So, whats with those modslots ? Rapid combat shotgun is not advanced enough ?
I gather i must find an actual "Advanced combat shotgun" or something ? Is there at least one guaranteed advanced weapon in the game ?
The Wall should still have an advanced RL, IMO. And AoMr gives you an advanced pistol. The Mortuary has 4 advanced weapons in it, but if you can get through to those then you're likely to already be well prepared and equipped.
Ok, so I want to get as much information on the rank bug as possible, right? So I start an entirely new 985 game, gaining corporal rank with ease after having myself killed on dlvl10. Then I move my new player.dat file into a 987 folder, and start playing there through the command line, to catch anything that might happen. This is where the party begins.
I start a AoMr game, which went mostly as easily as did the 985 ITYTD game, only I find a couple of mods which make my life quite easier. Great! I also happen upon one of those arena levels which just near wipe me out. Not great. Somehow, my phase device lands me just near the top right corner, where the stairs down are. So, I make it do dlvl10 and get myself killed again, to make everything go a little faster. That's when I discover I need to reach at least dlvl 15 to gain sergeant rank. Crap. Well, waybe I'll manage on AoB, right? Wrong. The first few(!) games end terribly, as I 1) descend into a room full of former foos, 2) get stuck on a level full of barrels and sergeants, 3) descend into a room full of lost souls, 4) escape a DIFFERENT room full of lost souls, just to end up in ANOTHER room full of lost souls, 5) descend into a room where the only door leads to a large room full of acid (where, of course, the other doors are very far away) and, finally, 6) open a door and find myself face to face with a demon, after everything was going fine for a change. Of course, I had also died more common deaths by imps and former foos, but amusingly enough they weren't nearly the majority. After many jinxed attempts I finally make it to dlvl5 (%#@*#!), and quickly kill myself before there's a blackout or something. Ok. Then, I start a casual, ITYTD game for dlvl15. If only I had been so lucky earlier: although I found my first RL only right after leaving the Wall unscathed, I also happened across an advanced CG, and I just love CGs. I load it with 2 of each damage and speed mods (of which I found way more than I could carry, and unfortunately I hadn't gone the Wizzkid path) and discover that this causes so much knockback and fires so rapidly the I was taking out HKs and cacos, not to mention demons, without letting them come a single step closer! Hell, most of them were killed some steps back! By the time I reached dlvl16 I decided I should just get killed so I can finish with my little research, but not before taking out an Arach and an AV (though not at the same time) at near point-blank range while taking minimal damage (the Arach actually never even reacted). Indeed, I died a happy camper, and it tells me I became a sergeant. Then - nothing happens. And I don't mean nothing worked - everything's working just the way it should! I leave the game, get back in, everything's fine. I don't think I tried starting a new game yet, but up to now, everything's working like a charm. So, unless I'm missing something integral, going from a 985 corporal to a 987 sergeant doesn't seem to crash the game. I am NOT going to check the other ranks in the near future, if ever :) If we want to investigate further, I suggest a group of our elite players each takes one rank to rise to in 987 with a 985 player.dat file at an already high enough rank. Unless, of course, someone really feels like doing the entire game on both 985 and 987 :P