Skills-Angband (Sangband)

[Nikki Nix]

Armor Forging

Is it not possible to make cloaks? SAngband 1.0 does not appear to provide an option for making cloaks.

[camlost]

Armor Forging doesn't allow for cloak forging, nor has it for quite some time. I'm not sure when (or if) that was ever changed, and I've been playing since b13 or so. You'll have to find one piece of equipment the old fashioned way.

[Nikki Nix]

Thanks for the info. Both times! It's not as if forging wasn't powerful enough that I need it all. Why even bother with ego items when you can have "home grown" stuff, e.g., a Great Flail of Lightening 4d8 (+10, +10) with +7 speed.

I was also wondering how much different SAng monsters are from Orginal Angband. The only other variant I've played is Z -- which, despite its detractors, I think remain the most influential in pushing the Angband franchise into new directions -- and it seems *much* harder the either the SAng or Orginal versions.

I'm ticking away now with a 82 power priest-type character. I don't know what 82 means, but my best character before this was a 40th level Draconian Monk in Z. Mind you, I don't cheat whatsoever, and I see alot of winner characters on the ladder which I am guessing got some help through save file resurrection.

I like SAng because of the custom characters and don't understand why some people have the notion that the 'proper' way to play is investing only in a small set of skills. The point of SAng, it seems to me, is having the flexibility to have fluid characters.

[Satyr]

Thanks for the info. Both times! It's not as if forging wasn't powerful enough that I need it all. Why even bother with ego items when you can have "home grown" stuff, e.g., a Great Flail of Lightening 4d8 (+10, +10) with +7 speed.

At power level 82 you should indeed be not bothering with (most) ego items, but look for artifacts. Nevertheless, forging *is* very powerfull in S.

I was also wondering how much different SAng monsters are from Orginal Angband. The only other variant I've played is Z -- which, despite its detractors, I think remain the most influential in pushing the Angband franchise into new directions -- and it seems *much* harder the either the SAng or Orginal versions.

S monster differ a lot from Vanilla. There are a number of monster abilities that are new to S (like evasion), but most notably S is one of those variants that use "O-style" combat, where you deal on average a lot less damage with your weapons, and so the monster list had to be adjusted.

I'm ticking away now with a 82 power priest-type character. I don't know what 82 means, but my best character before this was a 40th level Draconian Monk in Z. Mind you, I don't cheat whatsoever, and I see alot of winner characters on the ladder which I am guessing got some help through save file resurrection.

S levels go from 1 to 100, in other 'bands from 1 to 50, so power 82 in S is ~ level 41 in Z. And all *bands are winnable by a combination of patience, skill, luck, and experience. So there's definitly no need to call winner posts on the ladder cheating.

I like SAng because of the custom characters and don't understand why some people have the notion that the 'proper' way to play is investing only in a small set of skills. The point of SAng, it seems to me, is having the flexibility to have fluid characters.

Funny, first you "do not understand" why people suggest a certain playing style, and then you propose your own playing style as "the point of Sang". there seems to be some ... inconsistency.
(trying to stay polite here).

As you have noticed S becomes a lot easier if you are patient enough to raise a lot of skills. So to keep the challenge up to the level other 'bands offer (and to keep the death-by-boredom risk lower), most people try to raise not more then ~10 skills, as the game is designed for such characters.

[Daven_26d1]

Yeah, its a challenge thing... and those giant divers with 3 skills you see in the ladder? They're aiming for a high score, not just a win...

[Nikki Nix]

At power level 82 you should indeed be not bothering with (most) ego items, but look for artifacts. Nevertheless, forging *is* very powerfull in S.



S monster differ a lot from Vanilla. There are a number of monster abilities that are new to S (like evasion), but most notably S is one of those variants that use "O-style" combat, where you deal on average a lot less damage with your weapons, and so the monster list had to be adjusted.



S levels go from 1 to 100, in other 'bands from 1 to 50, so power 82 in S is ~ level 41 in Z. And all *bands are winnable by a combination of patience, skill, luck, and experience. So there's definitly no need to call winner posts on the ladder cheating.

I was not accusing anyone of cheating, okay. Please don't read too much into this post. I was only saying that I am surprised to see so many winners when I understand how long it can take to win.


Funny, first you "do not understand" why people suggest a certain playing style, and then you propose your own playing style as "the point of Sang". there seems to be some ... inconsistency.
(trying to stay polite here).

I was unclear. I am not suggesting that people play a specific way. I only meant that SAng gives you the flexibility to play with a few skills or alot of skills and does not lock you into playing a certain way. It's fine if you want to run with a small package of skills. But I enjoy playing with about 12 skills. What I meant was that SAng allows for having flexible and fluid characters.

As you have noticed S becomes a lot easier if you are patient enough to raise a lot of skills. So to keep the challenge up to the level other 'bands offer (and to keep the death-by-boredom risk lower), most people try to raise not more then ~10 skills, as the game is designed for such characters.

I hope this clears things up. I apologize for any confusion.

[Nikki Nix]

Late-Game Troubles

I am facing alot of problems with some late-game uniques, in particular Ancalagon the Black and the Tarrasque. These things can cripple me before I can even get a decent chance of finishing them off. I am playing a priest-type character that has all important resists (immune to acid, cold), AC 162, HP 908, MP 500+, and several maxed out skills, including clubbing, spell-casting, magical power, holy alliance, spell resistance, and dodging. Can anyone recommend some good strategies for surviving (defeating) these filthy things? The only thing is that I am quite a bit slow (+3 speed), but I could increase this to +10 with a Great Flail 4d8 (+10, +10) (+7 speed), though I currently wield Eonwe. Note that I have dispatched other high-level uniques (e.g., Mouth of Sauron) without similar problems.

[camlost]

(note, character dumps always help).

If you don't mind feeling cheesy, I suggest digging an anti-summoning tunnel to deal with Ancalagon so the summons don't bother you. If you mind being cheesy, just ignore the fellow.

The tarrasque doesn't summon, so what you need is disenchantment resistance and double resistance to fire, and you should be fine. Just phase and heal as need be.

For both fights make sure to be hasted. Carry !speed or _speed as needed. Cast your big heal spells often or phase and use _CMW. Melee should be fine to take them out, but you can always use spells too. I haven't played any high level priests, so I can't really comment on spell choice.

[Nikki Nix]

Sounds good, not cheesy. I'm not sure how to accomplish this, though. I mean, even with a good digging tool, how is it possible to carve out such a corridor without getting attacked?

My strategy has been to bail out unless the dungeon provides natural barriers, such as tight hallways with corners. Using corners to "post off" any attacks from all but the front monster is mostly effective.

The first time I faced the afore mentioned dragon I did not realize that he could summon helpers -- I find this trick is somewhat over-used in SAng, and would prefer it if most uniques had more escort help instead of summoning their helpers -- so I ended up in a stupid heads-up battle in which several dragons dealt huge breath damage in a single round: something like 800 hp. I forged a bow that provides immunity to fire, so my next encounter should be less damaging.

[camlost]

Generally, you either use stone to mud (best if you have good detection or telepathy), or you dig a tunnel and lure a monster(s) to it/you. At the stage of the game you're in, with a giant wrestler, it's plausible to dig somewhat-real-time tunnels, but I generally don't recommend it.

[Guest]

Hi there, I still have some display issues in my 1.0.0 version how can i see if it is the 'Final' version? I can't see the first line in all subwindows!

And now for something completely different:
What monsters leave what kind of essences behind? The most are obvious but which ones leave behind Essences of force e.g.

thnx y'all

[NotMorgoth]

I've read both in the docs and on here that the SDL port of Sangband can sometimes be made to work on Mac OS X; I take it I would need to compile it myself and I'm wondering if anyone has any advice for a newbie on how to do this.

I assume I need to install the required SDL libraries as well as some kind of developer tools (would Xcode work?) to do the actual compiling.

As someone who has no knowledge of SDL and has never used a compiler, do I have any hope of doing this, and does anyone who has got it working have any advice to make it easier?


I have also tried running the IBM version of Sangband in DOSbox, but whenever I try to run Sangband it causes DOSbox to quit.

By the way, at the moment I am playing 0.9.9 beta 13, which as far as I can tell was the last version of Sangband to be ported to Mac OS, and despite its unfinished status, it is my favourite Angband variant to date.

[Malak Darkhunter]

Detect Evil display problems

Having trouble in version final 1.0 of sangband, using a dwarf priest with detect evil, yet when i cast detect evil, sometimes the monsters aren't showing up, it recognizes there are evil creatures around, but 50% of the time they don't show on the screen. Also I am using the ibm port for sangband.

[camlost]

So you get the "You sense evil monsters." (or whatever) message, but nothing shows up on screen? Are you sure they're not offscreen? Sangband uses a circular detection area; try pressing 'M'ap to see if anything shows up.

[Malak Darkhunter]

I've used the (M) map key sometimes the evil type monsters show up, sometimes they don't. I have to be very careful because sometimes I can't see what's out there. I have high perception now so it's not as big a deal. But to give an example, there can be a mummified troll in the next corridor over and detect evil dosen't show him on the screen even though I know he's there. I think a few times the monsters letter color blends in to the sorrundings so I overlook them. But I know for sure after playing everyday for the last couple of weeks that detect evil is not reliable, because it only reveals evil base type monsters half the time.