Tips on Sludge Elf Transmuter

[wayreth]

Hi there, newbie here. Great game & community you have here guys. Ok, I'm still learning the ropes here and would greatly appreciate it if you could enlighten me on the questions below. Here we go (I'm playing 0.8 - trunk, right?):

a) My Sludge Elf Transmuter is a pretty neat character, with good skill aptitudes for fighting, unarmed, dodging, spellcasting and transmuting (this from memory, may have gotten some of them wrong). Should I "disable" unarmed? I'm thinking about using long swords instead.

b) Regarding hunger, my best bet is to go on near starving and then carve and eat some chunks, right? Or being hungry most of the time will negatively impact my abilities? (as in, fighting poorly or miscasting spells more frequently)?

c) Regarding spellcasting & throwing, should I be actively using both of them against weaker enemies (such as rats, geckos and the like on the first few levels) or should I save them for the really hairy ones? This because I'm worried about balancing my skill proficiency (i.e not overdoing one in detriment of the others)...

d) Is there a way to throw needles without having to equip the blowgun first? This may sound silly, but I really like NOT having to equip my daggers in order to throw them.

I understand this is a fairly complex game. Having said that, any general advice is really welcome!!

Thanks.

[absolutego]

(a) a transmuter does most of the fighting in forms, so you don't want to disable the unarmed combat skill, nor use melee weapons.
(b) being hungry does not impair your skills (unless you're starving), but you want to be at the highest satiation level possible. eat whenever you can. you may pass a contaminated corpse (which may give you sickness) while you wait for a clean one, but walking around at near starving is asking for trouble, especially for a caster (casting spells costs hunger).
(c) i don't follow you here. you'll find plenty of darts and daggers if you want to use throwing weapons. as for casting, it depends on the build. an early transmuter will distill potions and evaporate them to create mephitic clouds, which are finite resources; use them appropriately and just punch rats to death. later you'll fight in forms, and you'll have to manage hunger. if you're worried about overtraining skills, go to the skill menu (press 'm') and disable the skills you don't want to train by pressing their letter.
(d) again, i'm not sure i follow you. you don't need to equip daggers to throw them, you quiver them, and then fire them. your current quivered time is displayed on the line below your current weapon. you can cycle your inventory with '(' and ')' or quiver directly with 'Q'. then fire with 'f'. and yes, you throw needles with a blowgun. if you find the interface annoying, set its letter to 'b' and switch between weapons with '. you can change the letter for any item in you inventory (or spell, or ability) with '='.

[pratamawirya]

a) My Sludge Elf Transmuter is a pretty neat character, with good skill aptitudes for fighting, unarmed, dodging, spellcasting and transmuting (this from memory, may have gotten some of them wrong). Should I "disable" unarmed? I'm thinking about using long swords instead.

With a Transmuter, you will be able to use powerful Form spells: Blade Hands, Statue Form, Dragon Form. The spells only respect your unarmed skill, so if you don't train the skill then you waste the spells. (You can use a weapon when in Statue Form, but it's much more optimal if you use your stone fist.)

d) Is there a way to throw needles without having to equip the blowgun first? This may sound silly, but I really like NOT having to equip my daggers in order to throw them.

No. But don't worry, switching weapons is very quick.

[galehar]

0.8 isn't trunk. 0.8 is the latest stable version, trunk is the unstable version which is currently being developped and will become 0.9.

[mrbobbyg]

Welcome!

I love SeTm. Great class.

The above answers are all spot on; I'll add what I can.

Unarmed combat is the only "weapon" skill you never turn off (so long as you're not using a weapon, so, not for auxiliary attacks). Your damage increases both in and outside of forms, so it's totally worth it. Later on, if you find some amazing artifact that you just have to hold for the resists, you can, but don't attack with anything but your fists. Sludge elves know the real kung-fu. That is awesome.

Blowguns are great weapons. So much better than any other chucked debris. Learn to love them. Especially curare needles. Pretty much every humanoid unique in the game can be brought down with 3 or 4 curare needles. Even Nikola.

Always be satiated, and always carry a chunk in your inventory. Sure, you're covered in blood and reek of rotting flesh, (don't worry about dropping rotten chunks, they dissolve on their own), but you're saving permafood. Also, since casting costs food, you don't want to be near starving when you HAVE TO cast blade hands to survive.

Good luck!

[wayreth]

(a) a transmuter does most of the fighting in forms, so you don't want to disable the unarmed combat skill, nor use melee weapons.
(b) being hungry does not impair your skills (unless you're starving), but you want to be at the highest satiation level possible. eat whenever you can. you may pass a contaminated corpse (which may give you sickness) while you wait for a clean one, but walking around at near starving is asking for trouble, especially for a caster (casting spells costs hunger).
(c) i don't follow you here. you'll find plenty of darts and daggers if you want to use throwing weapons. as for casting, it depends on the build. an early transmuter will distill potions and evaporate them to create mephitic clouds, which are finite resources; use them appropriately and just punch rats to death. later you'll fight in forms, and you'll have to manage hunger. if you're worried about overtraining skills, go to the skill menu (press 'm') and disable the skills you don't want to train by pressing their letter.
(d) again, i'm not sure i follow you. you don't need to equip daggers to throw them, you quiver them, and then fire them. your current quivered time is displayed on the line below your current weapon. you can cycle your inventory with '(' and ')' or quiver directly with 'Q'. then fire with 'f'. and yes, you throw needles with a blowgun. if you find the interface annoying, set its letter to 'b' and switch between weapons with '. you can change the letter for any item in you inventory (or spell, or ability) with '='.

About c), I'm concerned about specializing in too many skills and ending up being a Jack-of-all-trades, where I feel I really should be specializing instead.

Regarding d), what I find convenient about daggers, stones and the like is that you can quiver them while using another weapon (a sword, for instance) in your ready hand. That way, if you want to throw a dagger you just (f)ire it on the spot, keeping the sword in your hand. If you want to fire needles, however, you must first equip your blowgun. But I'm being nitpicky

Anyway, thanks for your prompt reply and great advice. Cheers.

[wayreth]

Thanks for the input, everybody. Let's see if I can last a bit longer this time around

[Shade]

About c), I'm concerned about specializing in too many skills and ending up being a Jack-of-all-trades, where I feel I really should be specializing instead.

Regarding d), what I find convenient about daggers, stones and the like is that you can quiver them while using another weapon (a sword, for instance) in your ready hand. That way, if you want to throw a dagger you just (f)ire it on the spot, keeping the sword in your hand. If you want to fire needles, however, you must first equip your blowgun. But I'm being nitpicky

Anyway, thanks for your prompt reply and great advice. Cheers.

On about c):

With a SETr, you basically want to leave Fighting, Unarmed Combat, Spellcasting, and Transnutations on for sure. The nature of being a Tr means that you'll probably end up with a point in some combination of Fire / Necromancy / Poison / Summoning-- Sludge Elves happen to be good at pretty much all of those things. I'll often let my SETr get a few points in Fire / Necromancy, and turn poison and summoning off (my preference). Then I'll usually branch to fire or Necromancy depending on the first book I find that fits, and turn the other skill off. You can also turn all of those off and go pure Tr.

On regarding d):
use '=' and 'i' to change your main weapon to 'a' and your blowgun to 'b'. Then you can just mash ''' to swap to the blowgun and repeat to switch back. Afaik, weapon switches are about the fastest action, and once you go blowgun on a thrower you'll never go back. (Even if you only take throwing up to a handful of points.)

[absolutego]

Regarding d), what I find convenient about daggers, stones and the like is that you can quiver them while using another weapon (a sword, for instance) in your ready hand. That way, if you want to throw a dagger you just (f)ire it on the spot, keeping the sword in your hand. If you want to fire needles, however, you must first equip your blowgun. But I'm being nitpicky

ok, i follow you now. as stated above switching weapons only takes half a turn, so don't worry.
good, generalist advice: go into your config file and set show_gold_turns and show_real_turns to true. you'll have a new line on the right with the turn count and the turn cost for your last action. it helps figure out quite a few things for yourself.

[joellercoaster]

a point in some combination of Fire / Necromancy / Poison / Summoning-- Sludge Elves happen to be good at pretty much all of those things.

Also Ice. In which you also have +1 aptitude, which is nice.

SETm gets significantly easier once you have reliable Ice Form. It's a very hefty unarmed combat buff, plus you get poison resistance for free. Ice Form lets you steamroll though Hive unopposed, and will generally get you through Lair and most of Snake.

[dolphin]

Ice Form also lets you cut up corpses, which is handy if you are wielding a cursed blunt weapon. Ice Form is an awesome Tm.

[galehar]

I like Ice better than fire for my Tm too. I usually disable fire as soon as I get it so that I can train ice with ice form. Ozocubu's armour and condensation shield are nice for hybrids. On the other hand, ignite poison can be great for a Tm too. Depends on book drops and tastes.

[Shade]

I like Ice better than fire for my Tm too. I usually disable fire as soon as I get it so that I can train ice with ice form. Ozocubu's armour and condensation shield are nice for hybrids. On the other hand, ignite poison can be great for a Tm too. Depends on book drops and tastes.

Oops, yeah, I forgot about Ice there as well. The joy of being a Tr... You get a little of everything.

Another one to watch is Necromancy, if for no other reasons than Dispel Undead and Necromutation (and the large number of pure Nec spells and the Nec & Ice Simacrilum). SEs have a +1 there as well.

The choice between Ice, Fire, Summoning and Nec will most often come down to the books you find first, and how you want to play (Ie, I don't much like summoners). The hardest part of being a Tr is to not bleed too much of your XP into too many schools. The Tr starting book is as diverse as the Wz, except all of the spells require Tr... Forget that at your long term peril.

[wayreth]

Thanks all for the advice. I managed to get myself killed on D:9 or thereabouts but at least now I have an inkling on what the hell I'm doing. Alas, once more onto the breach! Make way!

[joellercoaster]

Ice Form also lets you cut up corpses, which is handy if you are wielding a cursed blunt weapon.

And swim. I forgot to mention the swimming.