Advice for Ultra Ending (r59, Drakeling Wizard)

[Revontulet]

Recently I found myself reading about Nethack due to IRL RNG (probably due to 3.6.0 being released), which led me to ADOM in the end. I used to play it a long time ago, but I only played with savescumming (yeah, I know). I will say that I learned a LOT about it that way, but of course never felt that I really "beat the game".

So, resuming after quite a few years, I'm trying again, but as it should be played, on the Ancardia.us.to server (r59). I'm attempting a lawful ultra ending, but it hasn't been easy. So far, I've died countless times on the Puppy Cave as my starting dungeon. So, I decided to take it slower and safer this time.

I got a lvl 12 Drakeling Wizard. Neutral so far, slowly slipping into chaotic. First kill was a beggar (as I won't really need Courage). I started out in the SMC to pick up the blanket, I was lucky enough to have an altar (neutral) generated in it. I've trained a bit on the ID (got a ton of books including Teleport, but no blink dogs so far) and then went through the UD. Almost died a couple of time on the vault (random monsters) which were saved by the uncontrolled Teleport. Also encountered herbs (no stomafillia or spenseweed though), so I will eventually go back to harvest more Morgia and Mareilon.

I'm currently back at Terinyo, contemplating the future, 20 days into my quest. I'm looking to use the altar on the SMC, but as I'm attempting an ultra, I had some questions:

a) Is it worth it to attempt pre-crowning at this point? I'm currently leaning to chaotic, and could probably convert, so as to convert the altar in the SMC to chaotic and be able to sacrifice everything in the cave. I don't think I've had artifacts generated yet, so I wanted to try it before going to the Pyramid or going after Keetrax. I also worry about being overwhelmed by the monsters while attempting this (especially without Teleport control).

b) What's the best way to get teleport control? I have't had luck with the blink dogs; is there any particular place where I can hunt for them?

c) Any advice for the new random dungeons? Are they worth it? Especially the cavernous one (Putrid Cave). Is there any requirement to find them?

d) Are there any wish engines still functional? From what I've read, both the Gremling and Potions of Exchange wish engines have been fixed/toned down since then (1.1.1 at least; gosh, it's been a while). Is there any other method of getting wishes? This is mainly for the AoLS for Khelavaster (and perhaps some 7LB).

e) Any other random advice?

Thanks for the input .

[hapro]

a) Some people precrown every game but I find it very boring. It's up to your playstyle really. It's not needed at all and it could be really helpful or completely useless. I guess it can always be ratling fodder but I've never had a problem feeding him with guaranteed artifacts. If you do try you should definitely get controlled teleport though - SMC has a very high risk and personally I wouldn't do it unless I found an altar in putrid caves or was doing a special challenge character.

b) Head to ID5 and stairhop... I usually do w4 w6 to kill 5-10 turns to see if any dogs teleport to me before hopping to the next level. w5 would probably be fine too. When you find one, set your tactics to Defensive and kick it a few times. This will damage it slightly so you know which one is the original - only the original can summon extras, so kill the summons but keep the summoner alive.

c) 4 and 6 are fairly high DL, I'd do them after Tower of Eternal Flames. The rest you can generally do whenever, and they're a good source of pre-Tower loot, especially if you're missing certain items. Good way to find something you need without scumming, and extra shops are always nice. Completely optional though. They can appear pretty much anywhere randomly in the mountains bordering the world, except they don't seem to appear in the top right area. Some may require climbing sets.

d) Wish engines are basically dead except archmage, but you only need 1 wish. You should hold on to all rings you find and all potions of exchange. By the time you HAVE to cross Khelly, you usually have enough rings/potions to generate a RoDS. I would drain all pools first (particularly Darkforge) for a chance (make sure to have enough piety to remove dooming when necessary) before polymorphing rings.

e) You'll have some extra difficulty in Ice Queen domain, but I think it's worth it to unlock the additional dungeon.

[zliplus]

a) Agreed, precrowning is absolutely not necessary. Of course, if you find an altar on PC5 or putrid cave (or you are dwarf/hurthling) you might as well.
b) I've rarely had trouble finding blink dogs without going to ID. You can (n)ame the original to give it that star (in graphical mode).
c) The random dungeons provide extra locations to find xp, herbs, forges, altars, etc. They're certainly not required if you're lucky enough, but otherwise they can reduce the boredom a bit.
d) I usually find the vault in FGJC provides enough loot to find AoLS, but i hear IQD is hard for drakelings. Invisibility helps a ton (unless you just want to kill everything, but there are consequences).

[Revontulet]

Thanks for the tips ^_^.

What I get from this is that the SMC pre-crown is not worth it unless I have Teleport Control at least, and ideally also Invisibility. If I find this soon, maybe.

I'll try the ID for the dogs.

I have a problem I didn't though I would: I'm a Drakeling. I knew I'd have issues on the ToEF, but Teleport + Magic Mapping and heavy ice spells usually mean that I may not even be in there long enough for that to be a problem. But from what I've read (permanent speed 10, even with Alchemy), this also means that I won't be doing the Ice Queen related quests. Is there any way to do it with a Drakeling without abusing the game a whole lot (like many, MANY potions of speed)?

Concerning wishes, I'll have to get lucky with the pools I guess. I'll give the ring exchange a shot too, can't hurt I guess :P.

[Blank4u47]

Your speed is set at 50 in IQD what you really need is invisibility because it gets more dangerous the more monsters you kill. (Excluding berserkers/yetis in that one room)

(Edit): ToEF will be a breeze for you because your speed will be so high you'll be able to melee everything and watch them move every 2-3 turns all this is in exchange for a couple hp a turn when your speed gets high, also about half xp from high speed, but you'll make that up later, no loss.

[hapro]

yeah, I think it is a common misconception that ToEF is harder for drakelings because there's no immunity, when actually it is way easier

[Blasphemous]

1) 1st precrown is relatively fast and easy, especially with a well placed altar and live sacs.
Given your situation I'd definitely go for it but not in SMC.
Sure, on C altar you can sac anything... that is alive.
At level 12, the first stone statue or corpse fiend (or a ghul/multiplied gray ooze/summoned tarantulas/multiplied red worms/shadow troll or... you get the idea) that comes at you will probably end your ultra prematurely.
At this point, avoiding SMC is probably the best thing to do so look for an altar somewhere else.

2) Stairhop between ID4 and ID5 for blinks. Ascend, w5 once, descend, w5 once, rinse and repeat. A blinkie will eventually show up, it always works for me.

3) New random dungeons can be accessed by any char at any point. I'd avoid R4 and R6 with your char since they are pretty high DL, especially R6 which regularly spawns titans, wyrms and molochs.
Cavernous one is nice if you get an altar there - at that point you could well go for 2nd precrown with that monster generation.
Each random cave has all the regular features so if you're unlucky, you might get a surge of power with some crappy artifact (or if you are lucky - a useful one, though at this DL it's a remote chance).
All caves are spread in random points but always have a set number of levels.

4) No wish engines are functional, unless you include archmage and spellbook of wish, but that is outside of your grasp and will remain so for a long time.
You can still get a single RoDS via potion of exchange but once you get it that way, further dipping will not get you another one ever.
If you have large ring stacks and plenty of potions of exchange then I'd give it a shot (on D:8 of course), otherwise you're left with random drops and pools.
FGJC caves tend to spawn glowing wands (3 times for me in ~30 games) just randomly lying around, but as a drake you might find it challenging to reach the ice queen and get the cave location, unless of course you have fire immunity and some potions to spare for alchemy fireballs, to negate drake cold slowness.

5) Random advice? I'd suggest to forget trying to save kelly too hard. You will get bored if you can't find a wish or aols for a long time and the game might very well decide it's not the time for your ultra.
Trying to grind and scum it anyway might actually mean you get discouraged from playing due to boredom.
Finally, keep in mind that C- ultras get a tremendous score while N= and L+ ultras are rated even below regular gate closing (I'd say it's a bug and a long lived one at that) so if you're aiming at a nice score - go for C-.

[Revontulet]

Blinky.png

Blinky has served me well :3.

As a reward, I didn't kill him, so I had to run from a pack of blink dogs for two levels. He's now vanished into the RNG ether.

Also got a couple more scrolls and books (Cure Light Wounds, and an extra Teleport). Will farm a bit more for an Invisibility one. I'm gonna be wanting to ID stuff soon, might as well use the SMC altar (tele in, bless, tele out).

I'll try looking for an altar on the new random dungeons for the pre-crown.

Concerning alignment, I was looking to do an Lawful Ultra Ending. I don't really like to be corrupted. I also don't want issues with the standard quests for the time being. I guess I have a long way to go, so I'll decide later. To be honest I'm just looking to do it, not really caring for the score. I'll be very satisfied if I make it to care about it :P.

[Blasphemous]

Then make sure you do the required chaotic quests for medal and crown of chaos as early as possible.
Changing alignment from L+ to C- at level 50 is very easy but the other way around... not so much.

[klawz]

I hear that. I can fully recommend getting them done quickly. Still slowly plodding along with my ultra attempt due to lack of time to play (dwarven paladin) and pushed to do all the chaotic quests asap so I'm now lvl 21 and just got crowned L+ with the holy scarf. Shame it wasn't justifier but Ho hum.

Having a weapon problem too as I stupidly fed big punch to the ratling.

Sounds like you're going really well. Good luck!