[YACD,Newbie] A few questions

[Timo Pietilä]

Indeed it does.

My first reaction to that was "FAngband has odd symbol for rubble".

Then realized that those all are umber hulks.

um, run. RUN!

[Emperor]

Full again!

Thanks for all the advice - I followed it, and things have gone reasonably well since, but I have too much stuff again. The DSM is good for the damage-dealing, but I think the speed from my current armour is better...

[dump still at http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=17617 ]

Scatha was quite easy, as he appeared in an empty bit of level so I could phase-door and keep shooting him...

[MattB]

Thanks for all the advice - I followed it, and things have gone reasonably well since, but I have too much stuff again. The DSM is good for the damage-dealing, but I think the speed from my current armour is better...

[dump still at http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=17617 ]

Scatha was quite easy, as he appeared in an empty bit of level so I could phase-door and keep shooting him...

I would say:

a) Squelch the Ring of Accuracy - they're pointless.
b) Store the potions of Helaing at home for later - you've only got 183HP for crying out loud!
c) Get rid of both of your dsms - Thalkettoth is way better. And you're not going to be using their activations if they're in your house!
d) Chuck the rings of INT and STR that are in your home. You'll soon find better ones.
e) The whip of *slay* animal is useless, unless you never melee anyone. Ever.
f) There's very limited utility in storing ammo in your home, unless it's reallt special (Holy Might arrows, for instance).

Hope that helps, and have fun!

[Emperor]

More loot!

I should probably get over my fear of ditching artifacts - home full of them again - http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=17617

I recently ran away from The Mouth of Sauron (28 levels ood) and the Lernean Hydra, both in the same room! Well, I teleported them away, but you get the idea :-)

Should I be going deeper? I still don't have rPoison except from the spell and CON is pretty poor still, but it would be nice to get some more of the dungeon books.

Now a pile of wibble about what gear to keep & ditch...

Aglarang still seems like the best melee weapon, since +5 speed is pretty handy. But Ulmo's rnether and sustains and regen might make it a good swap to carry? Taratol's immAcid is nice, but I can't see it's worth keeping (ditto Azaghal, though immfire is more useful). I think I should just trash Narthanc, Anguirel (aggravates), and the defender & Westernesse weapons as they're never going to be better than Aglarang or Ulmo?

Missile-wise, I should probably ditch the +7 +10 arrows to spare the slot, since the Wounding ones are better. While the branded arrows are good, I tend to use missiles on monsters that resist my decent spells, so maybe I shouldn't bother with them? At home, it seems worth keeping the crossbow, but perhaps only the seeker bolts beside, as normal bolts aren't going to be better than my current arrows unless I find a much better crossbow

Elendil doesn't seem much use for a High Elf (I already get see invisible), and I don't use magic mapping much, as it makes it harder to remember which bits of a level I've explored.

The rods of Probing are obviously non-essential, but they're good for populating my monster memory. telOther seems like a sensible back-up in case I can't cast the spell? The other rods+wands are probably ditchable (except drain life), I think?

A lot of the armor seems like it'd be plausible swaps to cover some other resistances (or make sure I can still have free action), but I guess Anarion is always going to be better than an elvenkind shield (which just gains me rDark)? I'm less sure about the head-gear - rSound could be handy...

[Monkey Face]

I would say go deeper but detect frequently and pick your fights carefully.

As far as your equipment goes, here are my suggestions:

1. Drop the potions of speed. They are redundant with the spell which you should cast whenever it expires. Also always keep the resistance spell cast.
2. Use the Star rather than the Phial. You can light with the spell so you can use the Star for mapping which you don't have as a spell.
3. Carry the crown of serenity as a swap. There are situations where protection from stunning is more important than blindness protection.
4. I would probably wield Anguirel. It costs 2 speed but gains 2 con which right now is your biggest weakness.
5. Defender and Westernesse aren't necessary to hold on to. You have other sources of FA (hopefully finding gloves soon as well) and you have innate SI. You probably also don't need to hold on to Narthanc. The spell from it doesn't outweigh the Con and/or Speed from other weapons.

[Cold_Heart]

Drop and all of the ammo and all ranged weapons. You are a mage - you are a ranged weapon. Only wear a shooter if it gives stats.

Also you don't need a ring of strength. Your rings are either con + int, con + speed, speed + ring of power or 2x power.

Also I'd drop aggravate sword and swap artifact shield for elvenkind one, since it gives stealth and is probably much lighter. But idk, if you love your sustains, this idea might be not for you.

[Emperor]

Drop and all of the ammo and all ranged weapons. You are a mage - you are a ranged weapon. Only wear a shooter if it gives stats.

True up to a point, but there are plenty of monsters with rBase, where ~100 HP from arrows is much more damage than ~18 from magic missile!

Also I'd drop aggravate sword and swap artifact shield for elvenkind one, since it gives stealth and is probably much lighter. But idk, if you love your sustains, this idea might be not for you.

I have plenty of spare weight capacity right now, and not a lot of access to restore-drained-stats, which is why I'm using the sustain shield.

Thanks