Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Mr.Person]

The dev team nerfed AC and EV for 0.6 compared to 0.5, so that's why it's harder to survive. I used to be able to get enough Okawaru piety that I could Might before seeing my first Ogre, now I'd be lucky to get to the Temple before seeing an Ogre.

[Robsoie]

I am wondering, would people be interested by some kind of "succession" game, in which someone start with a random character, play until he gains 2 levels, post the save game, then someone follow, take the save game and play until he gains 2 levels, post the save game etc... ?

I understand that in the context of Dungeon Crawl perma death and Sigmund , it would become difficult to achieve this, but trying to avoid that death could be fun.

Well the way we performed succession games of crawl was we took a character and traveled a number of "turns" before we passed it on to the next person. Doing it by levels would get longer and longer as time progressed and eventually would be useless when you hit level 27. Especially if your going to go sight seeing and Hell and Pandemonium.

Speaking of my experience. Just tried 6.0 with my Kenku fire elementalist....

Good point, i was not thinking about higher level getting more and more slowly experience (point i forget often due to my characters usually dying prematurely ) but going by a turn limit as you say is much more interesting, thanks for the hint.

So anyone would be interested by trying this kind of succession game ?

[Leafsnail]

Hehe, I'd be interested.  Of course, we'd need to write a story to go along with it...

I actually found dodging to be more effective when I was playing Spriggan Assassin, but that could just be my imagination.

[Leafsnail]

Hmm... new transmuter character.  Forgot how awesome they were.

I'm just wondering if I should go for Kikubaaqudgha and ultimately Necromutation... when I did Sif Muna as a transmuter I found I didn't get much piety since I was generally punching everything to death.  Okawaru's the other obvious choice, but his weapons and armour wouldn't be too useful, and I wouldn't be able to make the corpse sacrifices.

And how did the speed of unarmed attacks work again?  I'm trying to remember if an Elven Chain Mail will slow me down or not.

[Leafsnail]

Hey, don't you just love it when D: 4 is an ogre themed level?  Killed them all except one, who happened to knock me out while confused.  Goddamnit...

Also, the best thing about a ring of teleport control is that you can cancel a teleport trap when you step on it.

[Graven]

Hello there Crawl Thread! Haven't really posted in some time, what with finally ascending for the first time, with 5 runes nevertheless 

I'm just here to say that yes, Chei is the most imbalanced god in quite some time. Why, you ask? Because, my dear readers, I've just had a NaWz die at lvl 17, due only to a giant/titan/dragon vault, combined with Roka, while still killing at least half the creatures in it, while never finding a single offensive spellbook. Now go and re-read that, because it's just what it looks like. I killed my way through the lair, the orc mines, the hive, and D20 with Throw Flame as my most powerful offensive spell.

Yeah. Now go and Slouch your way to victory!
Oh, and here's the chardata.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

 Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.7.0-a0-1104-g2ade68e character file.

124607 Gravenous the Thaumaturge (level 17, -5/126 (135) HPs)
             Began as a Naga Wizard on Apr 16, 2010.
             Was an Elder of Cheibriados.
             Killed by divine providence
             ... invoked by Saint Roka
              (8 damage)
             ... on Level 20 of the Dungeon.
             The game lasted 02:54:26 (47759 turns).

Gravenous the Thaumaturge (Naga Wizard)                                                Turns: 47759, Time: 02:54:27

HP  -5/126 (135) AC 20     Str 18      Exp: 17/174313 (1), need: 49486
MP  29/46        EV 13     Int 28      God: Cheibriados [****..]
Gold 2588        SH  0     Dex 16      Spells:  6 memorised, 32 levels left

Res.Fire  : + + .   See Invis. : +   B - +2,+4 orc morningstar (flame)
Res.Cold  : + . .   Warding    : .   h - +3 orc robe {MR}
Life Prot.: + . .   Conserve   : .   (no shield)
Res.Poison: +       Res.Corr.  : +   b - +0 wizard hat of the Possums {Slow}
Res.Elec. : .       Clarity    : .   g - +2 cloak of Cheibriados {Slow}
Spirit.Shd: .                        A - +1 pair of gloves from the Sea Horses {Slo
Sust.Abil.: . .     Rnd.Telep. : .   O - +2 naga barding
Res.Mut.  : .       Ctrl.Telep.: .   z - amulet of resist corrosion
Res.Rott. : .       Levitation : .   q - ring of protection from fire
Saprovore : . . .   Ctrl.Flight: .   V - ring of magical power

@: about to teleport, very slow, very resistant to hostile enchantments, extremely stealthy
A: spit poison, see invisible, deformed body 1, poison resistance, +10% hp, Int -1
a: Spit Poison, Make Ponderous, Bend Time, Slouch, Renounce Religion


You were on level 20 of the Dungeon.
You worshipped Cheibriados.
Cheibriados was greatly pleased with you.
You were not hungry.

You visited 6 branches of the dungeon, and saw 36 of its levels.

You collected 3165 gold pieces.
You spent 597 gold pieces at shops.

Inventory:

Hand weapons
 o - a +1,+2 short sword of venom
 p - a +0,+2 orcish morningstar of freezing
 B - a +2,+4 orcish morningstar of flaming (weapon)
Armour
 b - the +0 wizard hat of the Possums (worn) {Slow}   
   It slows your movement.
 g - the +2 cloak of Cheibriados (worn) {Slow}
   (You took it off Crazy Yiuf on level 4 of the Dungeon)   
   It slows your movement.
 h - a +3 orcish robe of magic resistance (worn)
 A - the cursed +1 pair of gloves from the Sea Horses (worn) {Slow}
   (You found it on level 3 of the Orcish Mines)   
   It slows your movement.
   It has a curse placed upon it.
 O - a +2 naga barding (worn)
Magical devices
 a - a wand of random effects (17)
 c - a wand of draining (0)
 l - a wand of digging (
 M - a wand of healing (3)
 N - a wand of disintegration (0)
 S - a wand of fire (1)
Comestibles
 d - 2 bread rations
 k - 4 meat rations
 G - 10 grapes
Scrolls
 i - 2 scrolls of detect curse
 s - 4 scrolls of teleportation
 v - 2 scrolls of magic mapping
 y - 2 scrolls of remove curse
Jewellery
 m - an uncursed amulet of warding
 q - a ring of protection from fire (right hand)
 r - an uncursed ring of life protection
 t - an uncursed ring of fire
 u - an uncursed ring of regeneration
 z - an amulet of resist corrosion (around neck)
 F - an uncursed ring of protection from cold
 I - an uncursed amulet of stasis
 V - a ring of magical power (left hand)
Potions
 e - a potion of resistance
 n - 5 potions of healing
 w - a potion of levitation
 D - 2 potions of brilliance
 H - 2 potions of restore abilities
 X - 3 potions of might


 You had 1 experience left.

   Skills:
 + Level 5 Fighting
 - Level 2 Short Blades
 - Level 4 Maces & Flails
 - Level 10 Dodging
 + Level 10 Stealth
 - Level 1 Stabbing
 + Level 2 Traps & Doors
 + Level 14 Spellcasting
 - Level 13 Conjurations
 - Level 6 Translocations
 - Level 14 Fire Magic
 - Level 2 Air Magic
 - Level 2 Poison Magic
 + Level 9 Invocations
 + Level 4 Evocations


You had 32 spell levels left.
You knew the following spells:

 Your Spells              Type           Power          Success   Level
a - Magic Dart            Conj           #####          Perfect     1
b - Blink                 Tloc           N/A            Excellent   2
c - Summon Small Mammals  Summ           ####.          Excellent   1
d - Throw Flame           Fire/Conj      #######        Perfect     2
e - Conjure Flame         Fire/Conj      #######..      Excellent   3
f - Mephitic Cloud        Pois/Air/Conj  ######....     Excellent   3


Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations

Branches:
Dungeon (20/27)            Temple (1/1) D:4             Orc (4/4) D:11
    Elf (0/7) Orc:4          Lair (8/8) D:8           Swamp (0/5) Lair:2
  Slime (0/6) Lair:6        Snake (1/5) Lair:3         Hive (2/2) D:13
  Vault (0/8) D:19   
Innate Abilities, Weirdness & Mutations

You cannot wear boots.
You cover ground very slowly.
You can spit poison.
Your serpentine skin is tough (AC +5).
You have supernaturally acute eyesight.
Armour fits poorly on your unusually shaped body.
Your system is resistant to poisons.
You are dopey (Int -1).
You are robust (+10% HP).

47124 | D:20    | Noticed a shadow dragon
 47128 | D:20    | Reached XP level 17. HP: 70/126 MP: 17/37
 47129 | D:20    | Noticed a titan
 47130 | D:20    | Reached skill 10 in Stealth
 47759 | D:20    | HP: 3/126 [stone giant/ large rock (25)]
 47759 | D:20    | Killed from afar by Saint Roka

[Leafsnail]

Whatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuck

I just read a scroll of acquirement and obtained the BOOK OF DEMONOLOGY

Seriously.  I haven't even received any spellbook gifts from Vehumet yet... and then THIS comes along out of nowhere.

However... I now really, REALLY don't want to fuck up this game.

First question - how badly does the Book of Demonology strike back if you fail to learn a spell?  I learnt Abjuration fine, but I'm kinda worried about the others.  Summon Demon shows up as "Excellant" while Summon Demonic Horde is "Very Good", but I'm not sure what that translates to in terms of learning failure.  I DO NOT want to get killed in one hit by the book I've always dreamed of getting .

Also - is there no chance of the Summon Demon and Summon Demonic Horde spells summoning hostiles?  I've been killed by a Makhleb summon before, so...

[Mr.Person]

I think any summon has a chance of summoning hostiles. In Wizard mode, hostile greater demons showed up a lot more often than I would of liked. They're easy to Abjure away, but it can get annoying when you needed that demon to kill Boris or whatever.

Memorization chances are the same as casting chances, I think. Failure to memorize from Demonology causes summoning miscasts of the most severe nature including banishment so be prepared for the Abyss.

[Leafsnail]

Well, I got Summon Demon and Demonic Horde learnt now.  They both rock so much.  Mana's a bit of a problem, but I usually have enough by the time it runs out.

These Death Yaks are ridiculously hard to kill though... a full mana's worth of hordes and demons only killed 2 of them.  I guess I'll have to wear them down slowly.

Is Recall up to much, incidentally?

Ok... I just smashed up a mini hive (scorpions are the way to go, it seems) and a shadow imp of mine just created a legion of Killer Bee Zombies.  The Hive is gonna be very, very fun.

[Robsoie]

I am always exploring a bit more the vampire necromancer combo with the wizard mode to see which combination of spells are the most efficient to keep him alive.

Always under the Kikubaaqudgha deity.
The vampire necromancer is currently at level 16
I don't think it is possible to survive to at least this level without Twisted Resurrection that proved without any contest in several of extremely lethal situatoin to be the most usefull spell for the necromancer, thanks to those abomination being able to follow you through the stairs and being able to pack a punch.

After reaching the Vault, i found the entrance to the Crypt, i ignored the Tomb entrance for now, i am trying to clean the last floor of the Crypt.
Again, without the Twisted Resurrection, i doubt there is any way to survive, because of those Iron Golems and various floating murderous weapon (that are quicker than you in your bat shape) that both kind of monsters let you no chance in close combat and resist your necromantic spells without any problems.

I believe that run showed me that the removal of the "skeletons/zombies being able to follow you through stairs" was a mistake instead of making necromancer "fun".

Because as fun as Twisted Resurrection is (i like trying to gather corpses to build my abominations), you are then forced you to rely entirely on Twisted Resurection if you seriously intend to survive in the most difficult parts of the dungeons (and even, i saw some monsters cutting my 5/6 large abominations very easily), so basically making necromancy less fun as you will always have to use the same spells.
In my opinion they should have made a limit on the amount of zombies/skeletons you can "own" at a time in a level instead of making those undead unable to follow (maybe depending on your Necromancy skill level).

Anyways, inside of the last Crypt level, i found an altar to Kikubaaqudgha, i prayed over it and it offered the choice between having the pain brand on my weapon and the Necronomicon.

For now, as i don't play seriously, it is not a problem, but for later when i'll get a necromancer with the perma death, i will prefer to make the better choice.

My character has currently a level 20 of Necromancy, for melee he has a great short sword (that i took over the dead body of one of those pesky named enemy) that produce lighting, but that was a lucky pick on the ground, i doubt i would be so lucky in wizardmode-less gameplay.

I read on the wiki that the pain brand can deal

The amount of additional damage inflicted by a successful pain attack is between 0 and (1 + necromancy skill).
    * not resistant to negative energy:
          o if [ random( <= Necromancy_Skill ]; then
                + +(Necromancy_Skill / 2) damage on average

So basically, if i understand well the additional damages would be between +10 and the max +21 on top of my already nice little sword.

But in the same time, my necromancer is not that great in melee, though he is able to kill a yak, i am not trying to get him close the enemy, prefering the Agony and Pain spells to attack (or the dispell undead for those).

Then, in the other choice you have the Necronomicon that seems to offer a bunch of nice spells that my character could certainly have fun with.

But i am not very experienced with the necromancer characters, this run is more of a learning session for a true experience after (without wizard mode).
So what do you think would really be best, taking the Pain Brand for my weapon and get very good combat damage and keeping my current spell list.
Or going to the Necronomicon, forgetting then about melee (as enemy will now certainly get stronger and stronger) and expanding my spell list with some of the greater necro spells

[Robsoie]

I guess i answered my own question by taking the necronomicon and understanding that the Haunt (ex-Summon Wraith) is really a great spell, finally a necro summon spell that is good support spell to use against strong enemies when your abominations are far from being enough.

The only cons is that you can't summon them in advance, you need to see the enemy (this could be a problem with those pesky "smiters" ) but if the Haunts survive, they can follow you (for the duration of the spell).

They are a good way to deal with a summoner enemy that was overwhelming your abominations, as you can summon multiple times.



During a big battle after summoning as much as i could against summoned demons, they took out surprisingly ... the Ancient Lich !
(without me even noticing it as i was running away, being out of mana and every of my large abominations dead in the big summon battle that was occuring)

I guess some of the summoned ones appeared behind the wall of demons and attacked the ancient lich instead of the hellish monsters... unless it was a summoned demon that turned to be hostile to the caster and got rid of it ?

[beorn080]

Aye, Haunt is useful for that EXACT purpose. Swarm of summons coming at you? Fire off a few butterflies then haunt the summoner.

[darkflagrance]

The last time I played vampire necro, I dumped Kiku post-necronomicon and went with Sif, and worked my way up to reliable use of Iron Bolt. So my solution to the inevitable obsolescence of zombies was diversification.

Although this was in 5.0.

[Mr.Person]

They're playing around with Call Imp in trunk. Fewer Shadow Imps, but now it's a level 2 spell. Also, Iron Imps.

[Leafsnail]

Ok... I was playing as a summoner of Vehumet, and I noticed he's got some new tricks.

Now it seems he gives MP cost reduction on spells, and increased range.  If this is true, he's now by far the best choice for my fire elementalists.  I mean... a COMPLETELY FREE spell that can hit enemies up to 5 squares away?  Yes please.

According to the wiki, he also doesn't give away the summoning books now... but nevermind, he's still awesome.

And guess who isn't in my most recent temple?  Damnit.