[Crawl] MDFi advice needed

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I've probably made a few mistakes on the way with this guy, but down to
DL10 and only side dungeon so far are the mines which I've just about
cleared the top 2 levels of.

One lucky find with the ice dragon armour. I originally planned to go
with axes, but the short sword of speed enchanted me so I've been using
that. I'm not the most dextrous but seem to be doing OK with it now.
Currently in the temple stashing and wondering if I can do ok with this
guy.

Any advice appreciated. Got level 1 Invocations and Evocations
presumably from using wands and using god given powers. But which if
any do I want to train?

I have the following stashed:

d - the +1 ring mail of the Tortoise

A leather suit covered in little rings.

Armour rating: 4
Evasion modifier: -2

It affects your evasion (+6).
It enhances your eyesight.

It weighs around 30.0 aum.

Useful? I've not found any weapons with any special powers other than
short swords and daggers...


Rich

Dungeon Crawl version 4.0.0 beta 26 character file.

Dwarfy the Cutter (Mountain Dwarf)
(Level 11 Fighter)

Play time: 05:23:21 Number of turns: 16594

Experience : 11/10300
Strength 22 Dexterity 13 Intelligence 7
Hit Points : 99 Magic Points : 8
AC : 16 Evasion : 10 Shield : 7
GP : 365

You are in the Ecumenical Temple.
You worship Okawaru.
Okawaru is greatly pleased with you.
You are not hungry.

Inventory:
Hand weapons
q - a +5,+2 short sword of speed (weapon)
Armour
c - a +1 dwarven shield (worn)
k - a +0 ice dragon armour (worn)
n - a +0 elven cloak (worn)
t - a +0 pair of gloves (worn)
Magical devices
e - a wand of paralysis
u - a wand of fire (9)
y - a wand of slowing (0)
E - a wand of lightning
Comestibles
o - 2 bread rations
I - 2 meat rations
Scrolls
a - a scroll of blinking
b - 2 scrolls of detect curse
j - 3 scrolls of remove curse
m - 5 scrolls of teleportation
v - 2 scrolls of identify
z - a scroll of recharging
A - a scroll of fear
Jewellery
w - a ring of regeneration
x - an amulet of clarity (around neck)
D - a +1 ring of protection (right hand)
F - a ring of see invisible (left hand)
K - an amulet of the gourmand
Potions
g - 4 potions of healing
h - a potion of berserk rage
i - a potion of restore abilities
l - a potion of invisibility
r - 5 potions of heal wounds


You have 172 experience left.

Skills:
+ Level 9 Fighting
+ Level 13 Short Blades
- Level 3 Axes
- Level 1 Bows
- Level 1 Throwing
+ Level 7 Armour
+ Level 5 Shields
+ Level 1 Invocations
+ Level 1 Evocations


You have 10 spell levels left.
You don't know any spells.

Mutations & Other Weirdness
You are agile (Dex +1).

 

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Dafty wrote:

I'm bored today, so yet another EP spam (TM).

> I've probably made a few mistakes on the way with this guy, but down to
> DL10 and only side dungeon so far are the mines which I've just about
> cleared the top 2 levels of.
>
> One lucky find with the ice dragon armour.

Wow. Very, very nice to have something so fine so early. It's the
absolute best of the "officially 'heavy' but still pretty light"
armours. I spend whole games looking forwarding to finding my first ice
dragon hide when I'm doing the armoured spellcaster thing.

Be sure to get your fire resistance back up from "susceptible" to
normal, though.

Since both the armour and the short blade are unusually non-hindering
for dwarfwear and since Dwarves are among the least dumb of all Crawl's
tough guys, you may want to try a little support magic -- Stoneskin,
blink, repel missiles, things like that. Silence too; just don't tell
Brent about it. Keep in mind that doing this will mean you'll pretty
much have to pass over any storm/shadow/gold dragon armour you find in
the endgame; on the other hand, your ice dragon armour will be so highly
enchanted by that point it won't be too sorrowful a loss.

(Later on I see your Int and... correct this part a little.)

> I originally planned to go
> with axes, but the short sword of speed enchanted me so I've been using
> that.

Dwarves are no superstars with short blades skill, no sirree. But one
bad aptitude does not a bad character make. (Where have I heard that
before?)

> I'm not the most dextrous but seem to be doing OK with it now.
> Currently in the temple stashing and wondering if I can do ok with this
> guy.
>
> Any advice appreciated. Got level 1 Invocations and Evocations
> presumably from using wands and using god given powers. But which if
> any do I want to train?

Rods (which use Evocations) are overpowered, not so much as Nemelex (so
you needn't be *ashamed* to use them), but enough that they're helpful
in bringing you to your first win. You'll need to spend your
acquirements (if any) to get them, though.

Invocations -- do you want a reliable Haste? If so, train them up. If
you're indifferent, leave them be.

> I have the following stashed:
>
> d - the +1 ring mail of the Tortoise
>
> A leather suit covered in little rings.
>
> Armour rating: 4
> Evasion modifier: -2
>
> It affects your evasion (+6).
> It enhances your eyesight.

If it weren't for the ID armour I'd say go for it. As it is, it's mostly
something to keep around for the Slime Pits. "Enhances your eyesight"
means SeeInvis, by the way.

> Strength 22 Dexterity 13 Intelligence 7

Oh.

You'll have trouble enough getting your Dex up to speed for short blades
without having to worry about your Int as well.

Barring some ueber intelligence-raising equipment, maybe forgetting
about the support spells and saving back some enchantment scrolls for a
heavier suit of armour in the endgame isn't such a bad idea after all.


> Armour
> c - a +1 dwarven shield (worn)

Shields, staves, auxiliary unarmed, rods, or a dangling left arm? That
is the question. I can't give you an answer. (Except to say that a
shield is probably better than a dangling left arm -- but keep in mind
that the loss of weapon speed hurts fast weapons the most).

> Jewellery
> w - a ring of regeneration
> x - an amulet of clarity (around neck)
> D - a +1 ring of protection (right hand)
> F - a ring of see invisible (left hand)
> K - an amulet of the gourmand

I'd set regeneration to letter p and invisible to letter r or somesuch;
the less annoyance it is to swap among them, the more you will do so, to
your benefit.

Keep trying other short swords -- you'll want one of flaming eventually.

Erik

 

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Erik Piper <erikNOSPAM@sky.cz> writes:
> Dafty wrote:
[mountain dwarf fighter]
>> I originally planned to go with axes, but the short sword of speed
>> enchanted me so I've been using that.

> Dwarves are no superstars with short blades skill, no sirree. But
> one bad aptitude does not a bad character make.

But going with the short blade is a poor idea for a dwarf. Unless the
OP is into weird games, I'd strongly recommend switching to axes or
maces&flails.

--
Darshan Shaligram <scintilla@gmail.com> Deus vult

 

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R. Dan Henry <danhenry@inreach.com> writes:
> On Tue, 07 Jun 2005 09:55:53 -0700, Darshan Shaligram
> <scintilla@gmail.com> wrote:
>>Erik Piper <erikNOSPAM@sky.cz> writes:
>>> Dafty wrote:
>>[mountain dwarf fighter]
>>>> I originally planned to go with axes, but the short sword of
>>>> speed enchanted me so I've been using that.

>>> Dwarves are no superstars with short blades skill, no sirree. But
>>> one bad aptitude does not a bad character make.

>>But going with the short blade is a poor idea for a dwarf. Unless
>>the OP is into weird games, I'd strongly recommend switching to axes
>>or maces&flails.

> It's not *that* poor an idea. Sure, an MD is *even better* at Axes
> and M&F than with Short Blades, but they are *good* with Short
> Blades.

The short blades path is not suicidal for a dwarf, but it *is* weird
and distinctly suboptimal.

If it were Mark Mackey or Ben Goetter or Erik Piper using the short
blade, I wouldn't say a word. For a relative newcomer to the game,
I'll stand by my recommendation of maces or axes.

--
Darshan Shaligram <scintilla@gmail.com> Deus vult

 

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On Tue, 07 Jun 2005 09:55:53 -0700, Darshan Shaligram
<scintilla@gmail.com> wrote:

>Erik Piper <erikNOSPAM@sky.cz> writes:
>> Dafty wrote:
>[mountain dwarf fighter]
>>> I originally planned to go with axes, but the short sword of speed
>>> enchanted me so I've been using that.
>
>> Dwarves are no superstars with short blades skill, no sirree. But
>> one bad aptitude does not a bad character make.
>
>But going with the short blade is a poor idea for a dwarf. Unless the
>OP is into weird games, I'd strongly recommend switching to axes or
>maces&flails.

It's not *that* poor an idea. Sure, an MD is *even better* at Axes and
M&F than with Short Blades, but they are *good* with Short Blades. The
"favors dex" part of the weapon is maybe your concern, but he can put
all his optional stat gains into Dex and maybe pick up some Long
Blades later. Optimal weapons choice for a Dwarf? No. But he's still
going to be better than a human, so it's not exactly a challenge game.

--
R. Dan Henry
danhenry@inreach.com

 

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On Tue, 07 Jun 2005 16:00:12 -0700, Darshan Shaligram
<scintilla@gmail.com> wrote:

>R. Dan Henry <danhenry@inreach.com> writes:

>> It's not *that* poor an idea. Sure, an MD is *even better* at Axes
>> and M&F than with Short Blades, but they are *good* with Short
>> Blades.
>
>The short blades path is not suicidal for a dwarf, but it *is* weird
>and distinctly suboptimal.
>
>If it were Mark Mackey or Ben Goetter or Erik Piper using the short
>blade, I wouldn't say a word. For a relative newcomer to the game,
>I'll stand by my recommendation of maces or axes.

Bah! You're assuming that the point of playing is to win. The point is
to have fun, and running around with a Dwarf poking people with a
little knife is fun. Plus, trying the occasional suboptimal strategy
is a good way to help build skill.

--
R. Dan Henry
danhenry@inreach.com

 

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R. Dan Henry <danhenry@inreach.com> writes:

[short swords or axes for a dwarf?]
> Bah! You're assuming that the point of playing is to win.

The subject line suggests that the OP might be interested in trying to
win at some point.

> The point is to have fun, and running around with a Dwarf poking
> people with a little knife is fun.

I have equal amounts of fun running around with a bloodthirsty
axe-waving dwarf. Crawl allows you to have fun *and* win the game.

--
Darshan Shaligram <scintilla@gmail.com> Deus vult

 

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>If it were Mark Mackey or Ben Goetter or Erik Piper using the short
>blade, I wouldn't say a word. For a relative newcomer to the game,
>I'll stand by my recommendation of maces or axes.
>

To be honest I completely agree with you, but it's been a strange game.
The only two stand out weapons I've found the whole game are my short
sword of speed, and a dagger of poisoning. No runed or glowing axes or
flails. Plus now I'm skill 13 with short blades and only 3 with axes
(found the short sword of speed very early) it seems better to me to
continue as I am rather than try and train up axes and possibly get
killed in the meantime because I'm unable to kill anything on the level
I'm on.


Rich

 

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Still alive. Still slugging away at the mines. Not found a source of
resist fire which is a real pain with this ice dragon armour! Have to
be *real* careful about orc sorcerers.

However just found this rather nice looking axe which after a few test
swings seems to kill things nicely! OK it attacks less quicky but
wonder if it's worth trying to train axes again now? (I can obviously
ditch the shield if so). Will give it a go unless told to do otherwise
or start to find stuff I killed easily before more tricky.

Why can't I ever remember which corpses are poisonous? With "otG it
should be easy enough to stay full but perhaps not in the mines.

Dungeon Crawl version 4.0.0 beta 26 character file.

Dwarfy the Cutter (Mountain Dwarf)
(Level 11 Fighter)

Play time: 06:53:52 Number of turns: 19394

Experience : 11/14240
Strength 22 Dexterity 16 Intelligence 7
Hit Points : 99 Magic Points : 10
AC : 16 Evasion : 10 Shield : 0
GP : 584

You are in the Ecumenical Temple.
You worship Okawaru.
Okawaru is extremely pleased with you.
You are not hungry.

Inventory:
Hand weapons
q - a +5,+2 short sword of speed
s - the -2,+6 broad axe of Precise Incision (weapon)
A truly terrible weapon, it drains the life of those it strikes.
It affects your dexterity (+3).

Armour
c - a +1 dwarven shield
d - a +2 robe of magic resistance

<any use? presumably not much>

k - a +0 ice dragon armour (worn)
m - a +0 pair of gloves (worn)
n - a +0 elven cloak (worn)

Magical devices
e - a wand of paralysis
u - a wand of fire (9)
E - a wand of lightning
Comestibles
y - 3 bread rations
Scrolls
a - a scroll of blinking
b - 2 scrolls of detect curse
f - 4 scrolls of teleportation
j - 3 scrolls of remove curse
t - 3 scrolls of magic mapping
v - 2 scrolls of identify

<Stashed one, ID'd charges on the lightning want with the other 0!>

z - a scroll of recharging

<Just wasted this learning that presumably it only recharges a wielded
item rather than asking which item in your inventory you wish to
recharge!>

A - a scroll of fear
Jewellery
w - a ring of regeneration
x - an amulet of clarity (around neck)
D - a +1 ring of protection (right hand)
F - a ring of see invisible (left hand)
K - an amulet of the gourmand
Potions
g - 3 potions of healing
h - a potion of berserk rage
i - a potion of restore abilities
l - a potion of invisibility
r - 2 potions of heal wounds


You have 85 experience left.

Skills:
+ Level 9 Fighting
+ Level 14 Short Blades
+ Level 3 Axes
- Level 1 Bows
- Level 1 Throwing
+ Level 7 Armour
+ Level 5 Shields
+ Level 2 Invocations

<Might from Okie really helped with the short sword, presume it'll be
just as useful with the axe, but I am burning through food>

+ Level 1 Evocations


You have 10 spell levels left.
You don't know any spells.

Mutations & Other Weirdness
You are agile (Dex +1).

 

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Thanks again Eric.

The axe does seem to be killing things nicely, and I really don't
expect to win as this is the first guy I've even found the entrance to
the elven halls with (in the mines of all places). Couple of places I
couldn't get to in the mines without teleportation, decided to leave
them until I could dig in.

Another question as you seem to be bored today...

Will only Runed/glowing/warped/twisted/whatever types of weapons/armour
have interesting properties? Or can a standard "orcish short sword"
found on a corpse or on the dungeon floor actually be more interesting
that it seems? Mostly hope not or I've got lots of ID'ing to do

Oh yeah another thing I've not managed to work out. How do you
sacrifice corpses or items to your god? I hack up corpses like there's
no tomorrow, but haven't worked out how to sacrifice.

Oh finally your email address still seems to bounce if you remove
NOSPAM. Intentional?

 

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Grr! Doing the hive now as I found this:

J - the ring "Hifuh V" (right hand)

This ring increases its wearer's resistance to hostile enchantments.

It protects you from poison.
It lets you levitate.
It lets you blink.

It weighs around 1.0 aum.

No problems but I seem to be losing piety (presumably from getting
might from okie too often). Losing it quicker than I gain it from
killing whilst praying. (Must be careful to not do that for undead and
demons isn't it?)

Any advice on piety? Would love some gifts...

Axes now up to 9 and doing much more damage than the short sword was.
First room of the first level fo the lair also done, but again
unconnected to the main bit of the level and I struggled with spiny
frogs so didn't wanna risk a teleport (with no controlled teleport
anyway).

Anyway continuing with the Hive.

 

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> I would have thought hopping to Long Blades would be a better option,
> since they cross train with Short Blades, but now you're quite far along
> the Axes route, and I'm quite new at this too, so I don't know.
>

Yeah I did wonder that myself, but so far my axe is looking nice and
shiney! Needless to say the Hive is even easier than it probably was
for you with poison resistance covered.

Yeah I stopped bothering with might, didn't realise how much that
drained peity. Now Okie is exhaulted and I'm looking forward to
hopefully staying alive long enough to see my first gift


Rich

 

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OK you're probably all getting bored by now, but hopefully other
crawlers who are learning the game will find my trials interesting.

Hive is amazingly easy especially with resist poison and Okie and Hive
floor have now rewarded me with many more interesting items and some
potentially hard choices. So I thought I'd pick the brains of you crawl
experts yet again. Not quite finished the Hive in this dump and
planning on dragging the food to the top of the lair as seems a good
idea from other threads. At some point I should go back to the temple
and see if I left anything there I might need. But anyway...

Dungeon Crawl version 4.0.0 beta 26 character file.

Dwarfy the Cutter (Mountain Dwarf)
(Level 12 Fighter)

Play time: 10:40:22 Number of turns: 27997

Experience : 12/31220
Strength 23 Dexterity 14 Intelligence 7
Hit Points : 113 Magic Points : 15
AC : 18 Evasion : 10 Shield : 0
GP : 763

You are in the Hive.
You worship Okawaru.
Okawaru is exalted by your worship.
You are not hungry.

Inventory:
Hand weapons
d - the +0,+1 battleaxe "Qevifr"
It inflicts no extra harm, but heals its wielder somewhat when he or
she
strikes a living foe.
It affects your evasion (-1).
It insulates you from electricity.

Okie gift. What's the difference between healing when striking a living
foe and draining? Electricity resistance might be useful as a swap but
I have other choices for that now...

s - the -2,+6 broad axe of Precise Incision
A truly terrible weapon, it drains the life of those it strikes.
It affects your dexterity (+3).

t - the uncursed glaive "Ec P Dig Dy"
It affects your evasion (+3).
It affects your dexterity (+3).
It prevents spellcasting.

I'm pretty sure I can chuck this. Not planning on trying to train
polearms after doing short blades and axes!

z - an uncursed elven blowgun

Think I'll stick to wands and hopefully maybe rods as ranged attacks?
Swapping in shooters seems too much of a pain in the arse for an
angband player.

Q - a +2,+4 dwarven battleaxe of flaming (weapon)

Just found in the Hive. Right choice?

Missiles
B - 22 poisoned needles
Armour
k - a +0 ice dragon armour (worn)
m - a +0 pair of gloves (worn)
n - a +0 elven cloak (worn)
C - a +0 orcish helmet (worn)
P - the +2 shield "Ygojchahireato"
It affects your dexterity (-2).
It insulates you from electricity.
It lets you turn invisible.

Second okie gift. Possibly a swap in when wielding a 1.5 handed weapon
for res electricity?

Magical devices
a - a wand of lightning
c - a wand of polymorph other
e - a wand of paralysis
q - a wand of digging
u - a wand of fire (8)
v - a wand of teleportation
E - a wand of lightning (7)
L - a wand of magic darts
M - a wand of fireball
R - an encrusted gold wand

Just picked up that last one in the Hive, I need to go stash

Comestibles
l - 18 honeycombs
D - 2 bread rations
G - 4 meat rations
H - 7 royal jellies
Scrolls
b - 3 scrolls of detect curse
f - 3 scrolls of teleportation
j - 7 scrolls of remove curse

Told you I needed to go stash

A - 2 scrolls of fear
O - a scroll of identify
Jewellery
p - an amulet of resist slowing
w - a ring of regeneration

Haven't actually used this so far but now I should have no food worries
it should be interested. However think I'll stick with randart ring and
see invis for now.

x - an amulet of clarity
F - a ring of see invisible (left hand)
J - the ring "Hifuh V" (right hand)
This ring increases its wearer's resistance to hostile enchantments.

It protects you from poison.
It lets you levitate.
It lets you blink.

K - an amulet of the gourmand (around neck)
Potions
g - 6 potions of healing
h - a potion of berserk rage
i - a potion of restore abilities
o - a potion of strong poison

Thought I'd thrown that one!

r - a potion of heal wounds
I - a potion of mutation

Keeping until I ID cure mutation

N - a potion of might
Books
y - a book of Frost


You have 63 experience left.

Skills:
+ Level 11 Fighting
- Level 14 Short Blades
+ Level 13 Axes
- Level 1 Bows
- Level 1 Throwing
+ Level 10 Armour
+ Level 5 Shields

I can turn this one off?

+ Level 1 Spellcasting
+ Level 4 Invocations
+ Level 3 Evocations


You have 13 spell levels left.
You don't know any spells.

I do have a ring of INT +5... and there was a bookshop early on in the
dungeon. Time to start playing with spells?

Mutations & Other Weirdness
You are agile (Dex +1).

Right that's me done with this character until tomorrow lunchtime


Rich

 

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Darshan Shaligram wrote:

> If it were Mark Mackey or Ben Goetter or Erik Piper using the short
> blade, I wouldn't say a word. For a relative newcomer to the game,
> I'll stand by my recommendation of maces or axes.

Just you wait until I ascend my mace-wielding Grey-Elf Earth-based
conjurer going for the Traps and Doors title, you young whippersnapper!

(kidding)

Erik

 

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Darshan Shaligram wrote:
> R. Dan Henry <danhenry@inreach.com> writes:
>
> [short swords or axes for a dwarf?]
>
>>Bah! You're assuming that the point of playing is to win.
>
>
> The subject line suggests that the OP might be interested in trying to
> win at some point.
>
>
>>The point is to have fun, and running around with a Dwarf poking
>>people with a little knife is fun.
>
>
> I have equal amounts of fun running around with a bloodthirsty
> axe-waving dwarf. Crawl allows you to have fun *and* win the game.

Anyway, switching back to axes when your Axes is at 3 and your Short
Blades is at 13, as his was -- and hopefully he's still alive, so "is"
-- is detrimental to both fun *and* winning the game. Also, quick
blades and short blades of speed are, when properly attended to
(avoiding the use of a shield, finding a use for the spare hand), among
the most powerful weapons in the game. Finding one early is a bit like
finding an executioner's axe in the midgame.

The main trouble will be the Dex, yes, but having just reached the
"standard + Slime Pits" line with a common elf who's reached 27 strength
for a Certain Purpose, I'm a bit biased and convinced that with some
work, he can work that part out too. Really the main pity is that he
won't be able to simultaneously build up some casting skill, but then,
not everyone is as big into spellcasting dwarves as I am.

BTW at some point in the future I'm thinking of a Troll "Earth-based
Reaver" win; any old timers recall any good posts on victorious or
near-victorious characters fighting against the skill grain a bit more
seriously than our dagger-armed dwarf?

Erik

 

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Dafty wrote:

> However just found this rather nice looking axe which after a few test
> swings seems to kill things nicely! OK it attacks less quicky but
> wonder if it's worth trying to train axes again now? (I can obviously
> ditch the shield if so). Will give it a go unless told to do otherwise
> or start to find stuff I killed easily before more tricky.

14 skill levels is quite a big XP investment to just dump short blades.
Besides, if you win, you might be the first short blade wielding dwarf evar.

> Why can't I ever remember which corpses are poisonous? With "otG it
> should be easy enough to stay full but perhaps not in the mines.

Wait until they rot, THEN eat them -- the "otG does 2 things:
-- lets you eat when not hungry, and
-- converts chunks from the Rotting to Clean category. (Note that
Poisonous remain poisonous, Rotted Mutagenic remains Rotted Mutagenic,
Necrophage/Ghoul meat is icky all around, and that the category names in
the source code are a little different, but less understandable than the
above.) Orc meat is normally the Contaminated category (the one with a
1/3 chance of sickness), so by waiting until it rots, you've magically
converted it to Clean.

> <Might from Okie really helped with the short sword, presume it'll be
> just as useful with the axe, but I am burning through food>

Might will help the axe slightly more than it does the short sword.

Really what you need with a short blade, if you decide to stick with
them, is to put a very high priority on items with damage bonuses -- the
difficulty of getting through high AC is short blades' downfall, but
it's solvable if you watch the pluses.

Erik

 

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On 8 Jun 2005 08:51:58 -0700, "Dafty" <richard.clements@ntlworld.com>
wrote:


> d - the +0,+1 battleaxe "Qevifr"
> It inflicts no extra harm, but heals its wielder somewhat when he or
>she
> strikes a living foe.
> It affects your evasion (-1).
> It insulates you from electricity.
>
>Okie gift. What's the difference between healing when striking a living
>foe and draining? Electricity resistance might be useful as a swap but
>I have other choices for that now...

Draining does extra damage and can reduce the victim's max HP/ Hit
Dice. As the description says, no extra damage is done by Qevifr, but
you will get some healing. I don't think this is worth keeping if
rElec isn't a problem.

> s - the -2,+6 broad axe of Precise Incision
> A truly terrible weapon, it drains the life of those it strikes.
> It affects your dexterity (+3).

S'okay, I guess.

> t - the uncursed glaive "Ec P Dig Dy"

Junk.

> z - an uncursed elven blowgun
>
>Think I'll stick to wands and hopefully maybe rods as ranged attacks?
>Swapping in shooters seems too much of a pain in the arse for an
>angband player.

You'll have to swap in the rods.

> Q - a +2,+4 dwarven battleaxe of flaming (weapon)
>
>Just found in the Hive. Right choice?

This is pretty good. Dwarven, too. And unlike the artifacts (which it
already out-pluses), you can enchant it up.

>Jewellery
> p - an amulet of resist slowing
> w - a ring of regeneration
>
>Haven't actually used this so far but now I should have no food worries
>it should be interested. However think I'll stick with randart ring and
>see invis for now.

Well, See Invis is something you always want, at least as a swap, but
regeneration is a swap ring, itself. Worth carrying around for use in
a big fight, I'd think.

> x - an amulet of clarity
> F - a ring of see invisible (left hand)
> J - the ring "Hifuh V" (right hand)
> This ring increases its wearer's resistance to hostile enchantments.
>
> It protects you from poison.
> It lets you levitate.
> It lets you blink.

Really, really nice.

> K - an amulet of the gourmand (around neck)

Wear clarity or resist slowing except when eating (yes, extra hassle,
but gourmand won't save you from being confused or slowed).

> Skills:
> + Level 11 Fighting
> - Level 14 Short Blades
> + Level 13 Axes

A couple more levels and

> + Level 5 Shields
>
>I can turn this one off?

If you're not using a shield, there's no point in doing so (or in not
doing so). If you *are* using a shield, you should get the most out of
it.

>I do have a ring of INT +5... and there was a bookshop early on in the
>dungeon. Time to start playing with spells?

Reasons for: Spells are good.

Reasons against: You could still pick up rods. Do you really want to
make things more complicated? Also, there's experience dilution. You
only need one skill for rods and spells will take at least 2, probably
more, unless you go pure Death Knight -- there are relatively many
pure Necromancy spells.

Me, I'd pass on spells for now. Taking spells over rods would be more
suboptimal than sticking with short blades would have been.

--
R. Dan Henry
danhenry@inreach.com

 

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Dafty wrote:
> Thanks again Eric.
>
> The axe does seem to be killing things nicely,

I'd say go for the axe. At skill 12 your short sword is at maximum
speed. Due to its naturally high to-hit and low damage (the skill bonus
to damage is a multiplyer) you don't gain much from more levels of short
blades, but you should of course keep the blade for high EV/low AC enemies.

> and I really don't
> expect to win as this is the first guy I've even found the entrance to
> the elven halls with (in the mines of all places).

It's always there.

> Another question as you seem to be bored today...
>
> Will only Runed/glowing/warped/twisted/whatever types of weapons/armour
> have interesting properties?

No, ethnic ego weapons aren't runed/glowing, and even human ego weapons
have a 1/10 chance of being plain. OTOH artifacts always have a prefix
(normally a unique one, but they can also simply be runed/glowing (the
Plutonium Sword springs to mind)).

> Or can a standard "orcish short sword"
> found on a corpse or on the dungeon floor actually be more interesting
> that it seems?

yes

> Mostly hope not or I've got lots of ID'ing to do

just wield-test it, the Abyss is worth a visit; I've just been thrown
there with a level 2 character by a goblin wielding an orcish trident,
came back (!) and got whacked by just the same goblin; another level 12
character of mine got thrown into the Abyss (and killed by a skelettal
warrior there) by wielding a plain dagger (I knew that one of those
daggers in that kobold pit was distortion, but didn't want to waste ID
scrolls ).

> Oh yeah another thing I've not managed to work out. How do you
> sacrifice corpses or items to your god?

drop them on an altar and pray.

> I hack up corpses like there's
> no tomorrow, but haven't worked out how to sacrifice.

pray before hacking should do it (at least for Okie, Makhleb and Trog).

Lars

 

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Lars Kecke wrote:
> Dafty wrote:
>
>> Thanks again Eric.
>>
>> The axe does seem to be killing things nicely,
>
>
> I'd say go for the axe. At skill 12 your short sword is at maximum
> speed. Due to its naturally high to-hit and low damage (the skill bonus
> to damage is a multiplyer) you don't gain much from more levels of short
> blades, but you should of course keep the blade for high EV/low AC enemies.

Haven't double-checked in the source (I *am* at work and all ) but
Loonie's spoiler says that the multiplier arrives *after*
effective-strength bonus (he'll have that hands-down once he gets his
dex up) and slaying bonuses. Thus as long as he keeps an eye on these,
the multiplier is not as unimportant as it seems.

(I'm a bit biased as both of my wins to date have been with fast,
theoretically weak-hitting weapons, and have still seen many a !!!
attack with them...)

Judging from your post (from the implication "fast weapons bottom out
real fast"), I would almost believe that you're the author of the
Finnish Crawl site, but that wouldn't explain your German name and
e-mail... I love mysteries!

Erik

 

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Dafty wrote:

> Will only Runed/glowing/warped/twisted/whatever types of weapons/armour
> have interesting properties?

Lars has told most of what you need to know. The other thing to keep in
mind is that "glowing" things will never be artifacts, and "shiny" and
especially "runed" things usually will not be. (Not to be confused with
"heavily runed" or "faintly glowing.")

Incidentally, orcs aren't generated carrying/wearing artifacts, and
there are no random drops in the mines but gold. (I don't mind, really
-- for weapons and armour an ego is often better than an artifact once
it's enchanted up.)

> Or can a standard "orcish short sword"
> found on a corpse or on the dungeon floor actually be more interesting
> that it seems? Mostly hope not or I've got lots of ID'ing to do

If you can handle a little methodicalness, consistently building up
piles for Detect Curse can make this a cakewalk. The Mines is one of the
few places where I really put those scrolls to use. Best to have the
scrolls stashed outside your inventory (not necessarily all the way over
in your stash though), due to all the fireslingers around down there.

Sticking to the short blades and/or axes will reduce the chances of
landing in the Abyss (and it just makes good sense anyway). Levitating
during testing is a cheapo way to make the chance zero (prevents
banishment). Carrying Abyss survival gear during testing is the honest
approach. Frankly, I tend to either use the cheapo approach or cross my
fingers, but I wouldn't recommend the latter, and you'll need to make
your own decision on the former.

> Oh finally your email address still seems to bounce if you remove
> NOSPAM. Intentional?

Most likely got through -- a long story involving my laziness, the state
of spam, my cell phone provider's bad web based applications, and SMS
incoming e-mail notifications. I'll see soon.

Erik

 

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Dafty wrote:
> Grr! Doing the hive now as I found this:
>
> J - the ring "Hifuh V" (right hand)
>
> This ring increases its wearer's resistance to hostile enchantments.
>
> It protects you from poison.
> It lets you levitate.
> It lets you blink.
>
> It weighs around 1.0 aum.

Nice ring! Three-in-one!

>
> No problems but I seem to be losing piety (presumably from getting
> might from okie too often). Losing it quicker than I gain it from
> killing whilst praying. (Must be careful to not do that for undead and
> demons isn't it?)

Okie doesn't care as long as you kill stuff in his name. I don't know if
animated weapons count, but he won't get angry at that either, as I
understand it.
My current MDFi, char dump just posted to this group, worships Okie and
prays more or less constantly, only stopping to dissect corpses for
eating now and again, instead of offering them to Okie.

>
> Any advice on piety? Would love some gifts...

Kill while praying. Find somewhere that you don't have to rely on Okie
invocations to kill stuff.

>
> Axes now up to 9 and doing much more damage than the short sword was.
> First room of the first level fo the lair also done, but again
> unconnected to the main bit of the level and I struggled with spiny
> frogs so didn't wanna risk a teleport (with no controlled teleport
> anyway).
>
> Anyway continuing with the Hive.
>

I would have thought hopping to Long Blades would be a better option,
since they cross train with Short Blades, but now you're quite far along
the Axes route, and I'm quite new at this too, so I don't know.

 

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Dafty wrote:

> What's the difference between healing when striking a living
> foe and draining?

Vampiric weapons (healing when striking a living foe) heal you when you
strike a living foe. Undead aren't living, obviously; neither are
demons. The vampiric draining *spell* is in fact dangerous when used on
undead. I don't recall the same effect for vampiric weapons, but I'm not
sure I ever made that mistake; I wouldn't rule it out.

You also can get satiation from hitting with them.

The one time when I used a vampiric weapon extensively, I was very
pleased by it. Keep in mind that you'll eventually reach undead-heavy
zones (so don't overinvest enchantment scrolls on a non-artifact
vampiric weapon), and that they make you hunger faster (so unwield them
before you go wandering around).

Draining weapons can reduce hit dice and max hp when hitting a living
foe. This also reduces their XP benefit. They're pretty good against
monsters with low hit dice and against shapeshifters (what they're
allowed to change into depends on their hit dice).

> z - an uncursed elven blowgun
>
> Think I'll stick to wands and hopefully maybe rods as ranged attacks?
> Swapping in shooters seems too much of a pain in the arse for an
> angband player.

The ' key swaps between weapon a and b. 'Course I've had situations
where as many as four weapons/rods/staves/launchers were all getting
frequent use... but ' will at least handle the most frequent 2.

> Q - a +2,+4 dwarven battleaxe of flaming (weapon)
>
> Just found in the Hive. Right choice?

Can't go too far wrong with it. There are fire resistant monsters out
there in the endgame, but for the rest, it's better than vorpal (chopping).

> P - the +2 shield "Ygojchahireato"
> It affects your dexterity (-2).
> It insulates you from electricity.
> It lets you turn invisible.
>
> Second okie gift. Possibly a swap in when wielding a 1.5 handed weapon
> for res electricity?

Sounds okay.

> a - a wand of lightning

Everyone has a different style, of course, but I find it really
convenient to have all my weapons on adjacent letters and all my armour
too (and my ego ammunition, if any, on high letters to avoid using it
accidentally), and of course there's the ' key thing.

> J - the ring "Hifuh V" (right hand)
> This ring increases its wearer's resistance to hostile enchantments.
>
> It protects you from poison.
> It lets you levitate.
> It lets you blink.

Blink is a hugely great randart property for a combat wombat. Evoked
blink is really cheap, so blinking + rods of destructions works OK too
(spell blink gets a bit expensive and tends to only really work with
missile launchers IME).

> I do have a ring of INT +5... and there was a bookshop early on in the
> dungeon. Time to start playing with spells?

With an int of 7 and huge skill dilution already, it's a bit risky
despite the ID armour, sadly. If you do go into it, start with level 1
spells, a big pile of free XP, and buck naked.

Erik