Yet Another Stupid Death...

[Harriet Bazley]

[Last Messages]

The Floating eye gazes at you.
*** LOW HITPOINT WARNING! ***
The Floating eye gazes at you.
*** LOW HITPOINT WARNING! ***
The Floating eye gazes at you.
*** LOW HITPOINT WARNING! ***
The Floating eye gazes at you.
*** LOW HITPOINT WARNING! ***
You resist the effects!
The Giant white centipede bites you.
*** LOW HITPOINT WARNING! ***
The Giant white centipede stings you.
*** LOW HITPOINT WARNING! ***
The Floating eye gazes at you.
You die.

Nostalgia rules supreme!

[Sebastian Barthel]

Post by Harriet Bazley
[Last Messages]

The Floating eye gazes at you.
*** LOW HITPOINT WARNING! ***
The Floating eye gazes at you.
*** LOW HITPOINT WARNING! ***
The Floating eye gazes at you.
*** LOW HITPOINT WARNING! ***
The Floating eye gazes at you.
*** LOW HITPOINT WARNING! ***
You resist the effects!
The Giant white centipede bites you. *** LOW HITPOINT WARNING! ***
The Giant white centipede stings you.
*** LOW HITPOINT WARNING! ***
The Floating eye gazes at you.
You die.

Nostalgia rules supreme!

Nobody needs to be killed by an Floating Eye !


Lastely I tried to eat (and ate) a Mushroom of Terror ... that's an real
problem. Never try to do this !


It seems essential not to do things, wich are unknown in their effect or
to run into such a combined trap like the Floating Eye and the Giant
white Centipede are.

A good idea ist to enter a room and in the next step to leave it again
before then other things can happen. I died by unexpected "things" in
long corridors too, spacially if one runs through them to speed up the
overall gameplay - wich then led to an unexpected end.

[Harriet Bazley]

On 16 Aug 2021 as I do recall,

Post by Sebastian Barthel
Nobody needs to be killed by an Floating Eye !
Lastely I tried to eat (and ate) a Mushroom of Terror ... that's an real
problem. Never try to do this !

Yes, but it gives you a speed bonus. :-D

Post by Sebastian Barthel
It seems essential not to do things, wich are unknown in their effect or
to run into such a combined trap like the Floating Eye and the Giant
white Centipede are.
A good idea ist to enter a room and in the next step to leave it again
before then other things can happen. I died by unexpected "things" in
long corridors too, spacially if one runs through them to speed up the
overall gameplay - wich then led to an unexpected end.

Yes, the classic way to die in Angband is by holding down a movement
key....

For my next character I tried a Kobold warrior (born with poison
resistance) who was either extremely lucky or else extremely reckless,
or both. But mainly her big advantage was finding *three* Scrolls of
Acquirement when he was only about nine levels down in the dungeon, and
getting the Cloak of Thingol and Flail 'Totila' as a result, neither of
which I've ever seen with even my most powerful characters.

With fire brand, plus to speed and resist confusion, she was completely
overpowered for most of the next twenty or so levels. She also got
extremely lucky with Potions of Brawn, which raise your strength but
decrease another random stat - in my case, generally either wisdom or
charisma, neither of which mattered that much. I now have a warrior
with Strength 18/100, Wisdom 8 and Charisma 10, who was at one point
doing three attacks per round and killing most monsters with a single
blow without waking up other creatures standing next to them; fighting a
pack of wolves was as simple as walking into the middle of the pack and
picking them off three at a time.

I've now got down to dungeon level 36, which is deeper than I've ever
gone before, and achieved character level 30, which is higher than I've
ever gone before, and am starting to have trouble from monster breaths
damaging my equipment. I had to use a scroll of Teleport Level to
escape from an Ancient Black Dragon and a pack of Nexus Hounds...

Warriors now seem to get automatic ID on weapons, and I haven't found
any cursed items in the dungeon at all; not a single one. I don't know
if they have been completely removed from the game (presumably not, as
scrolls of Remove Curse still exist - but those may be intended for
cursed artifacts), but the result is that you can just pick everything
up, try it on, and have an ID almost instantly. As I explore I have
also been finding more than enough potions of cure wounds, food items,
and staves and scrolls of Identify, so there are basically no supply
management problems at all. I believe this was a deliberate change in
order to get rid of the 'boring bits' of the game, but compared to the
gameplay I remember, in which the early part of the game consisted
largely of trying to find and sell enough stuff to refill your supplies,
and you had to cope with the possibility that the shopkeepers might not
have the items you needed in stock, it makes for a completely different
experience.

I love the new 'mixed blessing' items - a ring that gives you plus to
attacks and immunity to fear, but also minus to armour and stealth, for
example (basically, a permanent Berserk Strength item). Or the Ring of
Escaping, which gives you a speed boost at the cost of spell-casting and
attack penalties; put it on in order to run away very fast! Or the
Mushroom of Emergency, which heals you by 200 hit points but gives you
hallucinations, and is found at low levels - I'm still carrying a stack
of three of those, just in case.

One thing that is annoying is the way that staffs and wands stack as
ypou pick them up, which means that in practice you end up carrying more
and more of them with a smaller number of charges left in each, and it
starts to become a weight problem. I never use up all the charges in a
Staff of Identify before picking up the next one, which means in effect
that a staff which had 16 charges when it was lying on the dungeon floor
goes down instantly to about six charges as they all average out between
the stack of eight or so part-used staffs that I'm already carrying....
Charge stacking is a good thing in principle, and it certainly saves on
inventory space. But it does mean you can't drain all the charges in an
item and then drop it.

[Eddie Grove]

Post by Harriet Bazley
One thing that is annoying is the way that staffs and wands stack as
ypou pick them up, which means that in practice you end up carrying more
and more of them with a smaller number of charges left in each, and it
starts to become a weight problem.

You can force things not to stack by giving them different inscriptions.
I no longer remember if there is a way to pick up an uninscribed object
without it merging with an inscribed object, but even then you could
drop all your id staves, pick up the new one and inscribe it, and then
pick them back up.

E.g. inscribe staves originally "unused" and let them stack, except for
one you inscribe "used" and use up that one first. It's a real pain, but
it is doable.

[Harriet Bazley]

On 18 Aug 2021 as I do recall,

Post by Eddie Grove

Post by Harriet Bazley
One thing that is annoying is the way that staffs and wands stack as
ypou pick them up, which means that in practice you end up carrying more
and more of them with a smaller number of charges left in each, and it
starts to become a weight problem.

You can force things not to stack by giving them different inscriptions.
I no longer remember if there is a way to pick up an uninscribed object
without it merging with an inscribed object, but even then you could
drop all your id staves, pick up the new one and inscribe it, and then
pick them back up.
E.g. inscribe staves originally "unused" and let them stack, except for
one you inscribe "used" and use up that one first. It's a real pain, but
it is doable.

Interesting idea - I did try inscribing the staves with "!g" and
dropping one for use on the floor in the hopes that I would get a prompt
instead of auto-pickup of stackable objects, but that didn't work,
presumably because they were all inscribed the same and auto-pickup
wasn't the same as an explicit 'get' command!

[Toronto Backlawn]

Post by Harriet Bazley
On 16 Aug 2021 as I do recall,

Post by Sebastian Barthel
Nobody needs to be killed by an Floating Eye !
Lastely I tried to eat (and ate) a Mushroom of Terror ... that's an
real problem. Never try to do this !

Yes, but it gives you a speed bonus. :-D

Post by Sebastian Barthel
It seems essential not to do things, wich are unknown in their effect
or to run into such a combined trap like the Floating Eye and the Giant
white Centipede are.
A good idea ist to enter a room and in the next step to leave it again
before then other things can happen. I died by unexpected "things" in
long corridors too, spacially if one runs through them to speed up the
overall gameplay - wich then led to an unexpected end.

Yes, the classic way to die in Angband is by holding down a movement
key....
For my next character I tried a Kobold warrior (born with poison
resistance) who was either extremely lucky or else extremely reckless,
or both. But mainly her big advantage was finding *three* Scrolls of
Acquirement when he was only about nine levels down in the dungeon, and
getting the Cloak of Thingol and Flail 'Totila' as a result, neither of
which I've ever seen with even my most powerful characters.
With fire brand, plus to speed and resist confusion, she was completely
overpowered for most of the next twenty or so levels. She also got
extremely lucky with Potions of Brawn, which raise your strength but
decrease another random stat - in my case, generally either wisdom or
charisma, neither of which mattered that much. I now have a warrior
with Strength 18/100, Wisdom 8 and Charisma 10, who was at one point
doing three attacks per round and killing most monsters with a single
blow without waking up other creatures standing next to them; fighting a
pack of wolves was as simple as walking into the middle of the pack and
picking them off three at a time.
I've now got down to dungeon level 36, which is deeper than I've ever
gone before, and achieved character level 30, which is higher than I've
ever gone before, and am starting to have trouble from monster breaths
damaging my equipment. I had to use a scroll of Teleport Level to
escape from an Ancient Black Dragon and a pack of Nexus Hounds...
Warriors now seem to get automatic ID on weapons, and I haven't found
any cursed items in the dungeon at all; not a single one. I don't know
if they have been completely removed from the game (presumably not, as
scrolls of Remove Curse still exist - but those may be intended for
cursed artifacts), but the result is that you can just pick everything
up, try it on, and have an ID almost instantly. As I explore I have
also been finding more than enough potions of cure wounds, food items,
and staves and scrolls of Identify, so there are basically no supply
management problems at all. I believe this was a deliberate change in
order to get rid of the 'boring bits' of the game, but compared to the
gameplay I remember, in which the early part of the game consisted
largely of trying to find and sell enough stuff to refill your supplies,
and you had to cope with the possibility that the shopkeepers might not
have the items you needed in stock, it makes for a completely different
experience.
I love the new 'mixed blessing' items - a ring that gives you plus to
attacks and immunity to fear, but also minus to armour and stealth, for
example (basically, a permanent Berserk Strength item). Or the Ring of
Escaping, which gives you a speed boost at the cost of spell-casting and
attack penalties; put it on in order to run away very fast! Or the
Mushroom of Emergency, which heals you by 200 hit points but gives you
hallucinations, and is found at low levels - I'm still carrying a stack
of three of those, just in case.
One thing that is annoying is the way that staffs and wands stack as
ypou pick them up, which means that in practice you end up carrying more
and more of them with a smaller number of charges left in each, and it
starts to become a weight problem. I never use up all the charges in a
Staff of Identify before picking up the next one, which means in effect
that a staff which had 16 charges when it was lying on the dungeon floor
goes down instantly to about six charges as they all average out between
the stack of eight or so part-used staffs that I'm already carrying....
Charge stacking is a good thing in principle, and it certainly saves on
inventory space. But it does mean you can't drain all the charges in an
item and then drop it.

Re: depths.

I'm sure you already do, but jusdt in case ~ when in the character stats
screen (shift-c), hit the space bar to see a grid/graph representation of
your character. Gotta fill that stuff in! I'm sure, at your depth, you
already have, but in that depth range (1000' to 2000' / level 20 to 40),
make sure you get your "low" resists covered (Cold, Fire, Lightning,
Acid). And, be sure to get See Invisible ability and Free Action (immune
to paralysis) going on.

Staff/wand stacking + averaging out charges can be a slight annoyance, but
its purpose is to minimize invetory slot usage. Otherwise, you might end
up with a bunch of slots with differently-charged staves/wands going on -
and of course invetory space is at a premium! Bit of a tradeoff there. You
can sell/drop a staff/wand in the shop 6, and it should re-appear, re-
charged so you can buy it. Encumberance can be an issue when one is with
an early character without much strength - that is, carrying 5 staves of
X, with 6 charges left. But, as your STR increases, that becomes less of
an issue.

The automatic partial-ID you've encountered is "Pseudo-ID", that lets
characters learn a bit about their equipment over time. Oh, just realized
you mentioned "Charisma" - that would indicate that you are perhaps
playing an older build of the game (later, Charisma as a stat was removed
as part of a broader clean-up of the game).

[Harriet Bazley]

On 21 Aug 2021 as I do recall,
[snip]

Post by Harriet Bazley
I've now got down to dungeon level 36, which is deeper than I've ever
gone before, and achieved character level 30, which is higher than I've
ever gone before, and am starting to have trouble from monster breaths
damaging my equipment. I had to use a scroll of Teleport Level to
escape from an Ancient Black Dragon and a pack of Nexus Hounds...

I got to clevel 33... four times, thanks to Dreads. :-D

Eventually killed by Gorlim, Betrayer of Barahir at 2100 feet - I
deserved it, because I'd had a lot of hair's-breadth escapes already.

[Last Messages]

Gorlim, Betrayer of Barahir tries to cast a spell, but fails.
You miss Gorlim, Betrayer of Barahir.
You burn Gorlim, Betrayer of Barahir.
Gorlim, Betrayer of Barahir hits you.
Gorlim, Betrayer of Barahir misses you.
Gorlim, Betrayer of Barahir hits you.
Your Heavy Crossbow of Power (b) was disenchanted!
You burn Gorlim, Betrayer of Barahir.
Gorlim, Betrayer of Barahir fires a jet of water.
You resist the effect!
You have been stunned.
You burn Gorlim, Betrayer of Barahir.
You miss Gorlim, Betrayer of Barahir.
Gorlim, Betrayer of Barahir casts a bolt of raw magic.
You die.

I don't know what "a bolt of raw magic" is, as I don't remember getting
hit by one previously - just a magic missile?

He was very nearly dead, and I hung on for one last blow instead of
escaping or using up one of my potions of *Healing*.

I'm sure you already do, but jusdt in case ~ when in the character stats
screen (shift-c), hit the space bar to see a grid/graph representation of
your character. Gotta fill that stuff in! I'm sure, at your depth, you
already have, but in that depth range (1000' to 2000' / level 20 to 40),
make sure you get your "low" resists covered (Cold, Fire, Lightning,
Acid). And, be sure to get See Invisible ability and Free Action (immune
to paralysis) going on.

rAcid:.......++.... Nexus:.............
rElec:........+.... Nethr:.............
rFire:+.....+++.... Chaos:.............
rCold:.......++.... Disen:.............
rPois:............+ Feath:.............
rLite:............. pFear:............+
rDark:............. pBlnd:.........+...
Sound:............. pConf:+............
Shard:............. pStun:.............

Light:............. Tunn.:.............
Regen:............. Speed:+..+.......+.
ESP:............. Blows:.............
Invis:.........+... Shots:.............
FrAct:.......+..... Might:.............
HLife:............. S.Dig:.............
Stea.:+............ ImpHP:.............
Sear.:....+....+... Fear:.............
Infra:............+ Aggrv:.............

Staff/wand stacking + averaging out charges can be a slight annoyance, but
its purpose is to minimize invetory slot usage. Otherwise, you might end
up with a bunch of slots with differently-charged staves/wands going on -
and of course invetory space is at a premium! Bit of a tradeoff there.

Yes, it was a nuisance back in the days when they didn't stack, as well.
You can't win.

You can sell/drop a staff/wand in the shop 6, and it should re-appear,
re- charged so you can buy it. Encumberance can be an issue when one
is with an early character without much strength - that is, carrying 5
staves of X, with 6 charges left. But, as your STR increases, that
becomes less of an issue.

Playing a Kobold, I found it an issue even with strength 18/100. I'm
not sure if you get a racial penalty, or if a weak character's strength
18 is the same as a strong one.

The automatic partial-ID you've encountered is "Pseudo-ID", that lets
characters learn a bit about their equipment over time. Oh, just realized
you mentioned "Charisma" - that would indicate that you are perhaps
playing an older build of the game (later, Charisma as a stat was removed
as part of a broader clean-up of the game).

This is an SDL-based port of Angband 3.3.2 - the original Acorn versions
made it up to 3.0.9 with full integration into the RISC OS desktop, but
unfortunately they don't work on the latest version of the hardware/OS,
so Chris Gransden did a quick and dirty compilation that runs inside a
sort of terminal display. I did manage to trace a reasonably up-to-date
copy of Antony Sidwell's generic Angband Porting Kit with the old window
templates, savebox protocol, iconbar support, etc., but you'd need to be
a competent C programmer with an existing compiler set-up in order to
get it working.

What I was originally hoping to do was to get the old variants that I
used to enjoy playing recompiled so that they would work on the current
generation of processors - they crash with mysterious and probably
misleading errors about errors in the raw text files (see message ID
<***@bazleyfamily.co.uk>). For example, the actual
'terrain.txt' file to which version 3.0.9 is objecting appears to be
byte for byte identical to the one which works quite happily in version
3.0.0. :-(

The weird thing is that the *really* old variants compiled for 26-bit
processors with Musus Umbra's earlier front-end can be made to run using
26-bit emulation, but the supposedly 32-bit safe ones can't, which I
would guess is some problem in something like half-word data addressing
or something like that, and not anything to do with the actual
instruction set, which would be why Aemulor doesn't help. Theoretically,
where the source is still available (and for most of the variants it
looks as if it is, thanks to the archiving habits of the Angband
community!) it ought to be possible to fix the bug affecting these
particular applications simply by recompiling for the newer
architecture.

But as far as I know, later versions of Vanilla dropped support for
compiling for RISC OS altogether: the release notes for version 3.2.0
include the statement "Remove RISC OS port".