A Total Newbie Guide by an Almost Total Newbie

[CivBesch]

That is indeed how I see it.

Winning is indeed my final goal. But the way I play it, I hope it will take a long time. I like epic games that take very long. I am planning over months, not days or weeks.

Of course it means that the game might get boring. If it does I could always speed up things by going deeper sooner. But in the mean time I count on catching up as my level will not be going up so fast, as the monsters are not as 'rewarding' to kill.

Sorry if I give the impression to not be accepting advice. On the contrary, I am very grateful for the advice and take much heed about the stuff I should always have with me:
- curing/healing particularly potions as I am playing a human priest
- phase scroll (if it exist in potions, I would prefer it as protection agains blindness)
- Mace
- some amor

Who knows, in a few weeks, I might be talking very differently and go much faster down.

But at the moment I am enjoying the game very much, having enough 'stress' to handle with the monsters I am now encountering.

[Derakon]

It's all a question of what your reasons for playing are. Angband gives you the freedom to approach the game however you like. If you're having fun playing the way you are currently playing, then keep playing that way! But if you are bored, then it's your responsibility to change how you play the game (or go play a different game). The advice given on these forums encourages a playstyle that many people find enjoyable. Certainly it seems to consistently produce winners, so if you enjoy winning, then you'd do well to listen to it. But if winning isn't your primary goal, then that advice becomes rather less relevant.

[CivBesch]

thanks for all the very valuable advice.

[Mondkalb]

Well, it is still a game. If you are enjoying the way you play, then do it that way.
Certainly it is not a bad idea to get to know the monsters (and items, and dungeon layout) better. But this will get boring eventually. You will probably start diving some day, just because you want to see more exciting things.

In general, fast diving is the usual strategy for experienced players, who already know the game with all pitfalls and bounties. They don't want to spend more than the necessary time on "boring" shallow levels.

I have spent many years with a similar gaming strategy. At some point I noticed that I usually died at certain depths, which happened often to boredom or excessive self-confidence.

These are other motives for faster diving:
- avoid unnecessary fights
- avoid staying too long on a level because monsters will awake und eventually new monsters will appear
- deeper down are better items
- deeper monsters grant more experience for killing them and they have better drops
- diving keeps you alert because you are in a potentially more dangerous environment.

[Pete Mack]

@CivBesch: there was a classic post on rgra some time back, about what you have to do to win:
1. Kill Sauron
2. Kill Morgoth
3. Don't die
Clearing a level doesn't get you any closer to any of these requirements. Yes, it is possible. But it makes winning much, much less likely. You will get plenty of chances to kill monsters in the game.
As for Wormtongue: he's a good target, with a guaranteed ego item or artifact drop. So yes, he's a useful stepping stone on the way.

[CivBesch]

Yes, I read several times about these necessities.

At the same time I am wondering if it is not an extra challenge.

I actually like it, when this trading can go on, occasionally jumping to town.

I also like the idea of cleaning up the entire level, before going down to the next level. It feels like a defeat if the level has been left without getting a complete victory over the monsters. But I have to admit that I sometimes have no choice than to avoid certain battles or to flee with a word of recall. But then usually I go back to that level and do not go deeper until I have cleaned out the whole level, with sometimes the exception of a small corner I couldn't get to because of a trap which is to dangerous to try and disarm or impossible to circumvent.

What the depth of level is concerned, I realise completely that I should be able to go much deeper, but I am actually not in a hurry to 'finish' the game, even if experts do it in 100.000 turns. I enjoy thoroughly studying and knowing the enemies well.

I was astonished to meet wormtongue 2 days ago on DL 6. My first reaction was to flee immediately, after having read the stories about it, but some careful study, made me use a speed potion and some powerful shots with a powerful sling to overcome him. For me as a newbie that's quite a victory - my first Unique! O, I know, to all those experts around, this probably sounds like beating a fruit bat. But I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I certainly enjoy it playing it in this manner, but the game might not playable this way. Or is there a chance?

The main thing is that I am not in a hurry to win the whole game, but to enjoy challenging small victories, slowly going down.

Does anyone have any experience with the way I am playing it?

I certainly do not want shove aside all the precious advice, by those who have much more experience than I have and certainly hope not to create the impression 'here's a newbie, who knows better than the experienced players.

[Monkey Face]

As I am playing in the mode to be able to sell in the shops, slots become more precious too, as you want to carry stuff with you upstairs to be able to sell.

Switch to no sell. You'll make up for the loss in gold from sales by getting increased value from the gold pieces you find in the dungeon. This will free up inventory slots and increase your speed as you won't be slowed down by heavy armor or weapons that you're saving just to sell.

I was skeptical about this when it first came out but now I wouldn't consider going back.

[Pete Mack]

@Civbesch--
CL 13 DL 6 is extremely shallow. It'll teach you the wrong lessons: at some point, it *will* become impossible to kill all the monsters you see. It's also painful to lose a character that takes so long to level up. (It's worth noting here that expert players win in roughly 100,000 player turns.)
As an exercise, try to keep DL >= CL in your next game. And don't clear levels. A half-orc warrior is a good race for playing with. Put all your starting points into DEX and STR, and see how fast (in player turns) you can get to DL 20.
You'll need a ?recall, some curing potions, ?Phase Door, and a dagger/main gauche/rapier to start with. A bit of cheap armor helps too.

[CivBesch]

Thanks for the advice Derakon.

You've been giving some very good advice in my posts.

This one is probably a bit high for a newbie, but I am sure I will get it in time. The difficulty in the beginning is to decide what is important to carry and what is not.

As I am playing in the mode to be able to sell in the shops, slots become more precious too, as you want to carry stuff with you upstairs to be able to sell.

My character is currently at level 13 and I am exploring the dungeon at 300 depth.

[Derakon]

Very interesting information.

I only have a small problem. I will probably need 4 times as many slots and 3 times as much carrying weight-capacity in order to be able to take all of the items with me, that are advised in the previous lists.

I also probably will need about twice as many slots for wielding stuff.

Or is there a version of angband in which one can carry much more?

This is a core part of the game! It is impossible to have all the gear and stats to be fully prepared for every situation, so you have to figure out ways to make do without preparations. This can mean avoiding fights, arranging substitutes*, or simply doing without and hoping for the best. Deciding which things are the most important to prepare for is a core part of optimizing your kit. Would you rather have resistance to nether or nexus? Is the combination of +1 DEX/CON and resistance to light better than the combination of +2 STR and resistance to darkness? What if you equip this other item as well?

Really, at a high level the game consists of a) deciding on a kit, and b) using that kit effectively in the dungeon.

* For example, Cure Critical Wounds can substitute for Healing, if you're fighting at range and are 1 step away from blocking LOS with your target: step out of range, then spend multiple turns drinking potions. It's not a great substitute, but if you can set it up, then you'll be able to handle threats that wouldn't otherwise be feasible due to lack of healing.

[CivBesch]

Very interesting information.

I only have a small problem. I will probably need 4 times as many slots and 3 times as much carrying weight-capacity in order to be able to take all of the items with me, that are advised in the previous lists.

I also probably will need about twice as many slots for wielding stuff.

Or is there a version of angband in which one can carry much more?

[Pete Mack]

@sky--sure. I would not use Orb as a Paladin. But it only costs 7 Mana as a priest...and it does more damage, too.

[Sky]

at 15 mana a pop, Orb is really only useful when you are CL50 and need to clear a vampire pit and can't be arsed to do it in melee.

[Pete Mack]

One thing about priest: Holy Orb is a fine spell up to around CL 30 or a bit later. Once you've got good melee damage and low-fail (5% or less) on healing spell, melee is probably cheaper than Orb in terms of risk and mana cost for most monsters. Orb is particularly terrible against non-evil monsters. Use devices or archery if your melee is bad and you're not doing well with Orb. Yes, it's better than most mage spells. But it's still not all that great at a high level.

[Sky]

*fire is important, the rest are meh. If only we had *shards, *pois and *time ...