harmon_c@h-sc1.UUCP (david harmon) (03/15/85)
From uucp Thu Mar 14 19:13:07 1985
Status: R
>From harmon_c Thu Mar 14 18:52:41 1985 remote from h-sc4
To: harmon_c@h-sc1
Subject: low_level
General Strategy:
LOW LEVELS:
1) Let doggie do your fighting for you when you are badly hurt or
outclassed. He is bigger and stronger than you. Don't steal all his kills,
he can starve to death. He will eat more than he needs, but the more he eats,
the faster he grows into a big dog. There is no monster except a cockatrice
that a big dog cannot take on with a reasonable chance of survival.
His body is one guaranteed non-hostile food source, provided you don't
wait so long you die before you can catch and kill him. Starvation exepted,
however, (and not then if you have an alternative) DO NOT kill your dog
out-of-hand! He gets in the way, sure, but he is a powerful ally. Also, the
minute you eat a dog, every monster on the level will head for you with blood
in its eye(s). There are a few monsters he will not normally attack, such as
shopkeepers, and others which he won't attack until he sees you fighting
them. On the other hand, he loves to munch on bats ond orcs. (let him-you
can't eat them). However, a ring of conflict will make him fight anything.
Don't test wands out on him. He's not quite invulnerable.
If you meet a wild dog, the best bet is to throw food at him--anything
you could eat, or a few he can eat but you can't, like bats and orcs. Tripe
is wonderful, but don't even bother throwing rotted corpses. Speaking
of which, if you find a 'wild' dog above 8th level or so, or a named monster
anywhwere, you are on a ghost level. Watch out for the dog's former owner....
Please name your dog, even if it's Ralph. That way, other people will have the
same advantage if you get ghosted. By the way, there are no baby dragons,
baby (or miniature) demons, or dinosaurs of any size in the dungeon.
Don't try to maintain more than two tame dogs-- if you get more than
that, abandon them (save some tripe in case you need to go back to the level)
or, if you are powerful enough to face enraged hordes, kill and eat the extras
next time you're hungry. Dogs are fun to polymorph, but there is a hazard.
If you are dumped to the next level by a trap door, or just forget and go dowm
without him, you may not want to reenter the level until you can deal with his
polymorphed form, especially since he will no longer be tamable. Scrolls of
taming produce tame monsters which should be treated exactly like polymorphed
dogs. Tame monsters all eat a lot, except the cockatrice, and you can't eat
anything he kills!
(By the way, if you get a tame cockatrice, DO NOT GO AROUND BARE-
HANDED! If you are not wearing gloves, wield anything, even an egg! Otherwise,
you run a terrible risk of bumping into it with your bare hands, and being
stoned yourself!)
2) Don't get careless. A major cause of low-level fatalities, or
fatalities at any level, is not keeping an eye on your hit points. If you are
low on hit points, freeze with your hands off the keyboard and figure out what
to do. Can you get away from the monster? Do you have a secret weapon?
The first thing to do is often to write Elbereth. Even a puny monster can
kill you if you don't watch your hit points. Monsters to keep an eye on at
low levels are hobgoblins (H) and acid blobs. If you have 8 or fewer HP,
a hobgoblin can take you out in one blow. Accordingly, you don't want to
give him the chance. Getting killed by acid blobs is always embarrasing,
because the only way they can hurt you is if you hit them. Don't chase acid
blobs if you're low on HP, and don't be afraid to give up on one.
3) Try to eat a leprechaun and a floating eye as soon as you can. The
latter, your dog will be happy to kill for you, but you will, as usual when he
kills monsters, have to move fast to prevent him from happily eating it for
you. The latter, you should be able to kill by 3rd level or so. You could
use a wand, but if planning an extended visit in the dungeon, just wear him
down hand-to hand, perhaps softening him up with a couple of darts or such.
To keep him from stealing all your gold, drop it in a corridor, and once you
disturb him off his butt, defend the door to that corridor. (remember, he's
faster than you are). If he gets your gold anyway, remember that he and the
gold are still somewhere on the level! Again, the dog may be some help
in the fight, but you will have to grab the corpse before he does.
Alternate strategy: start with doggie well away from both you and
lep. Throw something at lep from 3 squares or so away, and go under Elbereth
(or throw from the Elbereth). He will come up to you, and your dog may fight
him and kill him at your feet. This works best with you standing in a door
and your gold behind you in a corridor, and your dog wandering someplace on
the far side of the room.
4) Try to conserve your missles and magic. You can just take it slow,
and deal with monsters as leisurely as your food supply (including their
contributions) permits. If you conserve firepower early, then you can use it
against tougher monsters when you really need it! (see next item). On the
other hand, you might find that your weapons and skill have improved to the
point where you can deal with tougher monsters.... That's how you get up
to level 8 or so. Remember, if you use a potion of extra-healing to gain
4 HP now, you may not have it when you're down to 10 out of 40 HP.
A partial exeption is wands of wishing. Dont wish for a crysknife yet,
but go for one weapon, one armor (ie, +3 mace and plate mail) and one
miscellaneous such as 3 tins (hopefully spinach), or a powerful ring.
This applies to wizards, of course--other types should wish for whatever they
are short of. Don't wish for scrolls of genocide just yet, either. If you
are genuinely doing all right, you might save a wish or two for future needs.
5) Do anything to survive. If you are starving and no edible monsters
in sight, then kil your dog! If you are fainting, down to 2 HP, and cornered
by a hobgoblin, then zap anything you can, try all your rings, quaff all your
potions, read all your scrolls. You might be teleported, or discover a ring
of regeneration or a potion of extra healing, or a wand of fire. If you
are killed by the rebound of your magic missle, well, at least you tried.