Topic: Dungeon Crawl: Stone Soup. Or: THAT DAMN SIGMUND. (Read 1684067 times)

Mr Space Cat · « **Reply #10845 on:** August 05, 2013, 08:54:28 pm »

Quote from: G-Flex on August 05, 2013, 07:53:42 pm

Easy. Play a minotaur.

But that's not a dwaaaaarf!~~

Anyway, tried playing as "Bumbeard" the Deep Dwarf Berserker, which works really well with Hand of Trog providing an alternative method of healing combined with deep dwarves' natural resilience to damage. I didn't have to worry about posion, sickness, or any of those weak damage per turn effects. I died down in the Snake Dens after a brutal all out war with dozens of naga, naga magi, naga warriors, and at least three greater naga who were all listed as extremely dangerous. finally kicked the bucket when I was fighting the last greater naga, who was almost dead too. The snakemen just wouldn't stop flooding down the corridor.

Bloody shame, too. I was doing so well. Had +3 fire dragon scale armor which I had found on DL:2, +2 elven gauntlets, +2 helm of see invisible, yadayada. 20 or so AC total. Also a +6 +7 War axe of the Beast which was my main weapon, a +0 +4 sling of fire for ranged backup, and a bunch of randomly gathered +2 +3 hand axes I kept for throwing, they were actually pretty effective against trash mobs. I had a load of wands, including my wand of healing as well as several wands of slowing, wands of fire, a wand of confusion, and a wand of fireball.

I had so many methods of fire damage I felt like some sort of flaming dwarven demigod of anger, bloodshed, and burning shit. I was also surprisingly stealthy thanks to my Beast axe which buffed stealth by a lot.

Best character so far, beating my past record-holding minotaur Gluteus Maximus by some thousand points. Deep Dwarves can be pretty fun, I enjoyed the extra metagame of having to manage my health.

Spoiler: Infodump from the morgue file (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Kills (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Turn log (click to show/hide)

t0nedude · « **Reply #10846 on:** August 07, 2013, 02:51:27 am »

Quote from: Covenant on August 01, 2013, 10:46:01 pm

Quote from: t0nedude on July 31, 2013, 03:47:05 pm
Update - yay my first win! (Won't be my last):

Congratulations! Now try an entirely different combination, so you can enjoy the fun of having no idea which tactics work all over again

I tend to follow the path of winning with one combo, then moving onto the next, though I've taken a break from my many attempts to ascend an atheist Spriggan Monk (my last one died one turn before he could finish punching Antaeus to death - I wasn't pleased!) and I'm now trying out a Naga Skald of Chei. As you can imagine, it's pretty slow going!

Thanks Covenant. I will start working on different combos soon to be clueless all over again

but not quite yet..I intend to milk the combos I do know to do well a little longer. I have a L23 SpEn on the go at the moment, damn the Snake Pits are tailor made to hurt SpEn's (Shoals was a total breeze). I also have a L19 MnFi with 2 runes on the go as well. Also got a couple more promising characters in the early midgame on the way up (hopefully - unless I do somethin stoopid which is very possible).

Unlucky on your SpMo going toe to toe with Antaeus and coming out second best (just) Damn that's hardcore just thinking of going toe to toe with him..now Naga's I've never touched...could be interesting...(which means lots of YASD)

Tony.

Werehuman · « **Reply #10847 on:** August 09, 2013, 02:46:15 pm »

Personally, the farthest I've ever made it is to the spider's nest/orcish mines. Both were a minotaur fighter of trog; the shield at the start was really handy. I've had two hill orc priests who could have honestly made it and probably cleared the lair easily, but for BOTH of them, the only reason I died was a scroll of immolation. Having all of your friends, most of them stronger than you, all suddenly turn hostile, and Beogh suddenly hates you, is a tough situation to get out of. The first time I died outright, second time I managed to run away and then got mobbed by some orcs summoned by Beogh. Lesson here: Don't read any unidentified scrolls next to your allies; tell them to wait there and then read it far away.
I've been trying deep elf necromancers, but I always die in the first few dungeon levels simply because either they find a pain-immune monster such as an imp, or they get mobbed early on. How would one get a necromancer past the early bit, at least to the temple? Once I get Kiku, I'm pretty sure I could get a zombie army with the corpse receiving, but I can never get to it.
Would starting as a wizard and then converting to necromancy be better, via Kiku? Last question is, I'm pretty sure raised undead can't share experience, just from using them for a while, but then again I don't know for sure. Do small/large abominations share experience/level up? (My plan is to use zombie armies only as long as I need to, and then go straight to twisted resurrection.)

t0nedude · « **Reply #10848 on:** August 09, 2013, 04:06:15 pm »

Quote from: Werehuman on August 09, 2013, 02:46:15 pm

Personally, the farthest I've ever made it is to the spider's nest/orcish mines. Both were a minotaur fighter of trog; the shield at the start was really handy. I've had two hill orc priests who could have honestly made it and probably cleared the lair easily, but for BOTH of them, the only reason I died was a scroll of immolation. Having all of your friends, most of them stronger than you, all suddenly turn hostile, and Beogh suddenly hates you, is a tough situation to get out of. The first time I died outright, second time I managed to run away and then got mobbed by some orcs summoned by Beogh. Lesson here: Don't read any unidentified scrolls next to your allies; tell them to wait there and then read it far away.
I've been trying deep elf necromancers, but I always die in the first few dungeon levels simply because either they find a pain-immune monster such as an imp, or they get mobbed early on. How would one get a necromancer past the early bit, at least to the temple? Once I get Kiku, I'm pretty sure I could get a zombie army with the corpse receiving, but I can never get to it.
Would starting as a wizard and then converting to necromancy be better, via Kiku? Last question is, I'm pretty sure raised undead can't share experience, just from using them for a while, but then again I don't know for sure. Do small/large abominations share experience/level up? (My plan is to use zombie armies only as long as I need to, and then go straight to twisted resurrection.)

Just in case you don't know - the Lair is always the first recommended branch to clear (even though most of the time it appears after the Orcish mines). I must admit at certainly not being an expert at Necromancers although Deep Dwarves are supposedly one of the best viable race options for them. Ever since they dropped Dispel Undead from the starting Spell Book, and changed it to level 5 this has caused a serious nuisance for starting Necros. Imps are a pain but usually are easily dealt with - just move to the nearest up stairs and wait for it to become adjacent, move up the stairs and attack them until they blink away then move back down. Also remember to get used to placing Exclusions on stairs and parts of the level to mark danger areas (Shift + X then press e to toggle). Personally I find Necros hard work, it's a constant juggling act of hunger, skills and managing undead and demons in the dungeon, alot of to-ing and fro-ing.

Starting as a Wizard sounds quite viable due to the excellent starting spell book with great utility spells giving you several escape options - might try this myself. Kills by any minions you have whether permanent or not only give you half XP I believe.

Tony.

Mr Space Cat · « **Reply #10849 on:** August 09, 2013, 04:23:29 pm »

Quote from: Werehuman on August 09, 2013, 02:46:15 pm

I've been trying deep elf necromancers, but I always die in the first few dungeon levels simply because either they find a pain-immune monster such as an imp, or they get mobbed early on. How would one get a necromancer past the early bit, at least to the temple? Once I get Kiku, I'm pretty sure I could get a zombie army with the corpse receiving, but I can never get to it.
Would starting as a wizard and then converting to necromancy be better, via Kiku? Last question is, I'm pretty sure raised undead can't share experience, just from using them for a while, but then again I don't know for sure. Do small/large abominations share experience/level up? (My plan is to use zombie armies only as long as I need to, and then go straight to twisted resurrection.)

I've been trying the same general idea with necros. I forget which race I had the best luck with, (either deep elf or vamp.) but my general necro strategy with humanoids is to train a weapons skill in early game so I don't have to rely completely on pain. Usually I can at least get down to the temple, if I haven't found Kiku's shrine earlier on. running into Sigmund or other uniques is usually a game over though.

also some meta strategies such as taking corpses down a stairwell before dropping them on the next floor and raising them as skeletons for later helps make me less vulnerable between floors in early game.

Honestly I'm playing a necro like you'd play a death knight or heavy armored casters, but with the benefit of vampiric touch and spells like pain brand or extravagant wounds for enchanting weapons. Also the regeneration spell is great for survivability. Use corpses for an army of cannon fodder for monsters you can't fight hand to hand. I don't usually survive long enough to get to twisted resurrection, but I have occasionally, usually while I'm in Lair.

I'm not sure if an undead can actually level up like the player or companions. the thing with the abominations is that they grow larger by assimilating corpses (or each other), and the bigger the corpse the better the abominations get. Abominations also have the benefit of following you between floors, which is nicer than average skeletons or zombies.

I've found felids work really well, oddly. The natural slow metabolism combined with regeneration means you have to worry less about keeping tons of food and your health is usually up, and when in doubt you can always butcher a small corpse for eating.

Werehuman · « **Reply #10850 on:** August 09, 2013, 06:31:42 pm »

I've always went to lair first, simply because in the orcish mines, although orcs are weak, getting smited to death by 5 orc priests you can't reach because of the horde of orcs blocking them isn't that fun.

I'm going to try felid now, seems like it would be pretty good.

Mr Space Cat · « **Reply #10851 on:** August 09, 2013, 07:59:53 pm »

So an orc priest is crazy fun once you start getting followers. The first orc that started following me is still going strong, and has grown to an orc knight named Borgk, wielding a sling, stones, a buckler, and a runed staff at the moment. He's been blessed by Beourgh so much and has so many kills. I've got two orc knights including Borgk, a bunch of orc warriors, and a couple other priests. Letting the orcs pick up whatever gear they find with Ctrl+t really helps, one orc drops all their gear for better loot and then another orc drops his gear to pick up that gear and then another orc picks up that gear and so on.

The knights are killing machines, and with their frenzy ability my orc mob is almost always buffed. I've had an orc warrior one-shot an ice beast using a bow and arrows. It's crazy.

My only complaint is that the orc knights keep stealing my kills.

I think that slows my rate of leveling up.

Personally, my hero Orksises has an orc morningstar, orcish plate armor, gauntlets and boots and cloak, and two rings of protection equaling 25 AC, and a couple mutations including a deformed body, sharp fingenails, and unusually fast regeneration. XL 11 at DL 12 and I'm looking for the Lair.

lemon10 · « **Reply #10852 on:** August 09, 2013, 09:09:33 pm »

Usually I go: Dungeon till lair->Lair->Dungeon till vaults->Orc till 3->First level or two of vaults. After that I usually end up doing whatever I feel is easiest.
But yeah, always clear out lair before doing any other branch, and avoid orc 4 till later on.

Werehuman · « **Reply #10853 on:** August 09, 2013, 10:19:32 pm »

I heartily recommend a felid necromancer now, because 1. You get extra lives, obviously this is very useful. 2. You are a carnivore, so it is very easy to become engorged by eating everything you see. Better yet synchronize with animate skeleton to get skeletons AND food. You can then use regeneration in a fight without a worry, as food is not really a problem. 3. You can kite/pillar dance a lot of enemies, and most of them that you can't aren't too much of a problem. Probably would have went pretty far if it weren't for a freaking orc priest. I probably should have just teleported/ran away, but I figured, I had a huge undead army. Well apparently orc priests don't even care about the undead, and just kill you first. I was so close to getting an extra life too...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Mr Space Cat · « **Reply #10854 on:** August 10, 2013, 12:15:41 am »

Got the first rune of Zot out of the Spider Nest. Woooo! This is the furthest I ever got. Ever. Orc Priests are pretty sweet.

We had casualties though among the orc gang. Borgk the eldest orc knight, who also was my first disciple and my favorite, died. So that sucks. We also lost a couple orc priests and a couple warriors. On the bright side, one of our priests has leveled up to high priest, which apparently means they can raise the dead. Also our orc wizard leveled up to be a sorcerer, so now he can also raise the dead and conjure demons and occasionally shoot spells at stuff.

The end result is usually an almost never ending mass of zombies and demons to aid our orcish company of Badassery. It's a bit of a hassle trying to go between floors and keep my orcs together, though. Towards the end of the Nest the tunnels were flooded with zombie spiders which could handle all the fighting for us while I walked over water--being the kickass orc messiah I am--and snagged the rune. Ghost moths and other invisibles are a bit of a hassle, since I have no method of seeing invisible.

Also Bladewarg, the second-in-command after Borgk, achieved orc warlord status. So he's replacing Borgk as the favorite.

I crawled back up to the Lair with my orc gang. I'm debating whether to keep going to the water branch from the Lair and get another rune or go back to orc mines for some more recruits. All the poison damage in the den really chewed through my troops.

Werehuman · « **Reply #10855 on:** August 10, 2013, 01:49:56 pm »

Quote from: Mr Space Cat on August 10, 2013, 12:15:41 am

-snip-

Congratulations on your rune! I've never managed to get that far; farthest I've gotten is level 4 of the Spider Nest.

t0nedude · « **Reply #10856 on:** August 10, 2013, 04:38:29 pm »

Quote from: Mr Space Cat on August 10, 2013, 12:15:41 am

Got the first rune of Zot out of the Spider Nest. Woooo! This is the furthest I ever got. Ever. Orc Priests are pretty sweet.

Congrats Mr Space Cat!

Quote from: Werehuman on August 10, 2013, 01:49:56 pm

Congratulations on your rune! I've never managed to get that far; farthest I've gotten is level 4 of the Spider Nest.

The best approach I find for getting a rune is patience. The last level of all the rune branches is always MUCH harder than the preceding floors. Do as many of these 'preceding' floors in as many branches as you feel comfortable with (avoid the Elven Halls and the Slime Pits entirely). And do as many dungeon levels untils until it starts becoming uncomfortable (try and find the Vaults if you can). Then you're ready to try for your first rune....

Preferable resistances - Snake Pits - rPois, Spiders Nest - rPois + Clarity (Resist Confuse for Tarentellas - I recently lost a promising L16 fighter to these idiots - my own fault really) - Swamp - rPois - Shoals - rPois + any form of Flight or Invisibility in Shoals is king.

I'm sure better players will have better advice.

Hope this helps,

Tony.

Werehuman · « **Reply #10857 on:** August 10, 2013, 04:43:53 pm »

Probably also see invisible, for the ghost moths in the spider's nest. I too lost my character to the tarantella; had rPois, no clarity.

t0nedude · « **Reply #10858 on:** August 10, 2013, 04:49:51 pm »

Quote from: Werehuman on August 10, 2013, 04:43:53 pm

Probably also see invisible, for the ghost moths in the spider's nest. I too lost my character to the tarantella; had rPois, no clarity.

Yep! Good call, can't believe I missed that. In fact SInv is preferable as soon as possible anyway for the copious Unseen Horrors on the dungeon levels leading up to Vaults and beyond.

Mrhappyface · « **Reply #10859 on:** August 10, 2013, 10:52:14 pm »

Holy shoots Nemlex Xobeh is really really powerful if you go out of you way to horde shitty potions, scrolls, and food. Deck of Wonders is amazing. Getting all that XP dumped on you and then getting another Deck of Wonders drop due to piety is mindblowing.

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Author Topic: Dungeon Crawl: Stone Soup. Or: THAT DAMN SIGMUND. (Read 1684067 times)

Mr Space Cat

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t0nedude

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Werehuman

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t0nedude

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Mr Space Cat

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Werehuman

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Mr Space Cat

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lemon10

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Werehuman

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Mr Space Cat

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Werehuman

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t0nedude

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Werehuman

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t0nedude

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Mrhappyface

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