The state of things

[Apostlyte]

Good eve to you all!

So, about me!

I was 16 when I bought my first used modem, it was a 2400 baud. Then I pretty quickly found a bulletin board and downloaded Moria. It was one megabyte and it took 2 days to download! It was amazing. I loved the fact that I could put it on a 3.5" floppy and play it at school.

Over the years, I have come back to the game multiple times in many different formats and each time a definite itch has been scratched. I have never done quite as well as I did on that original download, met Balrog and never lived to tell the tale.

Okay, so now, that itch had come back and I downloaded Angband, the android build, to play on my chrome book. I am having the typical leveling issues, 8th as a dwarven priest is as high as I have been able to get. That is also the ONLY character I have been able to find ANY special drops. Boots of (+2,+5) and a zind wand of treasure location.

So here is my question, is the current build really this stingy on drops? Or is there something somewhere I need to adjust? Deepest I have been is 150' and I have been paying very close attention to the level feelings and I get 95% of the time 'cobwebs.'

I am enjoying the game, but dang, the drops! I will say this too... There are not many drops at all. Even the common stuff.

[Derakon]

Welcome back!

You're not going to find much good at 150', that's for sure. The game's been adjusted massively since the old days, so much so that I can't really characterize how it's different. Instead I'd just advise you to dive more. Good gear is much more likely to spawn deeper in the dungeon.

Rather than try to base your depth on your gear, base your depth on how safe you feel -- with the target level of safety being "uncomfortably worried about survival." If you think you're safe, ever, you're just deluding yourself, so better to feel in danger of your life, because that way at least you're more aware of the threats. Plus of course you get better gear. Which means you can dive more!

If you want a more explicit rule of thumb, the game is (theoretically) roughly calibrated so that a character that clears every dungeon level once will be well-equipped for the endgame. It's entirely possible to skip several levels and still be able to win (I believe people have won ironman games where each down staircase took them down 2 levels, for example, though I couldn't quote any examples at you). But there should be no need, normally, to replay a specific dungeon level.

[Apostlyte]

The decently equipped 8th level Priest was one shotted by an acid spitting naga. It lead me to rethink my starting class.

So the theory is to complete each level and progress and you should scale appropriately level and equipment wise?

[Carnivean]

There is no need, but some substantial risk, in clearing each level. A simple gameplay style is to take the first stairs down that you come across, unless you see some loot that is desirable and easy.

Try this with a Half-Troll warrior or a High-Elf rogue.

[Ingwe Ingweron]

This post http://angband.oook.cz/forum/showthread.php?p=107826, contains my two cents about clearing every level (laying siege) versus deep diving (alpine speed). Welcome back!

[kandrc]

The decently equipped 8th level Priest was one shotted by an acid spitting naga. It lead me to rethink my starting class.

Priest is actually a good choice. Some argue that dwarf priest is the biggest badass in the game. My dwarf priest start would look something like this:

Allocate 12 points to WIS and 8 to STR. Buy PB1 and PB2, scroll of WoR. Buy about 5 !CLW, about 10 ?phase door, 3 food, 3 torches, and as many flasks of oil as I can carry without being burdened. I never buy armor in starting kit. I might forgo scrolls, potions, oil, PB2, and even WoR for the right weapon (but with the way pricing has changed, not sure if this is still true), then dive ironman mode until I find ?WoR.

Enter the dungeon. Pick up what you find. Always equip the best thing you find in each slot, including weapon (which implies pointy penalty for priest!). When you find a down stair, quaff one of each new potion, read one of each new scroll, and squelch the garbage.

Damage to start will be bare handed and oil. Use prayer to increase to-hit.

Take only one prayer at level 7 (you'll get 2) and none at 8. This will give you 3 prayers at level 9 to guarantee orb when you get PB3. Return to town when you have CL9 and at least about 1000 gold. I'll typically be DL 15-ish (depending on whether or not I found ?deep descent). Typical kit at this point might be a robe, a pair of boots, some garbage ring, maybe a lantern. This takes about 15 minutes of real time.

If I get lucky to find PB3, I'll stay down much longer, perhaps to DL 30 or 40, depending on what consumables I find.

Back in town, buy PB3 and gain orb. Stock up to at least 2 ?WoR (I like to leave town with 4, but I'll go with 2 if I'm poor or there's something else to spend my money on). Search for +WIS gear. Free action and see invis are also useful. Anything else is not worth the money. If I have anything left, I like to have 15 ?phase and 10 healing potions, CCW if possible, CSW or CLW if it has to be. It's very, very rare that I can afford a staff of teleportation before I find one, and there are usually better things to spend the money on, anyway, like CCW.

At this point, unequip any point weapon (unless you found something amazing). You'll be looking for a good blunt or blessed weapon and sticking with that until you get your WIS up, and killing mainly with orb.

Priest is almost unstoppable with orb and some WIS. Biggest issue is detection and hounds, but they are much better than they used to be. Biggest killer of priests (and all classes) is player blunders.

[Derakon]

The decently equipped 8th level Priest was one shotted by an acid spitting naga. It lead me to rethink my starting class.

Priests are quite strong once they get the Orb of Draining spell and a decent mana pool, but they do have a pretty slow start. If you're still getting the hang of the game, pick one of warrior/paladin/rogue, and put most of your stat points into STR and DEX. Then you'll be able to equip a lightweight weapon like a dagger and get multiple blows/round, which vastly improves your damage output because each blow gets your full damage bonus (from STR and weapon enchantments).

I bet your priest was doing something like 2d4+1 damage in melee (if using a mace and having a mediocre STR score). And they probably weren't hitting super-reliably either. A half-troll warrior can readily be doing 3d4+9 or so, using a dagger, and hitting a lot more reliably too.

Don't be afraid to play warriors just because they don't have magic. The game's still perfectly fun without it.

[Apostlyte]

WOW! Thanks for all the replies, guys and gals!

I usually ONLY play wizards. I can not help myself, I love me some unlimited identify... HA!

Dwarf Priest is a bad ass. AND you get to tunnel for riches. I got a ruby cash pretty shallow the other day and it was forth a lot! I was rolling and went 18 STR and 18/30 WIS. Damage was decent.

@kandrc, I am going to give that a shot, 15 minutes for all that? Amazing! So, squelch all trash, what does that look like exactly and where do I grab it in the menu? Does that mean you only get plus items despite the fact they are not identified right away? What mobs do you automaticly avoid?

[Apostlyte]

I can not find the option to start a game unequipped. How do I do that?

[Ingwe Ingweron]

I can not find the option to start a game unequipped. How do I do that?

When creating the @, press the "=" key for birth options. There you will see a host of options that can only be adjusted during the birth process. One of them is start with useful kit. Turn that off and your @ will start without gear.

[Apostlyte]

When creating the @, press the "=" key for birth options. There you will see a host of options that can only be adjusted during the birth process. One of them is start with useful kit. Turn that off and your @ will start without gear.

I just looked through the birth options and did not see that option! I must be blind, so I will look again...

[Apostlyte]

Here is the screen shot...

[Nomad]

Oh, looks like the problem is that the Android build is a bit behind the times - the Android version is Angband 3.4, and the "start with a kit of useful gear" option was apparently only introduced in 3.5. I don't know if any of the previous Android developers are still around to work on updating it to 3.5 or 4.0, unfortunately.

[Ingwe Ingweron]

I don't know what version you are playing. Clearly not any of the nightlies for quite some time back, as you don't have rune-id. What version are you playing?

[Apostlyte]

3.4.1

Sad, Guess I am stuck in the stone age!