[S]Sangband non-comp rarity

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.angband (More info?)

I've been playing a non-competition beta 15c Sangband character.
I've been taking my time (having never played Sangband before), and
had a few runs of bad luck, so I'm around half a million turns in
while only pushing to dlev 17 (18 has a quest I wasn't sure I was
ready for).

Even though my skills are high, my character is fairly crippled
by a complete lack of any kind of resists other than ring or
amulet form. I've found no artifacts ever. The only items found
that have anything other than regular bonuses are a whip of heroism,
two otherwise weak weapons with slays, a bow of accuracy, and a
battle cape of stealth (in a shop).

I could try armor forging, but I've only found one chunk of copper
and one chunk of iron, the latter was the drop from Brodda. Not
that forging is really an option, as I did cheat a bit for testing
(since I don't have the ore to spare), and found adding any essence
results in a failure, though I can make a small metal shield with
+2 dex without essences from the copper ore. But I don't really
need the stat boost. I need something that won't turn to slag by
things that breath acid, or give speed, or something else.

Questing hasn't helped. Minor quests give items equivalent to
what I'm already randomly finding. The only moderate quest I failed
due to lack of resists causing me to run out of healing, and town
decided at that moment to no longer stock CCW potions until after the
game decided I'd taken too long and failed the quest. And I needed
the CCW, as the quest creature itself paralysed and I had never seen
a Free Action item (in a shop) until after failing. (The shop did
similar the one time I lost a large chunk of experience to a ghost,
on the return for the first time in the game the shop didn't have
a restore experience potion and didn't restock it until several full
trips afterwards.)

Are things supposed to be this rare for Sangband? I can see it
isn't autoscumming level design. I'm guessing it isn't running
preserve, so I've scoured every level I've entered with even a
minor feeling and only been forced to abandon a couple. On raw power,
I could dive much deeper than I'm currently at, but even at this
depth I get occassionally rocked due to lack of resists. But there
doesn't seem to be much of an option for me other than to dive deeper
and pray I find something before I die.

 

[magnate]

Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.angband (More info?)

Welcome to Sangband! It is a bit harder, but I think what you're
experiencing is that it's much more evenly spread out than in V. In V
you tend to find pretty much everything you need (except speed rings)
around 2000-2500', and then you dive straight to 4000'. In S the stuff
drops much more slowly - but the monsters get tougher more slowly too.
My current non-comp char is at 2550' and has not yet found the Phial (7
artifacts total - Carlammas, Arvedui, Rohirrim, Avavir, Cambeleg + 2
randarts). At 850' I'm not surprised you haven't found any artifacts or
speed items. It is a bit unlucky that you've not found a single resist,
but not totally unusual. I often find myself covering rfire and rcold
with rings until well into stat gain.

Do persist with forging, I have found it THE solution for getting to
stat gain and find decent stuff of Resistance or Elvenkind. You won't
have found many essences yet, but if you have one or two of
acid/fire/lightning/frost, just try making a simple item with one
resist. You need forging skill of about 20, Infusion about 20. Pick the
lowest item (wicker shield, leather cap, sandals etc.) and just choose
one low resist and nothing else. It will eventually give you what you
want, and often a little bonus as well (ie. one other resist or stat
boost or something). I spent three essences of venom to make a shield
with rpois, and got rblind for free!

Once you can cover rbase and SI and FA, dive straight to stat gain.

Btw Preserve is off, but you do get a Special feeling whenever there's
an artifact, so no need to scour non-preserve levels. Also, the message
"you sense an object of great power" does not necessarily mean an
artifact, just an OoD object.

HTH,

CC

 

[magnate]

Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.angband (More info?)

Sang is funny though, because the pre-autoscum feel disappears after
about 1900'. I've had a special feeling pretty much every 2nd or 3rd
level since then.

Glad things are looking up,

CC

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.angband (More info?)

"magnate" <chrisc@dbass.demon.co.uk> wrote in
news:1115194078.694605.39570@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

> It is a bit unlucky that you've not found a single resist,
> but not totally unusual. I often find myself covering rfire and rcold
> with rings until well into stat gain.

Okay, it is nice to know that it isn't horribly strange.

The strangest thing is not long after posting, I did get a bit luckier
on items. Armor with rfire and rcold have appeared in the shop. And
other shop purchases were boots with FA (freeing a ring slot),
gauntlets of slaying, and a lantern of acuity. And I've found a few
more pieces of metal, so I can actually afford to forge without feeling
like I'm wasting rare material.

> Do persist with forging, I have found it THE solution for getting to
> stat gain and find decent stuff of Resistance or Elvenkind. You won't
> have found many essences yet, but if you have one or two of
> acid/fire/lightning/frost, just try making a simple item with one
> resist.

Strangely enough (or cruelly fitting for the luck I've had), I'm mainly
finding essences I don't need. After rcold armor appeared in the shop,
I found *four* frost essences side by side in a hallway. I'm not
complaining though. I do wish I had essence of venom and more than one
of acid, because poison is one of things that really hurts and acid is
always a potential nightmare. And confusion. Confusion has nearly
killed me twice already. Those darn various "I" creatures showing up
in packs, confusing and blinding and teleporting you so the rest can
do it as well.

> Once you can cover rbase and SI and FA, dive straight to stat gain.

I cheaped out and played a High Elf, so SI was already covered.
I think I can survive for a while now as long as confusion doesn't do
me in. Poison, I've weathered, though I've had a few close calls.
(Close calls as nearly dying on the way to a store to buy a cure. Had
something like 3hp at the end.)

> Btw Preserve is off, but you do get a Special feeling whenever there's
> an artifact, so no need to scour non-preserve levels.

Thanks, I didn't know for sure, so I scoured anyway. Besides, I
started getting desperate for *anything* after a while. The positive
is that I've been able to find enough things to sell that I could
comfortably buy good items from the shops.

It's kind of weird getting back into the old pre-autoscum vibe.
I haven't actually played any version of Angband for years, just
starting back with the end of the NPP contest (which had autoscum
on, and it showed.) Even before I quit (sometime after outdoor levels
became popular in variants), autoscum was a popular option. When I
think about it, even with the bad luck my Sangband run hasn't been
that much worse than playing in the pre-autoscum days.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.angband (More info?)

magnate wrote:

> Btw Preserve is off, but you do get a Special feeling whenever
there's
> an artifact, so no need to scour non-preserve levels. Also, the
message
> "you sense an object of great power" does not necessarily mean an
> artifact, just an OoD object.

Preserve + Maximize are actually always ON. So you don't have to scour
either way.

Scott