[1.0] Lvl 43 Champion of Urh'Rok vs. Lvl 16 Dwarf Berserker?

[Nivrax]

Does that mean Bill's Lair isn't counted as lowbie zone either? I had a Patchwork Troll there once, which pretty much meant 'come back later' (no way to kite it since it spawned in 1 zone wide tunnel).

[berenbelagund]

Low level zones are protected from out of depth (OOD) enemies. The Ruined Dungeon is not a low level zone though, so it is not protected. Throughout the rest of the game OOD enemies are possible, but they're more unlikely the more over-leveled/OOD they are.

In other words, a level 43 Champion of Uhr'Rok is very, very unlikely, so you just got very unlucky.

tiger_eye,

OK, thanks for your help. I've played Nethack Vanilla for years, and I've ascended three times. It always seemed to me like you could play such that 'unlucky' instadeaths were avoidable. It was your own fault if you were paralyzed by a floating eye, or groped around in a pit blind and grabbed a cockatrice corpse, or whatever. Smart, patient play is rewarded. But if what you say above is correct, then even a very high level character can be insta-killed just by opening a door. I'm not sure this enhances the attractiveness of the game.

darkgod has created a fabulous game that I truly enjoy. But this takes a bit of the enjoyment out of it. It's like a random hard drive crash, and those are never fun.

[tiger_eye]

berenbelagund, being 27 levels out of depth vs level 16 character is really about the most extreme example I've heard about. Most OOD enemies can be dangerous, but shouldn't instantly kill the player, and the chance encounter is usually pretty exciting. It is possible to set the maximum allowable out-of-depth-ness for a zone. For mid-level zones, setting max_ood to 15-20 would probably be reasonable.

Does that mean Bill's Lair isn't counted as lowbie zone either? I had a Patchwork Troll there once, which pretty much meant 'come back later' (no way to kite it since it spawned in 1 zone wide tunnel).

Bill's Lair is supposed to be possibly dangerous, so it has no such OOD protection

[berenbelagund]

berenbelagund, being 27 levels out of depth vs level 16 character is really about the most extreme example I've heard about. Most OOD enemies can be dangerous, but shouldn't instantly kill the player, and the chance encounter is usually pretty exciting. It is possible to set the maximum allowable out-of-depth-ness for a zone. For mid-level zones, setting max_ood to 15-20 would probably be reasonable.

OK, so that would involve my modding the game a bit. I'll have to think about that. I'd rather just use the official files for everything, however.

I'm encountering a very different (and entertaining) playstyle with a Shaloren Summoner at the moment.

BTW, as long as I have your attention: is there some offline app that will enable me to format the character-dumps and charballs correctly for viewing? (The ones that are in Users/xxx/T-Engine/4.0/tome)

I realize it's offtopic so I'll take what I can get