Yeah so, here's how I play...

General discussion about the game. Pull up a stool and tell us your tale!
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Kom
Giant Long-Eared Bat
Posts: 34
Joined: Mon 18.08.2008, 00:13

Yeah so, here's how I play...

Post by Kom » Sat 07.02.2009, 20:24

First time in a while playing something other than a high elf. I decided to play as a human ranger. Things didn't go much differently from how they normally go, however, I have a log from when i started all the way to when i died, timestamped and all. If you wish to laugh at my terrible playing strategy or analyze it or something, then sure, by all means, look at the log file I put up on my site. I figure people might get a kick out of it or something.

Emulord
King Vampire
Posts: 252
Joined: Mon 30.04.2007, 20:19
Location: UIUC

Re: Yeah so, here's how I play...

Post by Emulord » Sun 08.02.2009, 19:19

I dont do the "go down as fast as possible to gain levels" thing, but here is my low level strategy
First, run around 50-150' collecting potions and scrolls
Run back up to town and sell them unID'd, but ID wands, staves, rings and amulets
Then, buy potions of cure crits, so you dont get killed from confusion by low level mages.
Then I go deeper and get more stuff ID'd. I do this until most of the things I see are ID'd.
Then I get enough cash for a staff of teleportation, then I take orc pits.

I play cautiously, but I rarely die, which is just my style I guess.

Kom
Giant Long-Eared Bat
Posts: 34
Joined: Mon 18.08.2008, 00:13

Re: Yeah so, here's how I play...

Post by Kom » Tue 10.02.2009, 04:40

I still think i'm too wary about using staffs, but they always burn up on me right away.

schroeder
Giant Mottled Ant Lion
Posts: 204
Joined: Sat 14.06.2008, 04:23
Location: Somewhere in Illinois in the USA

Re: Yeah so, here's how I play...

Post by schroeder » Tue 10.02.2009, 06:17

well, here is what i do with staffs. First, i carry 2 if its something that could save my life (destruct). Then, I also make sure I go through the walls or *know* what enemies are coming up. If it could burn my staffs, then i will probably double resist (if i have the spell) and lure it so that it will only see me once we are in mele. That way, it will not breath fire on me. Now when stuff HITS to burn, i do stuff a little different... Then I'll probably banish it, unless its a dragon or demon, since both of these are great to farm if their is a pit of them (unless you are too low a lvl for them, which you probably are unless you are i'd say at least lvl 42). But yeah, the important thing is to always *know* what is just out of esp range, where stuff is that is not detected by esp, and what is just off screen. To work with this final problem, i usually stone to mud walls so that I can get to the next screan or, if i feel like being an ass that gets stuff done faster, i destruct and walk through the destructed aria to see whats ahead.
Once I'm higher lvl, I *always* either enlighten staff or pot the lvl, so i know what is where. That is very important to do with the strategy i just mentioned, otherwise you will not know if going around a corner, or tunneling one more square will result in you being in LOS of the enemy.

Wow, I just realized how much I have learned about later game...My early game still needs *work* though...I should be getting better at it though. Each weekend, i'm trying to lvl a bookless, half-troll mage to lvl 15. I stop after I had a good go, but died and lost my stuff.

Seriously though, the more you play with staffs, the more resources you have to keep you out of danger. You just need to know what that danger is (stuff that burns and stuff that burns, mostly, and stuff that can kill you in just a few rounds (see spoilers. Most things cannot once you get to the higher 30s if you have good con...unless you are a mage with bad HP rolls...) and also ANYTHING you do not resist (don't fight a dracolich near a graveyard unless you have resist nexus, thats how Groquick died(learn what breaths what, and what the effects of breath attacks are(look at the spoilers pages at http://www.juti.nl/hugo/Angband/Spoiler/ (Some people don't like looking at spoilers, but personally, i think mangband requires them)))), and how to get rid of the danger with what you have (destruction, banish, teleport, antisummon corradors, a finger on the *heal* macro, exc...)

Also, something I would reccomend if you are serious about wanting to learn to play better. Play angband with *reasonable* (imo) saves. I beat angband saveing after i gained 5 lvls. I died at lvl 12 and lvl 22(I know this is technically cheating, but I believe that you shouldn't try to beat a game like angband your first time without *reasonably* saving like i did, unless you want to go crazy(This is a problem I find with most roguelikes. The fact that you 100% start over each time you die makes you unable to grow as much as a player). I think now, because of me playing with those saves, I became a better player then i would have without them). Its a good substitute for the ghosts in mangband, and the not-real-time allows you to figure stuff out better. Heh...I hope this helps!
Anything worth being done, is worth being overdone.
My Mangband videos; http://www.youtube.com/user/Schroederband

PowerWyrm
Balrog
Posts: 1574
Joined: Sun 27.11.2005, 15:57

Re: Yeah so, here's how I play...

Post by PowerWyrm » Tue 10.02.2009, 12:13

It was a Dracolisk btw :)
Basically it's better to get all the resists. You can consider that nexus isn't that important at high level (because you have max stats), but if you're unlucky enough to get teleported by a nexus breath inside a graveyard... ;)

schroeder
Giant Mottled Ant Lion
Posts: 204
Joined: Sat 14.06.2008, 04:23
Location: Somewhere in Illinois in the USA

Re: Yeah so, here's how I play...

Post by schroeder » Tue 10.02.2009, 18:12

If you play a brave character or one that requires a lot of exp to advance (high elf) then resists are more important than they are with my playstile. In my playstyle, its ok to die a bit, since you will regain those lvls in no time. Just so long as you don't lose *key* items! Also, when you die, make sure you sign out, unless you know the lvl is safe. Otherwise, dreds could come through the walls and pwn your ghost. The lvl will static for a while. I generally start to log out after death in the mid to upper 2k range. Also, I tend to take more risks if other players are on that could rescue me (like going down that extra 200').
Anything worth being done, is worth being overdone.
My Mangband videos; http://www.youtube.com/user/Schroederband

PowerWyrm
Balrog
Posts: 1574
Joined: Sun 27.11.2005, 15:57

Re: Yeah so, here's how I play...

Post by PowerWyrm » Wed 11.02.2009, 12:33

Remember that if your ghost gets attacked, you have undead powers to retaliate. Use teleport until you're safe. Signing out is really risky, because you never know what would happen during the quit timeout...

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