mclure (03/09/83)
#N:sri-unix:5000004:000:5877
sri-unix!mclure Mar 6 09:32:00 1983
Finally, the monkey of 5.2 is off my back. It was a week of exquisite
torture. Here are a few tips for improving your game, learned from
experience and other players around here.
ROOM SEARCHING TECHNIQUE is very important in order to minimize food
consumption and the chances of encountering a trap. Concentrate on
this. When retreating or moving back through rooms already covered,
take the "well-worn" path. Traps that drop you a level become common
in the teens and can rapidly advance you too quickly downward, causing
a good game to go sour because of lack of hp/exp. When desparate to
find the exit, go toward large unexplored areas of the dungeon.
FIGHTING A POWERFUL MONSTER can be made easier by backing off to gain
hit points. Back off through already covered territory and hope you
don't get sandwiched. Use magic if you do. Fight invisible stalkers
in hallways if you can't see them; they are usually somewhat confused
so you probably have time to throw an arrow/bolt or two to weaken them.
Key hp's to back off on seem to be 25 for trolls and 30 for more
powerful monsters. Avoid dragons, although they seem easily confused
by the 'confuse mo' scroll, unlike purple worms and xorns. Always
search a violet fungi room and kill off any other denizens before
nearing the fungi. Avoid vampires. Wraiths can be a boon if you have
just passed an experience level. Fear not to fight them since they
might lower you a level but you'll actually gain hp's when you kill
them and gain the lost level. Avoid wraiths when 50% or more through
an experience level. Knowing where the exit is and having a circular
route through a series of rooms can be boons for fighting strong
monsters (unless you get sandwiched).
PROJECTILE weapons should be hoarded. Let the ants eat at your
strength early on since you'll probably find a 'restore strength'.
Projectiles are extremely valuable for weakening purple worms before
engaging in hand-to-hand. Also, without enough projectile weapons,
you're unlikely to get much gold. The leps can usually withstand a
single blow and unless you have good armor, they might steal a goodly
portion of your gold. I only fought them when at least 4 sectors
distant and carrying at least 3 projectiles. When returning after
getting the amulet, projectile weapons are mandatory to gather more
gold from leps you may meet. A typical technique for gathering more
gold is to move up and down between levels 9-12, waiting for leps to
show up. If you are enterprising, take a trip into troll country (leps
there carry more gold), but beware that traps can send you down into
xorn country rather quickly, and even if you have 100 hit points, xorns
should still be respected because your armor will probably be awful
unless you have maintain armor (you used up all your armor going down).
A general rule of thumb is to stay in 1-14 when carrying the amulet.
Of course, if you are a glutton for punishment, go deeper. But
remember that superb hardware/exp/str/ac/hp is unlikely to save you if
two purple worms gang up on you. Magic is required and you probably
won't have any more.
GENOCIDE should always be used on Umber Hulks. Umbers are easily the
worst. Even with polymorph, you may not be able to change them once
they have confused you.
MAGIC should be used very sparingly on levels below 18. If you can't
take monsters on 1-18 without much magic you probably won't survive at
the higher levels regardless. To have a chance at a won game you need
extremely strong magic or good magic and excellent hardware, strength,
hp and experience. It is very unlikely that a win will come without at
least good magic (several of polymorph, teleport, digest, regen,
stealth, fire, ice, etc). Once you reach level 18, DROP LIKE A ROCK AS
FAST AS YOU CAN. You want to avoid using up magic to survive exploring
entire floors between 18-26 since you will need your magic to get back
out. When coming back out, one of the most useful scrolls to have is
'light room'. It can help you find exits and rise faster than any
other scroll.
Finally, the following table should be of interest to seasoned players.
----experience--- ----hit points---
monster avg min max avg min max lvl
giant ant: 10.07 9 11 8.96 2 16 2
bat: 1.12 1 2 4.46 1 8 1
centaur: 17.59 15 20 18.06 4 32 4
dragon: 6941.65 6840 7040 45.01 17 72 10
floating eye: 5.12 5 6 4.50 1 8 1
violet fungi: 102.28 84 120 35.91 11 61 8
gnome: 7.12 7 8 4.49 1 8 1
hobgoblin: 3.12 3 4 4.49 1 8 1
invisible stalker: 142.36 128 156 36.03 14 58 8
jackal: 2.13 2 3 4.52 1 8 1
kobold: 1.12 1 2 4.47 1 8 1
leprechaun: 11.83 10 14 13.49 3 24 3
mimic: 119.35 104 132 31.54 10 52 7
nymph: 38.83 37 41 13.56 3 24 3
orc: 5.12 5 6 4.51 1 8 1
purple worm: 4216.61 4100 4320 67.47 35 101 15
quasit: 33.83 32 36 13.50 3 24 3
rust monster: 23.33 21 26 22.50 6 39 5
snake: 2.13 2 3 4.49 1 8 1
troll: 124.07 121 127 26.95 9 45 6
umber hulk: 222.33 208 236 35.99 14 57 8
vampire: 372.32 358 386 35.99 12 59 8
wraith: 58.34 56 61 22.57 6 39 5
xorn: 209.33 194 222 31.50 7 52 7
yeti: 52.58 50 55 17.98 4 32 4
zombie: 7.08 6 8 9.00 2 16 2
Stuart Cracraft
UUCP: ucbvax!menlo70!sri-unix!mclure
ARPANET: mclure@sri-unixcady (03/12/83)
I have a few comments to make on the suggestions made. I am assuming that version 5.2 and 4.7 are reasonably similar: 1. In version 4.7, Purple Worms are stationary. If they are also stationary in 5.2, then IGNORE them! They are difficult to kill and will only drain you of valuable hit points and magic. In general, my philosophy is to not attack anything I don't have to. (This includes gathering vital experience points.) 2. The same advise holds for Leprechauns. Yes, they leave you gold, but they also consume projectiles for minimal return. You can gain more gold by exploring the lower levels. This is really not as awful as it sounds. In order to get down there (and survive) you must be in pretty good shape anyway (i.e. two-handed sword, good armor, good hit points, and NO umber hulks). Attack leprechauns only on the way back. 3. It was advised that Wraiths are 'good' if you have just gonne up an experience level. While it is true that you have a chance of gaining extra hit points if it takes you down and then you kill it, you also have the chance of losing hit points. I have found this to be a losing proposition. 4. A commonn technique for avoiding unnecessary armor damage by Rust Monsters is to not explore levels 17-18, but find the stairs and proceed to 19 as fast as possible. The reason is very simple: Rust Monsters still exist at 17-18, but now you also have Xorns and Umber Hulks (unless they have been genocided). Therefore, you need your good armor for protection, but cannot risk damage from Rust Monsters. 5. Word of caution: I usually genocide Umber Hulks, then Xorns. If I am lucky enough to get a third, I save it for emergencies or Dragons. Every time I have genocided Vampires I have been "hung" within a few moves. That is, the game simply hangs and refuses to accept any input except control-C for quit. 6. Running from a monster to regain hit points is good strategy. However, certain monsters (Vampires for one) also regain hit points while not under attack. 7. When experimenting with staffs/wands and you haven't seen a polymorph yet, stand on the stairs. The polymorph does not respect the rules of levels that monsters may appear on. I have seen a player polymorph a snake on level 3 to an invisible stalker. Also, if below about level 8 or so, also stand on the stairs when reading scrolls and you have not seen an aggravate monster. In general, expect the worse and cover yourself as feasible. Good luck.