Complete N00b's Journey Character #2: Tongha Ghae

Introduction: This is the second character (out of up to four total tries) in progress in the series called the "Complete N00b's Journey", where I attempt to see how far I get each time despite my n00bish mistakes. This character, has finished the first two levels of the underwater tunnels, so I am now starting a thread for this character as a celebration and to track his further progress. As a reminder for this series, the number before the hyphen signifies the attempt that I am playing, and the number after the hyphen signifies the goal that I have finished. With that, I bring you:

Complete N00b's Journey: Part 2-1

This time, I deal with the monsters with my fists alone and pick up a mermaid hair cloak, a ring of acid resistance, several gas grenades, a broken deep bronze shield, I also get a torso scar from a carnivorous plant and my pet again gets killed by a zombie. On the second level of the underwater tunnels, I find an altar to Cleptia, a wand of invisibility, some healing potions, some poison potions, a boiled leather glove of dexterity +1, and a backpack full of gunpowder. I then fight enough monsters to get to unarmed combat skill level 7 and find an altar to Mellis and a potion of ommel tears, the latter of which I drink. I also kill a kobold that carried a thief’s girdle, boots of kicking, and a ring of electricity resistance. I clear the floor and get a couple of axes in my possession.

So the next goal is again to clear the third level of the underwater tunnels and kill Huang Ming Pong.

The vomit tactic I was referring to involves vomiting at the spot where Huang Ming Pong stands and waiting for his legs to dissolve before challenging him. Is that tactic still valid on this version? And do I have enough gold to buy enough food for this?

I see a forge and an anvil, which are used for crafting. How does crafting work, and when do you use that?

Which is better, a weapon and a shield, or dual wielding two weapons?

Is it better to wield a broken shield with higher AV, or an intact shield with lesser av?

And finally, how do you remove torso scars? Potions of healing? Potions of troll blood? Or do I need to go to someone for this?

The attached pictures show the character’s current stats and inventory.

Any tips to improve this character's survival in his next goal will be appreciated.

These journeys are great!


I think this still works. You need way more gold to keep buying food at the shop. Get to Attnam with heaps of loot and sell stuff at the shop there to get loads more gold.


Leave crafting out of your 5x n00b run for now, it *might* result in a crash.


Dunno, wield anything you can. Your axe is pretty good for now. I'd swap the shield for a lighter one if possible. Switch to better gear once you find it.


Dunno what the current status is now, but I've always thought of them as permanent. I like scars because SPOILER ALERT. Click here to see text.

I like scars too, and I like that they're permanent

For dual weapons vs. weapon and shield it depends a lot on the weapon type

I've tried dual whips several times, and it's nice that they sever limbs pretty quickly, but they offer almost no defense, so those characters don't usually do very well.
Some weapons like halberds are large enough that they do a good job of blocking too, so there is no need for a shield (and you would be too weak to wield both anyways).
Shields work best with weapons like swords, axes, that are small and accurate but not great for blocking.

Thanks for the input folks. So the character’s technically alive, but in pretty bad condition.

Complete N00b’s Journey: Part 2-2

I find altars to Sophos and Legifer, and find Genetrix Vesna. I throw a grenade of mustard gas, which does not seem to be effective, and then throw my two potions of posion at Genetrix, both of which miss. I then say what the heck and rush head on against it with my axe. She and her plant posse goes down with grace and I then proceed to sell a lot of gear to the Attam shopkeeper. I then try to lure Huang Ming Pong off his spot, but the plan didn’t work, as he didn’t get off his spot to get the banana path that I laid outside. I try to fight him the normal way several times, but that strategy proved ineffective. In my attempt to tame one of the elite guards of Attram, I accidentally tame the court jester with my sole scroll of taming. That was dumb of me, since I did not get the memo that the elite guard taming trick was removed. So with almost no food (and the food store in New Attam cleared out), and with low gold, I end the part feeling very bad off.

The next goal is to finish the first four levels of the gloomy caves, but I don’t know. This character might honestly be just plain screwed.

How does luring Huang Ming Pong work? He didn’t go after the bananas that I dropped off outside his house. And what stats do you need to beat Huang Ming Pong in the first place?

Other than that, I don’t have any questions, as I fully expect to get killed while trying to finish this goal due to my cumulative screw-ups. Below are the pictures of the character's stats and equipment.

Classically, dual wielding was better. The addition to AV has changed this fact. At this point, it's hard to say; the newer versions are not as well explored. That said: it probably depends on the specific weapons and shield. I've had some good success with sword-and-board style characters recently...


As fejoa mentioned, a lighter, intact shield is probably better. In addition to the AV bonus, shields also have quite high block chance and block power. You lose a lot of both with a broken shield. If you can trade in a point of AV for an intact shield, I'd say it's worth it. Unless the new shield is made out of something absurd, like gold or silver. Weight impacts accuracy; accuracy impacts block chance.

To be precise: Blocking is dependent on a few things. The two which are relevant for your chance to block (or, BlockValue) are accuracy and BlockModifier. BlockModifier value depends on the shape and size of the object; in addition, shields get a bonus x2 to BlockModifier that other items do not get. A broken shield has 2/3 the BlockModifier of an intact shield (size is reduced from 60 to 40 in broken state). Meanwhile, while I assume AV is applicable to every attack, AV only mitigates between half and full AV in damage points - so, that shield currently mitigates on average 3 points of damage. A block can reduce damage by ... an amount that I and others spent significant time trying to work out a useable formula for, but even with a wooden shield a block can reliably negate most attacks in the UT (in my experience).

If you're curious, this thread from 2016 includes a list of BlockValues for all items in 0.50, while this thread from 2011 carries several attempts to break down the formula for BlockStrength which met with mixed success.


Discretion is the better part of valor.

Oh and I was going to say, don't carry explosives.

Thanks for the input everyone. I end up being killed, however, by attempting to taste a vial of healing potion upon being wounded, which apparently can be interrupted by a monster's attacks.

YASD #2: A misunderstanding about how tasting potions works.

So this death was, as predicted rather quick and short. I run into a concrete golem, and attempt to taste a healing potion vial to recover. However, the concrete golem's attacks interrupt me and kill me in the torso in two quick successive blows. That was seriously an anticlimactic ending. So now I am at my third character, which will start tomorrow.

Scars are forever!

The game will ask you if you want to continue the interrupted action and will remember that you already took half the time required to take a sip, so it's possible to finish a command even when interrupted.

But yeah, golems can be !!FUN!!. You had a wand of invisibility and at early GC levels it's often better to just zap yourself and run from the golem.


Elite guards can still be tamed, but while in 0.50 all taming was successful, now you roll you Charisma to see if you succeed and stronger monsters are more resistant.

BTW worrying about food is quite normal in IVAN.

* There's quite some food in the Attnam store. It's expensive, but better than starving.
* You'll find food in the Gloomy Caves, you just have to keep exploring.
* Have a look at the holy books in the library shop. Mellis will fill your empty bottles and cans with potions or food. Seges will feed you when you're hungry, Silva and Nefas will feed you when you're at least very hungry.

Note that it's better to pray to gods of consistent alignment and to wait several hours between prayers, or they might get angry. But you can pray to several gods close in alignment and get the benefits of all of them. You had a holy book of Mellis, so food should not have had been a problem (I'm sure I screwed up the conjugation, but it sounds fun).

If you get to Attnam again, have a look in the shop if there is a ring of fire resistance / cloak of fire resistance. If so, buy it and you should be fine in Gloomy Caves. Even without it, it's not impossible to survive, it's just more based on luck.

RIP Tongha Ghae.

I would say trying to beat the sumo without tricks after just finishing the Underwater Tunnels is a futile endeavor

I usually don’t take him on until I’ve been deep into the GC