Metagaming, degenerate behaviour and various strategies based on unbalanced game features are present in [[IVAN ]] just as in any other game. Here you can find the ways how to bypass the game balance for profit and victory.

Exploits are strategies considered by some to be against the spirit of the game , or certain intended features which are widely seen as border on the overpowered in the current release. There are no rules or protection against these actions, so other people may consider them to be a legitimate strategy.

''Work [[Scroll of Change Material]] can be used on more then you equipment - and as long as the material you change your limb into is not organic, your limb will get [[attribute]]s based on the statistics of the [[Materials|material]]. High material strength increases your [[AStr]]/[[LStr]] while high flexibility increases [[Dex]]/[[Agi]]. Note that artificial limbs do not heal on their own like organic limbs do, but you can still repair them using a scroll of repair or the shops in progress!''[[Attnam]]. Also note that it is possible to receive an artificial limb from a [[god]] you pray to if you are missing a limb. The god will pick one of its attached materials and create a limb of this material for you. Consult the [[list of materials]].

An easy and safe way of raising your [[Endurance]], it also utilises the mostly useless trash in the form of broken [[bottles]]. As you gain Endurance from healing taken [[damage]], it's normally associated with the risk of getting hurt too much by attacking [[monsters]] and dying. However, you can game the system by throwing a bottle at the wall, breaking it, and then stepping on the square containing the broken bottle barefoot. You will injure your leg on the sharp shards and can then wait until your leg heals. Rinse and repeat until you start seeing increases in your Endurance. Note that you must do this trick without any [[boots]] on, as the damage dealt by a broken bottle is minimal. This makes the trick very safe, as you won't endanger your legs, but wearing boots will block the damage completely.

How so? The [[Carnivorous Plant]]s she constantly spawns can be used as infinite training dummies to gain experience for your [[skills]] and train your [[attribute]]s. In addition, they drop kiwis, giving you an endless supply of [[food]], as long as you can kill enough of them fast enough. You don''Coming soon!''t need to kill Jenny to get from the [[Underwater Tunnel]] to [[Attnam]] - you only need to get her out of the way. If you happen to find a [[wand]] of teleportation, zap her and she will teleport somewhere randomly on the floor, allowing you an easy access to the stairs she normally blocks while also letting you take advantage of the training on her plants.

''See [[Invincible Items|here]].'' While unbreakable items are not easy to exploit, there are certain strategies that stretch the suspense of disbelief when the player uses them. For example, [[scrolls]] can [[Fire|burn]], but cannot be dissolved in [[acid]], unlike the majority of [[items]]. Thus it's possible to dip a burning scroll into a [[bottle]] of sulphuric acid to extinguish the flames with no risk of destroying the scroll.

In a strange quirk of coding, permanent [[Status Effects]] are declared in IVAN as simply an effect with a very long duration. This can be exploited by hoarding sources of temporary effects and then using them all at once, increasing the duration of the temporary effect over the permanent limit, at which point the effect will be stoppped from timing out and will be for all intents and purposes permanent. This is obviously very useful, especially as several types of [[monster]] flesh give beneficial status effects. As an example: * Three dead [[floating eye]]s are enough for permanent [[ESP]].* Similarly, three [[Blink Dog]] corpses will grant you permanent [[TeleControl]].* Harder to achieve, but with several [[Wand of Haste|wands of haste]] and a prayer to [[Cleptia]], you might gain permanent [[Haste]]. === Threat Danger Level Reduction === Danger level is a hidden balancing statistic that attempts to portray the current combined strength of your [[character]]'s stats and equipment, which is then used to tweak the difficulty of the game. This is best visible through the generation of weaker or tougher [[monsters]]. However, as monsters are normally generated en masse when you first enter a level, it is possible to partially subvert this in your favour. When entering a level for the first time, take off your most powerful pieces of equipment (especially highly enchanted [[weapons]] and magical [[armor]]). You will appear to the game as weaker than you really are, and it will generate the level populated with correspondingly weaker monsters. This does not outright defeat the danger system, as new monsters will slowly get generated taking your actual danger level in account and monsters will get more powerful at deeper dungeon levels anyway, but it might make your life a little easier at each new level for a while.

Most of the bugs described below were present in the per-[[CVS]] version and were [[Version History|since]] fixed. However, as new features are introduced during [[:Category:Development|development]], new bugs are likely to crop up. === Save Scumming === The act of making a backup copy of the save file for the purpose of sidestepping the permanent death, save scumming is considered one of the worst ways any player can cheat the game. Save scumming itself is quite simple; just save and exit IVAN, then find the save file in the game files and copy it to a different directory. Run the game again and continue playing until you die. At this point, restore the save file by copying it back from the temporary directory to the game files, and restart the game. Assuming the correct files were copied, the game continues as it was at the point of saving. This act basically breaks the spirit of the game, as you can try and repeat every situation as many times as you want, until the most positive outcome for you becomes true. Save scumming can do more than allow a player to avoid death. Indeed, just about any random element (such as the result of a [[Gods|prayer]], [[items]] generated on a new floor or how much damage a monster inflicts this turn) can be changed this way. == History == Those cheats and exploits were fixed in the upcoming [[Version History|v0.51newer versions]].

 Due to an oversight, [[wands]] Wand of [[Wand_of_Acid_Rain|acid rainAcid Rain]] can could destroy terrain without drawing any hostility to the player. In addition, acid puddles left by acid rain also do did not draw hostility to the player if stepped in by neutral or friendly characters. Acid rain only turns turned NPCs hostile if it rains rained directly onto them.<br>As such, it can could be exploited in various ways, such as destroying the [[Huang Ming Pong|sumo arena ]] and covering the floor in acid for an easy win, or causing wandering NPCs like the Patrol [[Guard|patrol guard ]] to melt to death.

Usable in v0.50= Variants = The [[variants]] are not immune to various bugs, but fixed in CVSof course.

=== Save Scumming =CLIVAN ==

The act of making a backup copy of the save file === Free Vodka for the purpose of sidestepping the permanent death, save scumming is considered one of the worst ways any player can cheat the game.Everyone ===

Save scumming itself is quite simple; just save and exit IVAN, then find In the save file in the game files and copy it to a different directory. Run the game again and continue playing until you die. At this point[[Attnam Catacombs]], restore the save file there are several shelves full of [[vodka]] that can be taken by copying it back from the temporary directory to the game files, and restart the gameplayer for free. Assuming the correct files were copied, the game continues as Selling it was at the point of saving. This act basically breaks the spirit of the game, as will net you can try and repeat every situation as many times as enough [[money]] to last you want, until the most positive outcome for you becomes truea while.

== [[Assassin]]s are a new [[List of Monsters (LIVAN and CLIVAN ==)|monster]] with ridiculously low body mass, allowing them to dodge attacks very easily. However, they are so thin that when you manage to dismember one of their body parts, it will end up with negative weight. Thus hoarding severed arms and legs of assassins will allow you to carry more for a while, until the limbs rot away.

=== Free Vodka for Everyone Knowledge of the Ancients ===