MAngband

I have been playing for a little while now, and feel like I am beginning to get the hang of the game now (have a lvl 24 HT Warrior, that seems to be getting along famously in the dungeons)

But, I was wondering about mining/tunneling .. Is it in any way worthwhile? I mean, are there levels and/or places you could go, that has a higher concentration of "ore veins" (*) ?

And, how much does equipping a standard pick really mean? It doesn't really feel like that big of a difference than to tunnel when your normal weapon is equipped.

Tunnelling is extremely valuable, but not really for mining ore. It's real value lies in gaining tactical advantages (like building anti-summoning corridors). The money you can make from mining ore is nothing compared to the money you can make from diving deeper in the dungeon.

Equipping a good digging implement like a Gnomish Shovel of Digging and having a high strength can make a big difference to your effectiveness with tunnelling. However, now that wands can be recharged infinitely it's debatable if a digging implement is needed at all. A Wand of Stone to Mud can work wonders with a stack of many recharging scrolls (but this isn't cost effective if mining only for ore). And of course some classes get the Stone to Mud spell...

When first learning the game I think it's natural to dwell on mining. I know I spent many, many, many hours mining when I was first getting into Angband long ago. As long as you're having fun that's all that matters. :)

Jug wrote:tactical advantages (like building anti-summoning corridors)

1-square wide corridors makes it impossible for uniques to summon helpers? (If it IS uniques that summon helpers)

I've had a couple of incidents yesterday where all of a sudden I was surrounded by 15-20 orcs or the like, was that done by a unique, and can I counter that by digging a tunnel?

Exciting :)

Some monsters can spawn creatures and they spawn them near the player. If there is no room for the monsters to spawn you're safe.

Quythugs and enchantresses are two examples of monsters that can spawn. You should check the monsterlist for unknown monsters that are able to summon.

Example:

Many things summon, not only uniques. There are also summon traps which when walked upon summon monsters.

The unique orcs certainly turn up with an escort, so if you met a lot of orcs it's likely to have been an orc unique and his merry band of men. There are also orc "pits" which are fairly common, which contain a huge number of orcs (later also troll pits, dragon pits, demon pits...)

It's important to never become surrounded by many monsters, you should fight monsters one at a time. If you find yourself surrounded by monsters (at lower levels) which you can't handle it's probably best to escape with the best means you have available. Tunnelling probably wouldn't be much good, because at lower character levels it takes you too long to dig through a wall. Stone To Mud certainly can be used to escape, or to quickly tunnel into a wall so you are fighting monsters one at a time.

Anti summoning corridors are touched on briefly in the newbie guide.