Posted on 28.9.2005 04:26
Last updated on 30.9.2005 02:39

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8482. on the Ladder (of 18813)
368. on the Hengband Ladder (of 696)

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On 28.9.2005 04:26 bcbarnes@artsci.spec wrote:
my first attempt at nightmare mode. found some decent gear so far, and a very lucky BoS (+9) in my initial vault clearings. saw a unique native to 4700' in one of the 50' GCV's. I'm afraid the unicorn is going to show up at 300'.

working on my poison needle skill a bit, not quite sure why. we'll see if it's of any use. don't have good life leech weapons yet anyway.

all resistances are covered, +anti-magic. a reasonable start. anyone care to place bets on how I do? heh.

On 28.9.2005 05:46 Elliott946@aol.com wrote:
On the one hand, you're off to a great start! On the other hand, are you insane? Always unusal rooms on Nightmare mode? You could literally run into the Destroyer at 50' in a GCV that way, I think (I ran into numerous free roaming 40+ level OOD uniques in Nightmare mode, with the worst being 62 levels OOD. I assume that you add a GCV's bonus on top of that, which would mean you could get level 100 monsters at 50'). Good luck!

On 28.9.2005 07:21 bcbarnes@artsci.spec wrote:
yeah, you could certainly run into the destroyer at 50'. he's 4700' too. if that happened, I would simply die.

on the other hand, if I can get enough levels and gear, and then spend some time scumming the BM for some *healing*... I would be able to kill him.

what would be really ideal for this char, is a mutation or racial skill that lets you do 'detection' -- to find things like interesting artifacts or uniques such as the destroyer, when entering a level. does such a thing exist? I don't think it does... (must be a berserker).

On 28.9.2005 11:27 wrote:
Basically berserkers cannot have mutations that can 'activate' to use, like swap position or sense enemies, so just forget about it.

On 28.9.2005 14:42 wrote:
You do have an inherent power that lets you sense hostile monsters. You can also find telepathy in various items. Unfortunately, the only way to detect anything other than monsters (like, say, traps or items) as a berserker seems to be enlightenment potions.

On 28.9.2005 15:36 Elliott946@aol.com wrote:
Ah, right. You can't use scrolls or staves of object detection.

On 28.9.2005 20:02 bcbarnes@artsci.spec wrote:
yeah, not being able to use scrolls and other useful items is one of the major penalties of being a 'zerker.

to the anon poster: yeah, the detect monsters innate skill helps, but doesn't detect some things I worry about, such as the destroyer.

I'm very much familiar with the limitations of the class (check out the two winner 'zerkers named 'Spec'), but nightmare mode presents all sorts of new pitfalls. a trick to avoid danger would be some sort of mutation that acts as a 'rod of detection' -- yet, of course, no such thing exists. just my own personal fantasy :)

update: have the stormbringer now, and killed omarax the eye tyrant (native to dlev 73). used one speed, resistance, and healing potion. the resistance may not have been needed, but...

On 29.9.2005 07:19 dzhang@its.caltech.edu wrote:
Whoa... that's one great bow!! Xtra Might, Xtra Shots longbow with +4 to STR INT DEX CON, and also RDark, RBlind. Is there an activation on it too?

On 29.9.2005 07:26 bcbarnes@artsci.spec wrote:
I forget if there is an activation on the bow, if there is, it's nothing special. zerkers, of course, can't use bows for combat :/

On 30.9.2005 02:39 bcbarnes@artsci.spec wrote:
dead. this was while waiting to recall back from 2000'. I made two specific mistakes, but some of this was due to nightmare mode's nastiness too.

first, the mistakes: I should have scummed the BM for lots of speed, healing, *healing* and resistance pots before I trump towered down to 2000'. this has to do with specific tactics necessary as a berserker playing with unusual rooms (and nightmare mode). second, I should have quaked more as a defensive option, instead of fighting it out. there were a couple big breathers, and lots of dreads all around me.

nightmare mode made this death possible through starting everything awake (which let the burrowers create a path for these nasties to come right to me), doubling everything's hit points (and hence making breaths more damaging), and turning on all AI options (smart_cheat etc) regardless of your birth settings. this makes things breathe, cast, and bolt much more often.

I will start a new char tonight, and possibly post a dump in this same thread. out of town over the weekend, so it will be slow updating.

I had a lot of AC, I'm also surprised the KoS hit me 4 times in a row. oh well. I had killed a few dlev 75+ uniques, just need to be a bit more careful, and powerful, when I recall.

On 30.9.2005 02:46 blackreaver368@yahoo.com wrote:
Hmmm ... Trump to DL40? With this option, I usually work the top levels of various dungeons from the Wilderness (Angband, then Castle, then AntiMagic). Once I'm superbuff, I generally trump all the way to DL98 and go for the win. Of course, 3 out of the last 4 times I played this way (none of which were nightmare) I died on the trump ;-)

I'm just curious if you then planned to walk all the way down to the serpent or perhaps build some more and then Trump again? Finding stairs is a bit of a pain with this option ...

On 30.9.2005 03:14 bcbarnes@artsci.spec wrote:
my plan was to collect artifacts and speed at 2000', and kill a lot of uniques, and then trump to 98.

I'm not sure how nightmare mode will affect monster generation in places like antimagic or dragon zone. I may explore those for some extra experience. we'll see. castle is not really necessary... and annoying for a zerker with aggravate. cloning pits I might do, unless I find better footwear first. I can usually skip it with this gameplan.

nightmare mode is hard :/

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