Rookie question (Z)

Having recently taken up Zangband, I've been lurking here for a few
weeks now trying to gather hints, and I'm very impressed with the
community. So, here I am making myself heard.

My main question is: why are there so many dungeons? I understand
about the ultimate goal being the eradication of the big nasties at the
very bottom depths, but it's the in-between part that confuses me a
little. It's evidently not necessary to visit all of these dungeons,
but I wonder whether there are some useful goodies at the bottom of
each that I'll be missing out on if I skip over most of them. And if
it's not necessary to conquer them all, then why are they in such long
supply? Is it a remnant of an earlier version in which there were a
lot of quests that mandated a widely varied spelunking regimen? Or are
they just there for the masochists who feel they must clear every
possible level?

I'm not asking out of any pique or peeve, I'm just genuinely puzzled.
Thanks in advance!

"Aneurysm" <quoopisk.RemoveThis@gmail.com> wrote in
news:1157951763.498908.323930@e3g2000cwe.googlegroups.com:

> Having recently taken up Zangband, I've been lurking here for a few
> weeks now trying to gather hints, and I'm very impressed with the
> community. So, here I am making myself heard.
>
> My main question is: why are there so many dungeons? I understand
> about the ultimate goal being the eradication of the big nasties at
> the very bottom depths, but it's the in-between part that confuses me
> a little. It's evidently not necessary to visit all of these
> dungeons, but I wonder whether there are some useful goodies at the
> bottom of each that I'll be missing out on if I skip over most of
> them. And if it's not necessary to conquer them all, then why are
> they in such long supply? Is it a remnant of an earlier version in
> which there were a lot of quests that mandated a widely varied
> spelunking regimen? Or are they just there for the masochists who
> feel they must clear every possible level?
>
> I'm not asking out of any pique or peeve, I'm just genuinely puzzled.
> Thanks in advance!
>
>

Of course, this will depend on the version you're playing.

There are, for instance, HUGE differences between 2.6.x and 2.7.x, and
don't EVEN get me started about earlier versions.

Assuming you've "recently" taken it up, and that means 2.7.x, I can
probably help a little, since I'm struggling with the transition from
2.6 to 2.7 myself.

In a real sense, there aren't lots of dungeons -- there are different
dungeon types. The ones you start with, that are easily accessible (the
"sewer" dungeons) are pretty useless -- you can get experience from
critters, but not much more than that. There's no particular reward
waiting at the bottom, either.

The key is to get powerful enough, and smart enough, to amble through
the wilderness for a bit. There are some set quests in the wilderness,
and there are some guarded dungeon entrances as well. Warning: if you're
playing 2.7.x, the monster AI is INTENSELY IRRITATING, especially in the
wilderness, where ANY monster with a range attack will run away from you
and then pepper you with range attacks, much like, well, you would do.

Because the wilderness can be very hairy, I recommend LOTS of escape
methods, primarily, a ton of teleport scrolls. Stealth is good as well.
This is NOT an easy variant; the skills which enable you to saunter
downward in vanilla are much less useful here, except for the one, the
One, the MAIN SKILL:

Run away. A lot.

Still working on a test-case warrior in 2.7.5, but having gotten her to,
uh....26th level, with semi-decent kit (I LIKE the new light source
types, btw!) I'm enjoying the balance between tackling stuff and
avoiding stuff. I think it's worth pursuing.

-Josh