Game help, Questions and resources

[marvalis]

Hi,

I'm fairly new to the game. At the beginning the game was very hard to understand. You will find some of my experiences and questions below.

Luckily I found some resources, I will put them here for reference:

* The docs on the website, they are very useful. http://www.t-o-m-e.net/docs.php?tome_current=0
* This forum and the search function, to bad it was hacked so there isn't that much info on it now. http://forums.te4.org/search.php
* There is supposed to be a wiki, but it is down now so I can't use that. http://wiki.t-o-m-e.net/ http://doku.t-o-m-e.net/tome2:frontpage
* Lord Dimwit's Advanced Strategy Guide http://doku.t-o-m-e.net/tome2:ldasg
* Killerbunnies spell/skill/gods spoilers http://www.killerbunnies.org/angband/
* Every adventurer needs a map http://killerbunnies.org/angband/wilder ... ed-2.2.png
* The ever so useful angband ladder http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-browse.php?v=ToME


I still have a few questions:

* God quests: These are given automatically. There is a quest to go find the temple. I search the world map but found nothing in the area indicated by the quest. How do you search for it? Do you have to enter each wilderness square? Most important: What level should I be and how much hit-points should I have for this quest? I don't feel like having *another* unavoidable death.
* General progress: I just found out how nice the vault in the sand worm dungeon is on level 28. I managed to finish barrow down, the orc caves and the old forest. After loosing a promising alchemist in the maze I don't go there anymore. I tried going to moria, but my sorcerer who cleaned the worm dungeon died there to a bunch of casters. I tried going to mirkwood forest, wich is nice because it has princess quests just like barrow down, but it gets hard real fast so I eventually die there. So basically, the questions is, where do I go next and how do I prepare myself?
* Princess quests: Besides barrow down and mirkwood forest, what other area's have these?
* Items: I just found out how nice sorcerers can be, but where can I find some +hp armor? having 100 hp at level 26 just isn't very promising. The bottom levels of the sand worm lair are very good for items, where else can I look (at level ~26)?
* What exactly is the autoscum option? What happens if I put it off.
* Does Ironman become impossible at higher level? Or is it just a neat way of getting more items. /edit never mind I think I found the answer here:

Code: Select all

Qbmgzxjvm (aka Bob), the DeathMold LostSoul Possessor. Retired; the ironman-rooms option wwas just too annoying.

* What is the beastmaster quest and where can I find it (and what level should I be, how much hp should I have).

Besides my questions, I have a few comments regarding unavoidable deaths:

* When I first started playing, my characters went to the old forest thinking it was the barrow down, resulting in many dead. couldn't they put it anywhere but to the west, exactly in the direction where the beginner dungeon is?
* Next to barrow down there is another dungeon. Shouldn't be to hard right? If you are not spoiled, entering that dungeon leads to an unavoidable death. Exactly how is this fun after spending allot of time improving your character?
* In gondolin is a similar quest like the one in Bree. Shouldn't be to hard right, sounds kinda fun? Dead. Unavoidable the first time. You go down, the stairs disappear, there is nothing you can do. I must be missing the fun here? A very promising alchemist of me died here. The dungeon in Lothlorien is rather easy compared to Gondolin. If I go to minas, will I die too?


The game is very interesting, I'm glad I came back after abandoning it a while ago (didn't get far then).

[atan59]

Hi,
I'm fairly new to the game. At the beginning the game was very hard to understand. You will find some of my experiences and questions below.

Hello, I'm like you, fairly new to ToME 2, glad to see I'm not the only one around!

Luckily I found some resources, I will put them here for reference:

Thanks for sharing the list. I'm using the same references, also annoyed ba the lack of wiki. A point of interest is that the ladder also contains a few spoilers about artifacts, here: http://angband.oook.cz/artifacts.php

* God quests: These are given automatically. There is a quest to go find the temple. I search the world map but found nothing in the area indicated by the quest. How do you search for it? Do you have to enter each wilderness square? Most important: What level should I be and how much hit-points should I have for this quest? I don't feel like having *another* unavoidable death

I didn't have too much trouble finding them. The location is random, standard > on the wilderness map, not hidden. Maybe you got one in the middle of mountains? (if it's possible)
I found that the first god quest is doable once you're comfortable killing a bunch of orcs or such. Do search each level extensively and completely before taking any stairs, or you'll have the same disappointment I did the first time I entered one of those lost temples. I know the quest apears again but didn't do it a second time yet so I wouldn't know about the proper level there.

on level 28. ... I tried going to mirkwood forest, wich is nice because it has princess quests just like barrow down, but it gets hard real fast so I eventually die there.

If you can handle this level, then Mirkwood shouldn't be a problem.

* What exactly is the autoscum option? What happens if I put it off.

It tries to build levels with a better "feeling", like if you were "scumming" the stairs up and down to get them.

* Next to barrow down there is another dungeon. Shouldn't be to hard right? If you are not spoiled, entering that dungeon leads to an unavoidable death. Exactly how is this fun after spending allot of time improving your character?
* In gondolin is a similar quest like the one in Bree. Shouldn't be to hard right, sounds kinda fun? Dead. Unavoidable the first time. You go down, the stairs disappear, there is nothing you can do. I must be missing the fun here? A very promising alchemist of me died here. The dungeon in Lothlorien is rather easy compared to Gondolin. If I go to minas, will I die too?

Both of these correspond to quests, appearing on your quest log, given by town mayors or such. The quest log gives an idea of the proper level for them (which I believe to be an absolute minimum level)

The game is very interesting, I'm glad I came back after abandoning it a while ago (didn't get far then).

Me too! (after save-cheating on some angband variant long ago I'm playing ToME in a totally cheat-free not-too-spoiled way, and it's quite nice

[Yottle]

...I still have a few questions:

* God quests: These are given automatically. There is a quest to go find the temple. I search the world map but found nothing in the area indicated by the quest. How do you search for it? Do you have to enter each wilderness square? Most important: What level should I be and how much hit-points should I have for this quest? I don't feel like having *another* unavoidable death.
* General progress: I just found out how nice the vault in the sand worm dungeon is on level 28. I managed to finish barrow down, the orc caves and the old forest. After loosing a promising alchemist in the maze I don't go there anymore. I tried going to moria, but my sorcerer who cleaned the worm dungeon died there to a bunch of casters. I tried going to mirkwood forest, wich is nice because it has princess quests just like barrow down, but it gets hard real fast so I eventually die there. So basically, the questions is, where do I go next and how do I prepare myself?
* Princess quests: Besides barrow down and mirkwood forest, what other area's have these?
* Items: I just found out how nice sorcerers can be, but where can I find some +hp armor? having 100 hp at level 26 just isn't very promising. The bottom levels of the sand worm lair are very good for items, where else can I look (at level ~26)?
* What exactly is the autoscum option? What happens if I put it off.
* Does Ironman become impossible at higher level? Or is it just a neat way of getting more items. /edit never mind I think I found the answer here:

Code: Select all

Qbmgzxjvm (aka Bob), the DeathMold LostSoul Possessor. Retired; the ironman-rooms option wwas just too annoying.

* What is the beastmaster quest and where can I find it (and what level should I be, how much hp should I have).

Besides my questions, I have a few comments regarding unavoidable deaths:

* When I first started playing, my characters went to the old forest thinking it was the barrow down, resulting in many dead. couldn't they put it anywhere but to the west, exactly in the direction where the beginner dungeon is?
* Next to barrow down there is another dungeon. Shouldn't be to hard right? If you are not spoiled, entering that dungeon leads to an unavoidable death. Exactly how is this fun after spending allot of time improving your character?
* In gondolin is a similar quest like the one in Bree. Shouldn't be to hard right, sounds kinda fun? Dead. Unavoidable the first time. You go down, the stairs disappear, there is nothing you can do. I must be missing the fun here? A very promising alchemist of me died here. The dungeon in Lothlorien is rather easy compared to Gondolin. If I go to minas, will I die too?...

Some of this was answered well by atan59. Here are my thoughts as an experienced player:

God quests are a waste of time for anyone but a priest. Don't play priests if you are just starting. Ignore god quests. Problem solved.

Dungeon progression depends on the character type and how lucky you are with equipment finds. At a minimum you need free action, blindness resistance, and the basic elemental resistances to go past 1000'. You need most resistances and extra speed by 2000'. At all levels you need to be able to dish out damage fast enough to kill monsters before they kill you. For a yeek sorceror that means being able to kill anything before it gets in one hit. For a half troll swordmaster it might mean being able to fight head to head with a GWoP for four or five rounds. There is an alternative to going to the dungeons. If I start having trouble I stop going down and hang around to get more loot or experience. The mountains are full of dragons and it is generally possible to get to level 30 or so with minimal risk if you are careful. You might make enough gold selling the loot to buy some great items from the black market.

Generally I do the BD, the Orc Caves (don't miss the guaranteed artifacts), and Mirkwood. At this point I should have enough great equipment to go to Mirkwood. I might also check the Old Forest for markets. If I get lucky with a potion shop I will stop to gather loot to max out my stats. I may do the same with tomes if I have a sorceror and find a library. I generally don't go into Mordor until I have fire immunity. There are some guaranteed artifacts in some of the side dungeons, but I don't usually have much use for them. I don't do most of the side dungeons until I have killed the Necromancer. At that point I just teleport to the bottom and take out the bosses. Some of the side dungeons have nasty surprises which can lead to guaranteed deaths if you aren't prepared, so either read the spoilers or try going in and sitting on the stairs for a number of turns to find out what to expect. Next I do Mt Doom except the final level and finally take on Angband. I don't even think about going in there until I have a complete winning kit and a level 40+ character (especially with 98 princess quests).

Princess/fumblefinger quests occur in the main dungeon progression: BD, Mirkwood, Mordor, Angband. Many other dungeons have markets, which can be incredibly useful- especially potion, ring, and library shops. Shops can speed up character development enormously, especially when you can reliably steal items successfully.

+ to life armors are randarts, which can occur anywhere, but are much common at deep levels. They are only useful to spellcasters, since they also have minuses to hit and damage. However, the key to winning with a sorceror is learning how to kill everything without it being able to get at you. If Ancalagon breathes destruction at your sorceror, it won't matter what kind of armor you are wearing.

Ironman rooms are definitely winnable, but don't try it until you know what you are doing. The easiest win for me is a lost soul deathmold sorceror with ironman rooms. I either die or have a sure winner in ten minutes. I also like ironman rooms for alchemists, because it simplifies the problem of learning recipes, but I don't go into any dungeon until I am level 30 and ready to deal with an ancient dragon on level 1.

The beastmaster is a store in Lothlorien and Minas Tirith. You ask for a quest and he asks you to bring back a specific type of monster quest. These can be something easy like a aimless drunk, something impossible to find like one of the fish, or something really nasty. The monster level is keyed in some way to your level and gradually gets harder. Because there are so many types of monsters it can take forever to find enough of the quest beast to get a corpse. I don't bother with this unless I really want to raise my Monster Lore skill (the BM reward). I don't think that I have ever successfully completed more than ten in a game. If you aren't playing a summoner or something similar don't waste your time.

Some of the other town stores have quests available. As atan59 said, check the quest log *carefully* before attempting one of these.