The Tavern

Hello everyone, it’s your former n00b who is returning to DC:SS after winning in Brogue and Angband, and sucking hard in Elona+ (screw the thirst mechanic in that game. Gave up after four tries in Loss mode, as Elona+ is really not a true roguelike.). The reason why I’m choosing DC:SS as my long term roguelike is that I seem to have an affinity to it after only winning after four tries (unlike other games), and that the communities (here and Discord) are generally very helpful. So, with that, you are now reading the works of a new journey of a formerly Complete N00b: The Cosplaying Veteran’s Journey!

In this series, I will attempt to win a game by playing a character dictated by the Crawl Cosplay Challenge. Seeing that I am still developing my skills, I will *not* be going for any conducts or challenges at this point, as I find myself dying multiple times in my attempts to play the characters of choice. In this numbering format, the set number will come first, then the week number, and then the part (E.g. The first part of Set 8 Week 2 will be Part 8-2-1). Oh, and I’m playing online for these challenges under the same name (wizard44). All characters I post will have started by having cleared D:11 and have explored the Ecumenical Temple to get rid of the deaths beforehand caused by inexperieence. Other than that, the milestones will be the same as that of my previous series.

In this week, I am attempting to cosplay as Harold the Weathered, which allows multiple classes and god choices. For characters such as that, I randomly decide using random.org and worship the first god whose altar I encounter.

Cosplaying Veteran's Journey: Part 8-2-1

After three unsuccessful attempts with two Human Gladiators and a Halfling Warper. I start a Hafling Warper with a spear specialization. I kill Robin on D:2 and pick up a +4 trident on D:3, which gives this character a fighting chance. D:4 had an entrance to an ossuary, Edmund, and Grinder. I avoid Edmund and Grinder, and make it to the Ossuary, where I clear it after a couple of tense moments. I then discover that a ring that I picked up was a +5 ring of protection. Upon exiting the ossuary, however, I run into Menkaure, who gets my HP in half before I quaff my potion of lignification and kill him with stones from a flaming sling that I found. I then dispatch Edmund along with a pack of orcs and evade Grinder while finishing the rest of the level. On D:5 I find an alter of Uskayaw and select Uskayaw as my god (The priority was to worship any of the three target gods of the Cosplay challenge as soon as one of their altars appeared). D:7 had Joseph, forcing me to quaff a potion of agility to kill him, who drops a +3 hunting sling of flaming. I also run into Duvessa and Dowan and easily kill both of them. D:8 had Maurice, which eventually dies in melee after turning himself invisible and a tedious effort to wait his invisibility out, and Pikel, who goes down after a semi-tense moment with his slaves. D:9 had a bailey and a +2 pair of randart boots “Odjiwosm” {Dex +4}. I used a potion of heal wounds, my entire wand of acid charges, a scroll of blinking, a potion of ambrosia, a potion of might, a potion of agility, and a potion of haste to almost clear the bailey and escape an orc warlord. At D:10, I find that I somehow have two scrolls of acquirement through read-id, and use the first one to choose armor, which gives me the +0 pair of boots “Quig {rPois rCorr Dex+7}, which I consider as an upgrade. I also run into Sonja, who is wielding a sword of distortion. This forces me to flee back upstairs and choose a different entry point. I find a wand of iceblast and kill Sonja with two shots. I then clear D:11 and kill Grinder.

The next goal is to clear the Lair of Beasts and finish D:12.

Questions for you folks:

I have several scrolls of enchant weapon left. Should I use them all on my trident, or save them for a better weapon?

What should I use my scroll of acquirement on? A weapon? Armor? A spellbook?

Which spells should I learn at this point? Or should I save them for when I get some other spellbooks?

Which skills should I be training right now? I’m thinking of investing in axes for at least a bit so I can use it the hand axe of flaming to deal with hydras. Or is that not a good option?

What sort of armor (in terms of encumbrance ratings) should I be shooting for at this point? Scale mail? Or ring mail?

Below is my current character’s status of my character. Any answers to the above questions tips to overcome any weaknesses would be welcome.

I'd wait to see whether you have Swamp or Shoals, and safe the enchant weapon scrolls for a demon trident if you get shoals. If you think you have a significant risk of dying before you get a Demon Trident, you should just use the scrolls now. If you get Swamp, I'd acquire a weapon.

I would learn all the spells. They all have utility, if you remember to use them. PoG is amazing.
However, you should also upgrade to heavier armour, after which PoG might become uncastable. (In which case, train more translocations.) The combination of having more Armour skill than Dodging skill and wearing +0 leather armour is highly suboptimal. Try out scale mail, see what it does to your AC, EV, and spell fail rates. If it's bad, use ring mail instead. You're likely to find pre-enchanted armour at some point, which will probably be worth using.

I'd recommend just using throwing & a trident vs Hydra's. More throwing skill is more to help just as much as axe skill, and it also helps against other threats. It does seem odd you're training throwing on a halfling, instead of slings. Halflings can't use javelins and have amazing sling aptitudes. Also using polearms with a halfling is odd, because you max out having a Demon Trident without a shield. Are you trying to challenge yourself?

Currently Fighting, Dodging, Invocations, Polearms look worth training. Uska benefits a lot from Invocations.

Thanks petercordia. This character has cleared the Lair and D:12. With that, I give you:

Cosplaying Veteran's Journey: Part 8-2-2

So I started by learning all of the spells. Got scale mail and sticking with it for now, as the fail rates aren’t the worst, but do require more translocation training. Not having dodging on was an oversight on my part. Polearms was to get some aptitude with my starting weapon … was hoping to find an artefact weapon long before that point, but oh well. Throwing was made since I was not sure whether I would be using boomerangs or not for the long term. On Lair:1 I find a +0 leather armour of Mahkleb’s Esteem {Regen+ rCorr Str-5 Int+7}, which did not seem to be ideal. Lair:3 had an artefact +1 scale mail {+Inv +Fly Str+4 Stlth-}, which was a better body armor for this character, and a book of Necromancy. An encounter with a black mamba and a water moccasin on Lair:4 forces me to quaff two potions of curing to clear up the poison. I find that the game has given me Swamp instead of shoals, so I decide to acquire a weapon by reading my scroll of acquirement. The scroll of acquirement gives me a +5 hunting sling of flaming, so I decide to pump my trident to +9 and my hunting sling to +7 to improve my survivability. I also find a book of Changes in Lair: 4 and learn the spells there. Lair:6 had two phials of floods, a book of Alchemy, and a randart +7 double sword of Linearity {pain, rF++ rC-}. D:12 had a Young Poisoner’s Handbook that I picked up while clearing the level. A death knight provided another semi-tense moment and compelled me to use quite a few iceblast charges to deal with it.

The next goal: Clear the Orcish Mines and the rest of the main dungeon.

Questions before I continue:

Which spells are worth learning out of the new books that I got?

Should I switch to the double sword of Linearity, or stick with my trident? I briefly invested in long blades in case it is the former.

Which skills should I train next? And to what levels?

Trying to see how I can get the character to survive, so any answers and tips would be useful. The current character’s status is below.

Well, since I didn’t receive a response from the forums, I proceeded to begin the next step. I’m glad to report that this character has cleared the Mines and the rest of the main dungeon.

Cosplaying Veteran's Journey: Part 8-2-3

With the advice of Discord, I switched to the artefact double sword and learned the regeneration and animate skeleton spells to have something to train necromancy with. Clearing the Orcish mines proved to be of little trouble, though the only shop that was interesting was a book store, but even then, no book really jumped out at me. On D:13, however, a +6 long sword and a +2 long sword nearly killed me, forcing me to use a scroll of teleportation to take a breather. It also had a Book of Debilitation, and I decide to learn Portal Projectile, since I heard that spell is good for Warpers. D:14 had two orange statues that I dispatched using Portal projectile, my sling of flaming, and stairdancing to get rid of its summons. D:15 was a host to a lot of ugly things, which I dispatched without too much trouble.

Next goal is to get my first rune by doing the swamp.

How high should I train my Dodging, Invocations, and Evocations skill levels to at this point? That is the only question that I have right now. Of course, any tips to improve this character’s survival is welcome. The current status of the character is below.

Well, since there is still no response from the forums, I continued the character’s journey. Sadly, it was the victim of a very avoidable death from Nikola, who killed me with double chain lightning before I could escape.

YASD 8-2: Nikola’s Double Chain Lightning kill

So Swamp:1 had a book of Dreams that I picked up and learned. Swamp:2 was host to Nikola, who chases me to Swamp:1 and kills me with double chain lightning from afar before I can get to the stairs to escape back to the lair to recover and think. Christ. Looking back, this was a textbook definition of a stupid avoidable death that could have be avoided if I read a scroll of silence or quaffed a potion of resistance. I was not aware that I even had them on my possession. Just goes to show you that for a unique like Nikola, it is better to look at consumables and use them rather than trying to save them up for the late game. That's all for this week folks.

Below is the morgue. Feel free to laugh at my pathetic performance.

First of all, welcome back

Second of all: why on earth would you go for cosplay challenges after only one win??
Sure, the n00b threads were an amazing success. You achieved in four games what a lot of people here still haven't in years. I see a very real problem with your CVJ thread: the sheer number of questions. The questions themselves are reasonable, and they can help you get over some hurdles - their number shows a lack of experience more than anything else to me. Would you be willing to get a few more wins (with tavern/ discord help) and then go for a cosplay? I think it would be a good foundation for your new journey.

I have a lot of respect for your attempt at this. I also think you have taken too large a step, too soon.

I did almost the same thing, only a few more wins before doing CCC. It's actually a useful learning tool if you think about the constraints and plan around them.

I came a long way from there, getting great/greater player and polytheist in about 8 months from when I started playing and sneaking a top 40 finish in the .23 tournament along the way. But it was CCC that often forced me out of comfort zones, and into craziness like doing hell runes with Xom, getting 3 runes before depths w/o entering an S branch, or fishing out the golden rune of Zot as 6th rune.

~~~

Note that Nikola can't swim, so using mephitic cloud on him can really screw him over if you encounter him in swamp or shoals. Same for Louise.

Hello Sorcerous. I thought the Cosplay challenge would be fun way to explore this game, and a good way to formalize my interest for the long term, having had my fill of the other roguelikes after several months of playing. I definitely thought that it would be a suitable way for me to enjoy the game and seeing how others handled the challenges. I am aware of trying not to dive into it that much, which is why I decided not to do any conducts or bonuses when starting out. Any fulfilled ones that I did in the few runs that I did were inadvertent for the most part. I am aware that I still had a lot of questions, which was one of the reasons why I decided to post a thread in the forums. Getting a few more wins before continuing is definitely on my mind if I do not see significant progress though. However, I'm probably not going to definitively answer this question until a couple of weeks out, since I have IRL issues that prevent me from playing the game too much. Right now, I try to get a character to D:11 from the Cosplay Challenge before posting. Once that character dies, that's it and I take a break before beginning the next one before Friday.

To TheMeInTeam, thanks for the tip, and I agree about the key points in CCC. For now, I'm just abiding by the character/god guidelines for now to try to ease into things.

Thank you so much for the input folks!