What's the best strategy for Gozag call shop?


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Cocytus Succeeder

Posts: 2229

Joined: Sunday, 18th December 2011, 13:31

Post Monday, 8th January 2018, 14:21

What's the best strategy for Gozag call shop?

Premise: I know that the broken good power of Gozag is bribe potion and bribe branch is occasionally useful, but I'd also to get sometimes something useful from Call Merchants, instead of just wasting piety$$$.
I also know that quality of a shop depend on a char level, so theoretically the latter the better but practically a xl27 don't need any shit more while a xl12 could really enjoy some sudden power loot.

My strategy is usually to call one or at most two weapons shop (if available in the choice) early on, if I haven't yet trained a lot a weapon skill (so I could eventually switch without too hassle if something good is inside). This usually means before/by Lair, as after most of my chars have trained well a weapon skill, and opening a weapon shop would be an excessive gamble.

Afterwards, I go for armour/jewellery/gadget depending on what I miss most. If available I usually go for antique armour shop because who doesn't love rare fixedart and random crap with +0 enchantment and negative resistances.
I usually avoid scrolls and magic potions, the first being too variable (spending 1.5k$$$ for a shop full of ?ID. Nice!) and the latter not so important (as being a Gozag char I usually am full of those).

However, in most games I usually open 6-8 shops,, from which I usually buy the grand total of 0 shit things (barring the gadget shop).
What I am doing wrong?
screw it I hate this character I'm gonna go melee Gastronok

Ziggurat Zagger

Posts: 8786

Joined: Sunday, 5th May 2013, 08:25

Post Monday, 8th January 2018, 17:35

Re: What's the best strategy for Gozag call shop?

Scroll and potion shops are the two best ones. They have cheap prices for mostly useful items, instead of expensive prices for mostly useless items like the others.

For this message the author duvessa has received thanks:
nago

Tartarus Sorceror

Posts: 1739

Joined: Tuesday, 13th March 2012, 02:48

Post Monday, 8th January 2018, 18:37

Re: What's the best strategy for Gozag call shop?

The power of gozag is that it lets you buy strategic items with big plusses to give you an unfair advantage of the game. So I'm not sure why you aren't finding what you want in armor shops.

Don't be afraid to switch weapon types after Lair if the weapon you have is just mediocre. This isn't Gozag-specific advice.

Take shop prices into account. Cheaper is better because it's that much sooner until you can buy another shop.

In most of my games I don't use Potion Petition, not even the free one. Sure it's better than not dying, but it's even better to blink or teleport before you will need it.

I never want gadget shops.

Slime Squisher

Posts: 386

Joined: Thursday, 26th March 2015, 01:22

Post Tuesday, 9th January 2018, 02:42

Re: What's the best strategy for Gozag call shop?

duvessa wrote:Scroll and potion shops are the two best ones. They have cheap prices for mostly useful items, instead of expensive prices for mostly useless items like the others.
This is why call merchant is mediocre. Even a potion shop provides worse roi than potion petition spam as needed!

That being said I'll often use call merchant once or twice to shore out my equipment if my weapon or armor is feeling lackluster. Probably less optimal than ordering consumables shops, but when you have good gear the whole game runs smoother, which means I am less likely to get tilted than if my character is 'weak' but with an abundance of consumables.

Fwiw gadget shops are pretty good. Almost all my characters end up with ~10 evo by the end of the game (because it is so cheap to do so) and at that point boxes/sacks/mirrors are the best consumable items.

For this message the author amaril has received thanks:
nago

Ziggurat Zagger

Posts: 5382

Joined: Friday, 25th November 2011, 07:36

Post Tuesday, 9th January 2018, 02:58

Re: What's the best strategy for Gozag call shop?

Keep in mind that the best potions are probably haste/heal wounds, and the best scroll is blinking. If you already have several of all of those, then getting additional copies of them is likely not your highest priority. Trying to get equipment is less certain (unless you do jewelry on an octopode) but it's good if you have enough consumables to last you the forseeable future.

Temple Termagant

Posts: 13

Joined: Thursday, 30th November 2017, 11:09

Post Thursday, 11th January 2018, 14:57

Re: What's the best strategy for Gozag call shop?

Are you sure shop quality is dependent on character level? I've played many games where my first couple shops were better than my ending ones.


nago wrote:Premise: I know that the broken good power of Gozag is bribe potion and bribe branch is occasionally useful, but I'd also to get sometimes something useful from Call Merchants, instead of just wasting piety$$$.
I also know that quality of a shop depend on a char level, so theoretically the latter the better but practically a xl27 don't need any shit more while a xl12 could really enjoy some sudden power loot.

My strategy is usually to call one or at most two weapons shop (if available in the choice) early on, if I haven't yet trained a lot a weapon skill (so I could eventually switch without too hassle if something good is inside). This usually means before/by Lair, as after most of my chars have trained well a weapon skill, and opening a weapon shop would be an excessive gamble.

Afterwards, I go for armour/jewellery/gadget depending on what I miss most. If available I usually go for antique armour shop because who doesn't love rare fixedart and random crap with +0 enchantment and negative resistances.
I usually avoid scrolls and magic potions, the first being too variable (spending 1.5k$$$ for a shop full of ?ID. Nice!) and the latter not so important (as being a Gozag char I usually am full of those).

However, in most games I usually open 6-8 shops,, from which I usually buy the grand total of 0 shit things (barring the gadget shop).
What I am doing wrong?

Cocytus Succeeder

Posts: 2229

Joined: Sunday, 18th December 2011, 13:31

Post Thursday, 11th January 2018, 15:19

Re: What's the best strategy for Gozag call shop?

This is the last relevant commit I could find about gozag's shops, if something changed aftwerwards I don't know.

However yes my experience too is that there is a very high variance and shops called earlier may have some better gear than later one.
screw it I hate this character I'm gonna go melee Gastronok

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