Winning, Randarts and other thoughts

[Egavactip]

I just won with MagicBoy, my human mage, mana-storming Morgoth into non-existence. It was my fourth true win overall and my third win in a row (following wins by HolyBoy the Dunadan Paladin in September and RobbyBoy the Dwarf Rogue in October).

It took me forever to get my first true win (I am a good tactician but sometimes clumsy on my keystrokes, which can come back to haunt you), but now I have had three back to back. I don't know how common or uncommon that is.

In a lot of ways, I think this was my best-played victory, because my character didn't always have the best of equipment, but the score doesn't reflect it, because the score seems to be only based on experience points. This doesn't seem right to me. It seems to me that one's score should be based on the number of turns it takes, with the fewer the better. Perhaps with adjustments for race/class.

I've uploaded these last three wins into the ladder, two with this account and one accidentally with an e-mail address. These were my first ladder experiences. In browsing other characters on the ladder, I was struck by how many people on the ladder were not using randarts.

This made me curious. To me, using randarts is one of the things that makes the game re-playable. I would get bored with Angband if every playing had the same set of items. I kind of assumed that everybody would gravitate to randarts after a certain period of time, but this does not seem to be the case. Anybody have any idea why?

I will say that I do not like the fact that in this newer version of Angband, squelched items that you buy at a shop stay in your inventory rather than disappearing. This makes it much more time-consuming to buy out a store and get the inventory refreshed.

I also really really wish that someone would finally make it so that you can pick up x number of arrows or bolts off the ground instead of only the whole damn bundle.

[Ingwe Ingweron]

I will say that I do not like the fact that in this newer version of Angband, squelched items that you buy at a shop stay in your inventory rather than disappearing. This makes it much more time-consuming to buy out a store and get the inventory refreshed.

I also really really wish that someone would finally make it so that you can pick up x number of arrows or bolts off the ground instead of only the whole damn bundle.

If you step outside the store and off of its doorway before ignoring the item, you won't have the problem of the item staying in the inventory.

Love the idea of being able to pick up a number of missiles from the floor rather than the whole bundle. That's a question for Nick as to whether there's a way to code that.

Congrats on the win! Winning with a mage is hard, at least it is for me. Good job!

As for "score", I don't think anyone pays any attention to that. For competition purposes, the metric is usually the Winner in least number of standard turns, or if no Winner, then the highest experience/standard turns.

I've stuck pretty much to the standarts for awhile, mostly for the consistency and balance of the items, while pursuing a quest for a win with every race/class combination. Although, I step out of that for competitions if the comp is randart. Once finished with the quest, though, I will probable never do standarts again - unless they are standarts in a competition. I suspect you see mostly standarts on the ladder entries because they tend to be balanced, whereas a randart game can be surprisingly excellent, or horribly abysmal.

[Bogatyr]

I also really really wish that someone would finally make it so that you can pick up x number of arrows or bolts off the ground instead of only the whole damn bundle.

OMG, yes please! Also, "fill quiver from ground" command where you don't have to bother with manually counting, it will pick up as many arrows as your quiver and inventory can manage, without dropping any other inventory items.

[Egavactip]

If you step outside the store and off of its doorway before ignoring the item, you won't have the problem of the item staying in the inventory.

Typically I will have ignored the item some 30 levels ago, so that's not really an option.

It used to be that if you bought an ignored item it would automatically disappear. Now you actually get the damn thing you bought.

[Carnivean]

Typically I will have ignored the item some 30 levels ago, so that's not really an option.

It used to be that if you bought an ignored item it would automatically disappear. Now you actually get the damn thing you bought.

The code can't drop items in stores. The next time after you're out of the store that you have an inventory event (drop, pickup, squelch) it will process the items that were marked to be dropped. It's not an intended feature.

[Raccoon]

I find the idea of competing for lowest turns to be kind of weird, if only because it puts spellcasters at a huge disadvantage with their need to regen SP all the time to do anything.

As for artifacts, standard artifacts are great because you're guaranteed to get all the resistances you need, eventually. Randarts could potentially screw you over, and Angband is too long of a game and has too much reliance on covering all of your resists for me to just be okay with that.

Then again I'm a nooblord and never win anyway, so... )

[bio_hazard]

Not just the quiver- I've run into the problem with consumables as well.

Standarts are like old friends. I usually start there if I haven't played for a while.

[Ingwe Ingweron]

I find the idea of competing for lowest turns to be kind of weird, if only because it puts spellcasters at a huge disadvantage with their need to regen SP all the time to do anything.

Apples should be compared to apples, not apples to oranges. I.e., in competition, everyone starts with the same savefile.

[Raccoon]

Apples should be compared to apples, not apples to oranges. I.e., in competition, everyone starts with the same savefile.

OH! I thought it was just any race/class, just see who could get the fewest turns.

[Timo Pietilä]

OH! I thought it was just any race/class, just see who could get the fewest turns.

I don't think anyone can beat the legendary 100k win that someone did few years ago. That's game turns btw, not player turns. Beyond insanely fast win. That guy was half-thru the game at the point where I wonder should I buy that short bow or not with beginning gear.

[Egavactip]

The code can't drop items in stores. The next time after you're out of the store that you have an inventory event (drop, pickup, squelch) it will process the items that were marked to be dropped. It's not an intended feature.

All I am saying is it requires more steps now than it used to.

[Egavactip]

I find the idea of competing for lowest turns to be kind of weird, if only because it puts spellcasters at a huge disadvantage with their need to regen SP all the time to do anything.

As for artifacts, standard artifacts are great because you're guaranteed to get all the resistances you need, eventually. Randarts could potentially screw you over, and Angband is too long of a game and has too much reliance on covering all of your resists for me to just be okay with that.

Then again I'm a nooblord and never win anyway, so... )

Angband could screw you over every time you press a key--the dungeon layout is random, the monsters are random, etc. Randarts are often the least of your worries.

[Estie]

Squeleched items not getting autodropped as they used to on shop doors annyos the hell out of me, too. I usually squelch after browsing shops, realize I forgot again to do a step, manually drop (with confirmation) the affected items, and even if I do remember to step, its one unneccessary step too many. Along with the new quiver management, its another "more clicks that werent necessary before" situation. Why this tendency ?

[Rowan]

Squeleched items not getting autodropped as they used to on shop doors annyos the hell out of me, too.

I'm gonna be really unpopular here, but I kinda love that it doesn't auto-drop in shops/home. It allows you to:

1- Buy a squelched item and then inscribe it. (Example- you squelch all prayer books but the ones you are carrying. Then one gets burned. You have to buy a replacement, but it's squelched. Now you can buy it without dropping and having to unignore and find it outside).

2- Carry stockpiled squelched items from home to a store for selling (Example- you stockpile potions of cure minor, then you find an abundance of cure serious and squelch all cure minor. Now you can sell your 93 cure minors without toggling unignore or dropping them as soon as you pick them up).

3- Choose what you want to squelch, but still sell it. Can't remember which type of wand sells for the most money? Bring them all back, check the sell price, squelch the worthless one, then sell all.

These aren't gonna match everyone's playing style, but there are some benefits, so it's not like it just inconveniences everyone and has zero reason to be there.

Also, it doesn't seem like a huge adjustment. Every other tile in the game you can still squelch and autodrop.

[Derakon]

The reason it's a big adjustment is that they're buying out the store's entire inventory (which consists almost entirely of items they do not want) to force the store to restock its inventory and hopefully stock the one item they do want. Doing this becomes a lot more tedious if they have to leave the store interface to actually get rid of all those squelched items they bought.

Whether you agree with the idea of buying out the store's inventory or not, the current UI for doing so is kind of awful.