Thoughts from a noob

[Duin]

I'm just trying Angband out, having recently had a go at Nethack and DCSS. After a few early failures, I'm now making a bit of progress and I thought it might be interesting to share some initial thoughts, and useful to ask a few questions.

http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=17978

I've reached the stage where inventory management seems to be a big part of the game. Perhaps I'm holding on to too much junk but most of the time I have no free space in my inventory or my home. I'm guessing there's not a lot of point in keeping many consumables in my home because I'm just not using them. I quite like being forced to make a decision about what to keep and what to dump, though it's a bit worrying at times.

A while back (650') I found Sting and up until recently that's been way better than anything else I've found. However, presumably because my str and dex are going up, I've now reached the point where the Scimitar 'Haradekket' deals more damage. My problem is that Sting was providing free action so I guess I need to just keep ploughing on with Sting until I find an alternative free action.

From what I've gathered, I think I need to be looking for potions to increase my stats. It's a bit tricky knowing what does what though as some clearly drain another stat. Should I just go for anything that appears to increase con, dex or str?

The last few levels have been a bit easy and dull, should I be diving faster now? Or is this just an inevitable grind setting in?

[Nick]

I've reached the stage where inventory management seems to be a big part of the game. Perhaps I'm holding on to too much junk but most of the time I have no free space in my inventory or my home. I'm guessing there's not a lot of point in keeping many consumables in my home because I'm just not using them. I quite like being forced to make a decision about what to keep and what to dump, though it's a bit worrying at times.

There are quite a few things you can safely dump:

• !CLW, !CSW, rods and staves of Curing - just carry !CCW
• !Boldness - you have pFear from Sting, and as a warrior will get innate pFear at CL30
• Food or ?SatisfyHunger, not both
• First to go from your home should be the wands and rods
• Also all the rings and amulets can go, except for the CON ring which may be worth wearing now or later (see how it affects your HP)
• Identify that crossbow - it's probably better than your current bow even with plain bolts

A while back (650') I found Sting and up until recently that's been way better than anything else I've found. However, presumably because my str and dex are going up, I've now reached the point where the Scimitar 'Haradekket' deals more damage. My problem is that Sting was providing free action so I guess I need to just keep ploughing on with Sting until I find an alternative free action.

Yes, that's a fairly simple choice now. Later on the choices and tradeoffs will get more interesting.

From what I've gathered, I think I need to be looking for potions to increase my stats. It's a bit tricky knowing what does what though as some clearly drain another stat. Should I just go for anything that appears to increase con, dex or str?

Potions named just after the stat are pure increase. The others are gain one lose one - as a warrior, stay away from Intellect and Contemplation, you may want to roll the dice with the others.

The last few levels have been a bit easy and dull, should I be diving faster now? Or is this just an inevitable grind setting in?

You can certainly go deeper. The main things you need to watch for are confusion (use !CCW, and be on the look out for a source of pConf) and poison breathers (until you get rPois). Keep detecting, pick your fights, and be prepared to bail out if you're losing.

[Estie]

[*]!CLW, !CSW, rods and staves of Curing - just carry !CCW

I dont know when you last played this game, but !CCW are RARE. If you want to use one every time you get poisoned, be prepared to do a lot of town store refreshing by resting on dlvl1.

I have complained about this more than once. Poison is annoying in that it disables resting; I cant recall when I last died from the dot, its never dangerous, it just interrupts the flow of play. Back when !CCW were plentifull, that was not an issue. It is now.

[Derakon]

CSW and CCW are both worthwhile for clearing status ailments, and CCW can be used for fairly rapid HP recovery (just read a phase door first so you aren't eating attacks while you drink potions). CLW is pretty awful because it doesn't clear all status ailments, and rods/staves of Curing are awful because they have failure rates and thus aren't guaranteed to work.

In any case I wouldn't stockpile these potions at home. The ones you want to keep some of at home are Healing and *Healing*, Life, and Speed, since you'll want those for the last fights in the game -- though there's enough Healing potions in the game to carry some with you for emergencies as well.

[Madoka]

Thanks that's some interesting advice. I didn't know rods were that frowned upon...I sorta liked the infinite use aspect. I'm thinking that it's due to the failure rate?

[Thraalbee]

Not all rods are useless, especially for warriors. Rods of detection are great for detecting traps, treasure and monsters - all in one. And if you play ironman (no return to town) rods of curing are ofthen essential for a warrior to cure posion/confuse/blind without consuming potions.
Rods of healing and speed are very nice too but rare until late in the game.
Rods of identify are also useful but somewhat rare when you really want them and may be hard to activate for a warrior.

[Derakon]

Thanks that's some interesting advice. I didn't know rods were that frowned upon...I sorta liked the infinite use aspect. I'm thinking that it's due to the failure rate?

It's the failure rate, yeah. Typically when you're blinded or confused, you need to cure it now. And CSW/CCW potions aren't so hard to come by that you'd risk not curing your status ailments just to avoid using a potion.

Get in the habit of using your consumables; there are some that you should save for the endgame, but you won't make it to the endgame if you don't drink potions on your way there.

[Ingwe Ingweron]

...Get in the habit of using your consumables; there are some that you should save for the endgame, but you won't make it to the endgame if you don't drink potions on your way there.

-- Lance Armstrong on the merits of EPO. lol.

[Madoka]

It's the failure rate, yeah. Typically when you're blinded or confused, you need to cure it now. And CSW/CCW potions aren't so hard to come by that you'd risk not curing your status ailments just to avoid using a potion.

Get in the habit of using your consumables; there are some that you should save for the endgame, but you won't make it to the endgame if you don't drink potions on your way there.

LOL. You're right as the deepest I've ever made it was about L55.

[Duin]

Thanks for the advice. I've cleared out my home and certainly made a lot of extra space. I have over 20 !CCW so the !CLWs do seem a bit pointless. I haven't had anything that needed curing yet, except for occasional poison and that seems to sort itself out. I haven't received a lethal dose yet! I'll just use the CCWs when I need them.

I've dived a bit deeper and I'm meeting a few more tricky things now. Just had a close encounter with a room full of Storm Giants.

[marlowe221]

As another n00b, I can say that there is a TON of good advice in this thread!

Thanks folks!