ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

This is to find out who uses the iron_man options, I believe there are only 2 so here they are, and why/why not?

I use both options, I enjoy the challenge and the rewards!

Remember to keep this unspoily for the others please. thanx

I use small levels, because it is (I believe) the fastest option. Huge levels take too long to walk and search and unusual rooms are too tough to run through (at least in longer run).

I turn them both on sometimes when I want speed an excitement.

When I play Iron Man rooms, I never choose small levels. Since some vault designs are *much* nicer than others, I want the best chance for such vaults to be generated. Small levels mean less room for vaults and thus a smaller chance of generating the really nice vaults.

Actually this is true even when not playing Iron Man. If you like vaults, you will have more of them without the small level options

I use Ironman Rooms when I'm feeling lucky. They make the game tougher, but the reward (wicked cool OoD items) is great.

Are disconnected stairs considered Iron_Man?

I'm working on my first character with small levels turned on. So far it's not that bad. I was surprised to see some relatively large level -- not huge, but several panels' worth. What is the cutoff?

I'm pretty sure the cutoff is one square smaller than full size :-)

Neil wrote:I'm pretty sure the cutoff is one square smaller than full size

if this is true then I might as well not turn on the small levels

Maylith wrote:Are disconnected stairs considered Iron_Man?

If so then there are 3 options, I NEVER use the connected stair option as it seems to decrease my chances of finding more OoD stuff!

Serin wrote:is is true then I might as well not turn on the small levels

Those very very large ones are as unlikely as the very very tiny ones, though.

Neil wrote:

Serin wrote:is is true then I might as well not turn on the small levels

Those very very large ones are as unlikely as the very very tiny ones, though.

Neil: Does turning small levels on cause the smaller levels to be more common? Like I said, this is my first time trying it. I *seem* to be seeing more of the smaller ones, but I can't tell if that's just my imagination.

Playing with small levels enabled but not all the time seems to result in dungeons which are, on average, roughly twice the size of the larger of the "always small levels" levels, in my brief experience.

In other words, "always small levels" tends to get you small and medium sized dungeons where if it's not always, most dungeons are larger than that.

Hm.... I'm not making much sense, am I?

Try it this way: count the number of rooms in the dungeons. When I've got always small levels on, there's usually 2-9 rooms. When I've got small levels on, but not always on I very occasionally get dungeons that small, but usually they've got something in the range of 1-2 dozen rooms.

(Insert disclaimer here.)

Actius wrote:Try it this way: count the number of rooms in the dungeons. When I've got always small levels on, there's usually 2-9 rooms. When I've got small levels on, but not always on I very occasionally get dungeons that small, but usually they've got something in the range of 1-2 dozen rooms.

this is why I play with both on, guarantee 2-5 vaults/ level.
(note, you should only choose both options if 1 of 2 conditions are met:
1) you have *hours* of free time or; 2) have already passed the game. Me, being the hypocrite that I am don't meet either criteria, oh well. )

Generally I play with neither. Small levels are really handy early on, but in the later places I like having the breathing room.

Unusual rooms I haven't experimented with yet.

I always play with small levels. I had enough of the huge-room tedium in vanilla. However, I'm pretty sure Moria and God Quest levels ignore that setting - I've never seen a small level in Moria or while on a God quest.

My favourite is the tiny one-room level.

More on my first-timer experience with Small Levels:

Two God quests so far. Both of them seemed normal size. (And the second one was nasty...three uniques plus (levelled) escorts....oy!!!)

Orc Caves: These seem heavily affected, far more so than the Barrow Downs or Mirkwood. I've only gone down 4 levels in the Orc Caves so far, but the biggest level I saw had 3 rooms. Two had one room only, and one had a room and a corridor.

I haven't tracked # rooms yet, but my char does have the ability to see all the rooms on the level easily. I guess I'll start counting....