CiP: V5, Slime, Crypt or ??

[LemuelP]

Hey hey.

So I’m an old-time Crawl player — I started playing the old Linley version, before Stone Soup — and was pretty involved in the early development of DCSS, back in 2007-2008. But I drifted away three or four years ago and just now started playing again.

So from what I can tell, the evolution of the game since then -- it's just great. I'm kind of in awe of how precisely the developers have hit that sweet spot described in the docs -- to present challenges that are always surmountable in principle, but that are seriously challenging with less than perfect play.

This game, I've felt like the whole midgame has consistently required & rewarded tactical play -- careful positioning, cloud kiting, strategic use of summons, strategic management of consumables, MP, food. Whereas in earlier versions you'd have long periods of steamrolling everything, alternating with situations you could only survive by luck. A lot of the spell changes reward tactical play too -- the shorter spell ranges, and spells like Spellforged Servitor, OoD -- you can't just pick the max available damage but have to think about how to adjust your play to make best use of your available spells. The new monster abilities also mostly present interesting tactical challenges.

Anyway, despite having played this game since forever, I'm not very good at it. But I'd really like to get a win before the tournament ends. Here's what I've got going now:

  Code:

 Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.14.0-24-gfb45beb (webtiles) character file.

Lemuel the Devastator (High Elf Wizard)           Turns: 117730, Time: 12:35:32

HP 136/136       AC 24     Str 10      XL: 23   Next: 58%
MP  46/46        EV 22     Int 32      God: Sif Muna [******]
Gold 1230        SH 23     Dex 18      Spells: 14 memorised,  0 levels left

rFire  . . .     SeeInvis +     W - +11,+8 scimitar "Lemuel's Curse" {distort, rC++ rN+}
rCold  + + .     Clarity  .     a - +2 robe {Archmagi}
rNeg   + . .     Conserve +     O - +0 shield of Bren {Str+4 Int+2}
rPois  .         rCorr    .     R - +2 hat
rElec  .         rRot     .     r - +2 cloak
SustAb . .       Spirit   .     e - +3 pair of gauntlets of War {Acc+5 Dam+5}
rMut   .         Warding  .     w - +2 pair of boots
Saprov . . .     Stasis   .     B - amulet of conservation
MR     ++...                    d - ring of Robustness {AC+8}
                                D - ring of see invisible

@: very resistant to hostile enchantments, stealthy
A: antennae 2
a: Channel Energy, Forget Spell, Renounce Religion
}: 2/15 runes: barnacled, gossamer


You are on level 2 of the Vaults.
You worship Sif Muna.
Sif Muna is exalted by your worship.
You are not hungry.

You have visited 10 branches of the dungeon, and seen 51 of its levels.
You have also visited: Volcano and Wizlab.

You have collected 5381 gold pieces.
You have spent 4151 gold pieces at shops.

Inventory:

Hand weapons
 W - the +11,+8 scimitar "Lemuel's Curse" (weapon) {distort, rC++ rN+}
   (You took it off a deep elf demonologist on level 3 of the Elven Halls)   
   
   It warps and distorts space around it. Unwielding it can cause banishment or
   high damage.
   
   It greatly protects you from cold.
   It protects you from negative energy.
Armour
 a - a +2 robe of the Archmagi (worn)
 e - the +3 pair of gauntlets of War (worn) {Acc+5 Dam+5}
   (You found it on level 3 of the Elven Halls)   
   
   It affects your accuracy with ranged weapons and melee attacks (+5).
   It affects your damage with ranged weapons and melee attacks (+5).
 r - a +2 cloak (worn)
 w - a +2 pair of boots (worn)
 O - the +0 shield of Bren (worn) {Str+4 Int+2}
   (You took it off Wiglaf on level 2 of the Vaults)   
   
   It affects your strength (+4).
   It affects your intelligence (+2).
 R - a +2 hat (worn)
Magical devices
 g - a wand of cold (8)
 l - a wand of hasting {zapped: 1}
 p - a wand of disintegration
 u - a wand of digging {zapped: 8}
 E - a wand of lightning (8)
 K - a wand of paralysis {zapped: 2}
 L - a wand of teleportation {zapped: 1}
Comestibles
 b - 10 apples
 n - 4 bread rations
 s - a piece of ambrosia
 P - a choko
Scrolls
 m - a scroll of vulnerability
 v - 2 scrolls of fear
 x - 3 scrolls of identify
 y - 4 scrolls of fog
 A - a scroll of summoning
 C - a scroll of blinking
 I - 3 scrolls of teleportation
 Y - 2 scrolls of magic mapping
Jewellery
 d - the ring of Robustness (right hand) {AC+8}
   (You bought it in a shop on level 5 of the Shoals)   
   
   [ring of protection]
   It affects your AC (+8).
 f - a ring of protection from fire
 h - an uncursed ring of poison resistance
 i - an uncursed ring of wizardry
 B - an amulet of conservation (around neck)
 D - a ring of see invisible (left hand)
 F - an uncursed amulet of resist mutation
 J - the ring "Bichulon" {rElec EV+3}
   (You found it on level 2 of the Spider Nest)   
   
   [ring of evasion]
   It affects your evasion (+3).
   It insulates you from electricity.
 U - an uncursed ring of regeneration
Potions
 c - 3 potions of heal wounds
 j - a potion of berserk rage
 o - a potion of brilliance
 q - a potion of flight
 t - 3 potions of curing
 z - a potion of agility
 G - a potion of resistance


   Skills:
 + Level 5.8 Fighting
 + Level 6.8 Long Blades
 - Level 1.3 Throwing
 + Level 2.0 Armour
 + Level 13.1 Dodging
 - Level 3.8 Stealth
 * Level 10.1 Shields
 + Level 21.6 Spellcasting
 + Level 24.9 Conjurations
   Level 0.2 Hexes
 + Level 10.1 Charms
 + Level 3.1 Summonings
 + Level 3.0 Necromancy
 * Level 9.6 Translocations
   Level 1.6 Fire Magic
 - Level 2.5 Ice Magic
 + Level 16.7 Air Magic
 - Level 7.4 Poison Magic
 + Level 9.4 Invocations


You cannot memorise any spells.
You know the following spells:

 Your Spells              Type           Power        Failure   Level  Hunger
a - Iskenderun's Mystic   Conj           ########     0%          4    None
b - Poison Arrow          Conj/Pois      ########..   1%          6    None
c - Chain Lightning       Conj/Air       ########..   1%          8    ####...
d - Deflect Missiles      Chrm/Air       ########..   1%          6    None
e - Haste                 Chrm           #######.     2%          6    None
f - Summon Butterflies    Summ           ######..     1%          1    None
g - Freezing Cloud        Conj/Ice/Air   ########..   1%          6    None
h - Regeneration          Chrm/Necr      #######...   1%          3    None
i - Swiftness             Chrm/Air       ########     0%          2    None
j - Spellforged Servitor  Conj/Summ      ########..   3%          7    #......
l - Summon Lightning Spi  Summ/Air       #######.     1%          4    None
m - Mephitic Cloud        Conj/Pois/Air  ########     0%          3    None
o - Orb of Destruction    Conj           ########..   1%          7    #......
x - Blink                 Tloc           N/A          1%          2    None


Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations

Branches:
Dungeon (15/15)            Temple (1/1) D:5             Orc (4/4) D:11
    Elf (3/3) Orc:4          Lair (8/8) D:8          Shoals (5/5) Lair:4
 Spider (5/5) Lair:5        Slime (0/6) Lair:7       Vaults (4/5) D:13
  Blade (0/1) Vaults:3      Crypt (1/5) Vaults:2     Depths (5/5) D:15
   Zot: Depths:5   


I've cleared the Dungeon and Depths, Orc and Elf, Vaults through 4, and the Lair, Spider and Shoals. The obvious next choice would be Crypt. But when I entered it just now, I was taken down to 25 hp by a Vampire Knight almost immediately:

  Code:

117190 | Crypt:1  | Entered Level 1 of the Crypt
117351 | Crypt:1  | Paralysed by something for 4 turns
117384 | Crypt:1  | Paralysed by a vampire knight for 3 turns

Two pips of MR just don't cut it there. But, strange as it might seem, not a single MR item has shown up the entire game except the Sword of Doom Knight, which with -CAST is not usable for this character. (And no there are no un-IDed robes or hats or rings.) There also has not been a single rCorr item the entire game, and also no Clarity. Which makes me reluctant to take on Slime. In earlier versions, the Vestibule of Hell would have been a reasonably low-risk pool of xp in this situation, but I have no idea how tough it is now. Or for that matter where xp should go.

With my game-design hat on, I think it's great that the game throws this kind of challenge at you -- having to solve some problem without the resources you would normally want. But with my player hat on, I really want to win this game. So where should I go? And how should I switch up my spell list? I haven't seen Dispel Undead, but pretty much everything else is available.

[diviton]

Are you going for 15 runes, or just a win? I'd say Slime would be easiest assuming you have rCorr. Crypt is probably the next easiest.

V:5 is particularly dangerous with low MR since being marked is seriously dangerous down there.

[LemuelP]

Just win. But I have no rCorr.

[diviton]

Ahhh, then I'd probably avoid Slime. Crypt has no rune so, maybe Vaults:5 is where you should go.

[basil]

There's a fair number of new things in Crypt which can kill you, so you should leave.

You have more than enough spellpower to kill anything, but your HP is really low. I'd probably turn on fighting exclusively for "a while," and you have enough Conj and Spellcasting for the rest of the game.

As for where to go, that low HP makes things difficult. No-rCorr slime sounds unpleasant, but V:$ has sentinels, and the corners were opened recently which makes it a fair bit harder (http://s-z.org/neil/git/?p=crawl.git;a= ... 27e6af11f4). So, ctrl-f for Vulnerability, Heal Wounds, Control Teleport, Fear, Scroll of Blink, then go to the down staircase to V:$. Cast haste and dmsl, evoke control tele ring or cast the spell, channel to max mana, make sure you're not hungry, then descent the staircase. Read scroll of fear to make ~3/4 of the vault guards run away. If you have control tele, use a teleport, read magic mapping to see the vault layouts (honeycombed is the best for you), and teleport to a far corner of the map. If you do not have ctele, run through a break in the guards towards a far corner. After this, take things reasonably slowly, don't make too much noise, and you should be alright.

At this point, the primary threat is sentinels, which are especially bad since your MR is bad. Since they need line of fire to mark you, you can spam sputterflies and use fcloud to kill them without chancing a mark. Or hit them with poison arrow if you're confident that you will one-shot them. Or if your servitor is already out, position it between you and the sentinel so you can't be marked.

If you are marked: If you kill the sentinel, you can read ?vuln to dispel mark (and haste, dmsl, and whatever other statuses you have, and halve MR). But before you do that, you might want to ask for some more advice because being in V:$ with halved MR and no buffs is bad, as is being there with mark.

[LemuelP]

Ah well. Crypt killed me.

[tasonir]

MR is probably the most important resistance, and is generally useful in nearly any branch - almost always there will be something on the spawn list that can check your MR. Golden eyes aren't super common, but they do appear in slime, for example. If they do show up, not having enough MR or clarity is roughly equal to suicide.

Not having any MR spawn is tough. It's also fairly rare, but if you wanted to avoid it, there are a few races which get 5 or more MR per level, and that's basically the same as having 2 MR cloaks on by 27. I'd probably say stick with a race you like and get an MR ring, but it's another option if you like spriggans, DD, nagas, mummies, or felids. Elves get 4 per level, which is better than 3 most races get.