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.