Friday, 14th March 2014, 19:24 by and into
dck and I are not actually disagreeing, here.
By early game I mean *early game*. We are talking about the very start—the time frame when the vast majority of deaths happen even for very skilled players, and any boost to survivability is a godsend.
Under the conditions I stated: early game, sufficient str, not taking casting into account casting, assuming you found a suitable heavy armor that gives good AC... Then going heavy armor lets you use your items for a boost in defense without having to train a defensive skill at all. Those items give even better defense if you train a skill, but they give better protection than lighter armors for any given level of armor training (including 0)—again, under the stated conditions. EV is great but requires skill. Getting protection for 0 skill is really good early on, and remains viable. There are costs associated with going heaviest armor, however, and obviously you need to find a suitable armor. Also, obviously some species (like Halflings, Spriggans, etc.) get bonuses to EV that have an effect from the outset, but I'm talking about normal sized species (Hu, HO, HE, DE, etc.)
At one point in 0.6 heavy armor was so badly nerfed (because it was OP before that) that some people probably said stuff like, if you start as a fighter you should swap to a robe or leather armor at first opportunity. Mainly I think that was a joke, though, because in reality if you are going to do that, you just shouldn't start as a fighter. (Especially since gladiators started with bucklers back then anyway and began in leather, and yet also had nets already too, IIRC. Incidentally they began with a little bit of unarmed combat, for reasons that escape me.)
damiac, I think you want simple answers, and yet at the same time are picking at every generalization that people offer. A really rigorous comparison of EV/AC in terms of optimal play is really going down the rabbit hole; it is much more complicated than comparisons of weapon damage, for instance. How much do you value "control" over your HP in a combat situation (i.e., big chunks of HP coming off occasionally vs. smaller chunks more often)? Etc. I don't assume I know or accord to optimal play, but I have enough of a grasp to know that it is not a simple question of X EV = Y AC.
If you just want practical guidelines though, many people have provided them, at several points in the thread, and those guidelines were pretty reasonable IMO. Obviously they are guidelines and thus based on certain assumptions and generalizations, however.
- For this message the author and into has received thanks:
- zxc23