In article
<afc6e267-7899-487d-93aa-eaf64a551aee@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
rogercnorris@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
says...
>Unfortunately newer versions of Z have themed dungeons, and the town
>dungeon only goes down to level 15. These two factors can make it
>challenging to find Free Action before you die of boredom or bad
>luck.
Yes. I figured that part out. I actually tried 2.7.4.something first,
got
bored with the dungeon, and quickly lost a character to cursing novice
paladins and a tiger on the road just outside of town. It seems the lack
of
ranged attack (especially spells) can really doom a low-level warrior in
the
wilderness.
>In any other variant I'd recommend that you just dive and avoid
>paralyzers like the plague... but you can't dive in Z without fighting
>your way into a wilderness dungeon, and that often proves fatal to
>early characters.
Yup. I can see how that could be. I note that 2.7.5 supposedly tweaks
things to make the area around the start town easier. I have to say
things
don't seem too dangerous where I am. There is a guarded level 3 dungeon
not
too far away, so I've been staying away from that area.
>Luckily, the one thing that Z has in abundance is Magic Shops.
>There's almost certainly a ring of free action for sale somewhere, if
>you can find it.
Yup. Just after I posted my original message, I decided to head to the
next
town north, just because, and found both Boots of Free Action and a Ring
of
See Invisible for sale. Nice.
>Traveling in the wilderness is risky, but survival
>is much more likely if you follow a few rules:
>
>1) Do NOT travel at night. Check the time before leaving town to
>ensure that you can get to your destination before nightfall.
Not a big issue in a known area. I've got a town a bit NE, by road, from
a
level 1 Lair-type dungeon. There's nothing at all dangerous I've run into
either by day or night going back and forth between them. But I did check
out the area during the day, and cleared out the dungeon guards during the
day as well. Also used the day to take out an orc camp a bit further
north.
So...how do I check the time (for day or night?) Where is that displayed?
>2) Carry plenty of scrolls of tele****tation.
Yup. Though that was a need just in the dungeon, what with the occasional
levels stocked by a number of out-of-depth monsters. No joke, I started
2.7.5 and quickly killed off 7 warriors, all of good hit die races, all
but
one on a "Horrible Visions of Death" level with a very out of depth
monster.
(And the other one was to Wolf at 50') Two were those paralyzers, but all
were WTF types of encounters. It's tough not knowing what you've run into
for these random quest replacements. This current warrior is the first
that
got enough kit and levels for me to feel safe enough to check out the
wilderness. And I did need to use one tele****t out there when things got
a
bit hairy (Ewoks can be a pain when you can't reach them, especially when
Orcs and Driders back them up.)
>3) Check the overhead map *constantly* to ensure that you don't get
>too close to a deep dungeon or a wilderness quest.
Yup. I've used every mapmaker I can, as well.
>4) If you can find a castle, delivering messages is a good way to earn
>some quick cash in order to buy FA.
No such luck. I've found at least 3 towns without stairs, but none have
any
quests available.
>Actually, in order to make the game more enjoyable to me, I modified
>the source code so that the town dungeons are more interesting (i.e.
>not sewers) and go all the way to level 30. I highly recommend this
>option if you don't mind getting your hands dirty with source code.
Not I. It's been years since I've coded, and that was with simpler
languages. Well, except for the Assembler.
I can see the argument for the ramp-up aspect to the Darkwater-type
dungeons.
It's different, to be sure, but that doesn't make it bad.
Not all Darkwaters stop at 750', BTW. I was down to 800' in one before
dying, and the one in the start town of my current game stopped at 650'.
My bigger complaint is more with the towns. Yeah, there's lots of types
of
stores and services. However, they're randomly spread among towns and if
you
have a character type that really requries certain services (*ID*
especially
in Zangband, what with the Randarts and other things with Random abilities
and resists) you could end up with no towns near enough that offer such
services. I'm thinking it's something that really will be an annoyance as
I
continue to play this warrior. But I have already started to build up an
*ID* scroll pile in my homes as they seem sorta plentiful in the stores.
So
we'll see.
Anyway. Diving quickly now. I'll be hitting the bottom of this lair
quite
soon. There's a level-2 dungeon not too far off that'll be next.
-Tim
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