FAangband guide

[Gauss]

I tried FAangband for the first time and i really liked it since this is the closest open rpg experience based in Tolkiens first age. Congratulations to Nick for such awesome variant.
The problem is that it is too hard. So does anyone know any guide regarding the major differences with vanilla angband? (class skills, wilderness, dungeon guardians...). I feel lost right now and any help would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance

[HallucinationMushroom]

There is probably a better answer coming, but for now, https://github.com/NickMcConnell/FAangband/wiki

The pages on the right.. some odd 20+ may be of help.

The biggest change, for me, is O-style combat... meaning the damage dice are almost always more important than the to-hit and to-damage (to-skill, to-deadliness) bonuses.

Your first goal if playing wilderness mode is to get to the dungeon at Amod Rudh and kill off the first dungeon boss, Mim. (take acid resist and temp. acid resist to boost).

This is the breakneck speed version, there is likely much more useful information out there but I gotta jet! gl!

[Nick]

So first, most important thing is the difference in starting difficulty between the races. The birth screen tells you what starting level they are - both an Easy, Medium, Hard rating and what actual level of wilderness is around their starting town. I recommend starting with an easy race - Longbeard, say, or Ent or Maia. For class, I would start with something robust like warrior or assassin. I tend to take the class skills that give me more damage output

Also, have a look at the map in the help, and plan your journey; you also get a local area map of adjacent levels if you use 'M'.

Also what HM said.

Ask again as you have further difficulties. I'm also interested in comparisons between FA and V - what works better in each.

[Mondkalb]

Make use of the recall system, which allows you to set different recall points (to towns and/or wilderness/dungeon levels.
Also, you can move your home, so if you started in a small town (depending on race), you want to move your home when you have reached a city with all of the shops.
In general, I find FAangband harder than Vanilla.
It is (to me) also more interesting because of the various races and classes. (Don't forget to use the "O" command to view and adjust the special abilities of your character.)

Major differences: Resistances are frational, there are sticky curses, amulets and rings can have a wide range of abilities (and curses).

There is some help in the game's folder, notably the world map so that you can easily find your way to the towns and dungeons. (Help files can be accessed ingame, but are easier to read with a text editor.)

Here you can find a map of all the wilderness and dungeons:
http://angband.oook.cz/faangband/worldmap.png

while the help files contain this overview:
(Note that the routes marked with *s are only available in the compressed_map (default) option.)

   Anfauglith -------------------------Lothlann
    (Angband) \                              \
        |      \_____Dorthonion               \
    Fen of Serech  (Nan Dungortheb)            \
        |                   \                   |
Sirion Vale-----Gondolin  Dor Dinen             |
(Tol-in-Gaurhoth)           |    \              |         Hithaeglir--Gladden
          \                 |    Himlad         |             /       Fields
          Brethil        Doriath     \        Ered Luin   Khazad Dum
             \              |         East        \         /
          ___ Ephel      Menegroth   Beleriand     \    Hithaeglir
        /    Brandir             \       |          |     /
Talath /         \           Doriath     Thargelion |   Eriador
Dirnen       West Beleriand       |     *    \      |  /    \
(Nargothrond)     \                \   *       Belegost      \
              Amon Rudh      East Beleriand        |          Eriador
              (Amon Rudh)     *           \     Ered Luin      town
                    \        *             \        |            |
                West Beleriand              \       |            |
                     \                       \    Ossiriand      |
                   Andram                     \      |           |
                      \                        \     |           |
                    East Beleriand              Ossiriand        |
                        \                        /town           |
                      Taur-Im-Duinath   _Ent Path   |            |
                          \            /           Ossiriand     |
                        Taur-Im-Duinath             |            |
                            town                Ered Luin South  |
                                                        |       /
                                                    Ered Luin South
                                                        town

[wobbly]

So I watched you play a bit then I played a bit to re-familiarize myself with the game. That high-elf paladin you seemed attached to? That's about the hardest you could pick without playing thrall mode (which you saw also). You're basically starting on open maps with enemies stronger then you, no stealth & without the consumables to deal with it. On my first attempt Khim just one-shot me with not much I can do. Basically I'd pick an easier race/class. Rogue if High-elf or just about any other race.
That said if you really want to play High-elf paladin you have a couple of reasonable options:

1. Lurk close to the stairs & run away from anything too dangerous (basically everything). Until you can collect the resources to heal & phase away.
2. Or head south to safer levels, you are about 10x safer on those forest maps then open maps. My character on the ladder mostly hugged the edge of the map heading straight south to Ephel Brandir where he is hopefully a lot safer then Gondolin.

[Gauss]

Thank you all for the info. The map is really useful since i can start planning my leveling route.
I will download it and play on desktop since i find more comfortable than angband.live.
I must admit that as woobly said im really attached to HE paladins. My favourite all time class/race combo.

[Gwarl]

Originally Posted by Gauss

I will download it and play on desktop since i find more comfortable than angband.live.

Not to derail too much but what is the reason for this? Lack of tile/mouse support, lag, or something else?

[Pete Mack]

For me it is lag, and sometimes redraw artifacts, tho those may be fixed by now. The lag can be crippling.

[Gwarl]

Originally Posted by Pete Mack

For me it is lag, and sometimes redraw artifacts, tho those may be fixed by now. The lag can be crippling.

Yeah those should be fixed. Of course, there's nothing I can do about the lag, but I don't want to assume that lag is the only thing people might dislike.

[Pete Mack]

Gwarl--
I have used it to try out different variants for brief periods. But no serious games.