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

[Kate]

Question on Animate Skeleton:

e.g. If kill an Ogre with a club and you walk over to the corpse and cast it, the skeleton will wield the club
But if you move the club and corpse to another location and cast it, the club does not get picked up by the skeleton

Feature or bug?

Feature (to stop players from moving equipment/corpses around in order to equip zombies with specifically chosen items):

  Code:

    // If the player picked up and dropped the corpse, then all its
    // original equipment fell off.

[srulz]

How to calculate the damage for Minotaur's headbutt retaliations? I just won 1, and they seem to scale very nicely to higher levels :O

[varsovie]

Anyway, you get a (STR+DEX)% chance of retaliating whenever you dodge an attack by an opponent that's adjacent to you. It can only happen once per turn per opponent and it's the regular headbutt auxiliary attack of Horns 2 as far as I'm concerned in terms of damage.

[Stormfox]

Feature-ish. Monsters usually won't pick up weapons that the player drops. This has an effect (whether it is the intended effect is a question for devs) of preventing the player from planting weapons for nasty monsters to pick up in the hope that they swap for them. The best example is trying to give Mennas something to replace his holy eudemon blade. Or trying to drop a cursed -2,-3 broad axe for Saint Roka so that he can't use his crossbow on you. (Neither of which work.)

EDIT: Drat, missed the definitive answer on the next page of posts.

[mageykun]

You can pry something from a corpse's cold dead hands, but it's a lot harder to force something back in. And crawl's zombies are too dumb (or physically unable?) to clench or unclench their hands.

[srulz]

As an Octopode with lots of rings, what happens with the effects of all my rings when I transformed? Will they still be there?

[cerebovssquire]

Yes (except Batform, that melds every non-amulet slot, but that's only available in card form to Op anyway).

[CommanderC]

Pig form also melds every non-amulet slot.

[srulz]

Ok, this is a very minor thing, but how do I "save and NOT exit"?

IIRC, it is possible, but I just cannot find that option in the configuration txts.

[tormodpwns]

Back to the topic of octopodes, I was playing an OpTr the other day and I got a ring of poison resistance in my third ring slot. Then when I cast Spider Form, I lost my rPois status on the @ screen, and I got poisoned by a killer bee. A possible bug?

[srulz]

Anybody got any numbers on this "Constriction" thing?

I just got a rude awakening while fighting in Snake Pit, getting constricted by a Greater Naga which will follow me even when I teleported! Which is pretty cool of course if you look at it in a holistic kind of way, but not when I'm hovering within inches of my life

[Mattchew]

Suppose you had an Abyssal Knight centaur who has teleportitis. Suppose he was a bit of a glass cannon. Would you try to scum Abyss for a cure mutation potion, or dare Zot:5 with teleportitis?

[cerebovssquire]

That depends. If I wanted to ninja the Orb, probably the latter; if I was actually intending to kill all the dudes, at least in one lung, probably the former. Remember that scumming the Abyss comes with no risk for Abyssal Knights; if you see a dangerous or mutating enemy, just exit.
Don't take too many consumables (scrolls of blinking, lots of heal wounds potions) with you.

I would also only do this if I didn't had an amulet of stasis or -TELE artefact. In that case I would just wear it. Also, the Abyss might provide.

[Mattchew]

No amulets of stasis yet, but a shop does have a -TELE artifact, which I hadn't considered. Thanks guys.

> I'd "dare" Zot:5 . . .

Well, it sounded a little daring to me.

[Blade]

Ok, this is a very minor thing, but how do I "save and NOT exit"?

IIRC, it is possible, but I just cannot find that option in the configuration txts.

You go down the stairs. Or up the stairs.

That's only a safeguard against crashes, though. There is no reason at all ever to save without exiting besides savescumming.

[Mattchew]

Playing a mummy. I have found a decent early artifact, but it's MUT+. Wiki says mutations will rot me instead.

Is the wiki right? there any way for a mummy to recover from this rotting if it happens?

[Blade]

The wiki is right. You still don't want to use a MUT+ artefact, though.

At xl13, you can pay 1 permanent mp to restore rot and lost stats. Otherwise, wands of heal wounds and random effects work.

[Mattchew]

> Otherwise, wands of heal wounds and random effects work.

Never thought of that. Maybe never would have thought of that. Thanks.

Another question, is there any answer for mummies dealing with confusion? I'm used to popping a healing potion if, say, Mennas or Rupert get me confused. Assuming I don't have an amulet of clarity, is there another way to deal with confusion as a mummy?

[Galefury]

You can unwield distortion to maybe teleport or banish yourself. Maybe there are some other things you can do. High MR is strongly advised.

[cerebovssquire]

The obsidian axe cures confusion when wielded. Seriously though, if you do find it I think it would be worth carrying around.
You used to be able to use reaching and rods, so in an old version that might still work... in Trunk it was sadly removed.
Note that wands of heal wounds won't hit you. Zapping those in desperation is even worse than unwielding distortion at low HP.

[cerebovssquire]

I'm playing a NaAK. It often occurs that my battleaxe of distortion teleports monsters I'm constricting, so I come along on the rides with them. Does anyone know what happens if this char put on a -Tele or Stasis item and continued doing this?
(by the way, literally the best combo ever, constriction is so awesome)

[CommanderC]

I'm playing a NaAK. It often occurs that my battleaxe of distortion teleports monsters I'm constricting, so I come along on the rides with them. Does anyone know what happens if this char put on a -Tele or Stasis item and continued doing this?
(by the way, literally the best combo ever, constriction is so awesome)

Stasis or -TELE are ignored. Tested in wizard mode.

[Jk]

Besides robe & animal skins (animal skin, troll hide, dragon hide), what armours can a draconian wear? Specifically - can they wear any/all of the dragon armours?

[Blade]

Besides robe & animal skins (animal skin, troll hide, dragon hide), what armours can a draconian wear? Specifically - can they wear any/all of the dragon armours?

In 0.10 Trunk, they cannot wear body armour at all. In 0.9, however, they can wear all of the dragon armours.

[joellercoaster]

There is no reason at all ever to save without exiting besides savescumming.

Or to switch to another character.

[srulz]

There is no reason at all ever to save without exiting besides savescumming.

Or to switch to another character.

Exactly! Currently it is quite an irritation when I want to save the char, I -have- to exit the whole game. And then start the game back, just to play another char to let off some steam. The weird thing is, for quitting/dying, it goes back to menu just fine.

It is just a minor irritation, of course, but still an irritation

[tormodpwns]

Mummy confusion

You can notably use decks while confused. If you happen to have a spare identify scrolls, you could look through decks for escape cards to use while confused (or if you find good ones like Tomb and legendary Portal, maybe even if you're not confused).

Can't read scrolls while confused.

Questions:

Do Acc/Dam bonuses from artefacts/rings of slaying affect spellcasting?
Also, is it worth training Armour on a NaCj to wear dragon armours? I found an ice dragon hide in the Lair and wearing it changes Very Good spells to Very Poor, or in the case of Vehumet-supported spells, moves from Excellent to Great. I have level 1 Armour.

[nago]

Does someone know if is possible to stop autoexplore if certain conditions are meet?
The first case I'd like to stop is when a transformation is almost over. I've tried inserting "force_more_message = Your transformation is almost over" into the RC but it shows an advise which only pauses the autoexplore - after I press any key, it begins again.
The second case, is around doors: I'd like a confirmation before opening every closed door. Is that possible? (I've had too many troubles with killer bees' mini-vaults to keep enjoying the autoexplore )

[eeviac]

If Corona reveals invisible dudes, why can a Corona'd dude cast invisibility and disappear?


Assuming equal aptitudes, do all skills need equal XP to get from level X to X+1? e.g. for a human, does it take the same amount of work to get spellcasting from 4->5 as T&D from 4->5?

[Blade]

No. Spellcasting and possibly fighting require more XP than every other skill.

[eeviac]

I'd like to see the relative requirements for all skills then, is this documented anywhere?

[Kate]

Spellcasting costs 130%, and stealth, invocations and evocations cost 80% of the default cost.

[rebthor]

Why doesn't Lee's Rapid Deconstruction work on flying skulls, curse skulls, rock trolls or iron trolls directly?

As a side question, why does it target the monster in sight instead of the closest wall to said monster or at least the closest wall in general? It was this that caused me to discount how useful the spell was the first time I learned it.

[Blade]

I believe it works on flying skulls and curse skulls in Trunk; there's no reason it should work on rock/iron trolls, though. They're just trolls.

Also, it targets the monster to simplify things. Targeting the closest wall to a monster is unnecessarily complicated; moving the cursor one square to the left, on the other hand, is not difficult.

[Jk]

Edit: obvious answer to last question, nevermind

Better question: Which spell school is best to specialize in if you intend to go for the extended game as a hybrid?

[Blade]

Specialize?

A typical extended-game hybrid would probably have a demon/eudemon weapon, an elemental staff, a double blade or similar (very reasonable amount of XP to get min. delay); enough charms for haste, enough tloc for cblink, possibly some necromancy for d.door/borg's/necromut, and whatever elemental school they want. Alternatively, they could have summons. Certain xp-rich races (deep elves, I'm looking at you) can have all of the above. Poison magic is the only school that really doesn't do much good. As for which is best...whichever one you find books for, and/or whichever one you prefer. It really doesn't matter.

[tormodpwns]

I think most people recommend Earth, because it can't be resisted. Granted, Fire and Ice Storms damage fire/ice opponents respectively, but earth is more effective.

[Blade]

Fire Storm/Ice Storm are far better at crowd control than shatter is, since shatter is weak against flying creatures (whic most dangerous extended game monsters are), destroys walls (leading to unpredictable situations), and is loud enough to draw half the level to you. Its main use is breaking into rune vaults, etc. Earth does have some nice single-target conjurations, though.

Like I said, they are all viable.

[rebthor]

I believe it works on flying skulls and curse skulls in Trunk; there's no reason it should work on rock/iron trolls, though. They're just trolls.

Also, it targets the monster to simplify things. Targeting the closest wall to a monster is unnecessarily complicated; moving the cursor one square to the left, on the other hand, is not difficult.

I'll have to check Trunk then. Does it also work on lichs and ancient lichs in trunk? For all these, I'm going off of the description from bots and the description of the spell.

a lich is a skeletal, desiccated corpse kept intact by a mighty exercise of dark magic

A great troll, plated with thick scales of rusty iron.

Since it works on skeletal warriors and iron golems, I don't think it's crazy to think that it would work on either of these. With regards to targeting the monster instead of the wall, nonetheless I feel it should give a prompt or something so you don't waste the turn doing little to no damage.

[Kate]

Since it works on skeletal warriors and iron golems, I don't think it's crazy to think that it would work on either of these. With regards to targeting the monster instead of the wall, nonetheless I feel it should give a prompt or something so you don't waste the turn doing little to no damage.

Instead of doing tiny insignificant damage when aimed directly at a (non-brittle) monster, it does just abort with no turn or MP cost in 0.10. Getting it to automatically target walls and brittle monsters would be nice, but probably not particularly easy to implement (especially sensibly picking a wall), and the current state works pretty well.

Liches and iron trolls aren't really made entirely of bone/iron respectively, unlike actual skeletons and iron golems and so on, so don't get to count as brittle.

[Darkell]

Well.. I've recently stumbled upon Elyvilon. He is fun and interesting, but sadly enough, I got a problem. It seems to be just impossible to rise his piety without pacifying. While I do sacrifice weapons, it doesn't seem to go up :\

Is sacrificing all weapons I find enough to rise piety with Ely?

[MyOtheHedgeFox]

Usually it is, but the higher it goes, the harder it becomes to improve piety with Elyvilon. She is a diety of healing and pacification, not weapon destruction.
It is a good idea to make a Large Stack of Weapons And Ammo You Won't Need and sacrifice it all with one keypress.

Pacifying is not too hard. Raise Invocations until, say, level 5 or 7, and pacify all rats, bats and weak animals you see. Lesser Healing takes no piety. But remember that Lesser Self-Healing does.

Spriggans won't benefit from Elyvilon as much as, say, a centaur or a minotaur. They are weak and they can't eat meat.

[Darkell]

Usually it is, but the higher it goes, the harder it becomes to improve piety with Elyvilon. She is a diety of healing and pacification, not weapon destruction.
It is a good idea to make a Large Stack of Weapons And Ammo You Won't Need and sacrifice it all with one keypress.

Pacifying is not too hard. Raise Invocations until, say, level 5 or 7, and pacify all rats, bats and weak animals you see. Lesser Healing takes no piety. But remember that Lesser Self-Healing does.

Spriggans won't benefit from Elyvilon as much as, say, a centaur or a minotaur. They are weak and they can't eat meat.

Thanks a lot ^_^
Well.. I was actually trying out FeTm with no success :\ It feels like they really need divine support, but I am just unable to survive until ***Nemelex for triple draw or ***Elyvilon for Greater Self-healing :\

Any advices about them?

[MyOtheHedgeFox]

Can't tell: my quirk is Draconians.

[tormodpwns]

What's a good conjurations spellset for a mid-endgame conjurer? It's been several versions since I've played a serious spellcaster, so I'm pretty out of it.