| ================ 9. General tips ================ 1. RUN is the most important command in the game. Why? Because except for the Very Powerful Magic Spell (which disappears after awhile, I'm starting to think after Mitra) nothing, not blocked passages, not magic spells, not even the Hydra, gets in the way of a run. Rather than bump against a magic spell 50 times, and losing 50 health points, before you can get to that room crackling with enchantment, just stand in an adjacent room and RUN, and there's a chance you'll end up where you want. (Of course, if you're near a one-way passage, especially one to the big maze, RUN carries its own annoyances.) Note that RUN is very powerful when used in conjunction with BACK, which I deal with next. 2. BACK is important for the same reason. The manual says it is useful when you are in a room with blocked passages. It is--since unlike RUN (which would also get you out) you don't drop things. But there are three other uses for it, which are less obvious. Let's say the Wine Cellar on the first floor is crackling with enchantment, but a magic spell pushes you out when you try to enter. Following my directions above, you take your food and mushroom to the room one south, with the green mist, and you run. On the fourth try, you finally get in. However, your food and mushroom have been dropped from the room you ran from! What to do? Go south, and very quickly, type TAKE MUSHROOM, and BACK. You will not be pushed out. S, TAKE FOOD, BACK -- Congratulations, you have learned the secret of the magic spell VETAR! A second useful use for BACK is when you're trying to go UP with something big, when you have low health. DROP TRUTHRING, U, D, TAKE TRUTHRING, BACK will get your heavy treasure up a floor. Note that this does not work between the starting room (1) and the forest (8)--trust me, I've tried. One last thing about BACK is that it works even if you've gone through a 1 way passage (except those to the big maze). For example, after you've killed the Minotaur in the Small Cave filled with Minotaur Tracks, and he threw the Crown at you, you find that you cannot carry the Sword, Shield, and Powerring you used to kill him, and still pick up the crown. Yet you don't want to go all that long way to pick up what you dropped. No problem--Go up to the Edge of the Great Stone Shaft, using the technique I just mentioned, then W, DROP POWERRING, BACK. You are free to TAKE CROWN, W, DROP CROWN, BACK, TAKE SWORD, TAKE SHIELD, W. And hey presto, you've taken everything to the first floor very easily. 3. HOARDING-ROOMS are very, very important. Pick up everything you find, whether it is useful or not, and put it in a single room--then you know where it is! If you have to drop some stuff--say you just got the Powerring, and you didn't want to wander around with it and the heavy things you needed to pick it up, for fear the floor cave in--make sure you come back to get it, and return it to a hoarding-room, before you forget. Actually, I usually have two hoarding rooms--the principal one on the first floor is usually the room with the table and chair (1). Of course, when I need to figure out how to get the spellbook, I transfer my hoarding-room to wherever it is. The room with the pit in the little maze (9) makes a good temporary hoarding-room, especially for treasure. If you got the Gold, but are at 220 health and don't want to risk your health by JUMP PIT, just drop it there, and wait for a better moment to return to it. At least you know where it is, and don't have to transport it anywhere except over the pit. The main things a hoarding-room has to be are easy to access (both getting there, and leaving) and out of reach of the Sprite. (The Sprite has a nasty habit of moving things around, and an equally nasty habit of hanging out on the first floor!) 4. Keep your health high! If you are below 200, you are useless. Even below 220, you should be fixing up, since you'll be afraid of every pit you come across. The food repairs 30 health, as does the water (if you haven't drunk in awhile). The Mushroom repairs 60 points. It can be useful if you just took a risk trying to kill a monster without knowing the right combination, and got unlucky. But only use it if you are below 200 (i.e. in dire straits). There is some chance, increasing the more you use it, that it will be poisonous and end your game right there. Luckily all these things ARE REPLENISHABLE--the food and mushroom tend to reset after a bit in a random place in the non-maze first, second, or third floors. The bottle is refillable anywhere there is water in the room description--for a good example the Great Stone Tower in the NW corner of the first floor. The potion replaces all your health, but I do not think it reappears. Since it is a treasure, only drink it if you don't care about your score, and just want to play a little longer. Do not use BELROG or ISHTAR, tempting as they are, unless you have no choice (i.e. at 10 health, stranded in the maze without hope of food, mushroom, or water.) They both pack a nasty wallop on your health. If you are up to ishtar and have 255 health, and are holding nothing else except the lamp, there is no treasure you cannot JUMP PIT with from the pit in the little maze (9). The two really stingy pits which you might be tempted to use BELROG on are completely avoidable if you know how to get through the big and little mazes. Lastly, and maybe this is obvious--never JUMP PIT holding more than one item plus the lamp! It's much better to take your items one at a time, even if it means jumping a pit five or seven times. Health in this game is too precious to waste because you're LAZY. Need to get the Powerring with the shield, mace, and skull, but have a pit to cross? DROP MACE, DROP SKULL, JUMP PIT, DROP SHIELD, JUMP PIT, TAKE MACE, JUMP PIT, DROP MACE, JUMP PIT, TAKE SKULL, JUMP PIT, TAKE MACE, TAKE SKULL. See, it's not so hard. |