Questions and suggestions

[Gothmog]

I am fairly new and I have a few questions

For some context on my level of skill I cannot get past 350ft and most of the time I barely get that far anyway

What weapons would you recommend in the first few hundred feet? I tend to use a short sword but it is not cutting it, the classes I use tend to be a stealthy archer/warrior or a protection/smithing build

How can orc soldiers take so many hits, I know this is stupid but I was standing in the middle of a hall and there was two orc soldiers they closed the gap between us shockingly quickly, I thought my shortbow of Gondolin would cut it, sadly it did not and dear old Alagon lies in the ground for the hundredth time

Why is a potion not identified when I use it?

How do I best deal with shadows, I have only come across one so far and it touched me to death

Do orc thieves take stuff from you? Any Orc thieve I have come across I had either avoided or killed

What abilities would you best recommend for the builds I have listed above, I typically go straight for charge

How do I wield a weapon with both hands?

Will there be another update for this game soon? And has there be any details on it? I have a suggestion a trap where if it is triggered a chasm will open in a circle around the player forcing him/her to either leap over the chasm with the leap ability or do a Gandalf on it and plummet down it

What is to be found in secret rooms weapons,chests? And any tips on how to find them?

How do I Identify and item? As I have previously said using it does not seem to work and X does not work either I know there is an ability I can get but I would like to avoid that

Another suggestion would be a heavily guarded armoury room and sleeping quarters for enemies. orc smiths could be a new enemy they wield a smithing hammer that has a chance of stunning the player, upon death they drop a weapon

My last suggestions are a fissure, basically a chasm filled with fire that would occasionally spawn a Balrog or a Fire-Drake, an Orc pit that has and orc breeder nearby, this pit can spawn any type of orc. And last a kennel room which has few wolf riders/ kennel master inside along with wolves

Thanks very much in advance for reading all of this and for providing answers for my questions, I would be glad if you would kindly provide feedback on my suggestions and the likelihood of them being implemented

Sorry for grammar mistakes, this was quickly typed

[HallucinationMushroom]

I will try and hammer out a quick response at work for ones I feel I can field.

What weapons would you recommend in the first few hundred feet? -- This will depend on build, playstyle. For myself, Longswords are great for a long time. The curved sword until one is found. For reference for my style, I usually do protection/bruiser builds. Others will advocate for different things. Most paths (all?) are viable.

Why is a potion not identified when I use it? - There is a whole minigame around identification in Sil. I'm sure somebody will link the relevant thread. But basically, potions id when they do stuff. More than likely you are drinking a potion of slow potion, while not poisoned, if early depths. If max heal and eat or drink healing, same applies.

Do orc thieves take stuff from you? Any Orc thieve I have come across I had either avoided or killed. - Yes, they do! If they do you can kill them to get the item back.

What abilities would you best recommend for the builds I have listed above, I typically go straight for charge. - If you would like to cheese the early game and simply start seeing deeper content, I would advocate an artistry start with a 2/5/4/3 Feanor. 5 melee, 4 evasion, 5 smithing. Take armorsmith. Get 100 xp. Get artistry. There is guaranteed forge on 2nd level you explore. Make +1, 1d4 shield, -1, 1d7 studded leather, +1, 1d2 boots. Wear stuff. Kill things. Be happy. If you find a second forge, make +2 cloak, 0, 1d3 helm, 0, 1d1 gauntlets. Watch experience pile up and experiment with things, learn new stuff. Debo has great videos on how to actually play the game. Youtube Silstreamer. Not Devo.

How do I wield a weapon with both hands? - You can't manually choose to wield a bastard sword one or two. If shield slot open, then two hands will be used. 2 hand weapons naturally just use both hands. You can't 2h a one hand weapon, like say a longsword.

Will there be another update for this game soon? And has there be any details on it? -- Historically on Tolkien's birthday there is an update if there is going to be one. Early January. Not guaranteed, ofc.

[Pete Mack]

At least one path is non-viable: Jack of all trades, master of none. Spend early EXP on your specialty. Don't spread it around. Get to 15 melee quickly if you want to be a fighter. The only ability you really need is finesse (around melee 13) and maybe precision once you meet archers and the like.
Edit: idc soldiers have pretty good armor. The way to kill them is either a two-handed weapon or critical hits, or both. Either way, you need plenty of the necessary skill. For critical hits, you also want finesse for melee or precision for archery. (Ie: See above.) This was my biggest mistake in early attempts: Trying to gain nice-to-have abilities too early.
As for rauko (balrog) and orc pits: Go a little deeper: You will find all the orcs you could possibly want. And by 700', the same with Raukaur. Spawning pits don't make a lot of sense anyway, since multiple killals of the same species fairly quickly becomes futile.

[HallucinationMushroom]

Originally Posted by Pete Mack

At least one path is non-viable: Jack of all trades, master of none.

http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=14426

It's definitely a challenge, but possible! Not recommended. Anyway, I tried and failed at this many times. I think Psi put up a good try, but not sure if he ever won with one. It is possible that maybe it has been done at bar9 or bar8 but this is the only one I remember.

[Pete Mack]

Oooh, song of sharpness. That is something I need to try RSN, along with flaming arrows. Mostly I just get enough archery skill for precision, and maybe a little more.

[wobbly]

I often do a little bit of maths in my head. Flaming arrows is 2800. So if your at 13 melee/evasion, you can remove a lot of the hassle of ringrauko for the price of 1 melee/evasion. Then I head to 10 round about when the dex pt is the same cost as another melee/evasion. By the time urarauko turn up they're generally not an issue, as 1 shot from a long bow...

[Psi]

Originally Posted by HallucinationMushroom

http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=14426

It's definitely a challenge, but possible! Not recommended. Anyway, I tried and failed at this many times. I think Psi put up a good try, but not sure if he ever won with one. It is possible that maybe it has been done at bar9 or bar8 but this is the only one I remember.

I did a bar11 Morgoth killer: http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=15074

[HallucinationMushroom]

w00t! I only did a quick glance around but didn't see it. I scoped around your name and the Sil ladder, but you didn't name it something like... Jack, or Bar 10, or challengebeard or whatever.

One of the things I wish the Sil ladder had was a kind of definition of the style. Heavy protection, archer, etc, etc. I also wish the notes listed out each time a skill point is upped so it could be easier to see exactly the build order for future reference.

[Psi]

Originally Posted by HallucinationMushroom

One of the things I wish the Sil ladder had was a kind of definition of the style. Heavy protection, archer, etc, etc. I also wish the notes listed out each time a skill point is upped so it could be easier to see exactly the build order for future reference.

Yeah, I completely agree. I can never remember my own characters half the time. I just remember that one because I was particularly pleased with the film reference

[seraph]

here's a link to the identification guide: http://angband.oook.cz/forum/showthread.php?t=6986