[PosChengband] Accumulated Newbie to Intermediate questions

[ianstonegray]

Hello!

I've been playing PosChengband for a few months and love it. I love that there is not a lot of information out there, which forces me to experiment rather than google things. I've been able to figure out the answers to most of my questions, but have a few that remain unsolved. I'm hoping others with more experience can help.

I'm also sure that by the time I start getting super helpful answers I'll have more questions!

Thanks for the help!

These are in no order at all:

- How does taming with capture balls work? Sometimes things pop out hostile and sometimes they're pets.
- How do iron spikes work? I can't figure out the damage they do but they seem to scale up as my ninjas grow.
- How is the armor weight a ninja can tolerate calculated? It grows with my ninja but I can't figure out how it's effected.
- What is infravision? How is it different from See Invisible?
- It seems that summons and pets killing things give the PC no exp. When is it a good thing to use them? Only as meat shields when you don't need the exp?
- For fixed uniques like Meng Huo and Azog, are there any penalties for climbing the stairs back up after entering the level?
- What are the penalties for failing quests?
- One of my main strategies typically involves getting a Morgul weapon. Are there any downsides other than the aggravate monster and curse?
- How is damage output on weapons calculated? I put on jewelry raising Dex or Str or with Slaying and can't really figure out how the actual dmg is calculated.
- Generally how do you prioritize buffs? Is speed most important? How do you pick between dmg vs speed vs resistances?
- When do I start needing to care about the rarer buffs like resist nexus, chaos, shards, sound, etc?

[Derakon]

Hello!

Hi! I don't play Poschengband, but some of the things you have questions about should work basically similarly to how they work in other variants.

- What is infravision? How is it different from See Invisible?

Infravision lets you see warm-blooded monsters even if they aren't illuminated. A few monsters are warm-blooded but invisible (like Clear Hounds), but primarily, infravision lets you "extend" your vision beyond what your light source shows you. So e.g. with 50' of infravision, you'll be able to see an orc that's 5 tiles away even if you're using a radius-1 torch.

- How is damage output on weapons calculated? I put on jewelry raising Dex or Str or with Slaying and can't really figure out how the actual dmg is calculated.

This should be something like (damage dice * applicable slay multiplier) + (bonus to-dam) per blow. For example, a Slay Animal slay multiplies your dice damage by 2 (assuming Poschengband didn't change slays). Then you get multiple blows based on your STR/DEX and the weight of the weapon (and in Poschengband, maybe also your skill with the weapon). Usually you want to get as high of a STR/DEX score as you can and then use a lightweight weapon, at least in the early game; later on your STR gets high enough that you can get multiple blows even with heavier weapons.

- Generally how do you prioritize buffs? Is speed most important? How do you pick between dmg vs speed vs resistances?

Speed is incredibly important, since it makes you better at everything else. However, you do also still need to be able to survive. All the speed in the world won't help you if your health/resists are so poor that you can't afford to spend a single turn in LOS of the enemies you're fighting. Thus, CON (for extra HP) and resists to the elements your enemies commonly use are both very important as well.

- When do I start needing to care about the rarer buffs like resist nexus, chaos, shards, sound, etc?

Once your enemies are using them frequently.

[ianstonegray]

Hi! I don't play Poschengband, but some of the things you have questions about should work basically similarly to how they work in other variants.

I should have mentioned in the original post that I havent played vanilla or other variants.

Thanks for the answers! Very helpful.

[Regalia]

Hey. Poscheng likes it when you read the code directly. It's like petting it.

Looking at the questions, it's funny how about a year ago I'd have a much easier time answering them... high time to play some more again.

- How does taming with capture balls work? Sometimes things pop out hostile and sometimes they're pets.

Afair, they can resist. It's probably based on your charisma (like most pet-related skills).

- How do iron spikes work? I can't figure out the damage they do but they seem to scale up as my ninjas grow.

Aren't those just for blocking doors? Artefacts of a more civilized age. Ninjas get some bonuses to throwing.

- How is the armor weight a ninja can tolerate calculated? It grows with my ninja but I can't figure out how it's effected.

Yes, it grows with ninja level. Not sure what's the exact formula. You lose speed (more with ninja level) if it's too heavy. And shield doesn't help either.

- It seems that summons and pets killing things give the PC no exp. When is it a good thing to use them? Only as meat shields when you don't need the exp?

You're sure? Unless it's different in 5.0, they should give xp for the kill at least (but less total than if you'd kill the monster on your own).

- For fixed uniques like Meng Huo and Azog, are there any penalties for climbing the stairs back up after entering the level?

Their hp regens I think?

- What are the penalties for failing quests?

Fame loss? Maybe quest chain break?

- One of my main strategies typically involves getting a Morgul weapon. Are there any downsides other than the aggravate monster and curse?

Hm... that they're not very good?

- How is damage output on weapons calculated? I put on jewelry raising Dex or Str or with Slaying and can't really figure out how the actual dmg is calculated.

On top of what's been said: some classes (monster races too) have their own calculations.

- Generally how do you prioritize buffs? Is speed most important? How do you pick between dmg vs speed vs resistances?

You don't really pick... you farm at relative safety until you get what you need. Dmg is last concern. There are some specific needs for some monsters (ex. rPoison vs Gachapin is kind of a must, or rWhateverElement vs stronger breathers, or rDark vs Jack).

- When do I start needing to care about the rarer buffs like resist nexus, chaos, shards, sound, etc?

Depends on how attached you're to your fixedarts. If very, get double rDis asap (at dl 40). If not... you still want to get those resists, all of them, before you go for higher lvl dungeons. Going dl 50 without rNether? Suicide.

And that's assuming paranoid detection bound to an easy to press key used at all times.