I decided to go down another staircase to see if there was anything interesting around. I found a wand, an amulet, and another blue potion.
In Crawl, each level has at least 6 staircases - 3 going up and 3 going down. Levels in Crawl are HUGE, much larger than all the roguelikes I've played. Sometimes, a level may appear to be smaller than usual. This means that not all parts of the level are connected. If you haven't found all six staircases, then you probably missed something.
Some people like to "stair-dip" (i.e. take the downstairs as soon as you find them) for better navigation and easier fleeing. You may lose time for unannounced portal vaults, so it's best to do it before moving on to the next level. I don't bother doing this, because I'm lazy.
Welcome to Crawl Buffet! It's all you can eat with a price that can't be beat.
Viewers: *groan*You may have noticed that the mini-map appears erratic. It's because I'm using auto-explore. I don't like the early game, so I play as lazily as possible until things start to get interesting. Then, I'll start exploring manually, since it keeps me focused.
What's auto-explore?Crawl has an extensive automated travel system: pressing 'Ctrl-G' or 'G' lets you choose any dungeon level; the game will then take the shortest path to reach this destination. You can also use auto-travel on the level map ('X'): Move the cursor to the place where you want to go and hit Enter. There are several shortcuts when choosing destinations: For example, try '<' and '>' to quickly reach the staircases.
When your autotravel gets interrupted, Crawl will remember the previous destination. Hitting 'Ctrl-G' or 'G' again and following with Enter puts the cursor on that square. Auto-travel can be used for exploration: hitting 'o' makes your character move to the nearest unexplored area.
I was going to make a crappy restaurant joke, but I stopped myself. Giant cockroaches are another non-threat, albeit fast ones. Eating them might make you sick, but kobolds have powerful stomachs. We can eat disgusting, rotting stuff without getting violently ill. Well, most of the time at least.
Across from the roach, we find our first magic weapon. Runed, glowing, shiny, etc. means that the item is different somehow from the plain version of it. This doesn't mean that the item will be good, especially early on. It may be cursed or have negative enchantments. I wield it anyway, because I'm dumb. It turns out to be uncursed, but it has no brand.
I tested a potion to identify it. It turns out to be a potion of paralysis. It's useless to me, so I got rid of it. All potions auto-identify when quaffed, but some are dangerous. I usually wait until I have a few potions of the same type before testing, since a potion of healing and a potion of heal wounds are the most common potions in the early game.
Ooh! A fellow kobold! I wonder if he wants to be my friend. The "Zzz" above his head means he's sleeping, but not for long! Hey! You want to join my party? Ow! Stop poking me with that sword!
What? You actually thought he would be friendly? This is a roguelike! Everything is trying to brutally murder you. My new mace has negative accuracy, so I kept missing. I was getting my butt kicked, so I decided to use my wand.
Most wands auto-identify when zapped at a monster which does not resist them. I usually ID wands by zapping at a weak monster who is at least one square away and close to a wall. This wand is self-explanatory. It's not reliable and it may make things worse for you, but it's entertaining!
I wouldn't use this wand against monsters, unless I have no other choice. I stash them away, so it can't be used against me. Oh, and I replaced my ax with the short sword, since it's lighter.
It's a megabat! Yeah, I giggled at the name when I first saw it. I don't know what a fruit bat is doing down here trying to kill us, but whatever. Remember those bats in
Pokemon every game that constantly harass you? That's what these bats are here for.
Megabats are not really dangerous, but they move 3x faster than you and are hard to hit. You can't run from them, and due to their erratic movements trying to chase them down is pointless. The best way to kill them is to step away from them, hit them when they fly next to you, and repeat until they're dead.
We're halfway through the level! I found some magical darts and tested them against a wall. These have no brand either, so I didn't keep them. The only darts that I like are those with dispersal or exploding brands.
Disperal darts causes an enemy to blink (short range teleport) away if it hits, ignoring MR. They're incredibly useful. Exploding darts create a 3x3 explosion dealing up to 10 damage, which is nice in the early game.
I caught the attention of a hobgoblin who proceeded to shout for reinforcements. A goblins and small snake were alerted by the noise, so I retreated. Goblins are weaker hobgoblins and small snakes are weaker snakes. Normally, you'd encounter these weaklings on D:1, but I got lucky I guess.
Whenever a monster shouts you should move away, even if you plan on killing whatever shouted. The noise might attract something dangerous to your area. You should always try to deal with monsters one at a time whenever possible.
I lured the snake and hobgoblin to a corridor of the far left and killed them off-screen. Now, only the goblin remains.
The goblin put up a decent fight, due to its equipment. Too bad none of it is useful to me.
A snake. A poisonous snake. Poison can kill adventurers with full health. Small snakes can poison you too, but they're so
weak that you would have to practically let them poison you! This goes bad really fast, as I get poisoned after just one bite. I quickly drank a random potion, which turned out to be healing.
I don't know if I can survive much longer, so I desperately use my wand to save me...
...It's a fireball! The snake is instantly killed in the explosion, but does dik-dik make it? Will I have to start all over again?! Tune in next time on Let's Play Dungeon Crawl: Stone Soup!
Author
Topic: Let's Play Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup! (Read 95861 times)