rsk@pucc-h (Rich Kulawiec (Vombatus Hirsutus)) (10/12/84)
I sent this off to dataio!bossert this morning; it later occured
to me that it might be of general interest, so here it is. His question
was basically, "How does one deal with the tougher monsters, such as T,
U, J and so forth (in 5.3)?"
__________
(It's early in the morning, and this is off the top of my head,
so caveat emptor, but here goes...)
Most of the really nasty critters will nail you if you stand
toe-to-toe with them and slug it out. This is nearly always true if
your attributes are, say, Str 16, AC 6, +2,+2 mace, or thereabouts.
I've been creamed when at Str 20, AC 8, +1,+1 two-handed sword...
Therefore:
1. Remember that thrown weapons do a reasonable amount of damage.
Shurikens are especially nasty; darts don't do much damage. If the monster
is sleeping when you encounter it, back up all the way across the room
and start throwing things at it. In the case of arrows, make sure to (1)
wield the bow before throwing them; it increases the probability of hitting
the target, and increases the damage when you hit and (2) make sure to
switch back to your mace/sword when the monster is still one square away
from you, so that you're wielding it when he moves up next to you.
2. When exploring a new level, always follow passages to their end,
even if they look like an obvious loopback; a lot of them aren't; or at least,
aren't until you "s" them a few times. These loops can save your life.
When fighting a beastie, remember that you can retreat and regenerate;
of course, Trolls do this too [I think another monster does, but can't
recall offhand] so that you have to think carefully when retreatng from
a Troll.
3. Locate teleport traps; usually if you teleport away from one
beast, you have a few moves (at least) respite before he or somebody else
finds you.
4. Don't be afraid to drop a level if you're about to get croaked;
sure, you're now even deeper without the extra Exp. Points you'd have had
if you'd nailed him, but on the other hand if you had stuck around, you might
be dead...
5. Magic. Forget the rings of dexterity, protection, and add strength;
Next to useless. Put the ring of slow digestion on. Hang on to the rings
of regeneration (!!), see invisible, and stealth. When exploring a new
level, wear the ring of stealth, so that you see the critters and have time
to back away (without waking them up). When you decide to go into combat
with a monster, switch to the regeneration ring, and have at it. Retreating
through corridors is especially helpful when wearing the ring of regeneration.
Use the ring of see invisible to fight Phantoms...don't worry about finding
them, 'cause you'll occasionally bump into them. When you do, run 5-6 squares
away, and since P's are slightly confused, the chances are rather good that
he won't follow you; now put on your ring of see invisible and wait for him.
Of course, these ring-based tactics all depend on how much food you've got--
or having the ring of slow digestion.
6. More magic. The staff of slow monster is very effective; I once
used it to kill a Jabberwock with my bare hands. Basically, you get two
moves to his one; so it's hit&retreat, hit&retreat. BE CAREFUL! Some
monsters are smart enough to pause for a turn in this dance, and then
when you try to move forward to hit--he's not there! and you're now next to
him, and he can hit you.
The staff of teleport away can be used to whisk the beastie off
somewhere when you're about to get croaked. 'course, if you're trying out
an unknown staff, it's easy to mistake the staff of invisibility for this one..
Staffs of fire, cold, lightning work rather well on most beasties.
The staff of magic missile is mostly useless, except against nymphs.
The staff of polymorph is sometimes a lifesaver; other times you turn the
critter into something even worse.
7. More and more magic. The scrolls of hold monster, teleportation
and scare monster are obviously very useful; create monster can be useful to
help you run up your Exp. Points when you're in good shape; like, say, standing
on a scare monster scroll. The scroll of magic mapping should be used when
you go down to a new level; it can save you a lot of moving about. Enchantment
scrolls are of course very nice; but don't save them too long. In other words,
if you've got 3 enchant weapon scrolls, and are waiting to find a two-handed
sword, and you're now on level 15, you might think seriously about reading
them on your mace, 'cause otherwise you may not get much further.
8. Still more magic. Quaff healing potions when at full HP to
raise that total by 1; they're next-to-useless in a fight. Save Extra Healing
potions for combat. Quaff see invisible potion when entering first level
with phantoms; it lasts several hundred turns and may help you kill one or
two of them. Save a "restore strength", if possible for deep dungeon levels
where traps may knock off several points. If you find a gain strength
potion, quaff the restore immediately followed by the gain, thus always
making your strength as high as it can be. Use monster detection potion
on new level to not only find critters, but to guess layout of level.
Use potion of haste self to deal with critters in the same way as staff
of slow monsters; but be careful, 'cause it wears off.
My fingers are now officially tired; good luck rogue-ing!
Rich Kulawiec
--
---Rsk
UUCP: { decvax, icalqa, ihnp4, inuxc, sequent, uiucdcs } !pur-ee!rsk
{ decwrl, hplabs, icase, psuvax1, siemens, ucbvax } !purdue!rsk
"It'll definitely improve our reputation as a party school."
--anonymous Purdue student, on TV-18 (local) news, Saturday, 10/6/84
after a Friday night of spontaneous rioting.ron@wjvax.UUCP (Ron Christian) (10/15/84)
Some good strategies here. I feel I need to make some comments, though. 1. Ring of slow digestion: My experiance with this ring seems to indicate that although you use up food at a slower rate, you also heal slower. So you may not need food, but in busy dungeons you may never get the chance to regain your hit points. Can anyone else verify this? 2. Staves of cold, fire, and lightning: Next to useless. Sure, they do lots of damage when they hit, which is almost never. (At least on our system. Different random generator, perhaps?) I always drop these staffs when I identify them. Magic missle hits more often, but does next to no damage. Drop that one too. The big staffs to carry are: Slow Monster, Polymorph, Teleport Away and Light. As someone else said, the combination of Polymorph and Scare Monster makes for some big experience points. A good staff to carry if you have room is Cancellation. This will keep Medusas from confusing you if you hit them beforehand. I mostly use cancellation as insurance against the Nymph bug in party rooms! -- "Trivia is important." Ron Christian (syntax bug) Watkins-Johnson Co. San Jose, Calif. (...ios!wjvax!ron)
wws@whuxlm.UUCP (Stoll H William) (10/17/84)
> ... > > 2. Staves of cold, fire, and lightning: Next to useless. Sure, they > do lots of damage when they hit, which is almost never. (At least on > our system. Different random generator, perhaps?) I always drop these > staffs when I identify them... > > "Trivia is important." Ron Christian > (syntax bug) Watkins-Johnson Co. > San Jose, Calif. > (...ios!wjvax!ron) Staves of fire are quite effective against centaurs for some reason. I can't take credit for the discovery -- it was included in a big "Rogue Manual" someone posted awhile back. Does anyone know of a monster (or monsters) against which the staff of cold is effective? Also I seem to have better luck against Rattlesnakes when they are standing in a doorway. Bill Stoll, ..!whuxlm!wws