Bay 12 Games Forum

Non-mutants are actually considerably easier to start off with -- they've got a fairly massive initial stat advantage, much better stat progression, generally considerably more (and more helpful) starting skills, and a very much notable initial equipment advantage.

What they don't have, however, is the ability to set things on fire with their mind. Their grenades and flamethrowers, yes, but not the raw force of their will. Starting with less shiny loot evens out somewhat when you can grow back lost limbs and rip holes in the time-space continuum... but only somewhat. So far, true men have been the easier game for me, while mutants have been the awesome-er game for me

Torches. You'll probably start with them. If not, get one from trader. Wear it in an empty hand. You can light and extinguish them as needed.

You'll also occasionally take swipes at whatever you're attacking with said torch. S'nice.

You can, now, by buying stairs and placing them in your house. Taking said stairs without a stairs down to place afterwards can have... unfortunate consequences.

Iirc, you can win after you pick up a certain number of runes (Probably the full fifteen) and leave. Dunno if having said runes lets you pick up the orb and truck it or just lets you take the stairs, but that's how it was done back in like v.1 or whatever. If you hadn't noticed already, runes occasionally spawn near the entrance stairs, usually after those 'feeling of excitement' or whatever messages, I think.

As to the skills vs 'towers' investment, towers are pretty much always going to be the better idea, up until the point the XP cost gets silly. You can dump them on top of the orb (or better, yet, put a 3x3 or greater grid of plants centered on the orb, then surrounded by damage dealers.) and go do other things. The XP cost of towers is based on the number you have out, not the number you've built previously -- the XP drops when you lose one, and goes back up when you replace it.

It takes maybe 8 or so ice statues before you literally cannot build any more. One of my cheat runs had six or seven statues out, and the XP cost for an additional one was something like 18k. XP pool maxes at 20k, heh.

I think the next time I fire it up, I'm going to check out the viability of mazing. Tentative hypothesis is that you can't, since creatures attack whatever's in their way, but if they don't immediately aggro vs plants, the efficiency of traps can probably be drastically increased. Either way, traps in the right places can seriously boost your chances of survival. Traps are also really good news if you're trying a ranged character, since they can be disarmed for an impressive amount of ammo (upwards 60-70 arrows from a single arrow trap, ferex.). They also don't seem to trigger against you when you're attempting to disarm them, though they definitely can if you just step over 'em.

Biggest trick you can learn for kicking off getting anywhere in ZotDef is that you can drop a sapling (any createable unit, really) on top of the orb and move around reaping the foe's forces. The enemy generally won't attack you unless you specifically get between them and the orb, so if you've got an oklob or plain plant sitting on the orb taking hits, you can move around and freely wreck havoc elsewhere, without quite so much risk of being rotted to death.

Ghouls are probably the best race for getting used to ZotD. They've got a steady supply of food and plenty of quick-healing from the same source and good melee capability, while not being too flimsy. After you get used to things, branching out to other races isn't nearly as brutal... though it's still very, very brutal. The current version has a considerably larger and more consistent number of critters coming down the pipe. It's pretty epic, but also quite vicious.

Last points: If you've got any interest at all of supporting your towers plants and such via spellcasting, make sure to start with the skill. It's going to be a loooong time getting, otherwise. Oh, and grenades can actually do a helluva'lot of damage... but they're pretty dangerous to use. Still, pretty nice thing to drop on a major incoming hoard, providing you can get out of the blast radius.

Mystic blast does alright if you're faster than what you're plinking at and your target doesn't have notable ranged options/you're fully resistant to what it does. Th'winning sprig I got through was using it right up through Zot:5 and the orb chamber. Its damage IS kinda' low, compared to end-game stuff, but it also ignores armor, which can be a noticeable damage boost.

If any of those conditions aren't true, though, you're going to want bigger guns. Ice storm and CL will probably do you fine. Wouldn't hurt to pick up icicle, iron shot, or th'crystal spear, though. Maybe one of the upper tier fire spells.

I don't~

Still haven't bothered to see if whatever made steam not work the last time I used it on this computer is still buggering things up. Probably... probably never will. S'not like I'd actually buy things off of it.

Warband does occasionally sound kinda' interesting, though. There any fantasy-type mods for it?