Mission ADOMPossible: Threading Water

[Cactus]

They used to start with a tract of chaos sometimes. There seems to be a little imp in my mind whispering that it got changed for ADOM 1.2.0 because it was deemed too much of a swing (turning an already weak and anemic starter into, ironically, a dead man walking).

Maybe I'm not getting enough sleep these days.

They can still start with the tract of chaos in 1.2.0 and will in fact often do so. But the Frost Bolt is guaranteed now.

[Harwin]

I agree with Wizard ranked first. You may have the stone block trap problem at the start, but if one dies and we fail the first mission, we can still take that Wizard on to try mission #2 etc. So for completing later missions, a Wizard is the top choice for me.

I like Mindcrafter, but not as much if we can't get healing at the start.

I'm surprisingly terrible with archers(at least given how good a class they're supposed to be), but I guess I'll be fine if I don't have to play one in the early game. Just don't give me the archer for the first 2 missions.

Edit:
Without healing, are Weaponsmiths really better than healers? We probably won't have the turns to use their smithing powers. I would think a Healer would be better than a Weaponsmith.
Additional Edit:
And I'd put Mindcrafter above Weaponsmith, just because I think he'd be more fun.

Question:
If the first mission is a UD dive, and we fail, then we could start the second mission by hitting the VD for Jharod?

[Silfir]

It's a bit important to know whether wizards or elementalists are going to get the #1 spot, because both of those classes will be heavily contested unless the other teams are struck with terminal cases of dumbass. Right now, I'm leaning towards elementalist myself, but I will do whatever gets the most votes.

Weaponsmiths have one leg up on healers: They actually have armor and a weapon worth a damn. The smithing doesn't even enter into my deliberations. The anvil is good for smashing doors in, I guess.

Don't forget we don't know the specifics of the first missions, except that apparently there are turn limits on each one of them. I love true berserking my way through the early game on nekkid healers, don't get me wrong, but even I wouldn't claim it is anywhere near safe. As far as potential goes, healers beat weaponsmiths any time of the day, no questions asked, as do mindcrafters. I guess it's a matter of how dangerous we're feeling.

I think JellySlayer couldn't go wrong with making the first mission an UD dive in the least, even if it would be kind of predictable. It's just a kickass way to start off a character.

Also, fun is the most important thing to have, so I'll give mindcrafters a bit of an upstairs kick.

[Harwin]

Wizards are my hands-down favorite class. So for my vote, I'd rather they had the top spot than elementalists.

I asked a rules question and the impression I got from JellySlayer was that we could probably count on characters being able to hit the VD at the start. It still eats up turns, but it means we can probably get healing on everybody.

[Silfir]

I just read that, too. It's going to change up the considerations considerably - I'll be more comfortable boosting necromancers and mindcrafters, for one.

[Cactus]

Our races are online!

Water: High Elf, Gnome, Orc, Drakeling, Mist Elf

I think whatever the classes are we won't have trouble assigning a good race to all of them. We have two tough races, two clever races and the gnome which is both. If there is no safe class for the Mist elf (e.g. Weaponsmith) we could always use it for the chaos knight.

[Silfir]

No dwarf means we demote the merchant, I'd say. No dark elf means we demote the beastfighter somewhat, too. But that's indeed a very balanced set of races. Some beaters, some magickers, no trolls.

I really hope I don't have to play the mist elf, though.

[GordonOverkill]

I played three mist elf runs so far... two chaos knights [one of them died really quickly in the UD (started with 7HP), one was blasted by a vortex in the tomb of the high kings] and one Elementalist [sadly died to a karmic dragon in the deeper CoCs when I didn't pay attention]. So I've got at least some experience with the race and would agree to play our mist elf.
Apart from that I am quite happy with our set of races.

[GordonOverkill]

Just read the discussion in the main thread... I strongly suggest that - no matter what the rules - we don't reroll our CK, no matter which corruptions he gets... just take what we get and win, for the sake of eternal glory! What do you guys say?

[Cactus]

Sure, I mean the chaos knight was added as some kind of an extra challenge for all teams anyway. And randomness is the very spirit of that class!

Regarding mist elves I have made similar experiences. The damage reduction imo is totally worth the low HP in melee if combined with some PV. But traps and vortices remain a deadly threat for a long time.
A really great thing for mist elves are potions of exchange, especially if you don't need their high mana attribute.