ldenenbe@bbnccv.UUCP (Larry Denenberg) (03/07/85)
I just won for the second time, and I have concluded (based on two
winning games and two zillion non-winning games) that, in order to
get the Amulet and get out, you need the following:
(a) A ring of stealth,
(b) Enough food to use it, or a ring of slow digestion,
and not a whole lot more.
Skeptical? Well, in the game I just finished,
(i) I was using my original mace, enchanted only to +2,+2---I never
found anything better,
(ii) My strength was never higher than 19 (and was 17 at the end),
(iii) I never found a scroll of scare monster and only one hold monster,
(iv) Nor did I ever have wands/staves of teleport away or slow monster,
and my staff of polymorph proved useless,
(v) I never found a potion of raise level, and only one haste self,
(vi) The only other rings I had were see invisible and regeneration,
and I hardly used the latter for lack of food.
In fact, the only super good thing I had was armor: class 12 and protected.
It helped a LOT. (You could win for sure with nothing more than armor of
class ~24---it wouldn't even have to be protected---but you'll never get it.)
I did have some useful stuff. Scrolls of confuse monster got me out of a tight
squeak or two, my Hp was decent (reaching 80 by the end), I think I know
all the tricks and strategies, and of course I was VERY lucky. But I've
lost games that looked much better, with several scare monsters, +2,+3 two
handers, strength 23, reasonable Hp and armor, etc.
The same thing happened in my other winning game, although I had somewhat
better weapons and magic. But I see the common point. The sine qua non
is the ring of stealth. I therefore suggest to the creators of this
superlative game: weaken the ring of stealth, or at least make it consume
food faster. (First fix the saved-game and nymph bugs, though.)
/Sakr-el-Bahr, aka larry@bbn
P.S. Keep trying. It feels good when you finally win.