The Angband Ladder: Cuddle IV, Beorning Priest by <drchung@rcn.com>

  [FAangband 0.1.1 Character Dump]

 Name    : Cuddle IV       Age                  18   STR:     18/87            
 Sex     : Male            Height               72   INT:        12            
 Race    : Beorning        Weight              203   WIS:    18/171            
 Class   : Priest          Social Class         32   Dex:        12       14   
                                                     CON:     18/60            
                                                     CHR:    18/106            
                                                                               
 Max Hit Points      358   Level                39   Max SP (Mana)       248   
 Cur Hit Points      -22   Experience       874759   Cur SP (Mana)       247   
                           Max Exp          892748                             
        (Fighting)         Exp to Adv.      945000          (Shooting)         
 Blows/Round           3   Gold             521552   Shots/Round         1.0   
 + to Skill            8                             + to Skill            2   
 Deadliness (%)       69   Base AC/+ To AC  32/ 67   Deadliness (%)       51   
                                                                               
                            (Character Abilities)                              
 Fighting    : Fair        Stealth     : Superb      Disarming   : Good        
 Bows/Throw  : Mediocre    Perception  : Mediocre    Magic Device: Excellent   
 Saving Throw: Superb      Searching   : Mediocre    Infra-Vision: 0 feet      
                                                                               
                            (Character Background)                             
          You are one of several children of a solitary Trapper.  You          
          are a credit to the family.  You have green eyes, straight           
          brown hair, and a very fair complexion.                              
                                                                               


  [Recent locations]

Current Location : Tol-In-Gaurhoth Level 43
Recall Point 1   : Tol-In-Gaurhoth Level 43
Recall Point 2   : Nan Dungortheb Level 46
Recall Point 3   : Belegost Level 0
Recall Point 4   : Nargothrond Level 44


  [Resistances and Powers]

      abcdefghijkl@       abcdefghijkl@
 Acid:......+.+.... Blind:......+......
 Elec:......+.+..+. Confu:.........+...
 Fire:......+.+.... Sound:.........+.+.
 Cold:+.....+.+..+. Shard:...........+.
 Pois:............. Nexus:.............
 Fear:............. Nethr:.............
 Lite:........+.+.. Chaos:.............
 Dark:+.......+..+. Disen:.............


      abcdefghijkl@       abcdefghijkl@
S.Dig:............. M-Mas:.............
Feath:+............ Stea.:......++...+.
PLite:..........++. Sear.:.............
Regen:............. Infra:.............
Telep:............. Tunn.:.............
Invis:............. Speed:.............
FrAct:..........+.. Might:.............
HLife:............. Shots:.............


  [Specialty Abilities]

Channeling 
Fast Casting 


  [Last Messages]

> You are poisoned!
> The Lich touches you.
> You feel your life draining away!
> The Lich touches you. <2x>
> You feel very clumsy.
> The Lich touches you.
> You feel very clumsy.
> The Giant red tick bites you.
> You are enveloped in flames!
> The Giant black scorpion claws you.
> The Giant black scorpion misses you. <3x>
> The Drider misses you. <3x>
> Shelob, Spider of Darkness breathes gas.
> You are more poisoned.
> You die.


  [Character Equipment]

a) The Trident of Dainedh (1d7) (+10,+10) [4,+0] (+3) {Level 38 giant pit}
b) a Light Crossbow (x3) (+4,+4)
c) a Jasper Ring of Constitution (+5)
d) a Jasper Ring of Constitution (+2)
e) a Coral Amulet of Wisdom (+4)
f) The Lamp of Gwindor {Amond Rudh 15 Boldor}
g) Chain Mail of Elvenkind (-2) [14,+11] (+3 to stealth) {Nargothreb 38 giant }
h) an Elven Cloak of Protection [2,+17] (+2 to stealth)
i) The Large Leather Shield of Celegorm [6,+18] {Tol-In-Gaurhoth 37 Vault}
j) a Hard Leather Cap of Serenity [2,+3] {Amon Rudh 30}
k) The Set of Leather Gloves 'Cammithrim' [1,+10] {Nargothrond 37 White dragon}
l) The Pair of Hard Leather Boots of Orost [3,+8] (+3 to stealth) {Brethil 23 }

         [Quiver]
0) (nothing)
1) (nothing)
2) (nothing)
3) (nothing)
4) (nothing)
5) (nothing)
6) (nothing)
7) (nothing)
8) (nothing)
9) (nothing)


  [Character Inventory]

a) 3 Holy Books of Prayers [Novice's Handbook] {@m1@p1@G1}
b) 3 Holy Books of Prayers [Words of Wisdom] {@m2@p2@G2}
c) 3 Holy Books of Prayers [Chants and Blessings] {@m3@p3@G3}
d) 3 Holy Books of Prayers [Exorcism and Dispelling] {@m4@p4@G4}
e) a Holy Book of Prayers [Ethereal Openings] {Black market}
f) a Sprig of Athelas
g) 5 Rosy Potions of Healing {25% off}
h) 3 Scrolls titled "shupot nisre" of Recharging
i) 2 Scrolls titled "denflit o" of *Destruction*
j) a Magnesium Rod of Sleep Monster
k) 3 Titanium Wands of Teleport Away (18 charges)
l) an Adamantium Wand of Stone to Mud (4 charges)
m) a Pine Staff of Perception (20 charges)
n) a Walnut Staff of Speed (7 charges) {25% off}
o) an Aspen Staff of Detection (20 charges)
p) Metal Brigandine Armour (-3) [19,+0]
q) a Cloak [1,+5]
r) a Large Metal Shield [8,+4]
s) a Main Gauche (1d5) (+0,+0)


  [Home Inventory]

a) 5 White Mushrooms of Restoring
b) 4 Sprigs of Athelas
c) 10 Cakes of the Beornings
d) 98 Lincoln Green Potions of Speed {25% off}
e) 31 Rosy Potions of Healing {25% off}
f) 4 Blue Potions of Restore Mana
g) a Pearl-grey Potion of Resistance
h) 4 Gloopy Green Potions of Enlightenment
i) 59 Scrolls titled "plener ganx" of Teleport Level {50% off}
j) 99 Scrolls titled "dorawed isat" of Identify {25% off}
k) a Scroll titled "czraala arze" of *Remove Curse*
l) 42 Scrolls titled "shupot nisre" of Recharging {90% off}
m) 7 Pine Staffs of Perception (7x 16 charges)
n) a Walnut Staff of Speed (5 charges) {25% off}
o) Metal Scale Mail of Elvenkind (-2) [13,+7] (+3 to stealth)
p) The Leather Scale Mail 'Thalkettoth' (-1) [11,+25] (+3) {Tol-In-Gaurhoth 31}
q) a Hard Leather Cap of Seeing [2,+7] (+5 to searching)
r) a Set of Leather Gloves of Power (+4,+2) [1,+6] (+5)
s) The Small Sword 'Sting' (2d6) (+7,+8) (+2) {Nan Dungortheb 36 Castle Vault}
t) The Broad Sword 'Glamdring' (2d5) (+10,+15) (+1 to searching)
u) a Scimitar of Nogrod (2d5) (+9,+9) (+2 to speed) {Amon Rudh Gaveronian hunt}
v) a Ball-and-Chain (Blessed) (2d4) (+6,+12) (+3) {special ability is probably}
w) a Morning Star of Gondolin (2d6) (+16,+10)
x) a Morning Star of Doriath (2d6) (+10,+12) [+1] (+4 to stealth) {Tol-In-Gaur}


Cuddle IV the Beorning Priest
Began the quest to kill Morgoth on 01/01/2006 at 07:02 AM
============================================================
                                  CHAR.  
|   TURN  |      LOCATION        |LEVEL| EVENT
============================================================
|    17042|      Khazad Dum Town |  4  | Killed The Complainer
|    19713|      Hithaeglir   3  |  5  | Reached level 5
|    48430|         Eriador  10  | 10  | Reached level 10
|    82204|       Ered Luin  10  | 15  | Reached level 15
|   147183|          Andram   8  | 15  | Killed Pongo the Devious
|   161982|       Ered Luin  10  | 16  | Killed Lug, the Hill Orc
|   166332|       Ered Luin  10  | 16  | Killed Mughash the Kobold Lord
|   190997|       Ered Luin  10  | 17  | Killed Ulfast, son of Ulfang
|   203656|          Andram   9  | 17  | Destroyed Cuddle II, the Skeleton
|   213256|          Andram  10  | 18  | Killed Orfax, Son of Boldor
|   248234|       Amon Rudh  15  | 19  | Killed Boldor, King of the Yeeks
|   255230|  West Beleriand  11  | 20  | Reached level 20
|   278433|       Amon Rudh  15  | 21  | Found The Lamp of Gwindor
|   340214|       Amon Rudh  18  | 23  | Found The Dagger 'Nimthanc'
|   392878|       Amon Rudh  21  | 24  | Killed Ulwarth, son of Ulfang
|   402426|       Amon Rudh  21  | 24  | Destroyed Ben Harrison, the Spirit
|   433300|       Amon Rudh  22  | 25  | Reached level 25
|   479327|       Amon Rudh  22  | 25  | Killed Othrod, Lord of the Orcs
|   494244|       Amon Rudh  23  | 25  | Killed Orcogar, Son of Orcobal
|   604834|       Amon Rudh  25  | 26  | Killed Balcmeg the Cave Orc
|   605797|       Amon Rudh  25  | 26  | Destroyed Bahman Rabii, the Mummy
|   703583|       Amon Rudh  30  | 28  | Killed Mim, Betrayer of Turin
|   774116|       Amon Rudh  30  | 29  | Destroyed Leon Marrick, the Wight
|   798101|       Amon Rudh  30  | 29  | Killed Khim, Son of Mim
|   800577|       Amon Rudh  30  | 29  | Killed Ibun, Son of Mim
|   817633|         Brethil  23  | 29  | Found The Pair of Hard Leather 
|  continued...   |     |  Boots of Orost 
|   827280|     Sirion Vale  24  | 30  | Reached level 30
|  1047915| Tol-In-Gaurhoth  31  | 31  | Found The Leather Scale Mail 
|  continued...   |     |  'Thalkettoth' 
|  1126577|      Thargelion  14  | 32  | Killed Brodda, the Easterling
|  1128464|      Thargelion  14  | 32  | Destroyed Cuddle III, the Zombie
|  1275071| Tol-In-Gaurhoth  37  | 33  | Destroyed Draebor, the Imp
|  1292060|     Nargothrond  37  | 33  | Killed Orcobal the Mighty
|  1307941| Tol-In-Gaurhoth  37  | 33  | Found The Large Leather Shield of 
|  continued...   |     |  Celegorm 
|  1362673| Tol-In-Gaurhoth  37  | 34  | Killed The Queen Ant
|  1388037| Tol-In-Gaurhoth  37  | 34  | Killed Ulfang the Black
|  1403313| Tol-In-Gaurhoth  37  | 34  | Found The Double Chain Mail of 
|  continued...   |     |  Obellar 
|  1477295| Tol-In-Gaurhoth  38  | 35  | Reached level 35
|  1628814|     Nargothrond  37  | 36  | Found The Set of Leather Gloves 
|  continued...   |     |  'Cammithrim' 
|  1703035|  Nan Dungortheb  36  | 36  | Found The Small Sword 'Sting'
|  1754956|  Nan Dungortheb  36  | 36  | Found The Dagger 'Dethanc'
|  1921404|     Nargothrond  38  | 37  | Found The Trident of Dainedh
|  2097356|     Nargothrond  44  | 38  | Destroyed Joel Pomerantz, the 
|  continued...   |     |  Vampire 
|  2104283|     Nargothrond  44  | 38  | Found The Broad Sword 'Glamdring'
============================================================
|  2183193| Tol-In-Gaurhoth  43  | 39  | Killed by Shelob, Spider of 
|  continued...   |     |  Darkness. 
|  2183193| Tol-In-Gaurhoth  43  | 39  | Killed on 01/19/2006 at 05:03 PM.
============================================================
============================================================


  [Birth and Cheat Options]

Adult: Use point based character generation      : no  (adult_point_based)
Adult: Use Autoroller if rolling for stats       : yes (adult_auto_roller)
Adult: Have notes written to a file              : yes (adult_take_notes)
Adult: Artifacts preserved & no special feelings : yes (adult_preserve)
Score: Peek into object creation                 : no  (score_peek)
Score: Peek into monster creation                : no  (score_hear)
Score: Peek into dungeon creation                : no  (score_room)
Score: Peek into something else                  : no  (score_xtra)
Score: Know complete monster info                : no  (score_know)
Score: Allow player to avoid death               : no  (score_live)

Posted on 1.1.2006 14:36
Last updated on 19.1.2006 23:08

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8577. on the Ladder (of 18974)
194. on the FAangband Ladder (of 497)
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Comments

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On 1.1.2006 14:36 drchung@rcn.com wrote:
Back to Belegost with a Beorning priest. Barely made it, as it turned to darkness as Cuddle was a third of the way through Eriador 10, and decided to push on. Close run thing, had to teleport twice to run from gangs of novice paladins. This brought me close to a path to Belegost-- guarded by a baby white dragon. Had to use a !oHealing to survive it, but now in Belegost.

I think that the RNG has a vendetta against the Cuddle priests. HP has been consistently below expected value (I am assuming that HD 12 should yield 6.5 hp/level on average), and that includes abandoning a ton of level 2/3 priests with really bad initial hp gains.

Level 11, Belegost, 2 uniques defeated

On 2.1.2006 23:05 drchung@rcn.com wrote:
Made it to Amon Rudh... (puff, puff, puff).

So, my evil plan is starting to come into its own: I am abusing the shapechange SP exploit to the hilt. Due to it, as long as Cuddle constantly stays topped off with mana , he can use 11 sp and then recover to full mana in two turns. This mean he can "slow" shoot OoD's, and never run out of mana (by cast, change, change). In fact, I have a couple of macros that cast detects/buffs and then changes to regain mana. It feels gross, and is remarkably useful; unlike most priest (or other spellcaster) characters, I am not constantly worried about my mana supply. And on top of that, with channelling, my spells are empowered to boot.

There is a drawback to this approach: it is a little difficult in big combats to find the time for the constant shapechanging. Still, it feels too powerful, so I will enjoy it while it lasts, but won't feel too badly when it is closed.

Despite this bit of munchkinning, still finding it tough going. The RNG evidentally doesn't like what I am doing, contributing sub-expected hp. I am finding tigers to be really viscous, and the complainer is write about those novice paladins-- they are still giving me trouble in the dark. Cuddle is going to try to take it slow and careful.

Level 21, Amon Rudh 17, 8 uniques defeated

On 4.1.2006 01:29 drchung@rcn.com wrote:
Cuddle found an orc pit... makes him feel durty for what he did to them. In a way, they are the perfect xp source for him-- it is easy to prevent them from surrounding him, so he can just take whatever hits (reduced significantly by PfE) and just OoD them away.

A couple of notes--

The shapechange exploit is pretty bad...

This is the first time I've seen the new monster AI, definitely makes things more interesting. However, pack monsters like hounds have a tendency to hang back so much that their behavior can be exploited-- certainly AoE spells ruins this AI behavior, but also just stepping back from a room of these monsters allows a player to rest up as much as they want, as long as they can deal with one round of hits.

I prefer the new V-style summoning (centered around summoner) to this style (centered around player). But it is just a personal preference.

I know that SMastery is considered very nice, but I wonder why that is the case. Bashing seems to be not too common, especially against deep monsters. The damage bonus of SMastery is nice, but since it doesn't increase frequency of bashes, the damage bonus doesn't seem to be that great (compared to Armsman or Fast Attacking.) Is it the other effects that are considered really good?

I must say, I'm quite addicted to this variant.

Level 23, Amon Rudh 18, 8 uniques defeated








On 4.1.2006 04:33 nckmccnnll@yahoo.com.au wrote:
The AI with hounds is interesting. I think on the whole this is better, because you do at least have to take some damage; in V, you just stand around the corner and add each hound to the pile of dead ones as it comes around. And wait for the gravity hounds :)

The change to summoner-centred summoning was made in V to stop the "stand in the middle of a sea of runes and shoot" method of killing Morgoth; it doesn't arise here because there's a limit on the number of runes.

Shield bashing - I have only used it as a paladin, and it seemed good, but I don't really have a feeling for how good.

Glad you like the variant - I've had a lot of fun with it. And there's more to come...

On 5.1.2006 13:13 drchung@rcn.com wrote:
Had a lot of close scrapes, which I will commemorate with a top ten list:

Ten Things I hate about Amon Rudh:

10. Pink things. And Cuddle was already weighted down when he ran into that pink (***insert insect here***)

9. Giant fleas. Even with a continual stream of rad 2 OoD, still couldn't get rid of those pests

8. Dark nagas. $#%&*@ animal summons. At least druids go down easier

7. Young bronze dragon. Stupidly decided to have a go with one. Cuddle did take it down, but not before a scary moment

6. staves of teleport. They seem really unreliable, and that on top of the randomness element probably earn them the title of cursed uncursed item

5. traps. A trap was blocking Cuddle's way, so he tried to disarm it. Before he knew it, a bunch of monsters came calling, including an Umber Hulk!

4. Umber hulk. Confusion, combined with the trouble with 6, are a bad combination

3. Tigers and larger felines in general. They sure are fast. They sure are strong. They sure seem to be everywhere.
2. Gaveronians. Smart felines.

1. Various mages. Conf and Blind are really annoying. And stinking cloud sure does reek the place.

On the bright side, found a scimitar of nogrod. Yipee! I guess Cuddle won't be doing melee anytime soon, but speed is speed...

Level 26, Amon Rudh 24, 11 uniques defeated

On 5.1.2006 22:51 nckmccnnll@yahoo.com.au wrote:
Music to my ears!

Actually, I don't think I can really take credit for any of these - they're all features in O. Except the Nogrod weapons.

Staves of teleport are useful when blind, but confusion really cuts your magic device skill.

On 6.1.2006 13:25 drchung@rcn.com wrote:
On back-to-back trips to town, Cuddle purchased Ethereal openings and an Elvenkind armor. This almost completely tapped him out-- he had to sell the artifact dagger and a bunch of backup items in order to afford the armor.

The following trip brought him near a troll pit. As my baby daughter would say, "Yum yum!". When Cuddle recalled back to town, there was a scroll of *ID* on sale, so he used it on the armor, and it got rBlind! Pretty lucky; only thing better would be rConf right now.

I noticed that the rings of resist have better resistance ability than the armor. Certainly interesting; Cuddle will probably keep wearing them for a while longer.

Two gameplay notes:
1. After playing with OoD for awhile, I get the impression that ball spells (at least OoD) do full damage to all within radius, unlike in V. Is this true? Certainly makes ball spells in general even more powerful.

2. In V, there is a "Display monster list" option in the Windows flag, which allows the player to see a list of all monsters that he/she can see/detect. It is really really really really useful, easing the tedium after detect of having to scroll over each monster to figure out what one is dealing with. Is it feasible to add that to F?

Level 28, Amon Rudh 28, 12 uniques defeated

On 6.1.2006 14:10 drchung@rcn.com wrote:
Quick update: killed Mim in a very tough battle-- his acid balls do a *LOT* of damage. Need to remember to focus on acid protection the next time I have to face him.

He dropped anweapon of Doriath, so I have an equipment change to ponder. Also, does !oResist protect against poison like the mage spell Resistance in V? Cuddle is pondering whether to buy that and a bunch of arrows of slay evil (though I suspect that with the difference in missile combat mechanics, those are nowhere near as good as in V.)

He also has to decide what to do next. I think he'll probably meander to Gondolin and report on bringing Mim to justice (I want to see how tough it is to start out High Elf), and then head for one of the other dungeons and hang out at stat gain (level 32/33) for a while until WIS/CON/STR are up a bit.

Level 29, Amon Rudh 30, 13 uniques slain

On 7.1.2006 04:39 nckmccnnll@yahoo.com.au wrote:
I think what you're seeing with the rings is the incremental resistance in action; you have two sources of RCold and RFire, so you get 70% resistance.

Ball spells do fall off in power from the centre, but I'm not sure if the rate is the same as in V.

Display monster list is on my to do list for 0.1.2.

!oResist does include poison.

And a warning; stat potions are rare at l30, then more common at l40.

On 8.1.2006 05:26 drchung@rcn.com wrote:
After the battle with Mim, it was dark, so Cuddle decided to explore Mim's lair a little more carefully, gaining cash, experience, and some loot. He encountered Mim's loyal, but misguided sons. He explained to them Mim's treachery, and they gained comprehension through pugilism.

After sunrise, Cuddle made his way to Gondolin and reported Mim's capture. He also decided to move to Gondolin, though he has a recall point in Belegost. On the way to Gondlin, he found these really heavy boots which turn out to be an artifact named Orost. Is this a randart?

One other note, Cuddle defeated a couple of the ghosts, and they dropped chests. When Cuddle opened the chest, they droppedd nearly identical items (one shields, another helms). Is that behavior intended, or is it supposed to be a wider variety of items?

Level 30, Gondolin, 15 uniques defeated

On 8.1.2006 09:07 nckmccnnll@yahoo.com.au wrote:
Yes, and yes :) Chests are themed, and often contain really nice stuff - my rogue got Colannon and Glamdring from chests.

On 10.1.2006 02:39 drchung@rcn.com wrote:
Not much interesting has happened. It took two days, but Cuddle made his way to Nargothrond (during daylight hours). He will start a slow descent, though he'll also set up shot in Tol-In-Gaurhoth (and maybe even Nan Dungortheb via Menegroth).

Nick--are you going to incorporate the new Oangband update? If so, I have a new char concept that would certainly need to be tried, especially if one can change one's char background.

Level 31, Nargothrond 31, 15 uniques defeated


On 10.1.2006 06:55 nckmccnnll@yahoo.com.au wrote:
I'm planning to incorporate some of the new O changes (hopefully in 0.1.2), including at least the savefile patch and the targetting. Does this answer your question? I'm not quite sure what you mean by background.

On 12.1.2006 16:50 drchung@rcn.com wrote:
Nick-- I was wondering if you were going to include the changes to magical devices (attunement spec, lowered damage) and bow spells, The backgroung thing was silly-- being able to type in one's own background-- which I can do on my own anyway .

Cuddle is finallt getting more of a challenge at his current depth, though he hasn't had any really close calls. I want him to drop to at least 40; I'm a little concrned about survivability after that,esp. with the grav/inert/impact hounds coming up. OoD is starting to be less effective, from complete monster pwnage to merely really dangerous.

So what monsters are interesting/annoying at this point... Cuddle met a sharpshooter, who was literally a pain in the bum. Nexus hounds of course are high on the list, as well as master rogues (probably lost 15k to them). Brigands are surprisingly tough, and bear chieftains won't go down.

Loot has been good-- a shining new shield of resists helps, and found Thalkketoth. You're right that it is certainly a disappointment to see it without speed. For now, Cuddle is leaving at home--rather have the chainmail and serenity, as that covers rBl,rSound,and rConf.

Small 'bug' note-- I don't think that the apparition of hunger's spell of hunger shows up in monster recall.

Also, I'm thinking of writing some spoilers for Fangband, is that ok with you (I'm fine if you don't like the idea).

Level 33, Tol-In-Gaurhoth 37, 17 uniques slain

On 12.1.2006 22:28 nckmccnnll@yahoo.com.au wrote:
Probably specialty and spell changes won't make it into 0.1.2, which will be mainly bugfix and UI changes from 0.1.1. I am planning to do a full rethink of spells for 0.2.0, though, so will consider that stuff more fully then.

Spoilers - excellent. A good starting point is Alex Wilkins' Oangband spoilers on the O website.

On 14.1.2006 13:47 drchung@rcn.com wrote:
Cuddle found his first vaults. The first was a big rectangular area divided into a "wheelhouse" of six wedges with a horizontal "axle" in the middle. It was hard going-- took down two ancient blues, a magician (those guys are hard!), queen ant, and miscellaneous monsters, some ood. The haul was good- Celegorm, with incremental resists system, is very good, and a staff of speed was also there, along with a fortune's worth of minor ego items. I ran out of ID, and almost had to munge most of them, but Cuddle cleared the rest of the level, hoping to find a _oPer, and did (yes, pretty lucky).

The second vault was quite embarrassing-- it looked like a castle vault, and was filled with humanoids. The gaveronian champions gave Cuddle quite a bit of trouble. Then, when Cuddle used a rod of disarm, failed, and I didn't register that and so selected a direction-- and fell into a trap door. Grrr...

Couple notes

1. At first, I was in the camp as everyone else, whining about *ID*, but now they seem to show up every now and then-- Cuddle has bought one and found four, which is pretty decent.

2. The last *ID* allowed Cuddle to find out about his 11.2 lb randart boots. They are *NICE*. Five resistances, including sound. Btw, is it a result of all those abilities that make the boots so heavy? For reference, Orost has:
+3 stealth
RElec,RCo,RDark,RSound,and RShards
permanent light

3. I've noticed that some of the monster recall monster flavor texts are missing spaces between words; examples include Orcobal (Heleers), Ulfang (thesons). I remember one other, a non-unique, but can't remember which monster. I'll mention again when I see it.

Level 35, Tol-In-Gaurhoth 41, 20 uniques defeated

On 14.1.2006 13:52 drchung@rcn.com wrote:
Oh, I see-- my rods failed, and as a result of the failure, Cuddle dropped a level. Very evil. Well, I'm going to have to be more careful when dealing with traps then...

On 14.1.2006 19:01 artagas@yahoo.co.uk wrote:
good going. those randart shoes are indeed very nice for your depth. the randarts my guy have found so far were not nearly that useful.
i sort of wonder why you took the risk of reaching both Nargothrond and Tol-In-Gauroth. for me wondering around in the wilderness seems to be the most difficult part of FAangband so i try to do as little of it as i can.

On 15.1.2006 06:22 nckmccnnll@yahoo.com.au wrote:
I had the same trapdoor problem with Ara - grrr all right. Trapdoors are best avoided altogether. I haven't gone anywhere near the randart code, so can't really comment about the boots (apart from niiice). I've noticed the lack of spaces in some of the flavourtext, but haven't got around to fixing it yet. That's a job for 0.1.2.

On 15.1.2006 13:13 drchung@rcn.com wrote:
Thanks Artagas. About your wilderness comment:

About the wilderness, it turns out that for Cuddle, they are (right now) not dangerous, and here is why:

1. First, beorning priests with OoD are overpowered up to about dlevel 35-40. OoD kills just about everything in only a few casts. This, combined with the fact that Cuddle was descending slowly in dungeons, means that wilderness monsters were weak compared to Cuddle's power level.

2. Cuddle only traveled overland by day. So, he never had to deal with being mobbed in melee by packs of monsters.

3. With good stealth items and big LOS from most wilderness boards, Cuddle could see most monsters from a long way off; he was essentially a mobile artillery platform.

In fact, my hypothesis right now is that for characters with decent stealth and good ranged attacks(probably area of effect), the wilderness during the day is too easy, especially with scrolls of TL available in stores. The problem is what to do about melee characters.

Here is one proposal (may be half-baked, so feel free to ignore): Make it so that when travelling at night, monsters are very sluggish (perhaps boost character's stealth by a significant factor). This way, there is an incentive for melee/stealthy types to go at the wildereness at night. There is still a chance of getting mobbed, but at least it won't happen the moment a character enters a board.

To compensate, either remove scrolls of TL from the alchemist or raise their prices. They are cheaper than teleport, and not only do they provide instant escape in the wilderness, but they put the char right on top of paths.

Dean

On 15.1.2006 21:22 artagas@yahoo.co.uk wrote:
right. if i recall correctly i made a similar suggestion to Nick in an email a few weeks ago, about day&night cycles. Also if it was done, maybe Zangband style taverns could be included where one could sleep until day/night if he so choses.
there is many ways to balance the risks of day/night traveling. +stealth makes sense. maybe as an alternative monsters could be generated asleep more often, or the range from which they detect the player could be longer.
and yeah, scrolls of TL provide a very easy way to get through the wilderness.
i think removing them from the alchemist's shop would only result in even more BM scumming (people prolly already do plenty to get those *id*-s). maybe they could just stop working in the wilderness (*evil cackle*) or maybe they should "teleport" the character to the same depth (meaning that the level would be rerolled but the char would be still at the same depth/height)

Artagas

On 16.1.2006 03:51 drchung@rcn.com wrote:
Quick update. Reached Nan Dungortheb. Cuddle has stayed around dl40, getting very good luck with !oSTR,=oCON. Considering diving to 45 and deeper, but am concerned about diving much further w.o rpoison and with just 300hp.

level 37. dlevel 41, 20 uniques slain

On 16.1.2006 05:36 nckmccnnll@yahoo.com.au wrote:
I like the tavern idea, and the sluggish monsters. I'm a bit reluctant to make wilderness harder, as it's already pretty tough for Edain, Druedain, etc. That landing on the path thnig from TL is maybe a bit rich, though. And as for the shapechange exploit...

On 18.1.2006 03:32 drchung@rcn.com wrote:
Another boring dump. Cuddle wandered into DragonCon, and decided to participate. I must say that balance drakes are quite annoying-- they are on my watch list of dangerous/annoying monsters along with time vortex, magician, and petty dwarf wizard. The chaos drakes, MMHD and the mature greens were also of concern. Thanks to the peculiar nature of my kit, ethereals, crystals, and law drakes are pretty harmless (along with the standard elemental dragons.)

So-- after emptying out the fit, Cuddle sifted through some 40 pieces of non-cursed armor and weapons, of which about 20 were {good}, and 0 were ego items. C'est la vie. Cuddle is getting some love, though, from the RNG as he has found several CON potions.

Level 38, Tol-In-Gaurhoth 43. 20 uniques defeated

On 19.1.2006 14:28 drchung@rcn.com wrote:
Cuddle is continuing the descent, and either my feel for Oangband is getting better or Cuddle really should have been lower-- though I haven't met any of the really annoying hounds yet. WIS is up to 1% fail rate (though that requires the randart +3 WIS trident, whereas it would be nice to use the Nogrod or Doriath weapons). The staff of detection is useful, hoping that it lasts till Cuddle finds book 6. All in all, steady sledding w/o any real close calls.

Level 39, Nan Dungortheb 46, 20 uniques slain

On 19.1.2006 15:21 drchung@rcn.com wrote:
oops, this is the wrong dump, will repost when I get back from work.

On 19.1.2006 23:08 drchung@rcn.com wrote:
Alas, there goes Cuddle. An archpriest whhich I was waiting for summoned a Lich and Shelob, who proceeded to kill Cuddle before he had a chance to react. Speed was a serious problem I suspect, though I 'm not sure what else could have been done-- no sources of rPsn were found.

On 20.1.2006 01:49 artagas@yahoo.co.uk wrote:
that is bad news indeed, FA proves to be a real killer so far (though I suspect it is mainly O's fault). You did go the risky way by diving to 46 without rpsn and speed, but than sometimes it is necessary to avoid being bored to death.
still, you have gotten much further than any of the other spellcasting types in FA, so good job.

is Cuddle V on the way? I still havent decided between Gillette II or trying a necromancer, but i certainly want to beat FA after my exams at college are over.

On 20.1.2006 05:16 nckmccnnll@yahoo.com.au wrote:
Ouch. Speed certainly is hard to get, as are RPois and RConf; how do people feel about balance?

On 20.1.2006 12:12 drchung@rcn.com wrote:
Funny though it may sound, rpoison is probably ok-- one can get it at 48 (Cuddle was shooting for that to get the ring), and except for Shelob, nothing can nuke you too badly except AGD (I think). RConf is a good question-- on the one hand, serenity seems to drop ok, on the other hand since conf is much more common than in V, it would be nice to have an alternative no-ego source, say an amulet (to make it from being too good, one could add an annoying feature to it, like aggravation. I can see it-- the cowbell of clarity :)

I think actually that I was taking it too slowly-- it is a lot easier to stat gain in the 40's (and if one can manage, in the 50's) than sticking to the 30's. Also, the danger curve is somewhat less steep than in V.

Cuddle V is going to be up in a few moments.



On 20.1.2006 12:41 artagas@yahoo.co.uk wrote:
The way it currently is you are forced to dive to somewhat dangerous depths do develop in power, and i like it this way.
It is much more fun going deep down, burning !of healing/speed like crazy and biting your fingers of hoping you will find enough stat pots and a few nice artifcats before something finishes you off, than stalling at a comfortable depth gaining power which can be done in some variants. Generally the cure coming a little later than the problem makes it more interesting and challanging, and one can make up for the lack of resistances with care/detection etc.

Speed on the other hand is a little harsher issue if you dont find any. Though my Warrior had RoS and BoS by 3000', maybe it was just his luck.
Randart code could be revised mayhaps. the ones i have seen were mainly crap. Again maybe just my bad luck, and maybe they are great later on.
In general I vote for making things more comfortable (store services instead of BM scumming, etc.) but not easier.

On 20.1.2006 12:58 drchung@rcn.com wrote:
I agree with artagas. There are a lot more variables to think through when considering dungeon depth. In general, the early monsters (0-20) seem tougher but the mid range (30-50) ramp up much more slowly than, say, V. It *feels* right somehow to have to figure out how deep to dive, knowing that being too shallow can be nearly as dangerous as too deep (for instance, I suspect that even ignoring boredom issues, staying in 30-35 stat-gaining may be more dangerous than going to the 41, as you'll have to face a lot more monsters which are only a little easier, and bad luck and slightly suboptimal play can still doom you.

Another note-- I know that in V, my main early protection against conf are _oTel, which as noted before do not work so well now. Not proposing anything, just giving a little more info on conf.

On 20.1.2006 18:19 drchung@rcn.com wrote:
After reflection, here are my mistakes:

1. I knew I had a whole in my defenses, so need to speed up before fast general summoners like archpries

2. Hug the wall! Hug the wall! The fact that I couldn't see the archpriest when he did his summons is bad.

3. Keep buffs up. I forgot to buff, so didn't have protevil to help

4. Assume melee can happen. I wasn't bothering with Sacred shield since I was almost never in melee.

So, death was preventable, though I don't think it was a "dumb" death.

On 21.1.2006 02:06 nckmccnnll@yahoo.com.au wrote:
Thanks for the comments, guys. This fits in pretty well with my thinking. I have some ideas about stores which should improve convenience, so I really need to get 0.1.2 out and then start on 0.2.0.

On 21.1.2006 12:54 artagas@yahoo.co.uk wrote:
it is mildly amusing that Cuddle's dump became the unofficial FA-discussion board :) of course the email notification makes it comfy.
anyhow is 0.2.0 going to be based on the new O release? imho you should at least consider including some of the new O features they are splendid. (especially the UI and item drop related ones)

On 21.1.2006 22:30 nckmccnnll@yahoo.com.au wrote:
Not just this dump either - I've been watching a few others :)
0.2.0 will certainly pinch some of the new O features; in fact, targetting should be in 0.1.2, which should be out soon. Which other UI stuff did you like? I have to look into the item drops, and the spell changes (which look cool) may get their chance because I need to fix some of the spell ordering. What do you think of removing the spell learning mechanic? I kind of like it.

On 22.1.2006 00:18 artagas@yahoo.co.uk wrote:
I really like # targetting the first eligible item for easy identify. =g for auto-pickup is nice too.
Strong squelch would be nice as well if it actually worked in O 1.1.0 beta. (figure it will be fixed in some upcoming patch)
Though i still think that H-style squelching is still the best way to go as opposed to either O/NPP style or Tome-style.
(Although actually it might be that Leon Marrick's post about squelching on rgra sais the truth, and the right way of adressing the problem is not adjusting the squelching options, but writing better item-drop codes. And O is walking on that path by reducing big drops significantly. Althogh it is still unclear for me whether or not it will result in too few important scrolls and potions dropping.)

no spell learning. well. for me it is a great comfort because i am an amateur spell caster (died some 15 times with FA high-elf necromancers today, the best was lev17 or so:) and i am always uncertain about which spells i should be picking. on the other hand it obviously murders and early tactical problem in the game.
one good side of the change is that now it is more possible to attempt playing spellcasters with unsuitable races who start with a low casting stat (failure rates still suck, but at least you dont have to worry about gaining enough spells)

thumbs up for teleport away being bolt instead of beam (it is cheesy enough imho)

double thumbs up for the new fun spell books. I am dying to try it out with the O-assasin I am running.

On 22.1.2006 12:48 drchung@rcn.com wrote:
I think I've already mentioned most of the UI stuff that I'd like to see (and which you've already said are on the docket). One nice thing (may be too hard) is for the "detect trap" location status to not just be a radius, but for it to actually remember where detect trap has been cast. Certainly strong squelch sounds good to me-- in a way, it pushes the question of what are good items to the player. Not that the item drop code can't be improved, but quality of drops depend a good deal on the class of a character-- _oPer and ?oId are really useful for priests and warriors, but not so much for mages, e.g. One thing I'm not sure about-- does disturbance affect macros? I have a hard time telling, and it really helps with using macros that they should be easily disturbed.

As far as the learning mechanic, it is really a minor annoyance. It probably impacts priests more than anyone else (do druids get to choose their spells? I gather from artagas that it is yes), and for priests, it does add an element of strategy. Practically speaking, it doesn't really hurt characters except near the beginning, which goes pretty fast with good play. All in all, I think it should be removed, because it doesn't affect play balance very much, and it disproportionately affects new players. (Of course, it would be disasterous to remove it from a Zangband-type variant that allows school switching, but I highly suspect that you won't be following that path.)

The new spells look very interesting (just from reading the descriptions, never played straight Oangband).

Almost certainly out of scope, but here are my spell thoughts: at least for priests, I do not find that there are unnecessary spells-- the worst are the duplication of bless/chant/prayer, and the general weakness of slow poison. Alter reality also feels too close to TL, though I'm not unhappy to have both. I haven't played through books 6-9 of the priest collection, so I don't know about the balance of those yet. From reading spoilers, I feel that the main weakness of the priest spell lines is the very discontinous nature of the priest spells-- no early damage spells, OoD is still, probably, overpowered (no resists, extra damage to evil,radius with what I think relatively low damage drop off), the dispels (which are probably ok-- I tend not to use them much, but mainly because OoD is so good) and then nothing until book 9, which from appearances can be more powerful than anything mages can get. I guess to me, the question is, should priests be spellcasters, melee, or somewhere in between? I suspect the answer is number 3, in which case there should be a range of attack spells that should be in general weaker than, say, comparable mage spells unless the monsters are evil (about the same or maybe more) or are demon/undead/light-fearing (somewhat more). I think that priests will always be awe-inspiring in the late game, but that is because of the heal spells (and also the excellent mid-to-late game detection and escape spells).


On 22.1.2006 14:37 nckmccnnll@yahoo.com.au wrote:
Squelch now works in O; I haven't used squelching in H (or entro).

The spell learning I might sit on for a bit - maybe bring it in in 0.2.0.

Remembering where detect trap has been cast is something I've thought about for a while, but haven't come up with a good method yet. It's complicated by monsters or scrolls creating traps; still, I guess that can just be ignored. I'll think some more.

Disturbance certainly _should_ affect macros, but I don't know for sure.

I'll take those ideas about priests into consideration for the spell overhaul in 0.2.0.

0.1.2 is mostly done now, so should be out soon (whatever that means), RL permitting.

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