The Tavern

Greater Ghoul, and 7 combos left!

"I still don’t like it,” he said, seven days later, as the tough little mountain dwarfs carried them down the winding road. “And don’t you think I’m running away because I’m afraid. I’m just sorry for those poor old guys up there, and I don’t want to be around when they find what suckers they’ve been. Wonder how Xen will take it?” “It’s funny,” replied Hurricos, “but when I said good-by I got the idea he knew we were walking out on him — and that he didn’t care because he knew the game was running smoothly and that the job would soon be finished. After that — well, of course, for him there just isn’t any After That....”
Sphara turned in his barding and stared back up the mountain road. This was the last place from which one could get a clear view of the dungeon. The squat, angular buildings were silhouetted against the afterglow of the sunset: here and there, lights gleamed like sunspots in the side of a sun demon. Electric lights, of course, sharing the same circuit as CSZO. How much longer would they share it? wondered Sphara. Would Xen smash up the server in his rage and disappointment? Or would he just sit down quietly and begin his robin all over again?”
He knew exactly what was happening up on the mountain at this very moment. Xen and his assistants would be sitting in their silk robes, inspecting the morgues as the junior players carried them away from the akrasiac.org and pasted them into the great spreadsheet. No one would be saying anything. The only sound would be the incessant patter, the never-ending rainstorm of the keys hitting the server, for CSZO itself was utterly silent as it flashed through its thousands of calculations a second. Ten months of this, thought Sphara, was enough to start anyone climbing up the wall.
“There she is!” called Hurricos, pointing down into the valley. “Ain’t she beautiful!”
She certainly was, thought Sphara. The battered old air traffic control airplane lay at the end of the runway like a tiny silver cross. In two hours she would be bearing them away to freedom and sanity. It was a thought worth savoring like a fine liqueur. Sphara let it roll round his mind as the dwarfs trudged patiently down the slope.
The swift night of the surface was now almost upon them. Fortunately, the road was very good, as roads went in that region, and they were both had magic mapping. There was not the slightest danger, only a certain discomfort from the bitter cold. The sky overhead was perfectly clear, and ablaze with the familiar, friendly stars. At least there would be no risk, thought Sphara, of the pilot being unable to take off because of weather conditions. That had been his only remaining worry.
He began to sing, but gave it up after a while. This vast arena of mountains, gleaming like whitely hooded ghosts on every side, did not encourage such ebullience. Presently Sphara glanced at his watch.
“Should be there in an hour,” he called back over his shoulder to Hurricos. Then he added, in an afterthought: “Wonder if comborobin finished its run. It was due about now.”
Hurricos didn’t reply, so Sphara swung round in his barding. He could just see Hurricos’s face, a white oval turned toward the sky.
“Look,” whispered Hurricos, and Sphara lifted his eyes to heaven. (There is always a last time for everything.)
Overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out.

Curse of the KoWz?

Another one bit the dust in Z:5. 3x bonus points for whoever wins the combo!

Dying in Zot:5 with dragoncall, nemelex, malgate, XXX, and 30+/40+ because you chose not to wear your rf+++ ring with 0 fire resistance without potions

Why do you do this, tavern? Did you fall for the "you don't need rF in Zot" thing?

And the curse of the KoWz is over. Had a really easy Z:5. First off, tons of shops on V:5 meant enough consumables for a good 4 wins. Then only one OoF and a handful of Alichs. Great Zot layout. I do question one of the players skill investments though. Did this char really need 21 shields? It was Okie, so at most you needed 16, and frankly, sticking with a buckler and using that XP for more spells would have been better.

I didn't do that! I know I love shields but I stopped at 5! It was mps. Had to be! TBH this char was a nightmare due to having only a +1 dagger pre-lair and probably was doomed before finding a +7 long sword with rpois and freeze right before lair.

I also got a DrNe to 2 runes / V4 last night and fed it to Sphara for an alley oop slam dunk. Thanks to everyone who stopped in the last couple days to yell at me that there was already a DrNe and KoWz.

Someone finished Statform Kitty too so boom.


Guess that's it for trunk so I started up a Merfolk Death Knight.

edit: DrNe was red, gamma pointed this out

Congratulations everyone!!! It's a testament to good game design that crawl can remain interesting and winnable for every single combo. (The jury's still out on "fun".... I'm looking at you, Centaur!)

It's done! For the first time in the history of crawl, all stable version combos have been won on a single account.
The project started in May 22, 2015, and was finished March 2, 2016. The first combo was a KoBe won by Sphara, and the last won combo was a FeEE stone kitty, also won by Sphara (with help from someone else on cszo). Comborobin is also a tiamat player, has achieved every stable 27 skill and god title, and is a VpBe away from being a 15-rune greaterplayer.

Special thanks to: Sphara, Hurricos (King of the casters), Airwolf (15 rune & title guy), Le_Nerd (King of the 'Podes), MrPlanck, HDA, pubby (King of the Ants), elmdor, mps (king of smh), Bart, Edgefigaro, Nilsbloodaxe, and others.

It was an honor, gentlemen and gentlewomen. Great fun, and a fine achievement. Anyone up to do some analysis on the game stats?

Now it's time to 'post your wins'
Wins* were me alone, others were collaborations.

solo wins: DDAr, DrTm, GrGl, GrMo, GrWr, HOTm, HuWz, MfSk, MiCj, TeCj, VpWr, VSEE (12 total)

team wins: DDCj, DDTm, DDWz, DECj, DgTm, DrAr, DrFi, GhFE, GhSk, GrAK, GrWz, HETm, HOAM, MiAE, MuSu, NaEE, NaFi, OgAs, OgWr, TeAE, TeSk, TrHu, VpAK, VpEn, VpFE, VpSk, (26 total)

total 38

Congratulations on becoming a greatestplayer, comborobin! If someone wins a tracked experimental species, it can be a greaterestplayer too.

Awesome work, folks! I'm pleased to hear about the Tiamat.

I'm gonna get that damned 15-rune VpBe! (Ok, I'll probably do Vp and Be separately.) With that and greaterestplayer, we'll have every goal that anyone has suggested.

I don't even remember all the combos I did, but I know I didn't solo any.

Don't worry arag, I credited some mysterious player for all that shield investment.

Pffft and gamma is still getting credit for pointing out the !tiamat thing. That was all me! :p

But great job everyone, it was fun!

CeAM, CeIE, DDEn, DrEn, DrSu, DsCj, DsIE, DsWn, FoNe, GhHu, GrAE, GrNe, HaCj, HEWz, HOSk, HuAE, HuBe, KoAr, KoHu, KoSk, MfHu, MfIE, MfSu, MiAM, MiWn, MuAs, SpCK, TrEE, VpAs, VpCK, VSCK

31 Wins with 7 solo runs, at least for the ones I tracked on the spreadsheet.

Well done everyone! This was a great challenge, Xen, thank you.

Using Xen's convention, * means solo win. I had many good tag-team wins with edgefigaro, who often let me start and then did most of the work getting the win.

I entered my name only if I got a new combo to lair, got a rune, or got a win.



92 wins (not counting my two glorious SE wins), with 25 solo.

So next is hscomborobin, where you do the same thing but have to get the high score on that char for it to count. Good luck!

16:34 < miek_> !comborobinhs
16:35 < Sequell> Chars that comborobin has the high score for: KoIE, VSAE, MuEE

Already 3/615 of the way there.


But seriously good job guys.

MfDk might be ok after a long start without a decent weapon:


+10
bardiche of
speed with
rf++
just for you gamma:

Who's this Jolly ? I want to enter its Realms...

...

Each winked out after a subtle glimmer, fading away so softly as if begging to be forgotten. Each insubstantial flash seemed of no particular consequence. As the starlight slowly dimmed, the rough terrain all around seemed to become cold and lonely; Sphara was only drawn away from the spectacle by the sound of muttering between the dwarves' soft footsteps, and turned to the likely suspect.
"... SpCj ... DEWz ... DESk, oh what a strange game," the Spriggan giggled, clearly lost in reverie, pointing as each disappeared into the darkness. Sphara smiled slightly and turned back to admire the sky once more to appreciate the closing display. He began to ponder his own memories of it all, momentarily returning to watching Hurricos. "Do you remember them all ...?"
"Oh, yeah. Each and every darn one," the Spriggan nodded, jostling in his seat. "... Ahh. DgEE."
"I remember," Sphara sighed. "We all do."

The sound of quiet dwarven boots became deafening in the silence that followed. "This is it, isn't it?"
Sphara looked forward and shook his head, smiling out of the Spriggan's view. "This is it." The shadows that shrunk and grew around them, flickering in and out of existence along the edges of stones and boulders, gave them company in the presence of the damning thought. "It's over."

The sky was soon sparse, and the numbing cold and hushed wind and echoing finality left no sense to feel but one of peace. Many tiles and AUTs passed together under this omnipresent shroud, and as the placidity slowly faded, Sphara was compelled to search the sphere one last time.
In the depths of the darkness, with sight sharper than a crystal spear, he saw something new. The fading of the lights had not left a void: in the sky above, a trillion trillion dull spots shone, together somehow brighter than anything Sphara had ever seen. He broke from the mesmerizing sight to see Hurricos smiling a Cheshire grin.

"It's not over," he hummed. Sphara noticed gems in the Spriggan's eyes sparkling as bright as those above.

...

DECj*. FeSk*. SpCj*. OgWr. SpWz*. HESk*. KoWr*. NaWr*. DEWr*. DrAr. FeWr*. GrVM*. OgAs*. SpWr*. VpSk. DrWr*. CeWr*. DgEE*. DEWz*. DrEE*. MuWz*. CeSk. DEEn*. DDTm. DrAE. GhSk. DgSk. NaEE. SpIE*. SpFE*. HaWr*. MuEE*. FeNe*. TeWr*. HEIE*. DEAs*. OgEE*. HaAs*. NaGl. NaFi. NaSk*. DrAs*. GrCj*. GrWz. HETm*. NaSu*. DESk*. DrHu*. TeFE*. MiFE*. DEAE*. TeSk. HuWr*. DDSk*. HEAr*. HEVM*. HEEE*. GrIE*. KoEE. SpSk*. DDFE*. DEAM*. MfFE. GrTm*. GrEn. DETm*. GrHu. HESu*. DDSu*. DEAr*. CeTm*. DENe*. DDCj. DrVM. HENe*. SpGl*. HaAM. TeVM*. KoSu. TeNe. TeIE*. TeAr*. CeEE*. GhVM*. VpFE*. CeCj*.

86 wins total, 64 done solo. Nearly half of the Deep Elves done, and all my DE games done by myself. I'm thinking people really don't like DE.

RIP.

I added a page for obsolete combos in the spreadsheet, for those who need their comborobin fix.

Edit: nevermind, there's already a better version in the runes page.

Congratulations! I see that some of you guys put a jaw-dropping amount of work into the project. Wow, just wow.

For me, I completed 3 combos: DDNe, CeAK, VpBe.

And now for something completely different: let's check the prediction made in June!



That was not bad at all.

Amazingly accurate! (Worth of 'thanks'...)

Someone should get the 'traps and doors' title 'dungeon master'.

[/quote]

So we collectively averaged more than 2 combos a day for 10 months..wow.

You should win all combos in arenasprint next.

I finally won a 15-rune Vampire today, the last for 15-rune greaterplayer.

I killed tons of Vampires along the way. Maybe I'm just bad, but 15-rune Vp seems hard, maybe because of susceptibility to torment *and* dispel undead, even with Kiku knocking down some of the torment. The new shadow fiends are extra scary.

Nice job! Yeah 15 rune vampire is annoying. I lost one on comborobin at >10 runes previously I think.

And greaterorbrunner!

I see someone has been working on DK, He, SE, etc.

comborobin will never die!

Is ccmborobin related to comborobin at all meaningfully? Or merely in name?

I believe that ccmborobin was created by Pollen Golem for reasons unknown to me some time after comborobin caught on.

Seems a bit cheap to clear Hells, Tomb, and V:5 first, then go back, but ok. I guess it is technically correct.

Yeah, I was too scared to do Tomb in particular with Pan lords popping up...

Orbrunning seems like a cheap trick to me in general, so I'm OK with my scummy greaterorbrunner. Feel free to repeat it with your preferred style.

Totally within the letter/spirit of greaterorbrunner!

It suggests a "greaterorbrunner" category though
I'm sure as hell not doing that.

I think the technically correct way to orbrun a rune is to not even enter that rune's branch before collecting the Orb.

Go for it!

I'm starting up some sonjasprint combos for fun.

And so it continues...

New gods in trunk, so 2 new invocations titles should be available!

Damn you!

I'm playing a VS with a dagger and my ancestor Not Gay is helping me stab things.

Time to set the comborobin password back to robin?
No one really plays the account these days so it's not much of a griefing target anymore.

pass pls

hello?

I'm gonna change the password back to 'robin' tomorrow.

Changed most passwords back to robin. Lemme know if you want to play and the password isn't working.

Hey guys! If the all sprints all combos is a thing i'd love to help. Ill check this thread in a while.