Animated Forest

[prime]

I hate this place. How do people make it through? The DH scares me so much less, since I usually have at least one way to get past a tough monster (teleport, darkness, invisibility, lure to dwarftown and sacrifice) but I always get surrounded by hostile trees and finished with a critical.

I usually make it through once dual-wielding shields but on the way back enough hostiles have gathered around the stair that it's impossible to make it all the way. For casters it's no problem, but for other classes I only have enough digging, teleport, darkness or invisibility to make it maybe halfway. I used to wait for a wand of trap creation + scroll of darkness but occasionally I find neither and decide to wing it and do it the real way, which almost always gets me killed.

I'm tempted to give up coming back altogether if I run into something nasty in the DH and just come back with the banshee .

[pblack]

the trick is, don't hit any trees on your way down and avoid hitting them on your way up. Also, jsut move foward or sideways... never take a step back when in the AF. and be patient. It's doable 90% of the games i play. The other 10% DH seems to be kind to me. Also, if you can learn pick locks from yergius or has a lot of keys, DH can be pacified by strategically locking breeders in a big room. But this requires some luck and carefulness.

[Al-Khwarizmi]

I usually don't do the AF if I don't have either teleport+control, or invisibility+patience, or spenseweeds/cure spells/regeneration item+loads of patience.

Actually I tend to not have patience, so I usually don't do the AF if I don't have teleport+control.

The dwarven halls are loads of fun anyway. Yeah, I have had a good number of characters killed there, but it's fun.

[meh]

The key to marching through the AF is having enough PV. If you can get it above 20, then the trees won't do much damage. The courage skill is of course also nice to have. My approach for moving is this:

If I can take a step towards the stairs, I always do so. Else, if there is a hostile tree next to me, I attack it. Otherwise I either wait or take a sideways step if it looks like there's more of an opening available.

[Al-Khwarizmi]

If I can take a step towards the stairs, I always do so. Else, if there is a hostile tree next to me, I attack it. Otherwise I either wait or take a sideways step if it looks like there's more of an opening available.

I do exactly the same, except that I typically only attack very insistent hostile trees. It seems like sometimes they attack you once or twice and then leave you be, and killing too many makes them stronger.

[pblack]

I do exactly the same, except that I typically only attack very insistent hostile trees. It seems like sometimes they attack you once or twice and then leave you be, and killing too many makes them stronger.

You don't have to kill them. due to the massive number of trees generated there, extremely experienced ones will be generated sooner or later. Killing none is your best chance of not crossing paths with those.

[prime]

Actually I like the sound of hitting the hostile ones back. I usually dual wield shields so I kill absolutely nothing on the way through but I still end up surrounded by hostiles that won't move away so maybe I need to clear my way a bit. I do usually have more than enough PV to get through but when you're stuck the trees have all the time in the world to get some criticals .

[Erik Piper]

It's funny, I'm one of those fabled live-sac double-precrowners you never hear about, but I *still* don't have the patience for the freakin' forest... though I will of course do it, with gritted teeth, if something horrible has happened in the DH.

[JellySlayer]

If you have a cloak/ring of invisibility, the forest is trivial. Otherwise, with 20+ PV, dual shields and coward, you should be able to get through slowly... make sure you aren't cursed or especially doomed though, otherwise you will experience a world of hurt.

These days, I usually just take DH though. There are really only 4-5 monsters that can spawn on DH that can't be dealt with by darkness or invisibility or decent speed.

[MrNiceguy]

Funny, I usually don't have any trouble with the forest. I usually take the same process as meh: move toward the stairs if possible, if boxed in, attack any hostiles, otherwise just wait. This is assuming melee character, or maybe an archer with a strong melee attack.

With casters, dual-wield shields and plan on patience if you don't have controlled teleport on demand. If you do, then first turn in the forest, try to teleport to the stairs. It's probably blocked, but wherever you end up will be closer than you are now. Then cast Farsight if you can, and teleport to the best open space you can see. Repeat till you get to the stairs.

Crossing with a caster (and no teleport) is much more difficult because your only means of attack will either be a bolt spell, which will make a whole line of trees hostile, or Burning Hands, which will make every tree in the forest hostile. Much better to just wait things out.