A new instadeath for me

[fyonn]

Thanks, pav.



The true cause of death for almost all of my characters was going down that first set of stairs. Without that they would still be happily running around town level.

hey, town's a rough place. I've lost characters to a brawl with mean mercenaries before... and lets face it, the number of poor farmers killed in town is breathtaking!

[the Invisible Stalker]

hey, town's a rough place. I've lost characters to a brawl with mean mercenaries before... and lets face it, the number of poor farmers killed in town is breathtaking!

I used to lose characters in the town, but it hasn't happened to me for a long time. Maybe the town has been made safer. Maybe I'm getting better. Maybe I just spend less time there. I suspect that I could survive there more or less indefinitely, but I haven't tried.

The really safe place is the staircase. The recipe for guaranteed immortality is to play with connected stairs, go down the stairs on turn one, come back on turn two, and repeat ad infinitum. You are guaranteed the first turn on a new level, so nothing will ever hit you. Not a very exciting playing style, but very safe.

[fyonn]

I used to lose characters in the town, but it hasn't happened to me for a long time. Maybe the town has been made safer. Maybe I'm getting better. Maybe I just spend less time there. I suspect that I could survive there more or less indefinitely, but I haven't tried.

The really safe place is the staircase. The recipe for guaranteed immortality is to play with connected stairs, go down the stairs on turn one, come back on turn two, and repeat ad infinitum. You are guaranteed the first turn on a new level, so nothing will ever hit you. Not a very exciting playing style, but very safe.

well, no, I haven't lost a character in town in a looong time either, but it can happen.

also, that stair immortality trick just leaves you open to starvation...

[fyonn]

"The Ethereal Dragon breathes confusion... You die."

*sigh*

snap, just lost a level 35 HT priest to one. really shouldn't have been hand-to-handing it.. didn't really have the guts for the game, esp at 5 speed down from him. I'd already heal'd 3 times and he was only 4 stars down. I should just have bailed.

still, I'd just taken down kavlax remarkably easily with an ASC and 6 glyphs and I was on a high.. silly silly..

might do another HT priest though, it's a good combo..

dave

[Derakon]

[The Phoenix] Also breathes plasma, which I would guess is the big killer

I was pretty sure that plasma's damage cap was low, and I was right: it's 150. Even getting double-breathed plasma is still less painful than getting double-breathed on double-resisted fire (1600 / 9 = 177).

Other damage caps (from monster/constants.c):

Basic four elements: 1600
Poison: 800
Nether: 550
Light: 400
Dark: 400
Confusion: 400
Sound: 500
Chaos: 500
Disenchantment: 500
Nexus: 400
Time: 150
Inertia: 200
Gravity: 200
Shards: 500
Plasma: 150
Force: 200
Mana: 1600

These are all for breath attacks, which explains why e.g. ice isn't here -- it only exists as a bolt spell.

Also note that Time Hounds aren't able to reach the damage cap on their breath attack because they only have 330 hitpoints. Of course, there are a lot of them and, if you're only moving quickly to their very quickly, each one has a 2/5ths chance to breath every time you get a turn. Gravity hounds don't come remotely close to the damage cap (193 hitpoints), and they don't move quickly, but they show up 800' earlier, and getting hit by one slows you and is likely to put you in LOS of more hounds.

[cofresi]

Other damage caps (from monster/constants.c):

Mana: 1600

What monster (or trap/object/effect) can inflict 1600 points of mana, be it breath or otherwise? 1600 points of unresistable damage will take out the mightiest HT Warr with maxxed CON and have room to spare.

[Derakon]

As it happens, that constant is defined but never used. There are no monsters that breathe mana.

[will_asher]

What monster (or trap/object/effect) can inflict 1600 points of mana, be it breath or otherwise? 1600 points of unresistable damage will take out the mightiest HT Warr with maxxed CON and have room to spare.

nothing breathes mana in V, but it's in the code (at least partly)

EDIT: posted at the same time. blah.

[Magnate]

Yes, and he is also speed +20 and is very alert, so he can blow you away before you realize he is there.

I was very pleased to see the Phoenix near the top of the list - at least two of them are mine!