Variant Suggestions - what next?

[Rowan]

Well, thanks to luck and extreme caution, my @ is heading down for what promises to be a final and successful battle against Morgoth. I've been playing Angband for years and this will be my first win, after which I plan to take a break from Vanilla.

So, where to next?

I particularly like varied worlds, open worlds, games where you can play the character how you choose. I'm a huge fan of Shockbolt's tiles, and I've seen that Shockbolt has extensive tilesets for NPPAngband, so I'm leaning in that direction.

Should I go with NPPAngband, or is there a variant better suited to my taste?

[Nick]

FAangband.

Old habits die hard

[bio_hazard]

At some point you should try ToME 2 (although it won't have the newer tiles). This might be the pinnacle of choosing your own playstyle.

[Therem Harth]

@bio_hazard

The T2 fan in me wants to agree, but... well... the game's not really as friendly to customization as I would like. Especially for mages.

Edit: Theme might be better for this, what with the new classes, and with stat boosts every 5 levels.

[bio_hazard]

Originally Posted by Therem Harth

@bio_hazard

The T2 fan in me wants to agree, but... well... the game's not really as friendly to customization as I would like. Especially for mages.

Edit: Theme might be better for this, what with the new classes, and with stat boosts every 5 levels.

Interesting- of all the criticisms of T2, I don't think I've ever heard someone talk about it and say "I can't do that"

[Rowan]

I did it! Woohoooo first win!

I'm trying to figure out how to do a character dump- is there a way to do it without dying?

[Therem Harth]

Okay... Here goes...

Originally Posted by bio_hazard

Interesting- of all the criticisms of T2, I don't think I've ever heard someone talk about it and say "I can't do that"

Well, I'll go right ahead and say it. :P My main critique is that mages can't really specialize without getting stuck somewhere.

e.g. Say I wanted a Poseidon type build. Run around smashing things with Tidal Wave, etc. etc. and fall back on melee for mopping up. This character will have very serious survivability problems:
a) Lack of reliable detection spells
b) Most specifically, lack of trap detection, which kills fast in T2
c) Absolutely permanently godawful melee
d) Zero good attack spells at low to mid levels

There's basically no way to get this guy off the ground. You just have to pump Manathrust way up at some point.

Mind, 40% of the problem is lack of spellbook availability, and another 40% is the stupid lethality of T2 floor traps.

(And it's too bad, because leaping from Tidal Wave to Tidal Wave would be an interesting play style.)

There's other stuff too; e.g. priests wind up all looking the same, more or less, thanks to Mindcraft. Mindcraft concentrates lots of utility stuff in one realm, so it's a must-have; but it also encourages awful gameplay habits, vis a vis Mindwave spamming.

Possessors are a problem because 80% of bodies can't tunnel or open doors.

Mimics lack good forms from the get-go, so they have no offensive power. (Mouse fur, seriously?!)

... You get the idea.

Personally I hope to tackle at least some of this. Book availability should not be too hard. Traps OTOH are a nightmare to fix/remove properly.

Actually perhaps I will have a go at the book stuff tonight, at least...

[bio_hazard]

Fair enough. I've kind of assumed you could usually fill in the gaps with god powers and extra skill points from fumblefingers, but I've not actually tried that many builds. My only win was a warper maxing out thaumaturgy.

Originally Posted by Rowan

I did it! Woohoooo first win!

I'm trying to figure out how to do a character dump- is there a way to do it without dying?

from the character screen, type 'f'

[Mondkalb]

Originally Posted by Nick

FAangband.

I second that.

[Rowan]

Thanks for the character-dump info. I was going through every menu in the game, but didn't think to hit C.... >o<

Also thanks for the many suggestions! So far I'm enjoying FAAngband a lot. I will also give T2 a try, as well as NPP to enjoy all those lovely tiles Shockbolt made.