Page 1 of 1

treasure trove gave me the middle finger

PostPosted: Sunday, 2nd February 2014, 23:49
by Stumblebum
I'm a Deep Elf Fire Elementalist who can't wear heavy armor and the treasure trove I had to collect all game for gave me, as I entered with wonder and anticipation: a gold dragon hide (too heavy for casters), a crystal dragon armor (too heavy for casters), two fire dragon hides (I already had one from killing a fire dragon, and they are also too heavy for casters), two normal animal skins with no enchantment, a mildly interesting bow (I have no skill in bows, and it's not special enough to develop the skill), and a few crossbow bolts. It guess I've never seen a game before that will just straight up give a player absolutely useless crap in return for that much hard work. Not sure I understand that design decision...

Re: treasure trove gave me the middle finger

PostPosted: Monday, 3rd February 2014, 00:13
by duvessa
There are many troves that do this. That dragon armour one is useless for every character by the way, not just "casters." There is also a trove with shining eyes over deep water.

Re: treasure trove gave me the middle finger

PostPosted: Monday, 3rd February 2014, 00:16
by Siegurt
"Too heavy for casters" is sort of a myth, a correct way of saying that is "Requires more training to get your spell schools online, possibly some strength as well"

In particular DE have very low str, so Platemail and above might be not worth it, but FDA (Scalemail encumberance) and lower is certainly well within the range of trainable, particularly for a DE who gets spellcasting skills much more cheaply.

Also troves are random, it's not really "design" as it is "You're about as likely to get something you want as not"

FDA is probably one of the better armours for a DE who is heavily invested into spellcasting skills to end up with.

Re: treasure trove gave me the middle finger

PostPosted: Monday, 3rd February 2014, 00:36
by Stumblebum
Siegurt wrote:it's not really "design" as it is "You're about as likely to get something you want as not"

FDA is probably one of the better armours for a DE who is heavily invested into spellcasting skills to end up with.



That specific treasure trove was programmed by someone. I looked it up afterward. The three armors weren't random. And the random chance of getting unusable crap after throwing away 19 identify scrolls is actually about design, as someone chose to make it that way. I already had the fire dragon hide, so that didn't help. I thought the mottled dragon armor was the best for a spellcasting elf. I have enchanted mine up to maximum.

Thank you for the reply. Don't mean to sound snippy!

Re: treasure trove gave me the middle finger

PostPosted: Monday, 3rd February 2014, 00:39
by cerebovssquire
Yeah, I would say that under most circumstances MDA or a good robe are best for a DEFE, unless you find a really good artefact FDA I would stick with the lighter armours (which, in terms of defenses, would allow you to spare exp for fighting and dodging). It's not impossible to wear heavier stuff though.

Re: treasure trove gave me the middle finger

PostPosted: Monday, 3rd February 2014, 01:14
by wheals
It's worth noting that most troves are far kinder than the normal game in that they actually do give a higher chance of a weapons trove if your fighting skills are higher than spellcasting, and vice versa. Nevertheless, randomness is part of the design goals, and troves are inherently a gamble. That said, I have to agree with minmay though that I can't think of any characters who would benefit much from that particular trove. I guess you have to keep the crap troves like garden_trove and it to keep the gamble from being too easy of a choice.

Re: treasure trove gave me the middle finger

PostPosted: Monday, 3rd February 2014, 01:15
by WalkerBoh
The moral of the story is that though Crawl will sometimes screw you over without killing you, it will inevitably always try to screw you over. And by Crawl, I mean the devs. :)

Re: treasure trove gave me the middle finger

PostPosted: Monday, 3rd February 2014, 02:31
by Amnesiac
IDK, I think, considering the price they usually ask, they should always give at least one good thing. Sometimes they ask for a +4+6 Demon thing and you just find one eventually and that's it, but usually they ask you for a couple of cure mutation or a +3 IDA and give you some useless shit, which is not really acceptable.
Speaking of armour for a DE, I don't think you usually should use something heavier than a MDA or a SDA(steam/swamp). For a DEWz with 4 str it's really not worth using anything with a ER of 5-7+

Re: treasure trove gave me the middle finger

PostPosted: Monday, 3rd February 2014, 16:54
by IronJelly
I keep reading that there is plenty of exp in Crawl. I've always thought "useless" God Gifts and drops were intended to tempt you to change focuses or specialize. The game is so not-dependent on class and existing skill, that it's very possible to win with a caster class that eventually worships Trog, or to start a Berserker, find a wicked book, and become a caster.

I mean, it sounds like you really did get a raw deal, but its not like training with the good bow is impossible.

Re: treasure trove gave me the middle finger

PostPosted: Monday, 3rd February 2014, 17:21
by and into
I actually thought at first that some new trove vault actually depicted a middle finger on the mini-map, which would be quite fitting in cases like this actually.

Usually troves are worth doing if you can spare the stuff it is asking for, but functionally it is similar to "lots of acquirements" and sometimes that just adds up to lots of disappointments, I'm afraid.

On the bright side, even in those cases you could say that the trove just simulated a game's worth of worshiping Okawaru, in case you were wondering, "What would worshiping Okie have been like for this game?"

Re: treasure trove gave me the middle finger

PostPosted: Monday, 3rd February 2014, 20:11
by Klown
I guess I've never seen a game before that will just straight up give a player absolutely useless crap in return for that much hard work. Not sure I understand that design decision...


Dangling rotten carrots. :)

Re: treasure trove gave me the middle finger

PostPosted: Monday, 3rd February 2014, 20:15
by Sar
IronJelly wrote:start a Berserker, find a wicked book, and become a caster

This is kinda problematic considering your Int is crap and Trog will kill you.

Re: treasure trove gave me the middle finger

PostPosted: Monday, 3rd February 2014, 20:27
by dck
Dazzle those berserk stone giants and stab the shit out of them.

Re: treasure trove gave me the middle finger

PostPosted: Monday, 3rd February 2014, 22:12
by IronJelly
Sar wrote:
IronJelly wrote:start a Berserker, find a wicked book, and become a caster

This is kinda problematic considering your Int is crap and Trog will kill you.



This is CYC, so i said it out of hand. truth is that i've never abandoned Trog, and hear his wrath is pretty terrible, regularly offing people wanting to switch to TSO for extended if they can't find somewhere to wait it out.

Re: treasure trove gave me the middle finger

PostPosted: Tuesday, 4th February 2014, 01:06
by Amnesiac
and into wrote:I actually thought at first that some new trove vault actually depicted a middle finger on the mini-map, which would be quite fitting in cases like this actually.

Yeah, just this and no items

Re: treasure trove gave me the middle finger

PostPosted: Tuesday, 4th February 2014, 07:06
by Stumblebum
Insult to injury on this map was that all the walls were destructible, leading me to think there might be more treasure if I dug through all the walls. Gave up after a little futile experimentation.