Poschengband game mechanic questions

[mewmew]

eeeh, easy modo? :3

[mewmew]

Also, I have a question. Does quaffing !New Life scramble demigod/human special abilities?

[debo]

Also, I have a question. Does quaffing !New Life scramble demigod/human special abilities?

No, even though they are listed in the 'mutations' section they're not quite the same. You can't lose them by using the 'heal mutation' service in Zul, either.

[mewmew]

Oh, thanks, I almost quit my character (low life rating demigod), lol. I knew about Zul but thought that !New Life gives new random special abilities like it scrambles wild talents.

[debo]

Oh, thanks, I almost quit my character (low life rating demigod), lol. I knew about Zul but thought that !New Life gives new random special abilities like it scrambles wild talents.

New Life really only scrambles things that you didn't have a choice about in the first place. Which is most things!

[mewmew]

Since I began asking questions... I have another two (not about the character I asked before, that character already died because I forgot that ancient multi-hued dragons breathe like 2-3x stronger than ordinary ancients -_-, they are related to my CL50 archer who died to Nodens while grinding for *healing*, I don't want my future characters to share the same fate):

1) What do you do when you are near an unique who you cannot kill and who follows you through teleport? What's the correct options apart from teleporting and hoping that he won't follow you? Are using teleport other or destruction the only options? Will they follow teleport level or phase door? At what range do they follow your teleport, i.e. is it adjacent only or they can be a few tiles away?

2) Where is the safest place to grind for *healing*? Deep levels of Angband don't really sound as one, they are way too dangerous to repeatedly recall into... are deep levels of Arena have good chance to drop them?

[HugoVirtuoso]

I can answer #1...Use teleport other!

[debo]

I can answer #1...Use teleport other!

That's not always safe; many monsters who follow-tele also resist teleportation. Some (all?) uniques also resist destruction, although it's rare.

Teleport level is a sure bet if you really, really need to escape. There are probably others that I can't think of right now also.

Note that monsters who teleport-follow do not follow you on phasedoor/blink (?) so if you're in a place where you can phase to a totally different room (e.g. a narrow hallway), it might be worth trying.

[mewmew]

Thanks. Do you know the range at which they follow, i.e. if you blink a few tiles away in the same room, can they follow your teleportaton? It's probably better to destruct in that case though and then to tele if they weren't destructed since you would place a wall between you...

[mewmew]

Yet another question, sorry if I have too many of them :3

Do the scrolls of genocide and mass genocide damage you per genocided monster like the spell does? I always die with unused scrolls before I can find a situation to try myself ><

[Derakon]

Assuming this hasn't changed since Vanilla, all methods of genociding/mass genociding will damage you for each monster removed. *Destruction* doesn't deal HP damage but will blind you unless you resist light.

[ThunderToads]

I was curious about some of the effects I've seen Time Lords cause on monsters - specifically 'amnesia' from time attacks, and the 'chronosmash' and 'fluxcapacitor' effects from the time Shield. Could someone please tell me what these mean?

[Regalia]

I was curious about some of the effects I've seen Time Lords cause on monsters - specifically 'amnesia' from time attacks, and the 'chronosmash' and 'fluxcapacitor' effects from the time Shield. Could someone please tell me what these mean?

They are all the same effect. Just different flavor. Afair, they just do normal time dmg.

[chris]

Sorry, I've been away from computer for quite a while ...

Hm, I have a question again... What do you think is the best/safest combo to win the game without too much late game grind?

I don't think any character should have late game grind issues (except perhaps a Weaponsmith trying for essences to make bolts of slay evil). Having enough device skill to use a staff of healing makes things much easier until you reach the charge draining end game, and even warriors can use staves with good racial/personality choices (and perhaps with a touch of device mastery too).

Easiest combos to win with? There are many ways to win. Let's consider normal race class combos:

[1] Distance Spells: I prefer a High Mage, myself with one of Chaos, Armageddon or Daemon for my realm. This gives very strong end game offense and probably the easiest win. However, you will start rather slow, lack detection, be extremely fragile, and will need quite a bit of patience to persevere. Still, vanquishing foes with casual mana storms can't be beat. For more flexibility, you can play a Mage, but you will actually end up much weaker in the end this way.

Recommend: Patient Mind-flayer High Mage (Chaos, Armageddon or Daemon).

[2] Ninjutsu: Even slightly nerfed, ninjas are fairly easy to win with. But be forwarned, they have a unique playstyle that takes time to master. Stealth is awesome and you'll need to garner the right type of weapons.

Recommend: Mighty High-Elf Ninja

[3] Martial Arts: Monks are strongest here, followed by Mystics and finally Force Trainers. The stunning aspects of combat are incredibly strong in the end game. But bewarned: they start very slowly and have severe equipment restrictions. Still, an easy win.

Recommend: Pious Nibelung Monk (Life, Nature or Craft. Never Death).

[4] Melee: This is the most popular approach and starts the quickest. You won't be the most powerful in the end game, but you should do well throughout. There are so many flavors of melee to choose from. I personally do not recommend Berserkers, but you could try a Mauler instead (Severe weapon restrictions, though, but good fun nonetheless). Warriors might be too boring/prone to unexpected ambushes. Try a Samurai instead.

Recommend: High-Elf Rogue (Burglary and Sorcery are good initial realm choices).

[5] Riding (Melee): Hengband has done riding very well, IMO. Your choices are Beastmaster (less melee prowess but can cast Trump spells) or Cavalry. For the end game, acquire a GWoP, don a heavy pattern lance, and giddy up!

For monster classes, play a dragon

I'm ready to give up on angels, they feel so weak, they are relatively easy to level up in wilderness on hounds and dragons but still. I lost two lvl30 angels, one of them into Barrow Downs quest and another in Vault quest. It's ridiculous to lose characters in those quests/ They are too squishy and too no damage.

I disagree on both of those quests: they are not gimmes! You'll need stealth in both instances which angels definitely lack.

Also they seem to have some unclear weight restriction for their equipment, I got message that my equipment encumbers me many times without any visible effect.

Encumbrance reduces your mana. Sometimes you get the message with no actual reduction if you are right on the edge of encumbrance. But just try wielding a Mace of Disruption and you will definitely notice the effect!

Oh, and also nobody won poscheng with a shooting class yet (archer, sniper, scout, any ranged weaponmaster) so it probably means they have some weakness too (and it's definitely not annoyance of dealing with ammo, that is not that bad).

Shooting should be strong, perhaps stronger than melee in the end. I'm not sure why they are unpopular. For me, it definitely does have to do with ammo management. It's not bad, as you say, but it is annoying.

Perhaps the main problem is the melee is too convenient (arrow keys for all your attacks). To compensate, I recommend the following change:

[1] To attack monsters you press the 'w' key (for weapons).
[2] You are then prompted to choose which weapon to attack with (even if only wearing one). Press 'a' to use your only weapon.
[3] You are then prompted for a target (even if there is only one in sight). To make things fair, the targeting algorithm defaults to the most distant monster first. It should require at least 8 keystrokes to land on that adjacent orc that you want to attack. Also, the game should reprompt for a target every time just to make sure you didn't change your mind.
[4] After this, you attack with a single strike even if you have multiple blows. This is a boon, really, as you can spread your attacks among multiple foes (at the cost of a few measly keystrokes). So if you have 8 attacks per round, repeat this process 8 times.

[chris]

They are all the same effect. Just different flavor. Afair, they just do normal time dmg.

Yes, the messages are flavor. But for the Time Lord, time based attacks also have random effects, such as slowing the monster (temp or permanent), amnesia, shrinking the monster (you were smaller when younger, no?), evolving or devolving the monster (scary when that huorn evolves into a hostile ent!) and quite a few other effects.