Tuesday, 7th December 2021, 21:14 by Nekoatl
I agree that it's absolutely in the spirit of Crawl to get stuff that doesn't fit your current build, and to have to decide whether to ignore that stuff (in the case of equipment, not draconian color, obviously) or adapt to it by adjusting skill investments. This is perfectly fine, and completely different than the issue of conflicting demonspawn mutations, because there's no hard limit on skill experience gained, so if you're willing to put in the time and effort, you can eventually make up any disadvantage from atrophied skill experience. For the most part, this applies to demonspawn mutations as well; it's normal to get surprised by a new mutation line and retool one's strategy in response, though sadly this only applies to skill investments, as there's no longer any in-game mechanism to rearrange stats following the Jiyva rework. Of course, this presupposes that a good strategy exists, which is not the case when the demonspawn mutations are fundamentally incompatible with each other, and then the only remedy possible is to quit and start a new character. Again, it's not an issue with demonspawn mutations not being a good fit for your current plans, it's an issue of getting constellations of demonspawn mutations whereby regardless of how you might choose to rework your character's direction, at least one will not be a good fit for the new direction.
And yes, I'm well aware that demonspawn are designed to be a crapshoot, but the problem is, there isn't an alternative way to get access to demonspawn mutations (outside of wizard mode), and many of them are exceptionally interesting. So, after quitting thousands of demonspawn games due to bad mutation randomization, I did try playing in wizard mode, adding desired mutations to a human, for example. But, this is even less satisfying than the seed seeking method, because other species (correctly) aren't balanced around the assumption that they'll be given demonspawn mutations, so giving them wrecks the game balance. Giving the demonspawn mutations to a demonspawn character in wizard mode doesn't work very well, either, because there's no wizard mode command to remove their natural demonspawn mutations.
But, what I find most baffling, is the idea that demonspawn mutations shouldn't be revealed at the start of the game because that'd cause start scumming. Clearly, what causes start scumming is the desirability of demonspawn mutations coupled with the randomized method by which they're assigned, which hiding those randomized assignments does nothing to alleviate... it only exacerbates the problem. Revealing the mutations from the beginning would only make the existing process of start scumming less grindy and painful by comparison.
And to clear something up, there is absolutely no need to cheat to "win". Winning is easy, to the point that it's not even interesting anymore. The journey is the destination. And cheating is entirely undesirable, in any case, as without a suitable challenge, there's little point in playing at all. I promise, if the game featured a way to get access to desirable demonspawn mutation combinations without start scumming or assigning them through wizard mode, whether this were via some other species that doesn't share demonspawn's crapshoot design or by worshipping a specific deity, I would absolutely prefer that method, but there isn't, so I have to do what I have to do, and the best method that I've found to preserve the game's challenge while not being completely cut off from the journeys I wish to experience is the seed seeking method, flawed as it is.
As for the specifics:
A small amount of SH by itself is not particularly valuable, most often the enemies will easily overcome it. Being able to add that small amount of SH to a large amount of SH from a tower shield and an amulet of reflection is a whole different situation, if you look at the percentage reduction, it's incomparably better. Think of it this way. Let's say you have a 100% chance to be hit, and you can reduce that by 1% to 99%. That is a negligible difference in the amount of damage you'll take, only 1% reduction. Now, let's say you have a 2% change to be hit, and you can reduce that by 1% to 1%. That's a 50% reduction, which is very potent. Admittedly, these numbers are exaggerated to make the effect more obvious, but the principle holds regardless.
The paralyze effect from demonic magic is brief. Normally you can manage at most a few attacks before it wears off, depending on enemy positioning. If you can use a dagger to kill one enemy per attack, that's incomparably better to swinging away with your fists, even with a very slight bonus to damage.
It's always good to not be hit, but while you're not being hit, your retaliation mutation isn't doing any work.
See, you're happy to settle for small perks, and don't feel compelled to try to make the most of what you're given, that's why you don't see these issues as incompatibilites. It's not that there's no benefit whatsoever in these cases, it's just that they're significantly underperforming.