Slick's question thread

[Slick]

I'll not clutter up the forum with lots of threads, but I know I am going to be asking quite a few questions as time goes on. Been a "rougelike" gamer since Rogue; played lots of moria; haven't beat Angband yet. Been playing V solely as High Elf Ranger until I can win; I guess it is one of the easier combos. Here's some of my questions:

What is the exact effect of being stunned?

Are "uncursed" items any different from items that were never cursed in the first place? I can't find any difference except the "uncursed" scribe which won't stack with other items which are otherwise identical.

Does regeneration stack?

Is anyone else having trouble getting APW 3.0.9 borg to run under Windows XP? I am working with APW to get it to work but I was wondering if anyone else having trouble might be willing to put our heads together to make it work.

What are some tips on using ball wands/spells/rods effectively such that I don't destroy goodies on the floor? I usually avoid ball magic altogether because of this.

What's the best way to clean up junk on the floor? I use a macro to destroy what I am standing on. I continually find myself identifying huge amounts of junk and destroying most of it to make room for future loot. It is common to have a room littered with piles ~15 high after huge battles and I want to make sure that there is always room for monsters to drop their loot. This is extremel tedious. I do also use the squelch option, but that can actually be a problem because squelched items are still on the floor, just hidden...

Of what use is the potion of self knowledge? it seems useless due to the menu item of same function...

Thanks.

[MKula]

What is the exact effect of being stunned?

It reduces your chance to hit and to cast spells by a significant (but not crippling) amount.

Are "uncursed" items any different from items that were never cursed in the first place? I can't find any difference except the "uncursed" scribe which won't stack with other items which are otherwise identical.

You pretty much got it. Personally, I think the "uncursed" tag should be removed.

Does regeneration stack?

Nope

What are some tips on using ball wands/spells/rods effectively such that I don't destroy goodies on the floor? I usually avoid ball magic altogether because of this.

You can't, really. That's the point. It's one of the hazards of ball attacks.

What's the best way to clean up junk on the floor?

The best option would be squelch, I guess. If you're worried about big piles, just don't stand on the same space for the whole fight; every few kills, move back a few spaces or something. That should spread the loot out a bit.

Of what use is the potion of self knowledge? it seems useless due to the menu item of same function...

Its main use is if you're wearing/wielding items that you haven't identified yet. Quaffing that potion gives you a complete list of your abilities, ever the ones you didn't otherwise know you had.

[takkaria]

What's the best way to clean up junk on the floor? I use a macro to destroy what I am standing on. I continually find myself identifying huge amounts of junk and destroying most of it to make room for future loot. It is common to have a room littered with piles ~15 high after huge battles and I want to make sure that there is always room for monsters to drop their loot. This is extremel tedious. I do also use the squelch option, but that can actually be a problem because squelched items are still on the floor, just hidden...

Squelched items will be deleted to make room for others, don't worry.

[Narvius]

I have a few questions, too;

Do partly identified items (for example "Ring of Speed", not "Ring of Speed +999") still semi-identify?

Can ?Recharge, ?Enchant Weapon To-Hit/To-Dam and ?Enchant Armor destroy the affected item? In ToME, ?Recharge can.

Are there any other "set" potions except !Water and !Slime Mold Juice?

[new.ideas]

I have a few questions, too;

Do partly identified items (for example "Ring of Speed", not "Ring of Speed +999") still semi-identify?

not in Angband 3.0.9, but i read that this idea was implemented in a fairly new version 3.0.9e. take a look at r.g.r.a

Can ?Recharge, ?Enchant Weapon To-Hit/To-Dam and ?Enchant Armor destroy the affected item? In ToME, ?Recharge can.

it never happened to me, but the spoiler files say that recharge can destroy an item.

Are there any other "set" potions except !Water and !Slime Mold Juice?

a light brown potion of apple juice
JUICY!

[Slick]

Does anyone actually spike doors? any tactics here? I never use them.

[MKula]

I don't think I've ever done it as a tactic. It takes too much time. In general, when you get to the point where you might want to spike a door, you're more interested in just getting the hell out of there.

Having said that, now that the topic has been brought up, I've been experimenting with spikes in game (as a tend to do with items/concepts up for discussion here), and if you reduce the weight a little bit and up their damage a bit (I currently have mine set to 0.5 lbs and 1d6 dmg), they make alright throwing weapons, a la flasks of oil (at least in the very early game, before you have a decent ranged weapon). Do I use them now? Nope. But at least they have another function now.

[Big Al]

I've only ever used spikes in Unangband, where there's a bunch of uses for them other than just spiking doors.

[Slick]

I'm thinking that The Long Bow of Bard in the hands of a HE Ranger is pretty much a game-winner. Combining extra shots at higher levels for Rangers, the extra power of Bard, the branding & enchanting of ammo in Tenser's, with the other magical buffs available (Haste Self, Shield, Resistance, Heroism, Berserker, etc.) all make this an EXTREMELY powerful weapon. I find at lower depths, arrows are plentiful and I find more than I can use. Especially Seeker and Mithril for extra damage.

My current guy is CL 50 at 4700' and is generally just searching for more arrows of Slay Evil for you-know-who. He's carrying ~400 arrows of various brands and slays all enchanted to at least +9, +9. Most enemies are easily perforated using Bard and Branded+Enchanted arrows. He's got 2 rings of speed (+12 and +11), so with other gear he can easily haste up to +35, which turns his bow into a machine-gun from hell. He's wearing Celeborn to Banish those dispicable Z's on sight. Anyone too tough is Teleport Other'ed away

My home is stocked with loads of Healing, *Healing*, Restore Mana, and a few Life potions in preparation for the battle with the big P.

Here's my question: I think he is a little low on HP due to CON of 18/170 giving a max HP of 836. What is a safe CON (or HP) level to dive down to 5000' ?



P.S. FEATURE REQUEST: Monster Memory shows what kinds of attacks each monster is known to be resistant to (i.e. resistant to fire, cold, etc.). It should also show which kinds of attacks it is known NOT to be resistant to. It seems that each time I encounter a tough monster, I check the monster memory and try to use an arrow branded to a flavor that isn't listed under resistances. Since I can't remember each moster's vulnerabilities or if I had already tried a given attack, after 1 hit, I need to always check again to see if it showed up under resistances or not. It sure would be nice to have the Monster Memory show what kinds of attacks DID work previously. Hope this makes sense.

[MKula]

I've been experimenting with spikes in game (as a tend to do with items/concepts up for discussion here), and if you reduce the weight a little bit and up their damage a bit (I currently have mine set to 0.5 lbs and 1d6 dmg), they make alright throwing weapons, a la flasks of oil (at least in the very early game, before you have a decent ranged weapon). Do I use them now? Nope. But at least they have another function now.

Replying to my own post here, as a follow up, I gotta say that if you give spikes 1d4 damage (1d6 was too strong), they make great throwing weapons in the extremely early game (around CL1-5), now that I've playtested them a bit. They stop being quite so effective after about 150', but they really help with survivablity right off the start.

[Jenks]

Hi all, newbie here. Sorry to post in the middle of a totally unrelated post but I cannot for the life of me find a 'post new thread' button!! Also, been playing versions of Moria and Angband for years, but, having searched the net everywhere, cannot find out what 'squelching' actually is! Sorry for being a dufus but the OED doesn't help!! Any help for the above two gratefully appreciated, Jenks

[Big Al]

The Button is right there, near the top of the page. To the left of the "Page 1 of 6 1 2 3 4 5 > Last" links.

Squelch is a feature that lets you hide/destroy objects that you don't want automatically. So, eg. when you id that potion of poison, you can squelch it and then never have to see another potion of poison again. I think squelch can be invoked with a "K" keystroke.

Squelch doesn't seem to be in the in-game documentation anywhere - it should probably go in.

[Jenks]

Thanks Al for the Squelch info. Still can't see 'the button' however! Maybe it's my browser. I'll have a look in another...

[Jenks]

Yup! It was the browser. New thread button now there! Thanks again

[Pete Mack]

You have to navigate to the forums page. You can't post a new thread from an existing thread.