Odd Tactics

[Theym]

I find myself doing something lately that I've never seen posted around here. I usually have a very cautious approach to my characters, at least when it comes to leveling. So I use music. And a werefoo, and get a lot of loot in a short amount of real time. Scummy? Possibly. But I've died more than once to an werewolf made strong by killing it's own kind. So it does have dangers of it's own, I tend to roll female Drake Wizzys.

Also I tend to spent vast amounts of time in the ID with low level characters this way, it's not unheard of for me to descend to ID50 and only realize it when I have a Ki-rin breathing down my invisible back, Or an Ancient Blue Dragon.

Anyways, on to my question. What types of playstyles do you use? Or tactics that you think are different from how most people play?

[Silfir]

I don't think I do anything really remarkable... But then, few realize they're doing something strange until others point it out. Of those who've watched my Let's Play or other things, is there anything weird about the way I play? I doubt I can match "accidentally descend to I:50 and have the gall to call my approach 'very cautious'" though.

There's stuff I do not do, some of it on principle, some with reasons. I never go to the ID unless for Filk these days, on principle. I don't precrown, for reason of I can't be bothered. I don't pickpocket, on principle and for reasons of I can't be bothered and take this crap out of the game and shoot it.

[anon123]

http://www.adom.de/forums/showthread.php/11606-Micro-challenges-gameplay-restrictions

I believe the main question in this thread is similar to what is discussed there?

About the ID - using it for early-game training is okay and I do it in all my games, but diving to I50 is overkill. I never go lower than I9 myself, even if the background corruption on levels immediately below that isn't terribly fast.

[Theym]

I doubt I can match "accidentally descend to I:50 and have the gall to call my approach 'very cautious'" though.
Just a note. I said I'm cautious when it comes to leveling, that character in question survived that encounter at level 8. I enjoy the challenge of being way out of depth, and for some reason I think the monster leveling system is broken, so I abstain from killing when I can..... Which along with my semi-obsessive ID sessions leads to overpowered underleveled wizards meeting horrible ends in an evershifting monument to Order gone wrong.....

TL;DR- My playstyle kills promising characters often

[_Ln_]

that character in question survived that encounter at level 8.

Lvl8 char on ID:50. Wait, what?

Soirana must be lucky you didn't participate in Duel to the Death this year.

[Theym]

It wasn't a straight descent, and I went upstairs sometimes as well, I thought of it as a scavenge mission before I began my mission to defeat Chaos, hit and run, mostly run. Darkness works on most things besides bats and orcs, Invis works on them, and slow monster is way undervalued IMHO. Also strategic teleport w/control. Now if only I could put this much energy into finishing the game.... still haven't beaten it.....

[grobblewobble]

Of those who've watched my Let's Play or other things, is there anything weird about the way I play?
You're a bit of a packrat and you sometimes make decisions for roleplaying reasons that aren't technically optimal.

By the way, if you want my nosy pedantic un-asked for advice, bless & drink that pot of longevity before it gets destroyed.. could potentially save your life.

[anon123]

slow monster is way undervalued IMHO.

That's also pretty useful to get rid of cats. Take one to the end of an empty room, slow it, then happily walk through the door and close it.

[DreadArchon]

slow monster is way undervalued IMHO

Oh man, I love Slow Monster. It's terribly reliable against terrible things, and if you're careful about your hit-and-run tactics it's no problem that you have to be in melee to apply it.

Killer Bugs, Emperor Liches, the Greater Balor, etc. etc.--I have had more than one game where that spell was the main difference between an easy run and a hard run.

[MrNiceguy]

One tactic I use a lot that I don't see mentioned here: Heavy bookcasting of Strength of Atlas, Bless, and/or Farsight, particularly when walking across the wilderness. You train Mana through the PP depletion/regeneration, and the spell duration actually stacks with multiple castings.

[anon123]

Heavy bookcasting of Strength of Atlas

I declare myself guilty :p


You train Mana through the PP depletion/regeneration

As far as I know, PP regeneration trains the Concentration skill when it manages to add a point. Bookcasting would train Mana simply because you're using the spells.

In the late game, you can turn this tactic up a notch and bookcast Create Item to provide some uber Mana training.

[Kyreles]

Odd tactics? I guess you could call my compulsion to drain every pool I encounter odd. Any sensible player wouldn't do that. Does odd mean stupid? I also, typically, clear all of the elemental temples. The mana temple would be an exception (usually) because of all the summoners, but I generally clear the other four. I sometimes drink potions of exchange in the early game to get more out of herbs. I think smithing counts as an odd tactic. Most people just don't. I don't devote a ton of time, but I do it sometimes.

[anon123]

I also, typically, clear all of the elemental temples.

Same, excepting the fire one. Not because I'm underpowered or afraid of item destruction - I just can't stand that "The air is extremely hot!" spam every few turns. It gets worse if you use a ring of ice. I know you can remove it using Sage, but in my computer winbeta4 is the most responsive/less laggy version. I wonder whether a spam removal RFE would be accepted :D

Also, I understand the wand of destruction ending depending on race/class combo, but I'd never do one myself. When my wizards enter that place, they don't leave until everyone is dead, and every item has been picked up. Magic Missile is just awesome.

[Kyreles]

they don't leave until everyone is dead, and every item has been picked up. Magic Missile is just awesome.

Now that is somthing I don't worry about on D50. I'll Acid Ball the hell outa that place and destroy every item near me. By then then arn't all that helpful anyway. I wouldn't have gone to D50 if I couldn't handle it with my current gear. I have found a wand of wishing on D50 tho... I used it for logs and a fletchery set if I recall correctly.

[Hox]

I guess this may seem odd to somebody.

I play gnome beastfigther and teach him as most spells as possible. Always doing Rift, writing own scrolls, mostly of magic mapping.. sort of educated beastfighter . I'm carrying usualy 3-5 pickaxes and mining just for fun of it. Also taking time to equally well traing bows, crossbows and slings (usually to 10-11 in late game) + hoarding ammo. Using extensively ventriloquism, it's a life saver and cat pusher. And carrying lots of stuff, yesterday I won for the first time with gnome beastfigther and in the moment of closing gate was wearing ~21000s of load :) (moloch armor included, but at the same time four other armour in tha backpack ).

[grobblewobble]

Hox, did you try monks? They are really good at writing scrolls, learning spells and also at mining. ;)

Grats on your first win.

[Hox]

Thanks, it was approx. my 20th beastfighter char that finally made it. No savescumming of course, and I learned about Gorgons and Banshee the hard way ;-). Banshee really pissed me off then.
I've tried monks but found that after freedom of beastfighter playstylle I don't like much searching right weapon etc.., so I postponed another classes then, but plan to try some now.

[Al-Khwarizmi]

Monks don't need to search for weapons, they can fight unarmed fine! Just make sure that you have freedom of movement enough for martial arts, i.e., are not burdened and you are not wearing anything but non-ugly clothes or elven chainmails in the body armour slot, and you'll get great unarmed combat boni.

[DreadArchon]

I think smithing counts as an odd tactic. Most people just don't. I don't devote a ton of time, but I do it sometimes.

I guess that makes me odd, I spend hours and hours Smithing on most characters. It makes both the early game and the late game fairly tedious, but I have to make some pretty spectacular mistakes to lose a late-game character.

[JellySlayer]

I only smith when I'm playing a weaponsmith. For other characters, by the time I manage to find all of the necessary gear and train the skill up to a respectable level, I've finished the game already. Mining is also really, really tedious.

With a weaponsmith, on the other hand, once you find a forge and hit level 6, you can use junk spears from spear traps and all of the other random useless weapons and armor you find to make ingots, so you don't have to worry about mining, and can get a good smithing skill quite quickly. In this case, smithing can be pretty sweet because you can maybe triple your DV/PV at a time when it is still pretty low.

[Hox]

with respect to mining, I just realized one detail in my playstyle that may be odd, or just common routine? As soon as I get pickaxe, I almost never open any door the normal way, just mine around them :)

[anon123]

I guess that makes me odd, I spend hours and hours Smithing on most characters. It makes both the early game and the late game fairly tedious, but I have to make some pretty spectacular mistakes to lose a late-game character.

I used not to farm herbs because it sounded boring, but in my last games I read and applied the basics, and the benefits were amazing. Smithing might be the next thing I try in this fashion, just to see what the fuss is about and make my own judgement.


with respect to mining, I just realized one detail in my playstyle that may be odd, or just common routine? As soon as I get pickaxe, I almost never open any door the normal way, just mine around them :)

Me, I tend to get spellbooks of Knock early, but always forget to actually use the spell, at a time where trapped doors can actually kill you. >.<

[Phoobnahr]

I wouldn't really call this a tactic, but something I've found myself doing a lot lately is liberal use of the 'n' command to name NPCs...

To begin with I always name the tiny girl after my first kill, but I think a lot of people probably do that...
I pretty much always take my first kill in the outlaw village, so 95% of the time she ends up being named Outlaw, Bandit, Beggar, Cutpurse or the like. In my current game she's "Mugger, the tiny girl".

That's an old practice for me, but lately I find myself naming random NPCs with reckless abandon... Every dwarf who I've had to go around in dwarftown has ended up with a Snow White and the seven dwarves style name... I've got guardians named Pushy, Punchy, Jerky, Lazy, Nazi and Grouchy, regular dwarves named Drunky, Smelly, Schemey, Sleazy and Grateful, and dwarven children named Picky, Pokey, Grabby, Filthy, and Hateful.
Every goodwife that crosses too close to me ends up with names like Goody Proctor, Goody Badwife, etc.

I've even taken to naming non-hostile monster NPCs that I come across in dungeons... Kobolds are named like american Indians (a shaman named Runs with Jackals, a chieftain named Stinks like Hell), I've taken to naming goblins like Indians, and hobgoblins like pakistanis (Hobgoblin named Babu Batt)

as I said, not really a tactic... just a stylistic choice...
I feel weird...

[gut]

i think it is a good idea to use monster naming as a way of making game notes.
I imagine in the future I will see these names. 'Stash on D:8 stairs, the farmer',
'black potion = booze, the outlaw leader', 'killed cats already, the goodwife',
'still need pickpockets, the tiny girl', 'this doof picked my fp blanket, the dwarven
child'.

[anon123]

To begin with I always name the tiny girl after my first kill, but I think a lot of people probably do that...

I don't usually invoke the monster memory besides 'l'ooking at monsters and asking for [M]ore information, so the & command does the trick for this. I have never done an ultra ending nor learned Courage from the old barbarian, but ever since learning the significance of the first kill via spoilers, I diligently take note of it as soon as it's made. One day a PC will "get big" and I'll actually have use for that information :)

What I do use the 'n'aming command for is giving blink dogs obscene names before they summon help. :D

Another odd tactic I just remembered is that if I find a dark room and have the Light spell, every tile of it has to be lit. Even if we're on the ID and I'll never see that dungeon again.

[ScrollOfCureBlindness]

Full illumination is not odd, chances are you could miss a useful monster or item lurking on that one dark tile.

[Exy]

Now that is somthing I don't worry about on D50. I'll Acid Ball the hell outa that place and destroy every item near me. By then then arn't all that helpful anyway. I wouldn't have gone to D50 if I couldn't handle it with my current gear. I have found a wand of wishing on D50 tho... I used it for logs and a fletchery set if I recall correctly.
With spellcasters on D50, I have something of a superstition about not picking anything up or even looking at the item piles. If I'm on D50, I better have all the stuff I need already, so now I'm just a blur of magic missiles and acid balls.

[ghostrobotmoonzombie]

not that odd, but i save up all the SoProt and Def untill i get 7leauges and GoGS then i pimp them both up to around 8/8, and if i have enough i do up a cloak as well for an extra 24/24 dv/pv :)
On my grey elf weaponsmith (fate rolled) i ended up using magic writing sets to make more of these to improve some moloch armours DV because i couldnt seem to improve it with smithing (although i got an eternium towershield up to +20 +8) he ended up being a beast :)

[sgeos]

My character gets a last name based on the first kill, like Eggerbe (beggar), Uggermu (mugger), Rownbe (Brown Bear).

[JellySlayer]

not that odd, but i save up all the SoProt and Def untill i get 7leauges and GoGS then i pimp them both up to around 8/8, and if i have enough i do up a cloak as well for an extra 24/24 dv/pv :)
On my grey elf weaponsmith (fate rolled) i ended up using magic writing sets to make more of these to improve some moloch armours DV because i couldnt seem to improve it with smithing (although i got an eternium towershield up to +20 +8) he ended up being a beast :)

Best thing to do with moloch armors is melt them down for a hundred eternium ingots.

[MrNiceguy]

not that odd, but i save up all the SoProt and Def untill i get 7leauges and GoGS then i pimp them both up to around 8/8, and if i have enough i do up a cloak as well for an extra 24/24 dv/pv :)

I usually stash those scrolls till I find a Helmet of Mental Stability. Great for mid-game use, and very unlikely to be destroyed unlike 7LB.

[Al-Khwarizmi]

not that odd, but i save up all the SoProt and Def untill i get 7leauges and GoGS then i pimp them both up to around 8/8, and if i have enough i do up a cloak as well for an extra 24/24 dv/pv :)
I save up all the SoProt and Def until, er... forever. I always think "I can do without it, it's better to save it for later, maybe I'll be using different gear", and I end up never using them. Yes, doesn't make sense, I know.