I think we learned an important lesson today.

[Rafa]

You can read this forum several times a day and still notice the official release of 0.8 four days late.

[Ququman]

Do not use-ID wands on Giant Slugs in the Lair. You're not ready to face a Storm Dragon in case it's a Polymorph Other (YASD, yeah).

[joellercoaster]

Footaurs will happily slaughter themselves en masse with no help from you, if you have a shield of reflection.

[joellercoaster]

In 0.9, plain statues can cast OoD

[Jeremiah]

Tornado is great - if you want to fight every monster on the level at the same time.

[KoboldLord]

Tornado is great - if you want to fight every monster on the level at the same time.

Tornado is similar to Fire Storm, Ice Storm, and Shatter in that respect, but different in that it absolutely makes fighting all those monsters at once completely feasible.

[mageykun]

Ignite poison equals spontaneous kobold combustion. It may be overkill, but it's hilarious overkill.

Edit: it's even better in the Hive. The first wave of bees explode. The second wave explodes, and the corpses of the first wave erupt into flame cloud landmines. It's a spectacular orgy of destruction.

[Zchris13]

Oddly enough, ignite poison makes for the easiest hive I've ever completed. The uber gear may help too, but man is it fun. The whole screen flashes red, and then they die. It's so much fun.

[Grimm]

Wands of enslavement work on your player ghosts. This raises some thorny metaphysical problems.

[mageykun]

^That's very interesting. That means theoretically you could get permanent player ghost pets if the crusade card works as well, or if you can get TSO to extend his friendliness blessing. That's effectively a means to a two player game! (well, two player characters anyway. Still only one player).

...Hm. For some reason, you can't ctrl-G in wizmode anymore to create/load bones, which will slow down testing. I suppose I'll have to test in 0.7, or just wait for galehar to tell me it's impossible.

[KoboldLord]

Even if that works, the player ghost still won't follow you off-level.

[amic]

As orc Jesus surrounded by a huge orc army in the middle of the Orcish Mines, don't go into a shop before you've cleared the level. While you're inside, an orc sorcerer might show up, summon a huge army of demons, kill your ENTIRE army except for one orc knight, raise them all as zombies so you can't even bless their corpses, and almost kill you (I was only able to kill the damn thing by smiting it like 5 times).

My army...all gone. And there's now a huge pile of weapons and armour that they left behind, for me to uber-equip the next army I raise with.

[Grimm]

Wait a minute - shopping takes time? How much? Is it a set amount of time per shop visit, or does each keypress cost a turn?

[galehar]

^That's very interesting. That means theoretically you could get permanent player ghost pets if the crusade card works as well, or if you can get TSO to extend his friendliness blessing. That's effectively a means to a two player game! (well, two player characters anyway. Still only one player).

...Hm. For some reason, you can't ctrl-G in wizmode anymore to create/load bones, which will slow down testing. I suppose I'll have to test in 0.7, or just wait for galehar to tell me it's impossible.

Works fine here. Able to create and load ghost files fine. You do have to search the level for the ghost after having loaded it. &D helps.

Wait a minute - shopping takes time? How much? Is it a set amount of time per shop visit, or does each keypress cost a turn?

I've just tested it and shopping takes a single turn if you buy something and no time at all otherwise. Therefore, amic's story seems... strange.

[joellercoaster]

Digging out walls leaves plain floor squares behind. This is super useful when the tide comes in at an inopportune moment - say, when your enslaved Ilsuiw gets overexcited. Again.

[amic]

^That's very interesting. That means theoretically you could get permanent player ghost pets if the crusade card works as well, or if you can get TSO to extend his friendliness blessing. That's effectively a means to a two player game! (well, two player characters anyway. Still only one player).

...Hm. For some reason, you can't ctrl-G in wizmode anymore to create/load bones, which will slow down testing. I suppose I'll have to test in 0.7, or just wait for galehar to tell me it's impossible.

Works fine here. Able to create and load ghost files fine. You do have to search the level for the ghost after having loaded it. &D helps.

Wait a minute - shopping takes time? How much? Is it a set amount of time per shop visit, or does each keypress cost a turn?

I've just tested it and shopping takes a single turn if you buy something and no time at all otherwise. Therefore, amic's story seems... strange.

Hmmm...looking back at the log, I only bought one thing, and put a couple others on the shopping list. So maybe I'm misremembering and the sorcerer was just far enough offscreen that he had time to summon lots of things and kill lots of my orcs before I could get him in view. He could have even started summoning before I went in the shop. All I remember for sure is that when I came out of the shop there were at least a couple Tier-2 demons in view attacking my orcs.

[Ququman]

BEEEES. Fear the BEEEEES.
As if they were not annoying enough in Blazblue (totaly unrelated topic is unrelated), they can also kill you pretty quick if you don't pay attention !
But this lesson can be wrote this way "Overconfidence kills. As fast as an army of BEES".
I'll see in yellow and black all day now. u_u ima scared now

[Shade]

If you see Mara in the Elf:5 Vault just go the other way as fast as you can. Addendum: If you see Mara, and you're as fully buffed as you can be, go the other way even faster as your illusion will indeed own you.

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=1609

[Grimm]

Being an XL 18 badass with a war axe of flaming is no protection against being three-freezing-shotted by a five-headed hydra simulacrum - even if you've slaughtered many a hydra before.

[jejorda2]

When the RNG is being really nice to you, and your warper finds rings of rPois and cTele on D1, don't start throwing darts at a sleeping Crazy Yuiff on D:3 with the idea you can blink away if things get rough. The first hit is antimagic, and that's a +5 quarterstaff, so it only takes three hits to end the game.

[eharper256]

Orcs are capitalist shop-a-holics.

Hence, it will now be a rule in any of my games that all shops will be the Orc Mines only. (Seriously; I have 7 shops there- last game had 3!)

Speaking of which:

Perhaps the Book of Annihilations isn't that unique after all. Glad I didn't worship Vehumet.

[mageykun]

^ The books 'unique' to a God mean they're the only one who gifts it (Kiku - Necronomicon, Veh - Annihilations, Demonology). They can still be found by other means (on the floor, shops, troves, scroll of acquisition... etc).

[eharper256]

Ah, okay, showing my n00bness to DCSS. I got pretty excited when I saw it in the shop and went LULWUT.

[Curio]

I think, now Orc 4 is guaranteed to have a mall.

In last win-game there was 3 Necronomicons. Good that i requested branding instead of book from Kiku.

Also, nice Elvis-like doll you have there eharper256 =)

[eharper256]

I think, now Orc 4 is guaranteed to have a mall.

In last win-game there was 3 Necronomicons. Good that i requested branding instead of book from Kiku.

Also, nice Elvis-like doll you have there eharper256 =)

Ah, so its a guaranteed spawn to have an Orc Shopping Centre? Hmm...

Perhaps I fail at the idea of Roguelikes, but I always spend alot of time creating a good character doll and a brief background. Which reminds me- something I learnt today: your save does not retain your choice of custom doll; always picks the most recent one. Gets silly when juggling between characters and switching dolls all the time.

[jejorda2]

If you return down the V8 stairs after clearing out the guards and see a circle of strong ranged attackers, don't keep pressing . in hopes that they will come stand next to you so you can melee them. Use that sling or rod of destruction, or walk towards one of them or back up the stairs. Standing still for six turns and losing 160 HP is not optimal.

[Shade]

Ah, so its a guaranteed spawn to have an Orc Shopping Centre? Hmm...

I live in Toronto, (Ontario, Canada) and there was this commercial or subway advert that had the one liner, "Shopping is excellent in Yorkville!", or something. Since .8 came out every time I get to Orc:4 I say, "Shopping is excellent in Orcville!". My SO is thoroughly enjoying the experience.

[Grimm]

It's odd actually because you'd expect elves to have better shopping in their towns. Lots of little boutiques and perfume shops.

[Grimm]

Orange crystal statues appear to be quicker with the int-draining than they used to be.

After not having seen one for many games I turned the corner into range of two OCS which confused and int-drained me right away, knocking me down to -4 within a handful of turns. I couldn't move or breathe. The inevitable occurred. A shame too as the character was shaping up very nicely, even had him a pair of those boots of running, which have got to be one of the best items in the game.

[Xentax]

If you are a young IE and ID-use a scroll of acquirement, if you select Book to get your 2nd Book, Demon Murphy will reward you with the Book of Flames.

[jejorda2]

If you find a scourge-wielding Angel behind transparent rock walls in an early Zin vault, even those stone walls behind it can break if you try to LCS the Angel to death from "safety." An allied Balrug won't kill it quickly enough to save you.

[adrock]

So Ettins in 0.8.

Pearl Dragon Armor on a badass SETr with Stoneskin and Condensation Shield up does not mean that the RNG can't decide that it gets to connect with you three times in a row and blow through your 130+ HP right then and there.

Stupid corners. I had just carelessly murdered my way all through Snake and Orc, too. This guy was unstoppable.

[cybersaint2k]

Human Wanderer can cook up a pretty good character! Look at my skills--

  Code:

Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.9-a1-141-g3e33e22 character file.

Dude the Grave Robber (Human Wanderer)                                                   Turns: 531, Time: 00:03:45

HP  13/16        AC  2     Str  9      Exp: 2/9 (2), need: 21
MP   3/5         EV 11     Int 17      God:
Gold 50          SH  0     Dex 10      Spells:  2 memorised,  3 levels left

You are on level 1 of the Dungeon.
You are not hungry.

You have visited 1 branch of the dungeon, and seen 1 of its levels.

Inventory:

Hand weapons
 c - a +0,+0 dagger (quivered)
Missiles
 g - 46 stones (in hand)
Armour
 b - a +0 robe (worn)
 f - a robe
Comestibles
 d - a bread ration
Potions
 e - a fizzy yellow potion
Books
 a - a book of Minor Magic   
   
   Spells                             Type                      Level
   *Magic Dart                        Conjuration                  1
   Blink                              Translocation                2
   Call Imp                           Summoning                    2
   Repel Missiles                     Charms/Air                   2
   Slow                               Hexes                        2
   Conjure Flame                      Conjuration/Fire             3
   Mephitic Cloud                     Conjuration/Poison/Air       3


 You have 2 experience left.

   Skills:
 + Level 1 Stabbing
 - Level 1 Shields
 + Level 2 Spellcasting
 + Level 1 Conjurations
 + Level 1 Hexes
 + Level 1 Charms
 + Level 3 Necromancy
 + Level 1 Earth Magic


You have 3 spell levels left.
You know the following spells:

 Your Spells              Type           Power        Success   Level  Hunger
a - Sandblast             Erth           ##.....      Very Good   1    Strawberry
b - Magic Dart            Conj           ##...        Very Good   1    Strawberry

[joellercoaster]

OK, so maybe not an *important* lesson. But:

You can move bushes using Passwall!

This is so awesome I spent about ten minutes doing it on the train home from work yesterday.

[souldog]

screaming in anger after a promising characters death will neither bring him back nor impress the unique that killed him... it ll only annoy the neighbours.

[joellercoaster]

Also: you can Rapidly Deconstruct Ice Beasts. This is useful.

[Curio]

Also: you can Rapidly Deconstruct Ice Beasts. This is useful.

Their tile should be changed then. It always seemed to me like some bear-like animal with branded attacks. That is why I never understood why they immune to poison on top of rC.
If they made of ice it explains a lot. And also makes it counter-intuitive to use LRD on them, looking on a tile.

[mageykun]

You should read the flavor text then.

A terrible creature, formed of snow and crystalline ice. Its feet leave puddles of icy water on the floor.

Tough to poison something without a circulatory system, or heck, meat (Though ice form can be poisoned with venom bolt. I haven't tested this on a natural ice beast yet).

Never thought there was anything wrong with the tile myself.

[Stormfox]

This may have been posted in this thread already, but it bears repeating:

If you're doing well and the game throws something hideous at you, save and walk away for a couple of hours. Once your own personal INT decay from staring at the game for too long heals up, you are more likely to survive that which was about to kill you.

(SpBe, ran into Nergalle, Snorg, Norris, and Roka all on Swamp:3. Took down the first two with some difficulty but was running out of ideas on how to handle the other two. After I came back the next morning, I remembered the curare needles that I'd been carrying for most of the game and grabbed a blowgun to launch them with. Still alive and going for the abyssal rune now!)

[Grimm]

your own personal INT decay from staring at the game for too long

Crawl is an Orange Crystal Roguelike.

[Ququman]

Don't rush things when on berserk.
I know that's basic advice here but god. It DOESN'T SOUND logical to delay your next assault when on berserk right, but it IS ! I was scared to death a few minutes ago when I came into a big pack of yack right when my halfling hunter's berserk ended.
I survived because of Brother in Arms but still, that was scary.

EDIT : now that I think about it, it's more than likely that someone would have posted this before me. Excuse me if that's the case

[slowcar]

Don't rush things when on berserk.
I know that's basic advice here but god. It DOESN'T SOUND logical to delay your next assault when on berserk right, but it IS ! I was scared to death a few minutes ago when I came into a big pack of yack right when my halfling hunter's berserk ended.
I survived because of Brother in Arms but still, that was scary.

EDIT : now that I think about it, it's more than likely that someone would have posted this before me. Excuse me if that's the case

you can't say this often enough. Berserk is an early "i win" button which transitions into a cause for death later on.
After having won with a Kobold Berserker i can say that i used it only in emergencies (for example to get the bonus hp). if you just want to flee there is often a better option, and if you are unsure about winning the fight don't play too much in-character (aka rush in as a beserker)

[MyOtheHedgeFox]

Avoid playing in a hurry. The best thing you can do in a hurry is to create a new ghost to haunt you later on.

For people without IRC access or with weird thoughts about it: you can always ask something relatively fast in Webtiles. Create yourself a login, enter a game with a fairly high-level character, say "Hi" and explain your problem.

[eharper256]

The dungeon is serious business.

There is no room for fun and games here.

[Galefury]

Orange crystal statues appear to be quicker with the int-draining than they used to be.

Maprot and spell forgetting were removed from the list of divination miscasts in 0.8. So OCS really are a lot quicker with the int draining than they used to be.

[Grimm]

That sucks bags. I hate those things.

[galehar]

Enslave a summoner. His summons are friendly, and when the charm runs out, the summons are still friendly. Order them to kill him and hilarity ensue. Also, orc high priests have low MR...

[absolutego]

you can lose 140 HP in a single turn to death curses.
tomb: bring a mummy of kiku.