Shopping dilema

[dassem]

I am playing a fairly standard Ice/Poison based Mf with a nice glaive and worshiping Vehumet in trunk.
After clearing Orc and Lair, I have $2363 remaining.
In the shops at the bottom, there are 2 scrolls of acquirement for $832 each.
Should I buy them now, or later, or save it hoping for something else?
The only notable items I have so far are a +6 Leather armor of sInv, which I found in a very cool Nemelex vault, and gauntlets of Str, so I'd probably go for armor.

The only other things that I've found that might be worth buying are rings of Ev+4 or Int+3.

[crate]

You should buy the scrolls. In most of my games it is not running out of gold that is a problem, but running out of places where I can spend it usefully. You have already examined the only place in the game guaranteed to have shops, so finding useful shops later is reasonably unlikely.

I would recommend weapon acquirement if you have not yet seen a bardiche and want to use a bardiche eventually, since in my experience weapon acquirement when you have one high weapon skill is by a large margin the best acquirement on average. Your leather armour is actually quite good so don't worry too much about trying to replace it--you can think of it as a +3 mottled dragon armour for most purposes, which is pretty good for a long time--but armour acquirement may still be a good choice. Wand is almost always a good option. Staff is good also if you want to use an enhancer for casting your spells. I can't see your character but most likely I would choose weapon once (maybe twice if the first try gives something other than a bardiche) and then either staff or wand, but other people would probably do other things.

The EV+4 ring is also very good and probably worth buying at some point depending on what other rings you have.

[dassem]

Thank you! Very helpful suggestions, but the RNG screwed me. Since I hadn't seen many wands or much jewelery yet, I didn't think I would get much useful from those. So, I went for one weapon (hoping for a nice bardiche), and one armor (hoping for a hat of intelligence, or perhaps boots of running, since I've got 0 armor skill) and here's what I got:

the -3,-5 bardiche of Yclevigg {holy, Noisy MR}
the +7 splint mail "Gelir" {Dex+2 Int+3}

So I went back and bought the ring.

I should really put this in the CIP section now, as it's been a fun character: I think I lost one of his predecessors in a bailey, so I was nervous upon taking him into one, hit the wrong key and for my first move read a scroll of immolation, alerting everyone and removing half his HP. (Bear in mind this was for a sneaky mage). Still, I beat that one (barely!) and then another much easier one later. He's now getting freezing cloud reliable enough to head to Elf...

[palin]

the -3,-5 bardiche of Yclevigg {holy, Noisy MR}

That's why I hate how acquirement is now... that's what I call "holy crap". Pun intended.

[cursednobleman]

I tend to keep over 1500 gold in reserve for bazaar.

[dassem]

That's why I hate how acquirement is now...

Yeah, I was prepared to rant a bit about how acquirement should be reformed. But I guess that if I had got 2 great items, I would then be writing about how the randomness adds to the excitement, so I don't know... If someone came up with a way to make acquisition slightly less common but with less trash, I wouldn't object.

I tend to keep over 1500 gold in reserve for bazaar.

Yup me too, or later for Zigs. - That's why I wanted opinions on whether to spend now.
However, it's been such a long time since I got a bazaar that I've begun to wonder if they had been removed from trunk... (Or maybe the RNG just hates me?)

[dassem]

A fresh question:

My current glaive is +6,+7 with no brand, but I have both fire and cold brand spells that I learned really early and choose as appropriate. (No vorpal scrolls yet...) I've just taken a +2,+6 bardiche of distortion off the corpse of St Roka. I was excited to find my 'ideal' glowing bardiche, and since it was St Roka's I knew the enchantments would be good, so of course I wield identified it.
Should I keep using the bardiche? (I could probably enchant it to about +7,+7).

This has been a fun game! I am playing really badly but surviving to about level 20. (I LOVE the new vaults layout!)
I have had only one trip to the Abyss, after trying to clear the final level of Elf at level 18, where I got cornered by a profane servitor with no way to teleport. I survived with about 7 HP and 8 MP remaining.
So I am not keen to do that again until I've got ice storm online!

Other highlights include:
Finishing a labyrinth (including waiting for my clouds to clear and picking through the loot) in 150 turns, and then nearly starving once I returned! - I heard a snort on Vaults:1, read a scroll of mapping and realized I would never get to it in time. So I tried a random teleport, got lucky and entered with 2 rations. Luckily I only made 1 wrong turn and completed easily my fastest labyrinth (my last one was near impossible and nearly got me to quit in frustration). Upon returning I realized that I was a long and uncleared path from the upstairs and my main killing spell was the reasonably effective, but very appetite inducing, freezing cloud...

I've found a Trove that needs 6 potions of speed. Since I've found a wand of hasting this game, I think that's a decent price. One more to go!

I found both Boris and Mara on the last level of swamp but managed to grab the rune, so that's where they'll stay.

Since this is in the advice section, I'll ask another question, I have a choice of gloves:

a - a +2 pair of gauntlets of strength
b - the -3 pair of gloves "Fafat" {Str+2 Dex+3}
c - +2 pair of gloves "Zavac" {Str+1 Dex+2}

Am I right to assume I should wear c?
Typically, since this is a polearm wielding Mf after a run of hybrid HE archers, I've found bracers of archery too.

[cerebovssquire]

c is the best pair of gloves, yes, and a bardiche of distortion is a very good weapon. Use it.

[dassem]

Thank you!

Well, I didn't wait for replies and got annoyed with losing the kills, which I wanted for Vehumet's MP return, so I unwielded it probably a few seconds before I got your reply. Duh!
Of course that meant another trip to the Abyss...

I got chased by a bone dragon, which are tough in the Abyss! They fly over lava and don't have obvious weaknesses, unless, am I missing something?
So I hasted up and fled, straight into the Kraken vault... I killed killed that, then got smacked around by a Zombie Kraken and teleported away from the tentacled monstrosities.
The good thing is that rune #3 is now secured, but I burned most of a wand of hasting and lots of resources.

Now, for an exit...

[edit] Found an exit! Although the abyss shifted and put a wall right in the way when I was a 2 steps away. Luckily I had a wand of digging, but that was a tease.

[dassem]

Dammit!
This might be my final question with this character:
I dipped into the hall of blades looking for another weapon choice. I ran up the stairs and wasted turns messing around, so I teleported.
I landed next to a tentacled monstrosity, I had to waste a turn to dig an escape route, then hit the wrong key so it grabbed me.
I currently have 14 HP, am levitating and fast, BUT, constricted. If I can get 1 step away, I'll survive.

I have no blinking, but one scroll of fear. Is that likely to help?

Any ideas? This time I'll wait for a response!

  Code:


HP  14/149       AC 16     Str 16      XL: 21   Next: 42%
MP   6/41        EV 28     Int 21      God: Vehumet [******]
Gold 3224        SH  0     Dex 17      Spells: 14 memorised,  5 levels left

Res.Fire  : . . .   See Invis. : .   a - +6,+7 orc glaive
Res.Cold  : . . .   Warding    : .   Y - +7 leather armour of the Lonely Wonders {S
Life Prot.: . . .   Conserve   : .   (no shield)
Res.Poison: +       Res.Corr.  : .   z - +0 cap
Res.Elec. : .       Clarity    : .   P - +1 elf cloak {rPois}
Sust.Abil.: . .     Spirit.Shd : .   B - +2 pair of gloves "Zavac" {Str+1 Dex+2}
Res.Mut.  : .       Stasis     : .   S - +0 pair of boots {Lev}
Res.Rott. : .       Ctrl.Telep.: .   j - amulet of the gourmand
Gourmand  : +       Levitation : +   F - ring of regeneration
                    Ctrl.Flight: .   T - +4 ring of evasion

@: levitating, very slightly contaminated, hasted, constricted, very quick,
quite resistant to hostile enchantments, very stealthy
A: change form in water, swift swim, Str +2
a: Renounce Religion, Stop Levitating
}: 3/15 runes: decaying, abyssal, gossamer


You are on level 3 of the Vaults.
You worship Vehumet.
Vehumet is exalted by your worship.
You are very full.

You have visited 9 branches of the dungeon, and seen 45 of its levels.
You have visited the Abyss 2 times.
You have also visited: Labyrinth and Bailey (2 times).

You have collected 6093 gold pieces.
You have spent 2889 gold pieces at shops.

Inventory:

Hand weapons
 a - a +6,+7 orcish glaive (weapon)
 e - a +2,+6 bardiche of distortion
Armour
 z - a +0 cap (worn)
 B - the +2 pair of gloves "Zavac" (worn) {Str+1 Dex+2}
   (You acquired it on level 5 of the Spider Nest)   
   
   It affects your strength (+1).
   It affects your dexterity (+2).
 P - a +1 elven cloak of poison resistance (worn)
 S - a +0 pair of boots of levitation (worn)
 Y - the +7 leather armour of the Lonely Wonders (worn) {Str+2 Acc+5}
   (You found it on level 2 of the Vaults)   
   
   It affects your strength (+2).
   It affects your accuracy (+5).
Magical devices
 i - a wand of teleportation (3)
 k - a wand of enslavement
 l - a curved brass wand
 m - a wand of cold {zapped: 4}
 p - a wand of fireball {zapped: 1}
 v - a wand of disintegration (13)
 x - a wand of cold
 I - a wand of digging (7)
 X - a wand of hasting (3)
Comestibles
 o - 2 meat rations
 s - a royal jelly
 w - 3 bread rations
 D - a rotting chunk of centaur flesh
 L - 2 pieces of ambrosia
Scrolls
 d - 2 scrolls of identify
 f - a scroll of fear
 t - a scroll of remove curse
 u - 2 scrolls of fog
Jewellery
 b - an uncursed ring of fire
 c - an uncursed ring of see invisible
 j - an amulet of the gourmand (around neck)
 n - a +3 ring of evasion
 C - an uncursed ring of ice
 E - an uncursed amulet of resist mutation
 F - a ring of regeneration (right hand)
 G - an uncursed ring of protection from magic
 N - an uncursed ring of invisibility
 O - an uncursed amulet of resist corrosion
 R - an uncursed ring of sustain abilities
 T - a +4 ring of evasion (left hand)
 W - an uncursed ring of wizardry
Potions
 g - a potion of brilliance
 q - a potion of resistance
 A - 2 potions of heal wounds
 U - 2 potions of curing


   Skills:
 * Level 10.0 Fighting
 * Level 20.4 Polearms
 * Level 16.9 Dodging
 + Level 9.4 Stealth
 - Level 10.4 Stabbing
 + Level 3.9 Traps
 * Level 16.4 Spellcasting
 + Level 10.5 Conjurations
 + Level 4.7 Charms
 + Level 0.6 Summonings
 + Level 1.2 Necromancy
 * Level 11.4 Transmutations
 - Level 0.2 Fire Magic
 * Level 14.9 Ice Magic
 + Level 6.3 Air Magic
 + Level 10.6 Poison Magic
 + Level 1.0 Evocations


You have 5 spell levels left.
You know the following spells:

 Your Spells              Type           Power        Failure   Level  Hunger
a - Sting                 Conj/Pois      #####        1%          1    None
b - Cure Poison           Pois           #######...   1%          2    None
c - Mephitic Cloud        Conj/Pois/Air  #######..    1%          3    None
d - Freezing Aura         Chrm/Ice       #######...   1%          2    None
e - Fire Brand            Chrm/Fire      #####.....   1%          2    None
f - Regeneration          Chrm/Necr      #####.....   3%          3    None
g - Freeze                Ice            #####        0%          1    None
h - Throw Icicle          Conj/Ice       #######..    1%          4    None
i - Repel Missiles        Chrm/Air       ######....   1%          2    None
j - Poisonous Cloud       Conj/Pois/Air  #######...   4%          6    #####..
k - Freezing Cloud        Conj/Ice/Air   #######...   2%          6    #####..
l - Ignite Poison         Fire/Trmt      ######....   3%          5    #......
m - Summon Scorpions      Summ/Pois      ######....   1%          4    None
n - Poison Arrow          Conj/Pois      #######...   2%          6    #####..


Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations

Branches:
Dungeon (15/27)            Temple (1/1) D:4             Orc (4/4) D:10
    Elf (3/3) Orc:3          Lair (8/8) D:13          Swamp (5/5) Lair:4
 Spider (5/5) Lair:6        Slime (0/6) Lair:6       Vaults (3/5) D:15
  Blade (1/1) Vaults:3      Crypt (0/5) Vaults:2   


[dassem]

Ok, here are my main options:

• Read scroll of fear then die because the monstrosity can resist it.
• Zap teleport and quaff my last potions of heal wounds and die before that kicks in.
• Go on the offensive, cast poison arrow and die.
• Struggle to escape, fail, and die.

Probably I will quaff, zap teleport, quaff, read the scroll (if I survive), struggle, die.
I guess the question is should I zap the wand first or quaff? How long do these actions take? I might have a free action from hasting...

You know how people say that no deaths beyond XL3 are unavoidable? Well, when I mentioned playing badly, here are the main things that directly contributed to this situation:
Bad skill management.
Not learning controlled blink (I don't think I've seen blink).
Not listening to advice - things might have been different wielding the bardiche.
Dipping into hall of blades before clearing the level with the entrance on it. Seriously.
Going into blades without having a really effective way to kill dancing weapons.
Not killing this monstrosity when I saw it earlier (it was trapped in a mini-vault that needed digging). At full MP and starting from a safe range, I would be laughing.
Not running away and stair dancing when I saw 4 dancing weapons.
Not hasting when I got below 50% HP. Hey, let's conserve resources, right?
Using my final ?blink to escape the last dancing weapon, but then trying (unsucessfully) to pick it off from a distance instead of running and healing.
Teleporting (on an unclearled level), but still not hasting.
Not realizing my peril upon landing near the monstrosity and not hasting immediately.
Not moving in the right direction.
Not counting turns (I knew I had to dig, so that should have been a clue to haste first).

[nago]

Well, it's almost sure your character is going to die, but at least you've learned a lot from your mistakes, so it isn't so bad, is it?

Anyway, what version are you playing? In 0.11 there's little chance to break constriction just walking away - it's a desperate move, but in your situation may be the best to take. It you're playing 0.10 don't even think about it, it's almost impossible to break in that way.
Quaffing heal wound and zapping teleport may work, if you get a lot of hp back and teleport activates in very few turns.
Another very unlikely way to survive is to wield that bardiche of distortion and attacking the foo, hoping you can get a blink or abyssal effect before he can squeeze you. Very very very unlikely, but it's the only other way I can imagine you can survive this mess.

Btw, tentacled monstrosity is immune to fear, and add to the list of your mistakes: entering hall of blades when there was no reason.
That place is very difficult - weapons are fast, immune to everything and you can suffer awful effect (distortion in primis) - and there aren't rewards to clear it. Personally, I never enter in that branch, even with a 15-runes character, unless I'm desperately searching for a high-tier weapon I couldn't found elsewhere.

[dassem]

Thanks!

Well, it's almost sure your character is going to die, but at least you've learned a lot from your mistakes, so it isn't so bad, is it?
Anyway, what version are you playing? In 0.11 there's little chance to break constriction just walking away - it's a desperate move, but in your situation may be the best to take. It you're playing 0.10 don't even think about it, it's almost impossible to break in that way.

Trunk...

Quaffing heal wound and zapping teleport may work, if you get a lot of hp back and teleport activates in very few turns.
Another very unlikely way to survive is to wield that bardiche of distortion and attacking the foo, hoping you can get a blink or abyssal effect before he can squeeze you. Very very very unlikely, but it's the only other way I can imagine you can survive this mess.

Yes, given that I got Abyssed on a single unwield before, I guess that's also a valid option, or I could wield, unwield and hope for banishment?
I assume that does break constriction... But at least it could be cooler to commit suicide via distortion rather than be strangled.

I might download an offline version and try some tests in wizard mode...

Btw, tentacled monstrosity is immune to fear, and add to the list of your mistakes: entering hall of blades when there was no reason.
That place is very difficult - weapons are fast, immune to everything and you can suffer awful effect (distortion in primis) - and there aren't rewards to clear it. Personally, I never enter in that branch, even with a 15-runes character, unless I'm desperately searching for a high-tier weapon I couldn't found elsewhere.

Ok, the immunity to fear is another thing learned.
As for hall of blades, I don't usually have a problem, but I realized that I usually have orb of destruction, which is quite effective there. I found myself looking up and down my spell list for that one... And yup, I was looking for another bardiche option. I think I need to play a few characters worshiping Lugonu to overcome my fear of distortion. (I was wanting to be able to switch to a staff of wizardry once I was close to ice storm).

[dassem]

Ok, in wizmode, I see about a 50% chance of escaping just by walking away.
Unless I'm doing something dumb? (eg does the chance change over time; is a wizmode character exactly the same, etc?)
So, I suppose I should quaff and try that?

[edit:]
Interesting... I'll have to set up a closer match, but initial testing (with different stats) tells me that even when hasted, I don't get "free" actions, so it's still possible to die while quaffing !heal wounds continuously (with lower AC than my char).
It's looking like just walking away might be the best chance... I just need to see how AC affects whether I should quaff first and if stats make any noticable difference to the odds of escape...

[KoboldLord]

Given that a tentacled monstrosity is slower than you, and therefore cannot re-establish constriction or hit you again if you continue briskly walking away once you're free, it seems like it would be a preferable idea to take the 50% chance of breaking constriction by walking away than it would be to quaff speed and then take the same 50% chance of walking away IF AND ONLY IF the tentacled monstrosity didn't have a turn coming up in the first 2/3 of the delay before your next turn, because being Hasted only removes 1/3 of your delay between turns.

[dassem]

Thanks for all the help!

With a closer match to my character, I still found about a 50% chance of breaking free, and with constriction, I found I was losing HP faster than continuously quaffing !heal wounds would work on average. I seemed to be losing over 20 HP per turn, but a bit irregularly (as pointed out by KoboldLord).

The most probable way to escape seemed to be to take a single step away... That gave me about 50% chance to escape, and even if that failed, I would have a small chance of suffering less than 14 damage...

So, roll the dice and:

"Your attempt to break free from the tentacled monstrosity fails, but you feel that another attempt might succeed."

Followed by about 16 damage. [edit: 2 out of his 3 attacks landed. I survived the first.]
Dead. By 2 HP.

Oh well. The nice thing is that I learned how Wizmode works, so I can run simulations myself in similar situations.

[Ossuary]

and with constriction, I found I was losing HP faster than continuously quaffing !heal wounds would work on average. I seemed to be losing over 20 HP per turn, but a bit irregularly (as pointed out by KoboldLord).

As far as I understand, constriction damage increases every turn, so once you start quaffing potions you're already losing the fight. (In 0.10, I think they're reworking constriction in 0.11 or trunk.)