Dungeon Keeper 1 - Always this hard?

[Alienman]

Started to play Dungeon Keeper 1, now with the KeeperFX releasing 1.0.

And well, was the game always this hard? (I probably suck, but still).

I'm stuck at level 8 (Tickle). The opposing dungeon lord is relentless. He demolish my guys within seconds when I try to attack. Can't remember the game ever being this hard. Or maybe I was just a better gamer back then.

 

[Baron Dupek]

Isn't the project made by Potatoes? That would explain it...
For some reason some of their mods have absurdly high difficulty - like they did with Diablo1 Awakening or Returning 1 translation for Gothic2.

edit - it might be the same team/group of fans, who made fixes for DK2 that let you recruit late game units - not possible in GOG version due to bug. And of course it was packed with a mod that boost difficulty significantly because fuck you kurwa mać that's why.
Had to find someone who extracted fixes, link is dead iirc.
shame because it helps

 

[Jeskis]

I remember it being pretty hard yeah. The safe strategy was always to advance with outmost care and only engage wielding a formidable force. Afair game was pretty generous in terms of giving enough time to recruit and train as long as you could secure stable income and keep imps from digging into the wrong holes, ahem.

 

[Hobo Elf]

I'm assuming that you are playing with KeeperFX? It changes the enemy AI making it significantly harder. It's not really fun challenge either imo which is why I dropped it. Would be awesome to play the game in the KeeperFX engine without any gameplay changes.

 

[Gilius Thunderhead]

I don't remember it being particularly hard, but I honestly can't remember if I played with KeeperFX(I assume so, but I was under the impression it didn't make the AI significantly more difficult).

Like a previous poster said, you have to attack with overwhelming force. Getting Horny is usually a waste, but carrying over a high level Knight or Vampire from the previous level can make your life much easier (too easy, in fact).

 

[Gandalf]

I don't remember it being hard. Finished it when I was younger without problems. I had a friend with Asperger and he managed to beat it too!

 

[Chuck Norris]

The main campaign isn't. The Deeper Dungeons is a whole different story.

 

[Gilius Thunderhead]

I don't remember it being hard. Finished it when I was younger without problems. I had a friend with Asperger and he managed to beat it too!

Why would Assburgers be considered a handicap when playing this kind of game?

 

[axx]

I'm assuming that you are playing with KeeperFX? It changes the enemy AI making it significantly harder. It's not really fun challenge either imo which is why I dropped it. Would be awesome to play the game in the KeeperFX engine without any gameplay changes.

I was actually eager to try it out. Don't need more frustration after coming home from work. Hopefully they'll add a toddler mode for us plebs.

 

[Gandalf]

I don't remember it being hard. Finished it when I was younger without problems. I had a friend with Asperger and he managed to beat it too!

Why would Assburgers be considered a handicap when playing this kind of game?

Oh man, did not wanted to sound like he was handicap, I just wanted to share information that my friend finished the game too! I don't know other people in real life that finished the game.

 

[Ninja Destroyer]

KeeperFX is harder than the original version working on DOS. But I finished it twice, and it wasn't so bad. Using and building traps is a success in the later levels, where the waves of high level enemies are just keep coming, and we have small number of monsters. I would advise finding passages to secret levels - most of them give us high level monster on the start of the next mission. It may seem to be a small advantage, but it's very useful (like high level vampire, who can work at library as well). A good test of player skills is Hearth - which is a 11 dungeon. We've got four routes from which enemy comes by. I remember failing it first while playing on KeeperFx.

I've also tried Deeper Dungeons data disk, but I couldn't stand the heat. And if you can't stand the heat, you better stay out of the dungeon. Oh well, maybe some day.

 

[Alienman]

Like a previous poster said, you have to attack with overwhelming force. Getting Horny is usually a waste, but carrying over a high level Knight or Vampire from the previous level can make your life much easier (too easy, in fact).

Yeah, that is how I did it eventually. Tactics be damned. Just blob everyone and send them forth.

 

[Jeskis]

Getting Horny is usually a waste

Watching him slapping idling imps is so fun tho

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

I replay DK1 regularly, did it this year with FX v0.5, and never noticed the campaign getting more difficult. You're impressions might be coming from playing vanilla, where the AI (only for other keepers) would sometimes turn extremely passive, but that was a bug.

If you're struggling, then a lot of levels have the "transfer creature" special. I'd normally advise to avoid using it or transfer something like a level3 imp, but if you find the game hard then porting over a strong l10 critter turns the following level into an easy mode.

 

[Glop_dweller]

I often seek to divide the map with a tunnel (from bedrock to bedrock) that can then be fortified; impregnable. Then you have all the time in the world... until the gold runs out; unless there are gem blocks inside your territory.

 

[Gilius Thunderhead]

I looked up my notes and yes, I played with Keeper FX. Look up the extra key bindings, they can be very useful. I seem to have written down some tips, for example:

- Leave gems for later, mining gold is faster.
- Imps can train in the training room. Lv 3 allows them to self-buff with speed which is very useful.
- Possess an imp to mine a certain area much faster.
- Use Conceal Monster on an imp while it claims territory
- When laying traps, drop imps in the workshop and back again at the location of the traps.
- Hold down the mouse button while casting spells to charge them up. It can be more economical than casting the spell repeatedly.
- Surround Hero Gates with traps.
- Put one of your units in the torture chamber to make other units of the same type work faster.
- If you summon Horny(often more trouble than it's worth), his level will be the average of the sacrificed creatures' level so train these first. It's also a good idea to build separate facilities for him.

Some things I'm not sure if they were really useful, like using Sight and Lightning Spell to nuke the imps on the other side or possessing a creature with Disease then infiltrating the enemy base. You may try them, though.

 

[Glop_dweller]

The DOS version of Dungeonkeeper has unique vision effects for certain minion/creatures. The fly has hexagonal lensed eyes, the beetle's view has a fisheye lens distortion; vampires have infravision.

The DirectX versions don't have the distorted first person views.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

I don't think that's correct? I never played a version that didn't have those. Both my big box win version and FX have them for sure.

 

[Glop_dweller]

Then perhaps there are later patches that I've never seen. My recollection is that Keeper95 did not have them.

*Just to be doubly clear, I mean that the first person views of the fly and the beetle (when possessed) had unique lens distortion applied to them.

 

[Semiurge]

Horned Reapers need to have a job that they're willing to do, or otherwise you'd best already have some way into the enemy dungeon. They're the least wise creature to transfer to a map you're unfamiliar with because of how easily they start attacking your dungeon heart if left idle and without bribery. They won't do research, so the quickest way you can occupy them is usually the training room as you almost always start with the required blueprints. And you need some means for that as they're the most expensive creature to train, even when their actual pay isn't so high. I think the dragon and vampire have the lead in that.

The main campaign isn't. The Deeper Dungeons is a whole different story.

- A whole different level of bugged in the vanilla game. A third of the levels aren't even traditional dungeons, but more like trap-infested gauntlets. I skipped those. There's no point in doing the levels that suck since there's no continuity nor creature transference in between.

 

[HeatEXTEND]

Possess an imp to mine a certain area much faster.

Possessing is very useful for lotsa things, do not disregard!

 

[Konjad]

Isn't the project made by Potatoes? That would explain it...
For some reason some of their mods have absurdly high difficulty - like they did with Diablo1 Awakening or Returning 1 translation for Gothic2.

edit - it might be the same team/group of fans, who made fixes for DK2 that let you recruit late game units - not possible in GOG version due to bug. And of course it was packed with a mod that boost difficulty significantly because fuck you kurwa mać that's why.
Had to find someone who extracted fixes, link is dead iirc.
shame because it helps

If you don't scream 'kurwa' during gameplay then it's not a proper mod

 

[Lord of Riva]

Started to play Dungeon Keeper 1, now with the KeeperFX releasing 1.0.

And well, was the game always this hard? (I probably suck, but still).

I'm stuck at level 8 (Tickle). The opposing dungeon lord is relentless. He demolish my guys within seconds when I try to attack. Can't remember the game ever being this hard. Or maybe I was just a better gamer back then.

There are some choice maps that can be really hard but never were due to issues with the original AI scripting. KeeperFX fixes that. That said, the game is still not hard expand and build efficiently the map is full of independent creatures, Hell hounds (level seven) that can break into the enemy dungeon and run through the lava really fast.

I style myself a bit of an expert, on dungeon Keeper being involved in creating WFTO, the only harder maps in the main campaign are Hearth and Tulipscent.

Be offensive enough to be a hindrance to your enemy, don't fully turtle in maps where there are no Gems.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Yeah, KeeperFX is harder than the original. Everyone gave good advice so I'll just repeat the most important part again.

Possessing is very useful for lotsa things, do not disregard!

This! Possessing most of the time make your dungeon work better, especially in combat.

 

[kangaxx]

FX is a bit harder than the original from memory, but a good QOL upgrade IMO. One of my favourite examples of mods around.

I find the hardest levels to be the huge map with tons of heroes where you can accidentally bankrupt yourself, and the one with the two horned reapers locked up at the beginning.