Any tips for a newbie?

[mushroom patch]

It would be nice if there were a place on the internet where a new angband player could go to get focused, useful advice.

[Ingwe Ingweron]

Originally Posted by mushroom patch

It would be nice if there were a place on the internet where a new angband player could go to get focused, useful advice.

Ah, but there is! Fizzix's "Let's Play Angband" videos on YouTube. Start with the first two series. In the first couple series, he explains a different concept, menu, etc., at the beginning of each video and then you see how the game is played by someone who really knows what they're doing.

I've watched all of the series and I credit Fizzix with providing the largest jump in my playing ability.

[Derakon]

Originally Posted by mushroom patch

It would be nice if there were a place on the internet where a new angband player could go to get focused, useful advice.

"Focused" is not a word I would use to describe this community, no.

[ngoclong19]

If you prefer text to video there is a Let's Play here on v3.5.0-dev by TooMuchAbstraction. He provides useful tips for the 3 basic classes, informative game advices and the writing is enjoyable.
After reading his LP, the number after my character name reduces considerably.

[robbiodobbio]

Just returned to Angband after a 15 year hiatus and it's sucked me right back in. Just got a High Elf ranger to level 10, then got cocky with a vault full of Mirkwood spiders and Stego-centipides, so it's back to the drawing board.

How much difference is there between a High Elf rogue and a ranger? Rogue more stealthy? Ranger more magic?

I'm playing the lastest version with "no selling" as default and I like it, it's more focused and there's less mucking about with pack management.

What are people's thoughts on armour? Obviously it's really important but should I be spending money on stuff from the shop when I surface or just gathering stuff from the dungeon?

I've never beaten the game before, my best was somewhere around level 30 diving to about level 40, but that was a looooong time ago.

[PowerWyrm]

Originally Posted by ngoclong19

If you prefer text to video there is a Let's Play here on v3.5.0-dev by TooMuchAbstraction. He provides useful tips for the 3 basic classes, informative game advices and the writing is enjoyable.
After reading his LP, the number after my character name reduces considerably.

Just watched this, it's hilarious.

[bio_hazard]

Originally Posted by robbiodobbio

Just returned to Angband after a 15 year hiatus and it's sucked me right back in. Just got a High Elf ranger to level 10, then got cocky with a vault full of Mirkwood spiders and Stego-centipides, so it's back to the drawing board.

How much difference is there between a High Elf rogue and a ranger? Rogue more stealthy? Ranger more magic?

I'm playing the lastest version with "no selling" as default and I like it, it's more focused and there's less mucking about with pack management.

What are people's thoughts on armour? Obviously it's really important but should I be spending money on stuff from the shop when I surface or just gathering stuff from the dungeon?

I've never beaten the game before, my best was somewhere around level 30 diving to about level 40, but that was a looooong time ago.

Rogues have better stealth and a relatively early detect objects spell that helps you loot the dungeon. Very good for diving, since you can find a lot of stuff while at the same time picking your battles. Rangers get an automatic extra shot when they've advanced enough levels, and will eventually get most of the mage spells. That's the basics.

re: buying armor, it's rarely a good use of money, and you should begin to find armor in the dungeon. For me it seems like it starts picking up between ~DL 8 and 12 or so... The exception is if there's a good ego something or other in the armory. E.g. free action boots/gloves if you haven't found them yet, helm of seeing, gloves of agility. I wouldn't waste money on just resist fire shield or resist acid armor. Much better to buy good consumables (!CCW, ?Phase Door/Teleport, some better ammo and/or wand of stinking cloud, and whatever detection/ID etc you need.

Armor is helpful but is much less important than being smart about staying out/getting out of fights you shouldn't be in in the first place.

[Bogatyr]

I believe only rogues get detect objects (where you see the object, not just a red star). Rogues get no mage attack spells (stinking cloud is not much use except against lice et al), and the utility spells almost all carry a very high mana cost and so are not much use until you've maxed INT and are high level.

Rogues are much better fighters than rangers. Rogues are almost as good at melee as warriors with some (highly useful) utility magic. Rogues are pretty good at shooting as well. Rogues are sort of the "jack of all trades" class weighted a bit towards melee. Rangers are strange, I've never won with one, they are weak for a long time, until you find a good shooter.

I'm in the "I like stealth" camp. I like stealth and spamming detect (comes from playing almost exclusively mages), and I love cherry-picking objects that I want, so I love rogues. When I'm not playing a mage I'll usually play a rogue. Other classes have poor or no detection so I tend to avoid them.

[Derakon]

Originally Posted by robbiodobbio

Just returned to Angband after a 15 year hiatus and it's sucked me right back in. Just got a High Elf ranger to level 10, then got cocky with a vault full of Mirkwood spiders and Stego-centipides, so it's back to the drawing board.

Welcome back!

How much difference is there between a High Elf rogue and a ranger? Rogue more stealthy? Ranger more magic?

Rangers suck at everything except for archery. They can do everything (that is, melee, magic, and archery), they just aren't very good at the first two. They have a rough start, but once they start getting their extra shots (at, IIRC, levels 20 and 40) they become rather overpowered.

Rogues are great at melee and stealth, and have more health than rangers. As a more focused class (specializing instead of generalizing) they're generally easier to play. You can largely ignore the spellcasting aspect during the early game and do just fine; spells aren't really that useful until you have the stats to back them up anyway.

Which reminds me: emphasize STR and DEX during character creation. Any spare points should go into CON. Completely ignore your spell stat unless you're a mage or priest. You should also consider playing a different race than High-Elf. Sure, the free See Invisible is nice, but other races have better intrinsics like protection from blindness (dwarf), resistance to poison (kobold), or innate regeneration (half-troll) which are all much more powerful. Try a kobold rogue. Or a half-troll rogue! They're a lot more viable than you'd think.

What are people's thoughts on armour? Obviously it's really important but should I be spending money on stuff from the shop when I surface or just gathering stuff from the dungeon?

Ignore AC; focus on getting useful abilities from your gear, like stat boosts, free action, regeneration, etc. Don't buy armor unless it has important abilities on it; the stuff you find in the dungeon will suffice.

I've never beaten the game before, my best was somewhere around level 30 diving to about level 40, but that was a looooong time ago.

The "new meta" for Angband is a diving-heavy strategy, where you keep descending through the dungeon before you're "ready" to. The theory is that you're always at risk of dying to some surprise out-of-depth monster, so better that you know that you're at risk, and play smart, rather than grind and grind and grind until you think you're safe, then die anyway. Play fast, die early, move on to the next character. Part of why I recommended avoiding High-Elf is because the experience penalty slows the game down, and the more time you spend with any one character, the more attached you get to them, which makes the inevitable death all the more painful.

Good luck!

[Pete Mack]

Rob--
As usual I agree with Derakon. With one addendum: As an experiment, try something like a half-Orc warrior, and throw everything into DEX and STR. See how fast and how far you can get by taking every stairs down. For first dive, take oil (as distance weapon), CLW, phase, and a single !Heroism in case you meet Bullroarer at Cl 2. Start with whatever weapon you can afford that does the most damage. (If you start with gold rather than equipment, also make sure to buy ? recall.)