Is Zot Defence actually playable?


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Dungeon Dilettante

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Joined: Saturday, 18th December 2010, 04:59

Post Saturday, 18th December 2010, 05:05

Is Zot Defence actually playable?

I'm just not getting anywhere with it, is it too early in development to be truly playable. Or am I just doing it wrong?
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Shoals Surfer

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Joined: Thursday, 16th December 2010, 20:02

Post Saturday, 18th December 2010, 05:51

Re: Is Zot Defence actually playable?

Yes, it's possible to win. I created a thread about Zot Defense of the other forum. It has a few pics and tips.

Here's a link.

Snake Sneak

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Joined: Saturday, 18th December 2010, 12:13

Location: Ukraine

Post Saturday, 18th December 2010, 12:41

Re: Is Zot Defence actually playable?

Troll necromancers is a way to go in this game. Free allies, a lot of hp, regeneration, solid attack, way to kill powerful undead later

Lair Larrikin

Posts: 21

Joined: Sunday, 19th December 2010, 20:23

Post Monday, 20th December 2010, 07:49

Re: Is Zot Defence actually playable?

It's both playable and winnable. I haven't been able to win myself yet, but I've watched someone (Ereshkigal) get really really close on CDO (he actually won, but I wasn't there to watch it as I had to go to bed). The combo he used (TrWr of Jiyva) is really really awesome; I think I got to around XL 22 as one. Jiyva's jellies are awesome at absorbing (literally!) everything that comes your way, apportation and teleport other are great for herding your slimes, and trolls are a good for starting off as, since they can take lots of punishment and dish out lots themselves, too. Other bashy characters (like Orcs) seem to work as well. The easiest map seems to be the one with a single stairs room that you can seal off and fill with tons of Oklobs and jellies. Slimify is great for turning powerful monsters into powerful slimes. Your piety will skyrocket in no time thanks to all that loot lying around for jellies to eat, and in return, Jiyva will keep you engorged all the time.

Some tips:
- At the start of the game, rush to the Orb immediately (unless you start off as a Warper, in which case you'll start standing on top of it). Lay down a few traps at each choke point (but no more than two each; you'll want to save the XP). Memorize Apportation.
- Stand on top of the Orb and kill everything that manages to get through the traps. When you reach level 2, plant an oklob sapling on top of the orb. You might want to leave some crap lying underneath it for keeping your future jelly friends from wandering away from it. (alternatively, you could plant the sapling somewhere else and save up to plant a burning bush on the Orb).
- Keep planting burning bushes and oklobs for more firepower. When you reach level 6, start planting altars somewhere remote until you get Jiyva. Watch with glee as your army of slimes wrecks everything.

For this message the author daniel_charms has received thanks:
Napkin

Lair Larrikin

Posts: 21

Joined: Sunday, 19th December 2010, 20:23

Post Monday, 20th December 2010, 08:02

Re: Is Zot Defence actually playable?

Some tips from an SA thread (tried to edit my previous post, but too late):

Mu. posted:

Okay so I just beat ZotDef on CDO (username Ereshkigal) as a TrWr of Jiyva. Here are some notes

* Some of the later powers are pretty weird / cool. You can place alarm traps, electric eels, silver statues, orange crystal statues (which now work so update your build), ~rings of oklobs~, shallow water, !!curse skulls!! and at XL 27 you can place teleport traps, though I never bothered using one.
* Also you can get acquirement and spawn bazaars (currently broken though) for the cost of level draining yourself. I didn't really think this was worth it.
* Oklobs now shoot at things with more than 20AC so again upgrade your builds (I had to kill Dispater at one point so)
* There's currently a hilarious bug with placing lots and lots of oklobs rings when you already have a large number of single oklobs on the map. Your XP cost for placing an oklob rolls into the negative millions and spending it gives you a billion EXP in your pool until something changes the amount of EXP in your pool normally.
* I picked Warper for apportation so that I could fish out the bolts/arrows/etc stuck underneath plants, because otherwise your slimes will clump around random plants trying to get at an item it's impossible for them to reach (you can also use this behaviour to your advantage by leaving something under a statue on the orb or whatever). I picked Troll just for the easy XL1 and regen.
* I had the default zot map with one set of staircases. I completely sectioned this room off with a line of plants, and then further blocked up the exits from this room with orange crystal statues. Then I gradually filled the entrance room up with slimes. By the end of the game the staircases had about 10 each of acid blobs / azure jellies / death oozes on top of them plus about 20 slime creatures.
* One problem with this approach is that blocking off the stairs with too many pets causes the enemies to stop using the stairs and start spawning randomly around the map. So make sure your rear defences are just as strong as your slime pit if you use this technique.
* slimify owns, jiyva owns, zotdef owns


end of notes. Cheers.


man, thanks, picking warper was a REALLY good tip. not only does being able to pull items from under your towers help TREMENDOUSLY towards managing your jellies, but you can get the items from the treasure rooms sooner, which is mostly useful for stopping your jellies from clumping around in a 7-radius circle around them. i was just able to ascend a hill orc warper.

first, my early game technique (on the small map, can't even imagine what you would do on those bigger maps) if anyone is interested:

* picked a hill orc for good fighting skill, human XP ratio, and extra HP on level ups
* pick a spear (better +ACC is better for slimify), set down 4 dart traps, one at the chokepoint and then one on each square diagonally towards the stairs, and then place an oklob sapling on the square away from the stairs directly adjacent to the orb.
* save up for a burning bush to put on the orb
* pick up a bunch of junk and then get a jivya altar
* lead your slime army towards the stairs room by dropping junk as breadcrumbs; the slimes will always go towards items to eat. semi-control blinking and apporting the junk away from the jellies can help conserve junk
* once your raiding party is in the stair room, seal it off with plants, and then request as many jellies as you can from jivya
* now, keep putting down towers and hope for orcs and gnolls to help build up piety. if you see an agate snail, a hydra, or a high-HD undead, slimify, but otherwise it probably won't be worth it yet.
* most harder monsters at this point (especially hydras and giants) can be dealt with by microing net traps; the ones you really have to worry about are bees, ugly things, and anything invisible
* your own jellies will tear down your plant wall, so you'll have to be constantly vigilant to keep it up
* once your jelly room starts to get full, as mu sez, enemies might not necessarily spawn in the room. occasionally let some out, and once it starts to get full buff up your orb-room defenses considerably (tons of oklobs and burning bushes). i also later put in a couple of orange statues and an ice statue.
* try to train tloc as much as you can. you want to get the items from the treasure rooms ASAP, not as much for the items but because your jellies will all group around them uselessly.

Spider Stomper

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Joined: Saturday, 25th December 2010, 20:02

Post Saturday, 25th December 2010, 20:27

Re: Is Zot Defence actually playable?

I did all right on the old one on CAO (called Zot Defense 0.1 or something), with a mummy. With no need to eat, I pretty much stood on the orb and spammed traps for many levels. There is very little that a wall of Oklobs can't stop, and Ice Statues were far too powerful for their cost.

Of course, I never did figure out how to properly win that, I suppose I should try it now with the more recent changes and species and gods and stuff.
The above post is for entertainment purposes only. If you think anything I ever say is backed by fact, or if you cite things I've said in any argument ever, you are insane.
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Snake Sneak

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Location: Cincinnati, OH, USA

Post Sunday, 26th December 2010, 15:42

Re: Is Zot Defence actually playable?

Wait a second... what's all this about "traps"? No wonder I lost so quickly! *checks special abilities to see if there's any "lay trap" ability*...

And yes, I am serious... Maybe we need a "tutorial mode" for Zot Defense!
The Ed draws near! What dost thou deaux?

Lair Larrikin

Posts: 17

Joined: Tuesday, 11th January 2011, 18:09

Post Tuesday, 11th January 2011, 18:19

Re: Is Zot Defence actually playable?

I'm having trouble coming up with a good Zot Defense strategy. I tried out Jiyva, but the jellies constantly turn hostile to my oklob saplings and burning bushes, and end up killing them, making me waste valuable experience. Telling them to stop attacking doesn't work, I'm guessing because they're neutral. My towers often end up killing me and each other, too. When it comes time to buy ice statues, it's especially a problem because of that freezing cloud spell.
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Vestibule Violator

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Joined: Thursday, 16th December 2010, 20:52

Post Tuesday, 11th January 2011, 18:27

Re: Is Zot Defence actually playable?

I have enough problems with the regular dungeon. I'm not going anywhere near Zot defence.

Lair Larrikin

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Joined: Tuesday, 11th January 2011, 18:09

Post Thursday, 13th January 2011, 18:57

Re: Is Zot Defence actually playable?

Alright, through some trial and error, I came up with a decent strategy. I played a Troll Priest of Yred, and I just used melee and created oklob saplings until I could animate legions of the undead, and used that around a bunch of corpses. Then I just filled the orb room with various towers and kept getting undead allies. Worked pretty well, I got to level 15 before dying to an incredibly stupid mistake. Zombie Hydras were great, I would purposefully get their heads chopped off before reanimating them so they'd be really strong.
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Swamp Slogger

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Joined: Sunday, 23rd January 2011, 20:04

Post Monday, 31st January 2011, 02:56

Re: Is Zot Defence actually playable?

I just tried that out DemiFiend but then a swarm of Apis came in and Obliterated me and my Zombies.
I had so many zombies they completely Filled up the orb chamber and the next two rooms connected to it.
Although it did seem like I was also playing on one of the harder maps.
I will try it again but with a warper so i can get good gear.
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Zot Zealot

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Joined: Tuesday, 21st December 2010, 17:22

Location: United Kingdom

Post Tuesday, 1st February 2011, 19:10

Re: Is Zot Defence actually playable?

DemiFiend wrote:I would purposefully get their heads chopped off before reanimating them so they'd be really strong.


I have been known to do this in regular Crawl.

Bonus points if you chop the head, it regrows, then your Pain brand damage from the same hit makes it die.
I am sure I played flawflessly. This was an utmost unfair death. -- gorbeh

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