Confessions of a former savescummer + Redemption!

[Booster]

Ok, I used to savescum. Pools, precrowns, tough bosses - I did it all. This was years back, and have recently started up ADOM - again I got right back to my old habits, but told myself this time would be different. I continued to save-scum a bit to get a feel for the game again but after losing my semi-scummed hurthling assassin to the piranas in the red lake I decided to stop (I wanted to see how much dmg they did, I had 224 hit points and remembered it being something like -50... instakill!). In that game in a gnoll vault I had a friendly gnoll throw a Balanced battle axe of Devastation in PC:6! That weapon took my a long way until a precrown gave me wyrmlance. Was so bummed when my stupidity/curiosity got my guy killed.

Wow has ADOM become a much better game! I re-rolled a few more hurthling assassins losing 4 or 5 early on. In one game (candle + long lost brother showed up!!) I got cornered by the mad carpenter and got taken out only to discover after dying that my unIDed amulet was an AoLS.. In my current game I am currently at lvl 15 with some decent gear (found an AoLS early on which I stashed) and got -Deth from a pool; started with 11 learning which has been a hindrance but the oracle smartened me up - luckily I was very close with my deity from trying to precrown so I got rid of doomed/cursed (after I realized 20 minutes later I was doing half damage and taking more damage than usual). I finally got enough piety for extremely close and prayed for what I hoped was a good weapon (currently using crystal dagger + shield but have since switched to adamantium spear). I think the RNG took it's vengeance out on me when a black tome materialized at my feet... oh well hopefully rat fodder. I carried it around for a bit without realizing it was corrupting me but the second corruption was acid blood (=Acid) so it's not all bad news I suppose.

I don't think I'll be able to muster a second precrown so it's off the pyramid for me soon, but I feel like my weapons are way too weak. In the arena I fought a wild cat, spawned a corruption trap and the PMoC almost killed me! Eventually got it with a few arrows of slaying but that was a close call. Sword and shield seem the way to go for now; I went with daggers to try and roleplay a bit (I fantasize about using sting/needle later), but spears seem the best fit right now. Any recommendations on weapons? I have -6 To from my first corruption and no morgia root patches in the big room, which is pacified. I think I'll read a bit on how to shift 4x4 bushed around to get a Morgia bush set up as my Wi and To are lacking at the moment.

[Elcs]

I have save scummed in the past, mainly because I was a lot younger and without internet (I was 9 when ADOM was released, probably 10 when I started playing it on the Amiga). Nowadays I rarely do it and then it's only for sake of curiosity, often learning more about where to go or what to do next in areas of the game where I've not had much experience or to test out certain abilities or scrolls to help flesh out my knowledge and perhaps add to the ADOM wikia. And I find the game is even more fun with that small change

Re: Pyramid, my last couple of characters have sailed through it with simple mithril/adamantium weapons and spells. A solid PV and DV will keep you reasonably safe and a blessed weapon really does work wonders as many of the top level Pyramid monsters are Undead or Demons (even your Crystal Dagger should be sufficient, I would suppose). My Assassins (Human, Gnome, Hurthling) have not been so lucky and not survived the trip to get healing + SMC/UD or Puppy Cave so I'm lacking on the specific advice. Slaying ammo, as you seem to be carrying, will prove useful but you may not even need it. Spears are slightly more designed towards defensive play with their +DV bonus from mastery levels being amongst, if not, the highest.... however if you check your 'W'eapon damage and DV scores with the Spear and the Dagger, compare the two and pick the one which gives you the better balance (or whichever one is blessed)

I haven't encountered a WMoPC in years (real life years) but last time I did, it was ungodly powerful for the danger level of the cave I was in so count yourself lucky that you managed to take it down.

Re: Second Precrowning. The best I have managed lately in 1.2.0 is a pre-crown and crowning or crowning and post-crown before/at the Pyramid stage (PC level 16). The third one seems to be nigh impossible or an exercise in extreme patience.

[Booster]

My first time since coming back in the pyramid I was slaughtered, but last time I ducked into a corner which only left 2 open targets on me, so I should be OK with my blessed weapons. My low HP is what worries as if I get sick it can be a problem. I do have an amulet of undead protection, so hopefully that will help some. As far as damage, they are currently about the same only with Daggers at lvl 8 or 9 and polearms at 4, so i think I'll start working on polearms some more. I was really hoping to get Wyrmlance again as that weapon was an absolute beast. I do have slaying ammo, but the majority of it is quarrels unfortunately, and I use bows.

I think in all my playthroughs I fought maybe one WMoPC, but last game I had the same issue (cat in arena fight) and I took it down instantly. Really a shame I got the black tome as a precrown; I worked so hard at getting my piety up and was so bummed when I saw it. I think out of principle I won't crown neutral now.

[anon123]

A small checklist of things you may want to have in the Pyramid: source of fire, controlled on-demand teleportation, source of invisibility, sickness removal. Besides DV/PV as high as you can, of course. The guaranteed wand of fireballs is good for this. Just teleport straight to the stairs in the first two levels, then approach Rehetep with two shields in Coward tactics and blast him with the wand. He sees through invisibility as do all mummies and jackal demons, but many of the nasty (at this point) monsters that can be generated in the third level do not.

As for weapons, don't make the same mistake I used to, of sticking with spears despite having much nicer stuff. Just use the most damaging one-hander you have with a good shield. Most of your DV will come from the latter, and both skills are trained quickly. Big Punch is good.

I do have an amulet of undead protection, so hopefully that will help some.

Sadly, that item seems to be designed with a single monster in mind, which does not reside in the Pyramid.

[Booster]

Had a few more deaths, including a very promising char that seems to have been by a bug; For some reason Waldenbrook (sp?) went hostile on me on one of my trips to town (didn't have unholy aura corruption).

I decided to try out a Hurthling Monk + Sword birthsign (I love cooking + Food Preservation!) and found an altar on VD:2; that coupled with a large tension room on the next floor right near the stairs helped get me an early precrown (I dragged them upstairs and the altar was set up that as the followed me they always spawned on top of the altar! Easy 'O' sac). Like I said I stopped save-scumming completely but I really wanted to try RPing a monk that uses Fists and Quarterstaves (and ToRR if I could get an ultimate victory) - prior to praying I did a backup save and said if I got a really good weapon I would re-load until I got a Staff of the Wanderer - I ended up praying the first time and getting the Vanquisher! Much better than the damn black tome last time. So I did what I would consider scummy and reloaded until I got the staff - I rationalized it to myself that it is a much weaker weapon as I could easily use Vanquisher for the rest of the game, but I didn't want to use a 2HS Monk. A few levels down I found a pool and proceeded to drink and was completely amazed at what happened! I drank a total of 10-12(!) times before it dried up and got a ton of amazing benefits. I think it was a total of 4 snakes, -para, -stun or -sleep, -shock, cursed, lost -fire, and a wish! I'm going from memory so I might have added something (I don't have potion of insight yet). Anyway, I wished for an AoLS and stashed it in Hole in the Wall. Did the puppy cave and after IDing my gear found I had another AoLS! When it rains it pours...

Luckliy survived the SMC and grabbed the blanket and found downstairs with 1/3 HP (went in with 3 invis potions but it was close) and am now at the HMV after killing the Oracle and learning at 23. This char has tons of potential and I'm hoping to win with this guy.

So... how bad was my pre-crown scum for the staff?

[Stingray1]

Pretty awful.

[Booster]

Yeah, if I win with this guy I won't be posting him, but I really wanted to try a game with only staves/fists to see how they were. I could have taken the vanquisher to the end of the game, and I will likely be trading this one in at some point for a smithed up eternium staff or quicksilver staff - every game I play I end up using the more powerful weapons and I wanted to see how this one went, as they are considered a weaker weapon class and more fitting for what I want to RP.

[Blasphemous]

A scum is a scum, no matter how you look at it.
From your gameplay point of view it doesn't matter though, I always believed that if save scumming is what makes this game attractive to you and makes you happy - then by all means save sum as much as you want.
I save scummed a lot years ago, I remember one game where I read the ending note after finishing and it told me the total number of saves was 800+.
I had fun I must admit and got to understand game mechanics, items, monsters...
Then I stopped playing when I got bored.
After some time I resumed when 1.1.1 was released and played again occasionally scumming, but finally came to a point when I wanted to try the challenge of beating a game I never managed to beat before without cheating, and it worked. Turned out it was much more fun to play without save scumming or any other cheating methods. Maybe I simply had to grow up a bit to get there, I don't know

[gut]

the one thing missing from a save scummed game: panic

[Booster]

I used to scum like crazy when I played years back (4 or 5 years ago - I can't remember the version) and had a lot of fun learning the mechanics and the intricacies of the game; aside from this momentary relapse I have stopped scumming and have lost some promising characters. It sucks losing a character you've put hours into, but it's much more fun than reloading every time you die. I have this obsession to make my first win an ultra and won't settle for less. My previous game had me too weak to take out DF (pyramid had a wall monster that paralyzed me and drained me to 10 Str! almost dying in the process) so I went ID hopping at lvl 24 to try and getting an AoLS/RoDS. Then I came across a Dorn beast and died (paralyzation is probably my #1 death by stupidity, but I am learning the monsters this way I guess).

So although I don't consider this guy a pure character, it's good enough for what I want and I haven't scummed aside from the precrown scum (which had the condition of being a strong weapon) - I've been fantasizing about playing a quarterstaff monk and wanted to try it to get out of my system. This was my second attempt at this, my first monk (who the Dorn beast ate) was precrowned with Celestrix. Chances are this guy will die along the way, but at least I've had tried it out to see how viable it is. Thus far into the game, I think I will come to regret not just playing it out with the Vanquisher