Level exploring strategies w/o mapping?

[Pete Mack]

I definitely would kill Fang, just so he couldn't interrupt running. And of course the stairs are in the last place you looked.
Also: how on Earth do you explore so fast?

[Grotug]

Originally Posted by Pete Mack

I definitely would kill Fang, just so he couldn't interrupt running. And of course the stairs are in the last place you looked.
Also: how on Earth do you explore so fast?

Umm... video editing software?

From about 2:07 in the video the game has been sped up. Some deletion of boring parts has also taken place to move things along. The problem with recording videos of Angband play is the game is very slow going in general. I spend a lot of time deliberating over which inventory item to drop, for example. Or I do a lot of needless and senseless backtracking. That said, I don't think I deleted any parts from the pacman level. Just sped it up. The reason a lot of the audio is normal speed in the pacman level is because I did some sound editing to make that work while keeping the audio at the appropriate parts of the video.

Originally Posted by Selkie

Your videos are so funny. I was feeling your pain in the Pacman level, the very last square!

Thanks Selkie!

[DavidMedley]

I also explore the edges first because you'll often be forced to move through the middle. I use rods of light a lot to look around.

[Jay]

I usually move towards whichever edge is closest and then continue around the perimeter. Exceptions to this are if I have some level of detect monster and see something nearby that might offer a good drop.

In other news, if I didn't know better I'd say the server has updated to a new version of PHP. Don't ask me how I know — I just get these feelings sometimes.

[Estie]

I avoid searching for the stairs like the plague. If it is available, I buy a ?mapping first thing from my starting money (in case I read unidentified ?descent) and I dont explore unless theres a good treasure feeling. Among the basic consumables, mapping (? or _) ranks 3rd after ?phase and !curewound.

The best way to search (if playing with connected stairs) is to go up and down and check the immediate vicinity: often there are staircase rooms with many stairs nearby. If thats not the case (no pun intended), rather than wander off in search of >, reroll the level.

The rare case where I am forced to search occurs mostly when I have run out and cant get mapping in town before recalling back down, either for lack of cash or because neither shop has it in stock. It happens, but less than 1x/game on average Id guess.

[whartung]

Originally Posted by Estie

The best way to search (if playing with connected stairs) is to go up and down and check the immediate vicinity: often there are staircase rooms with many stairs nearby. If thats not the case (no pun intended), rather than wander off in search of >, reroll the level.

So, basically the way you play is rather than playing on the 500x500 size map (or however big the map is), you play on a 30x30 size map.