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Posted by Ischaldirh, Nov 6, 2019 at 8:41 pm
I vote for Sil. It's sad to see you go! You'd make a great addition to the community

I think we can all appreciate your in-depth review of the game from a complete outsider's perspective. Some of us have been playing this game on-and-off for over a decade, and many of the less intuitive elements seem so old hat to us we don't even notice. Take the food, for example: The New Attnam food store is a special case. It is actually designed to be a rip-off. The bananas sold there are not only on the verge of rotting already, I believe they have been Hasted to make them rot faster. Food found in the dungeon - corpses, lumps, and the like - rots much slower, and there are methods of preserving food for longer. (Food is rarely an issue for me until after the UT.) But, there is no way a new player would know all this!

Perhaps this can be addressed, however. As cliche as it may sound, it might be helpful to compile a list of one-line tips that can be displayed during loading screens, death screens, menu screens, etc...?

Also, a meta-strategy FYI in case you ever come back to IVAN: It's common practice in this community to murder Kenny the Puppy as one of the first actions in the UT. This provides an instant meal, a bit of practice at fisticuffs, and also prevents him from running around eating that valuable food / drinking those valuable potions as you progress.
Posted by Ischaldirh, Nov 6, 2019 at 2:19 pm
I suppose if you had some steel legs and boots of kicking, you could probably kick them open. As for the keys, IIRC they are carried by powerful named baddies like Izzy.
Posted by Ischaldirh, Nov 6, 2019 at 12:39 pm
stoovan wrote
So uh the crafting system. How 'bout that?

I tried looking for the wiki page about it, but got nothing. Is it even in the game or is it still in the works?

It's in game, but stability is questionable (I've experienced crashes while using it). I've also had trouble with forging metal items, the spark "explosions" seem to destroy the anvil...
Posted by Ischaldirh, Nov 5, 2019 at 7:01 am
red_kangaroo wrote
I would have to test that, but I think you can also throw her a spider corpse or somesuch, and she'll happily poison herself.

Huh, I thought plants were immune to poison and acid?
Posted by Ischaldirh, Nov 5, 2019 at 12:00 am
Suggestion: Endurance affecting satiation.

This could happen in a few different ways, but here's my first thought: it simply increases the number values for the satiation 'levels'. As a made up example, lets say a loaf of bread is worth 100 satiation points. Then, lets say that 0-100 satiation points is "starving", 100-200 is "very hungry", 200-400 is "hungry", 700-900 is "satiated", 900-1000 is "bloated", and above 1000 is "overfed". Then, starving person could eat 9-10 loaves of bread before becoming overfed.

Well, lets just assign these numbers to END=10. A point in either direction of 10 is equivalent to a 10% (fudge for balance) increase/decrease in all of these levels - but the loaf of bread is worth the same amount of satiation points. So, for a person with 20 endurance, they would need to eat at least four loaves of bread just to recover from being "hungry" - but at the same time, they don't hit "overfed" until they've eaten a huge amount of bread... and once they are satiated, they stay that way for twice as long. Meanwhile someone with 5 endurance would have to eat much more frequently.

Game effects: As the game moves towards mid- or late-game and endurance values begin to rise, hunger becomes a longer-term, more strategic concern. You'll be able to eat much more food in a sitting, and stay fed for longer as a result, but if you become hungry it will be harder to recover in the dungeon as food provides relatively smaller increases in satiation levels. This would also affect the balance on Seges' food-related benefits, although usually once you are in good with Seges you're never hungry again anyways...
Posted by Ischaldirh, Nov 4, 2019 at 11:15 pm
wizard44 wrote
Which is better, a weapon and a shield, or dual wielding two weapons?

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...

wizard44 wrote
Is it better to wield a broken shield with higher AV, or an intact shield with lesser av?

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.

wizard44 wrote
Any tips to improve this character's survival in his next goal will be appreciated.

Discretion is the better part of valor.
Posted by Ischaldirh, Nov 4, 2019 at 7:04 am
I'm not entirely familiar with the vomit tactic, but if it involves vomiting on enemies, I must point out: Plants are immune to acid and poison. At least, they were, in 050... I never tried in any newer versions because I assumed it wouldn't change.
Posted by Ischaldirh, Nov 3, 2019 at 8:46 am
OK: Rather than dig around for a general guide, here's a guide tailored in some places for your character in particular. Warning: It's long. But, the concepts here are pretty applicable to any future character you may make as well.

Your first step is going to be to acquire some items: a lot of scrolls and a few wands. In particular, you need at least a few scrolls of Change Material, Harden Material, and some scrolls of enchant *foo* won't be amiss either. Scrolls of charging will also be handy. Next, you need some wands of cloning. Mirroring will also do in a pinch. Also, it would probably be a good idea to hoard up some holy books. It doesn't matter which god, but don't read them before you're ready if you aren't aligned close to them. Reading a bunch of Holy Books of Valpurus will really ruin your relationship with Cruentus.

As for where you can get these items, you have a few options. With all that gold, your first stop should be the shops in Attnam and the GC. (Possibly the Black Market too? I don't know, I haven't been there yet, I haven't played a lot of 0.57 yet...) Buy up their stocks on the relevant items. You may also have found a few things in the dungeons; that's probably where any wands you have will be found. Your last option is to use a pick axe and a wand of polymorph. Dig up a bunch of stones, then make a row of 5 stacks on the ground. Each stack should have 5 items in it. What the items are doesn't matter, so use stones, bones, sticks, broken bottles, empty cans, leather helmets, whatever garbage you've got. Stand at one end and zap your wand at the row! The top five items in each of the first five squares in that direction will permanently transform into something else. This can help you get the books/scrolls/wands you need, and sometimes you can even find better gear! Keep your eyes out for gauntlets of dexterity / boots of agility in particular. If you can get a pair of each, that will help Also handy would be a Helmet of Brilliance as this boosts your intelligence (useful for step 4.), named weapons, and belts of levitation.

It goes without saying, but try not to lose any of your scrolls/books/wands at this step. I recommend keeping a locked chest somewhere where you stash things.

For the second step, you need to do something about that terrible Int score. Read all of your holy books. If you're lawful, pray to Sophos. Read disposable scrolls. Then, do some science talking to train it higher. You're going to want an absolute minimum of 15 int, but if you can get it to 25 or higher you'll have much better results. This may take a while.

Now we go to work. I recommend you read this entire section, and the section following, before you start applying it. Find yourself somewhere secluded. You don't want to be bothered while you're doing this. I recommend finding a room in Attnam where you can lock the door. Make a stack of 5 scrolls - I would recommend prioritizing scrolls of Change Material and Harden Material first. Zap them (from close range - a neighboring tile) with a wand of cloning. These clones are permanent, and can be cloned further, so go back and re-sort your pile between zaps to make sure you're getting what you want. You will never need to use more than 8 SoCM for a single equipment set. Since we'll probably be using mirrored scrolls, this means you probably can get by with having four real ones (through cloning/collecting). You'll need at least the same number of SoHM, but having spares here might come in handy since your Int will rise further as we start reading scrolls. Get as many SoEW and SoEA as you like. In any case, since both WoM and WoC can only affect 5 items at a time, you can use any excess (i.e. more than 5) cloned SoH/CM. Hold onto the extra SoE* for now though.

This next part is a little time-sensitive... but not terribly so. Following the same method as we did for cloning, start mirroring scrolls. Use the mirrors between each zap. (They'll be the ones lower down in the pick-up list.) These mirrors have the full effect of the standard scrolls (excepting the SoE*, which are less likely to successfully enchant past +5). However, they are not permanent as items - if you don't read them soon enough, they will vanish. I'm not sure on the time limit here, but I would just read them ASAP to be safe. I'll get to how you're using these scrolls in a moment.

A note on scrolls of Charging: These cannot be cloned or mirrored, so don't bother trying. Use them in this step to get extra wand zaps. It's a bit of a tossup whether to use them on WoC or WoM; I usually go with the wand of Mirroring, since you get more zaps out of the scroll that way. This is especially the case for SoHM and SoCM, as there is no functional difference for these scrolls, between a mirror and a clone.

You can also wring one last charge out of your WoMs, if you need/want to. Dump everything you own in a corner somewhere, wield a scroll in each hand, grab the empty wand and stand directly on top of your stack of 5 scrolls. Break the WoM. You'll duplicate everything in the pile, as well as mirror yourself and the two wielded scrolls. You can then dispose of your mirror however you like, after taking his scrolls.

Using your scrolls: You're goal here is to power up your gear. This comes in two steps: improving the material and enchanting it. This table has all the information about all the materials, including their Int requirement and what they harden into. Note that this is the required intelligence to create the material from scratch, as in, use a SoCM to turn an item into that material. If you use a SoHM, the requirement is reduced by 5. So, lets take your bronze flaming sword as an example. You can immediately Harden that into deep bronze (required Int 9). If you gain one Int point (bringing it to 14), you can then Harden the deep bronze into djinni brass (required Int 19). On the other hand, if you want to Change it into Mithril, however, you'll need an Int of 26! Luckily you can work around this in a way: with 21 Int, you can Change to Fairy Steel, and then Harden to Mithril.

Choosing the best material to go for here will be tricky, and will be heavily dependent on your Int and how many scrolls you have. Good options for the swords, body armor, helmet would be Hepatizon (from Bronze, with 23 Int and 2-3 SoHM), Ukku Steel (from Steel, with 25 Int and two SoHM), or Mithril/Galvorn (one SoCM and one SoHM for each sword, Int 21 and 26 respectively). Boots, gauntlets, belt, cloak should probably be flexible materials, although really you can go either way for the boots and gauntlets if you can get a good material. Good flexible options are Troll Wool (int requirement 26), Wyvern Hide (int 2, Phoenix Feather (int requirement 20), Kraken Hide (int requirement 30). I will note that your existing Leviathan Hide gloves are already top-tier flexible materials, and the Fairy Steel boots can harden directly to Mithril with only 21 int. So, if you didn't replace your gauntlets and boots back in step one, you don't need to do much to these. The mermaid hair cloak can be hardened up to Kraken hide with 25 int and a handful of SoHM.

Once you're satisfied with your gear and their materials, go to town with Scrolls of Enchant *foo*! Use mirrored scrolls first, to bring everything up to +5. All SoE* are guaranteed to work up to that level. Past this, there is an increasing % change the enchantment will fail; this failure chance is higher for mirrored scrolls. Keep enchanting things until you run out of scrolls; you may consider hanging on to five each of SoEA and SoEW, in case you find another wand down the line.\

Finally: Dive dive dive! If you've gotten this far you should have some pretty incredible gear. Combined with your pets - and your ability to make more - you're probably pretty set. Your resistances are a definite weakness, I would consider wearing rings of fire resistance permanently and swapping them for rings of lightning resistance if you run into Izzy. The ring of tele control will be handy for the mystic dark frog, though.

Good luck!
Posted by Ischaldirh, Nov 3, 2019 at 7:15 am
wizard44 wrote
Do monsters pursue you if you go up or down levels? The way that monsters pursued me in games like Brogue when you went up the stairs often led to some pretty cheap deaths there.

No.

wizard44 wrote
Which pieces of weapons and armor should I look for in the early game? I heard that large swords like longswords and arcanite alloys for armor are the best option. Or should I look for something else?

I can't speak too much for the most recent build, but in 0.50 short swords were a very strong option. In general, 0.50 favored lightweight, fast weapons over slower heavier weapons for the most part. (With exceptions naturally. Any named weapon is totally viable.) My experience in 0.57 is more limited, but again, if you can find something with a name, you're probably set. Just ... be careful with Turox.

wizard44 wrote
Should I train my character in any way before doing the underwater tunnels? I heard that a tactic called banana kicking is not a valid training option.

The UT is pretty much fine for a beginning character. No training necessary. That said there is a (semi-spoily) strategy which is popular for turning UT3 into a training ground for future use.

wizard44 wrote
Is there a way to export your character’s stats in a readable format for other players to consult like you can in Dungeon Crawl: Stone Soup or Angband?

I don't believe so. Typically we just take screenshots around here.

wizard44 wrote
Any other tips are appreciated!

You're already an experienced rogue, so this probably goes without saying, but... losing is fun
Posted by Ischaldirh, Nov 2, 2019 at 9:22 pm
boneyman46 wrote
stopped a kamikaze dwarf by getting him one square from me and then charming him.

... holy shit

boneyman46 wrote
I've included a screenshot of my current stats, and any advice on how to proceed would be awesome.

Hm, the first thing I'd do is patch up those swords. With all that money, I'm sure you can buy a lot of supplies. I'd be happy to point you to / write out a detailed guide on this front if you like? But suffice to say, wands of cloning/mirroring and a lot of scrolls is your next step. Once your gear is ready to go, with all those slaves, and with more to come, you might consider trying to dive... maybe you can tame a powerful named enemy?