Dwarf Fortress: Back at It

Day 4. The epic adventure continues tonight!

Will goblins take me down? Unlikely? What can stop me? Nothing. Nothing can stop me.

www.twitch.tv/Robot2600

Epic Mead Hall Under Construction

A picture of my half-completed epic dining hall in Dwarf Fortress. Notice the fancy statues. This thing should be able to feed my fortress forever. Zug zug!

This hall will last forever, and so will the twitch streaming!

Let's Play ToME

ToME is, so far, an amazing roguelike. I've never played it before, but you can watch me give it a try in my new Let's Play. So let's check it out!

You can also download ToME 4 at te4.org. Get the game now, it's free.

On a more general note, I'm really liking the latest generation of roguelike games. Features like auto-explore make tile-based gameplay so much smoother, and other games like Don't Starve prove that you can make a good roguelike without tiles.

New Let's Play FTL Series Starts Today!

I was making a ton of FTL videos, and I realized that I need to standardize the number system and decide if deaths should stay in the videos. I am going to leave all the deaths in the footage, not just post good runs with ships. The Basalisk run I posted yesterday is a "good run" but if you start watching the series below, you'll see me fuck it up a few times and explode some perfectly nice spaceships.

The "space girl" wallpaper is made by an anonymous artist. You can check out the funnyjunk page here if you like.

Also, I have full video and recording capabilities now.... if you'd like to see some LPs now would be a good time to ask.

Let's Play Faster Than Light

FTL: Faster than Light is a spaceship roguelike. Imagine nethack meets Star Craft and you might begin to understand what it all about. Death is permanent, and the game is known for its brutal difficulty. Sounds perfect, so watch my new FTL: Let's Play videos! I don't ramble on if there is nothing to say. 

I finished recording a few hours of FTL adventures, but I plan on doing more. I'll be posting a new video or five everyday until to new expansion comes out on Thursday. I'll always post new youtube videos here, but you can also follow me on youtube. No twitter or anything else, just the blogspot and the youtube.

If you haven't started playing FTL yet, you need to start! I'll be reviewing the new expansion as soon as I play it, but experience vanilla now before the world is changed forever.

Part 1



Part 2

Minotaur Berzerker and Mummy Summoner of Sif Muna, Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup

I'm determined to conquer the Lair again in Crawl and to get past the middle game which has been giving me trouble since I started playing Crawl over 2 years ago. This time, I'm playing a Minotaur Berzerker, and Sigmund doesn't stand a chance. This is an awesome class/race combo, and worshiping Trog is always a great idea for melee. The Minotaur has all the aptitudes he needs (+2 Axes, +2 Armor, +2 Fighting) to become a death machine by the end of the lair. The trick is somehow staying alive until Trog can grant you an epic artifact executioner's axe.

I find and destroy my NEStalgia guildmate's ghost. Player ghosts are rarely a match for Berzerk.

However, soon I'd die to poison. A typical death, and annoying. I abandon the Minotaur and try my hand at another Mummy Summoner, eventually worshiping Sif Muna, and the results were:

A pretty easy early game, and I took it slow until finding this altar. Now things could get serious.

Summon Imp Spam on a player ghost.

It's a good thing I summoned some monsters before going down the stairs.

And all I lost was 4 HP :D

I never stop using summon small mammals. It's a cheap way to increase the ranks and protect the monsters that count. It can also be used to quickly position your Mummy in a favourable position before sending out wave after wave of spammed summon.

Narrow passages suck for a summoner.

Sending this Ice Beast into the passage took care of Sonja.

This gnoll sergeant wasn't fucking around; he killed a good number of troops, but he couldn't kill them as fast as I could summon them right back to battle.

This was an epic battle with a Hill Giant and some Yaks. I'd found the "Shadow Creatures" spell, so I was able to summon all sorts of things.

Like these awesome wights.

And some more awesome wights. We eventually won the battle.

But on the next level I died. I honestly can't remember how--I played several games since then and none of them were very exciting. This however, was a disappointing end to a great game. I never found the Lair, which would have made things easier. The Lair is pretty much a ton of free exp, and it has to spawn on level 13 or above. I still feel Mummy Summoner is an awesome class, an will probably continue to be my "main" combination on my quest to retrieve the Orb of Zot.

How to Play Crawl and Other Roguelikes

So you want to play Crawl...

No problem! This guide will walk you through the several easy steps required to play Crawl, Nethack, Rogue, ADOM, and other awesome games.

STEP 1: Download PuTTY (Link to Putty Download Page is here)

PuTTY is a TTY interface--a program designed to send text and symbols between computers. This is how most Roguelikes, including Crawl, are played.

Putty supports both Telnet and SSH, the two most common protocols used for TTY interfaces.

STEP 2: Download mIRC. www.mirc.com

IRC is "Internet Relay Chat" and like TTY it goes way back to the pre-Web days of the internet. mIRC is the most commonly=used program for accessing IRC.

You will need IRC because several of the games--especially Crawl and NetHack, have IRC chatbots which players are meant to use as a database. Additionally, you can chat with other Crawl players, ask questions, recieve guidance, etc. The chatbots annouce all the deaths, so you don't want to miss out on IRC.

STEP 3: Telnet to crawl.akrasiac.org

This is CAO, the North American Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup server. Telnet over and you can create an account, play the game, and watch others play as well. For other games, search the web for the game's website and find it's appropriate server configurations.

STEP 4: Sign on the IRC server irc.freenode.net

In mIRC, type "/server irc.freenode.net" minus the quotations into the chat bar, and you should be connected to the server.

STEP 5: Join ##Crawl, #SR, #8bitcity

You have to join channels on IRC, so go ahead and join ##crawl.

You can join a channel, for example, by typing "/join ##crawl" into the chat bar.

You should also join #SR and #8bitcity to meet up with the other 8bitcity readers and Shrenwold Revenants! You can also join #nethack if that's your poison instead of crawl.

STEP 6: Begin Your Quest!

This is just a quick and dirty guide to getting your ass off of the xbox and onto Crawl. I have several advanced tutorials I'll be working on, such as interacting with the chatbots and playing Crawl successfully. These games are tough, but have fun playing and after a hundred tries or so you'll be getting better! Happy Crawling!

Check out ##Crawl, #nethack, and #8bitcity on irc.freenode.net!

Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup Tengu Summoner

I had an awesome summoner going on Crawl this morning, If you don't know what Crawl is, that's cool--just check out these screenshots.

If your character dies in Crawl, it's done forever. It was a shame to loose this guy to a player ghost who hit for 50% of my HP. I found the book of Summonngs which really helped out, but I was only a level or two away from learning to summon demons.

Here I am still relying on Imps and scorpions...the combination actually hold up pretty well because of the low cost to cast both spells and the scorpions' deadly poison stacking. Summon Small Mammals is always a great summon spell for beefing the size of your army with weak meatshields. For 1 MP you can get 2 quokkas, and if the enemy is bashing the small mammals, they aren't destroying your Ugly Things.

Even 6 Yaks aren't much of a problem, although the battle lasted for several minutes. 

After getting the book of Summons, I could conjure these Ugly Things and Very Ugly Things which were great meatshields and damage dealers. A few could even take out a Death Yak.

These narrow passages are hell for a summoner; ideally you want to lure monsters into the open. 

Ice Beasts are nice companions, although they aren't as strong as Ugly Things. I've found that a diverse set of summons can often be very effective at dealing damage and working around monsters' strengths and weaknesses by providing a wide array of attacks and general confusion for the AI.

I would spend the next half hour killing these Death Yaks and nearly avoiding death several times. Eventually a player Ghost on the next dungeon floor took me down. It was an epic journey, and it ended too soon. Shortly before I died I #chardumped my data into a file which I will preserve below. You can see all of my character's attributes.

 Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.10.1-30-g593e17d character file.

Robot2600 the Convoker (Tengu Summoner)            Turns: 21015, Time: 02:42:31

HP  54/54        AC 15     Str  8      XL: 11   Next: 71%
MP  29/29        EV 11     Int 19      God: Makhleb [*****.]
Gold 323         SH  0     Dex 15      Spells:  8 memorised,  4 levels left

Res.Fire  : . . .   See Invis. : +    I - +5,+3 quarterstaff (chaos)
Res.Cold  : . . .   Warding    : . .  B - +3 leather armour of Folaeh {MR Acc+4 SInv
Life Prot.: . . .   Conserve   : .    (no shield)
Res.Acid. : . . .   Res.Corr.  : .    z - +0 cap
Res.Poison: .       Clarity    : .    J - +2 cloak
Res.Elec. : .       Spirit.Shd : .    d - +2 pair of dwarf gloves
Sust.Abil.: . .     Stasis     : .    (boots unavailable)
Res.Mut.  : .       Ctrl.Telep.: .    (no amulet)
Res.Rott. : .       Levitation : .    (no ring)
Saprovore : . . .   Ctrl.Flight: +    q - +3 ring of protection

@: very resistant to hostile enchantments, fairly stealthy
A: able to fly, beak, talons 3
a: Fly, Minor Destruction, Lesser Servant of Makhleb, Major Destruction, Greater
Servant of Makhleb, Renounce Religion


You are on level 11 of the Dungeon.
You worship Makhleb.
Makhleb is exalted by your worship.
You are not hungry.

You have visited 2 branches of the dungeon, and seen 12 of its levels.

You have collected 690 gold pieces.
You have spent 387 gold pieces at shops.

Inventory:

Hand weapons
 D - the -2,+3 sabre "Faut" {flame, SInv}
   (You found it on level 9 of the Dungeon)   
   
   It emits flame when wielded, causing extra injury to most foes and up to
   double damage against particularly susceptible opponents. Big, fiery blades
   are also staple armaments of hydra-hunters.
   
   It enhances your eyesight.
 I - a +5,+3 quarterstaff of chaos (weapon)
Armour
 d - a +2 pair of dwarven gloves (worn)
 z - a +0 cap (worn)
 B - the +3 leather armour of Folaeh (worn) {MR Acc+4 SInv}
   (You bought it in a shop on level 4 of the Dungeon)   
   
   It affects your accuracy (+4).
   It increases your resistance to enchantments.
   It enhances your eyesight.
 J - a +2 cloak (worn)
Magical devices
 l - a glowing bronze wand {zapped: 7} {tried by monster}
 r - a wand of digging (8)
 s - a wand of enslavement (5)
 y - a wand of random effects (20)
 G - a wand of digging
 L - an ivory wand
 M - a lead wand
Comestibles
 E - a beef jerky
Scrolls
 a - a scroll labeled CINGEO WEVESH {tried on cursed -1 robe}
 e - 4 scrolls of detect curse
 g - 5 scrolls of fear
 h - a scroll of identify
 i - a scroll of amnesia
 m - a scroll of random uselessness
 n - a scroll of fog
 u - 2 scrolls of magic mapping
 v - a scroll labeled NIER OWNELEQODGH
 H - 2 scrolls of teleportation
 K - 4 scrolls of remove curse
Jewellery
 q - a +3 ring of protection (left hand)
Potions
 f - a potion of might
 j - a potion of invisibility
 o - 3 potions of curing
 t - a potion of agility
 w - a potion of water
 C - 3 potions of heal wounds
Books
 k - the Disquisition on Excruciating Cold
   (You found it on level 9 of the Dungeon)   
   
   Spells                             Type                      Level
   Throw Frost                        Conjuration/Ice              2
   Bolt of Cold                       Conjuration/Ice              6
   Metabolic Englaciation             Hexes/Ice                    6
 F - a book of Summonings   
   
   Spells                             Type                      Level
   Abjuration                         Summoning                    3
   *Recall                            Summoning/Translocation      3
   Summon Elemental                   Summoning                    4
   *Shadow Creatures                  Summoning                    5
   Summon Demon                       Summoning                    5
   *Summon Ugly Thing                 Summoning                    6


   Skills:
 - Level 2.1 Dodging
 - Level 2.0 Stealth
 - Level 11.1 Spellcasting
 + Level 15.5 Summonings
 - Level 6.0 Poison Magic


You have 4 spell levels left.
You know the following spells:

 Your Spells              Type           Power        Failure   Level  Hunger
a - Summon Small Mammals  Summ           #####        0%          1    None
b - Call Imp              Summ           #######...   1%          2    None
c - Call Canine Familiar  Summ           #######...   1%          3    None
d - Summon Scorpions      Pois/Summ      #######...   1%          4    Strawberry
e - Summon Ice Beast      Ice/Summ       ######....   3%          4    Strawberry
f - Summon Ugly Thing     Summ           #######...   1%          6    Honeycomb
g - Recall                Tloc/Summ      N/A          1%          3    None
h - Shadow Creatures      Summ           N/A          1%          5    Honeycomb


Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations

Branches:
Dungeon (11/27)            Temple (1/1) D:4             Orc (0/4) D:7
  Lair: D:8-13      

Altars:
Ashenzari
Fedhas
Makhleb
Okawaru
Trog
Xom

Shops:
D:4: [  D:11: !


                    Innate Abilities, Weirdness & Mutations

You can fly.
You have a beak for a mouth.
You have claws for feet.


Message History

You swap places.
You swap places.
Really walk into a travel-excluded area? 
Okay, then.
You swap places.
There is an open door here.
You start resting.
You are engulfed in freezing vapours.
* * * LOW HITPOINT WARNING * * *
Your white ugly thing is engulfed in freezing vapours.
Your white ugly thing is engulfed in freezing vapours.
Your white ugly thing is engulfed in freezing vapours.
You start resting.
Magic restored.
You start resting.
You start resting.
Your white ugly thing disappears in a puff of smoke!
You start resting.
HP restored.
Char dumped successfully.

.#    #...#.#...#.#%%§#.#
.#    #...#.#...#.#§§%#.#
.#    #...#.#...#.#§%§#.#
.#    #...#.#...#.#§§§#.#
.#    ##'##.##s##.##'##.#
.#     #.#...#.#...#.##.#
.#     #.#...#.#...#.#..#
.# #####'#####'#####'#.##
.###.'..........@....#.#
.....'...............#.#
.#######'#####'#####'#.#
.#     #.#...#.#...#§#.##
.#     #.#...#.#...#§#..#
.#    ##'##.##'##.##§##.#
.#    #...#Z#...#.#§%§#.#
.#### #...#Z#...#.#§§§#.#
....# #...#5#...#.#§§.#.#


There are no monsters in sight!

Vanquished Creatures
  A human (D:11)
  A spriggan (D:7)
  A yak (D:11)
  A giant frog (D:6)
  A killer bee (D:10)
  A big kobold skeleton (D:10)
  A big kobold zombie (D:10)
  A crimson imp (D:10)
  2 hounds
  6 scorpions
  A jelly (D:10)
  An orc wizard (D:9)
  6 adders
  An iguana zombie (D:5)
  2 white imps (D:7)
  A worm (D:6)
  A bat skeleton (D:5)
  2 giant geckos
  3 oozes
  5 orcs
  A ball python (D:4)
  6 bats
  A grey rat (D:10)
  10 hobgoblins
  3 jackals
  2 quokkas
  3 giant cockroaches
  3 goblins
  A hobgoblin skeleton (D:7)
  6 kobolds
  13 rats
  16 ballistomycetes
  10 toadstools
114 creatures vanquished.

Vanquished Creatures (collateral kills)
  9 death yaks
  Pikel (D:6)
  6 hill giants
  Grinder (D:6)
  34 yaks
  Eustachio (D:4)
  A hungry ghost (D:10)
  A war dog (D:10)
  Menkaure (D:6)
  2 ice beasts (D:9)
  3 sky beasts
  A swamp drake (D:7)
  A yellow wasp (D:10)
  5 ogres
  4 orc warriors
  4 slaves (D:6)
  5 centaurs
  The ghost of AnalyticBranch the Shooter, an average HEHu (D:4)
  Sigmund (D:6)
  Duvessa (D:7)
  5 giant frogs
  A gnoll sergeant (D:10)
  A yellow wasp zombie (D:8)
  2 humans (D:11)
  A basilisk skeleton (D:10)
  8 killer bees
  A killer bee zombie (D:5)
  3 jellies
  A big kobold zombie (D:10)
  A goliath beetle (D:7)
  Dowan (D:7)
  A big fish (D:6)
  2 crimson imps
  Crazy Yiuf (D:5)
  6 orc priests
  A shadow (D:7)
  5 hounds
  6 worker ants
  4 iguanas
  2 gnoll shamans (D:10)
  8 orc wizards
  46 scorpions
  A deep elf soldier (D:9)
  4 sheep (D:11)
  2 mummies
  A goliath beetle zombie (D:10)
  17 gnolls (D:10)
  A green rat (D:4)
  A giant centipede (D:11)
  2 iguana skeletons
  6 adders
  An adder skeleton (D:7)
  An adder zombie (D:6)
  2 worms
  An ufetubus (D:4)
  A giant eyeball (D:11)
  2 giant geckos
  2 oozes (D:2)
  32 orcs
  4 giant cockroaches
  13 goblins
  11 hobgoblins
  18 jackals
  17 kobolds
  A ball python (D:4)
  9 bats
  7 giant newts
  A giant spore (D:10)
  A quokka (D:4)
  7 rats
  A rat zombie (D:7)
  13 ballistomycetes
  A fungus (D:9)
  2 toadstools
373 creatures vanquished.

Vanquished Creatures (others)
  6 very ugly things (D:11)
  A wizard (D:4)
  A wolf spider (D:11)
  11 ugly things
  A war dog (D:10)
  An orc warrior (D:11)
  A human (D:11)
  4 ice beasts
  An ogre (D:11)
  A sky beast (D:11)
  2 yak zombies (D:11)
  3 giant frog zombies
  A yellow wasp zombie (D:10)
  A warg (D:10)
  3 hounds
  37 crimson imps
  129 scorpions
  An orc priest (D:11)
  8 iron imps
  An elf zombie (D:7)
  20 shadow imps
  A sheep zombie (D:11)
  20 white imps
  32 grey rats
  A gnoll zombie (D:10)
  4 orcs
  22 bats
  A giant cockroach (D:11)
  A hobgoblin (D:11)
  6 jackals
  39 quokkas
  A giant gecko zombie (D:9)
  A giant newt zombie (D:2)
  8 giant spores
  2 jackal skeletons
  2 jackal zombies
  An orc skeleton (D:11)
  An orc zombie (D:10)
  30 rats
  2 ballistomycetes
  16 toadstools
425 creatures vanquished.

Grand Total: 912 creatures vanquished

Notes
Turn   | Place    | Note
--------------------------------------------------------------
     0 | D:1      | Robot2600, the Tengu Summoner, began the quest for the Orb.
     0 | D:1      | Reached XP level 1. HP: 10/10 MP: 3/3
    52 | D:1      | Reached skill level 5 in Summonings
   494 | D:1      | Reached XP level 2. HP: 15/15 MP: 5/5
   503 | D:1      | Learned a level 2 spell: Call Imp
  1449 | D:2      | Reached skill level 6 in Summonings
  1825 | D:2      | Reached XP level 3. HP: 19/19 MP: 1/6
  2385 | D:2      | Reached skill level 7 in Summonings
  2724 | D:3      | Found a burning altar of Makhleb.
  2728 | D:3      | Became a worshipper of Makhleb the Destroyer
  3059 | D:3      | Reached XP level 4. HP: 24/24 MP: 2/8
  3811 | D:4      | Found a shattered altar of Ashenzari.
  3826 | D:4      | Reached skill level 8 in Summonings
  4040 | D:4      | Found a staircase to the Ecumenical Temple.
  4074 | D:4      | Found Venaepp's Antique Armour Emporium.
  4142 | D:4      | Bought a faintly humming leather armour for 147 gold pieces
  4150 | D:4      | Identified the cursed +3 leather armour of Folaeh (You bought it in a shop on level 4 of the Dungeon)
  4199 | D:4      | Noticed Eustachio
  4232 | D:5      | Entered Level 5 of the Dungeon
  4318 | D:5      | Reached XP level 5. HP: 28/28 MP: 6/10
  4527 | D:5      | HP: 1/28 [centaur/arrow of flame (16)]
  4916 | D:5      | Learned a level 3 spell: Call Canine Familiar
  5188 | D:5      | Reached skill level 9 in Summonings
  5203 | D:5      | Acquired Makhleb's first power
  5242 | D:5      | Reached XP level 6. HP: 14/32 MP: 1/11
  5554 | D:5      | Noticed Crazy Yiuf
  5577 | D:5      | Killed Crazy Yiuf
  5905 | D:6      | Noticed Sigmund
  5950 | D:6      | Killed Sigmund
  5950 | D:6      | Reached skill level 10 in Summonings
  6046 | D:6      | Noticed Pikel
  6279 | D:6      | Found a glowing drain.
  6320 | D:6      | Killed Pikel
  6320 | D:6      | Reached XP level 7. HP: 36/36 MP: 0/17
  6327 | D:6      | Learned a level 4 spell: Summon Scorpions
  6349 | D:6      | Noticed Menkaure
  6366 | D:6      | Killed Menkaure
  6726 | D:6      | Noticed Grinder
  6751 | D:6      | Killed Grinder
  6751 | D:6      | Reached skill level 5 in Spellcasting
  7039 | D:6      | Reached XP level 8. HP: 6/41 MP: 12/20
  7477 | D:7      | Noticed Dowan
  7478 | D:7      | Noticed Duvessa
  7502 | D:7      | Killed Dowan
  7517 | D:7      | Killed Duvessa
  7778 | D:7      | Acquired Makhleb's second power
  8281 | D:7      | Your ally Dowan died
  8670 | D:7      | Found a staircase to the Orcish Mines.
  9399 | D:7      | Learned a level 4 spell: Summon Ice Beast
  9856 | D:4      | Killed Eustachio
  9979 | D:4      | Found a bloodstained altar of Trog.
  9979 | D:4      | Noticed a terrified wizard
  9986 | D:4      | Killed a terrified wizard
 10096 | Temple   | Entered the Ecumenical Temple
 10175 | D:4      | Noticed AnalyticBranch's ghost (average HEHu)
 10196 | D:4      | Killed AnalyticBranch's ghost
 10514 | D:5      | Acquired Makhleb's third power
 10645 | D:5      | Reached XP level 9. HP: 45/45 MP: 16/24
 11129 | D:8      | Found a bloodstained altar of Trog.
 11750 | D:9      | Reached skill level 1 in Poison Magic
 12173 | D:9      | Got a shimmering sabre
 12174 | D:9      | Identified the sabre "Faut" {flame, SInv} (You found it on level 9 of the Dungeon)
 12590 | D:9      | Reached skill level 5 in Poison Magic
 12694 | D:9      | Got a blackened book
 12695 | D:9      | Identified the Disquisition on Excruciating Cold (You found it on level 9 of the Dungeon)
 13586 | D:10     | Entered Level 10 of the Dungeon
 14192 | D:10     | Reached XP level 10. HP: 48/50 MP: 1/26
 14368 | D:10     | Reached skill level 11 in Summonings
 14701 | D:10     | Acquired Makhleb's fourth power
 15045 | D:10     | Reached skill level 12 in Summonings
 15587 | D:10     | Learned a level 6 spell: Summon Ugly Thing
 15591 | D:10     | Learned a level 3 spell: Recall
 16444 | D:11     | Found Gizizaf's Distillery.
 16452 | D:11     | Bought a potion of curing for 30 gold pieces
 16452 | D:11     | Bought a potion of heal wounds for 45 gold pieces
 16452 | D:11     | Bought a potion of heal wounds for 45 gold pieces
 16452 | D:11     | Bought a potion of heal wounds for 45 gold pieces
 16452 | D:11     | Bought a potion of heal wounds for 45 gold pieces
 16452 | D:11     | Bought a potion of curing for 30 gold pieces
 16659 | D:11     | Reached skill level 10 in Spellcasting
 16707 | D:11     | Learned a level 5 spell: Shadow Creatures
 17181 | D:11     | Reached XP level 11. HP: 54/54 MP: 3/29
 17355 | D:11     | Acquired Makhleb's fifth power
 18419 | D:11     | Reached skill level 13 in Summonings
 19594 | D:11     | Reached skill level 14 in Summonings
 20037 | D:11     | Reached skill level 15 in Summonings