Mines Malingerer
Posts: 37
Joined: Monday, 7th April 2014, 13:01
[CIP] Very first char ever, need a lot of advice! (DeCj)
this is my first game of crawl ever, so expect a lot of dumb questions and many mistakes.
I did play some nethack back in the days, so I know the basics of roguelikes.
Starting the game I immediately recognized that it has a lot of buttons, so I reverted to the wiki for some advice. To make learning easier I use MistyMan's Guide to DeCj so I can get a feeling for character development and actually see something of the dungeon instead of just dying. On that note the start seems to be considerably easier than in nethack or I'm just very lucky.
I do have some specific questions, but all advice is appreciated, especially if it includes the reasoning behind it, so I can gain some in-depth knowledge of the game's mechanics.
- Code:
Incanus the Conjurer (Deep Elf Conjurer) Turns: 10048, Time: 03:46:06
HP 55/55 AC 9 Str 8 XL: 10 Next: 44%
MP 27/30 EV 14 Int 21 God: Vehumet [**....]
Gold 356 SH 0 Dex 15 Spells: 7 memorised, 16 levels left
Res.Fire : + . . See Invis. : . y - orc dagger (venom)
Res.Cold : + . . Warding : . O - +2 leather armour of the Lair of Beasts {rF+ rN+}
Life Prot.: + . . Conserve : . (no shield)
Res.Poison: . Res.Corr. : . Y - +0 helmet
Res.Elec. : . Clarity : . M - +0 cloak
Sust.Abil.: . . Spirit.Shd : . (no gloves)
Res.Mut. : . Stasis : . S - +0 pair of boots
Res.Rott. : . Flight : . (no amulet)
Saprovore : . . . E - +1 ring of protection
q - ring of protection from cold
@: somewhat resistant to hostile enchantments, fairly stealthy
A: no striking features
a: Renounce Religion
You are on level 1 of the Lair of Beasts.
You worship Vehumet.
Vehumet is pleased with you.
You are not hungry.
You have visited 3 branches of the dungeon, and seen 12 of its levels.
You have collected 336 gold pieces.
Inventory:
Hand weapons
y - an uncursed orcish dagger of venom (weapon)
Missiles
I - 5 poisoned darts (quivered)
Armour
M - a +0 cloak (worn)
O - the +2 leather armour of the Lair of Beasts (worn) {rF+ rN+}
(You found it on level 5 of the Dungeon)
It protects you from fire.
It protects you from negative energy.
S - a +0 pair of boots (worn)
Y - a +0 helmet (worn)
Magical devices
g - a wand of fire {zapped: 1}
r - a wand of flame {zapped: 1}
Comestibles
b - 7 bread rations
c - a chunk of giant frog flesh
h - a choko
L - a pear
Scrolls
m - a scroll labeled OLOKLU TOMMO
o - 2 scrolls of amnesia
p - 2 scrolls labeled YCREICEUDDU
t - a scroll labeled SCHEAN ACA
v - 6 scrolls of teleportation
x - 2 scrolls labeled ATU SAJOIZIVO
z - 6 scrolls of remove curse
A - a scroll labeled BLIPIN BRYUCZOQIU
D - 2 scrolls of identify
G - a scroll labeled STRAYBR REMOCO
J - 2 scrolls labeled STEZIR TRUMIC
V - a scroll labeled SHRURA PNYIMY
Jewellery
q - a ring of protection from cold (left hand)
E - a +1 ring of protection (right hand)
Potions
a - 2 viscous orange potions
d - 2 blue potions
e - a metallic pink potion
f - a potion of curing
j - a potion of brilliance
l - a yellow potion
n - 3 bubbling cyan potions
s - a silvery potion
w - a gluggy brown potion
B - 3 black potions
H - 3 fuming pink potions
K - an oily red potion
N - a white potion
P - 2 glowing red potions
Q - an inky potion
R - a red potion
Books
i - a book of Geomancy
Spells Type Level
Sandblast Earth 1
Stoneskin Transmutation/Earth 2
Passwall Transmutation/Earth 3
Stone Arrow Conjuration/Earth 3
Petrify Transmutation/Earth 4
Lee's Rapid Deconstruction Earth 5
Skills:
* Level 5,3 Fighting
- Level 6,0 Dodging
- Level 2,5 Stealth
- Level 10,0 Spellcasting
* Level 11,6 Conjurations
- Level 6,0 Charms
- Level 1,2 Summonings
- Level 1,0 Necromancy
You have 16 spell levels left.
You know the following spells:
Your Spells Type Power Failure Level Hunger
a - Magic Dart Conj #### 1% 1 None
b - Searing Ray Conj ###### 1% 2 None
c - Animate Skeleton Necr N/A 4% 1 None
d - Iskenderun's Battles Conj/Chrm #####... 1% 4 ##.....
e - Summon Small Mammal Summ ###. 4% 1 None
f - Apportation Tloc ##........ 8% 1 None
g - Mephitic Cloud Conj/Pois/Air ####.... 4% 3 None
Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations
Branches:
Dungeon (10/27) Temple (1/1) D:6 Orc (0/4) D:7
Lair (1/8) D:8
Altars:
Fedhas
Kikubaaqudgha
Nemelex Xobeh
Okawaru
Trog
Vehumet
Xom
Yredelemnul
Zin
the Shining One
Message History
Your battlesphere fires!
The barrage of energy hits the hound.
The hound is severely wounded.
Aiming: Magic Dart
Press: ? - help, Shift-Dir - straight line, f/p - hound
Aim: a hound (severely wounded)
The magic dart hits the hound.
You kill the hound!
Vehumet accepts your kill.
You feel your power returning.
Your battlesphere fires!
Found 18 bolts.
You see here a giant frog corpse.
You attempt to give life to the dead...
Before your eyes, flesh is ripped from the corpse!
The dead are hopping!
c - 2 chunks of giant frog flesh
This raw flesh tastes terrible.
You continue eating.
Saving game... please wait.
#
####.####
.........########
..(..>..@*z...<.#
..#P####.#..#..##
#.......#
#.#.##P.#
.........#
###########
You can see a friendly giant frog skeleton.
Questions:
1. Id: I got a lot of un-ided stuff and I wasted some scrolls figuring out the glowing/runic/etc. descriptions on weapons and armor. Identifying seems to be more straight forward than in nethack, but how should I proceed here? Just read scrolls/drink potions? Wands I just zap at enemies near walls without standing in the way of a possible reflection.
2. Equipment: I didn't find much so far I think. I want to drop the armor, but it seems nice and doesn't interfere with my spell casting probabilities. Does it reduce the spellpower? And if yes by how much? I did find a robe+1 as an alternative, which would improve EV by 2. What should I look for in armor? +Int and +r* seems obvious, but what else?
3. Spells: The starting skills work well and Vehumet just gave me Meph (worrying about the noise though). According to the guide I will branch into fire if I get a fire spell. I did find this nice geo book, is anything of it worth learning? Blowing up the dungeon with LRD sounds like a lot of fun!
4. Skills: My skill progress is mostly based on the guide. Right now I get fighting up for the hp bonus and then I will get more dodge for an enhanced defence, while still getting conj up for more firepower. The single points in necro and summ are to get the skeleton and the critter on a higher probability. I really do like the skeleton spell, fast chopping up of corpses plus a nice damage buffer. I have 10 points in spellcasting to fight the hunger from the orb. It's down to 40 food per casting which is comfortably manageable. How should I proceed in the future? Especially how much should I put into fighting and dodging?
5. Weapon: For now I have no weapon and the guide says nothing about that. So what can you recommend? Is some melee power as backup useful? Or maybe a ranged weapon if I run low on mp? Or maybe a staff to enhance spellcasting? I do have Pikel's fire whip and some very big two-hand weapons from various uniques. I was thinking 1H + buckler, since it would add some AC which I miss on the account of my weak armor. Does a shield restrict spellcasting much? Oh and then I would need to train the appropriate weapon skill and shield, right?