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

[Un67]

Yeah, I know that already. Is it worth it to start investing EXP in Shields so early though, when I still need some more EXP in my casting skills?

[KoboldLord]

Definitely wait until you have everything you want to cast at excellent. I'd probably wait until early Lair to build up shield skill in that situation. It's not a trivial xp expenditure, but the SH from a regular shield is an enormous defensive boon.

[brgmahiko]

Ok im tired of this tree vault!!!!

im sure youve all seen this, Stone wall surrounded by trees "protecting" one tile in the middle. Tried cTele its a no go. Tried burning then Disintegration, dont work. just what is in that tile!?!?!?!

[slowcar]

I have a question regarding staff damage.
KB says it checks the appropriate resistance. Does a Staff of Air result in any extra damage against a foe that is resistant to electricity?
Just wondering because i have a High Elf in front of the extended endgame and nothing better than a longsword of holy wrath (enough scrolls to bring it to 9, but still only a longsword).
considering high air and enough xp for staves/evocation, would the Staff of Air be a better choice?

[brgmahiko]

please.. the tree vault.... im begging anyone.. hahaha

[MyOtheHedgeFox]

I'd suggest backing up your savefile (look through your Crawl folder to figure out where they are: it's not too hard to find them) and then initiating the Wizard Mode (press & [Shift+7] and then agree). Then use whatever you can imagine to break in. I would suggest one of the abilities given to the followers of the chaotic goddess Lugonu - that one which corrupts the surrounding, making its layout more chaotic.
Another good thing could be Lee's Rapid Deconstruction, though it takes a lot of time to break a wall of solid rock.
Improvise. =)
Remember: press & and then ? to see all the commands you can use in Wizard Mode. Then ESCape out of the Wizmode dialog (press Esc twice after you saw the Wizcommands list), and then press & and the letter of the command you want to initiate.
Remember: a capital letter equals Shift+letter!

And remember: there is absolutely no need to exhaust yourself just because of one single invisible tile in a computer game. Man, don't you value your life? =)
Wizard Mode exists for such occasions.
But remember that Wizmoded characters are not cool enough, and their achievements are not recorded. That's why you need to back up your savefile.

[Yet Another Stupid Noob]

Ok im tired of this tree vault!!!!

im sure youve all seen this, Stone wall surrounded by trees "protecting" one tile in the middle. Tried cTele its a no go. Tried burning then Disintegration, dont work. just what is in that tile!?!?!?!

Another tile of stone wall.

I LOLed

[Confidence Interval]

OK, stairs to Temple are in a room 3 by 7 with one glass wall on each side. Also in the room is a pillar and a down staircase. I've searched all round the room and found no secret doors. I go down to the floor below to find that up staircase. As I approach the staircase it must be (because it's not either of the others) an iron grate closes, blocking it off.

Apart from having disintegrate to get rid of the grate (which I don't) how do I get to the Temple?

[dpeg]

Confidence: Go the next (deeper) level and take all up staircases. The down staircase is the hint!

[KoboldLord]

OK, stairs to Temple are in a room 3 by 7 with one glass wall on each side. Also in the room is a pillar and a down staircase. I've searched all round the room and found no secret doors. I go down to the floor below to find that up staircase. As I approach the staircase it must be (because it's not either of the others) an iron grate closes, blocking it off.

Apart from having disintegrate to get rid of the grate (which I don't) how do I get to the Temple?

Digging, disintegration, a scroll of blinking, and teleport control will get you in for sure, plus you can cast Blink next to the grate until you get lucky. You might also try reporting it on Mantis, because I do not believe that blocking off an entire early-game branch is an intended result of the combination of an iron grate trap and that particular Temple entry vault.

This is the second time I've heard about a player losing Temple access for this reason, but I am pretty sure that the other person did not report it.

Confidence: Go the next (deeper) level and take all up staircases. The down staircase is the hint!

Yes, he did that. The staircase in question was blocked by an iron grate trap.

[Confidence Interval]

Yes, he did that. The staircase in question was blocked by an iron grate trap.

Yes, that's right. I've now gone to the level below (i.e. two levels below the one with the ET entrance) in case there was something weird like two one-way staircases. Still not found a way in.

[dpeg]

Interval: did you find and use all three up staircases on the level below the entry? Is the staircase you see behind the glass actually a stone one?

[Confidence Interval]

Interval: did you find and use all three up staircases on the level below the entry? Is the staircase you see behind the glass actually a stone one?

There are three up staircases on the level below the entry. I've used two of them and can't access the third because it's behind an iron grate. Yes, in the room behind the glass there is a stone staircase leading down.

[dpeg]

CI: not sure about that iron grate, but that sounds like tough luck. Sorry!

[Kate]

Awesome though that combination of vaults is, it does seem a little harsh.

I moved the grate trap a little deeper so it won't block off the temple anymore (its intended purpose is to block off your retreat, but that only works if you enter the level via that specific staircase).

[Confidence Interval]

Awesome though that combination of vaults is, it does seem a little harsh.

I moved the grate trap a little deeper so it won't block off the temple anymore (its intended purpose is to block off your retreat, but that only works if you enter the level via that specific staircase).

Great, thank you.

(Great - geddit?!)

[dassem]

In case anyone was wondering, I did get the ring of cTele above, and finally found a ring of teleportation to go with it. That let me get into the single square vault I mentioned, and now I'm wondering what to do with a great sword of electrocution (which would be neat if only I could keep my buckler on too)...

Anyway, I just missed a timed portal!
The message was buried in a mass of dead elves and autoexplore objects. Since this was Elf, with some strange (new) layouts, the entrace vault blended into the ASCII background too. (Ok, I was also trying to feed my 8 month old while playing...)
The really sad thing was that it was an ice-cave, I had conserve-potions mutation, items to give me rc+++, decent summoning skills, and my main weapon is a scimitar of flaming.

So my question is: How do I force a "more" prompt for all timed portals? (CAO online.)

[bobross419]

Where exactly can I find this config file? I think I found it once, but never saw any of the options that people were referring to... and didn't wanna mess up my game. Of course. It would have been easy to fix and if all else fails stash/pull/make, doesn't really take that long.

[Jeremiah]

If you are hasted or otherwise buffed when you die, will you leave a ghost that has those buffs permanently?

[slowcar]

If you are hasted or otherwise buffed when you die, will you leave a ghost that has those buffs permanently?

nope.

[Mackerel]

Where exactly can I find this config file?

For me, anyway, it's in the crawl directory, in the settings directory, and it's called "init" rather than "config."

[bobross419]

Where exactly can I find this config file?

For me, anyway, it's in the crawl directory, in the settings directory, and it's called "init" rather than "config."

Thanks, I found it... Labeled init.txt for me as well

[GNFR]

Hi there, Im new at summoning and I just realized that the creatures I summon don´t attack confused foes. I like mephitic cloud and mass confusion, are they not compatible with summoning or is there a way around it? Tks!

[jejorda2]

Use "t" to shout at your allies, and then "a" shout an attack order. Target the confused enemy. Some allies won't wander into clouds to stab for you.

[dassem]

Yup, what he said.
Also, if you have just filled the whole area with mephitic clouds, it's worth either waiting until they clear (but giving enemies time to recover!) or summoning things that are not affected. E.g. even imps (especially the tougher varieties) can nibble away at quite strong, but confused, enemies.

[Happy Corner]

What is the difference between "closely" missing an enemy and "barely" missing them?

[hxy]

It's the game's way of telling you the outcome of the dice rolls - by how much you're missing the enemy

"completely" > "closely" > "barely"

[jejorda2]

When I see these purple and red colored messages, is that just flavor, or am I missing turns because I'm watching the butterflies:

The butterfly flaps its wings in an oddly mesmeric pattern.
You feel entranced by its movement.

Shouldn't flavor text that always be white like speech?

[Jeremiah]

Have amulets of resist mutation been removed or their frequency greatly reduced?

I've had 2 characters in a row reach Zot, having cleared all branches up to that except Tomb, without finding one, and as a result both got turned into quivering wrecks by the first orb of fire they met. One of them even went into a ziggurat in desperation and spent some time scumming the abyss, but no luck.

In fact, amulets in general seem to be much rarer - one of those characters reached D:20+ having found only 2-3 amulets total...

[bobross419]

Have amulets of resist mutation been removed or their frequency greatly reduced?

I've had 2 characters in a row reach Zot, having cleared all branches up to that except Tomb, without finding one, and as a result both got turned into quivering wrecks by the first orb of fire they met. One of them even went into a ziggurat in desperation and spent some time scumming the abyss, but no luck.

In fact, amulets in general seem to be much rarer - one of those characters reached D:20+ having found only 2-3 amulets total...

FWIW, I've got an Am of Rmut and an artifact with Rmut on 0.10 from a git pull 2 days ago.

[Stormfox]

Sometimes the RNG is just out to get you. I haven't gotten an amulet of clarity for a while, but rarer ones are showing up pretty regularly.

[speciesxx]

Can you still random teleport if you read a scroll of teleport while having teleport control? Lost a level 23 NaWz with 2 runes sigh.

[slowcar]

Can you still random teleport if you read a scroll of teleport while having teleport control? Lost a level 23 NaWz with 2 runes sigh.

yes

[speciesxx]

Can you still random teleport if you read a scroll of teleport while having teleport control? Lost a level 23 NaWz with 2 runes sigh.

yes

Damn so i lost it for not reading the options i think . Does it say if you try to teleport? Since i could only select the visible tiles .

[MonorailCat]

Damn so i lost it for not reading the options i think . Does it say if you try to teleport? Since i could only select the visible tiles .

???
Usually you can teleport anywhere with ctele. Even into black spaces.
If you try to teleport into a wall it will be a random tele instead.

[speciesxx]

Odd, i couldn't select anything but the visible small room i was in (along with 2 black draconians and a storm dragon ><)

[bobross419]

Odd, i couldn't select anything but the visible small room i was in (along with 2 black draconians and a storm dragon ><)

You didn't pop a blink instead of a tele... did you?

[plantaspoon]

Odd, i couldn't select anything but the visible small room i was in (along with 2 black draconians and a storm dragon ><)

Did you try to put yourself into a wall? Doesn't it random you if it tries to place and the square is occupied?

[Kate]

You can only aim controlled teleports near areas of the map you've discovered.

[jejorda2]

So no one knows if butterflies have been made dangerous in .10?

[Zicher]

Butterflies were always a grave danger, especially if summoned by you while worshipping Okawaru.

[Kate]

It's just flavour, visual speech gets coloured like that. People do keep mentioning it though so maybe it's still misleading.

[Mackerel]

Is there an init setting that I can modify to decide where I want saves and morgue files to go?

I've got crawl 0.8 on my flash drive. I'm trying to use it on someone else's computer while I'm out of town. Their file structure does not match the default locations where crawl wants to write files. I went to pull up yesterday's saved game, and when it could not find the file, crawl crashed. Tried it several times; each time, the game remembered that I had a character, went looking and couldn't find it, and crashed.

I shrugged and started another character, who got killed in one hit by a giant frog on D2 . The announcement came up that I could check my morgue file in the /morgue subdirectory about 6 folders deep on the c: drive, but that location doesn't exist on this computer. I did a search for "morgue" and there is no such file or folder. I think the program is trying to write my save files and morgue files to locations that do not exist.

So. What I want to do is set it to save these things on my flash drive, so that I don't add extra files to someone else's computer. I imagine that there's some place in the init file where I can set that; but I can't find it. Anyone know where I should be looking?

[galehar]

Use the zip instead of the installer for usb drive installations.

[XuaXua]

I know the idea has been batted around, but I don't know if it was implemented, so...

do bee larvae eat Royal Jellies?

I want to know if my royal jelly stash is safe in Hive:2.

[bobross419]

Is it better to scout all three downstairs before exploring a new level, but risk getting into a situation where you can't escape an enemy that was right next to the stairs. Or is it better to only go down one staircase, minimizing the chance you will be stuck next to a monster, but reducing the number of escape routes?