nethack - tnnt - strategy - (XL-1 || XL) and roaming like a shark. Defer on Sokoban and Mine Town.
I am not sure why I have not realized it before.
There are about as many Experience Levels, XLs, for an Adventurer as there are levels in the "pre-Amulet Of Yendor" main dungeon levels.
I tend to get impatient, and start to go into levels deeper than my Adventurer's current XL level. I wonder if this might be a "root cause" of why I struggle to advance consistently.
So, gonna try a new strategy: to not go deeper in the game until the (Adventurer's XL >= desired level to explore).
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"Speak friend, and enter." -- Writing over the Entrance to the Mines of Moria, "The Hobbit"
...Could it really be this simple?!
I will have to play many games using this system, to see if it always works. But, so far, yes: I am making sure any dungeon level I am at is (Adventurer XL >= dungeon level).
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EDIT 2023-11-10 Currently Lawful Dwarven Valkyrie. XL7. Have Excalibur. Made sure to only dip for Excalibur once the Adventurer was XL7 (quick!).
Doing recursive traversals of all dungeon levels from LVL1 through LVL6 of both the regular dungeon and Gnome Mines, always staying at levels "less than" the Adventurer's XL.
Once the Adventurer achieves XL8, then will do traversals of LVL1 through LVL7, and so on.
"So far, so good!" + "Fingers crossed!"
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EDIT 2023-11-11 So, seems to be working, so far. I am keeping my Adventurer at dungeon and gnome mine levels of (Adventurer's XL >= dungeon|mine level).
I am also having my Adventurer "roam like a shark" of just always constantly going town to a (XL-1 || XL) level, then back up to the nethack level of this game session that has the entrance to the Gnome Mines, down the mines to its (XL-1 || XL) level, then back up, as a constant roam.
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EDIT 2023-11-13. Adventurer died in Sokoban. A werewolf materialized in a middle level of sokoban. Even though I fought it with a silver spear, it still bit me, and lycanthropy happened: became feverish. The werewolf, before being dispatched, summoned other wolves with the #monster command. Without thinking, I had my Adventurer eat one of the wolves, but not the werewolf corpse.
Mistake! Game let me know I had committed cannibalism! FK. After a few moves, Adventurer turned into a werewolf. Then the game, a few moves after that, materialized a soldier ant while the Adventurer was a werewolf. Fought. Died. Killed by the soldier ant *rueful sigh*.
So, will keep trying the (XL-1 || XL) system. (Had I not made the mistake, probably would have been OK?)
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Defer entering Mine Town and Sokoban until higher XL than for a non-TNNT nethack session
EDIT 2023-11-15 Adventurer attempt number five, failed. Killed off in mine town. Adventurer was XL11. Had Excalibur, Sting, mithril armor. AC was -1. During melee seems a nymph was awakened. Charmed the Adventurer, stole all my best armor and weapons. Then zapped the Adventurer repeatedly with a wand of sleep. Died by the remaining un-dispatched monsters in mine town *rueful sigh*.
Oh! and the above reminded me. The Adventurer probably dispatched and ate over six Green Elves before being struck with the wand of sleep, no "wide awake" sleep resistance was ever granted. TNNT2023 was stingy! Seems the probabilities for such things are skewed to be less generous than my personal PC's version of nethack.
This TNNT version of nethack has higher difficulty within Sokoban and Mine Town, so far. Will adjust my strategy to avoid them until the Adventurer has much higher XL than I usually need when playing the Debian Stable version on my own home workstation.
So, with the exceptions of Mine Town and Sokoban, the strategy of (XL-1) exploring seems to be sound.
Obtain a luckstone before attempting Sokoban
EDIT 2023-11-18 Adventurer attempt number six: still alive! Adventurer is a Lawful Dwarven Valkyrie. Has Excalibur. Wearing blessed mithril armor. XL11. Obtained a luckstone.
Tip: Obtain the luckstone before attempting Sokoban. Did so, and seemed to make Sokoban easier.
Also: Complete only one level of Sokoban, then go back down to the regular dungeon levels, go back to LVL1, then do a full recursive traverse of all Gnome Mine levels to (XL-1 || XL), then all regular dungeon levels to (XL-1 || XL), before doing another level of Sokoban.
Current Adventurer now has, and is wearing, the amulet of reflection obtained from Sokoban *huzzah!*.