police.

2. In truth, Mim was more annoying than difficult even with my Mage. The main problem is that I don't want him trashing my gear so I have to play keepaway. He's just relatively more difficult than the other Uniques at the same depth. If I happened to be in serious danger, trust me, I would have ended the fight.

[Derakon]

It depends on how good your Ranged attacks are; I still have nightmares about killing him with my Gnome Mage since he has resistance to all the elements and Magic Missile was taking forever.

The takeaway lesson here is to not bother killing him. Fights in Angband can always be put off until later when you're better equipped; if you're having trouble and not enjoying yourself you might as well just skip it for now.

[Oramin]

I had already sold it before you said that. I might come across another one, but my inventory is so crowded with other fail-safes that I may not have room for it, lol.

I found Chain Mail of Arvedui, so I put it on (naturally). I'm a little sad to see the cold-ball activation of my DSM go, but the benefits if the new armor outweigh that AFAIK. Redundant rBase frees my amulet slot now, in any case. Amulet of Weaponmastery (+2, +2) aww, yes. :>

@Oramin: Mim was not that bad when I fought him. He did have a nasty acid ball attack, but I guess rAcid made it easier on me (however, not so much for my poor items).

It depends on how good your Ranged attacks are; I still have nightmares about killing him with my Gnome Mage since he has resistance to all the elements and Magic Missile was taking forever.

[Alice]

Well, I died. The Patriarch made short work of me, lol. I should not be so complacent, especially having so many safety items! He did not really do much for the first few rounds, and then points at me and curses. D: Tricky Patriarch...

Final ladder dump has been posted for your viewing pleasure. I suppose it's YASD but this was a record for me--clvl 29!

[Deof Movestofca]

After this message, we'll be right back...

Not that tough if you play conservatively - by the time you reach him, he's fairly easy.

While I tend to play conservatively myself, the main problem with such an approach is not to get too complacent when reaching a level with "Danger, Will Robinson"-type feelings. My most recent YASD involved such a vault with a Dracolich, another heavy-hitter type dragon, and a unique (I was at probably the highest character level I ever reached, so at that point, nothing else in the vault was more annoyance-type monsters than real threats). Took out the first dragon-type, who got me down to ~250 hp. Went to rest awhile before taking out the second, who was a bit tougher and reduced me to ~200 hp. So after another convalescence, I go after the unique... the problem being that I was so stoked over meeting and beating the aforementioned dragolich and his buddy for the first time that I fail to realize it's a unique and I'm paying more attention to how much more damage I have to do to him before I finish him off than I am to how much more damage he has to do to me before he finishes me off. Next thing I know, I'm taking a dirt nap. And the really sad part of the whole thing is 1) I probably had enough healing potions on me that if I had done a "'port (or even phase), heal, and return" routine on him or 2) since I think I out-speeded him, "jab, backstep, let him come to me and repeat" number, I probably would have beaten him. But I suppose such are the vagaries of Angband.

But now, back to Alice's quest....

[Derakon]

Don't really worry about staying on-topic around here. Threads inevitably wander.

Basically all undead will drain experience in melee. Honestly I wouldn't worry too much about it; it's a bit of a pain, sure, but as long as you don't hang out in melee too long you're not going to lose more than a level or maybe two. Your power comes much more from your gear than from your levels, so experience drain doesn't hurt you much. It just means you'll gain your next level more slowly since 90% of your gained experience goes to replacing the lost experience (the remaining 10% is applied to your max experience).

[Alice]

I did find a replacement =FA, which is nice. It's in my home as you suggested.

My identify staff burned up in fire down in the dungeon, so I played jewelery roulette and took some unknown rings up to the surface to appraise. I got a RoS<+6> out of it! :3

Currently I am descending down to around 1600', and I am deathly afraid of Weights. Are there specific ones to avoid, and do they all drain experience? I've encountered an Emperor Weight not too long ago and I gave him lots of space.

Edit: This thread has become a chronicle of my descent with an ear for advice. Was it inappropriate of me to repurpose it in this way?

[Derakon]

I was thinking you'd put the ring in your home. No need for it to clutter up your inventory.