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Messages - iainuki

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1
Discussion / Some maybe contrarian opinions on master traits
« on: June 14, 2020, 02:39 »
DoomRL's difficulty is enormously tilted to the early game.  This isn't unusual among roguelikes, Nethack and Angband are both other roguelikes I've played with the same characteristic, but DoomRL takes it farther than either of those games.  A character that survives Phobos Anomaly can usually win the game, and one that survives the Cyberdemon is almost certain to, IME.  Because of this, the best choices for the early game are whatever keeps you alive longest.  The game gets easier the farther you go, so even choices that aren't optimal for the late game make sense because you don't need late-game power as much as early-game power.  You can't take a master trait until the mid-game, which automatically means that master traits don't help during the hardest part of the game.  Because of their blocks and requirements, though, they can hurt during the early game, if the master trait you want hurts your early-game survival chances.

Because of this, I evaluate a lot of the master traits differently than some other commentary I've seen, and I'm not convinced that masterless builds aren't straight up better than most of the master traits.

I group the master traits into three rough categories, master traits that don't hurt your early game through requirements or blocks (whether a master trait is any good itself), bad traits with bad blocks and requirements (never useful, don't take these), and good traits with bad blocks and requirements (the hard cases).  To explain which master traits are in which categories though I first need to briefly cover what other traits are good and bad, and those too fall into three rough categories, good for the early game, situationally useful in the early game, and not early game material.

Good Early-Game Traits

  • Intuition: IMO the strongest trait in the game, knowing where enemies are is tremendously powerful for shooting them without getting shot back.
  • Hellrunner: Faster movement reduces the chance of being shot when moving into the sight range of an enemy before you can act, lets you kite enemies and close to melee, and on Nightmare! reduces the speed with which corpses respawn.  Hellrunner also gives a direct defensive benefit for dodges as well.
  • Son of a Bitch: The only direct damage trait for shotguns and rapid-fire weapons.
  • Finesse

Traits Situationally Useful in the Early Game

Most of these traits are only good for characters specializing in a particular type of weapons, and that type of weapon is usually obvious.

  • Brute and Berserker: Melee is the weakest early game weapon, but going berserk from taking lots of damage in one hit is surprisingly useful even for characters who don't use melee as their primary damage source.  Brute and Berserker are typically both needed to do enough damage to make up for getting punched in the face repeatedly.
  • Son of a Gun and Dual Gunner: Pistols are also weak in the early game, and only the huge bonuses from these traits make them viable.
  • Reloader and Shottyman: Only shotguns and rocket launchers need to be reloaded often enough for Reloader to pay off, but it's perfectly possible to use shotguns and rocket launchers without these traits, shell and rocket boxes exist.
  • Eagle Eye: Only rapid-fire weapons really need this trait, though pistols, melee attacks, and most importantly rocket launchers also benefit.  As the prerequisite for Intuition this is also important for all marines and technicians, though unfortunately they may not be able to afford it in the early game.
  • Triggerhappy: Useful for rapid-fire weapons but often a lower priority than Son of a Bitch, Eagle Eye, and Finesse.

Traits Not Useful in the Early Game (or Ever)

Offense is more important early than defense because you can prevent damage with better tactics, so most of the defensive traits end up here.

  • Whizkid: is a great trait but only useful after you get enough modpacks to power it.
  • Juggler: is good for any character who uses multiple different weapons, but usually you don't have enough choices for it to matter until the midgame.
  • Dodgemaster
  • Ironman
  • Tough as Nails and Badass: Badass's knockback reduction is useful for melee characters but isn't a priority even for them.

Master Traits with Good Prerequisites and Blocks

Some of these traits are good, some of them aren't, but they're all playable in a way that other master traits aren't.  The good master traits are considerably better than other traits, and the not-so-good ones still might be worth taking depending on what other traits are available, angel-of challenges you're undertaking, weapons you've found, and so on.  One important note is that the melee and pistol master traits all have weak early games if you aim straight for them.

  • Blademaster: Hellrunner, Brute, and Berserker are the traits that all melee characters want ASAP.  The blocks prevent you from using pistols or rapid-fire weapons well, but shotguns are the best early-game weapon anyways and shotguns plus melee in the endgame is fine.  The free attack after a kill is good but not great.
  • Malicious Blades: Finesse, Hellrunner, and Dodgemaster are good for most characters, and Brute is something all melee characters want.  Son of a Bitch, Reloader, and Son of a Gun are all unblocked so rapid-fire, shotguns, and pistols are all viable.  Losing Eagle Eye hurts rapid-fire and (to a lesser extent) pistols, but weapon choice and mods can mitigate that.  The biggest costs are losing Intuition and Berserker.  The double attack partly makes up for the loss of Berserker, and the resistances are the best part of the trait and useful whether you're attacking in melee or not.
  • Gun Kata: The only painful block is Son of a Bitch, and given you're putting up with pistols in the early game anyways, the only real diversion is Dodgemaster.  The benefits however are situational enough to not be that powerful.
  • Shottyhead: Not having access to Son of a Bitch hurts shotguns and Juggler doesn't do much early on, but the firing speed reduction is a solid bonus.
  • Fireangel: Again, blocking Son of a Bitch is a significant downside for shotguns.  Losing Eagle Eye doesn't matter for a character who only uses shotguns but forecloses Intuition, and limits rapid-fire weapons and rocket launchers as secondary weapon options.
  • Cateye: Cateye and Intuition are some of the best traits in the game, Son of a Bitch is good, and Triggerhappy is useful for rapidfire builds.  The only real downside is that it blocks Reloader and through it Shottyman, which hurts but doesn't foreclose shotguns.
  • Scavenger: Eagle Eye, Intuition, and Whizkid are all good traits though only Intuition is really strong in the early game.  While blocking Berserker makes melee nonviable, it's possible to use pistols and rapid-fire weapons without Dualgunner or Triggerhappy.  How much benefit you get from Scavenger depends a lot on how much luck you have with finding unique and exotic weapons and what modpacks you get from them, ranging from multiple nano modpacks to virtually no modpacks at all.

Bad Master Traits with Bad Prerequisites and Blocks

I don't know if I could justify taking any of these master traits.

  • Bullet Dance: This trait has an awful combination of antisynergizing requirements and blocks.  Rapid-fire weapons and pistols fill the same role, single-target DPS at range, so you don't get a viable two-weapon style out of taking traits for both weapon types.  Son of a Gun 3 is much better for pistols than Son of a Bitch because the attack bonus increases with every level of Son of a Gun.  Triggerhappy does nothing for pistols without this trait, and you can get more shots per second more efficiently by taking Son of a Gun or Finesse.  To add insult to injury, it also blocks Hellrunner and Eagle Eye.  Losing Eagle Eye in particular hurts both pistols and rapid-fire weapons and blocks Intuition.
  • Entrenchment: Tough as Nails 2 and Badass 1 are more or less dead traits, particularly for a non-melee character, and having Finesse blocked hurts rapid-fire weapons and all other weapons too.  Meanwhile, the limitations on chain fire are crippling: it only works on monsters in LoS, it stops when you run out of ammo or get knocked back, and it takes three turns to ramp up to the boost in damage output.
  • Survivalist: This trait has a toxic combination of bad prerequisites and awful blocks.  Missing out on Hellrunner and Son of a Bitch hurts almost all possible characters, and missing out on Berserker means no melee.  The prerequisites are all defensive, and Badass in particular isn't even good at that.  Finally, the benefit is entirely defensive and only okay at that.

Good Master Traits with Bad Prerequisites and Blocks

Some of these traits are considered good, and in specific circumstances they are, but they also have major downsides.  I've never managed to get some of them to work, and others only seem useful in particular challenges.

  • Sharpshooter: Aside from the general weakness of pistol traits early, Sharpshooter's required Eagle Eye 3 is excessive given the base accuracy of pistols.  None of the bans are too awful: obviously losing Dualgunner hurts any pistol build, but it's not essential for pistols, and Son of a Bitch is only mandatory for rapid-fire weapons, which pistols can comfortably replace.  The increased damage and decreased variance from Sharpshooter's ability is quite good, and having to take Eagle Eye 3 does have the silver lining of opening up Intuition.
  • Vampyre: Vampyre only requires one dead trait, Badass 1, since marines don't need the Tough as Nails requirement.  However, the Hellrunner block really hurts all low-level melee characters, and the Eagle Eye and Son of a Bitch bans hurt all non-melee alternatives as well as banning Intuition.  That said, Vampyre offers the best defensive ability for any trait. 
  • Army of the Dead: Like Vampyre, Army of the Dead requires only one dead trait.  The traits it blocks, though, are strong choices for every character: Finesse and thus Juggler and Whizkid, Eagle Eye and thus Intuition, and Hellrunner.  Notably, it's the only shotgun master trait that doesn't block Son of a Bitch, and none of them foreclose melee, pistols, or rapid-fire weapons as secondary choices.  Meanwhile, Army of the Dead's makes shotguns do significantly more damage to heavily-armored enemies, which is useful against many late-game monsters but not as valuable early on.
  • Ammochain: Ammochain has two problems, antisynergizing requirements and the ban on Eagle Eye.  Reloader just doesn't provide much benefit for rapid-fire weapons, and the lack of Eagle Eye increases ammo consumption while decreasing DPS with rapid-fire weapons.
  • Gunrunner: Gunrunner's primary disadvantages are requiring Dodgemaster and Juggler, neither of which are outstanding early, and banning Son of a Bitch, which is the only trait that boosts shotgun damage.  Blocking Whizkid also hurts starting in the midgame.  The extended run duration and ability to fire while moving are quite strong.

2
Thanks everyone!

Hey, you used my build!  :)  Very cool, congrats on your victory!  :D  This is an interesting challenge, since it requires a very different playstyle than usual, but it can be a lot of fun once you get that Gunrunner/Shottyman combo going.  :)

And yeah, I had a similar experience that I was well below 80% kills for most of the run, but the equipment and extra levels of late-game were needed to put me over the top.

I did use your build!  I tested going for Gunrunner first, but without Shottyman you're dependent on finding a combat shotgun to be able to shoot more than once without reloading and even then you only have 5 shots.  Reloader into Shottyman both saves more time in the short run (since Finesse only saves 15% on firing, versus 20% on reloading and Juggler and Dodgemaster barely save any time at all) and makes Gunrunner much more powerful.

I enjoyed the change of pace with the playstyle that (Arch)angel of Red Alert requires.

3
This is definitely the hardest badge I've managed.  How many other players have this one?  I killed 803 characters to get it, and that doesn't count the innumerable quits in Phobos Base Entry because I took too much unavoidable damage.

The mortality stats look like this:

456 entered Hell's Arena.
92 stormed the Chained Court.
30 encountered the Phobos Anomaly.
17 entered Hell's Armory or Deimos Lab.

     45   On level 1 he finally nuked himself.
    341   On level 2 he finally nuked himself.
    160   On level 3 he finally nuked himself.
    108   On level 4 he finally nuked himself.
     73   On level 5 he finally nuked himself.
     28   On level 6 he finally nuked himself.
     18   On level 7 he finally nuked himself.
      5   On level 8 he finally nuked himself.
     11   On level 9 he finally nuked himself.
      5   On level 10 he finally nuked himself.
      4   On level 11 he finally nuked himself.
      1   On level 12 he finally nuked himself.
      2   On level 13 he finally nuked himself.
      1   On level 14 he finally nuked himself.

Early on I usually died from failing to find the stairs, and as far as I could tell a lot of these deaths were unavoidable: I simply spawned too far from the stairs or had to take a 50/50 that took me away from the stairs rather than toward them.  I also often died from running out of health.  I eventually figured out that it was better to wear green armor all the time to make it less likely I would die from too much damage, because the ability to be more reckless when searching compensated for some of the speed loss I took from wearing armor.  I tried playing quickly to get more attempts in, but I finally succeeded when I slowed down and played more carefully.  I don't know if I needed to play the many games I played faster to learn how to finally succeed, though.

I had many frustrating late-game deaths too.  I died instantly when I stepped into the sight range of commandos early on Deimos twice, and another two times I hit early arachnotron caves without any cover and that was equally lethal.  Small rooms levels also killed me twice by running me out of time before I found the stairs.  I miscalculated the distance to the stairs a few times as well, including in Hell's Armory.  One run I discovered that the nuke can go off after you jump in the portal in Phobos Anomaly.

This final successful run had three notable bits of early luck: an agility mod in the Chained Court, a shellbox late in Phobos, and a combat shotgun in a vault that was close enough to the stairs for me to grab it without running out of time, I believe on Phobos 4.  I was seriously low on medpacks at several points in Phobos and had one small medpack left when I hit Phobos Anomaly.  At this point, I have strategies that will almost always clear Hell's Arena and Chained Court without running out of time while also grabbing the modpacks.  In this run, I was short enough on shells that I grabbed the shells in the Chained Court but couldn't afford the time to grab the cells.

The early levels of Deimos are always brutal in this challenge and this was no exception, but there were no levels so difficult that I was completely without medpacks or had to rush through monsters in hope of finding the stairs.  In this challenge you really want to see Deimos Lab rather than Hell's Armory because you can grab the normal modpacks and special weapons without running out of time, but I drew Hell's Armory, which is only good for picking up a plasma rifle (I hadn't found one before it) and some cells.

Deimos 2 was the real turning point where I thought I might have a chance to win because I found a power modpack to make the tactical shotgun and a second agility mod to make tactical boots.  With tactical boots running out of time before finding the stairs is much less of a problem, meaning that if you're going to die, you're probably going to die to monsters.  On Deimos 3 I found an early map that showed me the most items I would ever see on a single level this game: an assault shotgun (note this was right after I made a tactical shotgun), a rocket launcher (I still hadn't found one), a missile launcher, a technical modpack, and two power modpacks.  Unfortunately the power modpacks and the rocket launcher were too far from the stairs for me to make it back in time, so I had to pass on them.  I never saw another rocket launcher, a double shotgun that I could reach, or another power modpack after the two I couldn't reach on Deimos 3, so the only one I ever got went to the tactical shotgun.  I found more bulk modpacks than anything else, and of course they are the least useful in this challenge (and in general).  Aside from the fireproof red armor, the bulk-modded plasma rifle, and the fireproof duelist armor, I also bulk-modded a blue armor that I used to fight commandos, arachnotrons, and cacodemons where I had to trade fire with them.

Containment Area is the branch you want for this challenge, useful for padding your kill count, the crates, a missile launcher, and the rocket box.  Since I already had a missile launcher, the duplicate was superfluous, but the rocket box was important later.  As papilio notes in their description of this badge, it gets much easier once you have both Gunrunner and Shottyman.  Like Tormuse and unlike papilio, I went Shottyman first: my testing showed that it saved more time than Gunrunner during the critical early levels.  I got the combination of both on Deimos 4 or 5.  I didn't think I had enough health to do City of Skulls even if I got that branch, but instead I drew Abyssal Plains which made the decision for me.  Halls of Carnage is better than the Spider Lair (though Tormuse showed it's possible to beat the Lair in AAoRA), for the extra modpacks, a ton of shells, and because it's much easier to get the BFG.  I got an agility modpack to finish tactical armor there, which made it much less likely I would run out of time on the subsequent levels.  There were a couple of places I was nervous about shells before the Halls but after that point I was never in serious danger of running out.  The fight against the Cyberdemon was nerve-wracking, first I had trouble finding the damn thing and was worried I was going to run out of time, but even once I did I ran out of rockets (I went through 4 rockets from the launcher, another 7 from my inventory, and all 20 from the rocket box) and had to finish it with the tactical shotgun.

I was lucky with layouts in both Deimos and Hell, lots of open levels with big rooms.  The BFG was critical at several points: when I came down the stairs next to a commando, a pack of sergeants, and a group of arachnotrons; when I came down the stairs next to a pair of arch-viles accompanied by a commando and a bunch of sergeants; and when I had to deal with arch-viles and groups of mancubi in the clear.  Also, I learned the BFG works with Gunrunner, which wasn't useful but was amusing.  I ditched the chainsaw in the Containment Area for more room for ammo, I'm still not sure if that was the right decision, or if it would have been worthwhile to keep it to pad my kill count in the Unholy Cathedral.  I found a duelist armor and a phase shift armor in Hell 3, and somehow I managed to kill an arch-vile without them being destroyed.  I used the agility mod I found on the same level for the phaseshift armor, which replaced my tactical armor for level exploration, and made the duelist armor fireproof to give me an armor I could fight in without it being as slow as the red armor.  My kill count at the beginning of Hell was only about 78%, which made me very nervous, but with the improved gear and Intuition 1 I managed to almost clear most of the levels, causing my kill percentage to creep up about 1% per level through Hell.

I picked up a homing phase device early in Deimos, and it probably saved my life on a Hell level with big rooms, small causeways between them, and lava everywhere else that was packed with arch-viles, arachnotrons, and hell barons.  I might have been able to make it to the stairs without it, but it would have been a near thing.  Once I got Intuition 2 and Hellrunner 3, I was confident I would win.  The Spider Mastermind was a joke with 30 rockets and a rocket box.

This may be my last DoomRL badge.  For most of the time I spent working on it, I was not having fun because it's so luck-based, and the other diamond and angelic badges aren't looking much better.  Almost all of them also require playing on Nightmare, which I don't find enjoyable.

--------------------------------------------------------------
 DoomRL (0.9.9.7) roguelike post-mortem character dump
--------------------------------------------------------------

 Iainuki, level 12 Cacodemon General Scout,
 defeated the Mastermind at the City of Dis.
 He survived 38646 turns and scored 285394 points.
 He played for 6 hours, 3 minutes and 6 seconds.
 He was a man of Ultra-Violence!

 He killed 655 out of 789 hellspawn. (83%)
 He was an Archangel of Red Alert!

 He saved himself once.

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

  Levels generated : 11
  Levels visited   : 5
  Levels completed : 1

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

  Mastermind's Brain
  UAC Star (bronze cluster)
  Minor Icarus Cross
  Quartermaster Angelic Badge

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

  ###########################################################
  ####################................................#######
  ###################...............####...............######
  ##################.......####.....####.....####.......#####
  #################........####.....####.....####........####
  ################.........####.....####.....####.........###
  ###############..........####..............####..........##
  ##############............................................#
  ##############....####............................####....#
  ##############....####............................####....#
  ##############.0..####............................####&...#
  ##############....####........X...................####....#
  ##############............................................#
  ###############..........####..............####..........##
  ################.........####.....####.....####.........###
  #################........###......####.....####........####
  ##################.......##.......####.....####.......#####
  ###################...........%...####...............######
  ####################................................#######
  ###########################################################

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

  Health 50/50   Experience 61186/12
  ToHit Ranged +0  ToHit Melee +0  ToDmg Ranged +0  ToDmg Melee +0

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

  Class : Scout

    Finesse          (Level 1)
    Hellrunner       (Level 3)
    Reloader         (Level 2)
    Juggler          (Level 1)
    Dodgemaster      (Level 1)
    Intuition        (Level 2)
    Shottyman        (Level 1)
    Gunrunner        (Level 1)

  HR->HR->Rel->Rel->SM->Fin->Jug->DM->MGr->Int->Int->HR->

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

    [a] [ Armor      ]   phaseshift armor [2/2] (58%) (A)
    [b] [ Weapon     ]   missile launcher (6d6) [0/4]
    [c] [ Boots      ]   tactical boots [0/0] (100%)
    [d] [ Prepared   ]   rocket box (x16)

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

    [a] tactical shotgun (8d3) [5/5]
    [b] plasma rifle (1d7)x6 [52/52] (B1)
    [c] nuclear plasma rifle (1d7)x6 [24/24]
    [d] BFG 9000 (10d6) [100/100]
    [e] fireproof red armor [4/4] (90%)
    [f] fireproof duelist armor [1/2] (35%)
    [g] shotgun shell (x50)
    [h] shotgun shell (x33)
    [i] power cell (x50)
    [j] power cell (x50)
    [k] power cell (x10)
    [l] large med-pack
    [m] large med-pack
    [n] large med-pack
    [o] large med-pack
    [p] large med-pack
    [q] phase device
    [r] homing phase device
    [s] power battery (x120)

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

    Bullet     - internal 0%    torso 30%   feet 0%   
    Melee      - internal 0%    torso 30%   feet 0%   
    Shrapnel   - internal 0%    torso 30%   feet 0%   

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

    60 former humans
    80 former sergeants
    41 former captains
    128 imps
    31 demons
    145 lost souls
    40 cacodemons
    15 hell knights
    30 barons of hell
    20 arachnotrons
    18 former commandos
    10 pain elementals
    14 revenants
    3 mancubi
    16 arch-viles
    2 bruiser brothers
    1 Cyberdemon
    1 Spider Mastermind

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

  He started his journey on the surface of Phobos.
  On level 2 he entered Hell's Arena.
  He saw, left a present and left.
  On level 5 he stormed the Chained Court.
  On level 8 he encountered the Phobos Anomaly.
  On level 9 he entered Hell's Armory.
  He decided to nuke Hell's production center.
  On level 10 he assembled a tactical boots!
  On level 10 he assembled a tactical shotgun!
  On level 11 he assembled a fireproof armor!
  On level 11 he arrived at the Containment Area.
  He broke into the Containment Area, but gave up against the overwhelming forces.
  On level 14 he ventured into the Halls of Carnage.
  On level 15 he assembled a tactical armor!
  On level 16 he found the Tower of Babel!
  On level 19, hell froze over!
  On level 19 he assembled a fireproof armor!
  Then at last he found Dis!
  On level 24 he finally defeated the Mastermind.

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

 The Spider Mastermind flinched!
 The missile hits the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind flinched!
 The missile hits the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind flinched!
 The missile hits the Spider Mastermind.
 The missile hits the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind flinched!
 The missile hits the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind flinched!
 The missile hits the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind flinched!
 The missile hits the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind flinched!
 The missile hits the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind flinched!
 You wear/wield : a rocket box (x20)
 The missile hits the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind flinched!
 The missile hits the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind flinched!
 The missile hits the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind flinched!
 The missile hits the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind dies.
 Congratulations! You defeated the Spider Mastermind! Press <Enter>...
 You feel relatively safe now.

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

 2191 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
 1177 of those were killed.
 2 of those were killed by something unknown.
 915 didn't read the thermonuclear bomb manual.
 And 74 couldn't handle the stress and committed a stupid suicide.

 23 souls destroyed the Mastermind...
 15 killed the bitch and survived.
 8 showed that it can outsmart Hell itself.

--------------------------------------------------------------

4
Discussion / Re: Quick questions thread!
« on: May 27, 2020, 21:57 »
In some of Tormuse's mortems for AAoRA, I've seen that that he's visited Hell's Armory at least.  I know how to do Deimos Lab in AAoRA, but I haven't figured out the trick to getting to the important parts of Hell's Armory in time.  What's the trick?

5
Post Mortem / [U|AoMC+AoRA|YAAM] Quartermaster Diamond
« on: May 16, 2020, 19:42 »
This is another badge that took more attempts than by any rights it should have.

I died a few dozen times figuring out the early game, and then I killed some characters at Hell's Armory and Deimos Lab figuring out how to do those levels fast enough, but after I managed to get a nanopack there I figured I would be good.  Even after I fucked up and lost my power red armor to baron acid in Halls of Carnage, I thought I would be good.  Then, I got the world's worst levels for a gunrunner build, level after level of the small rooms layout filled with lava barrels.    What's worse, I had to take repeated lava baths on these same levels, which had drained my health packs so I couldn't afford to keep myself at full health, and I saw no power cells after the Halls of Carnage and few shotgun shells.  I had to cannibalize the BFG's cells for my plasma rifle and almost ran out of those too.  I was on my last shellbox and the shells left over from three sergeants on the previous level when I finally misestimated my line of sight (I suspect a mancubus had line of sight on me without me having line of sight on it) and an arch-vile blast combined with a mancubus rocket killed me while I was trying to gunrunner them to death on another small rooms layout that forced me into close quarters with them, since I couldn't afford to plasma rifle them from outside their LoS because I was almost out of cells.  That was an intensely frustrating loss.

That was followed up by the game where I got a plasmatic shrapnel shotgun and a nuclear plasma rifle from Hell's Armory, and then on Deimos 5 I hit an arachnotron cave entirely out in the open on three sides.  I had berserk from a pack on the previous level, but while I killed most of the visible spiders, the remainder tore me to pieces when the berserk ended.  There was an invulnerability globe close-ish that maybe I could have made it too, but it was at least equally likely that I died because of more spiders shooting at me.

Then, after a few low-level deaths (not counting the usual dozens of quits in Phobos Base Entry), I finally lost three characters to near-misses in Deimos Lab where I almost but not quite finished before I ran out of time and the nuke went off.

This game was unremarkable in comparison.  I got a plasma rifle and immediately made a high-power plasma rifle on Phobos 6, but I didn't get a combat shotgun until Hell's Armory, where I immediately made it into a tactical shotgun.  I cut it close on Hell's Armory, less than 30 seconds, but I could have sped up if I'd needed to.  The phaseshift armor I found on Deimos 2 or 3, and I made it fireproof soon after.  With tactical boots and phaseshift armor plus the decreased numbers of monsters in late Deimos and Hell, I didn't need to worry about running out of time any more.  The rest of the game was forgettable: I had plenty of ammo and saw only one little rooms layout.  I accidentally took Shottyman instead of Gunrunner, and it completely didn't matter.  The phaseshift boots came from the Vaults, and that made the final levels of Hell a joke.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

6
Post Mortem / [U|100%|YAFW] Scavenger Diamond
« on: May 04, 2020, 22:29 »
--------------------------------------------------------------
 DoomRL (0.9.9.7) roguelike post-mortem character dump
--------------------------------------------------------------

 Iainuki, level 15 Cacodemon Lt. Colonel Scout,
 nuked the Mastermind at the Hell Fortress.
 He survived 163347 turns and scored 393430 points.
 He played for 7 hours and 46 seconds.
 He was a man of Ultra-Violence!

 He killed 1293 out of 1293 hellspawn. (100%)
 This ass-kicking marine killed all of them!

 He saved himself once.

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

  Levels generated : 11
  Levels visited   : 11
  Levels completed : 11

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

  Medal of Prejudice
  UAC Star (silver cluster)
  Aurora Medallion
  Conqueror Badge
  Grim Reaper's Badge
  Hell Armorer Badge
  Hell Champion Medal
  Scavenger Platinum Badge
  Scavenger Diamond Badge

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

  ###########################################################
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  .......................................................|..#
  .......................................................X}.#
  .......................................................||.#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ###########################################################

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

  Health 48/40   Experience 117721/15
  ToHit Ranged +0  ToHit Melee +6  ToDmg Ranged +0  ToDmg Melee +9

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

  Class : Scout

    Ironman          (Level 1)
    Finesse          (Level 2)
    Hellrunner       (Level 2)
    Brute            (Level 3)
    Berserker        (Level 1)
    Dodgemaster      (Level 1)
    Intuition        (Level 2)
    Whizkid          (Level 2)
    Blademaster      (Level 1)

  Int->Int->Fin->Fin->WK->WK->HR->HR->Bru->Bru->Ber->DM->Bru->MBm->Iro->

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

    [a] [ Armor      ]   powered red armor [7/7] (99%) (P)
    [b] [ Weapon     ]   Azrael's Scythe (9d9)
    [c] [ Boots      ]   tactical boots [0/0] (100%)
    [d] [ Prepared   ]   BFG 9000 (10d6) [180/220] (B3)

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

    [a] combat shotgun (7d3) [0/5] (S1)
    [b] tactical shotgun (8d3) [1/5] (T1)
    [c] hyperblaster (2d4)x3 [52/52] (B1)
    [d] laser rifle (1d7)x5 [68/68] (B2)
    [e] Revenant's Launcher (7d6) [1/1]
    [f] power cell (x47)
    [g] power cell (x70)
    [h] large med-pack
    [i] large med-pack
    [j] large med-pack
    [k] large med-pack
    [l] homing phase device
    [m] hatred skull
    [n] Hell Staff
    [o] cerberus steel boots [0/0] (100%)
    [p] shell box (x100)
    [q] shell box (x100)
    [r] rocket box (x20)
    [s] power battery (x120)

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

    Bullet     - internal 60%   torso 60%   feet 60% 
    Melee      - internal 60%   torso 85%   feet 60% 
    Shrapnel   - internal 60%   torso 60%   feet 60% 
    Acid       - internal 85%   torso 85%   feet 85% 
    Fire       - internal 85%   torso 95%   feet 85% 
    Plasma     - internal 60%   torso 60%   feet 60% 

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

    112 former humans
    82 former sergeants
    58 former captains
    158 imps
    89 demons
    439 lost souls
    45 cacodemons
    39 hell knights
    66 barons of hell
    26 arachnotrons
    20 former commandos
    47 pain elementals
    35 revenants
    24 mancubi
    30 arch-viles
    12 nightmare demons
    2 bruiser brothers
    2 shamblers
    1 lava elemental
    1 agony elemental
    1 Angel of Death
    1 Cyberdemon
    1 Spider Mastermind
    1 John Carmack
    1 Arena Master

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

  He started his journey on the surface of Phobos.
  On level 2 he entered Hell's Arena.
  He left the Arena as a champion!
  On level 5 he stormed the Chained Court.
  On level 5 he found the Arena Master's Staff!
  He defeated the Hell Arena Master!
  On level 6 he assembled a tactical shotgun!
  On level 7 he sneaked into the Phobos Lab.
  He broke through the lab.
  On level 8 he encountered the Phobos Anomaly.
  On level 9 he entered Deimos Lab.
  He destroyed the evil within and reaped the rewards!
  On level 11 he witnessed the Wall.
  He massacred the evil behind the Wall!
  On level 12 he assembled a power armor!
  On level 12 he assembled a hyperblaster!
  On level 12 he romped upon the Abyssal Plains.
  He slaughtered the beasts living there.
  On level 13 he found the Acid Spitter!
  On level 14 he found the Revenant's Launcher!
  On level 14 he ventured into the Halls of Carnage.
  On level 16 he found the Tower of Babel!
  On level 17 he assembled a tactical boots!
  On level 17 he invaded the Unholy Cathedral!
  On level 17 he found the Azrael's Scythe!
  He then destroyed the Unholy Cathedral!
  On level 19 he entered the Vaults.
  On level 19 he found the Charch's Null Pointer!
  He managed to clear the Vaults completely!
  On level 20 he found the Hell Staff!
  On level 20 he assembled a cerberus boots!
  On level 20 he was foolish enough to enter the Mortuary!
  On level 20 he found the Angelic Armor!
  He managed to clear the Mortuary from evil!
  On level 22 he arrived at Mt. Erebus.
  He managed to raise Mt. Erebus completely!
  Then at last he found Dis!
  He overloaded a nuclear BFG 9000 on level 24!
  He defeated the Mastermind and found the TRUE EVIL!
  Then finally in Hell itself, he killed the final EVIL.

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

 You see : John Carmack (unhurt) | floor | [ m ]ore
 The missile hits the lost soul. The lost soul dies. The lost soul dies. The
 lost soul dies. The lost soul dies. The lost soul dies. The lost soul dies.
 The lost soul dies. The lost soul dies. The lost soul dies. The lost soul
 dies. The lost soul dies. The lost soul dies. The lost soul dies. The lost
 soul dies. The lost soul dies.
 You swap your weapons. You are hit! That hurt! You' going berserk! You feel
 like a killing machine! You need to taste blood!
 You need to taste blood!
 John Carmack reloads his rocket launcher. You need to taste blood!
 You hit John Carmack. You need to taste blood!
 You hit John Carmack. You need to taste blood!
 You hit John Carmack. You're going berserk! You need to taste blood!
 You hit John Carmack. John Carmack dies. Congratulations! You defeated John
 Carmack! Press <Enter>...
 You feel relatively safe now. Next!

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

 1232 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
 1123 of those were killed.
 2 of those were killed by something unknown.
 20 didn't read the thermonuclear bomb manual.
 And 67 couldn't handle the stress and committed a stupid suicide.

 20 souls destroyed the Mastermind...
 12 killed the bitch and survived.
 8 showed that it can outsmart Hell itself.

--------------------------------------------------------------

This one took more attempts than it should have because I had to learn how to play without Son of a Bitch, which means weak rapid-fire weapons and generally low DPS.  I wanted to do Unholy Cathedral so I'd have a guaranteed way to get Scavenger Diamond, which meant melee, and I thought I'd try out Blademaster since I'd never done that trait before.  This and some terrible luck led to some failures:

  • Sloppily died to a former commando after finishing a ripper and the Wall on Deimos 4
  • Died to a baron of hell on Deimos 4 after running out of armor and medpacks.  The guaranteed red armor in Phobos Anomaly got wrecked when a phase device dropped me right next to the bruiser brothers, and while I picked up some blues to replace it in Hell's Armory, those also got destroyed by barons.  I did Containment Area with a green armor I found in a supply crate there that got destroyed, and that drained my medpacks.  On Deimos 4 a baron finally got me.  I only found one power mod ever this run which really crippled my ability to assemble useful gear, and got no special mod from Hell's Armory.
  • Another game I also lost the Phobos Anomaly red to the bruiser brother because I phase-deviced on top of them.  Hell's Armory gave me an onyx modpack, then I found a random nano modpack on the ground on the next level---but I had no armor to use it with, the blue armor from Hell's Armory had gotten destroyed.  On the next level I finally got a red armor to make cybernano.  However, I found no health globes or medpacks (they spawned on the levels but got picked up and used by barons/hell knights) all the way down to Deimos 6.  The forced lava bath on Halls of Carnage plus the acid spam from barons was too much for my one remaining medpack even with cybernano armor.  I half gave up in disgust after not having enough health to do City of Skulls.
  • Of the seven modpacks (six guaranteed) before trying to fight the shamblers in Deimos Lab, five of them were bulk modpacks.  I made a gatling gun and tactical rocket launcher, but neither of those could take out shamblers, so I died.

This game I was chronically short of power modpacks, which is why I ended the game without a plasmatic shrapnel shotgun even though Deimos Lab gave me a sniper modpack.  The laser rifle also came from Deimos Lab.  I thought a burst cannon was probably the best use of the accuracy bonus given that I wanted to use the nano modpack for armor since I was building towards melee.  The battle with the shamblers was more exciting than I would have liked given that I was using a T2 plasma rifle (I didn't have the final agility modpack for the hyperblaster), but that turned out to be sufficient with Hellrunner 2 and blue armor backing it up.  The Wall took more or less all my cells and shells, I was using my chainsaw on the next level to conserve ammo until I could kill enough sergeants.  That level let me finish my power armor and hyperblaster, though, and after that point the game became steadily easier.  I had berserker by the Halls of Carnage which made them a lot more doable, plus I phase-deviced myself into the middle to buy some time to blow through the walls and kill barons in the last section.  The Revenant's Launcher made things even easier and Azrael's Scythe, as always, turns the game into a total joke.  I tore through the Mortuary so quickly I didn't even make level 16 before I finished the game.  John Carmack summoned some lost souls I used the BFG to clear before I closed to melee, but after that I tore through him in a couple of rounds.

7
The Trigun, after all, is a portable nuke, it's enough to justify carrying it once found. Even in AoP with no invulnerability globes you can have a lava element. Sometimes (?) you can do like this: wield Trigun, eat the element, use the Angel Arm, use a homie, get the stairs (a homie in Dis does NOT drop you right on the stairs but rather pretty close to them) and you may still have 1 action of invulnerability to nuke out the JC.

Do you have time to do all that?  I'm not sure I understand how invulnerability is counted.  I think it's based on player actions rather than game turns, so being faster doesn't make invulnerability last longer?  How long does invulnerability from the lava element last?  I've never used the Trigun's nuke, does it go off instantaneously unlike overcharging the nuclear BFG?

8
I'm a bit surprised knives do much to the AoD at all, given it has 10 armor.  Base damage for a knife is 2d5, with AoMC that's 10, with SoB you'd expect to do 2 damage unless there's some other effect I'm discounting.  That's a lot of knife hits.  How many inventory slots do you need for this, and how do you pick up the thrown knives?  I've seen papilio/frozenca use high movement and attack speeds to beat the AoD by attacking and moving away, but this requires high confidence in your movement and knowledge of the speed system.  I will definitely have to keep knives in mind for dealing with the lost souls, for both melee and non-melee Unholy Cathedral though.

9
Post Mortem / [U|AoMC+AoMs|100%|YAFW] Masochist Platinum
« on: April 30, 2020, 23:46 »
--------------------------------------------------------------
 DoomRL (0.9.9.7) roguelike post-mortem character dump
--------------------------------------------------------------

 Iainuki, level 16 Cacodemon Lt. Colonel Scout,
 nuked the Mastermind at the Hell Fortress.
 He survived 159907 turns and scored 416699 points.
 He played for 7 hours, 6 minutes and 54 seconds.
 He was a man of Ultra-Violence!

 He killed 1331 out of 1331 hellspawn. (100%)
 This ass-kicking marine killed all of them!
 He was an Angel of Max Carnage!
 He was also an Angel of Masochism!

 He saved himself 2 times.

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

  Levels generated : 11
  Levels visited   : 10
  Levels completed : 10

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

  Cyberdemon's Head
  Medal of Prejudice
  UAC Star (gold cluster)
  Aurora Medallion
  Untouchable Badge
  Grim Reaper's Badge
  Shambler's Head
  Chessmaster's Token
  Hell Champion Medal
  Masochist Gold Badge
  Masochist Platinum Badge

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

  ###########################################################
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ..................................................|X......#
  ................................................|||.......#
  ................................................|}|.......#
  ................................................|||.......#
  ................................................|.|.......#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ###########################################################

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

  Health 48/50   Experience 126108/16
  ToHit Ranged +12  ToHit Melee +12  ToDmg Ranged +2  ToDmg Melee +2

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

  Class : Scout

    Finesse          (Level 3)
    Hellrunner       (Level 3)
    Son of a bitch   (Level 2)
    Dodgemaster      (Level 1)
    Intuition        (Level 2)
    Whizkid          (Level 2)
    Triggerhappy     (Level 2)
    Cateye           (Level 1)

  Int->Int->SoB->SoB->TH->MCe->Fin->Fin->WK->WK->HR->HR->DM->TH->HR->Fin->

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

    [a] [ Armor      ]   powered red armor [7/7] (98%) (P)
    [b] [ Weapon     ]   hyperblaster (2d4)x5 [19/40] (F1)
    [c] [ Boots      ]   cerberus plasteel boots [0/0] (100%) (A)
    [d] [ Prepared   ]   power battery (x80)

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

    [a] combat shotgun (8d3) [5/5] (P1)
    [b] missile launcher (6d6) [4/4]
    [c] BFG 9000 (10d6) [169/169] (B2)
    [d] Acid Spitter (10d10) [10/10] {a}
    [e] Angelic Armor [7/7] (100%)
    [f] shotgun shell (x46)
    [g] power cell (x20)
    [h] homing phase device
    [i] power mod pack
    [j] technical mod pack
    [k] shockwave pack
    [l] hatred skull
    [m] Hell Staff
    [n] tactical boots [0/0] (100%) (A)
    [o] phaseshift boots [4/4] (100%) (A)
    [p] shell box (x100)
    [q] shell box (x28)
    [r] rocket box (x20)
    [s] power battery (x80)

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

    Melee      - internal 0%    torso 25%   feet 0%   
    Acid       - internal 25%   torso 25%   feet 100%
    Fire       - internal 25%   torso 75%   feet 100%

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

    90 former humans
    78 former sergeants
    53 former captains
    176 imps
    56 demons
    457 lost souls
    42 cacodemons
    20 hell knights
    55 barons of hell
    36 arachnotrons
    22 former commandos
    56 pain elementals
    48 revenants
    55 mancubi
    39 arch-viles
    11 nightmare imps
    8 nightmare cacodemons
    1 nightmare demon
    7 elite former humans
    5 elite former sergeants
    5 elite former captains
    2 elite former commandos
    2 bruiser brothers
    1 shambler
    1 lava elemental
    1 agony elemental
    1 Cyberdemon
    1 Spider Mastermind
    1 John Carmack
    1 Arena Master

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

  He started his journey on the surface of Phobos.
  On level 2 he entered Hell's Arena.
  He left the Arena as a champion!
  On level 5 he stormed the Chained Court.
  On level 5 he found the Arena Master's Staff!
  He defeated the Hell Arena Master!
  On level 5 he assembled a gatling gun!
  On level 7 he marched into the Military Base.
  He purified his fellow comrades.
  On level 8 he encountered the Phobos Anomaly.
  On level 9 he entered Hell's Armory.
  He destroyed the evil within and reaped the rewards!
  On level 11 he arrived at the Containment Area.
  On level 11 he assembled a power armor!
  On level 11 he assembled a hyperblaster!
  He emerged from the Containment Area victorious!
  On level 12 he found the City of Skulls.
  He wiped out the City of Skulls.
  On level 14 he ventured into the Spider's Lair.
  He cleared the Lair, kickin' serious spider ass!
  On level 16 he found the Tower of Babel!
  He left level 16 as soon as possible.
  On level 17 he assembled a tactical boots!
  On level 17 he found the Hell Staff!
  On level 18 he assembled a cerberus boots!
  On level 19 he encountered an armed nuke!
  On level 19 he entered the Vaults.
  On level 19 he found the Acid Spitter!
  He cracked the Vaults and cleared them out!
  On level 20 he was foolish enough to enter Limbo!
  On level 20 he found the Angelic Armor!
  He managed to clear Limbo from evil!
  On level 21 he found the Medical Powerarmor!
  On level 22 he arrived at Mt. Erebus.
  On level 22 he found the Cybernetic Armor!
  He managed to raise Mt. Erebus completely!
  Then at last he found Dis!
  He overloaded a nuclear BFG 9000 on level 24!
  He defeated the Mastermind and found the TRUE EVIL!
  Then finally in Hell itself, he killed the final EVIL.

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

 The missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack. The missile
 hits John Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits John
 Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack.
 Fire -- Choose target...
 You see : John Carmack (mortally wounded) | floor | [ m ]ore
 The missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack. The missile
 hits John Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits John
 Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack.
 Carmack raises his hands and summons hellspawn!
 Fire -- Choose target...
 You see : John Carmack (almost dead) | floor | [ m ]ore
 The missile hits the revenant. The missile hits the revenant. The missile
 hits the revenant. The missile hits the revenant. The revenant dies. The
 missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack. John Carmack dies.
 Congratulations! You defeated John Carmack! Press <Enter>...
 You feel relatively safe now.

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

 1216 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
 1109 of those were killed.
 2 of those were killed by something unknown.
 20 didn't read the thermonuclear bomb manual.
 And 66 couldn't handle the stress and committed a stupid suicide.

 19 souls destroyed the Mastermind...
 12 killed the bitch and survived.
 7 showed that it can outsmart Hell itself.

--------------------------------------------------------------

I realized after posting my Inquisitor Platinum that there was actually another one that needed to be in this series: Masochist Platinum. Technically, I didn't need to play this on UV, just on HMP, but I did it on UV anyways.

Like the others, Angel of Masochism is all about not being hit.  How do you avoid being hit?  Angel of Mass Carnage plus Cat-Eye.  I kept the red armor I got from the Arena fixed all the way through the end of the game (I turned it into the power armor you see on me eventually).  Chained Court was a little more exciting than I like but a timely level-up saved me.  I got a plasma rifle before Military Base, which is all a Cat-Eye build needs to shred through the formers there.  I had a phase device for Phobos Anomaly, and it teleported me into the safe region, so I did it without taking damage.  Hell's Armory turned up a firestorm modpack and and a nano pack.  I had to wait until I killed the arch-vile and most of the barons in the Containment Area to reach Whizkid 2, at which point I assembled my hyperblaster and power armor.  I decided the best use of the nano pack was power red armor given that I had no exotic armor available, and I was playing Angel of Masochism.  I stand by this choice.  I got a ton of agility modpacks this game: at one point I had 4 of them in my inventory, waiting for steel boots and a power modpack to finish my cerberus boots.  Power modpacks were scarce, and I barely had enough for my power armor, another for it, and to finish the cerberus boots before Mt. Erebus.  Of course, with P-modded power armor, a firestorm-modded hyperblaster, and eventually tactical and cerberus boots, I had no trouble with the endgame.

10
Post Mortem / [U|AoMC+AoP|100%|YAFW] Inquisitor Platinum
« on: April 28, 2020, 20:42 »
--------------------------------------------------------------
 DoomRL (0.9.9.7) roguelike post-mortem character dump
--------------------------------------------------------------

 Iainuki, level 16 Cacodemon Lt. Colonel Scout,
 nuked the Mastermind at the Hell Fortress.
 He survived 169773 turns and scored 425286 points.
 He played for 4 hours, 52 minutes and 6 seconds.
 He was a man of Ultra-Violence!

 He killed 1132 out of 1132 hellspawn. (100%)
 This ass-kicking marine killed all of them!
 He was an Angel of Max Carnage!
 He was also an Angel of Purity!

 He saved himself once.

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

  Levels generated : 11
  Levels visited   : 10
  Levels completed : 10

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

  Medal of Prejudice
  UAC Star (gold cluster)
  Aurora Medallion
  Untouchable Badge
  Grim Reaper's Badge
  Hell Armorer Badge
  Hell Champion Medal
  Inquisitor Gold Badge
  Inquisitor Platinum Badge

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

  ###########################################################
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ......................................................|}..#
  .......................................................||.#
  ................................................X.........#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ###########################################################

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

  Health 50/50   Experience 130476/16
  ToHit Ranged +12  ToHit Melee +12  ToDmg Ranged +2  ToDmg Melee +2

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

  Class : Scout

    Finesse          (Level 3)
    Hellrunner       (Level 3)
    Son of a bitch   (Level 2)
    Dodgemaster      (Level 1)
    Intuition        (Level 2)
    Whizkid          (Level 2)
    Triggerhappy     (Level 2)
    Cateye           (Level 1)

  Int->Int->SoB->SoB->TH->MCe->Fin->Fin->WK->WK->HR->HR->DM->Fin->HR->TH->

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

    [a] [ Armor      ]   red armor [6] (AOP)
    [b] [ Weapon     ]   burst plasma rifle (1d9)x8 [30/80]
    [c] [ Boots      ]   steel boots [1/1] (100%) (A)
    [d] [ Prepared   ]   BFG 9000 (12d6) [121/130] (B1P2)

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

    [a] tactical shotgun (9d3) [5/5] (P1)
    [b] hyperblaster (2d4)x3 [40/40] (T1)
    [c] tristar blaster (4d5)x3 [0/45]
    [d] missile launcher (6d6) [4/4]
    [e] Railgun (8d8) [40/40]
    [f] shotgun shell (x50)
    [g] shotgun shell (x50)
    [h] large med-pack
    [i] large med-pack
    [j] large med-pack
    [k] large med-pack
    [l] large med-pack
    [m] large med-pack
    [n] homing phase device
    [o] cerberus steel boots [0/0] (100%) (A)
    [p] shell box (x100)
    [q] shell box (x83)
    [r] shell box (x100)
    [s] power battery (x120)

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

    Fire       - internal 0%    torso 25%   feet 0%   

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

    82 former humans
    84 former sergeants
    45 former captains
    164 imps
    101 demons
    255 lost souls
    38 cacodemons
    27 hell knights
    72 barons of hell
    42 arachnotrons
    15 former commandos
    29 pain elementals
    65 revenants
    17 mancubi
    44 arch-viles
    7 nightmare imps
    5 nightmare cacodemons
    12 nightmare demons
    7 elite former humans
    5 elite former sergeants
    5 elite former captains
    2 elite former commandos
    2 bruiser brothers
    1 shambler
    1 lava elemental
    1 agony elemental
    1 Cyberdemon
    1 Spider Mastermind
    1 John Carmack
    1 Arena Master

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

  He started his journey on the surface of Phobos.
  On level 2 he entered Hell's Arena.
  He left the Arena as a champion!
  On level 5 he stormed the Chained Court.
  On level 5 he found the Arena Master's Staff!
  He defeated the Hell Arena Master!
  On level 7 he marched into the Military Base.
  He purified his fellow comrades.
  On level 8 he encountered the Phobos Anomaly.
  On level 9 he entered Hell's Armory.
  He destroyed the evil within and reaped the rewards!
  Level 11 was a hard nut to crack!
  On level 11 he witnessed the Wall.
  On level 11 he assembled a hyperblaster!
  On level 11 he assembled a burst cannon!
  He massacred the evil behind the Wall!
  On level 12 he assembled a cerberus boots!
  On level 12 he romped upon the Abyssal Plains.
  He slaughtered the beasts living there.
  On level 13 he assembled a tactical shotgun!
  On level 14 he ventured into the Spider's Lair.
  He cleared the Lair, kickin' serious spider ass!
  On level 16 he found the Tower of Babel!
  He left level 16 as soon as possible.
  On level 17 he found the Railgun!
  On level 19 he entered the Vaults.
  On level 19 he found the Trigun!
  He cracked the Vaults and cleared them out!
  On level 20 he was foolish enough to enter Limbo!
  On level 20 he found the Angelic Armor!
  He managed to clear Limbo from evil!
  On level 22 he entered the Lava Pits.
  He managed to clear the Lava Pits completely!
  Then at last he found Dis!
  He overloaded a nuclear BFG 9000 on level 24!
  He defeated the Mastermind and found the TRUE EVIL!
  Then finally in Hell itself, he killed the final EVIL.

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

 Fire -- Choose target...
 You see : Iainuki (unhurt) | floor | [ m ]ore
 Targeting canceled.
 Fire -- Choose target...
 You see : John Carmack (severely wounded) | floor | [ m ]ore
 The missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack. The missile
 hits John Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits John
 Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack. The
 missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack.
 Fire -- Choose target...
 You see : John Carmack (mortally wounded) | pool of blood | [ m ]ore
 The missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack. The missile
 hits John Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits John
 Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack. John
 Carmack dies. Congratulations! You defeated John Carmack! Press <Enter>...
 You feel relatively safe now.

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

 1209 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
 1104 of those were killed.
 2 of those were killed by something unknown.
 20 didn't read the thermonuclear bomb manual.
 And 65 couldn't handle the stress and committed a stupid suicide.

 18 souls destroyed the Mastermind...
 12 killed the bitch and survived.
 6 showed that it can outsmart Hell itself.

--------------------------------------------------------------

The same idea as Eagerness Platinum.  On the whole I think Purity is easier, the ability to store health in the form of medpacks is simply more important than any of the abilities powerups provide.  The biggest problem Purity faces is having no way except Armor Depots to repair armor.

The beginning of this run started normally enough.  It's worth noting that the one and only time it's possible to get berserker without the Berserker trait is picking up the chainsaw in the Chained Court.  I saved this for dealing with the Arena Master.  On AoMC at least with any kind of ranged-build character it's far better to gun down the Arena Master while berserk than to try the chainsaw.  I suspect this may hold true without AoMC too.  I had a double shotgun and a shell box so naturally I got Military Base rather than Phobos Lab (since you can deal easily with the nightmare demons with a double shotgun and shell box even if you aren't on AoMC).  The only real annoyance I had to deal with was lacking a combat shotgun until I finished Military Base and lacking a plasma rifle until Hell's Armory.  I took damage immediately after the ambush in Phobos Anomaly, before I had a chance to move, and when I used a phase device it took me right next to one of the bruiser brothers, who proceeded to helpfully take my red armor down to 68% or so.  A commando took it down to 53% in Hell's Armory and I was planning a replacement until I saw that for once, instead of a schematic, for once I'd gotten an onyx modpack.  I put it on my P-modded red armor (I had Whizkid 1 after killing the Shambler) and that solved my armor problems for the rest of the game.

Honestly, once I had indestructible 6-protection armor I coasted the rest of the game.  I did The Wall just for the experience, hit Whizkid 2 there, and immediately assembled my hyperblaster.  I had no chance of beating the Cyberdemon damageless since he spawned two tiles diagonally down from me, so I just gunned him down as fast as possible and took one point-blank hit while doing so.  For the first and only time, I saw some potentially useful gear in the Vaults, two phaseshift armors and the Trigun, but none of it was useful to me as I already had committed to my POA red armor and wasn't using pistols.  The Railgun is an interesting weapon that I never really found a use for on the levels I saw.  In Hell I was finding medkits faster than I was using them and was tearing through the levels.  For some reason the mortem doesn't include the arachnotron cavern I saw, but you definitely know your character is strong when you encounter one of those and think, "Oh, I needed some more cells anyways."  John Carmack didn't even get a shot in.

11
Post Mortem / [U|AoMC+AoI|YAAM] Eagerness Platinum
« on: April 28, 2020, 15:55 »
--------------------------------------------------------------
 DoomRL (0.9.9.7) roguelike post-mortem character dump
--------------------------------------------------------------

 Iainuki, level 15 Cacodemon 1st Lieutenant Scout,
 defeated the Mastermind at the City of Dis.
 He survived 145527 turns and scored 324454 points.
 He played for 4 hours, 57 minutes and 12 seconds.
 He was a man of Ultra-Violence!

 He killed 1258 out of 1258 hellspawn. (100%)
 This ass-kicking marine killed all of them!
 He was an Angel of Max Carnage!
 He was also an Angel of Impatience!

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

  Levels generated : 11
  Levels visited   : 9
  Levels completed : 9

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

  Cyberdemon's Head
  Mastermind's Brain
  Medal of Prejudice
  UAC Star (silver cluster)
  Grim Reaper's Badge
  Hell Armorer Badge
  Chessmaster's Token
  Hell Champion Medal
  Lava Silver Badge
  Eagerness Silver Badge
  Eagerness Gold Badge
  Eagerness Platinum Badge

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

  ###########################################################
  ###################...........X....................########
  ##################...............####...............#######
  #################......%####.....####.....####.......######
  ################........####.....####.....####........#####
  ###############.........####.....####.....####.........####
  ##############..........####..............####..........###
  #############............................................##
  #############....####............................####....##
  #############....####............................####....##
  #############....####............................####&...##
  #############....####............................####....##
  #############............................................##
  ##############..........####..............####..........###
  ###############.........####.....####.....####.........####
  ################........####.....####.....####........#####
  #################.......####.....####.....####.......######
  ##################...............####...............#######
  ###################................................########
  ###########################################################

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

  Health 50/50   Experience 101401/15
  ToHit Ranged +12  ToHit Melee +12  ToDmg Ranged +2  ToDmg Melee +2

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

  Class : Scout

    Finesse          (Level 3)
    Hellrunner       (Level 2)
    Son of a bitch   (Level 2)
    Dodgemaster      (Level 1)
    Intuition        (Level 2)
    Whizkid          (Level 2)
    Triggerhappy     (Level 2)
    Cateye           (Level 1)

  Int->Int->Fin->Fin->WK->WK->SoB->SoB->TH->MCe->HR->HR->DM->TH->Fin->

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

    [a] [ Armor      ]   cerberus green armor [0/0] (100%)
    [b] [ Weapon     ]   plasma rifle (1d7)x6 [16/40] (A1T1)
    [c] [ Boots      ]   tactical boots [0/0] (100%)
    [d] [ Prepared   ]   plasma rifle (1d7)x6 [68/68] (B2)

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

    [a] plasmatic combat shotgun (7d3) [5/5]
    [b] tactical rocket launcher (6d6) [5/5]
    [c] chaingun (1d6)x6 [40/40] (F1)
    [d] blaster (2d4) [10/10]
    [e] assault shotgun (7d3) [6/6]
    [f] nuclear BFG 9000 (8d6) [40/40]
    [g] BFG 9000 (10d6) [169/169] (B2)
    [h] red armor [4/4] (100%)
    [i] red armor [4/4] (100%)
    [j] red armor [4/4] (100%)
    [k] gothic armor [6/6] (200%)
    [l] medical armor [2/2] (100%)
    [m] Shielded Armor [2]
    [n] Angelic Armor [7/7] (100%)
    [o] Berserker Armor [0]
    [p] 10mm ammo (x140)
    [q] 10mm ammo (x100)
    [r] shotgun shell (x31)
    [s] power cell (x22)
    [t] cerberus steel boots [0/0] (100%) (A)
    [u] rocket box (x20)
    [v] rocket box (x20)

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

    Bullet     - internal 0%    torso 15%   feet 0%   
    Shrapnel   - internal 0%    torso 15%   feet 0%   
    Acid       - internal 0%    torso 70%   feet 0%   
    Fire       - internal 0%    torso 70%   feet 0%   
    Plasma     - internal 0%    torso 50%   feet 0%   

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

    112 former humans
    80 former sergeants
    98 former captains
    158 imps
    131 demons
    364 lost souls
    69 cacodemons
    30 hell knights
    42 barons of hell
    20 arachnotrons
    23 former commandos
    37 pain elementals
    14 revenants
    30 mancubi
    29 arch-viles
    12 nightmare demons
    2 bruiser brothers
    2 shamblers
    1 lava elemental
    1 agony elemental
    1 Cyberdemon
    1 Spider Mastermind
    1 Arena Master

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

  He started his journey on the surface of Phobos.
  On level 2 he entered Hell's Arena.
  He left the Arena as a champion!
  On level 5 he stormed the Chained Court.
  He defeated the Hell Arena Master!
  On level 7 he sneaked into the Phobos Lab.
  He broke through the lab.
  On level 8 he encountered the Phobos Anomaly.
  On level 9 he entered Deimos Lab.
  On level 9 he assembled a tactical rocket launcher!
  On level 9 he assembled a plasmatic shrapnel!
  He destroyed the evil within and reaped the rewards!
  He sounded the alarm on level 10!
  On level 11 he arrived at the Containment Area.
  He emerged from the Containment Area victorious!
  On level 12 he found the City of Skulls.
  He wiped out the City of Skulls.
  On level 14 he ventured into the Halls of Carnage.
  On level 14 he assembled a cerberus boots!
  On level 16 he found the Tower of Babel!
  On level 18 he assembled a tactical boots!
  On level 19 he stumbled into a complex full of arch-viles!
  On level 19 he found the Shielded Armor!
  On level 20 he was foolish enough to enter the Mortuary!
  On level 20 he found the Angelic Armor!
  On level 20 he assembled a cerberus armor!
  He managed to clear the Mortuary from evil!
  On level 22 he arrived at Mt. Erebus.
  On level 22 he found the Berserker Armor!
  He managed to raise Mt. Erebus completely!
  Then at last he found Dis!
  On level 24 he finally defeated the Mastermind.

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

 The missile hits the Spider Mastermind. The missile hits the Spider
 Mastermind. The missile hits the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind
 flinched! The missile hits the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind
 flinched! The missile hits the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind
 flinched! The missile hits the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind
 flinched! The missile hits the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind
 flinched! The missile hits the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind
 flinched!
 Fire -- Choose target...
 You see : a Spider Mastermind (almost dead) | floor | [ m ]ore
 The missile hits the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind flinched! The
 missile hits the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind flinched! The
 missile hits the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind flinched! The
 missile hits the Spider Mastermind. The Spider Mastermind dies.
 Congratulations! You defeated the Spider Mastermind! Press <Enter>...
 You feel relatively safe now.

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

 1201 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
 1097 of those were killed.
 2 of those were killed by something unknown.
 20 didn't read the thermonuclear bomb manual.
 And 65 couldn't handle the stress and committed a stupid suicide.

 17 souls destroyed the Mastermind...
 12 killed the bitch and survived.
 5 showed that it can outsmart Hell itself.

--------------------------------------------------------------

While I'm chasing platinum and diamond badges, AoI and AoP seemed doable with the same strategy as AoMC.  The biggest difficulty in both of them is lack of healing, in AoI because you can't save medpacks, and in AoP because you don't get healing globes.  The solution to this is straightforward: just don't take damage.  The Cat-Eye scout in AoMC is good at that.  Honestly this took me longer than it should have because I kept fucking up.

Rather than rushing for Cat-Eye, I went Finesse->Whizkid after Intuition 2 because AoI meant that I wouldn't be able to save modpacks for later, so I wanted to be able to finish assembles and still mod them later ASAP.  This was the right decision.  The Chained Court and Phobos Lab had a lot of bulk packs, so I finished a tactical rocket launcher after Deimos Lab because I didn't even have a second plasma rifle to put a bulk mod on that point if I'd wanted to.  Deimos Lab had two rare mods, sniper and firestorm.  Because I hadn't finished my hyperblaster at that point (I hadn't found a plasma rifle early enough to put the technical and agility mods I'd found on it), I put the firestorm mod on a chaingun in case I later got enough modpacks to build demolition ammo.  I did not: I ended up prioritizing cerberus boots and armor over the weapons just because on AoI there's no way to recover from taking a bunch of damage except by getting lucky.  As you can see above, I finished the game with only some modded plasma rifles for primary weapons.  The sniper pack went to a plasma combat shotgun as usual, which was as usual amazingly useful for both corpse disposal against arch-viles, dealing with armored targets on levels with unbreakable walls, and destroying walls when I needed to (this made the Halls of Carnage so much more pleasant).

I did in fact need to get lucky once: the City of Skulls was utterly brutal despite going through multiple suits of red armor, I left the level with like 10% HP and luckily spawned near a large health globe on the next level.  That was the only real close call.  After that it was mostly smooth sailing.  The pile of special armors in my inventory came courtesy of Mt. Erebus.  Of course, they were far too late to be useful, since I couldn't have saved modpacks for something like cerberus gothic even if I'd wanted to wait until that late.  You can't full win without luck on AoI (there was an invulnerability globe on Hell 7, but it was too far from the stairs for it to last long enough for the nuke countdown), so I just went for Mastermind's Brain instead.

12
Post Mortem / [U|AoMC+AoC|100%|YAFW] Daredevil Platinum
« on: April 28, 2020, 15:30 »
--------------------------------------------------------------
 DoomRL (0.9.9.7) roguelike post-mortem character dump
--------------------------------------------------------------

 Iainuki, level 14 Cacodemon 1st Lieutenant Scout,
 defeated the Mastermind at the Hell Fortress.
 He survived 98349 turns and scored 304765 points.
 He played for 3 hours, 31 minutes and 12 seconds.
 He was a man of Ultra-Violence!

 He killed 1035 out of 1035 hellspawn. (100%)
 This ass-kicking marine killed all of them!
 He was an Angel of Max Carnage!
 He was also an Angel of Confidence!

 He saved himself 2 times.

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

  Levels generated : 8
  Levels visited   : 6
  Levels completed : 6

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

  Cyberdemon's Head
  Medal of Prejudice
  UAC Star (gold cluster)
  Grim Reaper's Badge
  Hell Armorer Badge
  Daredevil Bronze Badge
  Daredevil Silver Badge
  Daredevil Platinum Badge

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

  ###########################################################
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  .................................................X........#
  ..........................................................#
  .......................................................|}.#
  .......................................................|.|#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ..........................................................#
  ###########################################################

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

  Health 45/50   Experience 91642/14
  ToHit Ranged +12  ToHit Melee +12  ToDmg Ranged +2  ToDmg Melee +2

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

  Class : Scout

    Finesse          (Level 2)
    Hellrunner       (Level 2)
    Son of a bitch   (Level 2)
    Dodgemaster      (Level 1)
    Intuition        (Level 2)
    Whizkid          (Level 2)
    Triggerhappy     (Level 2)
    Cateye           (Level 1)

  Int->Int->Fin->Fin->WK->WK->SoB->SoB->TH->MCe->HR->HR->DM->TH->

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

    [a] [ Armor      ]   red armor [4/4] (95%)
    [b] [ Weapon     ]   burst plasma rifle (1d10)x8 [34/80] (P1)
    [c] [ Boots      ]   steel boots [1/1] (61%)
    [d] [ Prepared   ]   power battery (x112)

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

    [a] plasma rifle (1d7)x6 [0/40] (A1T1)
    [b] assault shotgun (7d3) [6/6]
    [c] plasma shotgun (7d3) [30/30]
    [d] missile launcher (6d6) [4/4]
    [e] BFG 9000 (10d6) [54/100]
    [f] fireproof phaseshift armor [2/4] (36%) (P)
    [g] plasma shield [0/0] (70%)
    [h] Angelic Armor [7/7] (100%)
    [i] shotgun shell (x14)
    [j] large med-pack
    [k] phase device
    [l] fire skull
    [m] cerberus steel boots [0/0] (100%)
    [n] shell box (x45)
    [o] shell box (x100)
    [p] rocket box (x20)
    [q] power battery (x80)

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

    Acid       - internal 25%   torso 25%   feet 25% 
    Fire       - internal 25%   torso 50%   feet 25% 

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

    32 former humans
    52 former sergeants
    25 former captains
    86 imps
    75 demons
    449 lost souls
    23 cacodemons
    10 hell knights
    67 barons of hell
    54 arachnotrons
    14 former commandos
    43 pain elementals
    36 revenants
    23 mancubi
    27 arch-viles
    11 nightmare imps
    1 nightmare cacodemon
    1 nightmare demon
    1 shambler
    1 lava elemental
    1 agony elemental
    1 Cyberdemon
    1 Spider Mastermind
    1 John Carmack

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

  Level 1 was a hard nut to crack!
  On level 1 he entered Hell's Armory.
  He destroyed the evil within and reaped the rewards!
  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 6 he ventured into the Spider's Lair.
  He cleared the Lair, kickin' serious spider ass!
  On level 7 he assembled a cerberus boots!
  On level 8 he found the Tower of Babel!
  He left level 8 as soon as possible.
  On level 12 he was foolish enough to enter Limbo!
  On level 12 he assembled a burst cannon!
  On level 12 he found the Angelic Armor!
  He managed to clear Limbo from evil!
  On level 13 he assembled a fireproof armor!
  On level 14 he ran for his life from lava!
  On level 14 he arrived at Mt. Erebus.
  He managed to raise Mt. Erebus 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 --------------------------------------------------

 John Carmack.
 Chain fire ( full ) -- Choose target or abort...
 You see : John Carmack (heavily wounded) | pool of blood | [ m ]ore
 The missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack. The missile
 hits John Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits John
 Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack. The
 missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits
 John Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack.
 The missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack.
 Chain fire ( full ) -- Choose target or abort...
 You see : John Carmack (almost dead) | pool of blood | [ m ]ore
 The missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack. The missile
 hits John Carmack. John Carmack dies. Congratulations! You defeated John
 Carmack! Press <Enter>...
 You feel relatively safe now. Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
 Boom! Boom! Boom!

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

 1175 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
 1073 of those were killed.
 2 of those were killed by something unknown.
 20 didn't read the thermonuclear bomb manual.
 And 64 couldn't handle the stress and committed a stupid suicide.

 16 souls destroyed the Mastermind...
 11 killed the bitch and survived.
 5 showed that it can outsmart Hell itself.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Decided to try this dual challenge coming off my initial AoMC Destroyer Platinum and Gatekeeper Diamond badges.  It was very straightforward, I won in only a couple of attempts.  This run was only notable in how little gear I found: Hell's Armory had a plasma shotgun but no rare modpack (another schematic instead), and there were almost no modpacks in the normal dungeon levels.  I had to prioritize finishing cerberus boots for the Lava Pits/Mt. Erebus because I didn't have enviropacks to do them otherwise, so I was left without a hyperblaster even by the time I finished the game.  I used the bulk packs I did find to make a burst cannon instead.  The phaseshift armor was nice but spent most of the time so damaged I couldn't use it, and after a stretch of a couple of levels in Hell without armor shards I couldn't use it at the end of the game.

13
Discussion / Re: Quick questions thread!
« on: April 28, 2020, 15:16 »
I've watched the videos of Tormuse and frozenca/papilio doing Hell Arena on UV/N! with a pistol or melee weapon, but in trying to replicate them, I've completely failed.  When I looked at the mortems, though, they and other people seem to be able to do Hell Arena in AoB/AoMr on UV/N!.  However, every time I try I end up running out of HP and dying.  What's the trick to it?

14
You've taken HR sooo late I even wonder why.

No space earlier.  Once I have Cat-Eye, I wanted to go straight onto Whizkid 2 because you can't finish assemblies before getting it (otherwise you can't add the extra mod to the finished assembly).

Did you throw knives at the Angel of Death too or just rely on melee hits and moving away?

15
Discussion / Re: Quick questions thread!
« on: April 27, 2020, 21:44 »
That would be ideal, but it's not always practical.  When I'm establishing myself at the beginning of a level, I sometimes have to prioritize who I dispose of, and any enemies that I can just one-shot, I kill them where they stand and focus more on getting rid of the corpses of larger enemies, then come back to getting rid of the smaller ones when they revive later.  I'm not saying this is necessarily the ideal strategy or anything, but that's how my Nightmare games usually play out.

Another related quick question on Nightmare: spending lots of time waiting speeds up the respawn rate.  Is it just always better to spend time waiting for enemies around blind corners and doing tedious corpse disposal tasks, even though this will speed up respawns?

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