Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup questions/thread

[Zomg]

Instead of hijacking 7hm's LP thread, I'll drag this thread up for advice.

Just finished clearing Elf:4 with my drac (red) wizard (focused on fire and conjuration, working on enchantment for haste and some protective spells) and I'm looking at this selection for potential jewelry:

c - an uncursed amulet of conservation
i - an uncursed ring of fire
x - an amulet of clarity (around neck)
I - a ring of protection from magic (right hand)
K - a +5 ring of intelligence
L - an uncursed ring of poison resistance
W - an uncursed ring of magical power
q - the ring of Shadows (left hand) {+Inv rN+ EV+4 Acc-3 SInv Stlth++}
(You bought it in a shop on level 15 of the Dungeon)
[ring of invisibility]
It affects your evasion (+4).
It affects your accuracy (-3).
It protects you from negative energy.
It enhances your eyesight.
It makes you much more stealthy.

Evocation's a bit low to use the ring reliably (But I took some time to train it up a bit on some dirt cheap magic dart wands that were for sale, so it's not terrible), but even without that element, the other stats make it highly appealing for general exploring (Note: All content I'm experiencing is new to me, furthest I've gotten before this is clearing the orc mines and six or so levels of the lair), but I'm wondering what to use for that second slot. Leaning towards the ring of fire for general use, but if I encounter a situation where I need to have the protection equipped, I doubt I'll have the turn to spare to swap (Or I'll be dead before I even can).

(I'm quoting the whole thing because this will start a new page)

You actually have the right ones equipped for elf, several elf types have the ability to cast the banishment spell which is countered with magic resistance and the SInv on the ring of shadows is also necessary. And Invisibility isn't really that useful for non-stabbing characters.

The way a ring of fire works is that it gives you a boost to power for all spells with a fire component. Spell power increases accuracy, damage, duration, etc, but it doesn't make it any easier to cast or to cause any less spell hunger. If you are effective with "normal" spell power the ring is just a risk for little reward. And you don't have the sperg experience to know which uniques and monsters have a chance to cast bolt of cold, etc.

Strategy spoiler:

Spoiler

I'd get the hell out of elf ASAP if you haven't already done most of the rest of the game, the end floor of elf isn't something you should be doing until you are either very familiar with the game or the character is a powerhouse, the power difference between upper elf and the elf end floor is extreme.

 

[Ashery]

Read the first half of the spoiler, and yea, the plan is to get the fuck away from the elves. The last level I cleared forced the use of several consumables (a well used blink scroll being the primary one, gotta love conjure flame for covering your rear), so I don't dare risk going down another level as some of the general advice I read was that you shouldn't force yourself to complete a branch before moving on to another.

The question re:ring of fire is does it boost the damage beyond the normal limit that you see under z-!, or does it just bump the displayed power up a couple notches (meaning useless lategame)? If it's the former, it's damn tempting, but the latter would be largely useless by this point (most of my fire spells are already close to cap).

Honestly, at the moment, my biggest issue with the wizard is that dracs have absolute shit (36) for MP despite having 14 spellcasting (To compare, fire and conjuration are only 15).

 

[Zomg]

Nope, enhancers like rings of fire don't boost the power over the caps. Generally if your skills are naturally high enough to reliably cast a spell without failing, they will be high enough to have pretty good spell power and the risks of the ring won't be worth it. There are situations with characters that have shitty skills that can cast "overlevelled" spells where it's very nice though (e.g. by relying on vehumet's conjuration success bonus for a mummy with bad aptitudes).

 

[Damned Registrations]

The elemental boosters are nice though, in that, beyond a certain point, getting any more power out of a spell is extremely difficult, since the raw power required for flat gains increases exponentially. Every elemental booster you have increases your power by 50%, stacking exponentially, so it can be very useful for something you don't have maxed because of multiple schools (Say, bolt of magma if you have no earth skill and lowish conjurations and mostly trained fire.)

That said, I hate touching the elemental rings, because it always seems to invite the RNG to spawn a spellcaster of the opposite element right around the corner. Do try to remember it though in case you find something spamming firebolts at you. It's not like it's too heavy to carry around.

 

[Ashery]

Damn.

Depressing part is that the ring of fire came from a scroll of acquirement.

Taking a break from new content and toying around with a HE Warper of Chei, had some rather lucky drops so far (8 odd heal wound pots, +4/4 artifact sabre (pain, rC+, SInv), +2 artifact leather (rPois, rF++), and three secondary armor slots that took a total of one enchant armor scroll between to max out before I use "Make ponderous" on'em.)

In response to DR, already in the habit of keeping every piece of jewelry on my character just in case I need it. The same should not be said for scrolls, though, heh.

Damn this game's addictive

 

[Damned Registrations]

My spriggan enchanter is coming along. Cleared the lair, a tourney portal, volcano portal (Spoiler: If you find a half dozen humans wearing robes in here, they're robes of fire resistance. I didn't find that out until 10 levels later when I found a scroll of detect curses and started trying them on.) and most recently a painfully disappointing treasure portal that contained mostly crappy troll and dragon hides, along with a single artifact flail that is obviously useless to me. I lugged them all back to the temple, where I now have a massive pile of armor waiting to be sacrificed when I want an escape deck some day. I also lost all my awesome mutations that were buffing up my strength and giving my fire resistance. This is why quaff identifying potions is bad. Losing a quarter of your inventory capacity as spriggan really sucks ass. Found the book of enchantments, which is nice in the long run, mostly for haste and amnesia. Only other book I've found so far is too high level for me to read. I found 4 potions of experience in the tourney loot and chugged them all, so now my HP is a nice cushiony size, especially with fighting at 6. I also found a scroll of acquirement somewhere along the way and it's given me my only particularly nice piece of equipment; an elven cloak of preservation. (Only equippable artifact so far was a ring that prevented spellcasting. Yeah, perfect for a spriggan, you bet.) But I'm currently lacking most resists, any spells aside from enchanting ones, and am about to enter the part of the game where everything is immune to fucking enchantments and spams elemental magic all over the place. Joy. At least I got about a dozen extra decks sitting around right now.

 

[Castanova]

Today they released another list of changes:
http://crawl.develz.org/wordpress/playt ... er-changes

Some interesting ones. In particular, they nerfed the ability to use Apportation to pick up the Orb. I predict a boatload more deaths on Zot:5 now.

 

[desocupado]

So, I was reading Yeesh thread in the playground, and I got a few Merfolk Crusaders going on.

My question is, how do I kill hydras? I'm not sure I can kill them with berserk before the bloody 8 heads kill me.

Also, which branch should I do first?

EDIT: Also, Orc priests. Smite does a shit ton of damage, and although I have managed to get them close by going into corners, I don't think I will last long in the orc mines or something.

EDIT2: Also, mutagenic chunks, worth the risk?

EDIT3: Died to Nessos. Thought I could take him on, but even with berserk he was too tough. Didn't help that I didn't have a blink or teleport scroll. Also, what the fuck is it with scrolls of identify? There's never enough of them.

 

[Zomg]

if you are using a cutting weapon (which is all long blades, all axes, some polearms and some short blades) it needs to be flaming, which keeps the heads you cut off from regrowing as two more. Spoilers contained in Edith Hamilton

mutating on purpose is mostly a bad idea because a couple of the bad mutations are disastrous and none of the good mutations are like instant wins or anything. If you get a lot of cure mutation pots and you have a resist mutation amulet it might be worth it to drink a couple of potions of mutation in case you get something good, if not take a cure mut and forget it. If you have a huge number of mutation potions or the alter self spell it can be worth it to mutate the fuck out of yourself until you get a good set but I've never bothered. Nemelex can remove bad mutations/guarantee good mutations sometimes and Jivya can do some shit too but that's special cases

 

[Yeesh]

EDIT3: Died to Nessos. Thought I could take him on, but even with berserk he was too tough. Didn't help that I didn't have a blink or teleport scroll. Also, what the fuck is it with scrolls of identify? There's never enough of them.

I suck, but I don't usually run short of ID scrolls. Use this to keep from wasting them. Only ID stuff after you've made at least a token attempt to figure out what it is on your own!

http://crawl.chaosforge.org/index.php?t ... tification

Also, I'm sorry for your loss. Now get back in there.

 

[7hm]

if you are using a cutting weapon (which is all long blades, all axes, some polearms and some short blades) it needs to be flaming, which keeps the heads you cut off from regrowing as two more. Spoilers contained in Edith Hamilton

mutating on purpose is mostly a bad idea because a couple of the bad mutations are disastrous and none of the good mutations are like instant wins or anything. If you get a lot of cure mutation pots and you have a resist mutation amulet it might be worth it to drink a couple of potions of mutation in case you get something good, if not take a cure mut and forget it. If you have a huge number of mutation potions or the alter self spell it can be worth it to mutate the fuck out of yourself until you get a good set but I've never bothered. Nemelex can remove bad mutations/guarantee good mutations sometimes and Jivya can do some shit too but that's special cases

Teleport control + teleportitis is pretty close to an instant win.

Early resistances are huge (in particular I love a very early rP).

I always do the mutation roulette. Then rMut amulet once I've got good ones.

desocupado - Branch order I generally use would be... elliptic[1/2]: lair -> orc -> vaults entrance -> early vaults (including crypt)/snake:1-4/swamp:1-4 -> vaults:7 -> d:27 -> get three runes -> zot

I don't usually do crypt before snake, and shoals / swamp are gonna be based on what kind of character I've got.

Lair and then orc is standard practice though. And yeah, smite sucks. You have to use corners and focus on the priests.

 

[BLOBERT]

BROS MY BEST NON TROLL CHARACTER IS ORC PRIEST OR SPRRIGAN ASSASSIN AND I THINK AN OKAY DWARF FIGHTER

GETTING A LITTLE BETTER BUT BORED NOW

MY FARTHEST IS LIKE CLEARING TILL LAIR 8 OR ALL THE ORC SHIT

 

[desocupado]

Fuck this bullshit.

Fuck. I had a character with TONS of permafood end up with a cursed weapon AND a cursed ring of hunger.

I scoured 4 levels, maybe more and not a single fucking scroll of remove curse was found.

Also, who the fuck thought those motherfucking megabats were a good enemy idea? Annoying as hell. If I knew how I would sure as fuck remove that crap from my version of the game.

Fuck.

Before that I reached the orc mines with a character, but the stairs lead to a shit ton of orcs. I tried to go down, and go up, bring some with me, kill them, go down, repeat.

I was doing fine, until three orc priests came up with me. I didn't survive long enough for the teleport, even chugging healing potions.

 

[7hm]

Fuck this bullshit.

Fuck. I had a character with TONS of permafood end up with a cursed weapon AND a cursed ring of hunger.

I scoured 4 levels, maybe more and not a single fucking scroll of remove curse was found.

Also, who the fuck thought those motherfucking megabats were a good enemy idea? Annoying as hell. If I knew how I would sure as fuck remove that crap from my version of the game.

Fuck.

Before that I reached the orc mines with a character, but the stairs lead to a shit ton of orcs. I tried to go down, and go up, bring some with me, kill them, go down, repeat.

I was doing fine, until three orc priests came up with me. I didn't survive long enough for the teleport, even chugging healing potions.

Having tons of permafood is better than having no permafood when that happens.

You can also use enchant weapon scrolls to get rid of weapon curses. It's a last resort for me, but all things must be considered.

Megabats are annoying yeah. They're training for unseen horrors.

And that sucks

Blobert - try trunk. Felids are fun (initially, I found it a bit of a grind later on with them, kinda boring too). Armour isn't shit. And Ash is a really cool god.

 

[BLOBERT]

BRO SORRY WHAT IS TRUNK?

 

[7hm]

There's two versions of DCSS. There's the stable version (.72) and there's the trunk version - the development version. It's pretty stable, they're into the minor changes stage of things. It introduces some a new class (Felids) a new god and a bunch of other stuff. It also has a tutorial mode (wayyy better than before) and zot defense (DCSS tower defense) as well.

You can download the newest trunk here: http://crawl.develz.org/trunk/

 

[desocupado]

I found a trinket at dungeon level 4, the spear my char is using. This one is the farthest char I ever got.

Is there a way to remove the mutations you don't want? Because somehow I managed to get teleport control, but also antenaes and a -2 do dex.

Also, anyway to influence the gifts I get? Okawaru is mostly giving me crap, while the spear I'm using is not cutting it anymore. I'm going to explore the swap next, I've cleared the Orc mines, the Hive and the Lair. Those elephants and death yaks are troublesome, though. Got in some tight spots with those.


Daniel the Impaler (Merfolk Crusader) Turns: 42273, Time: 02:58:18

HP 116/116 AC 16 Str 15 Exp: 15/109640 (153), need: 16959
MP 22/22 EV 28 Int 12 God: Okawaru [*****.]
Gold 2110 SH 0 Dex 18 Spells: 5 memorised, 7 levels left

Res.Fire : + . . See Invis. : . E - +9,+6 Wyrmbane {slay drac, +Rage rPois rF+
Res.Cold : + + . Warding : . . h - +0 robe "Trummy" {rC++}
Life Prot.: . . . Conserve : + (no shield)
Res.Acid. : + . . Res.Corr. : + (helmet restricted)
Res.Poison: + Clarity : . I - +2 dwarf cloak {rCorr, Cons}
Res.Elec. : . Spirit.Shd : . O - +2 pair of gloves {Dex+3} {god gift}
Sust.Abil.: . . Stasis : . q - +2 pair of boots
Res.Mut. : . Ctrl.Telep.: + j - amulet of the gourmand
Res.Rott. : . Levitation : . o - +4 ring of evasion
Gourmand : + Ctrl.Flight: . D - ring of poison resistance

@: somewhat resistant to hostile enchantments, stealthy
A: change form in water, antennae 1, teleport control, Dex -2
a: Heroism, Finesse, Renounce Religion, Evoke Berserk Rage


You are on level 2 of the Lair of Beasts.
You worship Okawaru.
Okawaru is extremely pleased with you.
You are not hungry.

You have visited 6 branches of the dungeon, and seen 29 of its levels.
You have visited 1 portal chamber: ice cave.

You have collected 2679 gold pieces.
You have spent 589 gold pieces at shops.

Inventory:

Hand weapons
c - an uncursed short sword
s - a spear (quivered)
v - a spear
C - a +0,+0 spear
E - the +9,+6 Wyrmbane (weapon) {slay drac, +Rage rPois rF+ AC+5}
(You found it on level 4 of the Dungeon)
This legendary weapon is deadly to all dragonkind. It also provides some
protection from the breath attacks of dragons and other creatures.
It affects your AC (+5).
It protects you from fire.
It protects you from poison.
It lets you go berserk.
J - a +0,+0 spear
Armour
h - the +0 robe "Trummy" (worn) {rC++}
(You bought it in a shop on level 1 of the Orcish Mines)
It greatly protects you from cold.
q - a +2 pair of boots (worn)
I - a +2 dwarven cloak of preservation (worn)
O - a +2 pair of gloves of dexterity (worn) {god gift}
Magical devices
f - a wand of paralysis (6)
k - a wand of fire (7)
p - a wand of draining
x - a wand of digging (3)
L - a wand of cold (6)
R - a wand of draining {zapped: 5}
Y - a wand of healing (0)
Z - a wand of confusion (6)
Comestibles
d - 7 bread rations
H - 20 royal jellies
S - 5 strawberries
U - a honeycomb
Scrolls
a - 2 scrolls of recharging
l - 3 scrolls of holy word
m - a scroll of magic mapping
n - 4 scrolls of remove curse
y - 3 scrolls of enchant armour
z - 4 scrolls of teleportation
B - 3 scrolls of detect curse
F - a scroll of fog
K - 3 scrolls of fear
N - 3 scrolls of enchant weapon II
Q - a scroll of enchant weapon I
Jewellery
g - an uncursed ring of protection from fire
i - a knobbly ivory ring
j - an amulet of the gourmand (around neck)
o - a +4 ring of evasion (right hand)
u - an uncursed amulet of clarity
D - a ring of poison resistance (left hand)
P - an uncursed ring of regeneration
Potions
b - 2 potions of magic
e - 2 potions of agility
r - 2 potions of healing
t - a potion of speed
w - a potion of might
G - 3 potions of restore abilities

Miscellaneous
X - a small ebony casket


You have 153 experience left.

Skills:
+ Level 10 Fighting
+ Level 19 Polearms
- Level 9 Throwing
- Level 2 Armour
+ Level 15 Dodging
- Level 3 Stealth
- Level 2 Stabbing
+ Level 2 Shields
- Level 2 Traps & Doors
- Level 1 Unarmed Combat
+ Level 3 Spellcasting
+ Level 3 Hexes
+ Level 6 Charms
+ Level 3 Ice Magic
+ Level 2 Invocations
+ Level 1 Evocations

You have 7 spell levels left.
You know the following spells:

Your Spells Type Power Success Level Hunger
a - Freezing Aura Ice/Hex ##........ Very Good 2 Choko
b - Berserker Rage Chrm N/A Great 3 Honeycomb
c - Repel Missiles Air/Chrm ##........ Very Good 2 Choko
d - Fire Brand Fire/Hex #......... Good 2 Choko
e - Flight Air/Chrm ##........ Very Poor 4 Honeycomb


Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations

Branches:
Dungeon (13/27) Temple (0/1) D:5 Orc (4/4) D:8
Elf (1/5) Orc:4 Lair (8/8) D:13 Swamp (1/5) Lair:2
Shoals (0/5) Lair:6 Slime (0/6) Lair:7 Hive (2/2) D:11

Portals:
Trove: D:10 (14 potions of heal wounds)

Annotations
Lair:7 exclusion: 2 oklob plants

Innate Abilities, Weirdness & Mutations

You revert to your normal form in water.
You have a pair of small antennae on your head.
You are clumsy (Dex -2).
You can control translocations.

Grand Total: 1253 creatures vanquished

 

[desocupado]

I want to ascend with this motherfucker.

I'm having troubles with weight. What is it that I can throw away?

Plus, any tips on not dieing? I'm currently at the swamp.

 

[Ashery]

If my guess is correct and that weapon's base type is a spear, that'd be one of the reasons your damage is lagging behind a bit. Looks amazing at first glance, but those bonuses aren't ideal. Slay drac does nothing at the moment (And I doubt you'll be using it in Zot), +Rage is useless for you, and the minor resists can be accommodated for with other gear (You have rings for both resists).

However, while you're using the spear, I'd definitely switch the rPois ring to the regen.

I'd hit ctrl-f (Or it could be shift) and look around for any other potential polearms. At this level you'd be looking for pretty much any trident and testing them on plants to see what their bonuses are. Will be hard to match the +9, +6 of that spear though.

Mutation wise, you're generally stuck with what shitty mutations you have unless you want to get rid of your good ones as well.

For the weight: Drop most of your food somewhere safe (I use temple, others use Lair:2). I tend to carry around 6-7 honeycomb and 3-4 royal jellies (More of the jellies if I'm expecting stat loss). Drop all scrolls save for what's used in combat/while exploring (Blink, teleport, detect/remove curse, id, magic mapping, fear early on, etc), otherwise keep'em safe in your stash location. Note that you only need 2-3 of each (Possibly more for teleport as you can burn through those quickly if you get unlucky). Also, with the royal jellies, you can effectively ditch your potions of restore abilities. Could probably drop a wand or two as well (I'd drop confusion and the partially used draining). Switching to a knife for butchering will also free up a couple weight units.

You can safely turn off the polearms skill as you're already way beyond the cap of a demon trident. Should get invocations and your spell schools higher, though. "Very good" success rate on spells is far from reliable. And keep traps and doors on at all times. I'd suggest the same for stealth, but that's not as important (Although you do lack means of quick escape, ie low stealth is less of an issue for warpers).

Okie tends to be unreliable for gifts as well. With throwing high, you're also going to be receiving darts/javalins/needles very frequently, but the gift categories are on different timers.

On a final note, if you're having issues in melee vs death yaks and elephants (in 1v1 situations), you're likely to get fucked over pretty bad in some of the other branches (Swamp could work thanks to you swimming bonuses, but avoid that last level). Although, while rereading your post, it seems like you were able to take them down, just not easily (Which would be normal).

Oh, and why aren't you using a buckler?

Edit: You could also clear a bit more of the dungeon before exploring the rune branches.

 

[Raghar]

Teleport control + teleportitis is pretty close to an instant win.

Teleportitis level three and teleport control results in yellow glow.

 

[desocupado]

I wasn't using a buckler because it makes my spellcasting unreliable. Is it worth it?

I found one demonic trident, used all my enchant weapons scrolls on it and I'm using it now, only keeping the spear for an eventual dragon.

I only had trouble with lots of elephants and yaks. 1v1, they go down easy.

Right now, I have cleared the swamp, gotten the orb. Then I went back to the dungeon and a named guy banished me to the Abyss.

I'm fucked.

Not that I think I will be able to survive, but how do you switch quickly between levels? It would be long climb to the temple to drop stuff there. Nevermind, found it.

EDIT: Lucked out, and found a gate before all those fuckers killed me.

 

[Ashery]

Bucklers have *no* penalty beyond five shield skill for merfolk. Fifteen for regular shields, twenty five for large.

Even against the dragon, a demon trident will out damage that spear. If I'm recalling correctly, base damage is the key element of your overall damage.

The Abyss isn't too bad, either. Just be sure to keep swiftness up at all times and try to avoid engaging whenever possible. If it looks even remotely like you'll lose a fight, use a tp scroll early as it'll take substantially longer than normal.

 

[Nim]

If there are only 2 entries to D4 and one has Sigmund and the other Duvessa & Dowan I'm screwed right ?

 

[desocupado]

If there are only 2 entries to D4 and one has Sigmund and the other Duvessa & Dowan I'm screwed right ?

Every floor has three entries. If you only see two, it means there's a unexplored part of the map. I suggest going to D2, and using the stairs you haven't used before, becase one of them might land you in an unexplored part of D3, containing stairs to D4.

If you have Berserk or Confusion, you might want to take Sigmund on.

 

[Nim]

Yeah, I figured as much and took Siggi on, Mummy Stalker FTW :D Kicked his ass surprisingly easy with confuse and then Dowan and Duvessa came along and met the same end. Now I have to choose a god. Can a mummy use Kikus Invoke Torment ?