g-rh (04/11/83)
This is both notes on being a winner and a burble; it contains
spoilers, so be warned. It discusses both general strategy and the
particular game that inspired this; it also exists to express my
pleasure at having finally cracked the game. Version is 5.2.
SPOILER: Hang on to your excess baggage on the way back up.
You get credit for them when you get out.
After several close shots I finally got down to level 26, found
the amulet, and got all the way back up. I made no particular effort
to cruise for gold in levels 9-14 because I wasn't sure my food would
hold out. I got bounced from level 16 to level 17 a couple of times
via trapdoors; fortunately a couple of kindly trolls and a yeti left
me some food. Strategy notes and spoilers follow:
PROTECTING ARMOR: Rust monsters appear on levels 9-18. My
impression is that you cannot survive the lower levels without decent
armor (ac 5 or better.) Hence you must have one good suit of armor
for the levels. In the game I won I had a ring of sustain armor;
my armor was ac 5 -- this evidently was good enough. Usually you
won't have that ring. I have found that you can usually find at
least one good suit. Save it! Let everything else get used up;
wear leather armor when nothing else is available.. Skip levels
17-18 on the way down; trapdoors are your friends. If you have a
ring of sustain armor, explore 17-18; you may find something useful.
POTIONS: It is important to be efficient in testing potions.
Ants last appear on level 12. You will want to have a potion of
restore strength at that point and to have discovered poison by
then. If you haven't come across poison by then try to hang onto
at least one restore strength. Blindness can be reversed by see
invisible or by healing potions. Blindness is not serious below
level 10; head for a corridor and rest in the corridor until you
can see again. If you haven't found blindness and are deep don't
try a new potion unless you have something that can reverse it.
I generally try out any unknown potion that I have more than one
of at the lower levels. If it is good, I have a spare. If it is
bad I am in a position to try the others. Extra healing is worth
using in an emergency (a Xorn or troll has you on the ropes.)
Healing is much less valuable.
SCROLLS: I don't have an efficient strategy for scrolls. My
general policy is not to read any scrolls until I have found a ring
or wand. At that point I read all unknown scrolls and keep reading
unknown scrolls as I find them; however I always wait until I get
to a stairway to read them. This wastes one each of scare monster,
hold monster, and confuse monster. If anyone has a better method
I would be glad to hear of it. If you don't have a scroll of remove
curse, save enchant weapon and enchant armor scrolls; they also
remove the curse from cursed weapons and armor.
ROOM SEARCHES: Zig zag patterns are best. Always go back
through a room using the same path; there may be traps that you
didn't see. I never search for traps below level 7 on the way
down. I do a single search at each step thereafter. You can
walk over a gas trap and not see it or trigger it the first time.
This can be a real disaster at the lower levels, but I don't
know that there is any way around it.
WEAPONS: My impression is that you can't win without a two
handed sword; however a heavily enchanted mace may do. Use every
thing else for projectiles. Don't waste projectiles on Leprechauns
below level 12. Projectiles can be thrown where you can't hit. If
you are in a doorway which is blocked by a sleeping monster or a rust
monster, you can throw things at the critters on either side without
being touched. This wins big in a treasure room.
WANDS: I hardly ever experiment with rings and wands; I wait
to identify them. If you must experiment, wait until you are on a
stairway; polymorph and haste monster can give you some unpleasant
surprises. My impression is that you cannot survive the lower levels
without strong magic. Save it for levels 18 and below; if you must
use killer wands (drain life, magic missile, lighting, etc.) don't
wait until things are desperate; they don't work all of the time.
Save wands of light for the lower levels; you have a tremendous
advantage in fighting heavy duty monsters if you can see them coming.
You can also zap where you can't hit.
RINGS: Most rings increase your food consumption rate. Take
them off when you don't need them. (Slow digestion slows your food
consumption.) Never put on an unidentified ring if you don't have a
scroll of remove curse. I speculate that a ring of teleportation
with the curse removed would be very valuable but I don't have con-
firmation of that.
FOOD: If you use efficient search patterns and don't overuse
high consumption rings (regeneration is the worst) you should never
have a problem with food, although it does get tight at times. The
worst problems occur when you have explored part of a level and can't
find a door into the rest of the level. You can spend a lot of time
searching. I have found that it doesn't pay to try too hard to find
a missing room. I have also found that it doesn't pay to search for
doorways unless there is a clear need to do so.
BEATING MONSTERS: A number of monsters are holy terrors when you
first meet them, e.g. hobgoblins, ants, centaurs, trolls, and xorns.
They are much easier to beat when you have more experience. (Xorns
are a disaster at exp level 8; they are quite tractable at exp level
13.) I have found that it pays to be quite circumspect when meeting
these critters for the first few times. At the upper levels (1-3) I
use arrows freely to beat hobgoblins and ants. Same with the first
couple of centaurs. Against trolls and xorns I run when pressed.
(The rule of a margin of 25 hp for trolls and 30 hp for xorns seems
to be good.) Fungi are generally no problem as long as there is
nothing else around. Don't mess with nymphs unless you have some
distance for throwing things at them.
HEAVY DUTY MONSTERS: The heavy duty monsters are umber hulks,
dragons, purple worms, and xorns. Vampires and wraiths are special
cases. Xorns outclass you until you are at exp level 12; however
you won't get to exp 12 without having taken out a P or a D (they
give you about 6,000 experience points.) The best tactic for umber
hulks is genocide; however, this is not as good as it seems because
other baddies will replace them. Best technique for beating umber
hulks is to see them in a lighted room and beat them from a distance.
If you must fight them, the confuse monster scroll is a winner; you
will be confused but so will they. Scare monster is sure fire, but
save it for first class emergencies if you can. Purple worms can
be beaten by straight force if you have enough experience (and good
equipment). However you must have room to run; I have found that
it works to hit and then run for a bit before hitting again. Best
to soften them up with a heavy duty wand if you can. Ditto dragons,
but don't mess with dragons unless you have a wand of cancellation.
Vampires are not hard to beat (if you have the equipment) but they
leach you H.P.'s. One of the reasons you want light at lower levels
is to be able to see vampires at a distance and beat them with
projectiles. You can get H.P.'s from wraiths by losing a level and
getting it back; however this seems to be a 50-50 gamble. One
general problem with dealing with deep level monsters is that it is
hard to get experience with them. I suggest that you set up a
cheaters file when you get to level 19 and get some practice in;
it makes it much less painful learning what works and what doesn't
work.
GENERAL STRATEGY: Levels (1-2). Take out monsters at a distance
if you can; they out class you and you can't regenerate very fast by
running. At levels 1-4 you may as well fight floating eyes hand to
hand; if you are transfixed you haven't lost much and can start a new
game. Thereafter don't mess with them you have room to throw arrows.
Levels 3-12 are easy provided you don't make mistakes with your first
centaurs and don't get sandwiched. Try all good armor early; if it
isn't cursed you have an advantage. If it is you may find a scroll
of remove curse or enchant armor. Switch to back up armor before going
into level 9. Start checking for traps at level 7 or 8. Explore
levels 13-16 in detail. Fight invisible stalkers by retreating to
corridors. Don't use fighting magic unless you hit a treasure room.
Check treasure rooms very carefully for traps. Skip levels 17-18
unless (a) you have plenty of back up armor, (b) you have good leather
armor, or (c) you have a ring of sustain armor. Levels (19-26). Go
down as fast as you can. You will be using up the reserves of magic
that you built up on the way down to level 19. Don't mess with
sleeping purple worms unless the circumstances are particularly
favorable. Once you have the amulet go up as fast as you can. You
will have more experience, but you are still outclassed until you
hit level 17. Freely use up wands of light at the lower levels
(19-26).rlw (04/11/83)
Here's a suggestion for lower levels: Run up to everything except bats and batter the hell out of it. Why? Because if you can't do in an H at low level, you won't stand a chance at higher levels. ALL CHARACTERS ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL. May as well get a weakling killed off early and try for a better one later. This applies to ants, too, by the way. You ain't gonna avoid all of them so you'll need a restore strength at level 13 anyway. What to do about bats? Check to make sure they're not standing on anything interesting and then ignore them (unless you're out looking for a monster to tell you about an unidentified scroll. It can be embarrassing to have a corredor blocked by a bat when you come by dreagging a Z by the ears.
dave (04/12/83)
MORE SPOILER: (this is in reply to cca!g-rh) 1. As you say, healing aren't much use once you get down deep. Use them when you are at full health instead, to gain that extra point. 2. Scare monster should be discovered BEFORE you first pick up any scroll. Back around it with a monster chasing you and see if it walks on it. Hold monster and confuse monster must be wasted, but the confuse monster will of course help you out in your next fight. 3. Don't waste your time and food searching unless you have reason to be scared. Sleeping gas is harmless unless you actually have someone chasing you. Do search in a treasure room as you move around, after you've cleared it out of monsters. One of the most frustrating experiences is falling through a trapdoor with all that treasure still waiting. 4. Don't just dive down for the amulet from 19 to 26 if you still have a reasonable amount of magic. There's lots of gold in them thar levels, and if you pass it up and get the amulet, the only way of finding more is to go still deeper. And the deeper you go, the stronger the monsters get. (Below level 30 it's extremely difficult to survive.) 5. Definitely genocide umber hulks. Once you're strong enough, you can fight anything else by hand, including dragons. Dave Sherman Magnifibeast (4x winner, 5.2)