A Few New Player Questions

[marlowe221]

I have a couple of quick questions.

1) How do you sell things in town? I can't seem to do it and my inventory gets awfully full. I know how to drop stuff off in my house but it would be nice to get a little coin!

2) What are the glowing things in the walls?

3) How do I tell if a given monster is likely to kill me so that I can run away before the inevitable monster-stays-right-behind-me-and-kills-me-on-the-way-back-to-the-stairs routine sets in?

4) Is there a rough guide for what my character level ought to be compared to the dungeon level that I am on?

5) Is there a way to save my options from character to character so that I don't have to reset them every time (I mean the options in the "=" menu)?

Any other new player tips? I have been playing Human and Dwarf Warriors. My highest character level so far is 12 and my deepest dungeon level so far is 9 (lost 2 characters on DL 9).

Thanks!

[Timo Pietilä]

I have a couple of quick questions.

1) How do you sell things in town? I can't seem to do it and my inventory gets awfully full. I know how to drop stuff off in my house but it would be nice to get a little coin!

2) What are the glowing things in the walls?

3) How do I tell if a given monster is likely to kill me so that I can run away before the inevitable monster-stays-right-behind-me-and-kills-me-on-the-way-back-to-the-stairs routine sets in?

4) Is there a rough guide for what my character level ought to be compared to the dungeon level that I am on?

5) Is there a way to save my options from character to character so that I don't have to reset them every time (I mean the options in the "=" menu)?

Any other new player tips? I have been playing Human and Dwarf Warriors. My highest character level so far is 12 and my deepest dungeon level so far is 9 (lost 2 characters on DL 9).

Thanks!

1) you don't. One of the recent changes was to turn on "no selling" as default. This frees your gaming a lot: if you find just plain better thing you can immediately ditch the inferior one and not bother it anymore. You also find yourself actually using things that you usually just carry for selling (wands, staves).

If you find this really bad (don't judge before properly trying), you can turn selling back on, but it is a birth-option so you would also need to start a new char to get that working.

2) don't know what you mean.

3) assume every new thing can kill you. Be faster than it is. Look at the description of it. Use probing.

4) No. Progress depends of your selected class/race and luck too much to give that raw advice. High speed - high CON chars can be a lot deeper than fragile slow chars.

5) Use same savefile multiple times. Options should stay same from game to game.

[Mondkalb]

1) "No selling" is a birth option, you can only change it for a new character. It is widely considered to be convenient, because in exchange you get more money in the dungeon (i. e. from monster drops and veins) and don't need to bother with taking lots of stuff back to town for selling.

2) These are veins (of metals and jewels). You can dig them out with a digging tool or even with your weapon if the character is strong enough. Dwarfs can sense surrounding veins.

3) If you dont know that you can kill a monster, you should generally assume that it can kill you. Therefore it is vital to have different means of escape (scrolls of phase door, scrolls and staffs of teleportation, scrolls of deep descent, wands of teleport other ...)

4) Character level = dungeon level should be okay for unexperienced players, but it depends on your equipment and other circumstances. Nothing is safe in Angband.

5) Don't start a new character every time, but load the file of your dead character to carry on with the settings.

Half troll warrior might be a bit easier for an unexperienced player.

Always detect what you can, always be ready to run (or phase door, my characters usually carry about 20 scrolls of phase door).
Have a means of healing (some potions of cure light/critical wounds, staff of cure light wounds).
Always be anxious that an unknown monster could kill your character.

edit
Got ninja'd ;-)

[Carnivean]

3) How do I tell if a given monster is likely to kill me so that I can run away before the inevitable monster-stays-right-behind-me-and-kills-me-on-the-way-back-to-the-stairs routine sets in?

If you're playing Angband 4.0.0 (the latest release) then Nick has included instructions to gain full monster knowledge. In previous versions there is a cheat option that is widely considered to be not cheating.

[quarague]

Humans are considered a relatively difficult race, they level up more quickly but otherwise get no bonuses. Half-trolls are a good choice, their natural regeneration is very helpful in the beginning. Playing warriors in the beginning is good to get to know the game, you don't have to worry about spell casting, spell books and mana yet, but in return get a more sturdy character.

If you want a very detailed guide, I can recommend

http://lparchive.org/Angband/

which contains fully described walkthroughs with 3 different characters.

How deep a char should be at a certain level is a delicate balance questions, the classic high risk/ high reward versus more careful play. The ideal depths strongly depends on your personal style of play, the particular character you have and the equipment found so far.
Just to put down some concrete number, my personal rule of thumb is char level = dungeon level up to level 20, then 2 more dungeon levels per char level, and from char level 35=dungeon level 50, just dive quickly to the botton at dungeon level 100. I think this is considered very aggressive and fast, use at your own risk :-)

[Jungle_Boy]

My personal rule for how deep to be is dungeon level equals hit points divided by 10. I found out about that rule on this site so I know others use it as well.

I also try to make sure I have free action and see invisible by around 1000 ft (level 20) and resist poison by 2000 ft (level 40).

I also second the recommendation to use a half troll warrior to get started. Once you get some experience you might find a dwarf priest easiest to win with. That is how I got my first win.

[marlowe221]

Thanks folks!

So far, char level = dungeon level has not been working out for me. Then again, I haven't been particularly lucky on gear drops either. My last character went down 5 levels before I found my first weapon and it was a mace. I ended up just buying one from the shop. Perhaps I should be a bit more aggressive with my purchasing!

Hit points divided by 10 sounds interesting, I will try that as a guide.

Regarding no selling - the default in 4.0 is cool with me. I was just confused by it but now that I know, I will not hesitate to dump my random crap on the dungeon floor or in my house.

If I load the save of a dead character does that lock me into the same race/class combo?

If you're playing Angband 4.0.0 (the latest release) then Nick has included instructions to gain full monster knowledge. In previous versions there is a cheat option that is widely considered to be not cheating.

Is this an option that I have to enable in the = menu?

[Carnivean]

If I load the save of a dead character does that lock me into the same race/class combo?

No, you'll have the option to keep the exact same stats (including an incremental name if you put an I or a 1 after it), or start from scratch.

Is this an option that I have to enable in the = menu?

Yes for 3.5.1 and earlier, and it can be done after you've started the game. For 4.0.0 it's a file that you copy and rename.

[marlowe221]

Yes for 3.5.1 and earlier, and it can be done after you've started the game. For 4.0.0 it's a file that you copy and rename.

Which file is it and what should it be called?

[Mondkalb]

Also, if you use the same file, you keep all information that the "ancestors" of your new character have gathered about monsters. The monster info will get more and more accurate over time. Note, that there are also staffs and rods of probing, which will provide you with all available informations about all monsters in line of sight.

[Derakon]

So far, char level = dungeon level has not been working out for me.

This is not really surprising, as there are 100 dungeon levels and the max character level is 50.

Warriors, rogues, and paladins should all put most if not all of their stat points into STR and DEX, and then buy a dagger or whip. High STR/DEX gives you multiple blows/round with lightweight weapons, which is significantly more effective than a single blow with a heavy weapon.

[Ingwe Ingweron]

Which file is it and what should it be called?

To obtain full monster knowledge from the get-go, show package contents of the Angband.app and duplicate monster.txt from the contents/resources/lib/gamedata directory. Move the duplicate file to the Documents/Angband directory and replace the lore.txt file there with the duplicate file (renamed as lore.txt). These instructions are for Mac OSX. Windows will have a little different directory structure, but the process is the same.

[marlowe221]

This is not really surprising, as there are 100 dungeon levels and the max character level is 50.

Warriors, rogues, and paladins should all put most if not all of their stat points into STR and DEX, and then buy a dagger or whip. High STR/DEX gives you multiple blows/round with lightweight weapons, which is significantly more effective than a single blow with a heavy weapon.

Oh, that is good to know. I have read some of the manual for game but I didn't see that - I clearly need to read the rest of it.

To obtain full monster knowledge from the get-go, show package contents of the Angband.app and duplicate monster.txt from the contents/resources/lib/gamedata directory. Move the duplicate file to the Documents/Angband directory and replace the lore.txt file there with the duplicate file (renamed as lore.txt). These instructions are for Mac OSX. Windows will have a little different directory structure, but the process is the same.

Thanks!

[marlowe221]

Just thought I would post an update. After taking the great advice I got here, I took a Dwarf Fighter to Character Level 26 and Dungeon Level 29.

I realize, of course, that there is a LOT more to this game but I feel pretty good about making it nearly 30 levels in the dungeon on only my third character.

I had a lot of close calls in this run but managed to think my way through them pretty well. In the end, a Word of Recall scroll teleported me to a location on floor 29 that was only a few spaces away from a 5-headed Hydra. I had no fear resist, add in a few more mobs for good measure and that was all she wrote.

I have learned:

1. Sometimes Phase Door loves me, sometimes it hates me.

2. Fear resist is important!

3. Always run away from a Hydra

4. A Word of Recall scroll will not hesitate to teleport you into the middle of a group of terrible monsters.

Another question: Another resists I should be keeping an eye out for?

[tumbleweed]

3. Always run away from a Hydra

The more heads she has, the faster you run!