The Tavern

Hi all,

I'm in a bit of a tough spot with the game I'm currently playing. It's on my android tablet at home so I cannot give much details unfortunately.

I'm currently on DL 3 and have been hit by a nasty dart that both slowed me and poisoned me. I'm surrounded by three hostiles. I'm still using my starting crossbow (btw I'm not sure a crossbow was a good starting choice, or that a kobold for an arcane marksman was a good choice either, what do you think?).
I have little stuff that I've identified but I do have two scrolls of blink (with unknown b/u/c status).

Also I worship Cheibriados and have one star for piety level, so I can use the Bend Time ability.

I know the corona and slow spells, with respectively 8% and 10% failure rate.

So I was thinking: use blink to go into a nearby corridor so only one monster can attack me at a time, then use Bend Time, then try to shoot them one at a time. How does this sound?

Also, I'm wondering if I should train some melee weapon to use when monsters are close to me, maybe this would make more damage?

I do not know much about what you should do, but one thing:
Scrolls are never cursed, neither are potions, and there is no blessing in Crawl.

Blinking away, followed by sniping the kobold that has the blowgun, seems like a solid first choice. Get yourself as far away from those guys as you can to give yourself time to fire off more shots.

As for the whole kobold w/ crossbow setup, that's perfectly serviceable. While I'm not so sure about the Chei part, his stat boosts should couple well with that.

About hunters in general, they start off with a strong ranged attack capable of killing pretty much anything, but are often limited in that respect by ammo. It's a good idea to start training a melee option immediately, and short blades is the likeliest candidate for kobolds given their aptitude and that you start with a short sword.

Frelus wrote:I do not know much about what you should do, but one thing:
Scrolls are never cursed, neither are potions, and there is no blessing in Crawl.

Oh.
That's _really_ useful to know, thanks. I guess I'll need some time adjusting to this game. :p

MoogleDan wrote:Blinking away, followed by sniping the kobold that has the blowgun, seems like a solid first choice. Get yourself as far away from those guys as you can to give yourself time to fire off more shots.

As for the whole kobold w/ crossbow setup, that's perfectly serviceable. While I'm not so sure about the Chei part, his stat boosts should couple well with that.

Will try that, thanks.

I'm not sure about Chei _at all_ either, but I stumbled across his altar really early and thought it would be fun to try it. Also I'm quite new to the game so I need to explore to get a feeling of how it works.

BlackSheep wrote:About hunters in general, they start off with a strong ranged attack capable of killing pretty much anything, but are often limited in that respect by ammo. It's a good idea to start training a melee option immediately, and short blades is the likeliest candidate for kobolds given their aptitude and that you start with a short sword.

My char is not a hunter but an arcane marksman, so I don't have a short sword in my inv unfortunately, only unidentified daggers. The hunter looks like an interesting char though, I may try one for my next game.

Apologies, my attention is often divided these days. Arcane Marksmen start with half the skill in their ranged weapon compared to a hunter. Even with no skill, a crossbow is a powerful weapon on the first several dungeon floors. I'd offer the same advice about developing a melee option, and add that Inner Flame is very tricky to use.

Chei is a difficult god. Slow speed is a big penalty. The large stat bonuses and invocations are nice once they're online, but you have to survive until that point. You also give up several tools which raise your speed, which is an important ability. Attacking faster means your damage output is immediately multiplied, and moving faster remove the threat of the majority of monsters.

A good option for an arcane marksman is Okawaru. Check him out next time if you get a chance.

Well it worked like a charm!

I had to use two blink scrolls rather than one because I had to blink towards unexplored territory and this revealed more monsters, so I had to blink again. I used Bend Time and then shot all monsters easily. I'm beginning to really like my crossbow, though I'm running dangerously low on ammo.
I've begun training melee with a dagger of electrocution, it seems like a nice weapon.

Thanks everyone for your advice!

BlackSheep wrote:Apologies, my attention is often divided these days. Arcane Marksmen start with half the skill in their ranged weapon compared to a hunter. Even with no skill, a crossbow is a powerful weapon on the first several dungeon floors. I'd offer the same advice about developing a melee option, and add that Inner Flame is very tricky to use.

Chei is a difficult god. Slow speed is a big penalty. The large stat bonuses and invocations are nice once they're online, but you have to survive until that point. You also give up several tools which raise your speed, which is an important ability. Attacking faster means your damage output is immediately multiplied, and moving faster remove the threat of the majority of monsters.

A good option for an arcane marksman is Okawaru. Check him out next time if you get a chance.

No need to apologize!
I'll be sure to check out Okawaru in a future game, thanks for the advice.

chlorine wrote:No need to apologize!
I'll be sure to check out Okawaru in a future game, thanks for the advice.

Indeed, Okawaru is a very solid option. I'd only say that you will be limited in your ability to use the Enslavement spell under Okie, which is a bit of a shame because the spell is really fun. Okawaru doesn't like it if an ally dies, you get a hit to piety, but it isn't such a big hit that you can't use the spell if you want to try it out. Just have to be careful and exercise some discretion as to when you use it. (This bothers me on my Arcane Marksmen, but for idiosyncratic reasons: Enslavement is just one of my favorite spells, but not because it is overpowered, it is just very fun to use in my opinion. It is a strong and useful hex, but you aren't going to gimp your character by not using it as freely as someone who worships a different god.) In terms of optimizing survival, though, Okawaru more than makes up for that and he's VERY straightforward, perfect for someone new to the game, so it is a good recommendation. Just remember the (minor) compatibility issue with one of the spells in your starting book.

EDIT: Apparently this is not actually the case, so never mind!

It's good, then, that Okawaru doesn't care if an enslaved ally gets killed by other monsters. Just don't mistakenly hit your ally with an attack or it's automatic penance.

BlackSheep wrote:It's good, then, that Okawaru doesn't care if an enslaved ally gets killed by other monsters. Just don't mistakenly hit your ally with an attack or it's automatic penance.

Whooooa wait, this was changed?! That's awesome. This makes me very happy. Disregard my earlier post, chlorine.

Try some Troll Berserkers while you learn the game.

Claws -> Unarmed Combat
Slash them alllll.

So many fun combo to try...

I should make a list and note how much I like them maybe.
In the meantime my KoAM seems not to want to die right now, so does anyone have advice on armor? With only 3 AC (and 15 EV) at dungeon level 4 I feel pretty exposed. I have access to a ring mail (untried yet as I don't have identified remove curse yet), I guess I should try it (I have lots of unidentfied scrolls so one of them _should_ be remove curse I hope)?

Robes/Leather armor if you want to keep his EV up to keep dodging decently.
Don't think their armour apts are too good, especially with how slow skills rise at that level.
Focus on offense until you feel you're killing quickly.

Ah, because you mention leather armour, I have a question:
Leather armour itself does not lower your spell success rate, right? (Given a really low amount of Str, of course).
Does it with when combined with a buckler?
Because I think I remember having no problem with robes and a buckler, but when switching to leather armour, my success tanked...

Any armour heavier than a robe, and any shield, will reduce your spellcasting success rate. This doesn't mean that wearing armour on casters is BAD, mind you; defense is nice. For kobolds, you'll likely want to use a well-enchanted leather armour early on, as your evasion is very good at keeping you alive. If you find a robe or leather armour that gives extra bonuses (resistance to fire, cold, that sort of thing), definitely consider using that. Eventually you'll probably want heavier armour, but that can wait until you start finding dragon hides

Also, a buckler or shield will greatly reduce your rate of fire, and training your character to use them well will waste a lot of experience anyway. If you want to use that crossbow, I'd ignore shields.

Thanks for the advice!

Unfortunately that character died in the meantime, but I'll keep that in mind for a next game. I think I really like this build so I should try it again soon.

The Tavern

Early game Kobold Aracane Marksman

Early game Kobold Aracane Marksman

Re: Early game Kobold Aracane Marksman

Re: Early game Kobold Aracane Marksman

Re: Early game Kobold Aracane Marksman

Re: Early game Kobold Aracane Marksman

Re: Early game Kobold Aracane Marksman

Re: Early game Kobold Aracane Marksman

Re: Early game Kobold Aracane Marksman

Re: Early game Kobold Aracane Marksman

Re: Early game Kobold Aracane Marksman

Re: Early game Kobold Aracane Marksman

Re: Early game Kobold Aracane Marksman

Re: Early game Kobold Aracane Marksman

Re: Early game Kobold Aracane Marksman

Re: Early game Kobold Aracane Marksman

Re: Early game Kobold Aracane Marksman

Re: Early game Kobold Aracane Marksman

Re: Early game Kobold Aracane Marksman

Re: Early game Kobold Aracane Marksman