The 'Questions too small to need their own thread' thread

[XuaXua]

Does anything affect Magic Point recovery speed?

You know, like how rings of regeneration/mutations/troll armor affects health recovery speed.

[Galefury]

I don't see why you shouldn't be able to use an enchant scroll on a magical staff

Because they already are really really strong.

How long does it take to cast a spell?

The effect happens instantly (for all actions). The delay until you are allowed your next action is one standard turn for all spells (affected by haste and slow, but nothing else). Centaurs have faster action speed, so they can sometimes shoot twice in that time, and the display probably didn't update until your next action.

Does anything affect Magic Point recovery speed?

Max MP might affect recovery speed, but I'm not sure. If that is the case a staff or ring of power will also slightly boost mana recovery. There are no items or spells that just boost recovery rate though. Some instantly replenish MP.

[galehar]

Max MP might affect recovery speed, but I'm not sure.

I confirm. The formula for the number of mp restored by turn looks a bit like : (7 + maxMP / 2) / 100

[mrbobbyg]

What kind of stats do I need to cast tornado? Air spells are running out of POP and tornado is still useless.

I have:
12 Spellcasting
19 Air magic
23 Int

[XuaXua]

What kind of stats do I need to cast tornado? Air spells are running out of POP and tornado is still useless.

I have:
12 Spellcasting
19 Air magic
23 Int

Wearing any armor heavier than a robe?
Wielding a shield?

[XuaXua]

I don't see why you shouldn't be able to use an enchant scroll on a magical staff

Because they already are really really strong.

Really? That staff of conjuring/energy/channeling?

[mrbobbyg]

What kind of stats do I need to cast tornado? Air spells are running out of POP and tornado is still useless.

I have:
12 Spellcasting
19 Air magic
23 Int

Wearing any armor heavier than a robe?
Wielding a shield?

I have a robe on, and a buckler, with 7 skill in shields.

[Galefury]

What kind of stats do I need to cast tornado?

Assuming no penalties from armor (robe or animal skin), shield (5/15/25 shield skill needed in order of size, for normal size species) and weapon (base delay less than 12) you are going to need 22 air skill for 50% success at your int and spellcasting. Four levels of spellcasting or six points of intelligence improve success as much as one level of air magic.

Really? That staff of conjuring/energy/channeling?

They are not useful in melee, but are extremely powerful for casting. I assume they cant be enchanted for consistency.

[Jeremiah]

Does Ignite Poison do enough damage to be worth learning, to use against big poisonous creatures like hydras, or is it just for nuking the Hive? It seems like a fun spell but at level 5 I'm not sure it's worth the spell slots, especially if I'm not already using poison/air magic for Poison Cloud.

[Galefury]

Ignite poison does 3d(5+pow/7) damage to poisonous creatures, independent of creature size. Extra dice for poisoned enemies depending on how strongly poisoned they are (no idea what the max is). The power cap is 200, so this gets up to 3d33, and it's 3d21 at 100 power. I don't know how this compares to other level 5 spells (because I cant seem to find the right source file for most conjurations), but I suspect this is pretty high damage.

[XrBob]

How do you guys deal with orc priests in the early game? Usually when a bunch of orcs come after me I can go into a one tile hall way and take them one at a time. Even orc wizards aren't too big a deal, they need line of sight. Priests though just need to see you to smite you to death. Wat do?

[Galefury]

Run or take them out asap, depending on how strong you are. Corridors actually work okay for taking out priests if there are only regular orcs and priests present. The priests will quickly push their way to the front to melee you, past the weaker fodder. Stupid AI is stupid. They might smite you once or twice on the way, so if you are weak running still is your best bet. Note that this will not work if there also is an orc warrior or other strong orcs around.

[Tiber]

Find a corridor with a corner, where you can position yourself with minimum visibility. Ideally, the priest won't be able to smite you until it's one or two squares away, and you have a decent chance of fighting back.

[Jeremiah]

Sometimes you just need to start running earlier - whenever you see 2 or more orcs together, there's a high chance that there will be at least one priest with the group. If you have low HP and a few smites could kill you, you might want to start making your escape before the priests come into LOS.

[mrbobbyg]

Sometimes you just need to start running earlier - whenever you see 2 or more orcs together, there's a high chance that there will be at least one priest with the group. If you have low HP and a few smites could kill you, you might want to start making your escape before the priests come into LOS.

This is good advice. Once you learn how to deal with priests, and early orcs, they get a lot easier. Early on, you should assume that every orc you see is accompanied by 2 priests or so. That means, only engage an orc that isn't clearly alone in a corridor with a bend in it so you can get out of LoS if a priest comes.

Generally, this is good strategy. My characters started lasting a LOT longer once I realized that I should only try to fight when and where I wanted to. Heroes don't last in Crawl; cowards get orbs.

[srulz]

Some Transmuter questions:

1. Do Claws etc stack with the forms? I know Blade Hands didn't stack with them, but for example if I'm using a Troll + Statue Form, do I receive the bonus damage from being a Troll + Claws 3?

From the Knowledge Bots, it states:
Fighting without a weapon. 3+UC base damage (+6 Tr, +2 Gh, +2 per claws level, +X for forms); delay 10 - UC/5; +2 to hit (+4 Tr/Gh). If you have an EV penalty (such as by wearing a shield, or armor (reduced somewhat by armor skill)), attack delay is slowed to max(10, 1d10+2dAEVP) - UC/5.

2. Are the "huge EV bonus" from Spider form, to be in percentage or fixed value?

Thank you all!

[Galefury]

1. I don't know, but I doubt it. Maybe for statue form, almost certainly not for any others.

2. A bit of both.

[QTQuazar]

I've acquired a +10, +6 katana (god gift). Perfect primary weapon, and I'm still early in the game (Lair 8, no sub-branches cleared).

What brand should I vorpalise it with for maximum results?

[Galefury]

The general advice is Frost or Fire, because those are the ones that do good damage to a wide variety of creatures. Which one of these you should choose depends on your build and what you're planning to do. Probably frost. Most undead resist frost, most demons resist fire. Dispel Undead helps against undead, holy wrath helps against both. Note that frost has a chance to slow cold-blooded enemies like snakes and draconians. Switching god to brand it with HW, chaos or pain is probably not worth it unless you're planning on switching to one of these gods anyway. Also HW is not that great in a 3-rune game.

[KoboldLord]

You should learn multiple brands as spells, and then apply them to your weapon situationally. Venom, frost, flame, and drain are all going to be the best on a situational basis for the duration of a three-Rune game, and once you're clearing the post-endgame your best upgrade is a quick jaunt over to TSO for the weapon blessing. You can't use the spells on a permanently branded weapon.

[Jeremiah]

Is Poison Arrow better than Iron Shot, and is it worth learning poison magic just for it?

[Galefury]

Power will be low with low poison magic, so if you're just going to get a few poison levels it will probably not be much better than Iron Shot with high earth magic (maybe not better at all). Note that Poison Arrow will poison enemies, doing some residual damage. Also Poison Arrow has 7 range, Iron Shot has 5 range. If you are using earth magic I wouldn't branch into poison just for Poison Arrow, but if you don't have other partially irresistible spells and are a dedicated conjurer it's probably worth getting a few poison levels for.

[srulz]

Thanks for the prompt answer Galefury!

Anyway, since it seems like no one actually knows the answer for certain, I just decided to test it in Wizard Mode...and voila! I got "Stone claws" as my weapon, instead of "Stone fists" or similar when I don't have Claws 3. So, I guess it does stacks then??

For all the other forms, there is no change in the weapon that I "wield"...which is kinda a shame, since a Spider with HUGE claws seems like such good fun... or Ice Form too...Crystalline Claws, yes so much potential

[XrBob]

I recently tried ashenzari and he's really cool, I like all the extra information you get. When you use his exp transfer ability, does it take into account aptitudes? An obvious use might be to transfer exp with a deep elf to give him more fighting ability, even though he has a low aptitude for it. Any casters that might go well with him, I guess ones that their initial book can last a while?

[moekitten]

i didn't use reskilling myself but it seems it applies aptitudes. also no reskilling to fighting
http://crawl.develz.org/info/inline.php?q=reskilling

>ones that their initial book can last a while?

enchanters, ice/earth elementalists, conjurers, transmuters...

[Jeremiah]

What, if anything affects the power and accuracy of a draconian's breath weapon?

[Kate]

Experience level, and whether or not you're in Dragon Form.

[galehar]

So, I guess it does stacks then??

It does. Statue and Lich forms don't override physical mutations.

I recently tried ashenzari and he's really cool, I like all the extra information you get. When you use his exp transfer ability, does it take into account aptitudes? An obvious use might be to transfer exp with a deep elf to give him more fighting ability, even though he has a low aptitude for it. Any casters that might go well with him, I guess ones that their initial book can last a while?

It does take aptitudes into account. It transfer skill points, not skill levels. A high aptitude means you need less skill points to gain levels. So transferring from a high aptitude skill to a low one means the high one will lose more levels and the low one gain less than if you do it the other way around.

[XrBob]

This may not belong here, but the forum seems slow enough and I feel silly making lots of threads. Does anyone ever get really frustrated with this game and dying? If I die early on, before the temple or so, meh, bad luck, start over. Once I hit the lair I start to get momentum and become invested in the character. Later on I get some good gear and spells, cleared the lair, starting to explore the dungeon more. But then I overlook something or make a silly mistake, and boom, back to square one, the first floor, level one. It's just so upsetting to make real progress and see it all disappear as if for nothing so quickly. I guess from there I try to try a new kind of character for a little variety, but going through the level one trudge again is no fun ):

[galehar]

Sure, death can be frustrating. But this is also why winning is so rewarding

[pratamawirya]

From such upsetting deaths, you learn how to play like a pro

[QTQuazar]

What code do i need to add to what file in order to put a query halt before drinking potions of CMut? I just accidentally wiped out everything good about my character when trying to drop a potion in my stash.

Also, in the Ossuary with the 9 pillars, in the secret room to the SE (the corner ones having secret doors). Is there anywhere else to go on this portal level? There's enemies behind transparent glass, but i never find any 2nd exit portal, just the one by the entrance.

Finally, are treasure troves that require an item timed or not? The wiki seems unsure on this point.

[galehar]

What code do i need to add to what file in order to put a query halt before drinking potions of CMut? I just accidentally wiped out everything good about my character when trying to drop a potion in my stash.

Inscribe your potion with !q (and press ?6 to access inscriptions documentation).

Finally, are treasure troves that require an item timed or not? The wiki seems unsure on this point.

They are not timed. They used to be, so the wiki needs to be updated.

[XrBob]

Ah well, thanks for the encouragement, I haven't tried vampires before, and they're actually pretty fun. Forum question: Is there a secret to the search function? I try to search "vampire" or "enchanter" and it says it' too common of a word, which is lame.

I tried a vampire stalker, I got petrify castable, but it just isn't as reliable for stab damage as ensorcelled hibernation.

[mageykun]

The search function is problematic. It treats far too many words as "too common", and honestly doesn't work very well for someone seeking general purpose advice on a subject. It's a lot better if you know what you're looking for, and can narrow your results to a specific sub-forum, or even better, a specific poster (which really only helps those of us trying to link to something we read before).

It's probably quicker to skim the advice forum looking for subjects than to muck around with the search though- we are a pretty small forum. Or just start a new thread! Really, don't feel you have to stick to the questions thread- ask for advice on a specific topic. Go the the builds forum and start a thread of VpEns. Or start a CIP or YASD, dump, and see what specific pointers you can get. You might get a link to an older thread, but often not. This place is about advice and discussion- certain bits are bound to get repeated (we're somewhat stricter with trying to keep things organized in the back room, since that's design oriented).

[QTQuazar]

On average, about how many empty inventory slots should I have when heading into a treasure trove? Since I can prep for it, what critical equipment should I be carrying?

[Kate]

Huh? You don't need any critical equipment. Just have a bunch of inventory slots free (number of items I think varies from like 10-20 depending on the trove map).

[Galefury]

Isn't there one or two troves with monsters? Or was that removed?

[KoboldLord]

Isn't there one or two troves with monsters? Or was that removed?

I see three troves that contain monsters. The bad one has a single shining eye, which can mutate you but is fairly fragile. Another contains some zombies, and a third has vampires trapped behind glass, so all they can do to you is summon angry rats. These maps are pretty rare, and I'm not sure how you'd reach the depth where portals can spawn if you aren't already prepared for them.

[jejorda2]

Forum question: Is there a secret to the search function? I try to search "vampire" or "enchanter" and it says it' too common of a word, which is lame.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=in ... 0enchanter

[eharper256]

Sooo... how the frack do I reach this Vehumet Altar:

Blink won't allow me in (wasted my scroll of blink); searched for ages to near starving (wasting a bread ration). I'm a low level Summoner in this game, and I actually wanted Vehumet for the high level summon books. LE Sigh...

And yes, I made an Alice Margatroid costume to add to my collection of hideously modded player tiles. What can I say... I like my Touhou.

[mrbobbyg]

Sooo... how the frack do I reach this Vehumet Altar.

Burn your way in. Fireball, lightning bolt...

[XuaXua]

Sooo... how the frack do I reach this Vehumet Altar.

Burn your way in. Fireball, lightning bolt...

second or third-level wand of fire or a wand of lightning...

[galehar]

You can also use disintegration. Also, for future reference, secret doors can only be hidden in walls, not trees.

If you find a secret door in a tree it will take you in the wonderland portal vault.

[eharper256]

Sooo... how the frack do I reach this Vehumet Altar.

Burn your way in. Fireball, lightning bolt...

second or third-level wand of fire or a wand of lightning...

Sigh, yeah, I thought that might be a case. I have no such wands yet; this is on D2 and I'm a summoner. This will delay my Vehumet piety gain a bit I'll imagine. I did randomly bash all my scrolls on the vain hope I might luck out with a scroll of immolation, but no such luck.

Whilst I'm here... how viable are Merfolk Hunters in general? I got one picked as a random background and was pleasantly surprised to start with +1 Javelins; as I thought all Hunters were bow and sling users. But then, I guess I should have thought about the apparently feared Merfolk Javelineers of Shoals, eh? (Not that I've ever got that far!). Of course, even with Javelins low break chance, you're kinda relying on new thrown item spawns I guess if you only start with 6.

Hmm, and is there a list of what stats each background adds, and the base stats (STR/DEX/INT) of each species etc? Just for comparison sakes (I like pointless tables like this, lol)...

[galehar]

Hmm, and is there a list of what stats each background adds, and the base stats (STR/DEX/INT) of each species etc? Just for comparison sakes (I like pointless tables like this, lol)...

In the source. Search for _species_stat_init and _jobs_stat_init.

[hxy]

If you find a secret door in a tree it will take you in the wonderland portal vault.

Good idea

[moekitten]

>Hmm, and is there a list of what stats each background adds, and the base stats (STR/DEX/INT) of each species etc? Just for comparison sakes (I like pointless tables like this, lol)...

on wiki
http://crawl.chaosforge.org/index.php?title=Attributes