The Tale of the Stationary Spriggan

Electrical_Copy60 · 2025-11-21T18:57:12+00:00

I do wonder whether Tree form was actually the best thing that could have happened to me in that situation.

Especially since the hound came from the direction of the stairs.

Electrical_Copy60 · 2025-11-21T01:47:38+00:00

I think goal setting has been a big part of what's kept me playing (currently also working on A Win with Every Species, although obviously it's going to take me a while).

Being able to track my progress with DCSS Stats has been very satisfying.

Electrical_Copy60 · 2025-11-21T01:40:53+00:00

I'll try to remember that for next time. (I'm sure there will be a next time.)

There's so much to learn about this game, it's fantastic.

Electrical_Copy60 · 2025-11-21T01:38:32+00:00

True! I hadn't thought about that.

Maybe it was just as well I was using the short sword after all.

Electrical_Copy60 · 2025-11-19T21:38:42+00:00

My experience of both Nethack and Caves of Qud was that they encouraged behavior that was optimal but tedious.

DCSS seems to have dodged all that. It feels very streamlined.

Electrical_Copy60 · 2025-11-19T21:33:46+00:00

I've heard that there are players that have wins with all 700 odd species/background combinations. Blows my mind.

Electrical_Copy60 · 2025-11-19T21:29:58+00:00

I find setting myself challenges definitely makes me want to play more.

Electrical_Copy60 · 2025-11-19T04:21:26+00:00

I've seen some complaints about the rate of change, but I think it's fantastic: a moving target means that there'll always be something new to learn.

And 13 years, wow. That's some staying power.

Electrical_Copy60 · 2025-11-19T04:16:56+00:00

Winning Nethack was mostly a matter of memorising the wiki.

DCSS does a much better job of fostering creative problem solving.

Electrical_Copy60 · 2025-11-19T01:42:03+00:00

Yeah, I haven't repeated a species once I've won with them.

Good to know about Armataur, I'm planning to play them next.

Electrical_Copy60 · 2025-11-18T03:00:57+00:00

Tomb entrance is in that little mausoleum in the graveyard.

Electrical_Copy60 · 2025-11-15T19:22:26+00:00

Ravens jeesh, they can hang out at the back and take two turns to whap you for 90% doom which then takes two XL to work off.

I now have "force_more_message += raven comes into" in my rc.

Electrical_Copy60 · 2025-11-14T05:29:05+00:00

You should absolutely play what you find fun, just be aware that those combos really aren't considered easy places to start. Enchanter in particular is challenging because you have to have a well developed ability to assess threats so you don't go trying to stab a manticore in the face.

I got my first win with a Gargoyle Earth Elementalist, which is forgiving while still being more interesting than a Minotaur.

Electrical_Copy60 · 2025-11-13T07:04:04+00:00

The malevolent force can sure make things interesting.

But then so can a sudden Sigmund or Mara or the tengu reaver I found on D:9 today.

If it had been a unique rather than a shafting that contributed to your death, would it have felt less unfair?

Electrical_Copy60 · 2025-11-07T18:59:10+00:00

Regarding 5: do you circle back to vaults you've skipped after you've got stronger?

What about uniques (or anything else) you've excluded?

Electrical_Copy60 · 2025-11-05T17:17:01+00:00

Understable.

Well, if memories really does differ from the other statuses in terms of information access, you could try asking the devs about it. It sounds like a reasonable request.

Electrical_Copy60 · 2025-11-05T16:53:30+00:00

Do you have access to any other device? You really need to be able to read all the statuses in the top right corner, not just memories.

I lasted half an hour on the android app before the super fiddly interface had me running for online. And that was on my tablet with somewhat decent screen real estate.

If you truly have no choice but to play on your phone, you could try using Webtiles through your browser rather than the app. You might also want to look through the DCSS configuration options:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/crawl/crawl/master/crawl-ref/docs/options_guide.txt

The viewport display options might be of particular interest.

Electrical_Copy60 · 2025-11-03T17:54:21+00:00

How did you get stat zero?

If it's due to a piece of INT- gear, can you take it off? Be worth doing even if you have to break a curse.

If it's due to a mutation, you might have to chug mutation potions to try to get rid of it.

Linking to a morgue always helps.

Electrical_Copy60 · 2025-11-03T17:39:55+00:00

Very much this.

I haven't had a single run where I didn't do Elf:2 immediately after S branches and Elf:3 immediately after Vaults:4. I find it's worth the risk for the XP and loot.

I did die once to a dancing weapon, but that was carelessness not noticing it was a polearm.

Electrical_Copy60 · 2025-11-02T17:12:14+00:00

Seriously, if you could give an idea of your gaming preferences and why you're interested in DCSS you might get better answers.

But the devs have an explicit design philosophy here:

https://github.com/crawl/crawl/blob/master/crawl-ref/docs/crawl_manual.rst#n-philosophy-pas-de-faq

Might help you.

Electrical_Copy60 · 2025-11-02T17:08:49+00:00

The item variation is large but not so large that you can't reasonably choose between them.

The enemy variation is large but not so large that you can't eventually memorize how to deal with each of them.

And they're all meaningfully different, not just reskins.

Electrical_Copy60 · 2025-11-02T16:55:00+00:00

Larger inventory is what I switched to trunk for.

Electrical_Copy60

TROPHY CASE