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

[tormodpwns]

Probably due to chance. Overall, there are more shops though, but not at D:10. Orc:4 has guaranteed 4 shops, and Vaults:8 often has a few shops too.

[Kasofa]

What levels would I need to cast Necromutation with reasonable success?

-K

[eeviac]

Is ##crawl down for anyone else? My captchas refuse to be verified

What levels would I need to cast Necromutation with reasonable success?

-K

That's not an easy question to answer, as success rate depends on many factors: skill levels for necromancy, transmutations and spellcasting, intelligence, wizardry, any penalties from armour/shield use and how much strength/armour skill/shield skill you have, etc.. Also, define 'reasonable': 5% failure rate? 20%?

Anyways, you'll probably need necro and tmut at 15+, and spellcasting somewhere around there too. Just watch your spell failure rate as you train your skills and turn them off when it's good enough for you.

[Galefury]

captchas? I assume you're using some kind of web client? ##crawl is simply a channel on the freenode IRC network, and freenode is up. If it's not working for you, get a proper IRC client.

[njvack]

What levels would I need to cast Necromutation with reasonable success?

Try The Spell Lab!

[eeviac]

Does Boris ever respawn on a floor you've already been to? Does he appear in Pan or the Abyss?

[Kate]

No (to all three). His native depth is 20-27, !Lair, !Slime - Pan and the Abyss have to be allowed explicitly.

[plantaspoon]

Using distortion can send him to the Abyss where you can later encounter him though.

[tormodpwns]

No (to all three). His native depth is 20-27, !Lair, !Slime - Pan and the Abyss have to be allowed explicitly.

What's !Lair and !Slime? Last levels?

[eeviac]

I think that's codingspeak for 'not Lair' and 'not Slime'

[MrSympathy]

Hey there, is it worthwhile for a hybrid high elf wizard/longswordsman to get shields up enough to use the +5 Shield of Resistance{rF+, rC+, MR} ?

My shields are at 6 already for a buckler, and that shield is really nice - wearing it leaves most of my spells at "Excellent", except the higher level spells. So, is it worth leaving Shields on until 15 just for this shield?

My gut feel is "yes" but am I just being dazzled?

[Galefury]

Very probably yes.

[MrSympathy]

Very probably I should go for this shield or very probably I'm being dazzled?

This is what I get for for putting two questions in a post for which "yes" means opposite things, doh.

[MyOtheHedgeFox]

This is a very nice shield.

[KoboldLord]

The unrandart Shield of Resistance is one of the best shields you're likely to see in a game, and 15 skill levels in a skill is a fairly modest cost in the late game. In addition to the two pips of resistances, the extra magic resistance, and the unusually high plus value, a regular shield at 15 skill will have about +20SH over a buckler at 6 skill, which is enough for about a 50/50 shot of blocking the first melee or projectile attack in a round from the strongest monsters in the game. As a caster who is not planning to use a two-handed weapon, you pay no cost at all save the opportunity cost of investing xp into a useful skill.

[eeviac]

I'm playing a UC Dr, aiming for 15 runes, and I'm concerned about resistances. How much would a shield reduce my melee damage output? The bots say that shields prevent auxillary unarmed attacks, but Dr use their tail.

[rebthor]

Pretty sure it only affects the offhand attack and not all aux attacks.

[TehDruid]

It disables the offhand punch which is nothing you should care about too much. The gains from having a shield are far greater than the loss. Although I think that there's been some alterations in Shields/UC but I wouldn't really know exactly. Regardless, use a shield when unarmed. Especially the Shield of Resistance.

[sir_laser]

Which ability in the game uses the most piety? My friend and I were having an argument about this one.

[Megika]

I think it's the Lugonu banish self to abyss, but I'm not sure.

[Kate]

Yup, Enter Abyss is a fixed 35 piety. Reskilling is second at 20-30, Sanctuary and Cure Bad Mutation are joint third at 15-23.

[MyOtheHedgeFox]

Does White Draconian breath pushes back only flying monsters or can it "move" non-flying, too?

[Jeremiah]

If a green draconian worshipping TSO hits an opponent with their poisoned stinger, will this cause TSO penance?

[Tiber]

If a green draconian worshipping TSO hits an opponent with their poisoned stinger, will this cause TSO penance?

They won't hit them with it. The character itself knows it would poison someone, and refuses to use it.

[sir_laser]

Can the Abyssal Rune spawn for Abyssal Knights in the beginning?

[Kate]

Nope.

[tormodpwns]

No, white draconian breath does not knockback grounded enemies.

[eeviac]

I'm assuming Control Teleport lasts longer at higher spell power - what's the equation?

[Tiber]

Can you enslave Mara's illusion of you? I've hit it with ~10 charges of a wand of enslavement with 8.3 Evocations, and it easily resisted every time, despite the fact that I am only "somewhat resistant" to hostile enchantments (strangely, it says my illusion is only "slightly resistant").

[hxy]

I'm a merfolk worshipping Oka, I'm not using allies, and I'm not enslaving any monsters... so why am I feeling guilty?

  Code:

_Your skin stops crawling.
_You continue eating.
_You finish eating.
 Eat a chunk of human flesh? (ye/n/q/i?)
_This raw flesh tastes great.
_You continue eating. x2
_You feel guilty.
_You finish eating.
 There are several objects here.
_Pick up a long sword? ((y)es/(n)o/(a)ll/(m)enu/*?g,/q)
_You feel guilty.


[Wereox]

I've noticed that shapeshifters keep turning into weaker and weaker creatures as you fight them longer...I had one cycle straight from death drake down to green rat. What's up with that? I wasn't using draining on it.

[odexios]

Is apportation any good?

I'm trying some Warpers, and found the KoWr surprisingly viable; I've always learnt apportation, but I almost never used it.

[One-Eyed Jack]

Apportation is situationally useful but in quite a few situations it's great. And the opportunity cost (1 spell level) is very low.

[Gianozzolo]

I just started a deep dwarf fighter and I found around D:5 the +12 +15 obsidian axe (chop +3 Str Lev SInv Cursed), the one that mesmerizes you every time you see an enemy and you are forced to kill them. Now, this weapon is SO EFFING STRONK, but I am pretty sure it's gonna end up killing me soon. Am I right assuming so and I should stop using it? Or do you have any suggestion about it?

[varsovie]

You found it on D5! O_o Personly I would keep it to D10 and maybe lair (hydras...). But as soon you found an enchanted war axe or something else, forget it.
Also as a deep dwarf you must choose your fights, this axe isn't the best pick.
Also be sure to keep a scroll of remove curse/teleportation just in case of...

[MyOtheHedgeFox]

Is apportation any good?

Very, very good. =) It lets you grab piles of gold, rings and ammunition without walking to it -- which is dangerous sometimes.
The higher the level, the better the result.

The opposite of Apportation, Portal Projectile, is also a nice spell for archers and crossbow masters -- but it is rare, and requires some training.
However, with it, your shots may become smite-targetable (can hit enemies behind enemies)!

[Tutankham]

Is apportation any good?

You can play Orb golf with it! When you have brought the Golf Ball of Zot to the entrance, drop it and use Apportation to toss is from the tee (zpstairs) to the hole (downstairs) until it's back at the Orb chamber (so the course has 27+5 holes). (Unfortunately you have to pick up the Ball of Zot to get to the next hole.)

[Tiber]

I just started a deep dwarf fighter and I found around D:5 the +12 +15 obsidian axe (chop +3 Str Lev SInv Cursed), the one that mesmerizes you every time you see an enemy and you are forced to kill them. Now, this weapon is SO EFFING STRONK, but I am pretty sure it's gonna end up killing me soon. Am I right assuming so and I should stop using it? Or do you have any suggestion about it?

Never used it myself, but consensus on the forums says it'll get you killed sooner or later. However, should you decide to take your chances, be on the lookout for the projected noise spell. That can be used to break mesmerization.

[Grimm]

It will kill you. If you must use it, carry it as a backup weapon and only pull it out when you're sure you can win - last enemy on the level and like that.

[BlackSheep]

I'm assuming Control Teleport lasts longer at higher spell power - what's the equation?

From spl-cast.cc

  Code:

spret_type cast_teleport_control(int power, bool fail)
{
    fail_check();
    you.increase_duration(DUR_CONTROL_TELEPORT, 10 + random2(power), 50,
                          "You feel in control.");
    return SPRET_SUCCESS;
}

So it has a minimum duration of 10 and a maximum of 50. Each cast increases the duration by a random number with a larger range for higher power.

[Skygazer]

Does armor evasion penalty affect dodging skill influence on evasion?
Currently my character is equipped with ice dragon armor.

Is it okay to train throwing for troll? I am playing TrBE, and trained throwing skill to 7, to kill fleeing enemies.

[jejorda2]

Does armor evasion penalty affect dodging skill influence on evasion?

http://crawl.develz.org/info/inline.php?q=dodging

[pratamawirya]

Is it okay to train throwing for troll? I am playing TrBE, and trained throwing skill to 7, to kill fleeing enemies.

Perfectly okay.

[njvack]

Is it okay to train throwing for troll? I am playing TrBE, and trained throwing skill to 7, to kill fleeing enemies.

Perfectly okay.

As far as I can tell from reading the code, training Throwing has no effect on throwing Large Rocks. Why this would be, I have no idea.

[CommanderC]

As far as I can tell from reading the code, training Throwing has no effect on throwing Large Rocks. Why this would be, I have no idea.

Damage calculations for large rocks:

  Code:

            exDamBonus = (you.skill(SK_THROWING, 5) + you.strength() * 10 - 100)
                       / 12;

            // Now, exDamBonus is a multiplier.  The full multiplier
            // is applied to base damage, but only a third is applied
            // to the magical modifier.
            exDamBonus = (exDamBonus * (3 * baseDam + ammoDamBonus)) / 30;
            pbolt.damage = dice_def(1, baseDam + random2(exDamBonus + 1));


(baseDam is 20 and ammoDamBonus is the enchantment)

Accuracy calculations for large rocks:

  Code:

        baseHit = 1;
        exHitBonus = you.skill(SK_THROWING, 2);
        pbolt.hit = baseHit + random2avg(exHitBonus + 1, 2);


Slaying and enchantments are applied after this.

[BlackSheep]

Isn't this line in the code section for thrown items?

  Code:

exHitBonus = you.skill(SK_THROWING, 2);

I see basehit being set to 1 for large rocks after that, but don't see exHitBonus being updated after the code I pasted.

[njvack]

Ah, it makes sense now: I was wrong

[CommanderC]

Isn't this line in the code section for thrown items?

  Code:

exHitBonus = you.skill(SK_THROWING, 2);

You are right.

[Skygazer]

At least trog gave me some silver darts, better than sword or mace.
I used blowgun too, i found some curare-tipped and poison needles.

How to get out of the Abyss? I died there three times already, and never found the portal out. Last time i used teleport scroll, which teleported me right into the middle of this very nasty swarm of nasty things.

Is 'traps and doors' skill good? Just lost my troll in the abyss, stepped on the zot trap.