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16
Discussion / Another Mortuary-cleaning - HMP, Cateye + napalm launcher + nuclear rifle
« on: September 12, 2011, 10:41 »
(Please note - this was done in 0.9.9.3, as I already had a good character there and did not want to abandon it)
Hello, all,
I've posted some Mortuary runs a few months ago - one with Ammochain, another one with Cateye. Both were on HNTR. This time I decided to try my luck on HMP. I didn't have any homing phase devices, so I just phased out from the middle and ran to the nearest staircase, using two large med-packs in the process. Not a big deal, since there are 4 more on the level.
Once far enough from the opposition, I slowly advanced and started creating a "river" with my napalm launcher. Once I created a long enough "firewall", I could simply pick them one-by-one with the nuclear plasma rifle (Cateye means I see two tiles farther than any of them). This wasn't all that easy, though - sometimes the viles managed to constantly resurrect a dead monster immediately with no end in sight, so I ended up using 20+ rockets. Anyway, once far enough from them, I never was in any danger. The reward was as usual - plus some satisfaction!
Hello, all,
I've posted some Mortuary runs a few months ago - one with Ammochain, another one with Cateye. Both were on HNTR. This time I decided to try my luck on HMP. I didn't have any homing phase devices, so I just phased out from the middle and ran to the nearest staircase, using two large med-packs in the process. Not a big deal, since there are 4 more on the level.
Once far enough from the opposition, I slowly advanced and started creating a "river" with my napalm launcher. Once I created a long enough "firewall", I could simply pick them one-by-one with the nuclear plasma rifle (Cateye means I see two tiles farther than any of them). This wasn't all that easy, though - sometimes the viles managed to constantly resurrect a dead monster immediately with no end in sight, so I ended up using 20+ rockets. Anyway, once far enough from them, I never was in any danger. The reward was as usual - plus some satisfaction!
17
0.9.9.2 / Re: [M|100%|YAAM] 0.9.9.2: another Mortuary clean up - different style
« on: February 22, 2011, 05:07 »Spamming BFG one way and then slowly infinite plasma-ing back the other is the only way I've managed to clear the Mortuary at all. Now I'm curious as to how ELSE you've managed to clear it.I've posted it here a week or so ago - look for "Mortuary" and "no reward". That time, I used Cateye, immediately teleported to the stairs and slowly worked my way in. Lured bigger enemies (those not killed in one volley from a chaingun) toward me, knocked back Viles with missile launcher, etc. Easy, but tedious.
18
0.9.9.2 / [M|100%|YAAM] 0.9.9.2: another Mortuary clean up - different style
« on: February 21, 2011, 14:41 »
This time I decided to test a different build - Ammochain. I also approached the Mortuary differently. As soon as I got there I started spamming BFG shots into the nearest Vile, then switched my weapons (I had two BFGs - one from Spider's Lair, I think) and emptied that as well. Then I teleported away (homing phase device) and went in with an unending supply of shots from my plasma rifle. Worked like a charm. In addition, I did get the AA this time since there weren't too many monsters revived.
I decided not to pull any levers in Hell's Armory, remembering how I was obliterated last time I did. I did save the file before going there, and decided to replay a couple of times just to see what I get. What should I say - there is more than one surprise on that level! A Supercharge globe? In that spot? Bravo, Kornel! (Actually, Quake has an invulnerability ring there...)
I decided not to pull any levers in Hell's Armory, remembering how I was obliterated last time I did. I did save the file before going there, and decided to replay a couple of times just to see what I get. What should I say - there is more than one surprise on that level! A Supercharge globe? In that spot? Bravo, Kornel! (Actually, Quake has an invulnerability ring there...)
--------------------------------------------------------------
DoomRL (v.0.9.9.2) roguelike post-mortem character dump
--------------------------------------------------------------
Arkady, level 11 Former Human Corporal, defeated the Cyberdemon
on level 25 of the Phobos base.
He survived 172835 turns and scored 100914 points.
He played for 5 hours, 26 minutes and 51 seconds.
He didn't like it too rough.
He killed 554 out of 554 hellspawn. (100%)
This ass-kicking marine killed all of them!
He saved himself 5 times.
-- Special levels --------------------------------------------
Levels generated : 9
Levels visited : 7
Levels completed : 7
-- Awards ----------------------------------------------------
Medal of Prejudice
UAC Star (bronze cluster)
Aurora Medallion
Grim Reaper's Badge
Hell Champion Medal
Arachno Bronze Badge
-- Graveyard -------------------------------------------------
###########################################################
#..........................................................
#..........................................................
#.......###........................###.....................
#.......###........................###.....................
#.......###.............###........###.....................
#.......................###......................###.......
#.......................###......................###.......
#......###...........................###.........###.......
#......###...........................###....###............
#......##............................###....#>#............
#...........}..###..........................###............
#..........||..###.........................................
#.........|....###.........................................
#...........X..............................###...###.......
#..........................................###...###.......
#..........................................###...###.......
#..........................................................
#..........................................................
###########################################################
-- Statistics ------------------------------------------------
Health 44/50 Experience 51460/11
ToHit Ranged +0 ToHit Melee +0 ToDmg Ranged +3 ToDmg Melee +3
-- Traits ----------------------------------------------------
Finesse (Level 2)
Hellrunner (Level 1)
Son of a bitch (Level 3)
Whizkid (Level 2)
Triggerhappy (Level 2)
Ammochain (Level 1)
SoB->SoB->Fin->Fin->WK->TH->MAc->TH->SoB->WK->HR->
-- Equipment -------------------------------------------------
[a] [ Armor ] modified onyx armor [4] (OP)
[b] [ Weapon ] modified plasma rifle (1d7)x6 [40/40] (A1)
[c] [ Boots ] modified plasteel boots [4/4] (192%) (B)
[d] [ Prepared ] modified missile launcher (6d7) [4/4] (P1)
-- Inventory -------------------------------------------------
[a] assault rifle (2d5)x2 [40/40]
[b] modified BFG 9000 (10d8) [130/130] (B1)
[c] high power BFG 9000 (12d8) [65/65]
[d] Medical Powerarmor [4/4] (100%)
[e] Angelic Armor [7/7] (100%)
[f] rocket (x14)
[g] rocket (x14)
[h] rocket (x14)
[i] rocket (x14)
[j] power cell (x70)
[k] power cell (x50)
[l] large med-pack
[m] large med-pack
[n] large med-pack
[o] large med-pack
[p] homing phase device
[q] homing phase device
[r] homing phase device
[s] thermonuclear bomb
[t] thermonuclear bomb
[u] power mod pack
-- Kills -----------------------------------------------------
131 former humans
81 former sergeants
25 former captains
58 imps
61 demons
61 lost souls
28 cacodemons
19 barons of hell
1 Cyberdemon
21 hell knights
42 arachnotrons
7 former commandos
4 pain elementals
6 arch-viles
5 mancubi
1 revenant
2 bruiser brothers
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 assembled a assault rifle!
On level 8 he witnessed the Wall.
He massacred the evil behind the Wall!
On level 9 he entered Hell's Armory.
On level 9 he found the Anti-Freak Jackal!
He left the Armory without drawing too much attention.
On level 13 he ventured into the Halls of Carnage.
On level 14 he found the Medical Powerarmor!
On level 15 he encountered the Phobos Hellgate.
On level 15 he assembled a high power weapon!
On level 19 he ventured into the Spider's Lair.
He cleared the Lair, kickin' serious spider ass!
On level 22 he found the Onyx Armor Pack!
On level 22 he was foolish enough to enter the Mortuary!
On level 22 he found the Angelic Armor!
He managed to clear the Mortuary from evil!
Then at last he found Phobos Arena!
On level 25 he finally defeated the Cyberdemon.
-- Messages --------------------------------------------------
You see : a Cyberdemon (severely wounded) [m]ore | blood
The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The
missile hits the Cyberdemon. The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The
missile hits the Cyberdemon. The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The missile
hits the Cyberdemon. The Cyberdemon reloads his rocket launcher.
Fire -- Choose target...
You see : a Cyberdemon (mortally wounded) [m]ore | blood
The missile hits the Cyberdemon. Boom! The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The
missile hits the Cyberdemon. The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The
missile hits the Cyberdemon. Boom! The missile hits the Cyberdemon.
Fire -- Choose target...
You see : a Cyberdemon (almost dead) [m]ore | blood
The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The missile hits the Cyberdemon. Boom! The
missile hits the Cyberdemon. The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The
Cyberdemon dies. You feel relatively safe now. Congratulations! You
defeated the Cyberdemon! Press <Enter>... Boom! Boom! Boom!
-- General ---------------------------------------------------
Before him 5 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
4 of those were killed.
Some rumours though, say that the Cyberdemon was killed already!
Is he immortal? 1 souls claim to have killed him...
1 killed the bastard and survived.
--------------------------------------------------------------
19
0.9.9.2 / Re: [M|100%|YAAM] 0.9.9.2: Mortuary - no reward?
« on: February 15, 2011, 18:38 »Anyway, looks like a real sweet run. Reaper Gold is the true reward for Mortuary completion, anyway, I don't care much for the physical reward. Good choice on the high power chaingun, too, probably a better use of mods with MCe.Yes, I did not miss the reward that much (and yes, the floor was totally littered with ammo and weapons), I was just surprised, that's all.
Cateye is an extremely strong build, IMO - I'll try something like Fireangel next :) (I don't promise to complete Mortuary in that game, though).
20
0.9.9.2 / [M|100%|YAAM] 0.9.9.2: Mortuary - no reward?
« on: February 15, 2011, 17:41 »
Having recently completed Mortuary with Cateye (still in 0.9.9.1), I decided to try my luck in 0.9.9.2 - and kicked ass again! This time - with nuclear plasma rifle, modified for power (used BFG a couple of times to soften the viles behind the crowd, before they got into my line of sight). As before, I immediately used homing phase device to get as far away from the viles as possible and slowly worked my way in. Got hit a few times, but with all the Supercharges lying around and a regenerating tactical armor was not too worried.
After the dust settled (with the last several enemies taken out with the plasma rifle) I discovered no extra items under the bodies! I traversed the whole level back and forth many times to no avail. Was the reward changed in 0.9.9.2?
Anyway - completed Chained Court and found the staff pretty unimpressive. Used it a couple of times, but would be served better with another stack of ammo. It does not even kill a demon!
I decided to leave alone many special levels, particularly the Vaults. I tried opening them on another computer in another game, but the old soft spots did not crumble. I wasted a couple of slots of rockets (28 or so!) before giving up there, so decided to not even bother this time. If anyone knows what's going on, please reply here with spoiler tags and an explanation.
After the dust settled (with the last several enemies taken out with the plasma rifle) I discovered no extra items under the bodies! I traversed the whole level back and forth many times to no avail. Was the reward changed in 0.9.9.2?
Anyway - completed Chained Court and found the staff pretty unimpressive. Used it a couple of times, but would be served better with another stack of ammo. It does not even kill a demon!
I decided to leave alone many special levels, particularly the Vaults. I tried opening them on another computer in another game, but the old soft spots did not crumble. I wasted a couple of slots of rockets (28 or so!) before giving up there, so decided to not even bother this time. If anyone knows what's going on, please reply here with spoiler tags and an explanation.
--------------------------------------------------------------
DoomRL (v.0.9.9.2) roguelike post-mortem character dump
--------------------------------------------------------------
Arkady, level 10 Former Human Private, defeated the Cyberdemon
on level 25 of the Phobos base.
He survived 164331 turns and scored 98697 points.
He played for 4 hours, 58 minutes and 25 seconds.
He didn't like it too rough.
He killed 830 out of 830 hellspawn. (100%)
This ass-kicking marine killed all of them!
He saved himself 8 times.
-- Special levels --------------------------------------------
Levels generated : 8
Levels visited : 5
Levels completed : 5
-- Awards ----------------------------------------------------
Cyberdemon's Head
Medal of Prejudice
UAC Star (bronze cluster)
Grim Reaper's Badge
Hell Champion Medal
UAC Bronze Badge
Veteran Bronze Badge
Brick Bronze Badge
Reaper Bronze Badge
Reaper Silver Badge
Reaper Gold Badge
Gatekeeper Bronze Badge
-- Graveyard -------------------------------------------------
###########################################################
#..........................................................
#..........................................................
#.........|.|................................###...........
#.........}.................###..............###...........
#....................##.....###..............###...........
#...................###.....###..###.......................
#...................###..........###.......................
#................................###......###..............
#.........................................###.......###....
#............###..........................###.......###....
#............###..###...............................###....
#............###..###......................................
#.........X.......###......................................
#....###...................................................
#....#>#...................................................
#....###...................................................
#..........................................................
#..........................................................
###########################################################
-- Statistics ------------------------------------------------
Health 50/50 Experience 49810/10
ToHit Ranged +4 ToHit Melee +4 ToDmg Ranged +2 ToDmg Melee +2
-- Traits ----------------------------------------------------
Hellrunner (Level 2)
Son of a bitch (Level 2)
Eagle Eye (Level 2)
Intuition (Level 2)
Triggerhappy (Level 1)
Cateye (Level 1)
EE->EE->Int->Int->SoB->SoB->TH->MCe->HR->HR->
-- Equipment -------------------------------------------------
[a] [ Armor ] tactical armor [1/1] (100%)
[b] [ Weapon ] modified BFG 9000 (10d8) [10/130] (B1)
[c] [ Boots ] protective boots [2/2] (90%)
[d] [ Prepared ] modified nuclear BFG 9000 (8d9) [40/40] (P1)
-- Inventory -------------------------------------------------
[a] high power chaingun (1d9)x4 [20/20]
[b] modified plasma rifle (1d7)x6 [40/40] (A1)
[c] modified missile launcher (6d6) [4/4] (T1)
[d] high power nuclear plasma rifle (1d9)x6 [12/12]
[e] medical armor [2/2] (100%)
[f] 10mm ammo (x140)
[g] 10mm ammo (x140)
[h] 10mm ammo (x140)
[i] 10mm ammo (x140)
[j] 10mm ammo (x140)
[k] rocket (x14)
[l] rocket (x14)
[m] rocket (x14)
[n] power cell (x20)
[o] large med-pack
[p] large med-pack
[q] homing phase device
[r] thermonuclear bomb
[s] thermonuclear bomb
-- Kills -----------------------------------------------------
120 former humans
155 former sergeants
71 former captains
98 imps
106 demons
71 lost souls
41 cacodemons
25 barons of hell
1 Cyberdemon
63 hell knights
48 arachnotrons
2 former commandos
5 pain elementals
12 arch-viles
3 mancubi
6 revenants
2 bruiser brothers
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 8 he assembled a tactical armor!
On level 8 he assembled a high power weapon!
On level 11 he ventured into the Halls of Carnage.
On level 12 he found the Butcher's Cleaver!
On level 13 he witnessed the Wall.
He massacred the evil behind the Wall!
On level 15 he encountered the Phobos Hellgate.
On level 22 he was foolish enough to enter the Mortuary!
On level 22 he assembled a high power weapon!
He managed to clear the Mortuary from evil!
Then at last he found Phobos Arena!
On level 25 he finally defeated the Cyberdemon.
-- 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!
Fire -- Choose target...
You see : a Cyberdemon (heavily wounded) [m]ore | blood
The missile hits the Cyberdemon. You need to taste blood!
Fire -- Choose target...
You see : a Cyberdemon (severely wounded) [m]ore | blood
The missile hits the Cyberdemon. You need to taste blood!
Fire -- Choose target...
You see : a Cyberdemon (mortally wounded) [m]ore | floor
The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The Cyberdemon dies. You feel relatively
safe now. Congratulations! You defeated the Cyberdemon! Press <Enter>...
-- General ---------------------------------------------------
Before him 2 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
2 of those were killed.
--------------------------------------------------------------
21
0.9.9.1 / [H|100%|YAAM] Cleared HMP - Mortuary included!
« on: February 04, 2011, 15:36 »
I've been struggling with HMP for a while now. My many initial attempts were for close-combat character - fireangel and blademaster. Some of those went quite far, but never far enough. At some point I decided that I'm fed up and started another character with intent to get Cateye. The first one of those, with Dodgemaster on top of Cateye got killed by Arachnotrons on level 24 due to my sheer stupidity - I decided to keep fighting instead of going downstairs.
My second character went quite well, despite never finding anything exotic or unique in line of my traits (assault shotgun?!) I was stocked on large med-packs (by the way - ditch most of that as well as the armor as soon as you get Cateye - you don't get hit that often after that and those slots have to be used for ammo). When I found the Mortuary, I had Cateye, Sob(3) and Hel(1) as well as three (!) homing phase devices. The latter decided it for me.
My plan for the Mortuary was this: teleport to the stairs immediately, slowly work my way towards the center, teleport back to the stairs if there is no hope of winning this fight, grab everything next to the stairs and descend. This would leave me with an extra homing device in case I needed to bypass a tough cave on my way down.
I never activated that second homing device! I killed easier enemies from afar, lured stronger ones (Barons and Arachnotrons) towards the edge to kill them there and pick up any dropped ammo while away from the Viles, and killed the Viles with missile launcher (knockback rules!). It was almost too easy...
Anyway, for the mortem:
My second character went quite well, despite never finding anything exotic or unique in line of my traits (assault shotgun?!) I was stocked on large med-packs (by the way - ditch most of that as well as the armor as soon as you get Cateye - you don't get hit that often after that and those slots have to be used for ammo). When I found the Mortuary, I had Cateye, Sob(3) and Hel(1) as well as three (!) homing phase devices. The latter decided it for me.
My plan for the Mortuary was this: teleport to the stairs immediately, slowly work my way towards the center, teleport back to the stairs if there is no hope of winning this fight, grab everything next to the stairs and descend. This would leave me with an extra homing device in case I needed to bypass a tough cave on my way down.
I never activated that second homing device! I killed easier enemies from afar, lured stronger ones (Barons and Arachnotrons) towards the edge to kill them there and pick up any dropped ammo while away from the Viles, and killed the Viles with missile launcher (knockback rules!). It was almost too easy...
Anyway, for the mortem:
--------------------------------------------------------------
DoomRL (v.0.9.9.1) roguelike post-mortem character dump
--------------------------------------------------------------
Arkady, level 11 Cacodemon Corporal, defeated the Cyberdemon
on level 25 of the Phobos base.
He survived 155126 turns and scored 157604 points.
He played for 4 hours, 21 minutes and 1 second.
He wasn't afraid to be hurt plenty.
He killed 729 out of 729 hellspawn. (100%)
This ass-kicking marine killed all of them!
He saved himself 11 times.
-- Awards ----------------------------------------------------
Medal of Prejudice
UAC Star (bronze cluster)
Grim Reaper's Badge
Hell Champion Medal
UAC Bronze Badge
UAC Silver Badge
Veteran Bronze Badge
Veteran Silver Badge
Reaper Bronze Badge
Reaper Silver Badge
Reaper Gold Badge
-- Graveyard -------------------------------------------------
###########################################################
#..........................................................
#..........................................................
#..............###.......................................##
#.........##...###.......................................##
#.........###..###.......................................##
#.........##.............................###...............
#........................................#>#...............
#........................|...............###.............##
#..................X.....................................##
#........................................................##
#........###........###....................................
#........###........###....................................
#........###...###..###......#.............................
#..............###..........###.....###....................
#..............###..................###................###.
#...................................###................###.
#......................................................###.
#..........................................................
###########################################################
-- Statistics ------------------------------------------------
Health 29/50 Experience 55390/11
ToHit Ranged +4 ToHit Melee +4 ToDmg Ranged +3 ToDmg Melee +3
-- Traits ----------------------------------------------------
Hellrunner (Level 2)
Son of a bitch (Level 3)
Eagle Eye (Level 2)
Intuition (Level 2)
Triggerhappy (Level 1)
Cateye (Level 1)
SoB->EE->SoB->EE->Int->Int->TH->MCe->SoB->HR->HR->
-- Equipment -------------------------------------------------
[a] [ Armor ] modified red armor [6/6] (79%) (P)
[b] [ Weapon ] modified BFG 9000 (10d8) [10/130] (B1)
[c] [ Boots ] modified phaseshift boots [4/4] (100%) (T)
[d] [ Prepared ] modified missile launcher (6d7) [4/4] (P1)
-- Inventory -------------------------------------------------
[a] modified chaingun (1d6)x4 [40/40] (A1)
[b] modified plasma rifle (1d7)x6 [40/40] (A1)
[c] nuclear BFG 9000 (8d8) [1/40]
[d] BFG 9000 (10d8) [100/100]
[e] Angelic Armor [7/7] (100%)
[f] 10mm ammo (x140)
[g] 10mm ammo (x140)
[h] 10mm ammo (x140)
[i] 10mm ammo (x140)
[j] 10mm ammo (x140)
[k] rocket (x11)
[l] power cell (x40)
[m] power cell (x70)
[n] large med-pack
[o] large med-pack
[p] homing phase device
[q] thermonuclear bomb
-- Kills -----------------------------------------------------
77 former humans
108 former sergeants
48 former captains
158 imps
80 demons
92 lost souls
19 cacodemons
49 barons of hell
1 Cyberdemon
21 hell knights
32 arachnotrons
12 former commandos
7 pain elementals
13 arch-viles
7 mancubi
3 revenants
2 bruiser brothers
-- History ---------------------------------------------------
He started his journey on the surface of Phobos.
On level 3 he entered Hell's Arena.
He left the Arena as a champion!
On level 6 he stormed the Chained Court.
On level 9 he witnessed the Wall.
He massacred the evil behind the Wall!
On level 14 he ventured into the Halls of Carnage.
On level 15 he encoutered the Phobos Hellgate.
On level 22 he was foolish enough to enter the Mortuary!
On level 22 he found the Angelic Armor!
He managed to clear the Mortuary from evil!
Then at last he found Phobos Arena!
On level 25 he finally defeated the Cyberdemon.
-- Messages --------------------------------------------------
The Cyberdemon fires! You dodge! You hear an explosion!
Fire -- Choose target... You don't have enough ammo to fire the BFG 9000!
The Cyberdemon reloads his rocket launcher.
You reload the BFG 9000 with power cell.
The Cyberdemon fires! You dodge! You hear an explosion!
Fire -- Choose target... The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The Cyberdemon
reloads his rocket launcher.
Fire -- Choose target...
The Cyberdemon fires! You dodge! You hear an explosion!
Fire -- Choose target... The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The Cyberdemon
reloads his rocket launcher.
Fire -- Choose target...
The Cyberdemon fires! You dodge! You hear an explosion!
Fire -- Choose target... The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The Cyberdemon
dies. You feel relatively safe now. Congratulations! You defeated
-- General ---------------------------------------------------
Before him 154 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
134 of those were killed.
1 of those was killed by something unknown.
And 16 couldn't handle the stress and committed a stupid suicide.
Some rumours though, say that the Cyberdemon was killed already!
Is he immortal? 3 souls claim to have killed him...
2 killed the bastard and survived.
1 showed that it can outsmart hell itself.
--------------------------------------------------------------
22
Discussion / Oh, the agony! Decisions, decisions...
« on: November 20, 2009, 14:32 »
Hello, all!
I've started a game where I firmly decided on shotgun-heavy
run. I'm up to Shottyman/Badass, one step away from the Army
of Dead, when I discover ... Grammaton Cleric Beretta and,
on the very next level, advanced chaingun! Well, Rel(2) is
not fully wasted with Beretta, and Badass is fine, but at this
point I could have been with SoB(2) or (3), and things are going
to get much rougher in the next couple of levels. Anyway:
is it too late to switch tactics and try a chain weapons build?
I haven't got enough experience with the new version, so I'm
at a loss...
I've started a game where I firmly decided on shotgun-heavy
run. I'm up to Shottyman/Badass, one step away from the Army
of Dead, when I discover ... Grammaton Cleric Beretta and,
on the very next level, advanced chaingun! Well, Rel(2) is
not fully wasted with Beretta, and Badass is fine, but at this
point I could have been with SoB(2) or (3), and things are going
to get much rougher in the next couple of levels. Anyway:
is it too late to switch tactics and try a chain weapons build?
I haven't got enough experience with the new version, so I'm
at a loss...
23
Discussion / Re: Ao100 - ammo management!
« on: March 14, 2009, 08:22 »Well - it's not that bad, actually, especially if you find one of the unique pistols early enough (SoB(3) is sick with any of them). The main lesson for Ao100 is to plan ahead and increase your killing speed with skills wisely.QuoteThe trouble is - I'm running out of ammo pretty fast.Thats why its a very bad idea to run Ao100 with uniques, since you cant modify them. Modded out advanced weapon is guaranteed to outperform 90% of uniques, and you can stash magazine mods on other weapons to use them as ammo crates of sorts.
Besides - I doubt I've seen more than 2 (two!) damage mods in my whole Ao100 run, which would be too bad if I decided to build around an advanced weapon. Accuracy mods do make plasma rifles better, but it's the damage mods we need to conserve ammo, because EE(2) (for Cateye) is something everyone will need to complete this challenge (and I do mean everyone - not seeing Revenants and Arch-Viles before they start shooting will wear you down no matter how many defensive skills you pick).
The only advanced weapon I would seriously consider is double shotgun - with enough reloading and speed mods and Shottyman it might become viable... Advanced rocket launchers are also good and I had a heavily modded (A1R2S1) one until I found Missile Launcher, which is better no matter what :).
24
Century Lounge / Re: [M|Ao100|96%|19|YAVP] - it's loooong
« on: February 14, 2009, 14:35 »
A few answers:
1. After hitting level 19 I did skip as many enemies as possible, except for nice tight groups of former humans, sergeants and captains - quite a source of ammo, I should say :). Sometimes, though, I did get carried away and cleaned the floor just for fun.
2. Gothic Boots do slow you down, but with Necroarmor's speed bonus your total time per more is 1.03 s, which is fine with me. I did not bother to remove them each time (not that there was any free slot in my inventory). And there is enough lava in deeper levels to make me want something like that (even though plasteel boots with boots protection mod and TaN(3) give the same effect).
3. Full auto on Beretta is extremely powerful indeed, but is quite a waste of ammo and forces you to reload way too often. On the other hand, single shots are fast, pack quite a punch and often push back even Barons, Revenants and Arch-Viles, which is enough for one-on-one combat. Once I found the Jackal, though, I relegated the Beretta to side-arm duty only. Still, SoB(3)+SoaG(2) give Beretta's full auto almost the same power as the plasma rifle (with much better accuracy).
4. Necroarmor is HUGE - thanks to that permanent 6 ammo, you get damaged so much less in it, even factoring in the life-sucking. I'd say that it was the absolute best find for me in the whole game... I carried Malek's Armor in backpack for quite some time in case the Necroarmor becomes problematic, but that time just never came :)
1. After hitting level 19 I did skip as many enemies as possible, except for nice tight groups of former humans, sergeants and captains - quite a source of ammo, I should say :). Sometimes, though, I did get carried away and cleaned the floor just for fun.
2. Gothic Boots do slow you down, but with Necroarmor's speed bonus your total time per more is 1.03 s, which is fine with me. I did not bother to remove them each time (not that there was any free slot in my inventory). And there is enough lava in deeper levels to make me want something like that (even though plasteel boots with boots protection mod and TaN(3) give the same effect).
3. Full auto on Beretta is extremely powerful indeed, but is quite a waste of ammo and forces you to reload way too often. On the other hand, single shots are fast, pack quite a punch and often push back even Barons, Revenants and Arch-Viles, which is enough for one-on-one combat. Once I found the Jackal, though, I relegated the Beretta to side-arm duty only. Still, SoB(3)+SoaG(2) give Beretta's full auto almost the same power as the plasma rifle (with much better accuracy).
4. Necroarmor is HUGE - thanks to that permanent 6 ammo, you get damaged so much less in it, even factoring in the life-sucking. I'd say that it was the absolute best find for me in the whole game... I carried Malek's Armor in backpack for quite some time in case the Necroarmor becomes problematic, but that time just never came :)
25
Century Lounge / [M|Ao100|96%|19|YAVP] - it's loooong
« on: February 13, 2009, 09:51 »
For some reason, going down the stairs from level 100 was reported as "killed by something", even though it is shown as PT0/ST1 in "Show player"->"Challenges".
Anyway, I got a Jackhammer quite early (hence Rel(2)->Shottyman) and then Beretta and Jackal later on (was at level 17 when found Beretta so managed only SoaG(2)). Late game was mostly Jackal/Missile Launcher, sometimes used Jackhammer when the going went tough and I was low on rockets. Overall, it is a war of attrition - you have to plan carefully in order not to run out of ammo (as reflected in my topic "Ao100 - ammo management!" over at "Discussion" forum). I skipped killing the remainder of the enemies on several levels - both to conserve ammo and to have a greater chance of surviving and winning the whole thing. Well... I did!
Add Assault Shotgun to the list of uniques I've found - there was no reason to pick it up, what's with Jackhammer already in my possession... Also, there were plenty of advanced plasma rifles, but again - I decided that Beretta and later Jackal are better use of ammo slots.
Anyway, here it goes:
Anyway, I got a Jackhammer quite early (hence Rel(2)->Shottyman) and then Beretta and Jackal later on (was at level 17 when found Beretta so managed only SoaG(2)). Late game was mostly Jackal/Missile Launcher, sometimes used Jackhammer when the going went tough and I was low on rockets. Overall, it is a war of attrition - you have to plan carefully in order not to run out of ammo (as reflected in my topic "Ao100 - ammo management!" over at "Discussion" forum). I skipped killing the remainder of the enemies on several levels - both to conserve ammo and to have a greater chance of surviving and winning the whole thing. Well... I did!
Add Assault Shotgun to the list of uniques I've found - there was no reason to pick it up, what's with Jackhammer already in my possession... Also, there were plenty of advanced plasma rifles, but again - I decided that Beretta and later Jackal are better use of ammo slots.
Anyway, here it goes:
--------------------------------------------------------------
DoomRL (v.0.9.8.10) roguelike post-mortem character dump
--------------------------------------------------------------
Arkady, level 19 Cacodemon Colonel, killed by something...
on level 100 of the Phobos base.
He survived 462309 turns and scored 674814 points.
He didn't like it too rough.
He killed 1974 out of 2036 hellspawn. (96%)
He held his right to remain violent.
He was an Angel of 100!
He saved himself 13 times.
-- Graveyard -------------------------------------------------
###########################################################
#...............................#.........B...............#
#############.#.#########.#########.###########...#######.#
#.....#.......#.................#..........................
#.....#.###############.#############...#############.#####
#.....#.................B.......#B#...BB...................
#.###.#.#.###################.#.#.#.#.#############...###..
#...#...#.#.#...X...#.........#B#.VV#.#..........M.....+#..
#.#.#...#.#.#.###...#.#.###...#.#..B#.###V#.###########.#.#
#.#B#...#.#.#.#.......#...#...#....B#B#.#.#.#...#.......#..
#.#.#...#.#.#.#.###..#....#...###..B###.#.#A#A.A#.....#####
#.#^#.....#...#......%#...#...#...B..B....#..}...A.........
#.#####.###...#.#.#.......#.#.#.#####.#####################
#.#..}........#.#...#.#.....#.........V..B#...........#....
#.#.......#...#.#...#.#...###.#.#########.#.#.........#.###
#.#.......#...#.#...#.#.....#.#.............#^.............
#.###########.#.#...#.#.#...#.#.#########.###...#########.#
#.#.....".....#.#...#.#.#...#.#.............#..............
###########################################################
###########################################################
-- Statistics ------------------------------------------------
Health 98/50 Experience 427052/19
ToHit +4 ToDmg Ranged +3 ToDmg Melee +3
-- Traits ----------------------------------------------------
Finesse (Level 1)
Tough as nails (Level 3)
Son of a bitch (Level 3)
Son of a gun (Level 2)
Reloader (Level 2)
Eagle Eye (Level 2)
Juggler (Level 1)
Cateye (Level 2)
Intuition (Level 1)
Badass (Level 1)
Shottyman (Level 1)
EE->EE->SoB->SoB->SoB->TaN->TaN->TaN->Fin->Cat->Cat->Rel->Rel->SM->Jug->Int->Bad->SoG->SoG->
-- Equipment -------------------------------------------------
[a] [ Armor ] Necroarmor [6/6] (100%)
[b] [ Weapon ] Anti-Freak Jackal (5d3) [6/6]
[c] [ Boots ] Gothic Boots [10/10] (200%)
[d] [ Prepared ] Jackhammer (6d3)x3 [9/9]
-- Inventory -------------------------------------------------
[a] Grammaton Cleric Beretta (2d6) [18/18]
[b] Missile Launcher (7d6) [2/4]
[c] 10mm ammo (x89)
[d] 10mm ammo (x100)
[e] 10mm ammo (x100)
[f] 10mm ammo (x100)
[g] shotgun shell (x50)
[h] shotgun shell (x50)
[i] shotgun shell (x40)
[j] large med-pack
[k] large med-pack
[l] phase device
[m] thermonuclear bomb
-- Kills -----------------------------------------------------
86 former humans
177 former sergeants
127 former captains
67 imps
61 demons
31 lost souls
130 cacodemons
232 barons of hell
62 hell knights
206 arachnotrons
8 former commandos
5 pain elementals
154 arch-viles
88 mancubi
102 revenants
-- History ---------------------------------------------------
On level 15 he found the Jackhammer!
On level 18 he found the Necroarmor!
On level 23 he found the Revenant's Launcher!
On level 35 he found the Phaseshift Armor!
On level 38 he found the Gothic Boots!
On level 45 he found the Grammaton Cleric Beretta!
On level 48 he found the Malek's Armor!
On level 61 he found the Missile Launcher!
On level 65 he found the Minigun!
On level 68 he found the Anti-Freak Jackal!
On level 100 he finally was killed by something...
-- Messages --------------------------------------------------
fires! You are hit! You are hit! You are hit! You are hit! Boom! You
are hit!
Fire -- Choose target... The missile hits the arachnotron. The arachnotron
dies.
You reload the Anti-Freak Jackal with 10mm ammo.
There is a Megasphere lying here.
MegaSphere!
There are stairs leading downward here.
Run - direction...
Run - direction...
There is a advanced shotgun (6d3) [1/1] lying here.
You fully unload the shotgun. There is a advanced shotgun (6d3) [0/1] lying
here.
There are stairs leading downward here.
You did it! You completed 100 levels of DoomRL! You're the champion! Press
-- General ---------------------------------------------------
Before him 477 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
423 of those were killed.
9 of those were killed by something unknown.
And 36 couldn't handle the stress and committed a stupid suicide.
Some rumours though, say that the Cyberdemon was killed already!
Is he immortal? 9 souls claim to have killed him...
8 killed the bastard and survived.
1 showed that it can outsmart hell itself.
--------------------------------------------------------------
26
Discussion / Re: Ao100 - ammo management!
« on: February 13, 2009, 08:22 »
A short funny story:
I faced a large team of Barons (at least 10), a few Revenants (3-4) and 4 Arch-Viles on level 93. Because the group was tightly placed, I decided to use the Jackhammer. After killing a few I noticed a red backslash(\) - the first time I've ever seen that outside Chained Court. I noted it and then proceeded to waste the opposition. By the end of the battle I was at 38% health and decided to go look for some globes/med-kits before using one of mine. Then I remembered the chainsaw and decided to pick it up. Well... you know the effect :). I did find some globes later on, but that sudden 100% was quite unexpected and fun.
I faced a large team of Barons (at least 10), a few Revenants (3-4) and 4 Arch-Viles on level 93. Because the group was tightly placed, I decided to use the Jackhammer. After killing a few I noticed a red backslash(\) - the first time I've ever seen that outside Chained Court. I noted it and then proceeded to waste the opposition. By the end of the battle I was at 38% health and decided to go look for some globes/med-kits before using one of mine. Then I remembered the chainsaw and decided to pick it up. Well... you know the effect :). I did find some globes later on, but that sudden 100% was quite unexpected and fun.
27
Discussion / Re: Ao100 - ammo management!
« on: February 13, 2009, 07:50 »
Yes, I've gathered that much. In fact, after finding Anti-Freak Jackal (another great find) I switched to using Beretta as a side-arm - when Jackal runs out of ammo and I don't have time to reload. Anyway, the biggest ammo-burner is the Jackhammer, so now I use it under very specific circumstances - tight big groups of enemies, especially with Arch-Viles among them, or when I'm low on rockets and see a lot of Mancubi/Revenants - this way I do not blow the ammo they are dropping.
By the way, I'm down to level 91 - wish me luck!
By the way, I'm down to level 91 - wish me luck!
28
Discussion / Ao100 - ammo management!
« on: February 12, 2009, 10:00 »
Hi, all,
I'm in the middle of my most successful (so far) Ao100 run. I've just saved on the stairs of level 58. Most of my success can be attributed to Pancor's Jackhammer - I even decided to get Shottyman for it, even though I started with my usual EE(2)->SoB(3) build. I still kept my plasma rifle, until I was totally devoid of powercells and awash in shotgun shells and rockets - then I ditched it.
To make long story short:
I now have Grammaton Cleric Beretta (awesome!), Jackhammer and advanced rocket launcher (ditched Revenant's Launcher along the way), as well as Necro- and Malek's armor and Gothic Boots. The trouble is - I'm running out of ammo pretty fast. I've just had a level with 2 or 3 Arch-Viles hiding behind 5-6 Revenants, 2-3 Mancubi, 3-5 Cacos, a couple (maybe even 3-4) Arachs and 10+ Knights and Barons. Cost me 400+ 10mm ammo, 20-30 rockets and all of my shotgun shells, as well as two phase devices and 3 large med-kits. I'm praying for a level with some former marines to restock on either 10-mm or shotgun shells. Oh, and by the way - rockets are not as plentiful when you have only those left and Revenants/Mancubi are resurrected on top of whatever they just dropped. Blindly charging in to get to those faraway Arch-Viles is not an option, of course.
Would you just skip the problematic levels and go downstairs at the first opportunity?
Wish me luck,
Zarin.
EDIT: First of all, sorry to having sent this twice - my Internet connection was shaky, and it seems that "an error occurred while processing this directive" referred to the browser trying to see the newly created message rather than post :(.
Now, some news:
Level 59 yielded a lot of 10 mm and some shotgun ammo, so I'm back in business. Level 60, OTOH, was one of those "Where the hell is the way out of here?!" levels. I eventually ran out of rockets blasting through the maze, but found a Missile Launcher as a consolation. Well, I'm now wielding Beretta and Jackhammer (with Juggler). My character reached level 19, so no further experience for me. Still, the build is pretty solid, aside from Int(1) which should have been SoaG(3) (Beretta is insanely effective with SoB(3) + just SoaG(2) - single mode pushes back to the edge of my Cat(2) pretty much everything before they can fire back, and full auto needs at most 3 volleys even for toughest enemies).
I'm in the middle of my most successful (so far) Ao100 run. I've just saved on the stairs of level 58. Most of my success can be attributed to Pancor's Jackhammer - I even decided to get Shottyman for it, even though I started with my usual EE(2)->SoB(3) build. I still kept my plasma rifle, until I was totally devoid of powercells and awash in shotgun shells and rockets - then I ditched it.
To make long story short:
I now have Grammaton Cleric Beretta (awesome!), Jackhammer and advanced rocket launcher (ditched Revenant's Launcher along the way), as well as Necro- and Malek's armor and Gothic Boots. The trouble is - I'm running out of ammo pretty fast. I've just had a level with 2 or 3 Arch-Viles hiding behind 5-6 Revenants, 2-3 Mancubi, 3-5 Cacos, a couple (maybe even 3-4) Arachs and 10+ Knights and Barons. Cost me 400+ 10mm ammo, 20-30 rockets and all of my shotgun shells, as well as two phase devices and 3 large med-kits. I'm praying for a level with some former marines to restock on either 10-mm or shotgun shells. Oh, and by the way - rockets are not as plentiful when you have only those left and Revenants/Mancubi are resurrected on top of whatever they just dropped. Blindly charging in to get to those faraway Arch-Viles is not an option, of course.
Would you just skip the problematic levels and go downstairs at the first opportunity?
Wish me luck,
Zarin.
EDIT: First of all, sorry to having sent this twice - my Internet connection was shaky, and it seems that "an error occurred while processing this directive" referred to the browser trying to see the newly created message rather than post :(.
Now, some news:
Level 59 yielded a lot of 10 mm and some shotgun ammo, so I'm back in business. Level 60, OTOH, was one of those "Where the hell is the way out of here?!" levels. I eventually ran out of rockets blasting through the maze, but found a Missile Launcher as a consolation. Well, I'm now wielding Beretta and Jackhammer (with Juggler). My character reached level 19, so no further experience for me. Still, the build is pretty solid, aside from Int(1) which should have been SoaG(3) (Beretta is insanely effective with SoB(3) + just SoaG(2) - single mode pushes back to the edge of my Cat(2) pretty much everything before they can fire back, and full auto needs at most 3 volleys even for toughest enemies).
29
Pre-0.9.9 / [M|AoMs|92%|10] Finally!
« on: January 17, 2009, 21:45 »--------------------------------------------------------------
DoomRL (v.0.9.8.10) roguelike post-mortem character dump
--------------------------------------------------------------
Arkady, level 10 Cacodemon Major, defeated the Cyberdemon
on level 25 of the Phobos base.
He survived 123381 turns and scored 91772 points.
He didn't like it too rough.
He killed 445 out of 481 hellspawn. (92%)
He held his right to remain violent.
He was an Angel of Masochism!
He saved himself 2 times.
-- Graveyard -------------------------------------------------
###########################################################
#..........................................................
#..........................................................
#......##..............................###.................
#..X..........###......................###.................
#.............#.#......................###......###........
#.....|........##...............................###..###...
#.....|.........................................###..#>#...
#.....|}....................###.......###............###...
#...............###.........###.......###..###.............
#...............###.........###.......###..###.............
#...............###........................###.............
#..........................................................
#................................###.....................##
#................................###.....................##
#................................###........###..........##
#...........................................###............
#...........................................###............
#..........................................................
###########################################################
-- Statistics ------------------------------------------------
Health 40/50 Experience 44556/10
ToHit +4 ToDmg Ranged +2 ToDmg Melee +2
-- Traits ----------------------------------------------------
Tough as nails (Level 2)
Son of a bitch (Level 2)
Eagle Eye (Level 2)
Cateye (Level 2)
Badass (Level 2)
EE->EE->Cat->Cat->SoB->TaN->TaN->Bad->SoB->Bad->
-- Equipment -------------------------------------------------
[a] [ Armor ] modified red armor [2/5] (40%) (P)
[b] [ Weapon ] modified plasma rifle (1d9)x8 [24/40] (D1)
[c] [ Boots ] plasteel boots [4/4] (92%)
[d] [ Prepared ] modified BFG 9000 (10d8) [26/130] (M1)
-- Inventory -------------------------------------------------
[a] modified rocket launcher (6d6) [0/1] (A1)
[b] modified chaingun (1d6)x5 [50/50] (A1)
[c] Railgun (6d6) [40/40]
[d] modified red armor [4/4] (150%) (D)
[e] modified red armor [5/5] (64%) (P)
[f] red armor [4/4] (100%)
[g] chainsaw (4d6)
[h] 10mm ammo (x100)
[i] 10mm ammo (x100)
[j] 10mm ammo (x79)
[k] rocket (x9)
[l] small med-pack
[m] phase device
[n] phase device
[o] phase device
[p] phase device
[q] homing phase device
[r] homing phase device
-- Kills -----------------------------------------------------
88 former humans
69 former sergeants
16 former captains
56 imps
61 demons
31 lost souls
9 cacodemons
14 barons of hell
1 Cyberdemon
10 hell knights
18 arachnotrons
6 former commandos
6 pain elementals
6 arch-viles
9 mancubi
8 revenants
-- History ---------------------------------------------------
He started his journey on the surface of Phobos.
On level 4 he stormed the Chained Court.
On level 14 he ventured into the Halls of Carnage.
On level 21 he found the Railgun!
On level 23 he entered the Lava Pits.
He decided it was too hot there.
He nuked level 24!
Then at last he found Phobos Arena!
On level 25 he finally defeated the Cyberdemon.
-- Messages --------------------------------------------------
Fire -- Choose target...
You swap your weapon. The Cyberdemon reloads his rocket launcher.
Fire -- Choose target... The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The Cyberdemon
fires! You are hit!
The Cyberdemon reloads his rocket launcher.
You start running!
The Cyberdemon fires! You are hit!
You prepare the plasma rifle! The Cyberdemon reloads his rocket launcher.
Fire -- Choose target... The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The missile hits
the Cyberdemon. The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The missile hits the
Cyberdemon. The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The Cyberdemon fires! You are
hit! Your red armor is damaged!
Fire -- Choose target... The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The missile hits
the Cyberdemon. The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The missile hits the
Cyberdemon. The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The Cyberdemon dies.
-- General ---------------------------------------------------
Before him 394 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
347 of those were killed.
7 of those were killed by something unknown.
And 33 couldn't handle the stress and committed a stupid suicide.
Some rumours though, say that the Cyberdemon was killed already!
Is he immortal? 7 souls claim to have killed him...
6 killed the bastard and survived.
1 showed that it can outsmart hell itself.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Nothing special, but could have nuked Cybie instead of level 24 - forgot that I had some homing devices. Well, I'll be smarter next time... By the way, 92% comes from the fact I entered but not cleared Lava Pits - the entrance there from level 23 was closer to inv.globe than the normal stairway.Never even tried to use Railgun - SoB(2) adds such a punch to plasma rifle that it becomes more efficient ammo-wise, plus I never manage to line them up perfectly anyway.
Went the way of "glass cannon" - decided to add TaN much later. The last investment in Badass was a mistake - SoB(3) would have worked so much better.
On to winning AoB (easier said than done, or so it seems).
30
Discussion / Singing more praises to Blaster
« on: January 09, 2009, 15:47 »
Hello, all,
I've already seen this wonderful piece of equipment once (it got me through Angel of Purity challenge - see my post mortem "killing everything with a Blaster!") and was really impressed. Now, I've started Ao100/HMP for a zillionth time and found it again. I quickly started putting some skills towards maximizing this toy and so far haven't regretted it.
The biggest point for Blaster (for me, at least) - this unique, while powerful (twice the shooting rate of a regular pistol, slightly better damage, no need to reload), is not powerful enough to make you too reckless (which is what gets me killed most of the time in this game). It has 6 (six!) traits that can increase its damage (SoG(3)+SoB(3)), basic firing rate of 2 shots/second (which quickly becomes 0.30s/shot with a couple of SoG levels), so it has good chance of pushing back even the fastest enemies (Arch-Viles and Revenants) before they can react. Thanks to my tendency to take Cat(2) relatively early I always get the first shot.
I used to keep double shotgun as a backup (has some really good damage output and is good for groups of closely standing enemies next to you - the worst situation for the Blaster) but recently found an advanced plasma rifle and decided to keep that instead. I kill enough Arachnotrons to keep decent amounts of ammo. I also have an advanced rocket launcher. Too bad I don't get enough good weapon modifiers (magazine and accuracy mostly, some speed, not a single reload or damage so far - in over 30 levels!)...
Another thing to consider - I've just found a Butcher's Cleaver and decided to keep it. If I happen to find an invincibility globe and there are enough enemies right around the corner, it works faster than the Blaster, helping me maximize the kills before the effect wears off. It is somewhat tempting to go Brute(2)->Berserker route (I get enough levels in Ao100) - should I do it? Right now I'm IM(1),TaN(3), HR(2), SoB(1), SoG(2), EE(2), Cat(2). I'm getting three types of dungeon levels - cavernous with Arachs, regular or maze with 4-5 AVs surrounded by Barons, Mancubi and Revenants (and some stray Arachs as well) and levels with huge masses of various former marines (not too many commandos, fortunately) and 0-2 Arch-Viles. My Blaster works well on the first and third type of levels, while the AV-infested ones are first razed with rockets and then cleaned up with the Blaster once all the Arch-Viles are dead.... I get NO Pain Elementals/Lost Souls as well as zero demons and imps. I'm somewhat at a loss as to what to do next because I have never wandered so deep (level 32 or 33 right now).
Any advice will be appreciated!
Zarin.
I've already seen this wonderful piece of equipment once (it got me through Angel of Purity challenge - see my post mortem "killing everything with a Blaster!") and was really impressed. Now, I've started Ao100/HMP for a zillionth time and found it again. I quickly started putting some skills towards maximizing this toy and so far haven't regretted it.
The biggest point for Blaster (for me, at least) - this unique, while powerful (twice the shooting rate of a regular pistol, slightly better damage, no need to reload), is not powerful enough to make you too reckless (which is what gets me killed most of the time in this game). It has 6 (six!) traits that can increase its damage (SoG(3)+SoB(3)), basic firing rate of 2 shots/second (which quickly becomes 0.30s/shot with a couple of SoG levels), so it has good chance of pushing back even the fastest enemies (Arch-Viles and Revenants) before they can react. Thanks to my tendency to take Cat(2) relatively early I always get the first shot.
I used to keep double shotgun as a backup (has some really good damage output and is good for groups of closely standing enemies next to you - the worst situation for the Blaster) but recently found an advanced plasma rifle and decided to keep that instead. I kill enough Arachnotrons to keep decent amounts of ammo. I also have an advanced rocket launcher. Too bad I don't get enough good weapon modifiers (magazine and accuracy mostly, some speed, not a single reload or damage so far - in over 30 levels!)...
Another thing to consider - I've just found a Butcher's Cleaver and decided to keep it. If I happen to find an invincibility globe and there are enough enemies right around the corner, it works faster than the Blaster, helping me maximize the kills before the effect wears off. It is somewhat tempting to go Brute(2)->Berserker route (I get enough levels in Ao100) - should I do it? Right now I'm IM(1),TaN(3), HR(2), SoB(1), SoG(2), EE(2), Cat(2). I'm getting three types of dungeon levels - cavernous with Arachs, regular or maze with 4-5 AVs surrounded by Barons, Mancubi and Revenants (and some stray Arachs as well) and levels with huge masses of various former marines (not too many commandos, fortunately) and 0-2 Arch-Viles. My Blaster works well on the first and third type of levels, while the AV-infested ones are first razed with rockets and then cleaned up with the Blaster once all the Arch-Viles are dead.... I get NO Pain Elementals/Lost Souls as well as zero demons and imps. I'm somewhat at a loss as to what to do next because I have never wandered so deep (level 32 or 33 right now).
Any advice will be appreciated!
Zarin.