EDIT: Also, the dungeon is very cramped. I usually can't see monsters until they are just one space before attacking range.
[ July 23, 2007: Message edited by: Bingbing ]
The Armor skill allows you to move faster with armor that you have on, thus it gives you more turns to fight or flee with. (Without points in this skill you'll get pummeled multiple times by a single target before your turn).
Wrestling allows you do dodge more in addition to using wrestling moves successfully. (Don't put more points into Wrestling than a weapon skill unless you want to start with no weapon).
A crossbow is actually one of the better weapons to use against giant living creatures that can squash you in one or two hits. Swords are good. A blunt weapon is the worst.
It also helps to grind a little on minor monsters before trying to take on a giant. Just remember you can be super tough and still get killed by a lucky arrow shot.
EDIT: Opps. Didn't mean to double post...
Anyway, I'm also going to take the second guy's advice and go in with points in wrestling and armor.
EDIT: Not good. Got cornered by a giant mole, a large rat, and a giant rat. Those giant moles are insanely deadly; at least elephants are peaceful (save undead)
I'm going to warm up as a hammerman in a dungeon right next to the town I started him up in before headed back to the Scars of Cleaving. As I speak, I see the boss, a giant; and he murdered me...
Reminds me of the first time I played adventure mode, I went to sleep outside a dungeon, and the boss, a minotaur, attacked. My pikeman companion killed him and another monster before I woke up.
That's it. I'm going in with a swordsman. Thanks to my two handed sword, I murder every beast in the dungeon, but lose it to the giant. No matter. I simply punch him while he keeps missing me until he bleeds to death. I then take my sword. Time for the Scars of Cleaving. But first...
I search around and find a iron chain mail. Yay!
RATS. A giant rat deals to me a mortal wound, and I am incapable of even dealing a scratch to him. SO. CLOSE. I hadn't even reached it yet. Any more ideas?
Eh, might as well try again. I start off in the same town, and learn that the town is ruled by the Unseen Autmunal Empires. First, the practice dungeon for revenge.
I find the old iron war hammer. I'll get it later.
Not again... murdered by another double team. I think I can't beat any dungeon...
[ July 23, 2007: Message edited by: Bingbing ]
[ July 23, 2007: Message edited by: utunnels ]
quote:
Originally posted by Bingbing:
[QB]No good. The main dungeon's residents were murdered, but the ettin managed to take down me, the lasher, and crossbow man.
Learn wrestling up to a high level before going to a dangerous area. A good way to practice is to wrestle mules in town, then "graduate" up to cows, then horses. You can also go outside into the world map and find some smaller but tough animals (warthogs, deer, etc. being a good choice) to wrestle for practice. Don't wrestle dogs as a beginning- I've had them rip my throat out before!
Wrestling is important because it teaches you to dodge attacks. I suppose you can learn to use a shield too, usually I just use a 2-h weapon and high wrestling.
Fight undead, (zombies are good), snap all their bits until they can't do anything to hit you, then throttle them to death.
Thing is, they don't choke, so you can keep wearing away at the undead forever.
1. Get throwing to Legendary. This is absurdly easy. My method is to find a spot with only one rock (where pressing 'g' automatically picks it up), pick up enough rocks to go down to about 400 or so (which is ok, usually; just outside of/in towns you'll almost never/never get attacked), then press t/t/Enter repeatedly until I either over-exert myself (where I dabble in step 2 some while I wait for my tiredness to go away) or run out of rocks, at which point I look to see about how many more rocks I have left to throw, pick up more, and proceed to finish getting it up this high.
2. Get ambushing to level 24 (aka x/2500 on the skills page). This is even easier than throwing, but a lot more tedious due to needing to walk a bunch and thirst getting in the way of constant training. The reason I say "level 24" instead of "Legendary" is because getting it to just legendary skill still leaves you with a 33% speed penalty while sneaking, whereas level 24 allows you to sneak with no penalty at all. Although it does take around 10000 more steps to achieve level 24 after level 19 (x/2000), so you may not want to do this.
3. Get wrestling to Legendary, or at least very high. This is the easiest skill involving enemies to train as long as you pick the right opponents. Zombies as mentioned are ideal, warthogs and deer will suffice (also as mentioned). Do not try wrestling scorpions; they will pwn you given half a chance (my latest game learned this the hard way). Elephant/hippo/unicorn wrestling is likely bad for your health as well.
4. With three Legendary stats, you'll probably have gotten something like Ultra-Mighty, Unbelievably Agile, and Superhumanly Tough or otherwise for stats, but you still need one last thing before you can seriously think of emptying a ruin/cave/dark fortress/etc.: armor. No, your armor is not going to be good enough. Even if it's all iron to start, it won't provide enough protection for the bigger nasties (things like snakemen and antmen, yes; things like cyclops or colossi, not so much). If you're an elf, you're kinda borked on this point (elves can't wear metal IIRC), and dwarves will have to either find dwarf cities or be pretty damn lucky with dwarf fortress ruins (AFAIR they can't wear the stuff humans make). If you're a human, however, this point can be addressed by finding a ruin, turning on your stealth mode, and looting as much treasure as you can snag and/or carry without being caught and slain by the zombies and skellies. Given that they've all got places to be, it's pretty easy to loot the whole place if you're patient and careful enough, and all that loot will allow you to buy several pieces of exceptional equipment (masterpiece armor, as opposed to masterfully designed armor, is unfortunately difficult to come by in the human world :/). Things you should go for are head protection (helms IIRC are the armor bit) and chest protection (you can wear about three layers of chainmail), as well as arm and leg stuff so things that will try to bite and tear off chunks of your fleshy bits won't manage to get anywhere. Also go for iron whenever possible, as that's the strongest of the three materials (iron, bronze, and copper). Also also, if you don't have the dough for something nice after several purchases, make another trip to the ruins and collect the crap the zombies/skellies are wearing (preferably the ones that aren't too banged up, but you can probably sell the XX stuff as well if you want). Once you have replaced a fair amount of your armor with exceptional or at least superior stuff, you can probably safely clear a cave. While shopping, do not forget to look before you buy, especially if the item appears to have a design on it; whatever the highest level of work is on the item appears as the overall level of the item, regardless of whether it's a design or the item itself.
My usual build for new chars is: Talented (Weapon User), Talented Armor User, and Novice Wrestling.
[ July 23, 2007: Message edited by: BDR ]
[ July 23, 2007: Message edited by: AlanL ]
quote:
Originally posted by stirpot:
<STRONG>Who needs to adventure and kill monsters in caves when killing human villagers is equally or more satisfying.</STRONG>
I got killed when a peasant threw something at me (I think :P)... but I DID get to kill a few children, a merchant and the major...
quote:
Originally posted by Misterstone:
<STRONG>I've found that if you are really fast and have a legendary wrestling skill, armor is not absolutely necessary. I've cleaned out entire dark fortresses, killed hydras and titans, and done all kinds of crazy stuff with a character wearing no armor other than a helmet, boots and gauntlets, and no shield. Being fast and having a high dodge skill is enough to stay alive, though I am sure that using armor doesn't hurt if your skill is high and you aren't slowed down.</STRONG>
Did he look like this
If a merchant or child sees you, kill them as quick as possible because they'll start broadcasting your location to every other human in the town. It shouldn't be hard with the new goodies you have.
Ideally before you choose the civ to piss off you want to find an iron goods of superior or so make. Always examine goods, it's tedious (and fills up your legends screen with useless stuff), but a lot of <<Iron>> actually just have well-crafted spikes of deer bone or the like and are merely normally crafted themselves. Merchants are crafty fellows, selling that junk.
If you're really daring, also steal everything of value and go to the next town, but this is just asking to get mobbed by guards eventually due to bad luck. Guard gangbang is right next to Skelly gangbang in terms of suckitude.
[ August 08, 2007: Message edited by: RubberDuckofDoom ]
[ August 08, 2007: Message edited by: RubberDuckofDoom ]
