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[Captain Trek]

This thread is going to incorporate three mortems here, all of which I just played today at the time of posting...

First off, I finally reached level 15 in Angel of Berserk and made Captain... Unfortunately, level 15 also turned out to be the level in which Knuckles (so-named for the Sonic the Hedgehog character of the same name) decided to kark it...

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 DoomRL (v.0.9.8.10) roguelike post-mortem character dump
--------------------------------------------------------------

 Knuckles, level 4 Imp Lieutenant, committed a stupid suicide
 on level 15 of the Phobos base.
 He survived 45178 turns and scored 23317 points.
 He didn't like it too rough.

 He killed 153 out of 238 hellspawn. (64%)*
 He was an Angel of Berserk!


-- Graveyard -------------------------------------------------

  ###########################################################
  .....................................=.....................
  ...........................=........==.....................
  ...................>......===..............................
  ......................^.===.==...........................|.
  .........................====....[....................=.h..
  ..........................===..........................=...
  .........................#...#........................==...
  ...................===.....................M.........==.=..
  B..i...............====..................................=.
  i....................==.=.;...............................=
  .i.h..............h..====#...#..............=..s...........
  .....................|=.==..................===............
  ............s.[.....hh=.===............^...=====...........
  .....................=.=======.........=.==.=.=............
  .......................h..====X..h....=..=..=====..........
  ..........................=.=.=%.......=======.==..........
  ..................^.......=..===...\..========.=...........
  ...............".............==......============..........
  ###########################################################

-- Statistics ------------------------------------------------

  Health -1/50   Experience 6508/4
  ToHit +0  ToDmg Ranged +0  ToDmg Melee +6

-- Traits ----------------------------------------------------

    Hellrunner     (Level 1)
    Brute          (Level 2)
    Berserker      (Level 1)

  Bru->Bru->Ber->HR->

-- Equipment -------------------------------------------------

    [a] [ Armor      ]   red armor [2/4] (45%)
    [b] [ Weapon     ]   chainsaw (4d6)
    [c] [ Boots      ]   steel boots [1/1] (89%)
    [d] [ Prepared   ]   nothing

-- Inventory -------------------------------------------------

    [a] green armor [1/1] (87%)
    [b] blue armor [2/2] (95%)
    [c] blue armor [2/2] (82%)
    [d] blue armor [2/2] (83%)
    [e] red armor [2/4] (41%)
    [f] 10mm ammo (x100)
    [g] shotgun shell (x50)
    [h] shotgun shell (x50)
    [i] rocket (x6)
    [j] small med-pack
    [k] small med-pack
    [l] small med-pack
    [m] envirosuit pack
    [n] envirosuit pack
    [o] envirosuit pack**

-- Kills -----------------------------------------------------

    65 former humans
    21 former sergeants
    9 former captains
    28 imps
    11 demons***
    13 lost souls
    1 cacodemon
    1 baron of hell
    1 pain elemental

-- History ---------------------------------------------------

  He started his journey on the surface of Phobos.
  On level 4 he stormed the Chained Court.
  He flooded the entire level 7 with acid!****
  On level 15 he finally committed a stupid suicide.

-- Messages --------------------------------------------------

 You stop running.
 You use a large med-pack. You feel fully healed.
 You start running!
 The baron of hell fires! You are hit!
 The baron of hell fires! Boom!
 The baron of hell fires! Boom!
 The baron of hell fires! You are hit!
 There are stairs leading downward here.
 
 You enter Phobos Base, level 15. Suddenly monsters come from everywhere!
 You feel a breeze of morbid air...
 You hear the scream of a freed soul!
 The former sergeant fires!
 The former sergeant reloads his shotgun.
 The former sergeant fires! Your red armor is damaged! Argh!!! Lava!

-- General ---------------------------------------------------

 Before him 15 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:*****
 12 of those were killed.

 Some rumours though, say that the Cyberdemon was killed already!
 Is he immortal? 3 souls claim to have killed him...
 2 killed the bastard and survived.
 1 showed that it can outsmart hell itself.

--------------------------------------------------------------
*I began to panic around level 11 or so and, desperate to just make it to level 15 so I could make Captain and not have to put myself through this shit again, I fell back on my "I'll just run past everything" instinct...

**Lol, I die to lava with three enviropacks on my person... It really is a problem not being able to see the tile under an item....

***This was enough to advance my experience rank from Imp to Demon as well (note that I had already killed some Demons in melee in games prior, most of them AoB attempts)...

****After entering level 7 and getting the "in the state of Denmark" message and having enviropacks to burn (I had five on me at that point), I pulled the lever (only after killing everything in the room... silly sausage I am), turned on an enviropack and calmly made my way over to the stairs, pausing only to turn on another one after the first one failed.

*****I made many more attempts at AoB than is shown here, but by manually exiting after it says "you die!" but before the mortem comes up, I am able to avoid getting yet another "Knuckles, level 1 Imp Lieutenant, was killed by a former sergeant on level 2 of Phobos base" mortem...


Once that was done and dusted, I had a look at the new challenges I had unlocked and after having a look at Angel of Red Alert (quitting after deciding I couldn't be arsed, as I'm the kind of player who hates being rushed), I fired up a game of Angel of D&D on HTNR and, as others have said, it actually does seem easier than the regular game and my first playthrough was a smashing success...

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 DoomRL (v.0.9.8.10) roguelike post-mortem character dump
--------------------------------------------------------------

 Shade*, level 10 Demon Captain, defeated the Cyberdemon
 on level 25 of the Phobos base.
 He survived 168191 turns and scored 94265 points.
 He didn't like it too rough.

 He killed 467 out of 471 hellspawn. (99%)**
 He was a real killing machine...
 He was an Angel of D&D!


-- Graveyard -------------------------------------------------

  ###########################################################
  #........X.................................................
  #..........................................................
  #........}.................................................
  #..............................###.........................
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  #......................................###......###.....###
  #......................................###......###.....###
  #......................###.......###....................###
  #......................###.......###.......................
  #......................###.......###.......................
  #.....###.....................................###..........
  #.....###.....................................#>#..........
  #.....###...............................###...###..###.....
  #.......................................###........###.....
  #.......................................###........###.....
  #..........................................................
  ###########################################################

-- Statistics ------------------------------------------------

  Health 48/95   Experience 46232/10
  ToHit +7  ToDmg Ranged +2  ToDmg Melee +2

-- Traits ----------------------------------------------------

    Son of a bitch (Level 2)
    Eagle Eye      (Level 1)

  EE->SoB->SoB->

-- Equipment -------------------------------------------------

    [a] [ Armor      ]   red armor [2/4] (44%)
    [b] [ Weapon     ]   modified BFG 9000 (10d8) [60/100] (S1)
    [c] [ Boots      ]   modified plasteel boots [4/4] (150%) (D)
    [d] [ Prepared   ]   modified rocket launcher (6d6) [1/1] (R1)

-- Inventory -------------------------------------------------

    [a] modified plasma rifle (1d8)x8 [40/40] (S1)
    [b] blue armor [2/2] (100%)
    [c] modified red armor [2/4] (47%) (D)
    [d] rocket (x10)
    [e] rocket (x10)
    [f] rocket (x10)
    [g] rocket (x5)
    [h] power cell (x6)
    [i] power cell (x50)
    [j] large med-pack
    [k] large med-pack
    [l] large med-pack
    [m] large med-pack
    [n] large med-pack
    [o] large med-pack
    [p] phase device
    [q] thermonuclear bomb

-- Kills -----------------------------------------------------

    91 former humans
    72 former sergeants
    15 former captains
    69 imps
    54 demons
    56 lost souls
    22 cacodemons
    9 barons of hell**
    1 Cyberdemon
    7 hell knights**
    31 arachnotrons
    6 former commandos
    2 pain elementals
    5 arch-viles
    8 mancubi**
    5 revenants

-- History ---------------------------------------------------

  He started his journey on the surface of Phobos.
  On level 4 he stormed the Chained Court.
  He flooded the entire level 5 with acid!***
  On level 10 he found Hell's Armory.****
  On level 11 he ventured into the Halls of Carnage.
  On level 18 he ventured into the Spider's Lair.*****
  He cleared the Lair, kickin' serious spider ass!
  Then at last he found Phobos Arena!
  On level 25 he finally defeated the Cyberdemon.

-- Messages --------------------------------------------------

 You enter a big arena. There's blood everywhere. You hear heavy mechanical
 footsteps...
 Boom!
 Fire -- Choose target... The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The Cyberdemon
 fires! You are hit!
 Fire -- Choose target... The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The Cyberdemon
 reloads his rocket launcher.
 You reload the BFG 9000 with power cell.
 Fire -- Choose target... The missile hits the Cyberdemon.
 Fire -- Choose target... The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The Cyberdemon
 hits you.
 You reload the BFG 9000 with power cell. The Cyberdemon hits you. The
 Cyberdemon hits you. Your red armor is damaged! The Cyberdemon
 misses you.
 Fire -- Choose target... The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The Cyberdemon

-- General ---------------------------------------------------

 Before him 16 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
 12 of those were killed.
 And 1 couldn't handle the stress and committed a stupid suicide.

 Some rumours though, say that the Cyberdemon was killed already!
 Is he immortal? 3 souls claim to have killed him...
 2 killed the bastard and survived.
 1 showed that it can outsmart hell itself.

--------------------------------------------------------------
*Also named for the Sonic the Hedgehog character of the same name...

**That's really odd... There were more mancubi than there were hell knights... More barons than hell knights as well...

***Eh, the lever was near the stairs, so just for shits and giggles, I pulled it...

****There was an assault shotgun here, but I decided I neither needed it nor wanted it...

*****Credit goes to both a homing phase device and my plasma rifle... The former prevented me from having to face them all at once and the latter cut through the aracnotrons like a hot knife through butter...


Now I thought that was pretty good, but then I decided to go after my first HMP win as a step towards getting Major... I was going to give just a standard HMP game a shot, but then I figured, "if AoD&D is easier on HNTR, then it's probably easier on HMP too", so I fired up another AoD&D game, this time on HMP and no only was it too a smashing success, but I achieved my first full win since I began playing DoomRL... There was nothing left of John Carmack but a stain on the ground...

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 DoomRL (v.0.9.8.10) roguelike post-mortem character dump
--------------------------------------------------------------

 Shade, level 11 Demon Captain, nuked the Cyberdemon.*
 on level 26 of the Phobos base.
 He survived 166678 turns and scored 174644 points.
 He wasn't afraid to be hurt plenty.

 He killed 659 out of 701 hellspawn. (94%)
 He held his right to remain violent.
 He was an Angel of D&D!


-- Graveyard -------------------------------------------------

  ###########################################################
  ...............................................%B..........
  ...........................................................
  ...........................................................
  ...........................................................
  .....................................B.....................
  ...........................................................
  ...........................................................
  ...........................................................
  ..............................X............................
  .....................................BBB...................
  ..............................B......B.B.......%...........
  .....................................BBB...................
  ...........................................................
  ...........................................................
  ...........................................................
  ...........................................................
  ...........................................................
  .....................................B......BB.............
  ###########################################################

-- Statistics ------------------------------------------------

  Health 64/100   Experience 52691/11
  ToHit +7  ToDmg Ranged +2  ToDmg Melee +2

-- Traits ----------------------------------------------------

    Son of a bitch (Level 2)
    Eagle Eye      (Level 1)

  EE->SoB->SoB->

-- Equipment -------------------------------------------------

    [a] [ Armor      ]   red armor [2/4] (34%)**
    [b] [ Weapon     ]   BFG 9000 (10d8) [60/100]
    [c] [ Boots      ]   modified plasteel boots [8/8] (98%) (P)
    [d] [ Prepared   ]   advanced rocket launcher (6d6) [1/1]

-- Inventory -------------------------------------------------

    [a] modified plasma rifle (1d8)x8 [0/40] (S1)
    [b] blue armor [2/2] (100%)**
    [c] rocket (x14)
    [d] rocket (x14)
    [e] power cell (x18)
    [f] power cell (x70)
    [g] power cell (x70)
    [h] power cell (x70)
    [i] power cell (x70)
    [j] power cell (x70)
    [k] large med-pack
    [l] large med-pack
    [m] large med-pack
    [n] phase device
    [o] envirosuit pack

-- Kills -----------------------------------------------------

    109 former humans
    87 former sergeants
    39 former captains
    108 imps
    62 demons
    41 lost souls
    24 cacodemons
    32 barons of hell
    1 Cyberdemon
    25 hell knights
    13 arachnotrons
    1 John Carmack
    7 former commandos
    4 pain elementals
    8 arch-viles
    14 mancubi
    7 revenants

-- History ---------------------------------------------------

  He started his journey on the surface of Phobos.
  On level 3 he entered Hell's Arena.***
  He left the Arena as a champion!
****
  On level 7 he witnessed the Wall.
  He massacred the evil behind the Wall!*****
  On level 11 he ventured into the Halls of Carnage.
  Then at last he found Phobos Arena!
  He nuked level 25!
  He defeated the Cyberdemon and found the TRUE EVIL!
  Then finally in hell itself, he killed the final EVIL.

-- Messages --------------------------------------------------

 reloads his rocket launcher.
 You reload the BFG 9000 with power cell. John Carmack fires! You are hit!
 Your red armor is damaged! John Carmack reloads his rocket launcher.
 Fire -- Choose target... The missile hits John Carmack.
 Fire -- Choose target... The missile hits John Carmack. Carmack raises his
 hands and summons hellspawn! John Carmack fires! The missile hits the
 baron of hell.
 You reload the BFG 9000 with power cell. John Carmack reloads his rocket
 launcher. Carmack raises his hands and summons hellspawn!
 Fire -- Choose target... The missile hits the baron of hell. John Carmack
 dies. Congratulations! You defeated John Carmack! Press <Enter> You
 hear an explosion! You hear an explosion! You hear an explosion! You hear
 an explosion! You hear an explosion! You hear an explosion! You hear
 an explosion! You hear an explosion! You hear an explosion! You hear the
 scream of a freed soul! You hear an explosion! You hear an explosion!

-- General ---------------------------------------------------

 Before him 17 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
 12 of those were killed.
 And 1 couldn't handle the stress and committed a stupid suicide.

 Some rumours though, say that the Cyberdemon was killed already!
 Is he immortal? 4 souls claim to have killed him...
 3 killed the bastard and survived.
 1 showed that it can outsmart hell itself.

--------------------------------------------------------------
*There was quite literally one move separating a full win from a partial win in this run... When I got to the stairs in level 24, I had already faffed about and was worried my invincibility would run out after I dropped the nuke but before the nuke exploded. I still went though and lo and behold, my powerup holds, the nuke goes off, I survive and, as it turns out, the turn the nuke went off was the very same turn my powerup gave out. Fortunately, the powerup still counts as functional on the turn it gives out... Damn was that ever close...

**I was rather short of armour for quite some time during this run, having to make do with green armour, or even no armour at all for a number of "Phobos Hell" levels...

***Hell's Arena really isn't that difficult when you've already picked up a chaingun before you go there...

****You'll notice I accidentally missed the chained court... It did spawn and I did see the stairs to it, but ultimately I somehow got side-tracked and took the standard stairs...

*****Yea and it only took me something like four large health packs and two or three sets of armour to do it...


Well there you have it, I finally broke through the seemingly insurmountable barrier between myself and captain rank that was getting to level 15 in Angel of Berserk and am now, incredibly enough, actually finding myself having fun with this game again...

Oh see if you can figure out what this thread's title is referencing...

[FrostyTheDragon]

First: I have this feeling your post is going to be forcibly separated into three separate threads, one for each mortem.

Second: I have some familiarity with characters from Sonic the Hedgehog but I'm afraid I don't have the slighest clue who 'Shade' is.  Maybe you mean Shadow?  Or maybe 'Shade' is an alternate name for Rouge?  (Unless 'Shade' is a very recent character....)

Third: I'm afraid I don't really know the title thread reference at all, but I'll take a guess.  Maybe it's from Full Metal Jacket?


With those two out of the way, let's talk bad news.  I believe for one of the ranks - and I hate to say this - you are going to be forced to finish Angel of Berserk.  It's not for Major, though, so you've got a while (and if you can get to level 15 and still have a few large medpacks, there's probably a fair chance of you winning, I would think).

Based on what I heard from the last one (and I realize I'm probably misinterpreting) I have a couple of special level tips for you.

For Hell's Arena.  If at any point you're having trouble doing it without already having a chaingun, try using a combat shotgun (this may work with the standard shotgun too, although I didn't try it that way) and shooting from around the corners of the pillars.  Takes a while longer but with the shotguns' spread and the fact that they ignore accuracy (they're just less damaging farther away), it exposes you far less.

For The Wall, there's actually an easier way.  Shoot out either the far bottom or far top of the wall with rockets, and let the barons come to you.  From there, rockets do enough damage to cause enough knockback to let you reload.  (You'll occasionally take a shot from one that's blasted the wrong way, but it's way easier than slugging it out.)  This won't quite work on Ultra-Violence difficulty unless the arch-viles come out first (which they won't) - you might have to blast more of the wall open on your own to reach them first.  (I don't know strategies on Nightmare! difficulty.)

[Captain Trek]

(Unless 'Shade' is a very recent character....)

Yes, she is... She was the new character introduced in Bioware's Sonic Chronicles... I felt it (as long as I was following the theme of naming my marines after Sonic characters) made sense to name the AoD&D marine after a character who made her debut appearence in an RPG...

Third: I'm afraid I don't really know the title thread reference at all, but I'll take a guess.  Maybe it's from Full Metal Jacket?

Nope, though I have now edited my opening post to hide in it a second reference to the same thing...

With those two out of the way, let's talk bad news.  I believe for one of the ranks - and I hate to say this - you are going to be forced to finish Angel of Berserk.  It's not for Major, though, so you've got a while (and if you can get to level 15 and still have a few large medpacks, there's probably a fair chance of you winning, I would think).

Doesn't matter... The last three challenge modes unlock at major anyway...

For Hell's Arena.  If at any point you're having trouble doing it without already having a chaingun, try using a combat shotgun (this may work with the standard shotgun too, although I didn't try it that way) and shooting from around the corners of the pillars.  Takes a while longer but with the shotguns' spread and the fact that they ignore accuracy (they're just less damaging farther away), it exposes you far less.

Yes, yes... I know that... I was merely noting that Hell's Arena becomes much easier if you already have a chaingun...

For The Wall, there's actually an easier way.  Shoot out either the far bottom or far top of the wall with rockets, and let the barons come to you.

Well that's the thing, I did shoot out the wall at the far top... You mean wait for the barons to come around the hole you make? That could be a problem considering all the monsters naturally gravitate towards the centre of the map and away from the edges...

[FrostyTheDragon]

For The Wall, there's actually an easier way.  Shoot out either the far bottom or far top of the wall with rockets, and let the barons come to you.

Well that's the thing, I did shoot out the wall at the far top... You mean wait for the barons to come around the hole you make? That could be a problem considering all the monsters naturally gravitate towards the centre of the map and away from the edges...

Yes, I do mean wait for them to come.  Let me rephrase how far down you blow up - go far enough down so that no part of the rocket explosion is covered by the very bottom edge of the are (okay, so about 3-4 squares above the very bottom is where you want to hit them).  At least one baron should be down in that part on the other side.  As you continue to blow up parts of The Wall by shooting nearby enemies, you'll get the center open and the barons will start coming to you.


All I can say about the chaingun and Hell's Arena is that I concur.