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Game Tips

Party
Get 2 signons and run 2 chars together. You can safely run deeper with 2 chars than with 1. Put the weaker char to the rear (- moves back; + moves up); the front one is more likely to get hurt. I like to have the stronger char track the weaker one (who "leads" from behind)--the char who is pressing the keys to move the party is the first one to leave the room, when you leave an encounter.

If running in a larger party, don't cast a combat spell unless you're in one of the first 4 positions. Chucking a combat spell if you are in position 5 or more of a large party will hurt/kill the chars in front of you.

Starting Stats
Max your Con. Int and Wis have to be at least 11 to use stat potions. If you set your Str to 12, and your Int, Wis, and Dex to 13, you'll be able to throw Charm of Opening at Nomad spell level 6. With max con and int and wis at least 11, it's possible to start with the stats needed to join any one guild other than healer, wizard, villain, and paladin. Build as a Nomad up to level 30 before building in your chosen guild. Nomads get the most hits up to level 30. Don't build level 31 as a nomad. Nomads get only 1 hit per level after level 30. If building a warrior, you don't have to pre-build as a nomad: warriors get almost as many hits as nomads in the first 30 levels.

Set Sanctuary
When you first roll up a new character, go to the bottom of the city stairs and cast the "set sanctuary" spell. Then if you ever need to cast "sanctuary," it will be set.

Spell Buffers
Load spells in buffers 0 thru 9 to cast quickly. It may be that on your keyboard only a few of these, such as "4," "5," "8," and "9" actually work. If so, go to the bar at the top of your terminal emulator window, click File, Preferences, Emulation, Use real PLATO keyboard. That should give you all 10 slots. To delete the contents of a buffer, press DATA.

Companions
Charm monsters or let them "j"oin you if they offer. Your companions fight for you, and take hits that you would take otherwise. They can hit and kill monster types that you may not be able to hit. You can cure them, if you have healing ability, or if you have an item that does. Press "s" and type the spell name to cast the spell, or press shift-"P" and the slot number of the healing item, and press NEXT. At the prompt, "heal" player >, press the number of your wounded charmee (1, 2, 3, or 4), then press LAB. This casts the healing spell on the charmee. (To heal a player character in the area, you would type the character's name at the prompt and press NEXT.) You can cure only your own charmees, not anyone else's. If you let a monster "j"oin you, you will not get its treasure. (Instead, the rest of the encounter disappears, and no one else in your party can get credit for killing a quest monster that may have been in the encounter.)

Tracking
You can track another character in the same encounter area. You can use this to avoid obstacles. Everybody untrack; have the character who's levitating, who has the most hits, etc. go over the pit or chute, then the other characters in the party track up, and everybody's across the danger, with only 1 character ever at risk.

On level 14, there's a useful oddity that similarly lets tracking be used as a form of teleporting: the centers of the SE and NE quadrants, plus the central 2x2 room, and the 1x1 off the west side of the water, are all the same non-encounter area. So if you have a character in any of these places, another character in any of the other places can track to him. That is, 25,6,14 is part of the same non-encounter area with 25,25,14 and 8,12,14 and the room whose safe corners are 15,16,14 and 14,15,14. (The centers of the NW and SW quadrants are teleporters to the SE and NE quadrant centers, respectively.) Also, 6,19,14 and 22,25,14 are dragon rooms that share encounters with each other. And, 23,5,14 and 27,5,14 are a pair that share an encounter. There are probably many other sets of locations on 14 that share encounters.

Other levels too have separated rooms that share encounters (so that a char in one can track to another char in the other).
24,30,8 shares encounters with 26,28,8.
12,18-19,4 shares encounters with 12,25-27,4.

On level 15 there are a number of doorless 1x1 and 1x2 rooms that are anti-magic. These rooms are all the same encounter area. Also part of this encounter area is the 1x2 room at 10,7,15. This room contains a random teleporter at 9,7,15. So: to get out of an anti-magic doorless room: your rescuer will have to teleport to 10,7,15 (and kill the encounter, if any). Then you track your rescuer, or he picks you up if you are dead. Then he steps on the random teleporter at 9,7,15. You will each be separately randomly teleported on level 15. Hopefully you both will land in areas that can be walked or teleported out of. (And with encounters you can handle alone, which you will be.)

Ways to gain experience
There are more ways to gain experience than simply killing monsters. Disarming a trap gives experience, as does charming monsters.

Experience gained by killing monsters depends on three things: 

  1) The monster.  The experience value per hit point varies
  per monster.

  2) The monster's hit points.

  3) The method used to kill.  Spells give experience at a
  penalty to swinging. (often more than made up for by the
  kill ratio)  Critical hits and other events may give bonus
  experience.

Box traps
Most monsters have only a restricted subset of the possible traps. A grum (clean-up) will have a trapped box that will hurt you if you blow it; the box will contain no treasure.

Identifying box traps
Each character gets only two IDs on any given trap: one mis-id and the real trap id. When running two characters, you can be certain of the trap ID by shifting in and out of the room until both characters see both IDs. If one character IDs fire/fear, and a second char IDs blackout/fear, the trap is fear.

Opener and Area box traps
Teleport, Withering, Fate, Exploding box, Slime affect only the opener. Don't 'q' these. (Especially, don't 'q' teleport traps--see below.) Blackout, Fear, Fire, Poison gas, Disease spores affect everyone in the encounter area who did not 'q' the box, if the opener blows the trap. Charmee monsters are affected by Fear and Fire traps.

Slime box traps
In zavatar, slime destroys only the contents of its box. Always open slime boxes in zavatar. In 2avatar, a blown slime trap will destroy an item from the inventory of the char who opened it. In 2avatar, pass off any good weapons, armor, etc your boxer has to another character before opening a slime box. In general, they're not worth the effort and risk until you get down to level 15. (Or teleport-in a naked char to open slime boxes, in 2avatar.)

Teleport box traps
If your box has a teleporter, DO NOT "q" the box with all members of the party not opening the box, as you would with an "area" trap. If the player who opens the box blows the teleporter, that player will get no treasure, and will be randomly teleported on the same level (which may land him on a teleporter, transporter, or chute to another level. You will not be teleported into rock. Be sure you know what direction you're facing before opening: you'll still be facing that way after teleporting. Knowing your direction will make it easier to find out where you are.) Players in the area who did not open the box will not be teleported. Anyone who did not "q" the box will get a share of the box's treasure. If everyone "q"ed the box, no one gets anything. (Wear boots of agility or better or a TP ring, or have a wizard, seeker, or mage along, before opening TP boxes on level 8 and below. Being able to go through a wall may be essential. On level 9, you may have to cast displacement to get out of an area encircled by rock.) A box on level 1 or 2 will not have a teleporter, tho it may falsely ID that way. Read the section above on "Tracking," before opening a TP box on level 15.

Magically locked boxes
An anti-magic area will never have a magically locked box.

Ripping boxes
Your thief or scavenger can open the box of an encounter you don't fight--and can do so while being pulled out of the room by the char he's tracking. Hit shift-X with the leader and shift-O with the scavenger: both your chars leave the room, with the treasure, without fighting the encounter.

Identifying treasure: Potions, Crystals
When you find a potion or crystal, press "P" as if to use it. The item will be identified: crystal of healing, potion of curing, potion of health, potion of neutralization. You get a prompt: "light cure" player (potion of curing) / "cure disease" player (potion of health) / "cure posion" player (potion of neutralization) / "major cure" player (crystal of healing, if Wis is 25 or more). Press BACK to not use it now. If your Int is 25 or more, it will also show how many charges it has: it's fully IDed. This saves gold you'd otherwise pay the store to fully ID the item. If it's a crystal of healing and the player "P"ing it has Wis less than 25, the prompt says "you don't know the trigger word." It can't be used until "P"ed by a char with Wis of 25 or more, or fully IDed in the store.

Potion and Scroll Quests
Quested to find a common scroll or potion? Be careful not to consolidate any found or purchased scrolls or potions with ones you already owned, or they will all disappear when you level and the slot with the potion or scroll is claimed by the guild.

Monster Quests
Quested to kill a monster? You can also bring it back as a companion, alive or dead. If you have the monster as a companion, the clerk will take the dead one, or, if all are alive, the first one. In this way, you don't have to kill the entire encounter, as you otherwise would. Just charm one (or let it "j"oin you) and bring it to the guild while it's still with you. Keep your dead companion, don't drop him, in case you get quested for him. This works well for the Poltergeist quest in 2avatar. This is a very common quest between character levels 180-250 (approximately). The Poltergeist is a very rare monster but he will commonly offer to join your party. If you aren't quested for him, let him join, hope he dies before he abandons you, and carry his smelly carcass until you get the quest(you won't have to carry him long if your maximum quest level is 6). If you've ever spent multiple days looking for a Polti, it's a good feeling to be able to clear this quest in the few seconds it takes to drop the carcass off with the clerk.

Normally, you have to be in the room when the last monster of the encounter is killed or charmed, to get credit for killing the monster. Even if the specific monster you were quested for is already dead when you enter the room, and you never attack the encounter, if any of your quest's companion monsters are alive when you come in, your quest is completed if you are alive in the room when the last monster of the encounter is killed or charmed.

If a member of the party other than the quester lets one or more monsters in the encounter "j"oin him, the rest of the encounter goes away, and the quester cannot get credit for killing the monster. (And no one gets the treasure.)

In other words, you get credit for "killing" your quested monster under the same conditions you earn a share of its treasure: or, you can bring it as a companion to the clerk.

Some possible loops:
Level 5
Level 6 Dragon Room

Walking up/down: Life without a Wizard
Bring potions as needed: see http://gnuzoo.org/avatar/MagicAbilities
Notice that being able to cast displacement would cut out most of the walking. (Boots of the Elven Lords throws displacement, recharge for about 1 million gold per displacement: can wear at level 301, by which time you've started being quested for monsters on dungeon level 11.)

To run Level 2:
There are 2 down stairs to 2. I like the 15,7,1 one to get to the hallway loop.
Note secret door at 17,9,1.

To run Level 3:
There are 2 down stairs to 3. I like the 5,4,2 coming from 15,7,2.
Note secret door at 30,1,2 wraps to 1,1,2.

A faster way to level 3 is:
26 level 1-2 encounter areas round trip:
(5 L1 encounters to) 15,7,1 stairs to 15,7,2
(6 L2 encounters to) 21,7,2 transporter to 21,7,3
(5 L3 encounters to) 17,8,3
(6 more L3 encounters to) 11,8,3 (encounter-per-square in this corridor)
(9 or more L3 encounters to) 5,4,3 stairs to 5,4,2
(10 L2 encounters to) 15,7,2 stairs to 15,7,1
(5 L1 encounters to) 12,17,1 stairs to city

To run Level 4:
35 level 1-3 encounter areas round trip:
Take 15,7 stairs to 2.
Take 20,26 stairs to 3. Note 18,1,2 door wraps to 18,30,2.
Step west (or east) to transporter to 4.
Favorite loop: rectangle from 1,22 to 30,22 to 30,30 to 1,30. Turn after doors on left.

To run Level 5:
37 level 1-4 encounter areas round trip (using stairs both ways):
Take 15,7 stairs to 2.
Take 20,26 stairs to 3. Note 18,1,2 door wraps to 18,30,2.
Step west (or east) to transporter to 4.
Make sure you have "resist magic" cast. Step back, take stairs to 5 at 20,26,4.
(L5 contains sorcerors that are destroyers, but they're often peaced. If you don't go below level 5, save your Elven Potion for when you go deeper.)
Favorite loop: northeast corner -- loop and hallway.

A quicker way back to the city:
From 23,22,5 corridor:
(5 L5 encounter areas, including a L5 stud room, to) 28,12,5 teleporter to 15,14,2.
(4 L2 encounters to) 13,19,2 transporter to 13,19,1
(2 L1 encounters to) 12,17,1 stairs to city

To run Level 6:
51 level 1-5 encounter areas round trip:
(5 L1 encounters to) 15,7,1 stairs to 15,7,2
(10 L2 encounters to) 20,26,2 stairs to 20,26,3
(20,26,3 is a non-encounter area. If drinking Elven potion, drink here.)
(0 L3 encounters to) 19,26,3 transporter to 19,26,4
(1 L4 encounter to) 20,26,4 stairs to 20,26,5
(7 L5 encounters to) 15,28,5 stairs to 15,28,6
(or, if you're not levitating, 14,28,5 chute to 14,28,6)
Roam the area northwest of 15,22,6. You're never more than 8 encounter areas from the relative safety of the 15,28,6 stairs up to 15,28,5.
Reverse to come up. (If not levitating, you'll have 4 more encounters on level 5, to avoid falling back down the 14,28,5 chute to 14,28,6.) The return trip adds 5 L3 encounters to get from the top of the 18,26,4 to 18,26,3 transporter, around to the 20,26,3 stairs up to 20,26,2.

To run Level 7:
31-33 level 1-5 encounter areas round trip:
(5 L1 encounters to) 15,7,1 stairs to 15,7,2
(13 L2 encounters to) 16,16,2 chute to 16,16,4
(If drinking Elven Potion, drink before you take the chute to level 4. The bottom of the L2-L4 chute (16,16,4), and the square just before the top of the L4-L7 chute (15,15,4), are both anti-magic squares where you can't drink the potion.)
(5 L4 encounters to) 16,15,4 chute to 16,15,7
(Make sure you travel south, not north, from 16,15,7, or you'll hit a random teleporter at 15,16,7.)
Wander around the perimeter of the central square. When you're ready to come back to the city, enter the central spiral from 12,19,7 going south and making left turns. You'll be teleported from 15,15,7 to 20,4,7
(from there it's 1 L7 encounter to) 22,5,7 teleporter to 24,16,5
(24,16,5 is a non-encounter area, but also a rotator, so you don't know which way you're facing.)
(2 to 4 L5 encounter areas, including a L5 stud room, to) 28,12,5 teleporter to 15,14,2.
(4 L2 encounters to) 13,19,2 transporter to 13,19,1
(2 L1 encounters to) 12,17,1 stairs to city

To run Level 8:
40-42 level 1-7 encounter areas round trip:
(5 L1 encounters to) 15,7,1 stairs to 15,7,2
(10 L2 encounters to) 20,26,2 stairs to 20,26,3
(20,26,3 is a non-encounter area. If drinking Elven potion, drink here.)
(0 L3 encounters to) 19,26,3 transporter to 19,26,4
(1 L4 encounter to) 20,26,4 stairs to 20,26,5
(7 L5 encounters to) 15,28,5 stairs to 15,28,6
(or, if you're not levitating, 14,28,5 chute to 14,28,6)
(2 L6 encounters to) 17,30,6 chute to 17,30,8
Coming up:
27,24,8 stairs to 27,24,7
(6 L7 encounters to) 15,15,7 teleporter to 20,4,7
(1 more L7 encounter to) 22,5,7 teleporter to 24,16,5
(24,16,5 is a non-encounter area, but also a rotator, so you don't know which way you're facing.)
(2 to 4 L5 encounter areas, including a L5 stud room, to) 28,12,5 teleporter to 15,14,2.
(4 L2 encounters to) 13,19,2 transporter to 13,19,1
(2 L1 encounters to) 12,17,1 stairs to city

To run Level 9:
51-53 level 1-8 encounter areas round trip:
(5 L1 encounters to) 15,7,1 stairs to 15,7,2
(10 L2 encounters to) 20,26,2 stairs to 20,26,3
(20,26,3 is a non-encounter area. If drinking Elven potion, drink here.)
(0 L3 encounters to) 19,26,3 transporter to 19,26,4
(1 L4 encounter to) 20,26,4 stairs to 20,26,5
(7 L5 encounters to) 15,28,5 stairs to 15,28,6
(or, if you're not levitating, 14,28,5 chute to 14,28,6)
(5 L6 encounters to) 12,23,6 chute to 12,23,9
Coming up:
(10 L9 encounters to) 10,8,9 stairs to 10,8,8
(8 L8 encounters to) 27,24,8 stairs to 27,24,7
(6 L7 encounters to) 15,15,7 teleporter to 20,4,7
(1 more L7 encounter to) 22,5,7 teleporter to 24,16,5
(24,16,5 is a non-encounter area, but also a rotator, so you don't know which way you're facing.)
(2 to 4 L5 encounter areas, including a L5 stud room, to) 28,12,5 teleporter to 15,14,2.
(4 L2 encounters to) 13,19,2 transporter to 13,19,1
(2 L1 encounters to) 12,17,1 stairs to city

To run Level 10:
79-81 level 1-9 encounter areas round trip:
(5 L1 encounters to) 15,7,1 stairs to 15,7,2
(10 L2 encounters to) 20,26,2 stairs to 20,26,3
(20,26,3 is a non-encounter area. If drinking Elven potion, drink here.)
(0 L3 encounters to) 19,26,3 transporter to 19,26,4
(1 L4 encounter to) 20,26,4 stairs to 20,26,5
(7 L5 encounters to) 15,28,5 stairs to 15,28,6
(or, if you're not levitating, 14,28,5 chute to 14,28,6)
(5 L6 encounters to) 12,23,6 chute to 12,23,9
(18 L9 encounters to) 29,14,9 stairs to 29,14,10
Run the area northeast of 20,11,10, plus the water. You're never more than 10 encounter areas from the relative safety of:
Coming up:
29,14,10 stairs to 29,14,9.
(10 L9 encounters to) 10,8,9 stairs to 10,8,8
(8 L8 encounters to) 27,24,8 stairs to 27,24,7
(6 L7 encounters to) 15,15,7 teleporter to 20,4,7
(1 more L7 encounter to) 22,5,7 teleporter to 24,16,5
(24,16,5 is a non-encounter area, but also a rotator, so you don't know which way you're facing.)
(2 to 4 L5 encounter areas, including a L5 stud room, to) 28,12,5 teleporter to 15,14,2.
(4 L2 encounters to) 13,19,2 transporter to 13,19,1
(2 L1 encounters to) 12,17,1 stairs to city

To run Level 11: without L11 stud rooms
69-71 level 1-10 encounter areas round trip:
(5 L1 encounters to) 15,7,1 stairs to 15,7,2
(10 L2 encounters to) 20,26,2 stairs to 20,26,3
(20,26,3 is a non-encounter area. If drinking Elven potion, drink here.)
(0 L3 encounters to) 19,26,3 transporter to 19,26,4
(1 L4 encounter to) 20,26,4 stairs to 20,26,5
(7 L5 encounters to) 15,28,5 stairs to 15,28,6
(or, if you're not levitating, 14,28,5 chute to 14,28,6)
(5 L6 encounters to) 12,23,6 chute to 12,23,9
(18 L9 encounters to) 29,14,9 stairs to 29,14,10
(10 L10 encounters to) 11,23,10 stairs to 11,23,11
You can walk back up to L7, but it's 30 more L10 to L7 encounters. Instead:
11 or more L11 encounters to:
Coming up:
19,9,11 teleporter to 28,3,7
(5 L7 encounters to) 22,5,7 teleporter to 24,16,5
(24,16,5 is a non-encounter area, but also a rotator, so you don't know which way you're facing.)
(2 to 4 L5 encounter areas, including a L5 stud room, to) 28,12,5 teleporter to 15,14,2.
(4 L2 encounters to) 13,19,2 transporter to 13,19,1
(2 L1 encounters to) 12,17,1 stairs to city

To run Level 11: with L11 stud rooms
41-43 level 1-7 encounter areas round trip:
(5 L1 encounters to) 15,7,1 stairs to 15,7,2
(10 L2 encounters to) 20,26,2 stairs to 20,26,3
(20,26,3 is a non-encounter area. If drinking Elven potion, drink here.)
(0 L3 encounters to) 19,26,3 transporter to 19,26,4
(1 L4 encounter to) 20,26,4 stairs to 20,26,5
(7 L5 encounters to) 15,28,5 stairs to 15,28,6
(or, if you're not levitating, 14,28,5 chute to 14,28,6)
(5 L6 encounters to) 13,17,6 teleporter to 29,29,11 stud room
Coming up:
19,9,11 teleporter to 28,3,7
(5 L7 encounters to) 22,5,7 teleporter to 24,16,5
(24,16,5 is a non-encounter area, but also a rotator, so you don't know which way you're facing.)
(2 to 4 L5 encounter areas, including a L5 stud room, to) 28,12,5 teleporter to 15,14,2.
(4 L2 encounters to) 13,19,2 transporter to 13,19,1
(2 L1 encounters to) 12,17,1 stairs to city

Dead?
If the remaining monsters in the encounter that killed you will be killable by your rescuers, stay where you are and call for help. If you were killed by a nasty the party had to run from, have all dead characters SHIFT-BACK out of the game. Wait long enough for players in the game to have sufficient encounters to cause the monsters to repopulate. (Or, run another char of your own until the monsters repop.) Then re-enter the game and wait for rescue. Maybe the new monster will be killable by your rescuers. As long as a player, alive or dead, is in the game, in the room, the encounter will stay as it is.

Age
The amount of time you age in a dungeon run depends on how much damage you took, and how many spell points you used.

Keep Current!
If you haven't used your char in 21 + (char level / 8) days, it can be deleted to make room for a player creating a new char.

Rechargeable Items
When you find another set of boots of the elven lords, or other rechargeable item you use the charges of, don't sell the new one. Keep it until your old one is discharged. Sell the discharged one, and use the new one. This saves you money you'd otherwise pay to recharge your item.

If you need to change the alignment of a rechargeable item, it will be cheaper if the item is discharged first. The more charges the item has on it, the more you will pay to flip the alignment.

Keyset Tips
* see also http://cyber1.org/keyboard.asp

  • To get the accent character over the e in the scroll names, (Neog, etc.), use the following keystrokes (on Windows): e, control-shift-q, e.
  • To deposit all your gold in the bank, hit DATA at the amount prompt. (No numbers need to be entered.)
  • Likewise, when giving gold, DATA will also give everything. (Note: in the city, this will give everything on hand AND in your bank, not just on hand.)
  • To split consumable items, enter the store, go to (c)ombine, and after you enter the item number hit DATA instead of NEXT. You will then be asked for number of charges to split off. (Remember that the clerk will take the first unbanked item in the list if you are quested.)
  • When sending messages, hitting DATA rather than NEXT will send the current line and go right back to message entry to the same destination.
  • When casting a spell, entering DATA for the player name will cast the spell on yourself.
  • When consuming an item that affects a player (potion of health, wand of curing, etc.), entering DATA when you enter the item number will cast the spell on yourself. (If you hit NEXT and get to the player name prompt, hitting DATA there will also cast the spell on yourself.)

Gold Management
Gold of each char with over 400M was taxed without warning down to 300M in late April 2010. Mike had said on 1/1/2005 that players with over 2 billion would be taxed down to 1 billion.