Cindy's Beginners Guide to Exploring.


I'm an explorer. My main goal is to map every area. I hope there are others like me out there and by this note I'm hoping to get a few more hooked.
Most places are easy to map, but as an explorer you do encounter a few obstacles. Here are a few tips for newbie explorers:

Starter tips:
Most areas have some sign at the entrance, telling you which area you're about to enter. Or it may be shown just by looking at the room description. Check with the "area" before entering. If it says 50+++, be vewy, vewy careful or you'll end up vewy, vewy dead.
ALWAYS bring recall scrolls (recall potions/herbs are even better, since if you are in a fight you may fail to read a scroll, but you will rarely fail to put something in your mouth)
Question to immortals - May I bug-report areas that lack a sign with area name and creator name by the entrance? Imho all areas should have that.
Idea to immortals - How about some "whereami" command that tells you which area you are currently in (might ruin the fun of random-teleport, though).
GET A BOAT, GET A BOAT, GET A BOAT! Boats are cheap and not very heavy.
There is no reason not to bring a boat, even if you have the fly-spell.
Mazes:
Pretty easy once you get the hang of it. Just drop 1 coin in the first room you enter, 2 coins in the next _empty_ room you enter, and then keep increasing the ammount. Remember that going north then south doesn't always take you back to where you were before.
If the maze is really messy, here's an example of an easy way to
record it:
Room  n  s  w  e  u  d
1     1 OUT 2  1  -  -
2     1  1  -  -  2  3
3     -  -  3  4     5
4           5     -  -
5     4  5     -  1  -
Interpretation:
The first room entered has been named "1". I have dropped one coin there to mark the room. The room has exits in all four directions but no up or down exit. Going north or east from room 1 leads back to the same room. South leads out and west leads to room 2 (guess how many coins I've dropped there :-)
Room 2 has exits north and south (leading back to room 1), up (leading to itself) and down (leading to room 3).
Room 3 has exits west, east, up and down. The up exit has not been explored yet.
Room 4 has four exits and only the west exit has been checked.
Room 5 has four exits, with only the west exit explored.
Let's say you are standing in room 1 atm (you see 1 coin on the ground) and want to continue your mapping. Let's start with the up exit in room 3. Go w to room 2, then d to get to room 3 and finally up. This room has a pile of coins in it. Great! We've been here before. Pick up the coins to see how many they were and then drop them again. Let's say there were two coins. That means you are in room 2, and so the line
3    -  -  3  4     5
...will now be complete:
3    -  -  3  4  2  5
Next: Go down to room 3, east to room 4 then north. The room you now entered is a room with only north and south exit. No money on the ground.
Change the line: 
4          5     -  -
...into: 
4    6     5     -  -
Also drop 6 coins in the room to "mark" it. Add the line 
6          -  -  -  -
...then go south and check out that room.
Keep doing like this until the map is complete.
This method is simple and safe, and when done you will be certain that no obvious exit has been missed.

Unfortunately more than one coin on the ground is shown as "a small pile of coins",... so the only way to know the exact number is to pick them up and then drop them again. Still, its much easier than dropping different items in each room. If you feel rich, you can instead buy eg recall scrolls and drop 1 of them in the first room, 2 in the next etc. Then, when looking in a room you will be able to see the number of scrolls without picking them up.

Some mobs pick up stuff left on the ground, which may make things a bit harder, but keep working and you'll eventually get your map.
Don't try Astral Plane if you're new to this. That's a _tough_ place to map.

Locked doors:
Kill and loot all mobs you see (if you can). Once you've explored the whole area you will hopefully have found the key. If not, you could try asking a rogue for help.
If none of this works works (like the locked, unpickable door in Mob Factory), then i don't know. Any suggestions?

Aggressive mobs:
Being invisible may help, but some mobs will still see you and attack.
  • If they are small, kill & loot!
  • If they are too tough, recall and check out the other rooms in the area.
  • If they move around. Try again later. Maybe they've moved away from those unexplored rooms?
  • If you can sneak, try getting past the mob that way.
  • If all else fails, you can always enter the room, check "exits" and flee, hoping to flee into another unexplored (and hopefully safe) room. With some luck you will be able to determine which way you fled by checking out the names on the exits and the room name.
    BEWARE! When you flee you will get a small waitstate before you can do anything, so this method is risky. If the room you flee into also has an aggressive mob, you may die. But in the name of discovery... :-)

    Death Traps:
    Wonderful little rooms that makes life so much more interesting. For those of you still in the dark, a death trap (DT) is a room where you are instantly killed, with no chance of survival.
    Luckily, this death isn't as "real" nor as painful as the real(?) ones.
    You lose less xp and you get to keep all your equipment. If you hit a DT, DON'T ask people for a corpse retrieval ;-)
    Note: A room with 20 aggressive mobs is NOT a DT - only very painful.

    If you, when checking "exits" find a room called "Eaten alive", "Killed by stupidity" or "Burning death", it might be a good idea to slow down a bit and start using those braincells. Does that exit lead to a DT or not? Here are some ways on how to find out:

  • Look at the room description again (you _do_ read those descriptions, right?). You might get some indications by descriptions like: "In the center lies a bottomless hole - it would be VERY unwise to enter it".
  • If it's "too dark to see" it's _not_ a DT (unless someone with a wicked mind has created a room with that room name). The room name of a DT is _always_ shown when you do "exits".
  • If you have seen "[INFO] Cindy hit a death trap at " it is probably a DT.
  • Peek into the room. No exits means it's probably a DT.
  • Flee. If you never end up in that room it's probably a DT. At least I've never managed to flee into a DT (yes, I've tried :-)
  • (Make someone else) Enter the room. This is, as far as I know, the only way to be sure.
  • (Tip from Moe:) Try looking in that direction, i.e "look south", sometimes that will give you some more info.

    Secret exits:
    This is, as I see it, the worst problem you face as a mapper. How to make sure you don't miss any of those hidden places. Some are easy to find. Others are a real pain to figure out. And maybe (hopefully) there are a few left undiscovered.

    Earlier you could do: open "" north to open any exit north. Doing this would open any hidden door north or tell you that the exit was locked.
    So doing this for each direction would reveal all secret exits except those you had to "enter" to get inside (like tree, well etc). And those could usually be found by doing "get all".
    Nowadays those hard-to-find places have been hidden better, the "get all" strategy seldom works and trying to open "" in any direction will always fail. So, what to do now?

    Here are a few tips.
  • Check "exits". That will show you all non-hidden exits.
  • Try "get all". Any item you can't pick up may be possible to "enter"
  • Walk in all other directions (n, s, u, d, e, w) and see if you bump into something closed. This will show any not-so-hidden exit.
  • Try "open secret", "open hidden", trap, door, ... You may get lucky.
  • Look at your map. Does it look like a room or two is "missing"?
  • Look at the room description and objects in the room. Any clues?
  • Get a general idea of the area by looking at every room description. Does it look like something is missing? Castles usually has a "queen" and a "king". Low-life scum holdouts often has some kind of "leader".
    A mage tower should have some "mage" inside. Use the "where" command and see if you've missed any mob"

    If you still believe there is an exit here and haven't found it:
    Try open a, open b, open c, open d,... It might help. Eg, if there's a "trapdoor" in the room, the "open t" command will make you open that trapdoor. Unfortunately this will not work if you are carrying eg a "trident" (you will then try opening your trident :-)

    Really stubborn:
    open a north, open b north, open c north,..., open a east, open b east,...

    Really, really stubborn:
    Do all of the above, plus enter a, enter b, enter c,...

    Simple solution that seems to work on burning: Look n, look s, look e, look w, look u, look d. If there is a doorway in any direction, it will say " is open/closed.

    I will NOT be held responsible for any deaths due to accidentaly (yeah, right!) entering homes of demons, tree lords, Death Traps etc.
    Nor will I replace lost money, eq, limbs, minds or souls.
    In the end it's all up to your own bad judgement.
    Don't be afraid: There are NO mobs that can kill you instantly... almost no mobs... not more that three or four... per area... hopefully?
    Be curious. Lionheart is your best friend.

    /Cindy

    PS. Have I missed anything? Please tell me if you have any smart ideas.
    I still have a lot to learn in this area.