Caves of Qud (ROGUELIKE) deserves our love

New cybernetics are awesome, finally true kin is interesting to play with.

 

Starting cybernetics are kinda lame (compared to mutations, which are better at level 1 AND scale into late game), and the only one I've found were also underwhelming (gave you random cheap skill).
Was it just bad luck?

 

I've found cool ones out in the desert, and cybernetic credits in sultan shrines. There's a foot one that gives +100 move speed--pretty excellent. I suspect there are a lot better ones deeper underground.

 

I saw "becoming nooks" and thought this was some wierd Animal Crossing thing, like that Let's Play of it that quickly decends into madness.

 

The only build I had success with is minotaur type of guy, with horns, axes, freezing hands and sleeping gas (the last two is the reason build has any success at all).
I should probably learn how to play the game better (without overpowered abilities) if I want to become a proper nook.

 

I was a bit disappointed with some of the abilities.
Maxed out turtle shell, but later on even when you recede to the shell enemies just tear you to pieces.

Armor in general seems to be entirely worthless. With the shell I easily had 3x as much armor as the best armor you can find - and still, got killed in the classical way (getting swarmed). Maybe it took 2-3 turns more due to the shell, though

Lesson learned: Max your killing power, maybe speed, forget about defense.
Which is a shame, really. I'd have preferred if tanky builds were also a possibility for more than just early-mid game.

 

What were the enemies and what was your AV? I've become relatively unkillable with high AV in the past.

 

Can't remember, really. But the shell was maxed AND I was hiding inside for double effect.
I doubt there are ways to increase AV much further than that

Normal enemies were not a problem. I think it was some "boss" monster that spawned a ton of minions, and those just swarmed me so that I couldn't even move anymore.
So I "retreated" into my shell (enabling regeneration before that), but still... dead character.

So it is not like the shell was entirely useless. Normal enemies barely scratched me.
But if it doesn't help against a boss, it's useless in my book, because the tough fights are where your abilities need to shine, not the filler stuff.

 

WTF you dosn't discuus it in pinned thread?

Also, CoQ isn't a game about balance and battles, it is more about storytelling, so everything else it is lacking.

I remember some kind of slime, livig slime, that killed my 100 hp in one hit, it was at Eartheater main building.


My buil of choice is Agi-based type, builds that rely on single stat for economy and effectivenes.
So, starting implant is NV for its one-shots prevention - I remember I met piramide in underground under Joppa, which two-three-shotte me from the darkness, because I never met it before and didn't know those barrage of fire is from it.

 

Friday's update:

• We added our first batch of achievements, 30 in total. Expect many more as development continues.
  • The Laws of Physics Are Mere Suggestions, Vol. 1
    • Violate the Pauli exclusion principle.
  • Eat an Entire Bear
    • Kill a bear and eat it. Just eat an entire bear.
  • To Thine Own Self Be True
    • Wear your own severed face on your face.
  • Friend to Fungi
    • Host three different fungal infections at once.
  • Goat Simulator
    • Project your mind into a goat's body.
  • The Spirit of Vengeance
    • Recover the Ruin of House Isner.
  • Knight Conical
    • Recover Stopsvalinn.
  • Love at First Sign
    • Fall in love with a sign.
  • Pyramid Scheme
    • Kill a chrome pyramid.
  • Dark Tidings
    • Foresee your own death.
  • Love Thyself
    • Fall in love with yourself.
  • A Bond Knit with Trust
    • Become loved by a faction.
  • The Woe of Joppa
    • Become hated by the villagers of Joppa.
  • Peekaboo
    • Become loved by newly sentient beings.
  • Jawsnapper
    • Kill 100 snapjaws.
  • Starry Demise
    • Be crushed under the weight of a thousand suns.
  • Quiet This Metal
    • Speak to the alchemist.
  • Your Thirst Is Mine, My Water Is Yours
    • Perform the introductory water ritual 100 times.
  • Proteus
    • Have 10 mutations.
  • Welcome to Qud
    • ???
  • On the Rocks
    • ???
  • Your Better Half
    • ???
  • You Are Becoming
    • ???
  • You Became
    • ???
  • Say No More
    • ???
  • Metal Pedal
    • ???
  • You Are What You Eat
    • ???
  • Shoot.
    • ???
  • Litteratus
    • ???
  • So Powerful is the Charm of Words
    • ???
  • If you helped us test the achievements, you can wish for "clearach!!!" to clear your achievement progress.
• You can fall in love with signs again.
  
• Moved userprefs.json from the game data directory to the save directory.

Sort of a bummer update to me, since I don't really give a damn about achievements. They do look pretty, though. Apparently the last two major mechanical expansions are on the way in the near future, and the devs say that after that all work will be on new content (locations, NPCs, quests, creatures, and hopefully dialogue and C&C).

 

I have a small feeling it won't be quite that simple since the developers will get new ideas.

 

http://steamcommunity.com/games/333640/announcements/detail/2922136221151619257

 

Reapa, what has caused the negative reaction to start simmering in your brain?

 

"Friday" update:

From the steam discussion the dev has said that mouse-driven interface will become default on release, which will be sort of like Brogue (I take it). A bit of a decline, I'd say.

 

come again?
i take it you're talking about my reaction to the cooking crap.
i don't see the point of implementing crafting right now or at all.
i get the feeling some roguelike devs just don't ever want to leave the "work in progress" stage.
same thing is happening with oxygen not included. they keep implementing new crap while there are still lots of bugs and crappy mechanics that would need to be addressed first.
cogmind was released as early access as well iirc.
shit like this can lead to getting fed up with working on the same game for too long and just abandoning it in an unfinished state. wouldn't be the first time.

 

From the roadmap on their website

 

The point is that right now, food consumption is way too easy. As soon as you get butchering (and every player who doesn't play for the first time always picks that first) and harvesting, you will never starve.
At least if you don't do some silly shit like running around in the desert forever.
There are some minor inconveniences about food if you take that negative mutation that requires you to eat twice as much - or if you catch glotrot and eating potentially makes you bleed (THAT is actually dangerous).

If it weren't for those oddities, I'd actually suggest removing the need to eat completely, because it adds nothing to the gameplay otherwise.
I suppose cooking adds some more depth and involvement here. Or, at least I hope so.

 

and if you go deep enough underground you find lava and break the economy.
my point about crafting still stands. it feels like a lazy way to keep working on the game but not doing anything of value. like so much needed content (dialogues and quests) for such a huge world.
they went with a quest driven game and basically only added a main quest. secondary quests are so few you can count them on one hand. the fuck do i need crafting for at this stage???
you are right about how easy it is to find food but you make a very weird argument. how is crafting even more food gonna balance it???
they're gonna throw even more food at us and then have to redo the skills and possibly the food consumption mechanics and waste a few more years balancing one single fucking aspect of the game.

 

Totally agree, the game needs content at this point and not new mechanics that will require more balancing, especially a pretty superfluous-seeming system like food crafting for temporary buffs. But I have to point out that they did add new food-based skills for the new food system.

 

http://steamcommunity.com/games/333640/announcements/detail/1572185308540457615

 

Yeah, that sjw-shit is hiding till the time come, and then suddenly jump at you and you realize what it's all was about.

My yesterday's char.

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That was my last death. Purchased drugs and then while walking away a damn caveman came up and attacked the dealers. One of them fired a displacement vortex, it ricocheted back and forth across the room before clipping me and sending me to the ass end of the world. Didn't survive long. Whoever killed me got some high quality dope, though.