Obviously doing it wrong.

[mushroom patch]

I've got an older version. Rods of detection also properly detect objects.

If you guys think that bad object detection makes the game harder, I've got bad news for you...

[Derakon]

I've got an older version. Rods of detection also properly detect objects.

If you guys think that bad object detection makes the game harder, I've got bad news for you...

Heh. There was plenty of discussion on the forums before this change was made, believe me. The general consensus was that if players know what an item is (just as they know what the monsters in the area are), then it makes the risk/reward calculation too obvious, and rewards a scumming playstyle too strongly. I seem to recall you saying that there's no reason to ever leave the stairs, so presumably you're a big fan of scumming too...

Rogues get to keep perfect item detection mostly for flavor reasons. They sure don't need the help balance-wise, but it fits their nominally "sneaky" playstyle, even though Angband rogues are more like a cross between soldiers and assassins...

[mushroom patch]

Yeah, I get what you're saying, but the issue isn't the generation behavior (stair scumming), it's that you are never forced into encounters with monsters. Limiting information about objects forces the player to explore, but you can still avoid all encounters at zero cost, so the difference is in time spent, not in actual difficulty.

The real problem is the stealth model. I think it's a deep problem though, not something you can solve without fundamental changes to the game.

[Runaway1956]

Note that this looks bad, but it only looks that way. Single arrow doesn't do that much damage, but difference comes from the fact that Morgoth isn't doing much to you while you are shooting him.

You will need a lot of arrows though. Collect arrows with slay evil if you are using this tactic. That's the only slay that is effective against Morgoth.

At one point, I was collecting all the powerful arrows I could find, and warehousing those at home. Of course, with all the OTHER things I wanted to keep, I rapidly ran out of storage space. And, that led to a post about home size, and a rather long, continuing discussion there.

Yes, now that I know more about the game, I'd love to stockpile a lot of slay evil ammunition, but the game mechanics don't permit a lot of stockpiling at this time.

Experience is a good teacher though. With no change to game mechanics, I can do better in the future!

[Derakon]

Arrows can be carried more compactly on your person. Certainly some of them will be destroyed by enemy fire, but you should still be able to maintain a decent supply. If I had 40-50 Slay Evil arrows I'd consider myself well-equipped for Morgoth, though I'd want some backup offense.