Ring of Power, Narya

[Runaway1956]

Found one of the rings. I had grown used to being exceedingly fast with two nice rings of speed. But, I dropped a speed ring for Narya. Nice stat boosts, and it also gives a +5 to speed. Not a bad deal. Since then, I found a Ring of Speed +14, gaining back some of the speed I had given up. Speed now is +22, and haste self brings it up to 32. Community wisdom here seems to indicate that +30 is adequate for all occassions, so I'm good on that!

Of course, some of my other armor is redundant now - like a Helm of Seeing.

I really need protection from aether. Every time I meet a pack of aether hounds, it's a desparate fight to the death! What do I need for that? Does stability cover that?


Updated my character on the ladder - anyone can take a look at current stats. http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=17466

[Ingwe Ingweron]

Aether hounds breath all manner of stuff, best to avoid them entirely.

On your @, I'd be concerned about the lack of rElectricity, rNexus, and rConfusion. I'd choose Arvedui over the dwarven armor, gaining 3 currently uncovered resistances.

Also, you recognize that the gauntlets of combat come with Aggravation so your stealth is worthless and you're waking everything up? I usually only use aggravation items in the last two fights, unless I find the One Ring or Deathwreaker or other such super-powerful item that carries Aggravation. Plus those Cestus of Power look pretty good, maybe even giving better damage.

As a ranger, I usually don't bother carrying or even storing Raals or Keleks. Not enough of the spells are available to make them worth carrying, in my opinion. I'd also store those ?Mass Banishment at home until the battle with Morgoth.

If you make a few better choices with equipment, again that's only better in my opinion, then you could dive to DL98 and look for some consumables for the final fights, ?Banishment, !Healing and !*Healing*, maybe some Acid and Slay Evil or Holy Might arrows. Also read those ?Acquirement and ?*Acquirement*, they're not doing you any good sitting at home.

With some more consumables in hand, you should be ready to take on the bosses right away.

[DeusIrae]

"Aether" isn't an element -- aether hounds (and vortices) IIRC have all possible breath weapons, including the stuff you can't resist like time, gravity, and inertia. Not very fun, and better avoided if you can swing it.

ETA: Holy cats, are you really running around Dlvl 85ish without poison resistance? Are you casting resistance continually to cover it, or just making sure you're very careful about detecting poison breathers before they get close? Either way, you're way braver than I...

[Runaway1956]

Aether hounds breath all manner of stuff, best to avoid them entirely.

On your @, I'd be concerned about the lack of rElectricity, rNexus, and rConfusion. I'd choose Arvedui over the dwarven armor, gaining 3 currently uncovered resistances.

Also, you recognize that the gauntlets of combat come with Aggravation so your stealth is worthless and you're waking everything up? I usually only use aggravation items in the last two fights, unless I find the One Ring or Deathwreaker or other such super-powerful item that carries Aggravation. Plus those Cestus of Power look pretty good, maybe even giving better damage.

As a ranger, I usually don't bother carrying or even storing Raals or Keleks. Not enough of the spells are available to make them worth carrying, in my opinion. I'd also store those ?Mass Banishment at home until the battle with Morgoth.

If you make a few better choices with equipment, again that's only better in my opinion, then you could dive to DL98 and look for some consumables for the final fights, ?Banishment, !Healing and !*Healing*, maybe some Acid and Slay Evil or Holy Might arrows. Also read those ?Acquirement and ?*Acquirement*, they're not doing you any good sitting at home.

With some more consumables in hand, you should be ready to take on the bosses right away.

The magic books in inventory are just what I've found since my last trip home. I was hoarding them at home - but your post makes me question whether I really need to. Likewise with the banishment scrolls - I've been hoarding them in anticipation of the final fights. What I have on my person now, is just what I've found since leaving home.

The stealth and aggravation thing, maybe I didn't understand it. I kinda figured they canceled out. Is that not so?


Arvedui - sounds good to me. I wasn't willing to discard it, but I wanted to test this dwarven armor for awhile. I'll go back to Arvedui.

Acquirement - agree. I was trying to wait until I got to lvl 90. That's why I have some stored at home - didn't want to waste them on levels 50 through 80.

It was my intent to return home when I ran out of arrows, but I found this killer crossbow, and I keep finding enough arrows and/or bolts to keep going deeper. One of those never-ending quest things, LOL.

Thanks for the advice!!

[Runaway1956]

"Aether" isn't an element -- aether hounds (and vortices) IIRC have all possible breath weapons, including the stuff you can't resist like time, gravity, and inertia. Not very fun, and better avoided if you can swing it.

ETA: Holy cats, are you really running around Dlvl 85ish without poison resistance? Are you casting resistance continually to cover it, or just making sure you're very careful about detecting poison breathers before they get close? Either way, you're way braver than I...

Actually, I had poison resistance when I started this dive. Armor got damaged, and I dropped it for better armor, without realizing that I was also dumping poison resistance. DUHHHH! Those are the kinds of decisions that lead to YASD posts, right? And, I thought that I was being pretty careful!

[Derakon]

Aggravation cancels out stealth; stealth does not cancel aggravation. Having aggravation on basically means that you are as unstealthy as possible; every monster will wake up on the first turn it gets once you get within some large radius of it (28 or 30 tiles, I think).

[Ingwe Ingweron]

...The stealth and aggravation thing, maybe I didn't understand it. I kinda figured they canceled out. Is that not so? ....

Aggravation overrides stealth, they do not cancel each other out. I.e., aggravation basically makes stealth worthless. However, when @ is powerful it's just fine for things to be attracted to @ so you don't have to chase them down.

[mushroom patch]

You never want aggravation, no matter how good the item is. Aggravation is only okay if you're fighting Morgoth or Sauron or in weird situations where there's nothing on the level but one monster and you really want kill it for some reason (this usually means you're doing something wrong). Nothing is more powerful than the ability not to wake up monsters.

Also, am I reading this dump right? 1.1 MILLION turns? o.0

You could have won this game about a million turns ago. You need to stop drinking your *heals* for about 2,000 turns, collect some banishment/mass banishment scrolls, then go kill Morgoth. Your current melee weapon will kill him easily (that's a nice weapon, btw). There's no point in using *heals* in fights with small fry (i.e. monsters that aren't Morgoth or Sauron), it just draws out the endgame. Use !healing.

[Estie]

killer crossbow

For a highlevel ranger, a crossbow will basically never trump a bow.

[Ingwe Ingweron]

You never want aggravation, no matter how good the item is.....

I don't agree. Aggravation is perfectly fine if @ is powerful enough. Try the comp where @ was a hobbit with the One Ring right from the start. Lot's of winners and with aggravation the entire time.

[mushroom patch]

I don't say that you can't win with aggravation. I'm saying that it will make winning unnecessarily difficult. Of course, the game is easy enough that you can win it with all kinds of handicaps. That doesn't mean it's a good idea to accept handicaps. No items that generate with aggravation are good enough not to be a handicap, except in narrow situations, like the fights with Morgoth and Sauron.

[Ingwe Ingweron]

I don't say that you can't win with aggravation. I'm saying that it will make winning unnecessarily difficult. Of course, the game is easy enough that you can win it with all kinds of handicaps. That doesn't mean it's a good idea to accept handicaps. No items that generate with aggravation are good enough not to be a handicap, except in narrow situations, like the fights with Morgoth and Sauron.

I suppose this is just one of those times where we will have to agree to disagree. I don't find aggravation to be a handicap if @ happens to have found the One Ring, or Deathwreaker and is otherwise well equipped. In those cases I find aggravation to be a benefit. The monsters come to me for their slaughter, @ experience goes up that much faster and I can get to the final fights with a lower turncount. But, in most situations you are correct.

[Runaway1956]

Also, am I reading this dump right? 1.1 MILLION turns? o.0

I dunno - a million turns? That's what it says alright. Hmmmm -

I entered this dungeon not *really* knowing what I was doing. I never got to dlvl 50 before. I'm not sure I ever reached clvl 30 before. I kinda rushed through the first ~15 dlvls, killing everything I met. At some point, I realized I had a pretty good character, and started clearing dungeons slowly and methodically - and I'm where you see me now.

A MILLION turns? Heck, I ain't been countin'! It might be half a million more before I finish. I guess you could say that I'm hunting uniques now. I've been lucky so far - Maeglin for instance. I spotted him, and used the game spoilers to learn everything I could about him. Fought him for a bit, and TO'd him away, thinking I wasn't really ready for him. He came back at me quickly, but I had time to inhale a healing potion, cast shield, and haste self again - I fired missiles until he was right on top of me, then hacked away at him. I was REALLY getting worried near the end, but he dropped dead while I still had about 150 hitpoints.

Then, I wandered through the levels waiting to see another unique.

I guess a million turns, if the game says so!

[mushroom patch]

I suppose this is just one of those times where we will have to agree to disagree. I don't find aggravation to be a handicap if @ happens to have found the One Ring, or Deathwreaker and is otherwise well equipped. In those cases I find aggravation to be a benefit. The monsters come to me for their slaughter, @ experience goes up that much faster and I can get to the final fights with a lower turncount. But, in most situations you are correct.

It often seems to me that most people here have a much wilder and woollier playstyle than I have. Spending time luring and killing every monster on a level, maneuvering around them, or dealing with them in the open, risking summons, etc. doesn't appeal to me and it certainly doesn't help you win.

As gamebreakingly powerful as weapons like deathwreaker and doomcaller are if used properly, it's just not the case that you're better off walking around the dungeon taking on all comers with them instead of slinking around with a decent ego weapon. It's a recipe for inexperienced players to screw up an insanely lucky run on dlvl 62. "OMG, I just got my best character ever killed by a ten Ds summoned by a great wyrm of balance! I didn't even see them until I started getting the breath messages! Why can't I just walk around killing everything I see with my 1080 damage per turn against dragons???"

[Nick]

It often seems to me that most people here have a much wilder and woollier playstyle than I have.

It always seems to me that no-one plays the game like I do, or even like each other do (if you take my meaning). IMHO it's a feature