CiP How to MiBe
Posted: Sunday, 21st April 2013, 11:25
Ok, I decided to just go ahead and do this. A partially-illustrated CiP guide on how to MiBe. First thing to do before taking a single turn:
This is what I've been doing thus far, I'm at D:3 and recently hit XL:4:
I've read-ID'd some scrolls and those stones were thrown at a jelly (it's the one non-artifact thing they can't eat) while kiting it. Instead of charging into melee, I may as well throw those darts I've been picking up.
Here is a potentially dangerous situation on D:3:
Notice the terrain is completely different. I've run back some 30~40 steps to bring myself back to familiar terrain. Why? Because orcs form squads and that might include an orc priest or an orc wizard, which I'd be hard pressed to fight right now. Gnolls and jackals also form squads in the very earlygame. You'll start to grasp which monsters form squads as you keep playing - this is how to separate them. Notice that the monsters shout when they see you, this alerts others to your current location, but the monsters don't bother continuing to shout as they chase you. So if you move away from where you were, the rest of the squad only has a single audio cue to trace you and will soon lose track of you, whereas that first monster has a visual lead and will continue chasing you.
Here's another situation to be wary of:
Now, a goblin with a sling isn't so dangerous, but it's a good time to introduce the principle: run around a corner to make ranged monsters come into melee range. If that had been a centaur or a lone orc priest, charging at it would be suicide. Also note that ranged monsters will try to turn corners wide so this maneuveur wouldn't have been as effective if it wasn't a corridor.
Now then, a unique:
As you probably know, Dowan always spawns together with his sister, Duvessa. She never showed up in this fight, I never even saw her as I killed Dowan. Even close siblings fail to accurately coordinate when you run away enough. This fight had a nasty surprise in that Dowan drank a potion of heal wounds when he was almost dead - so I did the same and kept up the fight. I happened to have a lot of heal wounds on me. Berserking would have been suicide as Dowan blinks around and being slowed (berserk runs out fast if you're not beating something up) would have fatal.
Now here's Duvessa:
I had already looked at what's beyond the staircase before Duvessa noticed me. It was safe so I let her see me and then ditched her upstairs. Waited some 20 turns then returned to see her out of berserk (she only berserks once when Dowan dies). Just to show her how it's done, I berserked myself to kill her but it was completely unnecessary.
Here's how I look thus far:
I ought to be putting on that plate armour ASAP but I want to save my one and only remove curse scroll for later. So for now I tolerate the cursed cloak preventing me from swapping armour. Those sling shots at 0 skill? A troll zombie on D:5 - because zombie (of a speed 10 monster) I could kite it.
Also, note that I haven't quaff-ID'd - the one time I drank a potion was heal wounds after I had scroll-ID'd it. I don't need to know what my jewelery does right now as nothing that doesn't auto-ID would be useful to me this early in the game. Ok, rPois would be nice but isn't necessary. You don't die to poison this early if you kill things fast enough.
Oh look, a Centaur:
Doors are powerful.
Now here in D:7 I had a bad situation with polymorph: I was a tad greedy as I was short on ID scrolls and a jelly was about to eat one in front of me. So I polymorphed it... into a yellow wasp. I failed to transform it into something else and I don't have BiA yet, so I had to teleport out and just descend to the next level for the time being.
D:8, I see a lot of orcs and an orcish idol. This is probably an Orc Mines entrance floor, I don't feel like fighting lots of orcs right now so I ditch the floor.
By D:10 I have found a great mace off an ogre. I've never bothered remembering what the mid-tier maces are because ogres bring great maces frequently. This is what my skills look like:
Just now, I had to shout ('tt') around a corner to get a Centaur to cooperate into coming into melee range.
Oh, D:8 was the Lair entrance. That explains the Yak squad I had to run away from. Or WAS SUPPOSED TO BE - Mimic staircase! Yes, a floor can spawn hard things because it's a branch entrance and then a Mimic can take the place of that entrance.
Anyway, I was getting inventory clutter so I made a stash in a non-corridor corner on D:8. The chances of a jelly coming over to eat it are slim and I don't really need anything I left behind anyway. To make it easier to navigate to, I set a waypoint there (Ctrl-W).
My current skills:
Now that I purchased some cheap skills, I go back to Maces. I want to get to min.delay on my big 2h weapon ASAP. I can comfortably use my great mace at 14 Maces as that's when I hit standard delay (1.0 aut per swing).
Just now, I had to maneuveur about to have enemies block the line of sight of other enemies with ranged attack. Specifically, a kobold squad where one dude had darts of frost. Open terrain so there wasn't anywhere ot hide behind. Not a problem, I put the other kobolds in the line of fire so the darts dude had to walk up to me.
I found myself sandwiched between a darts kobold and a hill giant. Do I berserk? No. I call in a bro to be angry for me. This bro then proceeds to beat up the wight squad that was up ahead after the hill giant fight.
Met an orc with a distortion axe. I blinked because of it. The orc never got into melee range again because of my 0 skill sling shots.
Now this was a nasty situation:
The place was wide open when I met those 2 centaurs at range 8. Fortunately, there was a wyvern to act as mobile cover. Chess has a similar situation: a black king hiding behind a white pawn. The wyvern hits hard but the 2 centaurs hit harder so I tolerated it until the above positioning manifested. Now I can berserk and win this fight - in fact each enemy there died in one hit (+1/+1 great mace of crushing).
Trog just gave me a longbow of frost. I was intending to go crossbows initially but this is a good time to change plans. But first, min.delay on my mace. Also of note:
I walked up the stairs and went down another, it happened to be right next door I emerged. So I walked into that room again and beat up everyone. My bro took the death curse for me so I don't have to waste a remove curse scroll. Incidentally, I ran into Psyche not long after. She died in one turn as my bro was still around.
Erica was found shortly too and turned invisible. But as we were in a corridor, I figured out where she was and just mashed away at her. Being invisible just makes me take a -5 accuracy penalty, not a problem with this much weapon skill.
I just 3-shotted a 2-headed ogre with my longbow. At 0 skill. Lucky shots, but it shows you may as well try ranged attacks until it's melee time. Actually, I later find out it's a +2/+6 longbow of frost. Still, even a +0/+0 longbow would have knocked off enough health to save me a swing or few had it come to melee.
Found a CPA (Crystal Plate Armour) in a Labyrinth. Up until now I've been putting points into Dex, but now I need to put points into Str. You do not anticipate getting a CPA, it's too rare to build your character around finding one.
This is what I look like now:
Arguably I could have stopped Bows training at 7.9 until Trog gave me a decent 2h weapon. But I already have a decent 2h weapon so I don't mind getting showered with arrows and bows now. Trog will eventually get me something suitable or I will find/make it myself.
Switch skill training to Manual mode and put everything into your weapon skill. I happen to have chosen Maces as my weapon category for this tutorial. I will assume you already are doing the extreme basics like "sacrifice corpses to Trog".
This is what I've been doing thus far, I'm at D:3 and recently hit XL:4:
I've read-ID'd some scrolls and those stones were thrown at a jelly (it's the one non-artifact thing they can't eat) while kiting it. Instead of charging into melee, I may as well throw those darts I've been picking up.
Here is a potentially dangerous situation on D:3:
- Code:
Key:
@ = me, the player
o = orc
# = wall
. = floor
What I saw:
#..#.####.#.・
#..#.# #...・
#..#.# ###..・
#..#.# ##・
#..#.# ##.
#.##.#########
#######...........#.
#...........######.#.
.######.######## #.
#......... #.
#..######. #.
#.@####.# #.
#.....).# ##
#.#####.#
#.# .#
#o# .#
#.# .#
... .#
#.# .#
. .o
Where I fought:
#...........(.....)....'
........##########.....#
...・・・## #.....#
.・・・・.# #######
.・・・・.# #
・・・・・# #
・・・・・# #
.・・.・・# #
・・.<...# #
#.......## #
####...#################
#.........o.@...........
#.###########.....######
#.# #######.#.........
#.# #.........^...####
#.######.####.####..##..
#...................##.#
########.#.#######.#....
#.#.......#.#.#.#
#.#..####.#.#.#.#
#.#..####.#.#.#.#
#.###.#...#...#.#
###..##########..
Here's another situation to be wary of:
- Code:
g = goblin with a sling
( = darts I threw to kill some previous enemy
What I saw:
#
#g# #
#.# #
#.# ########
#.# #......#
#(# #.####.#
#(##.#......#
#(##.#..#####
#.##.#..#####
#@##.#.......
#..#.#.######
##.#.#..#....
#.#.#>......
########.#.#..#.###
#..........#..#.#
##.#######.#..#.#
#..........#..#.#
##..########..#.#
#..# #)##.###
#..########.......
#..#.........).###
Where I fought:
#.# #######
#.# #......
#(# #.####.
#(##.#......
#(##.#..####
#.##.#..####
#(##.#......
#..#.#.#####
##.#.#..#...
#.#.#>.....
########g#.#..#.##
#.....@....#..#.#
##.#######.#..#.#
#..........#..#.#
##..########..#.#
#..# #)##.##
#..########......
#..#.........).##
#..#.######.#####
#..#.# #......
#..#.# #..####
#..#.# #..####
#..#.# #.....)
Now then, a unique:
- Code:
e = Dowan
What I saw:
.###############
.e......@......#
##############.#
#.#
#.#
##### #.#
##...## #.##
##.#...## #..##
#.#.###.###...##
#..## ##.......##
#..# #........#
#..## ##.#.....##
#####?#.###.###...##
Where I fought:
##############.#
#.#
#.#
##### #.#
##...## #.##
##.#...## #..##
#.#.###.###...##
#..## ##.......#
#..# #........
#..## ##.#.....#
#####?#.###.###...##
###........@.e## ##.##
.............## #.#
#.#.########.### #.#
#.#.# #.....####.#
##.#.######........#.##
................##.#..#
##...######...........#
##..## #......##.##.#
...)# #......##.##.#
.##^# #............#
.##.# ##.####.##.##.#
.##.#####...# #.##.##.#
Now here's Duvessa:
- Code:
e = Duvessa, berserk
P = plants
> = downwards staircase
###・?
...P・
#e・??
#P.P・
#.P・
#.# #..
#.# #.#
#.# # #.#
#.# #.##@##
#.# #.#...####.#
#.### #....>.....#
#.#.## ###.....########
#....####..###.........#
#.........## #........#
##...###.## #.#####(.
##.##...# .####...
###.##.#.## #........
....##.##.# .####...
######.##.. ##.#
#.##.# #.#
Here's how I look thus far:
- Code:
Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.13-a0-412-g62db944 (tiles) character file.
TutorMan the Basher (Minotaur Berserker) Turns: 4383, Time: 00:26:37
HP 52/52 AC 8 Str 21 XL: 6 Next: 61%
MP 2/2 EV 8 Int 4 God: Trog [***...]
Gold 168 SH 0 Dex 12 Spells: 0 memorised, 5 levels left
Res.Fire : . . . See Invis. : . a - +1,+0 mace
Res.Cold : . . . Warding : . m - +1 scale mail
Life Prot.: . . . Conserve : . (no shield)
Res.Poison: . Res.Corr. : . y - +0 elf wizard hat
Res.Elec. : . Clarity : . n - +0 dwarf cloak (curse)
Sust.Abil.: . . Spirit.Shd : + (no gloves)
Res.Mut. : . Stasis : . (no boots)
Res.Rott. : . Ctrl.Telep.: . j - amulet of guardian spirit
Saprovore : . . . Flight : . (no ring)
(no ring)
@: slightly resistant to hostile enchantments, extremely unstealthy
A: retaliatory headbutt, horns 2
a: Burn Spellbooks, Berserk, Trog's Hand, Renounce Religion
You are on level 5 of the Dungeon.
You worship Trog.
Trog is greatly pleased with you.
You are not hungry.
You have visited 1 branch of the dungeon, and seen 5 of its levels.
You have collected 148 gold pieces.
Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations
Branches:
Dungeon (5/27)
Temple: D:4-7
Altars:
Kikubaaqudgha
Makhleb
Skills:
- Level 3.6 Fighting
+ Level 9.1 Maces & Flails
- Level 2.4 Armour
- Level 2.1 Dodging
You have 5 spell levels left.
You don't know any spells.
Inventory:
Hand weapons
a - a +1,+0 mace (weapon)
b - an uncursed sling
Missiles
d - 102 stones
f - 22 bolts
p - 14 darts of frost
s - 10 darts
x - 46 sling bullets
C - 3 steel darts (quivered)
Armour
m - a +1 scale mail (worn)
n - a cursed +0 dwarven cloak (worn)
o - an orcish plate armour
y - a +0 elven wizard hat (worn)
Magical devices
A - a wand of polymorph {zapped: 1}
Comestibles
c - 2 bread rations
l - 2 lychees
q - 2 meat rations
t - a chunk of goblin flesh
v - a choko
w - 2 apples
z - an apricot
Scrolls
k - a scroll of remove curse
r - a scroll of teleportation
E - 2 scrolls of identify
Jewellery
i - an uncursed ring of ice
j - an amulet of guardian spirit (around neck)
B - an uncursed thin cabochon amulet {tried}
F - an uncursed thick golden amulet {tried}
Potions
e - 2 potions of speed
g - a white potion
h - 3 potions of heal wounds
u - 2 potions of curing
D - a viscous white potion
G - a viscous red potion
Action | 1- 3 | 4- 6 || total
-------------------------+-------+-------++-------
Melee: Mace | 77 | 175 || 252
Fire: Sling | | 17 || 17
Throw: Dart | 5 | 22 || 27
Stone | | 28 || 28
Invok: Berserk | | 1 || 1
Evoke: Wand | | 1 || 1
Use: Scroll | 8 | 9 || 17
Potion | | 1 || 1
I ought to be putting on that plate armour ASAP but I want to save my one and only remove curse scroll for later. So for now I tolerate the cursed cloak preventing me from swapping armour. Those sling shots at 0 skill? A troll zombie on D:5 - because zombie (of a speed 10 monster) I could kite it.
Also, note that I haven't quaff-ID'd - the one time I drank a potion was heal wounds after I had scroll-ID'd it. I don't need to know what my jewelery does right now as nothing that doesn't auto-ID would be useful to me this early in the game. Ok, rPois would be nice but isn't necessary. You don't die to poison this early if you kill things fast enough.
Oh look, a Centaur:
- Code:
c = Centaur
' = open door
What I saw:
#+#
# ##.#######
#. #.........
#.. #.........
#... #..#######
###..._####..# #
.......'@....# #
###.c..#####.# #
#### #.# #
#.# #
##.#######
#.........
.#############..#######
.................%.....
##############........#
........#.#####+#
######.#........
###.#..##....
What I did:
You close the door.
A centaur opens the door.
What happened after:
#+#
# ##.#######
#. #.........
#.. #.........
#... #..#######
###..._####..# #
......c'@....# #
###....#####.# #
#### #.# #
#.# #
##.#######
#.........
.#############..#######
.................%.....
##############........#
........#.#####+#
######.#........
###.#..##....
Now here in D:7 I had a bad situation with polymorph: I was a tad greedy as I was short on ID scrolls and a jelly was about to eat one in front of me. So I polymorphed it... into a yellow wasp. I failed to transform it into something else and I don't have BiA yet, so I had to teleport out and just descend to the next level for the time being.
D:8, I see a lot of orcs and an orcish idol. This is probably an Orc Mines entrance floor, I don't feel like fighting lots of orcs right now so I ditch the floor.
By D:10 I have found a great mace off an ogre. I've never bothered remembering what the mid-tier maces are because ogres bring great maces frequently. This is what my skills look like:
Hmm, now would be a good time to train some fighting/armour. I found another remove curse so I'm wearing plate armour now.
Just now, I had to shout ('tt') around a corner to get a Centaur to cooperate into coming into melee range.
Oh, D:8 was the Lair entrance. That explains the Yak squad I had to run away from. Or WAS SUPPOSED TO BE - Mimic staircase! Yes, a floor can spawn hard things because it's a branch entrance and then a Mimic can take the place of that entrance.
Anyway, I was getting inventory clutter so I made a stash in a non-corridor corner on D:8. The chances of a jelly coming over to eat it are slim and I don't really need anything I left behind anyway. To make it easier to navigate to, I set a waypoint there (Ctrl-W).
My current skills:
Now that I purchased some cheap skills, I go back to Maces. I want to get to min.delay on my big 2h weapon ASAP. I can comfortably use my great mace at 14 Maces as that's when I hit standard delay (1.0 aut per swing).
Just now, I had to maneuveur about to have enemies block the line of sight of other enemies with ranged attack. Specifically, a kobold squad where one dude had darts of frost. Open terrain so there wasn't anywhere ot hide behind. Not a problem, I put the other kobolds in the line of fire so the darts dude had to walk up to me.
I found myself sandwiched between a darts kobold and a hill giant. Do I berserk? No. I call in a bro to be angry for me. This bro then proceeds to beat up the wight squad that was up ahead after the hill giant fight.
Met an orc with a distortion axe. I blinked because of it. The orc never got into melee range again because of my 0 skill sling shots.
Now this was a nasty situation:
- Code:
c = Centaurs, one of which had Dispersal arrows
D = Wyvern
##.# #.#
###....# ##.#
......# #..#
##.....# #..#
# #...... ##..#
.###...>.# #...#
..#......# ##...#
.........# #...##
.........####...#
..........##....#
..........##(...#
..........(D@...#
...........cc...#
..###########...#
..# #...#
.D# #...#
..### #..##
....#########..###
#..............#.#
###....[...###..##
#...)##### ##.#
##..## ###
##[## ##.#
The place was wide open when I met those 2 centaurs at range 8. Fortunately, there was a wyvern to act as mobile cover. Chess has a similar situation: a black king hiding behind a white pawn. The wyvern hits hard but the 2 centaurs hit harder so I tolerated it until the above positioning manifested. Now I can berserk and win this fight - in fact each enemy there died in one hit (+1/+1 great mace of crushing).
Trog just gave me a longbow of frost. I was intending to go crossbows initially but this is a good time to change plans. But first, min.delay on my mace. Also of note:
Many of these wands are going to be obsolete soon. There is no benefit in saving them up, so I use them wherever I can.
- Code:
k = Killer Bee
M = mummy
s = scorpion
What I see:
...
#......
#.....k.
#.......#
#..k....#
###.......##
.k..s......
#.......#
#.@.....#
#....M..#
######.##
#
Where I fight:
#......#
#...[..#
#......#
#......#
+......+
#..<...#
#......#
#......#
##'#####
#..###
##..(#
###@#
#....skT#
#.....k.#
#.......#
#..M....#
#.......#
###.....k.##
...........
#ks...(.#
#.<.....#
#....M..#
######.##
T = my angry iron troll bro
I walked up the stairs and went down another, it happened to be right next door I emerged. So I walked into that room again and beat up everyone. My bro took the death curse for me so I don't have to waste a remove curse scroll. Incidentally, I ran into Psyche not long after. She died in one turn as my bro was still around.
Erica was found shortly too and turned invisible. But as we were in a corridor, I figured out where she was and just mashed away at her. Being invisible just makes me take a -5 accuracy penalty, not a problem with this much weapon skill.
I just 3-shotted a 2-headed ogre with my longbow. At 0 skill. Lucky shots, but it shows you may as well try ranged attacks until it's melee time. Actually, I later find out it's a +2/+6 longbow of frost. Still, even a +0/+0 longbow would have knocked off enough health to save me a swing or few had it come to melee.
Found a CPA (Crystal Plate Armour) in a Labyrinth. Up until now I've been putting points into Dex, but now I need to put points into Str. You do not anticipate getting a CPA, it's too rare to build your character around finding one.
This is what I look like now:
- Code:
Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.13-a0-412-g62db944 (tiles) character file.
TutorMan the Bludgeoner (Minotaur Berserker) Turns: 17884, Time: 02:01:22
HP 95/96 AC 18 Str 23 XL: 12 Next: 40%
MP 4/4 EV 6 Int 4 God: Trog [******]
Gold 763 SH 0 Dex 14 Spells: 0 memorised, 11 levels left
Res.Fire : . . . See Invis. : . a - +1,+2 great mace (crush)
Res.Cold : . . . Warding : . p - +0 plate armour
Life Prot.: . . . Conserve : . (no shield)
Res.Poison: . Res.Corr. : . y - +1 elf wizard hat
Res.Elec. : . Clarity : . n - +0 dwarf cloak
Sust.Abil.: . . Spirit.Shd : . s - +0 pair of gauntlets
Res.Mut. : . Stasis : . (no boots)
Res.Rott. : . Ctrl.Telep.: . W - amulet of faith
Saprovore : . . . Flight : . f - agate ring {tried}
v - peridot ring {tried}
@: somewhat resistant to hostile enchantments, extremely unstealthy
A: retaliatory headbutt, horns 2
a: Burn Spellbooks, Berserk, Trog's Hand, Brothers in Arms, Renounce Religion
You are on level 3 of the Lair of Beasts.
You worship Trog.
Trog is exalted by your worship.
You are not hungry.
You have visited 2 branches of the dungeon, and seen 16 of its levels.
You have also visited: Labyrinth.
You have collected 743 gold pieces.
Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations
Branches:
Dungeon (13/27) Orc (0/4) D:8 Lair (3/8) D:13
Spider (0/5) Lair:3
Temple: D:4-7 Swamp: Lair:3-6 Shoals: Lair:3-6 Snake: Lair:3-6
Altars:
Ashenzari
Cheibriados
Fedhas
Kikubaaqudgha
Makhleb
Okawaru
Sif Muna
Trog
Xom
Shops:
D:7: % D:9: +
Annotations
D:12 exclusion: 2 doors
Skills:
- Level 6.2 Fighting
- Level 20.0 Maces & Flails
+ Level 8.6 Bows
- Level 10.0 Armour
- Level 2.1 Dodging
Action | 1- 3 | 4- 6 | 7- 9 | 10-12 || total
-------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------++-------
Melee: Mace | 77 | 188 | 230 | || 495
Great mace | | | 160 | 512 || 672
Fire: Sling | | 17 | 16 | 25 || 58
Blowgun | | | 13 | 31 || 44
Bow | | | | 7 || 7
Longbow | | | | 32 || 32
Throw: Dart | 5 | 22 | 41 | 12 || 80
Stone | | 28 | 1 | || 29
Spear | | | 3 | || 3
Throwing net | | | | 1 || 1
Invok: Berserk | | 1 | 6 | 5 || 12
Brothers in Arms | | | | 2 || 2
Evoke: Wand | | 1 | 14 | 13 || 28
Use: Scroll | 8 | 9 | 7 | 9 || 33
Potion | | 1 | 3 | 1 || 5