Let's play ADOM

[Korgan]

So I decided to check the dwarven halls with my Human Ranger for anything interesting, and made a promise that if I see anything dangerous, I leg it, fast (I have blessed seven league boots).

Surely nothing dangerous will happen to our heroine? HAH! ONWARDS!! (..to the first level)

Holy... I think I just hit the jackpot!

But, I think I should mention that this is the first time I have ever encountered this kind of encounter.

Spiral, the Human Ranger, was paralyzed and eaten by greater and master mimics faster than you can say "Oh snap."

Oh gods, that was cruel. BTW, you seem to have some old version, why don't you get 1.11?

 

[garren]

BTW, you seem to have some old version, why don't you get 1.11?

It's the DOS version.

 

[Damned Registrations]

It seems like the UD can set you up with an altar and herbs pretty reliably. Of course, if the herbs are in the wrong formation they're useless.

 

[Relien]

Of course, if the herbs are in the wrong formation they're useless.

It took me about half an hour to figure out how to make two stable 2x2 bush areas of root & moss from the chaotic pattern that was originally present in the room. I didn't have any means of creating new bushes myself so I could only let them grow and destroy the unwanted ones. The process took 10 generations or so and I even made a mistake during that.

 

[Damned Registrations]

I once spent about that long dicking around with some herbs so I could get ONE plant that would grow morgia root. I could only get one because it would be in a doorway and that was the only spot on the level I could get morgia at. About 1 generation away from having it grow there, I ended up burning half my plants away with a fireball. I got myself killed shortly after that in the UD.

 

[Elwro]

BTW, the scythe corrupts even when it's in your inventory and you don't wield it.

 

[almondblight]

You gain experience with weapons. Stick to a single type and don't switch around. You'll be much stronger in the long run. Uncurse removes a curse from all equipment permanently. However, some equipment that is inherently cursed will recurse you if you remove it (after uncurse) and then re-equip it, like ring of the fish.

Yeah, it was the ring of the fish. For some reason, halfling mindcrafters ALWAYS get those...

The fighter classes usually start with adequate equipment anyway. What do you usually play as?

Mindcrafter (love them) or Wizard. If born on the month of the Salamnder, Elementalist, and Trollish Healer if on the month of the candle. Sometimes a priest. I tried monks the other day and kept on dying...but I probably should have stuck to the infinite dungeon.

I usually find the fighter types too boring (except for the candle trollich healers, which I like to play suicidely...).

The "truly foreboding" cave to the west is your ultimate goal. The small cave and unremarkable dungeon are rather dangerous to most starting characters (and all newbies ), so I wouldn't recommend them. Same with the puppy cave. The infinite dungeon to the southeast is just for scumming. The village dungeon/dark druid dungeon is so you can get healing/herbalism; play a ranger, priest, or beastfighter and you don't have to worry about these (but you can fight the dark druid anyway to get a decent alternative reward).

I just did the puppy quest with an elementalist, it wasn't too hard (and I probably count as a newbie seeing as I've never gotten a character over level 20). There was a room packed with orcs (~50 or 60) at the end, which seemed to be tougher than normal orcs, but I gained a ton of experience on them. I guess it depends on the class, I can see a mindcrafter getting slaughtered there (the ants) but a wizard (with some luck) kicking ass (bold spells).

Oh, is the druid dungeon the one in the middle of the mountains that you have to enter diagonally?

 

[Relien]

Bless your blankets, btw.

Will it be really fireproof then or will it just last a bit longer?

 

[Elwro]

From my experience, it'll have a DEFINITELY smaller chance of disintegrating when exposed to fire. Note that it protects your backpack only, and not the worn items.

 

[Higher Game]

Yeah, it was the ring of the fish. For some reason, halfling mindcrafters ALWAYS get those...

Halflings always start with a cursed ring. It's like a tribute to Frodo.

I usually find the fighter types too boring (except for the candle trollich healers, which I like to play suicidely...).

Mindcrafters actually count as fighters when it comes to weapon advancements. They simply start with less strength and toughness than other fighters, but this can be fixed.

Oh, is the druid dungeon the one in the middle of the mountains that you have to enter diagonally?

It's the one you talk to the village druid to access. I think you do have to move in diagonally.

 

[Higher Game]

BTW, the scythe corrupts even when it's in your inventory and you don't wield it.

No it doesn't. It only corrupts a little bit when you deal damage with it. It's a major reason why polearm barbarians are so damn cool. Use it with a few tremendous blows on berserk tactics and just about anything short of a moloch will go down fast. Considering that many bosses have corrupting attacks, you might even end up with less net corruption by using it! Of course, you do have to have plenty of holy water or uncursing scrolls to remove it when you're finished.

The only artifact you can get early in the game with comparable damage is Big Punch, and it's too massive for most characters (the massive damage talents make it really great, though, so it's worth considering for beefy classes).

 

[Damned Registrations]

Just started up my newest character. Dark elven ranger. Goal is to get him dual wielding spears, since rangers are the only class that could possibly pull bullshit like that off. Headed straight into the UD, and so far have found an [11,4] adamantium tower shield and a +4, 1d8+2 orcish spear of vampirism. Between that and my starting gear I'm basically set for combat, unless vampirism screws you vs undead. Come to think of it, I'm screwed vs undead anyway since the damned thing is cursed.

Edit. Nevermind. I just walked through a door and found a purple i that breathed a stream of acid at me and utterly destroyed my spear, ironically because I was fleeing from a grey jelly in case it was the type that destroys weapons.

 

[Damned Registrations]

OMFG I quit.I just spent like 2 hours sacrificing crap and died because at the exact moment I stepped onto the altar to offer the corpse of a stupid orc bastard that wouldn't walk over the altar no matter what, a cutpurse walked through the closed door to the room and offered me. I was probably minutes away from being precrowned. The altar was 3 steps away from the stairs to the big room so I had basically an endless supply of sacrifices. There were herbs growing near the stairs too in a growable formation. Fuck this game.

 

[Higher Game]

Edit. Nevermind. I just walked through a door and found a purple i that breathed a stream of acid at me and utterly destroyed my spear, ironically because I was fleeing from a grey jelly in case it was the type that destroys weapons.

Keep a stone spear as backup, because stone obviously cannot corrode. Or, just bash the ooze with your bare hands, because they aren't that tough. Of course, they corrode gauntlets too, so take them off until you find the elemental gauntlets.

I just spent like 2 hours sacrificing crap and died because at the exact moment I stepped onto the altar to offer the corpse of a stupid orc bastard that wouldn't walk over the altar no matter what, a cutpurse walked through the closed door to the room and offered me.

Well, there's your reason why that orc wouldn't step on the altar. Don't even bother with sacrificing corpses, either. I never, ever use an altar except the Dwarftown one, because they're far too dangerous and it's simply safer (and faster even) to sacrifice blessed stomafillia. That herb is too dangerous because it makes you bloated, except for drakelings due to being able to spit out the excess. Sacrifice the blessed and uncursed ones and save the cursed ones as food. Stomafillia and gold are really the only two things worth sacrificing, when it comes to the most efficiency.

And believe me, I've lost far better characters to far stupider reasons (spitting to death in starvation training, forgetting to cast strength of atlas with 30,000+ stone, forgetting to pray for help in countless bad situations, forgetting to have death resistance, etc), yet have gone on to better ones. You'll be back. You just need patience. Don't forget the game is turn based, so you can think all you need to before making a move. :wink:

 

[Damned Registrations]

The problem is I couldn't have gotten pre crowned at the dwarftown altar- I was chaotic. I also couldn't have gotten holy water. And if I had gone down below the big room, the Si would have fucked up my shot at getting pre crowned for another 3 levels.

I'm mostly pissed off because it's a basic difference in the way PCs and monsters work in game; monsters get to take action after moving, even if they don't have enough of an energy advantage to do so. If the situation had been reversed, I couldn't have offered up the cutpurse- I couldn't have even walked through the door on the same turn as opening it. He basically took 3 turns at once.

Ugh. I'd been carrying around a stack of 16 blessed arrows of slaying and a +6 bow of accuracy I'd picked up from the HMV too. Could have made mincemeat out of damn near anything that spawned out of depth. Except maybe that crystal golem I saw on my way through the UD. Thing scared the crap out of me.

 

[Higher Game]

If you hated 2 hours of doing a precrowning with just saccing monsters, I would really, really, highly recommend against going for multiple precrownings. The second one is much worse, and anything beyond that is pure insanity. I wouldn't worry much about the si anyway. If anything, you can still do 2 precrowns (level 11 and 14) before taking on the pyramid anyway. The only thing that can get in your way is being careless and accepting the potion of literacy (mostly a problem for barbarians, like mine ), which counts as an artifact, or doing the druid quest, since that generates the black torc.

That's why starting without herbalism is worse than starting without healing. Herbalism helps so much for precrownings with stomafillia, but getting herbalism generates an artifact in the process.

Just convert to lawful (or neutral) by doing the Hotzenplotz quest and getting the marble amulet. That crime lord is a piece of cake if you stick to distance attacks. I often just kill him with drakeling spit at level 10 (the lowest needed to face him), on coward tactics of course.

By the way, dark elves get awful shop prices and offers at dwarf town for racial reasons. I think you should stick to high elves.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Thats why I keep trying to run them through the UD. They get excellent prices in the HMV. Of course, this requires not converting until later, which I don't really mind. Besides that, I just can't pass up the find weakness skill when I know theres no other guaranteed way to get.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Just died fighting a named gargoyle. 'Yoth' Can't find any information about that. Very strange.

 

[Higher Game]

I just died because I accidentally attacked someone in Terinyo and made the whole town hostile. I forgot you don't get a warning if you're on true berserk mode. The stupid thing is, I was in true berserk because I had found the bracers of war in the UD.

Find weakness is good, but not amazing (interestingly, weaponsmiths and healers get it, as well as monks). Alertness is very nice, though. It's a skill you can't even wish for (that just gets you a perception boost), which makes it even cooler, and it can save you against a gorgon petrification ray and other magic attacks. It also helps you find traps and gives a little DV at high levels. Alertness by itself is a good reason to play a drakeling.

 

[Korgan]

It was probably an artifact guardian. They are pretty rare, but I've met a couple before.

 

[Damned Registrations]

I could have killed it too, but I didn't realize how long it took to apply spenseweed so I didn't bother switching to cowardly tactics before using it and the bastard got a crit in.

Just lost my last character simply because a lightning lizard spawned between me and the exits. Toast. I'd just managed to uncurse the stupid dagger stuck in my hands too, so my PV was back up to 11 with my shield, and I had found an adamantium scimitar that was quite helpful.

 

[Zomg]

I only bother with live sac precrowning if I can get a lawful alignment and find an altar either on a cavernous level (higher monster generation) or with an altar towards the center of a normal level so you can scoop up all the monsters quickly. There are many, many shitty precrowns and in ADOM you never use melee against the biggest threats; that only leaves a small handful of precrown artifacts that really do much to help you win.

 

[Elwro]

Playing as my first character since 2 years, I think. A gray elven wizard. Just killed Keethrax, avoiding killing the felines. Now I have a potion of cure corruption and know Gardening

 

[Higher Game]

You sure gardening was worth it? Even as a wizard, frost based spells always seemed too rare to me. :wink:

 

[Elwro]

Somehow I already had 3 Frost Bolt spellbooks.