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Archive-name: games/angband-faq
Last-modified: 1997/4/15 Posting-Frequency: weekly See reader questions & answers on this topic! - Help others by sharing your knowledge
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Angband Frequently Asked Questions - Part 1 (Non-spoilers)
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Compiled and maintained by Jason Holtzapple (jth@paranoia.com)
For Angband 2.8.1 - May be inaccurate with other versions
Based on information provided by:
Jules Bean, Scott Bigham, Matt Craighead, Joseph W. DeVincentis, Ben
Harrison, Randy Hutson, Stephen S. Lee, Rick Lim, Steve Linberg, Ross
Millikan, Adam Schenker, Andrew Schoonmaker, Cliff Stamp, Billy Tanksley,
Charles F. Teague II and Pat Tracy.
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Table of Contents
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Angband FAQ - Part One:
1. General Information
a. What is Angband?
b. Who is Morgoth?
c. On what computers can I play?
d. What is the latest version?
e. How do I get the latest version of this FAQ?
f. Who's the current maintainer?
g. Version History
2. Downloading Angband and related material
a. FTP sites
b. WWW sites
3. Technical Information
a. Expanding PKZIP archives
b. How do I use an old savefile or savefile from another platform?
4. Creating Characters
a. What is maximize mode?
b. What is preserve mode?
5. Gameplay Questions
a. How do I set game options and what do they mean?
b. What effect does turning off haggling have on the price of items?
c. How does shopkeeper rotation work?
d. What is auto-scum?
e. How do the cheating options work?
f. What are the messages I get upon entering a new level?
g. What causes a "special" feeling?
h. How do I exchange weapons in newer versions of Angband?
i. What do the minuses in the name of a piece of armor mean?
j. The game tells me that I must "Study" but I can't learn any new
spells. What is going on?
k. How does the fractional speed system work?
l. Introduction to macros
m. How do I save macros?
6. Questionable gameplay techniques
a. Savefile abuse
b. Stair-scumming
c. Monster farming
d. Summoning/Polymorphing
7. About rec.games.roguelike.angband
a. General notes
b. Glossary of terms
c. Questions on r.g.r.a
d. Victory posts
e. Stupid Death (or YASD) posts
f. Why do so many players seem to dislike or even hate Nethack?
8. Suggestions for future versions that have been considered
a. Let the player store money in his/her home.
b. Let creatures who steal items or money drop the goods when slain.
c. Increase the player's carrying capacity.
d. Let players give or sell their items to other players.
e. Allow more than one object per square.
f. A "pass through wall" spell.
g. I want a real-time multi-player Angband!
9. Programming Questions
a. Where can I obtain the source code?
b. To what extent can I modify the source and release modified
versions?
c. Is there any easy way for a non-programmer to hack the game?
d. Why doesn't wizard mode work in the version that I have?
e. What is the borg? Why doesn't it appear in the version that I
have?
f. How do I use the borg?
g. How do I generate auto-spoilers?
10. Variants
a. Are there any variants available for the Macintosh?
b. Drangband
c. Fangband
d. Qangband
e. Zangband
f. Bangband
g. Sangband
h. Utumno
i. GW-Angband
j. Multi-player Angband (Mangband)
11. Old Bugs and Undocumented Features
a. The game says that I'm missing a spellbook when I try to learn
some new spells. What's the reason for this?
b. I'm fighting an invisible monster that I can't kill, and I can't
see it even with see invisible. What's going on?
c. I'm playing on a PC. Why can't I use shift+arrow key to run, like
I could in earlier versions of Angband?
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Angband FAQ - Part TWO: (Available Separately)
1. Where can I get spoiler files and what are their contents?
2. SPOILERS
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Angband FAQ - Part One
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1. General Information
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1a. What is Angband?
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Angband is a single-player, text-based, dungeon simulation derived from the
game Moria, an enhancement of the old unix game Rogue. It is often described
as a "roguelike" game because the look and feel of the game is still quite
similar to Rogue.
Angband features many enhancements over Moria: unique foes, artifacts,
monster pits and vaults to name a few. Many of these new creatures and
objects are drawn from the writings of J.R.R Tolkien, although some of the
monsters come straight from classical mythology, Dungeons & Dragons,
Rolemaster, or the minds of the orginal Angband coders.
The ultimate goal of the game is to develop a character strong enough to
defeat Morgoth, who lurks around dungeon level 100. Upon doing so, you will
receive the exalted status of "winner" and your character may retire.
Angband is a reference to Morgoth's "prison of iron."
1b. Who is Morgoth?
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Morgoth was 'the Dark Enemy of Middle-Earth' during its First Age. He was
banished by the Valar (offspring of Eru, "god" of J.R.R. Tolkien's world) at
the end of the First Age and thus never appears in The Lord of the Rings,
set during the Third Age. Sauron, who does figure into those tales, was the
most powerful of his servants. Read Tolkien's 'The Silmarillion' for more on
the legends of Middle-Earth.
1c. On what computers can I play?
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The most recent version of Angband can be played on Unix (including Linux
and X Windows), Acorn, Amiga, Macintosh, Power Macintosh, Windows, DOS-8088,
286, 386 and OS/2-386 systems. Pre-compiled binaries for most of these
systems are available. With the introduction of version 2.7, it has become
much simpler to port the code to any machine with a decent C compiler. See
the source code for more details.
1d. What is the latest version of Angband?
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2.8.1 is the most recent beta version. The latest non-beta version as of
this writing is 2.7.4.
1e. How do I get the latest version of this FAQ?
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Both parts of the FAQ are posted to rec.games.roguelike.angband weekly. Part
One is also posted to rec.answers and news.answers.
This FAQ is archived in text format at rtfm.mit.edu as:
ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/games/angband-faq. The HTML
version is archived at http://www.best.com/~holtz/jth/angband/angfaq1.html.
The text version of Part Two is archived at
http://www.best.com/~holtz/jth/angband/angfaq2.txt. The HTML version is
archived at http://www.best.com/~holtz/jth/angband/angfaq2.html.
1f. Who's the current maintainer?
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Ben Harrison (benh@voicenet.com). Be nice to him. :)
1g. Version history
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This would be incomplete without a short Moria history as well:
The first version of Moria was was written by Robert Alan Koeneke and Jimmey
Wayne Todd Jr in 1983 for VAX machines. It was ported to Unix in 1987 under
the name 'Umoria' and further maintained by James E. Wilson.
In 1990, Alex Cutler and Andy Astrand, students at the University of
Warwick, England, decided to write a Tolkien-based game based on Umoria
5.2.1 and Angband was born. Their intentions were to keep, or even
strengthen, Moria's firm grounding in Tolkien lore. Their original changes
included greatly expanded monsters and items (including uniques and
artifacts), level feelings, pseudo-ID, activation, monster pits and vaults.
The resulting heavily-customized Moria was not intended for outside release,
but merely as a local version of Moria, to run only on Warwick's Unix
system. Sometime in its development, before it was released and ported, the
existing Unix code got the unlikely version number 'Angband 2.4.Frog-knows'.
Here is a short version history, culled from the source code.
* Version 1.0: 1990 - Alex Cutler and Andy Astrand
* Version 2.0: Alex Cutler, Andy Astrand, Sean Marsh, Geoff Hill, Charles
Teague
* Version 2.4: 5/09/93
* Version 2.5: 12/05/93 - Charles Swiger
* Version 2.6: 9/04/94
* Version 2.7: 1/1/95 - Ben Harrison
* Version 2.8: 10/18/96
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2. Downloading Angband And Related Material
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2a. FTP sites
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These FTP sites are often not accessible with the FTP function of a web
browser. If you experience trouble, make sure your browser is using passive
FTP or try a non-web browser FTP client.
The official Angband FTP site is: ftp://ftp.cis.ksu.edu/pub/Games/Angband/
There is another unofficial development site at:
ftp://export.andrew.cmu.edu/angband/
To learn how to use FTP, read the Roguelike games FAQ, posted every week to
rec.games.roguelike.misc.
2b. WWW sites
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The official Angband WWW site is: http://www.voicenet.com/~benh/Angband/
There is another unofficial site at: http://www.paranoia.com/~jth/angband/
Each of these pages contains more links to other useful sites.
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3. Technical Information
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3a. Expanding PKZIP archives
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When using PKUNZIP to expand a distribution archive, be sure to use the '-d'
option to create the 'lib' subdirectories, otherwise they will have to be
created by hand.
3b. How do I use an old savefile or savefile from another platform?
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The latest version of Angband should import savefiles from any version,
including MacAngband 1.0-2.0.3 and PC Angband 1.4. Savefiles from pre-2.7.7
games may lose all or part of the monster memory, and pre-2.7.0 will lose
all or part of the object memory. Also, older ego items may not stack with
newer ones.
Savefiles are platform-independent. Be sure to use 'binary' FTP if that is
your method of transfer. On a Macintosh, use the Import... command to give
the savefile the proper type ('SAVE') and creator ('A271').
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4. Creating Characters
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4a. What is maximize mode? (by Scott Bigham)
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All characters receive stat modifiers based on their race and class
(Half-Trolls get an INT penalty, Priests get a WIS bonus, and so forth). The
maximize mode flag determines how these modifiers are applied to the
character's actual stats. Since this obviously affects character creation,
the value of this flag must be chosen before you create your character.
As an example of how this works, imagine rolling up a High-Elf Mage.
High-Elf Mages receive a combined racial and class bonus of +6 to INT; for
purposes of illustration, let's say the stat roller rolls a 17 INT (the
highest possible value before modification).
In non-maximize mode, the +6 bonus is applied as though by quaffing six
Potions of Intelligence. The positive side of this is that your character
can get a starting INT of around 18/70, since each "potion" can give them
more than 10 percentiles once they are past 18. The negative side is that
this 18/70 is now your character's base INT, and without stat-boosting
items, he/she can only push their base INT up to 18/100.
In maximize mode, the +6 bonus is applied as though the character had
swallowed a Ring of Intelligence (+6). The negative side of this is that
your character can't get a starting INT above 18/50 (17 plus the +6 "ring"
bonus). The positive side is that although the effective INT is 18/50, the
base INT is only 17; once you've pushed your character's base INT up to
18/100, the effective INT without stat-boosting items will be 18/160!
On the flip side, our High-Elf Mage also gets a combined -4 penalty to STR.
In non-maximize mode, this is treated like quaffing four Potions of
Weakness, but your character's STR can still be increased all the way up to
18/100. In maximize mode, you've effectively got a Spleen of Weakness (-4),
which means that your character's maximum possible effective STR, without
stat-boosting items, is 18/60 (18/100 base plus the -4 penalty).
In summary, then:
* In non-maximize mode, your character will get bettter starting stats,
and all stats will max out at 18/100. This typically makes the early
game easier.
* In maximize mode, your character's starting stats aren't as good, but
the primary stat(s) will max out above 18/100, while the "off" stats
will max out below 18/100. This typically makes the end game easier.
4b. What is preserve mode?
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Characters created in preserve mode receive no "special" level feelings, but
any unidentified artifacts, if missed, may appear again later in the game
and are not lost forever. Anything that would have caused a "special"
feeling contributes to the level feeling that your character receives
instead.
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5. Gameplay Questions
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5a. How do I set game options and what do they mean?
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They are set using the = command. To see what the various options mean,
access the List of Options help menu with the ? command.
5b. What effect does turning off haggling have on the price of items?
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Turning off haggling gives you the best price you could have received for an
item plus a 10% "sales tax," so it is still possible to get a better deal by
haggling with a shopkeeper. If you have a good haggling history for an item,
there will be no tax added whether this option is set or not.
5c. How does shopkeeper rotation work?
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Starting with Angband 2.8.0, shopkeeper rotation is a feature. In old
versions of the game, it was either non-existent or disabled by default.
The shopkeepers will change, but this can take a long time. Be patient. When
they do change, all items in the shop are marked down to "on sale" (50% off)
and all haggling and insults are reset to zero.
Different shop owners will give different prices for items for several
reasons, and no shop owner will ever pay more for an item then the amount
mentioned in the header of the shop's inventory list.
5d. What is auto-scum?
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With autoscum enabled, the Angband dungeon generator will stop only on
levels that it considers "good." The deeper in the dungeon your character,
the "better" the level must be. See question (5f) for an explanation of what
contributes to this calculation.
If your character is not in preserve mode, the game will always stop on a
"special" level.
5e. How do the cheating options work?
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Enabling any of the cheating options will mark the current savefile, and
your character will be unable to make the high score list, unless you've
compiled the game with different behavior.
Peek into object creation
The game will announce the creation of "good" objects or better. Or at
least that's how I interpret the source code.
Peek into monster creation
The game will announce the presence of out-of-depth monsters and
uniques when creating a new level.
Peek into dungeon creation
The game will announce the creation of pits and vaults when creating a
new level.
Peek into something else
The game tells you when the shops in town refresh their inventory. It
will also announce when the shopkeepers change.
Know complete monster info
Your character's monster memory will contain the full amount of
information on every monster and unique.
Allow player to avoid death
Any time your character is killed, you can "cheat death" and your
character will remain alive, fully healed and be teleported to the town
level.
5f. What are the messages I get upon entering a new level?
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These are known as "level feelings" and give the general rating of the
level. You will only get them when you enter a level if you've been on the
previous level long enough. Otherwise you will get a "Looks like any other
level" message. "Long enough" is 1000 game turns, adjusted by your speed.
For a normal speed character, this would be 100 player turns. If you restore
a game saved to disk, the count is reset to zero. Many players say that only
"good," "very good," "excellent," "superb," and "special" levels are worth
exploring, but this of course a matter of opinion.
Valuable objects, artifacts, player ghosts, pits, nests, vaults,
out-of-depth creatures and out-of-depth non-cursed objects all contribute to
the feeling of the level.
5g. What causes a "special" feeling?
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Several things can cause a special feeling when a new level is generated:
artifacts, player ghosts, monster pits, nests or vaults. As your character
gets deeper in the dungeon, there is less of a chance that monster pits,
nests and vaults will cause special feelings. See the spoiler dungeon.spo
for more detail. If you are playing in preserve mode, you will never receive
a special feeling.
5h. How do I exchange weapons in newer versions of Angband?
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The spare weapon slot was replaced by the bow slot in version 2.7, but there
is a fairly simple way to exchange weapons using a default macro. Using the
"{" command, inscribe both weapons with @0. The X command will then switch
between the two. Additionally, if you have more than two favorites, inscribe
them with @1, @2, @3 and the command w1 will wield number 1, w2 will wield
number 2, etc.
5i. What do the minuses in the name of a piece of armor mean?
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This is a to-hit penalty for wearing heavy or inflexible armor. Such armor,
if not identified, will not show the penalty but it will still be in effect.
5j. The game tells me that I must "Study" but I can't learn any new spells.
What is going on?
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Your character is missing one of the more powerful books containing spells
that s/he can learn. See question (11a) for more detail.
5k. How does the fractional speed system work?
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Pre-2.7.3 versions of Angband used a simple speed system: slow, normal,
fast, very fast and extremely fast. In the current versions speed is
represented by a number: +0 is roughly equivalent to normal, +10 is fast,
+20 is very fast and +30 is extremely fast.
Angband 2.7.3 and later use internal "game turns," different than what a
player perceives as "player turns." Your player gets a certain amount of
energy per game turn based on speed, and when 100 energy is accumulated the
player may move, attack, etc. A normal speed player receives 10 energy/game
turn, while higher speeds yield more energy (+10 -> 20, +20 -> 30, +30 ->
38, +40 -> 42, +50 -> 45 etc.) As speed increases, further increases have
less and less of an effect on energy generated per game turn, and thus on
total speed. After +30 speed, your character may find that the increased
speed does not compensate for the increased food consumption. If your
character is "Slow (-10)" to "Slow (-1)" they will receive from 5 to 9
energy/turn.
Speed's most obvious effect is in combat, but it also affects your
character's food consumption and the amount of player turns they must spend
on a level to get a level feeling on the next.
5l. Introduction to macros
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See Angband's online help under Available Commands for a good introduction
to macros.
For example, if I am playing a high-elf mage named "Fearless" on a Power
Macintosh, Angband will load these pref files:
./lib/user/pref.prf
./lib/user/pref-mac.prf
./lib/user/Mage.prf
./lib/user/Fearless.prf
Macros are not saved with your character's savefile. If you quit without
saving your new macros to a separate file, they will be lost.
5m. How do I save macros?
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Use the '%' command. Option 2, "Dump macros," will allow you to save all the
current macros.
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6. Questionable Gameplay Techniques
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6a. Savefile abuse
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Angband follows the same behavior when a character dies as many of the other
rogue-like games. When a character dies, that's it, game over. Information
on monsters that the character has seen (monster memory) is retained, but
the player must start again. This is in contrast to most fantasy
role-playing computer games that let you restore your game from a savefile
if you die. Angband also differs from most commercial games in that there is
no puzzle solving as such.
This behavior has given rise to backup savefile abuse, which entails making
a copy of the savefile to another part of your disk, and in the unfortunate
event of death, moving it back to its original location and restoring the
game.
Almost everyone uses backup savefiles at the start, but as soon as your
players stop dying with great frequency, you should probably stop using
them. Your play experience will become more rewarding as a result. You
certainly do not have to stop using backups, many players never do. As long
as you enjoy the game, who cares?
Some game maintainers will compile the game with the "VERIFY_SAVEFILE"
option on, which along with other security options, will prevent most, if
not all, savefile abuse.
6b. Stair-scumming
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Stair scumming is a technique primarily used to generate levels with
artifacts (special weapons and items). It involves loitering around a
stairway for a certain number of turns on a "non-special" level, then using
the stairway to force the game to generate a new level. If the new level is
not "special," the process is repeated.
The technique may also be used to force the storekeepers in town to refresh
their inventory of identify and word of recall scrolls, restore stat and
life-level restore potions, and light sources, since they restock every
10000 game turns (1000 player turns for a character at normal speed).
The first type of scumming is a more serious abuse than the second.
There has been much discussion on the newsgroup on how to restrict this type
of abuse. It will likely remain unresolved because of the personal decision
involved, i.e. you don't *have* to stair scum.
6c. Monster farming
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Involves cloning monsters with good treasure drops in the hopes of getting
good items and gaining experience. Effective with ancient dragons, wyrms,
druj, and many others. Can be dangerous, considering the power of the
monsters. Also used in regards to "worm farming," which is an easy (albeit
boring) way to quickly gain experience at low levels.
6d. Summoning/Polymorphing
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Summoning and polymorphing monsters at low experience levels can be
dangerous if the new monster is more than your character can handle.
Summoning deep in the dungeon is perilous for any character, especially
since it is no longer true that dangerous monsters will be forced to sleep
when summoned.
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7. About rec.games.roguelike.angband
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7a. General notes
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The newsgroup serves a dual-purpose role, supporting both game development
and gameplay discussions. If you write new program code for the game, don't
post it (unless it is really short); upload it to an ftp site and give a
pointer. Also, since Angband is still in active development, this newsgroup
has high traffic.
7b. Glossary of terms
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Common Abbreviations:
* DSM - Dragon Scale Mail (can also have a qualifying letter as in PDSM
for Power Dragon Scale Mail)
* GoI - Globe of Invulnerability
* OoD - Orb of Draining
* Phial - Phial of Galadriel
* RGRA - rec.games.roguelike.angband
* RLL - Potion of Restore Life Levels
* RoS - Ring of Speed
* WoR - Word of Recall
* YASD - Yet Another Stupid Death
Definitions:
* Borg - An automatic Angband player. Must be enabled at compile time.
Precompiled versions of the game do not come with the Borg.
* Graveyard - a pit filled with very nasty undead.
* Nest - Similar to a pit, but containing an inner room and a random
assortment of monsters of a given type. Monsters vary by depth, so a
Nest deep in the dungeon can be very nasty.
* Pit - A 19x5 room filled with a certain type of creature.
* Vault - A special room that comes in two flavors, lesser and greater.
They will often contain out-of-depth monsters and good items.
* Wizard Mode - Used mainly by Angband coders to debug the game. Allows
object creation, telepathy, etc. Must be enabled at compile time.
Precompiled versions of the game come with wizard mode turned off.
* Zoo - An animal pit.
7c. Questions on r.g.r.a
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Don't let the amount of technical information discussed deter you from
asking a question, but do browse this FAQ (and the table of contents of Part
Two as well) and read some recent postings before posting yourself.
Questions on strategy, bug reports, suggestions, and amusing stories related
to the game are all welcome.
If you give hints, you should be fairly sure that you have accurate
information (or you may qualify your statements with a comment on your
uncertainty). Also any spoilers as should be marked as SPOILER in the
subject line.
7d. Victory posts
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Victory posts are where you get to boast of your crowning achievement, the
defeat of Morgoth. A victory post commonly gives the equipment list and
statistic screen for the lucky King or Queen (through the 'C' command), plus
a short summary of the game including highlights such as especially lucky
treasure finds or near-death experiences.
With a victory post you should state some facts like which version of
Angband you are playing and whether you used backup files, cheating options,
wizard mode. If you are a die-hard player and win with a self-imposed
restriction (like "no artifacts") mention this as well so others will shower
you with even more glory.
7e. Stupid Death (or YASD) posts
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This is where you post your depressing stories about your poor, late alter
ego. Other people may be able to empathize with you and console you; others
may be able to offer tips so that you won't fall into the same trap again.
Also, you teach others about your experience and help them avoid the same
mistake you made. Posts that are in the form of a short, amusing tale often
provoke a positive response from other readers of the group and do wonders
at relieving stress.
7f. Why do so many players seem to dislike or even hate Nethack?
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Nethack's atmosphere is less serious than Angband and sometimes just plain
silly. Many people enjoy and play both games, there is just a different
philosophy behind Nethack.
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8. Suggestions For Future Versions That Have Been Considered
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
8a. Let the player store money in his/her home.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This would make the monetary theft attack useless.
Omega features a bank. Nethack allows players to keep money in bags so it
can't be stolen, but this allows the whole bag to be stolen!
8b. Let creatures who steal items or money drop the goods when slain.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
In Angband 2.8.1, monsters have real inventories if the special testing
option "testing_carry" is enabled.
8c. Increase the player's carrying capacity.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This idea involves giving the player more item slots or the creation of
items like "bags of holding."
If the character was allowed to carry a nearly unlimited supply of items,
then there would be no strategy involving careful selection of equipment and
inventory, which is an integral part of the game.
8d. Let players give or sell their items to other players.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
That would make the game trivial for low level players with friends and make
rare items much easier to acquire. The "pawn shop" in town falls into this
category.
In Nethack, players can do this indirectly, because its "bone" files contain
the inventory of the dead player. The roguelike FAQ contains a list of
multi-player roguelike games, where this might be an option.
8e. Allow more than one object per square.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
In Angband 2.8.1, objects stack in squares if the special testing option
"testing_stack" is enabled.
8f. A "pass through wall" spell.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This would create too many problems with line-of-sight computations. If the
player was somehow blinded by being in the wall, then the wall would grant
infinite armor class.
Omega and Ragnarok both have a pass-through-wall spell.
8g. I want a real-time multi-player Angband!
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Keldon Jones is coding Multi-Player Angband (Mangband). Visit his web site
for more details.
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9. Programming Questions
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9a. Where can I obtain the source code?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The source for the most recent version is available via anonymous FTP in
ftp://export.andrew.cmu.edu/angband/Source/
9b. To what extent can I modify the source and release modified versions?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
You are free to rewrite sections of the game code and release your own
version of Angband, provided that you retain copyright notices and proper
credits, and do not attempt to make a profit in any way.
9c. Is there any easy way for a non-programmer to hack the game?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Figure out the format of the files in the /lib/file directory, mainly
*_lib.txt. Edit them, delete the corresponding *.raw versions in /lib/data,
then restart Angband.
An important note from Ben:
In particular, you should not change monster names (a few of them,
anyway) or "pit" creation will fail. You should not change ANY
monster/object indexes, or old savefiles will crash and new ones
will be unusable. You should not add new items unless you know
what you are doing. Likewise with new monsters. Changing the
monster flags, or monster attacks, will produce incompatible
savefiles (dangerous, maybe, but only if you want to use a later
version). In general, think of the ".txt" files like you think of
the source. Most changes are fine, even cute, but *might* have
unexpected results, or even induce crashes or other nasty errors.
And *many* such changes will produce "unusable savefiles", if you
care.
9d. Why doesn't wizard mode work in the version that I have?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wizard mode is intended as a debugging tool for Angband programmers. It is
not currently enabled with pre-compiled versions of Angband because it
consumes memory and enlarges the program. There are currently two ways to
get a copy of Angband with wizard mode enabled: compile it in yourself or
get someone to do it for you. Commands are explained in more detail in the
online help. Enabling wizard mode on a character "marks" it as such and you
will be unable to make the high score list with such a character.
9e. What is the borg? Why doesn't it appear in the version that I have?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The borg is an automatic Angband player. It is not currently enabled with
most pre-compiled versions of Angband because of the additional memory and
disk space required. However, some recent versions of Angband have come
compiled with the borg.
9f. How do I use the borg?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The borg can be activated by typing control-z z. To stop the borg, press any
key. If this doesn't work, consult the source code.
9g. How do I generate auto-spoilers?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
You must have a version compiled with ALLOW_WIZARD and ALLOW_SPOILERS. Enter
wizard mode, then type control-a and a double quote (").
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
10. Variants
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Most of these variants reside at the official Angband FTP site.
10a. Are there any variants available for the Macintosh?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes! GW-Angband, Sangband and Cat-in-the-Hack Angband were recently compiled
for the Macintosh.
10b. Drangband
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This version adds 7 new character races: Copper, Gold, Crystal, Bronze and
Pseudo dragons, Yeeks and Pixies. Drangband 2.0 is based on 2.7.8 code and
may be the only variant easily compiled on non-DOS platforms.
10c. Fangband
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Another variant of PC Angband 1.4, Fangband adds different terrain types and
delayed level feelings.
10d. Qangband
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Probably descended from Angband 2.4.Frog-knows. Adds a quiver slot for
wielding ammo.
10e. Zangband
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Though officially Zangband stands for "Zelazny-Amber Angband", it could just
as easily stand for Zany Angband. It plays like Angband with some Nethack
and Doom thrown in for good measure. This is a variant for those who want
something completely different.
10f. Bangband
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Adds two new character types, Monk and Dragon. Skills like backstabbing are
also added.
10g. Sangband
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Based on 2.8.0 code. A descendant of Bangband, with no character classes, as
such. Instead, you spend your experience to improve various skills such as
weaponsmithing, spellcasting, backstabbing, etc.
10h. Utumno
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Utumno is a graphical version of Angband written by Matt Craighead for
DOS/SVGA machines. Currently it is the beta test stage: more information can
be found at http://www.citilink.com/~craighea/utumno/
10i. GW-Angband
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
A variant based on 2.7.9v6 code by Greg Wooledge. It attempts to balance the
character classes (specifically the mage). More information is available at
http://kellnet.com/wooledge/angband.html.
10j. Multi-player Angband (Mangband)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Keldon Jones is coding Mangband. Check its web page for recent information
or to offer assistance.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
11. Old Bugs And Undocumented Features
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
11a. The game says that I'm missing a spellbook when I try to learn some new
spells. What's the reason for this?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
You are missing a book containing spells that you can learn. More often than
not, your character needs one of the books that can only be found in the
black market or deep in the dungeon. Only 4 of the 9 mage or priest
spellbooks are readily available in town.
11b. I'm fighting an invisible monster that I can't kill, and I can't see it
even with see invisible. What's going on?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
You have encountered the invisible monster bug. Save and exit the game, then
restart. The monster should be gone. Of course, a more permanent solution
would be to upgrade to a newer version without the bug.
11c. I'm playing on a PC. Why can't I use shift+arrow key to run, like I
could in earlier versions of Angband?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
In 2.7.X, this has been fixed using macros. Make sure the default macro
files are loading correctly.
User Contributions:
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Last Update March 27 2014 @ 02:11 PM
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