ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

Sorry for the caps. I am trying to figure something out. I am not ashamed to admit that I made a duplicate of B20 just to see if this was even possible. I am a level 25 cornac shadowblade. I can get hurt fairly easily, but I have fairly high damage, voratun dagger and star. I have tried literally 50 times to kill the p's in the dark crypt, all sorts of combinations of equipment (boosting my stealth level to max) but even with the best luck in the world I have never been able to get more than 3 dead before the time runs out, is it just not possible with a melee character? I have some ranged but given that I have 30 turns, I do not have anything that does nearly as much damage as my daggers do. It has become like a puzzle for me, one time I came within one attack of finishing it, but one of my daggers missed, with the way they move, even if I could instakill them it does not seem possible in the time limit and rush only being level 1... I consider myself a roguelike veteran, beaten angband(plus sever other bands) and crawl. But should I just give up and assume I cannot do this without multiple controlled phase doors and rush level 4+?

Thanks

edit: As a ps I have lurked here for a while and really like the game, I played tome on and off from the beginning, when it was (censored)band

The best chance for melee characters is going to be _multiple_ movement talents -- just rush isn't going to cut it, even on level four+. Greater ego boots of rushing, multiple movement talents (rush, CPD runes, 5th level phase door, mindhook, etc, etc, etc, etc.), and a great deal of luck is going to be the best chance a melee character can have. Yes, it takes a specific character build and a bit of preparation and loot-luck to be able to succeed at the quest.

However, most melee characters are going to fail. It's as simple as that. 30 turns is not enough for something melee with only a single movement talent to manage. That's part of the reason why the demon that pops out of th'lady gives XP and a standard boss-loot spread.

Ranged characters have an easier time of things

Well thanks, I feel a little better, if I had phase door level 5 and rush level 5 (just realized rush is worth leveling as it reduces cooldown by a lot) with my present character, I think I could do it, given how close I have gotten, since I have the two stuns. Just wanted to make sure it was not my own ineptitude after 50+ tries

Melee chars just cant do it atm.

The last time I failed it miserably, I considered loading up on the shooting wands and runes and giving it another go. I rarely ever use those things, but I wonder if they could make up for the ranged damage problem in this scenario.

I have suggested to DarkGod before that the countdown be changed to be based on a sustain attached to one of the cultists, who would then be made the head cultist. That way stunning / slowing / time stopping him could extend the amount of time you have to deal with the cultists and rescue the lady.

Or maybe I can reduce the timer a bit BUT killing an acolyte increases the remaining time by 5/6/7 turns ?
It makes sense too, the acolytes are channeling power into the demonic seed inside melinda, so less of them => more time

That would make a lot of sense while still not allowing burst damage people like me time to just sit back and wait for everything to cool down like I tend to do if I get the chance (stealth is a beautiful thing!) Meaning I would have to weigh skill use, but still have time to get it done if properly planned. this is my first time getting this far, if it is not apparent and have not read any spoilers beyond what I have already gotten to. Thanks for the fun game!

Yeah, counter adding upon kills would be cool - would give a real rush to off each one of them quickly.

On the subject of rushing around - now that the cooldown decreases with skill, and with the right equipment, you can cause the cooldown for Rush to be ... 1 turn

Great for those orc patrols - bring 'em on !

darkgod wrote:Or maybe I can reduce the timer a bit BUT killing an acolyte increases the remaining time by 5/6/7 turns ?

Yeah, this is much better (in recent svns), but I think you should probably change toin "game/modules/tome/data/zones/crypt-kryl-feijan/npcs.lua:newEntity:on_die" for the acolytes before somebody gets really ticked off from having less time to deal with them

ahah well spotted

I just did this with my skeletal zerker.

It was very easy.

Step one: Don't die (much).

Step two: Hollow out zig-zag tunnels in every space available on the top four levels of the dungeon. This makes it easy to kill the spell-slingers, and provides space for things and mobs to repopulate in. (It seems to help, anyway, someone might correct me.)

Step three: Run up and down just those levels until you have gone from level 22 to level 34. Adjust as necessary/tolerable. You will know it is time to leave when you would rather stab yourself in the eyes with a plastic fork than rerun the levels again, and you no longer care if Melinda gets opened up like a Christmas present by the demon. You should also have found a controlled phase door, more awesome gear than you'll be able to carry, and boots of speed. And a teleport - see step five.

Step three point five: Wear the boots you worked so hard to get. Or not, if you found something else which matches your haircolor or something.

Step four: Using whatever combination of arrows, rush, controlled PD, and general badassery you like, save Melinda. Dont go east of the goofy platform yet...

Step five: Go to the west side of the cave, where you came in... wait for Melinda to follow you.... Then teleport far away, into the middle of the bad guys and kill them with your aforementioned badassery. AFTER clearing the bad guys, go back and get Melinda and lead her to the exit.

Easy as pie.

shooth

So, um, Melinda and a skeleton, sitting in a tree...?

B - O - N - I - N - G