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Thread: Paragon of Order Wizard King speedrun [TAS 963 turns (00:04:03)]

  1. #1
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    Nov 2019
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    Default Paragon of Order Wizard King speedrun [TAS 963 turns (00:04:03)]

    There are not so many runs under 6k turns so I decided to investigate the lower bound for turns a bit. This is not a thoroughly optimized effort but more of a proof-of-concept run.

    So, here's the character.
    He was born in Cup under a falling star. 20% fewer experience to advance. Cup seems to negatively affect starting spell knowledge.
    He was a gnome. Another -25% to the experience requirement.
    He was a wizard. Wizards get reduced cost of spells, more spellbooks, level and learn spells easily, get spell knowledge starting at level 25, ability to recharge wands etc.

    1. After entering the Drakalor Chain he headed to the ToEF. He made a pit stop at R4's pool.
    2. Then he went on to deal with the ACW of the ToEF. The wyrm tried to run away but its endeavour was fruitless.
    3. The wizard travelled to the Caverns of Chaos. He ignored temptations of the Arena and took no part in consuming lizards for gluttony or mortal combat for greed and entertainment.
    4. Upon his arrival to Dwarftown he carefully removed an old bearded obstacle from a lever opening access to the lower levels of the caverns.
    5. Using an earlier obtained amulet he saved Khelavaster.
    6. He did not disturb dwarven graveyards.
    7. After repeated attempts he managed to provoke the Snake of Water Temple to abandon its nest. The snake did not survive for long.
    8. He critically hit Banshee saving himself from the approaching danger.
    9. He teleported and hurried downstairs leaving the angry eternal guardian behind.
    10. He did not engage in trade or gambling inside the casino.
    11. He decided not to bother a man who apparently was a farmer breeding rabbits but could not help picking a ring dropped by a remarkable huge feline.
    12. Whether the illusionist of the Air Temple was named after a speedrunner or not he was fired from that job.
    13. A strange surge of power caused an artifact to appear (chain mail of the martyred crusader which was sacrificed later).
    14. Just a level below the wizard stumbled upon four artifacts in a greater vault: Shezestriakis, Protector, Soaker and The Wall.
    15. He defeated the stone beast of the Earth Temple using crossbow bolts and powerful spells.
    16. He found a nice rune-covered long sword in a greater vault located 44 levels below ground (Trusted One). He also found a black book, a piece of map and heaps of gold.
    17. His deity crowned him as a champion of law.
    18. Deep inside the sidebranch of the caverns he saw a poacher inside his hut surrounded by many illegal traps and put an end to this.
    19. He closed the chaos gates and destroyed the means to open them again.
    20. He quickly teleported through the Caverns of Chaos to Darkforge and after a short stop in a small village left the Drakalor Chain.

    Here's the flg file and the recording of all pressed keys with comments.
    Last edited by 1kWizard; 11-18-2019 at 07:13 PM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
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    This is fascinating (great writeup!), but I don't understand a lot of it (e.g. ";" to feed RNG). Are there more details somewhere?
    Last edited by SirTheta; 12-04-2019 at 06:46 PM.
    gate closers: GeWi GnMo(unarmed) DeAs/Pa/Mi(staves)/Ra GePr DrBb HrMo | p7: MeBf | p17: GnPr | p20: DrDu GnAs DeCk MeWp OrBf GnTh MeHe | R57: MeDu | R101: DrAs (26,674 turns) GnDu (26,748) DrAs (18,533)
    ULE: HeRa — OCG: DeMi
    currently speedrunning DrAs.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by SirTheta View Post
    This is fascinating (great writeup!), but I don't understand a lot of it (e.g. ";" to feed RNG). Are there more details somewhere?
    Thanks!

    ADOM uses a pseudo random number generator (PRNG) to determine what should or should not happen. For example whether an item should be generated, what type of item, and where it should be. A PRNG is basically a combination of what could be described as a large number and certain calculations on it repeated over and over again. It is deterministic which means that the same number (internal state) always leads to the same result. On the contrary a different internal state may and often does give a different result. Moreover that state changes when a player interacts with the game. One only needs to interact in a specific way to make PRNG rolls more advantageous. This is where semicolons enter the picture. ";" is one of the keys which does nothing in my keymap, pressing it does not consume turns but still does affect the PRNG. Other keys can also be used.

    Effectively it allows to influence some in-game things which seem random otherwise. In this case to generate a level with a pool.

  4. #4
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    Ah, so once you've generated a wish from a pool, you know the internal memory state of ADOM for generating a wish, and simply feed the RNG until a new wish is guaranteed while drinking from a pool?
    gate closers: GeWi GnMo(unarmed) DeAs/Pa/Mi(staves)/Ra GePr DrBb HrMo | p7: MeBf | p17: GnPr | p20: DrDu GnAs DeCk MeWp OrBf GnTh MeHe | R57: MeDu | R101: DrAs (26,674 turns) GnDu (26,748) DrAs (18,533)
    ULE: HeRa — OCG: DeMi
    currently speedrunning DrAs.

  5. #5
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    Nov 2019
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    Quote Originally Posted by SirTheta View Post
    Ah, so once you've generated a wish from a pool, you know the internal memory state of ADOM for generating a wish, and simply feed the RNG until a new wish is guaranteed while drinking from a pool?
    One approach is to implement a PRNG working synchronously with ADOM's. Another (which was actually used) is to treat the PRNG as a black box allowing ADOM to do the calculations then replay until that very moment or restore the state in some other way. The former approach can be used for perfect speedruns but the latter presents certain optimisation problems arguably making it more fun.

    If the goal is to get a wish yes it can be guaranteed. In fact this run overdoes preparation stage quite a bit because the initial character was rolled with an idea of rapid levelling in mind at the expense of more useful traits. Starting spells, skills, attributes, talents were nearly irrelevant. Wishes do compensate for it and provide equipment but they still cost turns. So it's an interesting trade-off.

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