DoomRL > Post Mortem

[U|AoMC+AoCn|94%|YAFW] - Finally get Scavenger Diamond in 0.9.9.8

(1/1)

Omega Tyrant:
For the complete video of this run, here is the Youtube link.

I put off finally playing Nightmare to get the Scavenger Diamond badge back, which took me over a week. In previous versions, you could cheese this badge by getting Azrael's Scythe and exploiting its altfire, Whisper Of Death, which deals 20 damage to every enemy on the map at the expense of max HP, allowing you to kill every enemy in The Vaults without actually getting inside any of said vaults, technically fulfilling the requirements for the badge. In version 0.9.9.8 however, The Vaults had its spawning depth swapped with Unholy Cathedral, which made it no longer possible to get the Scythe before The Vaults, so now you must actually get inside each of the vaults in order to clear it. 0.9.9.8 also buff the enemy layout in The Vaults significantly; previously on UV difficulty, you just had 4 Archviles in the left vault, 4 Revenants in the right vault, and 4 of both in the center vault, so just coming in Fireproof Red Armor would greatly neuter the enemy thread. In 0.9.9.8 however, the left vault now has 6 Arachnotrons, 6 Barons in the right vault, and 4 of both in addition to 4 Archviles in the center vault. This mixture of different damage types means you can no longer just rely on some easily obtained fire-resistant armor, while Arachnotrons also rack up damage much more quickly even when you have strong armor, and Barons will steal the armors within the vaults to get much more resilient. So you not only need to get lucky, but also have an ideal setup to actually surviving getting teleported into a small room full of nasty enemies. 0.9.9.8 also added an alternative level to The Vaults called House Of Pain, which you cannot get the Scavenger badges in, so half of all runs will be unable to even get a chance at this badge by default (well theoretically anyway, I've been having House Of Pain spawn well more than half the time, enough so that I'm half-convinced there could be a bug giving it a disproportionate spawning rate).

For the actual strategy, first the build. To survive teleporting into the center vault, being berserked is a must and so you want Berserker, which leaves two viable masteries; Vampyre and Blademaster. Blademaster could work, but Vampyre is the clear optimal choice; that 60% resistances from berserk stacks with the 20% inherent energy resistances the Marine has, which when combined with any decent armor, will reduce all damage from The Vaults' enemies to 1. Berserked melee is also very powerful, which will give you the DPS to kill the enemies, and will ensure any Barons that get any good armor will fall swiftly (unless you're unlucky enough for them to get an armor with very good melee resistance). Vampyre giving you HP back for each kill will also keep your health up, which is crucial to keep you from dying to a death of a thousand cuts. Vampyre itself is additionally broken good in 0.9.9.8, which will allow you to rush through the game in a way you wouldn't be able to do with a weaker mastery, significantly speeding up attempts when you're likely going to have make several of them at the least.

Speaking of speeding up attempts, the Scavenger badges don't require a standard game or any specific challenge, so I do a Dual-Angel of Angel of Confidence + Angel of Max Carnage. Normally when it comes to spamming quick attempts, Angel of Overconfidence is the gold standard for starting you off in Hell. However, AoOC will give you only a single floor of preparation, so not only you will be lacking crucial levels when entering The Vaults that could leave you too weak, the odds are very low you'll also find the items you need (at least one Phase Device + decent armor), and then the odds are even lower that you'll actually get into the center vault. Angel of Confidence, on the other hand, provides a middle ground; it starts you off in Deimos instead, which gives you 8 random floors + Tower Of Babel + four special levels, giving more than enough time to get the traits and armor you need, as well as making it likely you'll get the necessary Phase Devices (on average you'll get two over the 8 random floors, if you're lucky you can get more, but if unlucky you could still get none at all). Then by combining it with Angel of Max Carnage to make everything always do max damage and have max accuracy, it'll speed the game up by allowing you to kill enemies much faster, especially as you do need to explore floors thoroughly to find as many Phase Devices as you can and anything else helpful (it is also helpful for killing Formers and Hell Nobles before they use items they may have found, which includes Phase Devices that you need, just be careful to not gib the Formers as that will destroy any items they have). Doing this in AoMC does sound counter-productive to actually surviving getting into The Vaults, and normally that would be a death sentence, but as explained earlier, Vampyre is so strong that it'll still shrug off all those hits for 1 damage as long as you have good enough armor. AoCn + AoMC did result in me dying or quitting out a few times on the first floor, as the game can start you in an unsurvivable situation, but the majority of the time I could survive whatever floor it starts me in.

When it comes to the special levels along the way, doing Hell's Armory/Deimos Lab is a must, which Berserker + AoMC makes the normally tough Shambler fights a breeze. Aside from getting much needed equipment and mods (as well as increased odds at getting a particularly helpful weapon I'll get to in a bit), I really want an Onyx or Nano mod, as Vampyre wants an indestructible or regenerating armor to bumrush through the rest of the game and thus make attempts go faster. If I didn't get a Nano nor Onyx mod from the Armory/Lab, and didn't find a Red Armor on the first floor to at least make Nanofiber Red Armor for some sort of indestructible armor, I would just Q+Y out, but for the majority of runs I got at least one of those. When I got an Onyx or Nano mod, I would try saving it for a Red Armor or something else better than Blue Armor, but if I didn't find one by the end of Deimos 3, I would just put it on Blue Armor, as that would suffice since a berserk Marine's resistances are so strong. With the rest of the special levels, I would do The Wall/Containment Area, as they're easy for Vampyre, while the Backpack + rockets is very handy for a particular strat I'll describe in a bit, and you need some sort of Rocket Launcher to open the left and right vaults, so the guaranteed Missile Launcher is nice if you haven't found a Rocket Launcher yet. City Of Skulls/Abyssal Plains can be skipped, but I do them still to get some extra EXP since they're easy for Vampyre and have lots of rockets. Then I do Halls Of Carnage since I often could use the two mods it has, but would skip Spider's Lair, as I don't really need the BFG nor anything else on the level and am surely strong enough at this point to not need anymore traits.

Now for helpful items, the best thing you want to find is a Napalm Launcher. As mentioned earlier, a Phase Device can't plop you on acid nor lava, so if you find a Napalm Launcher, you can force a Phase Device to put you in the center vault by covering every single outside floor tile in lava before using a Phase Device, guaranteeing you success. A Napalm Launcher is uncommon, but not exceedingly so, and I found it four times in over a dozen attempts. The first three times, House Of Pain spawned... but finally in this attempt where I get a Napalm Launcher in Deimos Lab, I end up getting The Vaults, allowing me to finally succeed. When trying to get Scavenger Diamond this way, you really want to build Cerberus or Lava Boots, to ensure you don't hurt yourself too much when covering The Vaults in lava. An Acid Spitter can be used similarly, but it's much less effective, as the Napalm Launcher just uses rockets and so you can stockpile a bunch of them to cover the entire map in lava, whereas the Acid Spitter will have to "absorb" the acid its single shot leaves behind, which besides being a tedious process, the Acid Spitter will be unable to leave behind a net positive of acid in the thin hallway areas of The Vaults, so you won't be able to cover the majority of floor space with it.

As for total attempts, I didn't keep track, and I Q+Y'd out of most unsuccessful runs, but it was somewhere around a dozen to two. As I said in the beginning, the vast majority of runs had House Of Pain spawn, including all my runs where I had a Napalm Launcher (before this successful run), and/or had several Phase Devices stockpiled. And in runs where I got the Vaults, I either had no Phase Device, or in two cases, a single one, which failed to get me into the center vault (you have a 29.36% chance to get teleported into the center vault, so you need two to have more than a 50% chance, and four to reach 75+% odds). Then there was a run where I got The Vaults with two Phase Devices and an Acid Spitter, but even after covering as much of the level as I could in acid, both Phase Devices failed to get me in (though I at least managed to salvage a Klear Cross out of that run). I took a break for a couple days after that very deflating failed run, but in my immediate next attempt after, I finally did get a run with a Napalm Launcher and The Vaults, netting me Scavenger Diamond at last. Once you succeed and exit The Vaults with everything dead, you can die and still get the Scavenger Diamond badge, but I go and rush through the rest of the game to finish the run.

Now for the mortem:

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 DRL (0.9.9.8a) roguelike post-mortem character dump
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 PLSGIVEMETHEVAULTS,
 level 14 Cyberdemon Lt. General Marine,
 nuked the Mastermind at the Hell Fortress.
 He survived 188054 turns and scored 319446 points.
 He played for 1 hour, 19 minutes and 40 seconds.
 He was a man of Ultra-Violence!

 He killed 920 out of 974 hellspawn. (94%)
 He held his right to remain violent.
 He was an Angel of Max Carnage!
 He was also an Angel of Confidence!

-- Special levels --------------------------------------------

  Levels generated : 8
  Levels visited   : 8
  Levels completed : 8

-- Awards ----------------------------------------------------

  Cyberdemon's Head          Killing the Cyberdemon w/o taking damage
  UAC Star (bronze cluster)  25+ kills without taking damage
  Aurora Medallion           Found more than 3 uniques in one game
  Grim Reaper's Pin          Clear the Mortuary/Limbo
  Hell Armorer Pin           Clear Hell's Armory/Deimos Lab
  Scavenger Platinum Badge   Clear The Vaults by luck
  Scavenger Diamond Badge    Clear The Vaults by luck on UV+

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

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  .........................................................X#
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  ###########################################################

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

  Health 120/60   Experience 95812/14
  ToHit Ranged +12  ToHit Melee +18  ToDmg Ranged +0  ToDmg Melee +9

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

  Class : Marine

    Finesse          (Level 3)
    Tough as nails   (Level 1)
    Brute            (Level 3)
    Juggler          (Level 1)
    Berserker        (Level 1)
    Whizkid          (Level 2)
    Badass           (Level 2)
    Vampyre          (Level 1)

  Bru->Bru->Ber->Fin->Bad->MVm->Fin->WK->WK->Bru->Bad->Fin->Jug->TaN->

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

    [a] [ Armor      ]   blue armor [4] (OPT)
    [b] [ Weapon     ]   Longinus Spear (8d8)
    [c] [ Boots      ]   tactical boots [0/0] (100%)
    [d] [ Prepared   ]   shell box (x95)

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

    [a] tactical rocket launcher (6d6) [3/5]
    [b] plasma rifle (1d10)x8 [40/40] (F1P3)
    [c] assault shotgun (8d3) [6/6] (P1)
    [d] napalm launcher (7d7) [1/1]
    [e] BFG 9000 (10d6) [100/100]
    [f] Angelic Armor [7/7] (100%)
    [g] rocket (x12)
    [h] power cell (x70)
    [i] power cell (x70)
    [j] large med-pack
    [k] large med-pack
    [l] large med-pack
    [m] phase device
    [n] cerberus protective boots [0/0] (100%)
    [o] shell box (x100)
    [p] shell box (x100)
    [q] rocket box (x25)
    [r] rocket box (x25)
    [s] power battery (x120)

-- Resistances -----------------------------------------------

    bullet     - internal 60%   torso 80%   feet 60% 
    melee      - internal 60%   torso 80%   feet 60% 
    shrapnel   - internal 60%   torso 80%   feet 60% 
    acid       - internal 80%   torso 90%   feet 80% 
    fire       - internal 80%   torso 90%   feet 80% 
    plasma     - internal 80%   torso 95%   feet 80% 

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

    43 former humans
    68 former sergeants
    21 former captains
    79 imps
    55 demons
    339 lost souls
    23 cacodemons
    34 hell knights
    50 barons of hell
    34 arachnotrons
    19 former commandos
    46 pain elementals
    39 revenants
    13 mancubi
    31 arch-viles
    10 nightmare imps
    7 nightmare cacodemons
    1 nightmare demon
    2 shamblers
    1 lava elemental
    1 agony elemental
    1 Angel of Death
    1 Cyberdemon
    1 Spider Mastermind
    1 John Carmack

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

  On level 1 he entered Deimos Lab.
  On level 1 he assembled a tactical boots!
  He destroyed the evil within and reaped the rewards!
  On level 2 he assembled a chainsword!
  On level 3 he arrived at the Containment Area.
  He emerged from the Containment Area victorious!
  On level 4 he found the City of Skulls.
  He wiped out the City of Skulls.
  On level 5 he assembled a cerberus boots!
  On level 6 he ventured into the Halls of Carnage.
  On level 6 he assembled a tactical shotgun!
  On level 8 he found the Tower of Babel!
  On level 9 he entered the Vaults.
  On level 9 he found the Cybernetic Armor!
  He managed to clear the Vaults completely!
  On level 11 he invaded the Unholy Cathedral!
  On level 11 he found the Longinus Spear!
  He then destroyed the Unholy Cathedral!
  On level 12 he was foolish enough to enter Limbo!
  On level 12 he assembled a tactical rocket launcher!
  On level 12 he found the Angelic Armor!
  He managed to clear Limbo from evil!
  On level 14 he entered the Lava Pits.
  On level 14 he found the Necroarmor!
  He managed to clear the Lava Pits completely!
  Then at last he found Dis!
  He overloaded a nuclear BFG 9000 on level 16!
  He defeated the Mastermind and found the TRUE EVIL!
  Then finally in Hell itself, he killed the final EVIL.

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

 You need to taste blood! Fire -- Choose target...
 You see : blood
 You need to taste blood!
 You reload the tactical rocket launcher. You need to taste blood! Fire --
 Choose target...
 You see : blood
 You need to taste blood! Fire -- Choose target...
 You see : floor
 You need to taste blood! You feel vulnerable again.
 You wear/wield : a Longinus Spear (8d8)
 You hit John Carmack. You are hit! That hurt! You're going berserk! You need
 to taste blood!
 You hit John Carmack. You need to taste blood!
 You hit John Carmack. John Carmack dies. Congratulations! You defeated John
 Carmack! Press <Enter>...
 You feel relatively safe now.

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

 55 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
 18 of those were killed.
 2 didn't read the thermonuclear bomb manual.
 And 2 couldn't handle the stress and committed a stupid suicide.

 33 souls destroyed the Mastermind...
 2 sacrificed itself for the good of mankind.
 5 killed the bitch and survived.
 26 showed that it can outsmart Hell itself.

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--- End code ---

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