Ironman MAngband

New ideas, features you wish were in the game.
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Evil Iggy
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Re: Ironman MAngband

Post by Warrior » Thu 10.11.2005, 19:28

The new ladder is really cool!
It'd also be cool if it could list or sort by max depth OR max score.
I got a lvl 11 guy down to 1050, tomorrow I plan on making it to 1500!
-- Mangband Project Team Member

Narchan
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Re: Ironman MAngband

Post by Narchan » Thu 10.11.2005, 22:26

Wow, an Ironman no-ghost server!

Actually, this isn't too bad of an idea, but I think there should be minor modifications to make the game beatable.  No ghosts is actually kind of a fun idea that alone will keep a server quite "fresh."  No ghosts means players can no longer last forever, and it really helps keep artifacts in circulation.  As for modifications, add towns every once in a while.  These would act as goals for the dive as well as safe points for log off.  TomeNet actually recently set up a sort of limited ironman no ghost server that can be fun to play on.  Ironman makes partying alot more useful.  Also, the game is alot more interesting when you can't just recall and buy ccw's and identify scrolls.  :)
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uh oh

Jug
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Re: Ironman MAngband

Post by Jug » Fri 11.11.2005, 08:35

Glad you like the ladder Warrior - I'll add sort by depth.

"towns" have already been considered Narchan.  It is written: -

There are rumours that long ago, a band of hardy Dwarves ventured into the depths of Angband.  They sang as they descended into the gloom and with hammer and axe they fought deep into the rock.  Their intent, it is said, was to build a mighty Dwarven hall.  A hall to shine in the darkness with fine gems and cast forth light in spite of the Shadow that lingered below.

No word was ever heard from them again.  

In taverns an adventurer can still hear the rumours of a great cavern, hollowed by Dwarven hands, buried deep in the Pits of Angband.  Iron willed adventurers still gather there it is said, to trade wares and stories of glory.  

There is often much truth in rumour...

- Jug

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Re: Ironman MAngband

Post by Jug » Fri 11.11.2005, 08:37

All rumours aside...  The Gods will be very upset if anyone casts Earthquake or any other rock destructing spells in anything that even remotely resembles the fabled Dwarven Hall.

:-)

- Jug

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Re: Ironman MAngband - Guide

Post by Warrior » Tue 15.11.2005, 07:30

I've played on this server for a while now and here are some of my thoughts about it:

There are three ways to get anywhere in Ironman MAngband.
  • Dive hard, take every stair as soon as you find it.
    This is the most fun, "whoops, hey I'm lvl 6 at 900ft!"
  • Clean out every level and then take the stairs down.
    This is probably most common and for good reasons, you gain as much experience and gold and items as possible.
  • Clean out every level, log off and come back later to clean it out again when it's reset, this can be repeated forever, only move downstairs when you're way too powerful for your depth.
Method 3 is quite dull and boring and I don't think it'll become very popular, at least not until you've reached the Dwarven Hall, I can imagine method 3 being a bit more useful after you decide to leave the safety of the dungeon town.

I got down to 1300 ft yesterday, I imagine that is not very very far from the Dwarven Hall - so I think in a few days we'll probably have a player down there.

Anyway, here are some (obvious) adjustments and hints for Ironman MAngband.

[hr]
  • Character generation:

    If it's your first time playing Ironman, play a half troll, dunadan or high elf warrior, I personally prefer the last two races. The reason for this is of course that you have better stats (not str) and especially your charisma is tons better than with a half troll. This isn't vanilla, Int/Wis/Chr is important here, you don't want your lucky find of a teleport staff to be useless because your intelligence is 5. I personally believe that paladin is the best class for Ironman but they're not as easy to start as a warrior.
    That said, as in vanilla, if you wanna kill Morgoth - you'll probably do better playing a mage, but - level 45 mage in Ironman? good luck :)
  • In Town:

    If you're a warrior - sell your armor and sword, buy a dagger and armor that cost less than 10 gold each. Don't waste half your money on armor, you'll find stuff in the dungeon and pseudo id works fast. Buy a lantern and 20-30 flasks of oil. If the phial of galadriel hasn't been found yet you can hope to get lucky and find that, but thats a tough gamble. Buy at least 20 rations of food, depending on what dungeon strategy you chose, you might need lots more. Sell the torches. Buy 1 or 2 identify scrolls, if they're on sale, buy twice as many, most important are phase door scrolls and teleport scrolls, as far as I know there has only been one modification to the shops in Ironman and that is the alchemy selling teleport scrolls. You will want as many phase doors and teleport scrolls as possible, maybe twice as many phase doors as teleports, all depending on how much cash you have. I usually sell my berserk strength potion too, you may want to buy a cure serious wounds instead. You should also buy at least 30 arrows, more if you can afford.


    To sum it up:

    Buy a dagger, you'll get 3 blows/round and you'll find a better one soon. Spend max 20-30 gold on basic armor like gloves and boots and a cloak, this could be a waste of money but it's probably worth it.
    As for the scrolls, without them you'll die, with them you might avoid a few deaths and live to fight another day.
  • In the dungeon:

    Allright, 50, 100, 150ft, nevermind, kill a few monsters to get up to lvl 3-4 and head for 200-250-300, pick up all the stuff you find, especially armor and weapons, scrolls and potions are usually crap at this level. Let the pseudo work for you, destroy or drop everything you're not putting on, maybe except armors that are just marginally worse than what you're wearing, you might want to change after being splashed with acid. As for weapons, go for multiple blows, a {good} lance is not neccesarily better than your dagger, it might be +1,+0. Plus it might slow you down. However if you find an {excellent} weapon you should probably use it anyway, it might be some crap slay undead broad axe but an excellent usually has good enough +'s to make it worth it. If you have an id you can read that if you want to, but I reccomend saving the id's until you get a little deeper and have to chose between two excellents for example.

    [hr]

    There are a few items in the dungeon that you have to decide how to deal with,  (because of the lack of identify sources you'll need to use the object)they are:
    • Mushrooms:
      Very very tricky things to deal with. There are 10 negative mushrooms and you should probably not eat any of them, unless your stats are already lowered so much it doesn't matter. But thats complicated, better to just stay away, throw them at monsters until you've found disease and unhealth. You can eventually - later, if you find rings of stat sustain, try to eat some.
    • Potions:
      You may want to inscribe them with the depth you found them, so you can identify which are more likely to be utter crap. There are 15/16 negative potions, allthough some of them are only found deep in the dungeon. Another problem with potions is that  many of them only work if you're in a certain condition. Maybe as many as half the potions you find <1000ft are negative. It's a tricky thing, should you quaff or not? Well, I'd suggest - quaff them, but try to wait as long as possible, not when you're level 3 - and quaff them when you're injured, poisoned, confused whatever, but not in serious battle if you can avoid it, since it might be the touch of death.
    • Scrolls:
      Read scrolls when you're on the > and preferably on a level you've already mapped out completely and cleared. This is because it might be a teleport scroll and it might be a summon monster/undead scroll. You shold also take off your weapon and your armor if you can, since it might be curse weapon/armor. You should also search after you read it, since it can be create traps. You should read them close to a trap or a door if possible. But - in general you shouldn't worry so much about scrolls as you do with potions, there are only seven negative scrolls and they're not all that bad as long as you're on the stairs. But remember! Take off your weapon and your armor!
    • Wands:
      There are only three negative wands, heal monster, haste monster and clone monster (which can be positive) You'll want to try out wands preferably by standing on the stairs aiming at a mold or jelly or similar, if it doesn't do anything it is probably disarming or trap/door destruction.
    • Staffs:
      Staffs aren't all that hard to deal with, there are only four negative staffs, darkness (which can be very positive), summoning, haste monsters and slowness, try them out on a >, preferably also near a mold or jelly and, thats it. Inscribe the staff in a way that tells you that it's not summon monster or negative in other way, then keep trying it around in the dungeon, if it doesn't affect a monster it's probably some kind of detection or healing staff (clw/remove curse)
    • Rods:
      There are no negative rods, try them on a mold or a door or on a new level, it's detection of some kind if it doesn't affect you or a monster.
    • Rings:
      Another tricky one, there are 5 cursed rings and especially teleportation, aggravate monster and woe can severely mutilate your character. You should not try on any rings until you've identified them. As with potions you may want to inscribe rings with their depth, if you find several, inscribe them with the depth you found the first one. Out of the 7 rings found with base depth 250ft, 4 are cursed.
    • Amulets:
      Unless your name is Jug you're not gonna put on an amulet that you haven't identified! It'll be teleportation and that is no fun  ;D It can also be an amulet of Doom though I doubt you'll ever find one in Ironman MAngband. However, if you find an amulet you may want to spend an id on it, because if it IS teleportation you'll have an item to uncurse iif you find a scroll/staff with remove curse and it will also allow you to put on all other amulets relatively safely.
You should at all times and at almost any cost pick up rations of food, elvish waybread and oil/lanterns and maybe even torches that you find, you should drop most items that you can't use, except very valuable items, in case you should be lucky enough to get to the dungeon town where you can sell it. Check the spoilers to see an objects base value, it's a very expensive mistake to carry a ring of protection around instead of a deep book of magic.

Other general ideas might be to party with other players, this could make the game a lot easier, a party with a couple of warriors and a mage/priest/paladin would probably be quite powerful and should be able to get to the Dwarven Hall without any big problems. I think it might be enough with only one warrior and one mage/priest/paladin. The spellcaster is mostly for detecting stairs down.

If you do not want to party, you may want to kill the other players, watch the online ladder that tells you how deep the other players are, dive past them, or just wait on a deeper level and then stand by the stairs ready to kill them, you may want to stand at a distance with bolts or other ranged attacks, to get an edge if you're about the same level. This is cruel but it's realistic. Not like on other servers where level 50 characters just kill anyone they feel like killing. Since the poor victim has no way to get out of the situation, besides phase door or teleport there will usually be a fight till death. And even if he does have a phase or teleport and manages to reach the stairs, you can still just follow him down. ;D

I don't imagine player killing will be very common but if it does I think there might be created parties, or well, a mob I guess: "Lets lynch the killer!"

Anyway, this post ended up longer than I intended.

Good luck all :)

- Warrior

(Zaphod/Diver/Ironman/Tyrant and some other nicks long gone).
-- Mangband Project Team Member

Jug
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Re: Ironman MAngband

Post by Jug » Tue 15.11.2005, 15:05

Great documentation Warrior!  :D

We'll have to extract that and put it somewhere a bit more visible.  Either a sticky post in the Ironman Server Forum if we get one, or on the Ironman ladder website, or both!

- Jug

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Re: Ironman MAngband

Post by Jug » Wed 16.11.2005, 13:45

Now you just need to repost that documentation into the Ironman forum which Berendol has kindly created. And I'll sticky it!

:)

- Jug

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Re: Ironman MAngband

Post by Warrior » Wed 16.11.2005, 17:54

Coming up in a few  ;D
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Re: Ironman MAngband

Post by Avenger » Thu 17.11.2005, 11:04

Um, don't mean to be a nuisance, but the 0.7.0 beta client issue, while apparently fixed for Windows 98, is still a problem for Windows XP (which I have running on my laptop, from which I will probably be playing for most of the competition.)
I tried getting another client (0.7.2), but guess what? same problem. Maybe I won't be using my laptop for the competition after all...
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Re: Ironman MAngband

Post by Jug » Fri 18.11.2005, 14:03

Hi Avenger,

Where you run mangclient.exe from there is a folder named "lib", in the lib folder is another folder named "user".  If you copy this file into the lib/user/ folder and then run the client and connect to the server, does it help ?

If not, any chance you could send me a screenshot of how things look to you.

- Jug

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Re: Ironman MAngband

Post by Avenger » Sun 20.11.2005, 00:35

Yes, it is working now, hopefully that was the last of the windows issues...
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