FAangband - a few questions

[Zaphod]

It has been a while since I played rogue-likes, I am enjoying this variant but I have a few questions that someone may be able to answer.

Is there an area of affect identify somewhere in this variant, be it by spell or device?

I have hit level 30 and I have picked up three artifacts but strangely only in outdoor areas. I assume this is just bad luck? I went all the way through the first dungeon with nothing showing up.

Artifact rings - given this is the "First Age" all the rings of power have been removed - any replacement artifact rings?

The disenchant mechanic - that swine Mim took his toll on some of my better items. I don't seem to be able to reverse the damage with enchant armor/deadliness etc. I take it this is by design and I just need to suck it up? The items are still good they have just had + values knocked down a few notches.

If I find a chest is the randomised loot based on the level it was found on or the level I am currently on i.e can I dive into a deeper dungeon with it and then open for better items?

Finally do many other variants use the gervais graphics, big and double tile mode? I expect the purists will sneer but I can't stomach ASCII anymore. My hat off to the variant designer who put the effort into making FAangband more visually palatable to play.

Zaphod

[buzzkill]

Is there an area of affect identify somewhere in this variant, be it by spell or device?

Nope, just id and *id* and perception

I have hit level 30 and I have picked up three artifacts but strangely only in outdoor areas. I assume this is just bad luck? I went all the way through the first dungeon with nothing showing up.

Bad luck. It's just easier to find stuff outdoors, wide open spaces and all. Plus, there are camps and 'vaults' in the 'ness that provide better stuff.

Artifact rings - given this is the "First Age" all the rings of power have been removed - any replacement artifact rings?

Maybe, but not that I've found.

The disenchant mechanic - that swine Mim took his toll on some of my better items. I don't seem to be able to reverse the damage with enchant armor/deadliness etc. I take it this is by design and I just need to suck it up? The items are still good they have just had + values knocked down a few notches.

The higher the plus, the tougher the enchantment, past +9 is nearly impossible.

If I find a chest is the randomized loot based on the level it was found on or the level I am currently on i.e can I dive into a deeper dungeon with it and then open for better items?

Based on where you found it, but conversely, you can tote it back to town and open it there and save some pack space.

Finally do many other variants use the gervais graphics, big and double tile mode? I expect the purists will sneer but I can't stomach ASCII anymore. My hat off to the variant designer who put the effort into making FAangband more visually palatable to play.

Vanilla of course, Z+ (playable but a work in progress), maybe others.

[Nick]

Is there an area of affect identify somewhere in this variant, be it by spell or device?

No, there isn't. I've always regarded this as a dangerous thing, because you could identify an artifact and then be unable to pick it up and lose it for good.

I have hit level 30 and I have picked up three artifacts but strangely only in outdoor areas. I assume this is just bad luck? I went all the way through the first dungeon with nothing showing up.

Yes, just bad luck. This often happens to me

Artifact rings - given this is the "First Age" all the rings of power have been removed - any replacement artifact rings?

There are up to 4 random artifact rings, which can be pretty much as good as the usual rings of power.

The disenchant mechanic - that swine Mim took his toll on some of my better items. I don't seem to be able to reverse the damage with enchant armor/deadliness etc. I take it this is by design and I just need to suck it up? The items are still good they have just had + values knocked down a few notches.

Enchanting things again with scrolls can only get them to a maximum of +15, and it starts getting hard (many failures) about +9 or +10.

If I find a chest is the randomised loot based on the level it was found on or the level I am currently on i.e can I dive into a deeper dungeon with it and then open for better items?

Chest contents quality is actually based only on the standard depth of that type of chest (randomised a bit). It doesn't matter where you open it; the object level is set when the chest is generated.

Finally do many other variants use the gervais graphics, big and double tile mode? I expect the purists will sneer but I can't stomach ASCII anymore.

Yes, well, I guess that's what purists are for Most variants have bigtile. I stole double and triple tile mode from UnAngband, and also put it in unofficial Oangband; I don't know of any other variants which have it, but Sangband and tnb's Omniband have different (and arguably better) forms of enlarged tiles.

There will be a new version of FAangband out very soon (days, I hope); it is recommended that you only update dead characters to it, though (as existing objects will have most of their properties wiped).

[zaimoni]

The disenchant mechanic - that swine Mim took his toll on some of my better items. I don't seem to be able to reverse the damage with enchant armor/deadliness etc. I take it this is by design and I just need to suck it up?

Or prevent it outright (next time).

Assuming the plain enchantment mechanics have not changed (they seem rather stable across variants), you will need Borg-like patience to re-enchant past +9 for any of to-hit, to-dam, or to-ac.

Not even those with Borg-like patience should try to enchant a +15 item: that's the 0% success rate cutpoint (in V and Heng, at least).

[Pete Mack]

The disenchant mechanic - that swine Mim took his toll on some of my better items. I don't seem to be able to reverse the damage with enchant armor/deadliness etc. I take it this is by design and I just need to suck it up? The items are still good they have just had + values knocked down a few notches.

In FA (and O-based melee systems, with "deadliness" rather than "damage), disenchantment is more of an annoyance than a disaster. That said, you may want to take off your most valuable equipment (ie: Cambeleg or an ego bow) before meleeing Mim.