Anyone else have this problem?

[Nazghul]

I am a relatively new player, having only begun experimenting with Angband (the Vanilla version, haven't seen any of the others yet). However, I have noticed a VERY disturbing trend, and I want to know if I am the only one who has this issue.

Basically, it boils down to this. Whenever I dare to create a character who is NOT a High Elf (and therefore, born with the See Invisible intrinsic), I inevitably run into an invisible monster on D1 or D2 which proceeds to violate me in every orifice while drilling a few extras just for the sheer horror of it all. I have piled up 49 character deaths in the past 72 hours, all of them characters that (real time) lasted less than ten minutes a piece. I simply wandered into the dungeon and died, at the hands of things I never even saw. It's gotten to the point where I have deleted my scorefile several times because I am ashamed to even have to look at it.

My question is, has anyone else had this problem, and more importantly, has anyone found a way to circumvent it? I'd love to try something besides High Elves, but so far, they appear to be the only race with ANY survivability; I currently have two surviving characters, a level 5 Mage who I just started, and a level 12 Warrior who I have been playing off and on since I downloaded the game (he was my first character). My only two High Elves, and the only ones who haven't fallen prey to early invisibles. Thoughts?

[PowerWyrm]

In the early levels, invisible monsters like clear icky things or poltergeists are really really weak and should never kill one of your characters unless you stand next to them and do nothing. Try to hit them randomly, they should fall in one hit, even with a mage.

When you start to hit 500ft or so, things become a little harder. You can meet moaning spirits, who can drain your dexterity and make you unable to fight, or worse, a pack of clear hounds. If you chose a race with infravision, you will be able to detect the hounds, but not the spirits. In this case, simply run away...

[Nick]

Maybe clear worm masses? If you're spending a lot of time on a given level, you could get an infestation of clear worm masses (which breed).

[Timo Pietilä]

Maybe clear worm masses? If you're spending a lot of time on a given level, you could get an infestation of clear worm masses (which breed).

IIRC clear worm masses crawl to poison, so char should get poisoned by them.

[Timo Pietilä]

IIRC clear worm masses crawl to poison, so char should get poisoned by them.

It could be Smeagol. He's dlvl 3 creature, has lots of HP and is really fast. He hits to steal gold, so if you don't have any then he keeps hitting you instead of teleporting away with puff of successful theft.

[eMeM]

49 chars deaths due to invisible monsters on 50' - 100' depth? Just to make sure you don't have files corrupted or visual options changed I would advise to delete game and download it again.

[Derakon]

I'm guessing the characters you were rolling up instead of high-elves were dunadan? They have no infravision, and thus cannot see warm-blooded invisible monsters (i.e. all of the early invisible monsters that aren't ghosts). Humans also don't have any infravision, but every other race has at least some.

My advice is, roll up a half-troll warrior. They're practically indestructible early on, and thus serve as a great way to learn how the dungeon works. Plus, it's nicely therapeutic to smash in the skulls of the monsters who gave your last character so much trouble.

Also, welcome to Angband!

[Nazghul]

Thanks everyone!

I really appreciate the advice, and the welcome. I love how challenging the game is, and how much it reminds me of Moria, my first rogue-like. I am going to give the Half-Troll Warrior a shot, see how that goes. Also, another quick question... Is there a way to keep acid using monsters from melting all of my armor into uselessness? Since the RNG hates me so passionately, I never find any in the dungeon, and spawns in the shop are random, and therefore also not to be trusted.

[Derakon]

There are only two ways to protect your armor: find a source of acid immunity (not resistance), or wear armor that is protected from corrosion. But take heart! Every time the acid attacks your armor (even if the armor is corrosion-proof), you take half damage. So it's worth investing in armor in every slot even if it ends up getting melted into uselessness.

[Philip]

Later you find armor that can't be damaged as easily. Until then, get a general idea of what monsters have acid attacks and try to find a way to kill them from a distance, or just plain avoid them.

Jellies don't move, so you don't have to kill them. Get a bow and arrows somewhere in case you need to kill them anyway. Oozes have no HP, easy to kill with bow and arrows or just try to get the first hit by making them use both their moves getting to you. Icky things move erratically, a couple shots with a bow and the first hit should deal with them.

Later you'll meet ochre jellies, gelatinous cubes and water hounds. Those are hard to deal with, mostly you can try to have high damage output for the hounds, a whole load of phase door and arrows for the gelatinous cubes and the ochre jellies(won't work too well, mind you) and acid resistant stuff for all of them. If you meet multiple moving jelly type monsters, consider running away through nearby stairs or scrolls of teleportation.

[Nazghul]

Ick...

My main problem this way so far seems to be the baby black dragons. Mostly because on top of melting my armor, their breath weapon does obscene damage for my level, and has a range of "Can it see you? Yes? Okay, it can hit you then." I have been far enough away from them that I can't see THEM anymore (even with my 40' infravision) and still gotten blasted by it. The "about 1 in 10 times" in the monster info is a steaming load of horse manure too, LOL. Even with MY terrible luck, the law of averages should mean that they were only doing it once every five turns or so, not 1 out of every 2.5. Anything available early on that works well for dragons, or am I going to have to resort to the "run away like a scared little girl" tactic?

[Philip]

For warriors, getting around a corner and waiting for them and then bashing them works. In V breath damage is based only on HP and resists. Melee damage is nasty, but can be suffered through. Mages just have to prioritize damage and hope they get them down fast enough.

[Derakon]

Alas, the only range limitations in the game are on the player (and then only when it comes to using bows and slings). Every other ranged attack has a range of just a couple tiles less than line-of-sight, so yep, if they can see you, then they can hit you. Manipulating line-of-sight is a big aspect of Angband's combat.

Dragons, even babies, are somewhat tough enemies; they're where you start learning the importance of a good offense. The faster you can take them down, the better. If you can't kill them quickly, then consider simply avoiding them; baby dragons do not give amazing rewards for killing them, and they're reasonably hard to wake up.

A warrior ought to be able to kill them quickly enough that they won't cause much harm, though.

[Nazghul]

You would think that, wouldn't you? I get 3.3 hits per round, for 1d5 + (whatever the strength bonus to damage is for a character with 18/40), but they seem to tank right through it, and keep breathing until I have to replace my full inventory. I think avoiding them may be the way to go, at least for now. Maybe I need to start splurging on backup armor whenever it's available in the shops, too. I haven't got a bow yet, but I do have a sling with iron shots which may help.

[Oramin]

For warriors, getting around a corner and waiting for them and then bashing them works. In V breath damage is based only on HP and resists. Melee damage is nasty, but can be suffered through. Mages just have to prioritize damage and hope they get them down fast enough.

Careful with that just around the corner thing. There's a LOS asymmetry so that if you are adjacent to the corner, something that is 2 squares away (so making a knight's move) can target you while you can't target the monster in return. The good thing is that you can take advantage of this yourself by stepping an additional square away from the corner and shooting monsters adjacent to the corner.