Aucbvax.6302 net.games.rogue utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!wallace Thu Feb 25 14:59:22 1982 Re: Survival Tips A tactic I have found useful, particularly in the early going, is to head for a lighted room when low on hit points. Once there: 1) Head for a spot as far away from doors as possible 2) Wield the bow 3) Rest by single steps until either you have enough hit points or a monster appears in one of the doors. 4) If a monster appears, back away from it while trying to get it to line up with you. 5) Shoot arrows at the monster until it is one empty space away from you. 6) Wield your best melee weapon as the monster steps next to you. 7) Bash away and hope for the best (if there's a line of retreat behind you, you may be able to retreat and recover hit points, but this risks being caught between two monsters -- an uncomfortable situation when low on hit points). 8) If you have any heal potions with you, remember that they can be quaffed in the middle of a melee (although the monster then gets a free hit). You want to single step while resting to give yourself the maximum reaction time when a monster appears. Unfortunately, the flush typeahead option only works when you are adjacent to the monster, by which time it's too late to get free shots with the bow. (How about a future option which flushes typeahead whenever you see a new monster?) Another observation is that if you are one empty space away from an awake monster, you don't want to step towards it, since it then gets the first hit. If you do something that doesn't involve moving (rest, search, wield a melee weapon, throw something at monster while wielding melee weapon), the monster will move next to you, and you then get the first hit. If you are low on hit points, getting the first hit can be vital. Rings of regeneration are useful when using the run away to gain hit points tactic. You pick up a hit point with every move while wearing one. They do seem to burn food though, so it's best to save them and only put them on at the start of a combat with a dangerous monster (I've found them very useful when fighting trolls, for example). One last survival tip: check your inventory at the start of combat, since it doesn't cost any time. I once was fighting a zombie that seemed to take forever to kill, only to discover at the end that I had been wielding the bow all along (I guess I finally managed to strangle him with the bow string). Dave Wallace ~p ----------------------------------------------------------------- gopher://quux.org/ conversion by John Goerzen of http://communication.ucsd.edu/A-News/ This Usenet Oldnews Archive article may be copied and distributed freely, provided: 1. There is no money collected for the text(s) of the articles. 2. The following notice remains appended to each copy: The Usenet Oldnews Archive: Compilation Copyright (C) 1981, 1996 Bruce Jones, Henry Spencer, David Wiseman.