Gold dragon armor on D:2

[sabu_mark]

Just started a DsWz (7 Str) and was planning to join Kiku as a pure caster, when suddenly a goblin dropped a gold dragon armor on D:2. Is that worth changing my plans and becoming a melee specialist, or is 7 Str too much of a handicap to make the loot worth wearing?

[Hurkyl]

It will probably never be a good idea to wear that on that character.

It would be downright suicidal now; you're already bad at weapons, and the armour penalties would cripple your offense. And due to the evasion penalties, it will even offer less protection than a robe against some enemies!

[MainiacJoe]

I'm no expert, but it seems to me that this will leave you with no spells, no melee skills, and no EV in the hardest part of the game. So curse the RNG and move on.

[xentronium]

I'd do it! How often are you going to find GDA early game? Just view it as a challenge.

[bel]

My feeling is to train a bit of melee for a little bit (wouldn't even take that long) and wear the GDA. You pretty much cannot die unless by orc priest. Or you can just ignore it and play normally. Up to you.

[duvessa]

GDA is the worst possible armour to be wearing on this character, you should ignore it

[greedo]

GDA is the best possible armour to be wearing on this character, right now

Pick up a weapon and some stone/toma/javs and use them with no skills, train mephitic train spellcasting/conjurations/poison/air to about two each, and then put on a robe and mephitic cloud everything You'll wear the GDA for about one character level. Magic dart really isn't much better than most throwable crap you find lying around.

But seriously this is worth wearing, the rPois mixed with GDR will let you survive adders you might not otherwise have survived and high speed enemies are mostly what kills you before you get meph. Just make sure to dump the hunk of metal well before entering d4.

[duvessa]

So how do you plan to fight things when you have no spells, negative EV, and -21 accuracy? It's not so great against adders if it gives you a 10% chance to hit them with stones (which it does).

[nago]

Bbbut the GDR man think of the GDR! God bless the GDR!

Anyway if you want to use it - because certainly it's rare to get a D:2 GDA - you probably should go Chei and wait a bit, until you get enough str\int and magic skill to cast at least conjure flames with it.
But please be aware this isn't a good advice, as it implies to go with chei - who will most probably kill you before becoming useful. And he would be still quite bad even after.

[Sar]

well it has "guaranteed" in the name, so you know it's good

[daggaz]

You should wear it so that you can learn exactly why some things that look good are so bad, and learn to say no in the future.

For that matter, getting GDA or crystal plate or what not on the first floor isn't all that rare in the long run of all things Crawl. Die sum moar.

[adozu]

i had one drop on d1 for me once on a HOFE, decided to give it a spin and died horribly to something like a pack of jackals i could not hit for a very long amount of turns.

[ThreeInvisibleDucks]

How exactly does armour affect accuracy?

[Hurkyl]

How exactly does armour affect accuracy?

The one test whose numbers I recall was that when wielding a trident at 0 skill, this character would hit an adder five times as often when wearing a robe vs wearing a GDA.

The ratio would change a lot, of course, depending on weapon choice, weapon and armor skill, and monster EV. I picked trident because, even ignoring reach, it's normally one of the best nonmagical weapons you can find in the early dungeon for zero skill melee, and adder because it's an evasive threat.

[Rast]

GDA is the best possible armour to be wearing on this character, right now

Pick up a weapon and some stone/toma/javs and use them with no skills,

This would have been good advice a few versions ago when body armor didn't hurt ranged to-hit

[greedo]

So how do you plan to fight things when you have no spells, negative EV, and -21 accuracy? It's not so great against adders if it gives you a 10% chance to hit them with stones (which it does).

Interesting, didn't recall it affecting to-hit quite that badly.

[Piginabag]

You pretty much cannot die unless by orc priest.

Meaning, you will die to the first orc priest.

[nago]

Pertinent story: once I wanted to play a stupid char to tab and die stupidly fast so I rolled a HOBe.
I found a gda on D2 or similar so I zerk without remorse, tab stupidly anything and didn't care of anything and I was happy.
A couple of floors later I've just ended to zerk when blork came in view.
He promptly hasted himself.
He was carrying a short sword of electrocution.
Game over man game over

[tasonir]

Regardless of if you're a mage or a fighter background, anyone with 7 str shouldn't use GDA. Now you're a lot more likely to have 7 str because you started as a mage, but theoretically some assassin who has 11 strength might be a melee character and still shouldn't use GDA. The only way this can work is if you go chei, wait for the strength gains before switching, and then you can either go melee or stick to somewhat lower level spells. With the int boost casting level 3-4 spells should be fine, but getting level 5-6 spells will be very difficult.

It's much simpler and more reliable to ignore it. I'm just the right kind of idiot that I'd probably try to make it work though, just for the novelty. Really, you're on d:2, what are you going to lose when you die? 5 minutes assuming you're not trying to streak

[Pollen_Golem]

This character can get to at least 22 str and 34 int with chei, chei gives bend time immediately, and you have book of minor magic which offers a ton of escape options.

Does heavy armor affect the accuracy of ranged magic?

[tasonir]

I don't believe so - just the huge miscast chance, but if you brought it back down to the same level, it should be the same. AFAIK spell accuracy is based only on spell power.

[Eyesburn]

Just started a DsWz (7 Str) and was planning to join Kiku as a pure caster, when suddenly a goblin dropped a gold dragon armor on D:2. Is that worth changing my plans and becoming a melee specialist, or is 7 Str too much of a handicap to make the loot worth wearing?

I would not go melee specialist in heavy armour with 7 STR.
Agree with nago that it is doable with Chei, tho I wouldn't agree that picking the Chei is a bad thing.
Anyway if you decide to go with Chei, don't wear GDA right now. Keep killing things like an wizard in a lighter armour/robe. You have ok spells to survive transition (it would be even better if you are an conjurer) plus you will get Chei abilities.
When you are satisfied with yor spells(it won't take much time because Int boost) start training Armour skill and some weapon skill (my suggestion is polearms or maces). Also don't forget to train Invocations.