Alarm traps

[gameguard]

I just had a fairly good run ended in swamps by stepping on an alarm trap 4 times in the span of like 200 turns. Granted, it was a VpEn speedrun so obviously getting marked 4 times was a death sentence. The low lvl also contributed to being unable to detect these traps. BUT, i feel like getting marked by bad RNG is a terrible thing to deal with. At least with sentinels, you usually have a chance to counter play.

I think alarm traps should just be that, alarm traps. They should make noise but not mark you which pretty much screws over stealthy types exclusively.

[CanOfWorms]

What happened to your potions of cancellation? Did you burn all of them on each mark?

[gameguard]

didnt have any. Only 1 tele and 3 blink scrolls. I know most of these problems were due to the speedrun aspect but I wanted to see what people thought about getting marked. Im pretty sure most people would just dismiss this complaint/concern since its not a big deal in normal play. You usually clear the level systematically so retreating upstairs or something is a much easier choice. There is also more consumables available as well as being stronger in general. I know not all aspects of the game should be equal for all play styles but getting marked by traps tend to punish speedrunning and stealthy dudes very severely

[tedric]

Im pretty sure most people would just dismiss this complaint/concern since its not a big deal in normal play.

Insofar as this is true, it's at least partly due to the fact that speedrunning is explicitly NOT a design concern.

Only 1 tele and 3 blink scrolls. ... You usually clear the level systematically so retreating upstairs or something is a much easier choice. There is also more consumables available as well as being stronger in general.

As a pretty poor speedrunner myself, it seems that the player's own inability to manage this balance -- between gathering power/escape options and how quickly to dive deeper -- is what punishes speedrunners severely. Alarm traps are a fact of life and won't be changed just because speedrunners get screwed, so speedrunners have to adapt or accept that a run can be ended by bad luck (which comes in about a zillion other flavors, too).

[PleasingFungus]

... mark ...pretty much screws over stealthy types exclusively.

How do you figure?

[Blink Frog]

I like them. In fact, if there was a Mark Self spell, I would very much abuse it. Many of the vaults are designed to compel the player to fight in less than ideal terrain. Shouting and Noising isn't always enough to draw out the bad guys. So if I found an Alarm Trap on Elf 3 or Swamp 5, I'd be very happy. Sure, there are other times getting Marked sucks, but still, I find Alarm Traps fun.