KickStarter Ancient Domains of Mystery (ADOM) - now available on Steam and GOG

[Damned Registrations]

If you can reach the portal, going past it isn't significantly more difficult. Most people put it off for other reasons though.

 

[Elwro]

I won't tell you anything about the portal, then. Just 1) asking Thrundarr about it does NOT invalidate the second quest and 2) the place he sends you to has a high chance of a shadow lord in it.

Also: what I always find puzzling is that the level before the portal itself, which you obviously have to go through for the character to learn about the portal, seems to be more difficult than the one you're sent to for the portal to get opened, which obviously is supposed to happen later on.

 

[Castanova]

Asking about it doesnt invalidate the quest.. but does going through the portal in search of the shadow lord invalidate the quest? I figure the portal sends you deeper into the CoC...

 

[Paula Tormeson IV]

Stop holding his hand. It's gay.

 

[Castanova]

Your mom is gay. Anyway, I've read a lot of the guidebook already so I'm not really looking for spoilers. More like clarification on the spoilers.

 

[Elwro]

After asking the dwarf about the portal you won't be actually going through the portal, at least not immediately. You have to go somewhere else.

 

[Higher Game]

What do you guys recommend doing with pools? As a low level character, should I strip off all my clothes/items and drink? Should I be ignoring them?

Use pools early. Lots of stat boosting items are capped at 25, so you definitely do not want to lose stats from above that level due to bad pool luck. Getting back up is much harder the higher your stats are.

If you're loaded with lots of great late game intrinsics from diet, items, etc, pools will probably hurt you. If you lack them, odds favor you in picking up something useful. They're great for a boost early in the game.

 

[Damned Registrations]

I generally only touch them when I absolutely have to try get an AoLS. Definitely wait until you have a safe altar and a pile of herbs to sac to get your luck back if you lose it.

 

[Malakal]

Pools suck hard, unless You are feeling lucky dont ever use them. Or if You desperately need a wish. Usually it is better (and safer) to simply explore some dungeons as it is not as crippling as a bad drink from pools can be (teleportisis without teleport control? yeah...).

 

[Zomg]

I forgot about teleportitis, but you can stick a supply of blink dog corpses in a shop to keep them from rotting to get back telecontrol when you need it.

 

[Elwro]

If you get teleportitis without control, keep drinking :D

 

[Damned Registrations]

And when the pools run dry :

God I hate blink dogs. Lawful, but insanely aggressive. Summoning AND teleporting. Living, so they can berserk on you. And you need their corpses for tele control.

 

[Country_Gravy]

did you equip the ring?

 

[Castanova]

Shit, those fucking Vortexes are out of control! I had a nice Wizard going with about 15 spells learned and a lightning vortex one shotted me

 

[Damned Registrations]

You know the best part? You know how rarely, an enemy will be named and super powerful (Usually carrying an artifact?) That can happen to vortexes. Pretty much the biggest 'fuck you' the RNG has to offer.

 

[Elwro]

Heh. On the one hand, they kill themselves, helping you out with the job, on the other...

Anyway, the "you hear a distant wind" message is indicative of a vortex somewhere on the level.

 

[Castanova]

Alright, I've got what appears to be a promising HE Archer, although it's still early. Help me with what to do next.

The first thing this character did was kill Kranach the Raider but after that I skipped the early game entirely except for some leveling in the ID. Once I got some equipment, I went straight to the CoC where I headed pretty much straight down to Dwarftown.

Other noteworthy things: I already completed the kill quest (it was a Troll). Also, that shield I found is pretty good right? I have the Druid quest, not the other one.

What should I do? I'm thinking I should maybe head back to the early game and kill Keethrax so I can get Herbalism and then maybe do some grinding in the Big Room? I could also do some Arena fighting. I'm a bit wary of doing either, though, because I have no way of dealing with cats yet besides running away. I could also do the Puppy Cave and hope for a vault + good items.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                            Character Information
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

AA    St:14  Le:15  Wi:11  Dx:21  To:12  Ch: 8  Ap:14  Ma:16  Pe:19  L
DV/PV: 36/11   H: 53(56)   P: 31(31)   Exp: 9/15539   M: 7962



----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                            Background Information
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name: AA                  Race: male High Elf       Class: Archer
Eye color: light blue     Hair color: black         Complexion: light
Height: 6'9"              Weight: 143 pounds
Age: 199 (young)
Star sign: Raven          Birthday: 30/Raven (day 30 of the year)

YOUR HISTORY:
        Your parents belong to the nobility. They are rich, respected,
 wealthy and own more than they can count.
        As a child your parents cared a lot for you. Despite all
 circumstances you enjoyed a happy and fine childhood.
        In your youth you became seriously ill and suffered for many years.
 When your disease finally was cured you were left weakened, both
 physically and spiritually, and bereft of the joys of youth.
        Your life as a young adult was characterized by steady
 determination. Your goal lay clearly ahead of you and you never strayed
 from your path.
        You decided to become an Archer.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                  Inventory
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total weight: 750 stones                Carrying capacity: 1400 stones

Head          : uncursed metal cap [+0, +1]                           [50s]
Neck          : blessed amulet of perseverance {Wi+3}                  [3s]
Body          : uncursed elven chain mail [+0, +5]                    [10s]
Girdle        : blessed girdle of strength [+0, +0] {St+1}            [15s]
Cloak         : uncursed light cloak [+1, +0]                         [20s]
Right Hand    : uncursed orcish spear (+1, 1d8+2)                     [75s]
Left Hand     : blessed tower adamantium shield (-2) [+11, +3]       [108s]
Right Ring    : -
Left Ring     : blessed ring of stun resistance                        [1s]
Bracers       : -
Gauntlets     : uncursed gloves [+0, +2]                               [6s]
Boots         : uncursed leather boots [+3, +0]                       [25s]
Missile weapon: uncursed long bow (+2, +2)                            [30s]
Missiles      : bundle of 48 uncursed arrows (+0, 1d6)                [96s]
Tool          : uncursed holy symbol                                   [5s]


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                    Stuff
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Total weight: 306 stones   Carrying capacity: 1400 stones

One-handed weapons ('(')
   uncursed hand axe (+0, 1d6)                                        [50s]
Missile weapons ('}')
   uncursed sling (+0, +1)                                             [3s]
Missiles ('/')
   bundle of 19 uncursed arrows (+0, 1d6+1)                           [38s]
   bundle of 31 uncursed arrows (+0, 1d6)                             [62s]
   blessed arrow (+0, 1d6)                                             [2s]
   uncursed unbalanced arrow (-8, 1d6+1)                               [2s]
   blessed delicate arrow (+0, 1d6)                                    [2s]
Tools (']')
   blessed square key                                                  [1s]
Instruments ('{')
   blessed whistle                                                     [1s]
Rings ('=')
   cursed ring of cold resistance                                      [1s]
Wands ('\')
   uncursed wand of stunning (5 charges)                               [3s]
Potions ('!')
   heap of 3 uncursed potions of invisibility                         [12s]
   uncursed potion of booze                                            [4s]
   uncursed oil of rust removal                                        [2s]
   potion of unholy water                                              [4s]
   heap of 4 potions of holy water                                    [16s]
   blessed potion of healing                                           [4s]
Scrolls ('?')
   uncursed scroll of identify                                         [2s]
   uncursed scroll of familiar summoning                               [2s]
   uncursed scroll of monster detection                                [2s]
   uncursed scroll of item detection                                   [2s]
Food ('%')
   heap of 20 uncursed cooked lizards                                 [60s]
Valuables ('$')
   3150 gold pieces                                                   [31s]

 

[Zomg]

I dunno how many spoilers you want, but this is about a guaranteed item I go for every game automatically, in an arbitrary place:

Spoiler

There is a guaranteed wand of teleport in the assassin's guild area (it's "a rather boring cave entrance" from the outside, and the first level is called DDL in the interface). If you've eaten a blink dog corpse by now to get teleport control you can go get it, it solves so many problems and will save your butt so often that I go for it automatically. Anyway, go there, then go down a level. The second level is labelled "VDDL" in the interface, and there are teleport traps everywhere.

If you use that scroll of item detection you can see a "/" (wand) on the level. It's actually inside a 2-square room next to a set of down stairs. If you have telecontrol, use one of the teleport traps to teleport on top of the wand or right next to it - unless you are unlucky and two monsters are standing in that area, in which case you will have to dig to it (although you don't need telecontrol if you can dig it out, now that I think of it). Then try to go down the stairs, which will force a teleport which you can use to escape the tiny room. Once you have the wand, leave; the next level down stairs is weird and retarded and you need spoilers not to fuck it up honestly.

A wand of teleport is both a great escaping tool (esp. with telecontrol) and the end of cat problems.

That shield is great shit. Your shield skill can go up to the same amount as the DV on a shield so eventually that thing will be worth like 33 DV altogether at normal tactics IIRC. Stacked with spear DV bonuses from skill you will just stop getting hit by most things.

 

[Elwro]

Yeah, that shield is great. And I'd try using that wand of stunning on cats. Little food, though... I'd stack on cooked lizards.

Getting Herbalism will be nice, and the Big Room always has herbs in it, but I'd advise against grinding in it; too dangerous.

 

[Castanova]

Thanks, folks. Hopefully I'll be posting again in a day or two asking for more advice on the same character!

 

[Damned Registrations]

Maybe he intends to pacify the big room and grind the herbs? That's what I always did. Door creation and digging wands are both fairly common and wands are easy to recharge in ADOM.

Remember if you're having a lot of trouble you can wield two shields at once while firing your bow. Though you'll want to train your spear skill up when you can just to conserve ammo and incase you get a nice artifact.

 

[Elwro]

Pacify? One summoner / werewolf lord / jackalwere too much and you may have a non-trivial problem due to the xp rules mentioned above.

 

[Zomg]

Extreme metagaming bullshit inc:

Spoiler

A level can only have about 40 enemies on it (bar a summoner making new ones, and a few special situations like the living forest). You can abuse that by making a pen for an enemy that splits itself like a... something, I forget what splits in ADOM, worms? Anyway, a 40-square pen made of created doors or dug out of the walls. You lure a few of the reproducing monsters into the pen, then walk out and shut and lock the pen behind you. Eventually they'll reproduce up to the spawn limit and nothing else will ever spawn on the level after that point. Meaning you can then do shit like turn the entire big room into a colossal herb farm using an R-pentomino in complete peace and safety.

 

[Elwro]

Lol, didn't know that. Frankly, I don't think I'd have fun with the game while using this strategy, but thanks anyway, that was interesting.

Still, I do use external objects to block a key in the

Spoiler

casino.

:D I think everyone does.

 

[Castanova]

How the fuck do you remove the Moon Sickle?! Already wasted a holy water on it and I'm a Barbarian so I'm illiterate. Do I have to pray for it somehow?