Mid skill tactics

[Al-Khwarizmi]

I agree with JellySlayer and grobblewobble re: pacifying the Big Room. I have won the game and I have never, ever bothered with that. It's scummy, it's boring, and it's just plain not necessary.

I do try not to kill cats, though. The RotMC is a killer item and the Cat Lord is a scary enough opponent when you have killed one or two of the buggers by accident, I prefer not to imagine when you have happily slaughtered every feline that crossed your way through Ancardia.

[sgeos]

Winning isn't good enough, absolute domination is life!

If you insist on exploring all of every dungeon level, the later levels may well kill you. Corruption and things greater undead vaults can kill end game characters.

The guidebook also maliciously tells you cats are important. It's a lie, don't believe it. Kill any cats you see without mercy. If you make it to the master cat, you will probably win anyway, ring or no ring.

Killing the master cat is good for an extra experience level or so. =)

Now, when Thrun asks me to kill a karmic lizard or some preposterous request like that, I'm going to spit in his face and keep going down.

You are going about this the wrong way. =P When going through the UD and the COC above Dwarftown, your goal should be to find the stair ASAP with few exceptions. Run away from vaults at this point. After Thrundarr assigns you a monster to kill, then you go back and clear the UD and COC level above Dwarftown. This is also a good time to clear places like the puppy cave, village dungeon, etc. If you gun for Dwarftown I can practically guarantee that you will kill your assigned monster by the time you have cleared all early game dungeons and floors you rushed through. After that you can go back for the second quest. You may or may not want to take it right away.

FYI, the UD is my character filter. I send all characters through the small cave and UD. The ones who die are not meant be.

I agree that knowing when to run away is a very important skill. You will lose a lot of promising characters if you attempt to berserk kill everything that crosses your path.

[gut]

> Now, when Thrun asks me to kill a karmic lizard or some preposterous request like that, I'm going to spit in his face and keep going down.

[JellySlayer]

I do try not to kill cats, though. The RotMC is a killer item and the Cat Lord is a scary enough opponent when you have killed one or two of the buggers by accident, I prefer not to imagine when you have happily slaughtered every feline that crossed your way through Ancardia.

I haven't noticed him being all that much stronger, TBH. Then again, most of the strategies for killing him involve not getting hit in the first place. He does give a lot more experience though.

[_Ln_]

Yeah, I remember back then I tried to pacify Big Room with every character and went for real troubles not to kill any cats. And, true, as grobblewobble says, it's probably because of the Guidebook influence.
Now I don't even bother except the first except with spellcasters with low To and absolutely not bother with the second. Seriously, I just can't seem to find a use for RoTMC. The Guidebook again claimed that it was one of the best artifacts in the game, but why? For me, ring of regeneration beat it any time and I don't appreciate decrease in xp gains when I'm clearing D:50 balors casting slow monster on myself and invis on them. It's exceptionally good for archers though, but at this point of the game they are unstoppable anyway.

If you are prepared for cat lord, as you should be, he's not that scary. The worst part is chasing him across the levels after he panics, breaks all webs and tries to hide like a chicken he is.

[Silfir]

16 dexterity and 16 speed is really, really good. I appreciate the dexterity very much when I'm clearing D:50 of balors using demon slaying ammo, which I do more often than not. "Speed is bad because less XP" seems to me a thoroughly misguided conclusion. When the chips go down, the gloves come off and things get real, you want high speed, not low speed, because high speed is a good thing. Its downside is not related at all to its value in battle. To a rational mind, it shouldn't even register. Getting a lot of XP from a fight isn't as important as winning it. It's barely important at all, since levels tend to do little for your actual power. Stuff, spells, even weapon skills do much more. And as far as stuff goes, there are few rings that can match the ring of the master cat.

As for the cat lord, I don't think there's a level of preparedness when he stops being scary. Bypassing armor, critical hits, godly speed? Yeah, I tend to make the fight really, really one-sided, but there's few enemies that command such a degree of respect. And given the chance, yes, I want to avoid that fight. I've also never actually died to the cat lord, but that doesn't make him any less scary, because I have come close.

What are you getting levels on D:50 for, anyway? Just kill all the balors and leave. Why give them the chance to teleport-ambush you while you're slowed and mess you up?

[grobblewobble]

Debates about the value of the ring, the power of the cat lord and the value of xp aside, worrying about cats is not worth it when you have never made it past the tower yet, in any case. That was the main reason I said that..

[Silfir]

That is also true. Regardless of how you think, if you do end up killing a cat the reaction should be nothing more than "Oh. Bugger." and a shrug. Certainly not a ragequit! It's not like we're talking about anything important, like whether you should pick Treasure Hunter or not.

[sgeos]

worrying about cats is not worth it when you have never made it past the tower yet, in any case.

I agree. You need to learn how to make it past the mid game before you have the privilege of dying in the end game.

[_Ln_]

Getting a lot of XP from a fight isn't as important as winning it.

I wouldn't slow myself if there is a danger of me getting killed. And come on, paranoia is good in ADoM, but there are limits. What fun is there to play, when you can't kill someone slowed? You and me both kill all potentially scary guys like Fistanarius, Keriax, archmage, EM and cat lord with uber disabling tactics and that what makes them pathetic (except EM, he can still kick butt any time of day). If you treat anything else as a threat, you cease to be a hero on a quest to save the world. If you made to D:50 and don't kill anyone until the level is secured, what kind of victory is it?

I kill balors for ending score. It's also quite pleasant just to see 2.5kk experience for each.