Comp 165

[debo]

Hi,

clouded was floating (pun intended) the idea of doing a TomeNET comp for 165. It would be a complete free-for-all kinda thing, where you create your own character and just see how far you get for some definition of "far"

Was thinking that we could use the public server or something and have everyone dial in there, rather than making people host the whole stack locally. I'm pretty sure you can pull chardumps off a public server, also? I could be wrong.

Objections? Ideas?

[Arjen]

2 things about a TomeNET comp

1) Awesome!

2)How well do you know TomeNET?

Explanation of "2)", you have so many options with TomeNET, I think you need to set boundaries of some sort. At birth you already have more than just race/class to choose. It's multiplayer so you can share items/gold if you want, but should this be allowed in the comp? Winning TomeNET is way harder than any variant I have played. (Altho I bet some will say it's not that hard, but those players have been playing TomeNET for over a decade at least.)

You could try to contact C.Blue (maintainer) because he has a perfectly fine working server and a very well documented site/player guild (you *need* to read parts of that guide to be able to play). C. Blue might be able to help out a bit for a TomeNET comp.

And the game let's you take chardumps if you want. But no such thing as "turn-count" as it's a real time variant.

[HugoVirtuoso]

imo, one way to decide winners is to use [EXP]/[amount of active game time].

[hjklyubn]

I think it might be fun to do this cooperative-style, see if clan Oook can defeat Morgoth in two weeks (or whatever). Sharing items among "competitors" allowed, but not with outside accounts.

(Note: I am pretty noob at TomeNET and have no idea how hard it is to finish the game)

[JohnCW9]

I think it might be fun to do this cooperative-style, see if clan Oook can defeat Morgoth in two weeks (or whatever). Sharing items among "competitors" allowed, but not with outside accounts.

(Note: I am pretty noob at TomeNET and have no idea how hard it is to finish the game)

At least You have some expertise I have never played it

[Nivim]

"This is the comp where almost all of us have no idea what we're doing and the winner is the one who is a good chap to other players and also does a lot of things."

[debo]

"This is the comp where almost all of us have no idea what we're doing and the winner is the one who is a good chap to other players and also does a lot of things."

As a Canadian, I approve of this win condition.

[Arjen]

I've played TomeNET for the past 10 years with huge hiatus in that period of time. I've had dozens of characters and like 5 winners. Don't expect to win =)

But the condition "Highest level wins" is good enough I think (after you beat Morgoth you can lvl up to lvl 100 which hasn't been achieved by anyone ever). Which makes choosing race/class combo more interesting as weaker races/classes lvl faster. I don't think you can add a time condition in it.

[PowerWyrm]

Hi,

clouded was floating (pun intended) the idea of doing a TomeNET comp for 165. It would be a complete free-for-all kinda thing, where you create your own character and just see how far you get for some definition of "far"

Was thinking that we could use the public server or something and have everyone dial in there, rather than making people host the whole stack locally. I'm pretty sure you can pull chardumps off a public server, also? I could be wrong.

Objections? Ideas?

Using the public server would give regular players who own parties and guilds a huge advantage. Please use a dedicated server with dedicated parameters then. All server parameters are stored in a cfg file. For example, you may want to disable ghosts so that every character has only one life (roguelike mode).

Another option would be to do a PWMAngband 1.1.10 comp instead

[PowerWyrm]

imo, one way to decide winners is to use [EXP]/[amount of active game time].

Easiest way is simply to count max experience, since you can level past 50 once you have killed Morgoth (forget reaching the level cap of 99, it will probably never be done). And experience is constant in TomeNET, which means it already takes into account race/class penalty.

[PowerWyrm]

(Note: I am pretty noob at TomeNET and have no idea how hard it is to finish the game)

In a word, you won't win. Unless you're in a party/guild with veteran players, which are used to start a char and win in an hour because they know every string of the game. TomeNET is a multiplayer version of a mix between ToME2 and ZAngband, taking probably only the hardest features of the two.

To summarize the differences with Angband:

- annoying monsters (ZAngband and co) with cheezy tactics (for example, hounds with auto-guided breath that can harm you from out of LOS)
- disintegration, rockets, and many more nasty effects
- almost any escape item is nerfed (monsters resist teleport other, destruction stuns you for a while, banish leaves you with few hps)
- vaults are often certain death (no teleport, no banish, no destruction, traps everywhere, nasty OoD monsters)
- traps will severely screw your character (almost any damage possible, drop items, ruination, nasty summons)
- nasty level layouts (big open areas, flooded levels, lava levels, very small levels)
- wilderness + multiple dungeons (Sauron is in Mount Doom -- a semi-ironman dungeon, Morgoth is in Angband), with no overworld map like in ToME2 (so unless you're playing on the regular server, you have to actually explore the whole wilderness to find towns and dungeons)
- skill system with an almost infinite amount of possibilities (you're not playing a class, but a variation of a class with your own set of skills: axe warrior, fire mage, crossbow archer...)

Oh.. and did I mention rockets?

[UglySquirrell]

This is a great idea, Tomenet is insanely fun! I think keeping it on the main server but playing Ironman deep dive challenge would be the best way to go.

Ironman in Tomenet is still difficult but has some really nice features, you start with a certain amount of gold, so can just gear up and travel to the dungeon right away.
Levels do not spawn monsters after they are created, so you don't have to worry about running into something after it has been cleared.
Magic book Shops start appearing randomly starting at level 8, so spellcasters are a lot easier to play than in vanilla.
One of The best features though in my humble opinion are the dungeon towns, they appear on level 20, which is fairly easy to get to, Then level 40 not as easy but definitely doable. The towns let you sell your loot restock etc.
And last but not least it's very easy to form parties and group up, you all share experience and it's a lot of fun.

IDDC gives a pretty large bonus to experience points, so playing races with large exp penalties is a lot easier here. Also if you want to play a Mimic, or Shaman you gain forms 10X as fast, (outside of Ironman, it takes a long time to gain higher forms).

I recommend playing a druid if your new, very powerful, lots of utility spells
Don't need to find weapons, and can shapeshift into a huge variety of martial arts using animals, including but not at all limited to Kraken, Hydra, Yeti, Hounds and Great White shark
Or if you want to play a caster, Istar are incredibly powerful, Runecrafters very unique and my personal favorite, Shaman (Shapeshifting spellcasters), and mind melting Mindcrafters.
Warriors are always fun (can go an Antimagic path).
Archers do absolutely insane damage once you find a good bow.
Rogues can cloak themselves, and walk around even awake monsters undetected, they can also use Traps which do massive amounts of damage and are lots of fun to set up imo.
Paladins turn into unstoppable tanks.
Rangers can dual wield and do well at almost everything, including traps, magic, and bows.
Priests are a bit more difficult to get started, but become very powerful mid game on.

Any of the classes can do very well in IDDC, so just choose whatever you think will be most fun.

Hope to see you all in Tomenet

[UglySquirrell]

Oh i forgot to mention the amount of customization is incredible. For example i was playing a Gnome Rogue who used magic devices, traps and a crossbow.
Or my boomerang and magic using Druid who doesn't like to get her hands dirty.

I also have a full magic using Maiar rogue that sets traps for really tough uniques, and can step into a wall and appear on the other side with her probability travel spell. Or call forth a lightning storm that travels with her well she is cloaked, killing lesser monsters undetected

Having the ability to build a unique race/class combo is really lots of fun.

[PowerWyrm]

This is a great idea, Tomenet is insanely fun! I think keeping it on the main server but playing Ironman deep dive challenge would be the best way to go.

*facepalm*

Of course, IDDC... No need to bother about other players, you dive, you die, player who goes deepest wins.

[PowerWyrm]

Ironman in Tomenet is still difficult but has some really nice features, you start with a certain amount of gold, so can just gear up and travel to the dungeon right away.

In order to play TomeNET, you need to create an account to get a pool of 10 playable characters. There's a special "slot" character called "IDDC character" which will start with a larger amount of gold (700 or so), so you can buy stuff and go directly to the IDDC dungeon. The only rule with any IDDC character is that you need to enter the IDDC dungeon with 0 xp. If you gain xp by any means (kills, picking locks, using items), you are disqualified and your character is erased (dies).

Levels do not spawn monsters after they are created, so you don't have to worry about running into something after it has been cleared.

This also means you have to dive deeper as soon as you clear a level. The feature will just allow you to go afk while playing without fearing that your character be killed by respawns. Another feature of IDDC is "stale" levels compared to "static" levels (normal mode). In normal mode, a level will stay static (won't change) for a limited amount of time when there are no players currently on the level but there are players who saved (exited the game) on that level. After a while, the level will reset (generated anew). In IDDC, saving on a level and coming back while the level is still the same will yield a "stale" level: monsters will be worth 0xp and loot cannot be picked up. This is to encourage people to dive, not to clear the same level over and over. Think about this as the "force descent" option of Angband.

One of The best features though in my humble opinion are the dungeon towns, they appear on level 20, which is fairly easy to get to, Then level 40 not as easy but definitely doable. The towns let you sell your loot restock etc.

In the most recent version, there are towns at 1000ft, 2000ft, 3000ft and 4000ft.

And last but not least it's very easy to form parties and group up, you all share experience and it's a lot of fun.

Indeed.