With having two days off from work, I thought it would be a good opportunity to get Centurial Diamond out of the way (as well as Dervis' Medallion to build towards Heroic Diamond, of which I'm now 7 medals shy from). It's not that hard by Diamond standards (this is before 0.10 greatly enhanced later game A100 and so lategame A100 here largely devolves into a nonstop barrage of VMRB hordes that are more tedious to get through than actually dangerous for a lategame A100 player), but since 0.9.9.7 still disallowed you from saving on Nightmare, you really want a good amount of time to set aside for it, lest you'll be leaving DRL running on your computer overnight or when you're away.
For the build, I just went with yet another Blademaster. I was thinking doing something more unique than the other recorded Centurial Diamond runs, but given the aforementioned inability to save and not wanting to leave the game on overnight, I just went with the build that would get me through the game fastest. When it came to trait order, I do lead off with getting Finesse -> Juggler and push Blademaster back in the process, since having Juggler really helps for an early game that is substantially harder without the guaranteed loot from the special levels, while the lack of a guaranteed Chainsaw means Blademaster won't be quite as strong until later anyway. Unlike in most of my other runs, I do often get two levels of Intuition in A100 mainly to speed the game pace up, but I don't pick it up here until halfway into my traits, as I wanted to get in a strong place combat-wise first before picking up the Intuition levels. And then as usual for my Berserker runs, I avoid getting Ironman to not mess with my Berserker procs.
When it comes to the run itself, I was planning to stair dive at some point as I wanted to get this done in a single sitting, and so in one of the Phobos floors I let two Pinkies go on a floor that would have been annoying to destroy their corpses. However I did end up getting too tired and so did end up just leaving the game running overnight. I came to regret letting those early Pinkies go, as after returning back to the game I ended up getting in a groove that saw me killing nearly everything anyway and so narrowly missed out on getting the only 100% N! A100 run in 0.9.9.7 (the remaining six missed kills must have been enemies that got back up right when I went down stairs, there were some corpses I didn't bother destroying since the chance at 100% kills was already lost). Guess I'll just need to settle for the Centurial Diamond mortem that came closest to 100% :p
Some notes about the run:
* This run had an unusual shortage of Bulk mods for much of it, not being able to make the ever reliable Tactical Rocket Launcher until floor 43. Then when I decided to make a Nanofiber Red Armor not long after that when I had some stretches without Armor Shards that endangered my armor supply, I couldn't find another Bulk mod to make it until floor 68.
* No Uniques spawned at all until floor 44, where it was then just the lowly pre-buff Necroarmor. The second half of the run would have a large amount of Uniques though, including the Laptop Boots on floor 65 that I held onto just in case... which then paid off when I got
Malek's armor on floor 79, and with this being pre-nerf Inquisitor Set, it was nearly IDDQD at that point. I didn't need the Inquisitor Set to win as I was mostly mindlessly rampaging through floors at this point, but still very nice for allowing me to get through the lategame even faster.
* After getting the Inquisitor Set I would finally pick up a level of Ironman for my last level, as I no longer needed Berserker for VMR insurance, and with facerockets no longer damaging, I didn't need to care about facerocketing to trigger Berserker sometimes taking a few more rockets.
* I was able to complete the
Phaseshift Set too, but again since this is the version of Inquisitor Set before its speed nerf, before fluids in later A100 were more varied than "oops all lava!", before fluids slowed down non-flying entities, and before greater enemy variety was introduced, the Phaseshift Set was mostly obsolete. Still held onto it though just in case I ever found a Nano mod to make Antigrav Phaseshift Boots...
* ...Which I never did, nor did I find any other rare mods for that matter until a Firestorm right near the end of the game I could do nothing useful with.
* Also never found any of the special melee weapons, so I had to rely on a P-modded Chainsword for the whole run, which was adequate but it would have been nice to have something that would have let me get through the game even faster. The Dragonslayer as Blademaster would have been the dream of course, especially as the Dragonslayer is one of two uniques I need to find one more of for Armorer Diamond (the other is the Subtle Knife, which as trash as it is, was disappointing to not find, I really do not want to get to a point where I have to intentionally grind out A666 runs to finally get Armorer Diamond...)
* Got a Lava Elemental Cave only a few floors after getting the Inquisitor Set. Not that they would have been a real threat anyway though, as I had Cerberus Boots and 0.9.9.7 has the wimpy pre-buff Lava Elemental.
* I got a couple nuke levels late in the game, but by that point I was going through floors so fast that I would get everything dead and gibbed before a minute even passed.
* I remade a Tactical Shotgun after getting WK2 so I could put a Power Mod on it, but it didn't really matter as 99% of my weapon usage for the last three quarters of the game was meleeing or using the (Tactical) Rocket Launcher to rocket jump, break walls, and destroy corpses. I occasionally shot a group of Formers that were being annoying but that was about it.
* Somehow avoided getting a single Nightmare Arachnotron Cave, which was appreciated as they're the only level type in 0.9.9.7 (alongside the rare yet very deadly Shambler levels) that could have really threatened me, especially after I got the Inquisitor Set.
* I encountered
two Barons with a Ballistic Shield during this run, which both instances at least occurred late enough where it was more amusing rather than the potential run ender it could have been if it happened early in the game (and it allowed me to make use of a Laser Rifle I held onto for about 75% of the run but never actually used otherwise).
This overall only took me one attempt, a nice change of pace after those AoOC Diamonds that were much quicker but required a lot more resetting. Going back to 0.9.9.7 and its version of A100 after experiencing 0.9.9.9/0.10's vastly improved A100, I wonder how I ever enjoyed this mode as much as I did in 0.9.9.7's heyday; almost all the levels look the damn same after only floor 16, the difficulty curve is out of whack (A100's difficulty is even more front-loaded than most other challenges, and you get a big lull in new threats being introduced when you reach the floor 25+ range, until you get a sudden big spike at floor 44/47/50, and then it mostly flatlines again until you get one more big spike with most of the remaining enemies getting introduced at floor 74/77/80), and all those VMRB hordes you punch through for over three quarters of the game can get mind-numbing. I will probably go for Centurial Angelic, but after that I'll certainly be glad to not play A100 in 0.9.9.7 again, especially on N! when 0.10 or even 0.9.9.8 would actually let you save and take breaks without having to leave the game running. Anyway, here is the big mortem:
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DoomRL (0.9.9.7) roguelike post-mortem character dump
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no saves :(, level 25 Cyberdemon Chaos Major Scout,
completed 100 levels of torture on level 100 of Hell.
He survived 1656317 turns and scored 6763834 points.
He played for 16 hours, 44 minutes and 3 seconds.
He opposed the Nightmare!
He killed 4833 out of 4841 hellspawn. (99%)
He was a real killing machine...
He was an Angel of 100!
-- Special levels --------------------------------------------
Levels generated : 0
Levels visited : 0
Levels completed : 0
-- Awards ----------------------------------------------------
UAC Star (silver cluster)
Experience Cross
Dervis' Medallion
Centurial Diamond Badge
-- Graveyard -------------------------------------------------
###############################====########################
====...........................=======..=====..............
====%..........................======.==.====..............
====....................}......====...=.=..==..............
....=..........................====.....=..................
...===.....|....!..............=====...=.......=.===.%.....
=======........................====.===...###====..===.....
.======........................====......=========#==......
=======...#######...#...#.....X====.....#=========#........
====.=...========..#...........====.....#=========#........
======...========#.#....#......====.....###.#/#####........
=======..========#.#....#....|.====....................%...
===..==./========#.#....#.......====.......................
...===...========#.#....#.......====..|....................
..=====..========#.#./.##.......====.........[.............
..=====......#####..........=..====........................
..=====....................=======..===....................
...===..........0..........=============...................
.......%...............00....===========...................
###############################====########################
-- Statistics ------------------------------------------------
Health 104/60 Experience 1241928/25
ToHit Ranged +2 ToHit Melee +12 ToDmg Ranged +0 ToDmg Melee +15
-- Traits ----------------------------------------------------
Class : Scout
Ironman (Level 1)
Finesse (Level 3)
Hellrunner (Level 3)
Reloader (Level 3)
Eagle Eye (Level 1)
Brute (Level 5)
Juggler (Level 1)
Berserker (Level 1)
Dodgemaster (Level 1)
Intuition (Level 2)
Whizkid (Level 2)
Shottyman (Level 1)
Blademaster (Level 1)
Fin->Jug->HR->HR->Bru->Bru->Ber->Bru->MBm->Fin->WK->WK->Int->Int->HR->Fin->Bru->Bru->DM->Rel->Rel->SM->Rel->EE->Iro->
-- Equipment -------------------------------------------------
[a] [ Armor ] Malek's Armor [3/3] (100%)
[b] [ Weapon ] chainsword (8d3) (P)
[c] [ Boots ] Nyarlaptotep's Boots [6/6] (100%)
[d] [ Prepared ] shell box (x100)
-- Inventory -------------------------------------------------
[a] tactical shotgun (9d3) [5/5] (P1)
[b] tactical rocket launcher (6d6) [5/5] (T1)
[c] phaseshift armor [4/4] (100%) (AP)
[d] cerberus gothic armor [0/0] (200%) (A)
[e] rocket (x10)
[f] rocket (x10)
[g] large med-pack
[h] large med-pack
[i] large med-pack
[j] large med-pack
[k] homing phase device
[l] power mod pack
[m] power mod pack
[n] technical mod pack
[o] bulk mod pack
[p] Hell Staff
[q] cerberus plasteel boots [0/0] (100%) (A)
[r] phaseshift boots [4/4] (100%) (A)
[s] rocket box (x20)
[t] rocket box (x20)
[u] rocket box (x20)
[v] rocket box (x20)
-- Resistances -----------------------------------------------
Bullet - internal 60% torso 60% feet 60%
Melee - internal 60% torso 60% feet 60%
Shrapnel - internal 60% torso 60% feet 60%
Acid - internal 60% torso 90% feet 90%
Fire - internal 60% torso 100% feet 100%
Plasma - internal 60% torso 90% feet 60%
-- Kills -----------------------------------------------------
234 former humans
418 former sergeants
410 former captains
327 imps
89 demons
635 lost souls
130 cacodemons
197 hell knights
559 barons of hell
193 arachnotrons
15 former commandos
86 pain elementals
302 revenants
340 mancubi
449 arch-viles
39 nightmare imps
105 nightmare cacodemons
116 nightmare demons
29 nightmare arachnotrons
5 nightmare arch-viles
5 elite former humans
2 elite former sergeants
6 elite former captains
5 elite former commandos
70 bruiser brothers
27 shamblers
30 lava elemental
6 agony elementals
4 Cyberdemons
-- History ---------------------------------------------------
On level 8 he assembled a tactical shotgun!
On level 8 he assembled a tactical boots!
On level 18 he assembled a chainsword!
On level 21 he assembled a cerberus boots!
On level 22 he ran for his life from lava!
On level 23, hell froze over!
On level 25 he assembled a cerberus armor!
On level 28, hell froze over!
On level 29 he assembled a tactical shotgun!
On level 42 he assembled a tactical rocket launcher!
On level 44 he found the Necroarmor!
On level 49 he was bombarded!
Level 51 was a hard nut to crack!
On level 51 he found the Cybernetic Armor!
On level 59 he found the Hellwave Pack!
Level 60 was a hard nut to crack!
On level 62 he stumbled into a nightmare demon cave!
On level 63 he stumbled into a complex full of arch-viles!
On level 65 he found the Nyarlaptotep's Boots!
On level 68 he assembled a nanofiber armor!
On level 70 he was targeted for extermination!
On level 72, hell froze over!
On level 77 he ran for his life from lava!
On level 77 he found the Enviroboots!
On level 79 he ran for his life from acid!
On level 79 he found the Malek's Armor!
On level 82 he stumbled into a lava elemental cave!
On level 83 he encountered an armed nuke!
On level 85 he found the Anti-Freak Jackal!
On level 86 he encountered an armed nuke!
Level 91 was a hard nut to crack!
On level 92 he stumbled into a complex full of revenants!
On level 94 he found the Hell Staff!
On level 98 he ran for his life from lava!
On level 99 he was bombarded!
On level 100 he finally completed 100 levels of torture.
-- Messages --------------------------------------------------
You need to taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
You need to taste blood! There is a Light-Amp Goggles lying here.
You see further! You need to taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
You need to taste blood!
There are stairs leading downward here. You need to taste blood!
You did it! You completed 100 levels of DoomRL! You're the champion! Press
<Enter>...
-- General ---------------------------------------------------
255 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
83 of those were killed.
1 of those was killed by something unknown.
91 didn't read the thermonuclear bomb manual.
And 6 couldn't handle the stress and committed a stupid suicide.
74 souls destroyed the Mastermind...
6 sacrificed itself for the good of mankind.
38 killed the bitch and survived.
30 showed that it can outsmart Hell itself.
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Author
Topic: (0.9.9.7) [N!|A100|99%|YAVP] - 8 kills shy of a 100% Centurial Diamond (Read 45 times)