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1

0.9.9.3 / [M|AoRA|81%|YAVP] Sufferin' succotash! Salvation!

« on: July 25, 2011, 19:49 »

--------------------------------------------------------------
 DoomRL (v.0.9.9.3) roguelike post-mortem character dump
--------------------------------------------------------------

 Sylvester, level 9 Cacodemon Sergeant Major, defeated the Cyberdemon
 on level 25 of the Phobos base.
 He survived 48624 turns and scored 107560 points.
 He played for 1 hour and 26 seconds.
 He didn't like it too rough.

 He killed 351 out of 433 hellspawn. (81%)
 He was an Angel of Red Alert!


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

  Levels generated : 10
  Levels visited   : 2
  Levels completed : 0

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

  Armorer Silver Badge
  Quartermaster Bronze Badge
  Quartermaster Silver Badge
  Reaper Bronze Badge
  Reaper Silver Badge

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

  ###########################################################
  #0.X.......................................................
  #..........................................................
  #...........................###................###.........
  #...........................###................###.......##
  #...........................###................###.......##
  #........................................................##
  #...}..............###................###..................
  #...||.............###................###..................
  #...|..............###..###...........###..........###.....
  #.......................###........................###.....
  #.......................###........................###.....
  #.....###....................###....###....................
  #.....#>#....................###....###....................
  #.....###....................###....###..................##
  #....................###.................................##
  #....................###.................................##
  #....................###...................................
  #..........................................................
  ###########################################################

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

  Health 86/50   Experience 30370/9
  ToHit Ranged +4  ToHit Melee +4  ToDmg Ranged +3  ToDmg Melee +3

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

    Son of a bitch   (Level 3)
    Eagle Eye        (Level 2)
    Intuition        (Level 1)
    Triggerhappy     (Level 2)
    Cateye           (Level 1)

  EE->SoB->EE->SoB->TH->Int->MCe->SoB->TH->

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

    [a] [ Armor      ]   modified red armor [4/4] (99%) (T)
    [b] [ Weapon     ]   modified plasma rifle (1d7)x6 [44/52] (B1)
    [c] [ Boots      ]   modified protective boots [2/2] (100%) (A)
    [d] [ Prepared   ]   modified rocket launcher (6d6) [1/1] (T1)

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

    [a] nuclear BFG 9000 (8d8) [40/40]
    [b] modified red armor [6/6] (100%) (P)
    [c] Medical Powerarmor [4/4] (100%)
    [d] chainsaw (4d6)
    [e] rocket (x10)
    [f] rocket (x10)
    [g] rocket (x10)
    [h] rocket (x10)
    [i] rocket (x10)
    [j] rocket (x4)
    [k] power cell (x37)
    [l] power cell (x50)
    [m] power cell (x50)
    [n] power cell (x50)
    [o] large med-pack
    [p] large med-pack
    [q] large med-pack
    [r] large med-pack
    [s] homing phase device
    [t] firestorm weapon pack
    [u] blood skull

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

    61 former humans
    54 former sergeants
    6 former captains
    67 imps
    49 demons
    54 lost souls
    13 cacodemons
    10 barons of hell
    1 Cyberdemon
    4 hell knights
    9 arachnotrons
    6 former commandos
    4 pain elementals
    5 arch-viles
    3 mancubi
    5 revenants

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

  He started his journey on the surface of Phobos.
  On level 9 he assembled a gatling gun!
  On level 11 he ran for his life from acid!
  On level 12 he witnessed the Wall.
  He broke into the Wall, but gave up against the overwhelming forces.
  On level 13 he found the Medical Powerarmor!
  On level 15 he encountered the Phobos Hellgate.
  On level 22 he was foolish enough to enter the Mortuary!
  He managed to escape from the Mortuary!
  Then at last he found Phobos Arena!
  On level 25 he finally defeated the Cyberdemon.

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

 hits the Cyberdemon. The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The Cyberdemon
 reloads his rocket launcher. You need to taste blood!
 Fire -- Choose target...
 You see : a Cyberdemon (severely wounded) [m]ore | floor
 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 missile hits the Cyberdemon. You need to
 taste blood!
 You reload the plasma rifle with power cell. You need to taste blood!
 Fire -- Choose target...
 You see : a Cyberdemon (almost dead) [m]ore | floor
 The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The missile hits the Cyberdemon. 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>...

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

 Before him 70 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
 57 of those were killed.

 3 didn't read the thermonuclear bomb manual.
 And 6 couldn't handle the stress and committed a stupid suicide.

 Some rumours though, say that the Cyberdemon was killed already!
 Is he immortal? 4 souls claim to have killed him...
 4 killed the bastard and survived.

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


Angel of Red Alert this time, as I'm still short two silver badges for my next rank.  (If I had a homing phase I'd hit Mortuary just for another silver - as I don't feel I have time to deal with everything there.  For this reason I also considered a hit-and-run on the City of Skulls instead of daring Halls of Carnage - I'm not sure how thermonuclear warheads handle lava.)

Not knowing the right build for an AoRA game, I went with Cateye - this and the odds that I won't survive the Cyberdemon are both excuses for the name I pick.

I somehow luck out right away - four medpacks and 100% health.  Things were going well until level 3, when I had to abandon 100% kills due to time (I make it a point to prolong 100% kills as long as possible).  I would not completely clear another floor until level 6, which gave me a Tracking Computer (or whatever the upgraded Computer Map is called) so I could find all the monsters efficiently. 

Worth noting that I didn't find a combat shotgun until the same floor that I found a rocket launcher - so most of the work was done with a pistol.  Though I did find enough mods to assemble a gatling gun by floor 9 - something I thought was worthwhile given my build covers for accuracy issues somewhat.  It saw use until I ran out of ammo for it around floor 24.

Are there any special levels I can reasonably expect to do in Angel of Red Alert?  I didn't chance most of them, thinking they wouldn't be reasonably clearable in that time.  I was forced to enter The Wall, however, as I hadn't found the regular stairs in time - and I did kill a few barons but didn't feel I could finish the whole thing.

Hell level 2 is worth noting.  I had eight large medpacks by that point.  One archvile, one baron, and one mancubus later (they were all within sight range when I started!), I was down to three and was out a full red armor.

I literally just hit Mortuary for the easy silver, not knowing this run would grant me Armorer Silver.  No way was I clearing it under time pressure, equipped as I may have been.  Luckily the stairs I got when using my homing phase device led to a nuclear BFG9000.  UNluckily, the last two levels did not provide me an invulnerability to use it.

I actually found a chainsaw (since I hadn't grabbed one earlier in the run, that meant insta-berserk) and megasphere on floor 24.  With that in mind, I actually forsook that BFG9000 against the Cyberdemon and just let him have it with my Plasma Rifle.  Game, set, match.

Luck decided to give me a good hand - scratch that, an AMAZING hand - near the end.  Of course, I was taking no chances, having actually lost a Max Carnage game at floor 24 before.  I avoided special levels unless either forced due to time (The Wall) or felt I could get something out of them (the Mortuary).


On another note, I haven't been following things for a while - is window resizing planned for later DoomRL releases?  I actually played this game with a magnifier program to compensate for the resolution of my monitor (1280x1024), because that resolution makes the game window microscopic on my screen.

At this point, my rank means I can completely forgo Bronze badges from here on out - technically I could forgo any badges as I have all challenge modes unlocked, but why not have something to strive for?  I need two silvers for my next rank (the single gold I have is the Vaults one as part of that failed Max Carnage attempt I mentioned).

[--------------------------------------------------------------]

2

0.9.9.3 / [M|AoPc|15%|8|YASD] First try at Pacifist, only luck got me this far

« on: July 21, 2011, 15:39 »

--------------------------------------------------------------
 DoomRL (v.0.9.9.3) roguelike post-mortem character dump
--------------------------------------------------------------

 Raklen, level 3 Cacodemon Sergeant Major, spooked by a lost soul
 on level 8 of the Phobos base.
 He survived 8247 turns and scored 9445 points.
 He played for 8 minutes and 32 seconds.
 He didn't like it too rough.

 He killed 17 out of 113 hellspawn. (15%)
 Who gave him the ticket to hell, anyway?
 He was an Angel of Pacifism!


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

  Levels generated : 10
  Levels visited   : 0
  Levels completed : 0

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

  Technician Bronze Badge
  Armorer Bronze Badge

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

  ###########################################################
  .............................sX#...........................
  /#############################################+############
  ...#.....#...................#.#...........................
  ...#.....#...................#.#............|.............;
  ...#.....#...................#.#...........................
  ...#.....#...................#.#.........^.................
  ...#...../........0..........#.#.^i........................
  ...#.....#......ii...........#.#####+######################
  .../.....#.......}.........../.#...........................
  ...#.....#...................#.#i.\.i...^..................
  ...+.....#...........i.......#.#...ii.0................|...
  ...#.....#.c.........i.......#.#h.h.............##..0......
  ...#.....#...".i.............#.#.0......h....##.##..|....##
  ...#.....#...................#.#.......##....##........0.##
  ...#.....#"..................#.#..##..^##.=........##.....>
  ############################+###..##......==.......##......
  ...............h..0............+...........=...............
  ...............|...............#.......;..==......0........
  ###########################################################

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

  Health 0/50   Experience 704/3
  ToHit Ranged +0  ToHit Melee +0  ToDmg Ranged +0  ToDmg Melee +0

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

    Hellrunner       (Level 2)
    Dodgemaster      (Level 1)

  HR->HR->DM->

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

    [a] [ Armor      ]   nothing
    [b] [ Weapon     ]   nothing
    [c] [ Boots      ]   nothing
    [d] [ Prepared   ]   nothing

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

    [a] green armor [1/1] (100%)
    [b] large med-pack
    [c] large med-pack
    [d] envirosuit pack
    [e] thermonuclear bomb

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

    5 former humans
    4 former sergeants
    2 imps
    6 lost souls

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

  On level 8 he finally was killed by a lost soul.

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

 You use a large med-pack. You feel fully healed. The lost soul hits you.
 The lost soul hits you.
 You start running! The lost soul hits you.
 The lost soul hits you.
 Unknown command. Press "?" for help.
 Unknown command. Press "?" for help.
 Unknown command. Press "?" for help.
 The lost soul misses you. The lost soul misses you. The lost soul misses you.
 The lost soul hits you. The lost soul hits you.
 The lost soul misses you. The lost soul hits you.
 The lost soul hits you. The lost soul hits you.
 The lost soul hits you. The lost soul misses you.
 The lost soul misses you. The lost soul hits you. The lost soul hits you.
 You stop running.
 The lost soul hits you. The lost soul hits you.
 The lost soul hits you. You die!... Press <Enter>...

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

 Before him 64 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
 53 of those were killed.

 1 didn't read the thermonuclear bomb manual.
 And 6 couldn't handle the stress and committed a stupid suicide.

 Some rumours though, say that the Cyberdemon was killed already!
 Is he immortal? 4 souls claim to have killed him...
 4 killed the bastard and survived.

--------------------------------------------------------------
I tried to get in a quick attempt at AoPc just to get back into the swing of things before I resume AoMC (I chose AoPc solely because I figured such a game would be FAST).  So far, this challenge looks strictly luck-based, and thus one I delay for as long as I can... but I wonder if I should be going for TaN or Hellrunner first.  (I had "chance to avoid" in mind as a priority, hence my choice of Hellrunner.)

Yes, I got trapped against a wall with no way out.  I only ever got one phase device and I had to use that to save myself from another trap incident earlier.  My biggest mistake in this run is not being aware ahead of time that pacifists can still use shockwave packs (yes, I got one and used it too soon.  Then again, this was the first time I'd SEEN one, ever).

[--------------------------------------------------------------]

3

0.9.9.1 / [E|80%|YAVP] Self-imposed challenges are funny.

« on: May 01, 2010, 08:32 »

--------------------------------------------------------------
 DoomRL (v.0.9.9.1) roguelike post-mortem character dump
--------------------------------------------------------------

 Khoray, level 8 Cacodemon Corporal, defeated the Cyberdemon
 on level 25 of the Phobos base.
 He survived 73107 turns and scored 33004 points.
 He played for 51 minutes and 11 seconds.
 He was too young to die!

 He killed 237 out of 296 hellspawn. (80%)


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

  Malicious Knives Cross
  Strongman Bronze Badge
  Strongman Silver Badge
  Scavenger Bronze Badge

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

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

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

  Health 96/50   Experience 23048/8
  ToHit Ranged +0  ToHit Melee +6  ToDmg Ranged +0  ToDmg Melee +9

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

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

  Bru->Bru->Ber->TaN->TaN->Bad->MVm->Bru->

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

    [a] [ Armor      ]   modified red armor [2/4] (30%) (T)
    [b] [ Weapon     ]   modified combat knife (3d5)
    [c] [ Boots      ]   modified plasteel boots [4/4] (100%) (A)
    [d] [ Prepared   ]   modified combat knife (2d6)

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

    [a] modified red armor [4/4] (100%) (T)
    [b] modified red armor [4/4] (100%) (A)
    [c] small med-pack
    [d] small med-pack
    [e] small med-pack
    [f] small med-pack
    [g] small med-pack
    [h] small med-pack
    [i] small med-pack
    [j] large med-pack
    [k] large med-pack
    [l] phase device
    [m] phase device
    [n] phase device
    [o] homing phase device
    [p] envirosuit pack
    [q] thermonuclear bomb
    [r] modified plasteel boots [4/4] (100%) (A)
    [s] phaseshift boots [4/4] (100%)

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

    27 former humans
    18 former sergeants
    9 former captains
    50 imps
    40 demons
    58 lost souls
    9 cacodemons
    6 barons of hell
    1 Cyberdemon
    6 hell knights
    4 arachnotrons
    2 pain elementals
    1 arch-vile
    1 mancubus
    3 revenants
    2 bruiser brothers

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

  He started his journey on the surface of Phobos.
  On level 15 he encoutered the Phobos Hellgate.
  On level 19 he entered the Vaults.
  He came, he saw, but he left.
  Then at last he found Phobos Arena!
  On level 25 he finally defeated the Cyberdemon.

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

 You dodge! You need to taste blood!
 You need to taste blood!
 The Cyberdemon reloads his rocket launcher. You need to taste blood!
 The Cyberdemon fires! You are hit! You need to taste blood!
 You need to taste blood!
 The Cyberdemon reloads his rocket launcher. You need to taste blood!
 You need to taste blood!
 The Cyberdemon hits you. You need to taste blood!
 You hit the Cyberdemon. The Cyberdemon hits you. You need to taste blood!
 You hit the Cyberdemon. You're going berserk! You need to taste blood!
 You hit the Cyberdemon. The Cyberdemon hits you. You need to taste blood!
 You hit the Cyberdemon. The Cyberdemon hits you. You need to taste blood!
 You hit the Cyberdemon. You need to taste blood!
 You hit the Cyberdemon. The Cyberdemon hits you. You need to taste blood!
 You hit the Cyberdemon. The Cyberdemon dies. You feel relatively safe

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

 Before him 35 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
 28 of those were killed.
 1 didn't read the thermonuclear bomb manual.
 And 4 couldn't handle the stress and committed a stupid suicide.

 Some rumours though, say that the Cyberdemon was killed already!
 Is he immortal? 2 souls claim to have killed him...
 2 killed the bastard and survived.

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


Notes for this one:

5/1/10 - 0915

Time to start May off on the right foot with a silver badge challenge.  This time, Strongman, as it may very well be the only silver badge I can get on ITYTD.  Going for Vampyre master trait, so I'm naming the character after a vampire (sort of) in a book I'm writing.  I should also note, I attempted a Gambler's Shield too, but there just weren't enough switches in my game.

First level went well for once.  90% and all medpacks intact.  Hell's Arena was skipped because I'm not feeling THAT manly yet.  Chained Court I wasn't quite sure, and was going to do anyway, but I wound up dumbly taking the wrong stairs.  Oh well.

My decision to carry extra combat knives pays off because in a few situations, I was able to throw one at a barrel and blow up a bunch of hellspawn.  Level 12 was fun because I started surrounded by six demons and on the other side of them was a nice pool of lava.  I sprinted across it and watched the chaos ensue.

There was one thermonuclear bomb, but I had my doubts whether that counted for Strongman.  I picked it up regardless in case I was ill prepared for Cybie.  When using mods on level 14 I quickly found that for melee weapons, it seems the bulk mod is better than the power mod.  Weird.

I hit the vaults strictly for the easy bronze.  With no explosives, going for gold (since I hear silver is bugged) was not going to happen (I didn't quite trust my luck with phase devices yet - and I don't see how else you'd get into the center vault).  Nor was getting whatever unique was in there.

Phobos Hell level 8 was interesting.  An arch-vile trapped by lava, and a horde of arachnotrons backed up by a revenant.  The latter I encountered after finding an invulnerability globe.

I never needed to use that bomb, it turns out, because I got a berserk pack before entering Phobos Arena.  With that in hand, Cybie was easy.


Basically, I had mods coming out of my ears on this one (power mods for blue armor, other mods for the other types).  Health was slightly more challenging - with the sheer amount of medpacks on easy, enemies kept yanking them!  Beyond that, if I knew whether giftdropping actually worked in this version (is it just me or has the AI improved to the point where that's not an option?), I may have considered a 100% game.


Lastly, I find that arch-viles aren't the problem in melee games - Revenants are.


Probably the last ITYTD game played on this comp unless someone new insists on playing.  One silver and one bronze will unlock the rest of the challenges, and I know which one to go for - Angel of Haste.

[--------------------------------------------------------------]

4

0.9.9.1 / [M|AoSg|100%|10|YASD] I guess I shouldn't be experimenting with Trigun...

« on: April 29, 2010, 13:41 »

--------------------------------------------------------------
 DoomRL (v.0.9.9.1) roguelike post-mortem character dump
--------------------------------------------------------------

 Fudd, level 5 Imp Corporal, nuked himself.
 on level 10 of the Phobos base.
 He survived 36627 turns and scored 20256 points.
 He played for 18 minutes and 38 seconds.
 He didn't like it too rough.

 He killed 196 out of 196 hellspawn. (100%)
 This ass-kicking marine killed all of them!
 He was an Angel of Shotgunnery!


 He saved himself once.

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

  UAC Star (bronze cluster)

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

  ###########################################################
  ...........................................................
  ...........................................................
  ...........................................................
  ...........................................................
  ...........................................................
  ..............................X............................
  ...........................................................
  ...........................................................
  ...........................................................
  ...........................................................
  ........................................>..................
  ...........................................................
  ...........................................................
  ...........................................................
  ...........................................................
  ...........................................................
  ...........................................................
  ...........................................................
  ###########################################################

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

  Health -5993/45   Experience 9006/5
  ToHit Ranged +0  ToHit Melee +0  ToDmg Ranged +0  ToDmg Melee +0

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

    Tough as nails   (Level 2)
    Reloader         (Level 2)
    Shottyman        (Level 1)

  Rel->Rel->SM->TaN->TaN->

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

    [a] [ Armor      ]   blue armor [2/2] (100%)
    [b] [ Weapon     ]   Trigun (3d6) [6/6]
    [c] [ Boots      ]   steel boots [1/1] (100%)
    [d] [ Prepared   ]   combat shotgun (7d3) [5/5]

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

    [a] double shotgun (8d3)x3 [2/2]
    [b] blue armor [2/2] (100%)
    [c] blue armor [2/2] (100%)
    [d] shotgun shell (x50)
    [e] shotgun shell (x50)
    [f] shotgun shell (x50)
    [g] shotgun shell (x50)
    [h] shotgun shell (x50)
    [i] shotgun shell (x50)
    [j] shotgun shell (x50)
    [k] shotgun shell (x50)
    [l] shotgun shell (x50)
    [m] shotgun shell (x50)
    [n] power cell (x20)
    [o] large med-pack
    [p] large med-pack
    [q] homing phase device
    [r] envirosuit pack
    [s] envirosuit pack
    [t] power mod pack

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

    54 former humans
    36 former sergeants
    17 former captains
    52 imps
    12 demons
    20 lost souls
    3 hell knights
    2 arachnotrons

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

  He started his journey on the surface of Phobos.
  On level 9 he found Hell's Armory.
  On level 9 he found the Trigun!
  On level 10 he finally nuked himself.

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

 Game loaded. Welcome to the Doom Roguelike... You enter Phobos Base,
 level 10.
 You swap your weapon.
 Do you want to use the dangerous Angel Arm?? [y/n] You activate the Angel
 Arm! Your life is drained! You hear an explosion! You hear an
 explosion! You hear an explosion! You hear an explosion! You hear an
 explosion! You feel relatively safe now. You die!... Press

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

 Before him 25 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
 23 of those were killed.

 Some rumours though, say that the Cyberdemon was killed already!
 Is he immortal? 2 souls claim to have killed him...
 2 killed the bastard and survived.

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


So apparently Angel Arm can still be used in games where firing pistols isn't allowed.  Good to know for the future.

The power cells were in case I stumbled across a plasma shotgun before I got Army of the Dead.

Yeah, that save was literally to test this.  The real playthrough wound up dying in a differently-generated version of level 10, so I didn't really get far from the save in any case.

Also:  Yeah, that name is probably the one I'm going to be using for all AoSg playthroughs, most likely.

[--------------------------------------------------------------]

5

0.9.9.1 / [M|AoMr|96%|YAVP] First REAL AoMr win... not without incident.

« on: April 25, 2010, 15:41 »

--------------------------------------------------------------
 DoomRL (v.0.9.9.1) roguelike post-mortem character dump
--------------------------------------------------------------

 York, level 9 Imp Lance Corporal, defeated the Cyberdemon
 on level 25 of the Phobos base.
 He survived 78937 turns and scored 81522 points.
 He played for 1 hour, 8 minutes and 45 seconds.
 He didn't like it too rough.

 He killed 383 out of 398 hellspawn. (96%)
 He held his right to remain violent.
 He was an Angel of Marksmanship!


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

  Grammaton Cleric Cross
  Hell Champion Medal
  Marksman Bronze Badge
  Marksman Silver Badge

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

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

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

  Health 37/50   Experience 36642/9
  ToHit Ranged +4  ToHit Melee +4  ToDmg Ranged +0  ToDmg Melee +0

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

    Hellrunner       (Level 2)
    Son of a gun     (Level 2)
    Eagle Eye        (Level 2)
    Dualgunner       (Level 1)
    Dodgemaster      (Level 1)
    Gun Kata         (Level 1)

  SoG->SoG->DG->HR->HR->DM->MGK->EE->EE->

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

    [a] [ Armor      ]   red armor [4/4] (52%)
    [b] [ Weapon     ]   Grammaton Cleric Beretta (1d8)x3 [18/18]
    [c] [ Boots      ]   plasteel boots [4/4] (100%)
    [d] [ Prepared   ]   Trigun (3d6) [6/6]

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

    [a] red armor [4/4] (100%)
    [b] 10mm ammo (x76)
    [c] 10mm ammo (x100)
    [d] 10mm ammo (x100)
    [e] 10mm ammo (x100)
    [f] 10mm ammo (x100)
    [g] 10mm ammo (x100)
    [h] 10mm ammo (x100)
    [i] large med-pack
    [j] large med-pack
    [k] large med-pack
    [l] large med-pack
    [m] envirosuit pack

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

    52 former humans
    54 former sergeants
    16 former captains
    61 imps
    58 demons
    59 lost souls
    32 cacodemons
    11 barons of hell
    1 Cyberdemon
    9 hell knights
    5 arachnotrons
    5 former commandos
    3 pain elementals
    5 arch-viles
    8 mancubi
    2 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 7 he found the Grammaton Cleric Beretta!
  On level 14 he found the Trigun!
  On level 15 he encoutered the Phobos Hellgate.
  Then at last he found Phobos Arena!
  On level 25 he finally defeated the Cyberdemon.

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

 Fire -- Choose target...   The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The missile
 hits the Cyberdemon. The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The missile
 hits the Cyberdemon. The Cyberdemon hits you.
 You use a large med-pack. You feel fully healed. The Cyberdemon hits you.
 You start running!
 The Cyberdemon fires! You dodge! Boom!
 The Cyberdemon reloads his rocket launcher.
 You reload the Trigun with 10mm ammo.
 You swap your weapon.
 You reload the Grammaton Cleric Beretta with 10mm ammo.
 Fire -- Choose target...   The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The missile
 hits the Cyberdemon. The missile hits the Cyberdemon.
 Fire -- Choose target...   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>... You

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

 Before him 14 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
 13 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.

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

Notes for this playthrough:

4/25/10 - 1555

Alright, vacation winding down and things are calm for a time.  Let's see if I can get AoMr right THIS time.  Two things standard to my AoMr playthroughs to this point: I name my character after one of the guys from Cross Edge, who had a 'gun kata' style of fighting (which I went for this time around); and I'm playing it on HNTR because I'm not comfortable enough with HMP to do challenges on it.  Also, I start in front of the base, which isn't my typical choice of start point but I made this change mainly for AoMr purposes.

Agility mod at the start this time.  I used it first level and carried a couple extra pistols, which I'll use spare mods on.

Despite my terrible luck with Hell's Arena in AoMr, I went for it this time around.  Got Dualgunner early in it and had it pretty easy from there, what with how much I'm shooting around the pillars.  The cacodemons in the last round had trouble hitting the broad side of a barn.  I chose to keep my extra pistols in case I found another accuracy or power mod.

Had 4 large medpacks by floor 6, but I still saw no point in going to Chained Court (no explosives readily available to me), so I didn't.

Floor 7 was jackpot - the Grammaton Cleric Beretta!  I chose to keep the power-modded pistol and stashed the agility one for a while.  I found a super shotgun on level 12 and picked it up just for laughs (and dropped it at the end of that level).  Finally chose to drop the spare pistol on level 13, not feeling I'd actually need it.

I could not believe it on level 14 when I found the Trigun.  Now all I needed to do was not screw up.  Hellgate was easy on account of me entering the place supercharged.  I acquired Gun Kata just as I was wrapping up that place. 

Actually, around that point I was feeling damn near invincible, with a huge stash of medpacks and armor and even a few extra goodies I insisted on carrying.

Of course, the game still had cruel tricks up its sleeve, by having me start Phobos Hell level 5 surrounded by four cacodemons, THEN put a cluster of former sergeants surrounding a commando nearby.  THEN spawning two arch-viles right next to each other on TOP of that (luckily I only fought one at a time).

Seeing my ammo count after that level, I chose to abandon my 100% game.  Little did I know I'd get a nice ammo infusion in Phobos Hell level 8.  I had about 10 large medpacks and 3 red armors entering Phobos (why did I say Hell's last time?) Arena, and Cybie was still not a cakewalk by any stretch.

I call this my first real AoMr win because the last time I beat AoMr (on an older version) it was a sacrifice win.  Hardly noticed the dodge benefit from Gun Kata or even Dodgemaster, but the autoreload was worth enough as it is.  I don't know what I'll do without getting uniques like I had this time (maybe go with TaN and Eagle Eye right after Dualgunner instead of going for Dodgemaster?).

So yeah, 3 more bronze badges and I'll unlock Nightmare difficulty, then 2 more each of bronze and silver badges to unlock the remaining challenge modes.

[0]

6

Bug Reports / [0.9.9.1] (Win) Crash bug, not exactly sure why...

« on: April 23, 2010, 09:32 »

This one comes from a game played on a Windows 7 (64-bit) laptop.

The only circumstance I know in this case was that I had just lost another character to errant barrel explosions (caused by a former human shot, it looks like), going from 52% to dead in the course of one action.  When trying to go to the mortem screen, this popped up:

An unhandled exception occurred at $004C1F6B
EAccessViolation : Access violation
  $004C1F6B  TBEINGAI__SCAN,  line 227 of doomai.pas
  $004C077B  TBEINGAI__RUN,  line 38 of doomai.pas
  $004AAc95  TBEING__ACTION,  line 622 of dfbeing.pas
  $0041B146  TDOOM__RUN,  line 409 of doombase.pas
  $004020B7  main, line 92 of doomrl.pas


The saved mortem file also says I died to a lost soul, but take a look at the graveyard screen from the mortem:

  ###########################################################
  ./....#.......#..../....#.......#....+....#.......#....####
  .#....#.......#..0.#....#.......#....#....#.......#....####
  .#..../......./....#..../......./....#....+.......+.;..####
  /#....#.......#....#....#.......#....#....#########...}####
  ./....#.......#...>/....#.......=....+....+.......+====####
  #####/####/####/#######/####+====X#######+####+####+#===###
  ./.......#.#......./...%...=.====..../.......#.#.....=0==##
  .#....%%.#.#.......#.....===.====....#.......#.#.##########
  .#.....%.#.#.......#........=====....#...|.;.+.+.#ssO.0####
  .#/#######/#######/#....%....#s|s....#########+#.#ss...####
  .+.......%...B...../.........#h.s...0/.........#.+sss..####
  #==##.####/####/#######+####/####.#######+####+####+#######
  ==.........#.......+.......#.#.......+.......#.#.......####
  .#=#######+#.......#^......#.#.#######.......#.#.##########
  .#......./......0..#...^...+.+.#h....#..}....+.+.#.....####
  .#...0...#.#.......#########+#.#.....#########+#.#.....####
  ./...0...#.#.......+.........#.+.....+.........#.+.....####
  ###########################################################
  ###########################################################
The only lost souls I see are well out of melee range, so I'm guessing the mortem bugged out when trying to determine what actually killed me, but I don't know.

If there's anything else I need to say, go ahead and let me know.  I still have the mortem file and my notes from this playthrough.

[--------------------------------------------------------------]

7

0.9.9.1 / [M|100%|YAAM] First play in a long while...

« on: April 17, 2010, 16:56 »

--------------------------------------------------------------
 DoomRL (v.0.9.9.1) roguelike post-mortem character dump
--------------------------------------------------------------

 Alex, level 10 Human Private, defeated the Cyberdemon
 on level 25 of the Phobos base.
 He survived 116402 turns and scored 97035 points.
 He played for 1 hour, 46 minutes and 7 seconds.
 He didn't like it too rough.

 He killed 501 out of 501 hellspawn. (100%)
 This ass-kicking marine killed all of them!


 He saved himself 3 times.

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

  Medal of Prejudice
  Hell Champion Medal
  UAC Bronze Badge
  Veteran Bronze Badge
  Brick Bronze Badge
  Arena Bronze Badge

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

  ###########################################################
  #..........................................................
  #..........................................................
  #............###...........................................
  #............###...................................###.....
  #............###...........###.....................###.....
  #..........................###................###..###.....
  #..........................###................###.......###
  #...............#.............................###.......###
  #.......................................................###
  #......................................###.................
  #..X.....}.............................###.................
  #......................###.............###..###............
  #......................###..................###............
  #.......##........###..###..................###............
  #.................#>#......................................
  #.................###......................................
  #..........................................................
  #..........................................................
  ###########################################################

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

  Health 50/50   Experience 48446/10
  ToHit Ranged +0  ToHit Melee +0  ToDmg Ranged +2  ToDmg Melee +2

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

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

  Fin->Fin->SoB->SoB->TH->WK->MAc->HR->HR->DM->

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

    [a] [ Armor      ]   red armor [4/4] (65%)
    [b] [ Weapon     ]   modified BFG 9000 (10d8) [10/130] (B1T2)
    [c] [ Boots      ]   nothing
    [d] [ Prepared   ]   modified plasma rifle (1d8)x6 [40/40] (A2P1)

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

    [a] modified missile launcher (6d6) [5/5] (A1B1T1)
    [b] red armor [1/4] (25%)
    [c] rocket (x12)
    [d] rocket (x14)
    [e] power cell (x50)
    [f] power cell (x70)
    [g] power cell (x70)
    [h] power cell (x70)
    [i] large med-pack
    [j] large med-pack
    [k] power mod pack
    [l] agility mod pack
    [m] bulk mod pack
    [n] firestorm weapon pack

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

    81 former humans
    48 former sergeants
    27 former captains
    99 imps
    49 demons
    89 lost souls
    26 cacodemons
    15 barons of hell
    1 Cyberdemon
    25 hell knights
    19 arachnotrons
    1 former commando
    4 pain elementals
    6 arch-viles
    2 mancubi
    7 revenants
    2 bruiser brothers

-- 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 6 he stormed the Chained Court.
  On level 7 he witnessed the Wall.
  He massacred the evil behind the Wall!
  On level 9 he found Hell's Armory.
  On level 12 he ventured into the Halls of Carnage.
  On level 15 he encoutered the Phobos Hellgate.
  Then at last he found Phobos Arena!
  On level 25 he finally defeated the Cyberdemon.

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

 footsteps...
 You feel vulnerable again.
 You start running!
 Fire -- Choose target...   The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The Cyberdemon
 fires! You are hit!
 You use a large med-pack. You feel fully healed.
 You are hit!
 Fire -- Choose target... 
 Fire -- Choose target... 
 You use a large med-pack. You feel fully healed.
 You reload the BFG 9000 with power cell.
 Fire -- Choose target... 
 Fire -- Choose target...   The missile hits the Cyberdemon.
 Fire -- Choose target...   The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The Cyberdemon
 dies. You feel relatively safe now. Congratulations! You defeated

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

  He's the first brave soul to have ventured into Hell...

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


So what do I have to say about all this?  Well.... here's my notes log.

4/15/10 - 1530:
First six levels, plus Chained Court and The Arena (two saves mid-game to take short breaks - I'm not used to playing this on a laptop, so my wrists are in an odd position).  Was playing this in the campus lounge while an advertisement for a charity event (something about "Humans vs. Zombies") was being recorded.  I want to consider those people involved in organizing that event avid roleplayers, as they discuss roleplaying-related stuff every time I'm in that lounge area (Thursdays between classes), but I remember one of them saying "There's a difference between roleplaying and playing a game" at some point during the conversation.  Had to stop at Chained Court because I have one last class for the day in 15 minutes.

(Yeah, all three saves were from the first play session.)


4/17/10 - 1845:
Way too many WoW raids and work in a row.  Thankfully I have a little time for some more of this, and didn't bother with any more saves.  My strategy of going for Ammochain might have gotten derailed when I found the missile launcher in The Wall, had rockets been more plentiful.  Whatever, with all the mods I've been finding (I swear, they're way more plentiful than in the last version of DoomRL I'd played), I turned the missile launcher into a longterm secondary weapon.  The lack of any decent weapons in Hell's Armory was offset a bit by all those power cells (which I'm hoarding for a BFG, so I kept a bulk mod pack too).  I chose to carry minimal 10mm ammo into level 11, knowing a kill or two more would get me Ammochain... but the missile launcher was the true winner at the start of that level, seeing as I started in a room with about 10 imps and 3 hell knights and ALL of them were on the other side.

My first experience with napalm was in that room, luckily I wasn't right next to it... Geez, napalm EVERYWHERE on this map!  Level 12, just a city with too many powerups, and one lone commando - so upgrading to the plasma rifle was a given considering I had a few extra mods available to me.  Plasma rifle and Ammochain made the Halls of Carnage WAY too easy.

Well, that's different - I don't remember there being a special level before entering the Hell portion... and why an empty - oh shit, the walls collapsed!  Run to cover!  RUN!!..... phew, back to safety.  The trick would have been much more effective on a first-timer to it if they didn't have Ammochain already.  Also, the ending of that special level seems awfully familiar since I've played the original Doom....

Hell level 1, too many rockets.  Time to have some fun.  How I wound up playing the Hell levels up to level 5 was using the missile launcher whenever possible and resorting to the Plasma Rifle as a backup.  I also chose to skip all special levels after this point, not wanting to screw up a good run.

I didn't run out of rockets by Hell level 5, but I ran into some areas where I couldn't afford to use them.  I lost my phaseshift boots around Hell level 6 because of bad placement of the lava.  Were it not for my medkit stash this run would have been over.  I found a plasma shotgun on the way down but my game choice didn't really fit it so I played with it a bit then dropped it.

My dumbest move came on Hell level 9.  I wanted to start using the BFG9000, but I got a barrel level.  A NAPALM barrel level.  Needless to say, most of them got set off when I shot the first Arch-Vile there.

Cybie was a cakewalk.  Get him in position, run around the edge of a pillar, shoot BFG9000 around a corner.  Took six shots of the weapon.


So yeah, I enjoy this version and may go right back to playing on "Hurt Me Plenty" like I was before.

Also, I know I mention WoW in the notes log... well, my friends there already know of this game, so there went an advertising opportunity.

[--------------------------------------------------------------]

8

0.9.9 / [M|94%|11|YASD] First mortem for new version. I'm out of practice.

« on: October 16, 2009, 18:24 »

--------------------------------------------------------------
 DoomRL (v.0.9.9) roguelike post-mortem character dump
--------------------------------------------------------------

 Reese, level 6 Human Private, killed by a cacodemon
 on level 11 of the Phobos base.
 He survived 63963 turns and scored 24415 points.
 He played for 36 minutes and 52 seconds.
 He didn't like it too rough.

 He killed 179 out of 189 hellspawn. (94%)
 He held his right to remain violent.


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

  Hell Champion Medal
  Brick Bronze Badge
  Arena Bronze Badge

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

  ###########################################################
  ...........===........==....%........======.=====..........
  ............=......=...==..............=.=.======..........
  ......hh..==.......0=..==...............0.=....==..........
  ....=0=...=........=.====......................=...........
  ...=.==....==.......=.....................^.".............=
  ...=.h.=0.===.....==.....................................=.
  ..=...=h======.....=......#...#..^...............h........=
  ..=.h=.======......=.......................................
  ...=.======......==....................................i...
  ....====.........=......^.s...X............................
  ...====...........=.......#...#............................
  =.=.==.0.........=........................................0
  .=.==.==..}..}..=.....................O.................==.
  ..=.===......===.......................................==.=
  .....===....===.................O.......................=.=
  .........00.==....0......................................==
  ..............=...........................................=
  .........................................................=.
  ###########################################################

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

  Health 0/50   Experience 11922/6
  ToHit Ranged +0  ToHit Melee +0  ToDmg Ranged +2  ToDmg Melee +2

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

    Finesse          (Level 2)
    Son of a bitch   (Level 2)
    Whizkid          (Level 1)
    Triggerhappy     (Level 1)

  Fin->SoB->Fin->WK->SoB->TH->

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

    [a] [ Armor      ]   red armor [4/4] (80%)
    [b] [ Weapon     ]   modified chaingun (1d6)x4 [40/40] (A2)
    [c] [ Boots      ]   protective boots [2/2] (100%)
    [d] [ Prepared   ]   advanced rocket launcher (6d6) [1/1]

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

    [a] 10mm ammo (x133)
    [b] 10mm ammo (x140)
    [c] 10mm ammo (x60)
    [d] 10mm ammo (x140)
    [e] rocket (x12)
    [f] rocket (x14)
    [g] rocket (x14)
    [h] rocket (x3)
    [i] power cell (x70)
    [j] power cell (x40)
    [k] power cell (x70)
    [l] large med-pack
    [m] envirosuit pack
    [n] power mod pack

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

    59 former humans
    19 former sergeants
    10 former captains
    32 imps
    17 demons
    15 lost souls
    12 cacodemons
    6 barons of hell
    9 hell knights

-- 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 4 he stormed the Chained Court.
  On level 10 he witnessed the Wall.
  He massacred the evil behind the Wall!
  On level 11 he finally was killed by a cacodemon.

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

 There are stairs leading downward here.
 All in all, we're just another brick in the wall. 
 You enter Phobos Base, level 11. Suddenly monsters come from everywhere!
 Fire -- Choose target...
 
 You reload the rocket launcher with rocket.
 Fire -- Choose target...
   The missile hits the demon. The demon dies.
 You reload the rocket launcher with rocket.
 Fire -- Choose target...
   The missile hits the cacodemon. The cacodemon fires! You are hit!
 You reload the rocket launcher with rocket.
 Fire -- Choose target...
 
 The cacodemon fires! You are hit!

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

  He's the first brave soul to have ventured into Hell...

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

I'd add the tag for the Ammochain master trait, except I died before I got that trait successfully.  Though that's clearly where I was aiming.


The large medpack remaining in inventory is me being too stingy.  That powerup to the left of me was a health globe and I was hoping to get to it before I got killed but... no dice.

My understanding of going for the Ammochain master trait is that I'm going to be extremely inaccurate throughout the game.  Hence using the two Agility mods I got in Chained Court on my chaingun, to alleviate this problem a little bit.  I probably was going to carry a rocket launcher for the entire game, since a BFG isn't exactly a frequent-use weapon, but I never got favorable conditions to try the alt-fire that was added, which is probably my only real regret in this round.


Since it'd been so long since I played, I went with Hey, Not Too Rough as my difficulty.  I think I can jump back into Hurt Me Plenty with a few more tries at this.

[--------------------------------------------------------------]

9

Pre-0.9.9 / [U|AoLT|YAAM|StdWin] Savescummed, sure, but still satisfying.

« on: January 24, 2009, 22:46 »

(I don't like being too deceitful, hence me saying up front that I savescummed.)

--------------------------------------------------------------
 DoomRL (v.0.9.8.10) roguelike post-mortem character dump
--------------------------------------------------------------

 Wesker, level 14 Cacodemon Lieutenant, defeated the Cyberdemon
 on level 25 of the Phobos base.
 He survived 115988 turns and scored 317620 points.
 He was a man of Ultra-Violence!

 He killed 890 out of 890 hellspawn. (100%)
 This ass-kicking marine killed all of them!
 He was an Angel of Light Travel!


 He saved himself 30 times.

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

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

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

  Health 50/50   Experience 97630/14
  ToHit +4  ToDmg Ranged +3  ToDmg Melee +3

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

    Tough as nails (Level 3)
    Son of a bitch (Level 3)
    Reloader       (Level 2)
    Eagle Eye      (Level 2)
    Cateye         (Level 2)
    Triggerhappy   (Level 2)

  EE->EE->Cat->Cat->SoB->SoB->SoB->TaN->TaN->TaN->TH->TH->Rel->Rel->

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

    [a] [ Armor      ]   nothing
    [b] [ Weapon     ]   advanced BFG 9000 (12d8) [55/169] (D2M2)
    [c] [ Boots      ]   steel boots [1/1] (55%)
    [d] [ Prepared   ]   Missile Launcher (7d6) [2/4]

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

    [a] modified plasma rifle (1d9)x8 [0/40] (D1)
    [b] modified BFG 9000 (10d8) [0/130] (M1)

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

    73 former humans
    106 former sergeants
    52 former captains
    113 imps
    91 demons
    66 lost souls
    39 cacodemons
    47 barons of hell
    1 Cyberdemon
    26 hell knights
    42 arachnotrons
    21 former commandos
    14 pain elementals
    26 arch-viles
    20 mancubi
    28 revenants

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

  He started his journey on the surface of Phobos.
  On level 3 he entered Hell's Arena.
  On level 4 he stormed the Chained Court.
  On level 8 he found the Phaseshift Boots!
  On level 9 he found Hell's Armory.
  On level 13 he witnessed the Wall.
  Entering level 14 he was almost dead...
  On level 14 he ventured into the Halls of Carnage.
  On level 18 he found the Missile Launcher!
  On level 22 he found the Phaseshift Armor!
  On level 22 he was foolish enough to enter the Mortuary!
  On level 22 he found the Angelic Armor!
  On level 23 he entered the Lava Pits.
  He nuked level 23!
  He managed to clear the Lava Pits completely!
  Then at last he found Phobos Arena!
  On level 25 he finally defeated the Cyberdemon.

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

 You start running!
 The Cyberdemon fires!
 Fire -- Choose target... The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The Cyberdemon
 reloads his rocket launcher.
 Fire -- Choose target... The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The Cyberdemon
 fires! You are hit!
 Fire -- Choose target... The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The Cyberdemon
 fires! You are hit!
 You are hit!
 You use a large med-pack. You feel fully healed.
 The Cyberdemon fires! Boom!
 Fire -- Choose target... The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The Cyberdemon
 reloads his rocket launcher.
 You reload the BFG 9000 with power cell.
 Fire -- Choose target... The missile hits the Cyberdemon. The Cyberdemon

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

 Before him 533 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
 483 of those were killed.
 7 of those were killed by something unknown.
 And 41 couldn't handle the stress and committed a stupid suicide.

 Some rumours though, say that the Cyberdemon was killed already!
 Is he immortal? 2 souls claim to have killed him...
 1 sacrificed itself for the good of mankind.
 1 killed the bastard and survived.

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


Okay, okay, bear with me here, people.  I had been so irritated with Angel of Light Travel that I insisted on savescumming just so the game would think the challenge mode was finished, but to make it anywhere near worthwhile I forced it upon myself to do as much as I could with it.  Hence using the Ultra-Violence difficulty (in reality, the highest difficulty I could really get anywhere in is Hurt Me Plenty), forcing 100% kills anywhere I go, and doing as many special levels as I could (I skipped two - the Unholy Cathedral and The Vaults - and any others not explicitly mentioned simply failed to show up).  My original intent was to get a full win as well, but I didn't get the chance because of my ill-fated decision to attempt the Lava Pits with just invincibility.  After a few retries I simply nuked the place.

In brief:
-Hell's Arena seems to be my Achilles' heel.  Many times in both this and other playthroughs I've died there.
-Rockets can be used more freely in Halls of Carnage than most people think.  I think you only have to avoid the area between the two innermost 'rings', with the innermost being the BFG room itself.
-I skipped Unholy Cathedral because my build was not designed for it, and I skipped The Vaults after keeping a backup save and realizing that even if the way to get into the center is what I think it is, I didn't prepare for that.
-Maybe it was my equipment, but when I went there I found that The Mortuary's reputation seemed to be overstated.  I guess it depends on what is revived and when.
-Lava Pits was just a serious mistake on my part.  Had it not been for that I could have tried for a full win.

Extended Level Notes:
1: No restarts.  I actually take almost anything for the first level nowadays - I've passed through this level so often that I just want to get it over with.
2: No restarts, amazingly.  I say 'amazingly' because no matter what difficulty, roughly half of my runs don't get past here.
3: 5 restarts.  The level I finally cleared was a demon cave.
Hell's Arena: 14 restarts.  I finally cleared it with 4% health left.  What made this so difficult was only entering with a combat shotgun and one small medpack.  I eventually got it by playing chicken with the cacodemons and barons in the later two waves.  It doesn't say it in the mortem for some reason, but yes, I cleared ALL THREE WAVES.
4: No restarts.  I got another demon cave.
Chained Court: No restarts.  Although it was a big surprise to me to see CAPTAINS instead of the sergeants... I must say, this is probably my favorite iteration of the Chained Court.  Lots of captains and four barons that can be picked off without them firing a shot!
5: No restarts.  I'm rather amazed, honestly.  Another quarter of my runs that make it past floor 2 don't get farther than here.
6: Surprise, surprise - no restarts here either!
7: 1 restart.  The first time, I got a cave full of cacodemons and almost, ALMOST, survived the whole ordeal.  The second time I got a demon city, saw my first commando, absconded with his plasma rifle, and survived handily.
8: No restarts.  I ran into a second commando (unlike the first, he got to fire one volley before he fell), my first unique (I seem to get Phaseshift equipment very often), and my first suit of red armor.
9: No restarts.  Plasma rifle #3.  If Hell's Armory hadn't shown up, I'd have thrown away my chaingun here.  As it is, I hold onto it for a little longer.
Hell's Armory: No restarts.  Revenants instead of arachnotrons was a real shocker... and the barons are as greedy as ever.  No uniques here, though I did pick up a boatload of power cells.
10: 1 restart.  Got ambushed by a horde of lost souls and when I tried to put myself in better position, a baron and a former commando were there to stop me.  The second time, I did much better and, more importantly, scored a thermonuclear bomb.
11: No restarts.  Plasma and rockets were in enough supply that I basically left in mostly the same shape ammo-wise as I entered.  Armor-wise, not so much.
12: 1 restart.  The first time I ran right into an Arch-Vile, but managed to kill him - what killed me was a baron later.  The second time I wound up using a lot of ammo, which is going to make the rest of this hard, but I did get a lot of rockets.
13: No restarts.  Though I feel I did set myself up in a bad position for The Wall.
The Wall: 6 restarts.  This place wound up a very close call for me.  I started at the top and destroyed a wall diagonally.  After that, all I could do was hope the arch-viles (yes, starting on UV, arch-viles show up) appeared sooner rather than later.  Plasma was the best bet for taking them out.  I literally ran out of rockets near the end and almost ran entirely out of plasma ammo.  Also, I ended with 4% health and no medpacks.
14: 4 restarts.  After the very close call that was The Wall, a few restarts were expected here.  One was actually due to not having enough resources (read: non-rocket munitions) to handle Halls of Carnage.  This level I dread the most, because 90% of the stuff that gets through floors 2 and 5 does not get farther than this floor.
Halls of Carnage: No restarts.  You can use rockets more freely here than most people think, even on the east side of the map.  Trust me on this.
15: 1 restart.  First try was an arachnotron cave, second was a demon city with two roaming arch-viles.  Due to being out of power cells, I snagged a chaingun again.  City of Skulls never showed up this time, so I'm short one BFG.
16: No restarts.  Another demon city with roaming arch-viles.  Thankfully they were both backing up a squad of former sergeants, captains, and the like, instead of the mancubus farther south.  Skipped Unholy Cathedral.
17: No restarts.  Caught in the crossfire of a bunch of arachnotrons, it took both medpacks I was carrying to survive.  Go figure.
18: 1 restart.  Something valuable, you say?  Turns out it was a Missile Launcher.  So I can throw away that advanced rocket launcher I got a long time ago!  Also I had problems holding all the plasma rounds I was finding.
19: 5 restarts.  I actually had to go redo this area as I demanded on 100% kills and did not have the knowledge (or the resources, in the case of the only possible solution that comes to mind - let's just say it involves something random and something related, but not random and far more life-saving) of how to get into the central vault in the special level here.  Also, here is where I lost my beloved Phaseshift Boots.
20: No restarts.  Arachnotron/Revenant groups backed by Arch-viles are perhaps my worst nightmare.
21: No restarts.  I've practically been facing two arch-viles on every level... but why have they always been together?  I'd think there'd be some animosity involved in there SOMEwhere....
22: 1 restart.  Mainly due to bad position initially.  This level was kind of easy the second time around.  I consider it the calm before the inevitable storm....
The Mortuary: 6 restarts.  I actually cleared this the first try but forgot to save afterward.  The secret?  This level is why the BFG9000 was MADE!  That, a couple stacks of power cells, and the Missile Launcher made this an intense, but still fun level to do.  Don't expect me to do this on BFG-less challenges however.
23: 3 restarts.  I learned during one attempt that roadhouse boxing with a revenant is a BAD idea.  But apparently, with hell knights and barons it isn't so bad.
Lava Pits: 9 restarts.  Due to both forgetting my envirosuits and not having a backup save, I ultimately decided to use the thermonuclear device here.
24: 1 restart.  The successful level was a massive arachnotron-filled cave.
25: No restarts.  I couldn't get a full win due to my ill-fated decisions involving the Lava Pits.

In total this took me about 59 retries to do - and about four or five hours of playing time.  That's quite a bit less than I'd thought it would take.

What I'm probably going to wind up doing from here is acting as if the HMP requirement wasn't met and doing Angel of Purity on that difficulty.  And Angel of Marksmanship beckons still.  I'll revisit AoLT some other day, but not for a long while.

And now that I've gotten this monkey off my back (in the eyes of the game at least) this is probably also the last time I savescum.

[--------------------------------------------------------------]

10

Pre-0.9.9 / [H|AoLT|74%|25|YASD] I just... ran out of steam, I guess.

« on: January 24, 2009, 09:22 »

--------------------------------------------------------------
 DoomRL (v.0.9.8.10) roguelike post-mortem character dump
--------------------------------------------------------------

 Wesker, level 10 Cacodemon Lieutenant, killed by a Cyberdemon
 on level 25 of the Phobos base.
 He survived 91771 turns and scored 106911 points.
 He wasn't afraid to be hurt plenty.

 He killed 498 out of 666 hellspawn. (74%) *
 He was an Angel of Light Travel!


-- Graveyard ** -------------------------------------------------

  ###########################################################
  #..........................................................
  #..........................................................
  #....###...................................................
  #....###...........###...............................###...
  #....###...........###...........###.................###...
  #.........X........###...........###.................###...
  #................................###.......................
  #..........................................................
  #..........................###..............###....###.....
  #..........................###..............###....###.....
  #..........................###..............###....###.....
  #..........................................................
  #......................................###.................
  #...................................................###....
  #.............###...C...............................###....
  #.............#>#...................................###....
  #.............###..........................................
  #..........................................................
  ###########################################################

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

  Health -12/70   Experience 43216/10
  ToHit +6  ToDmg Ranged +3  ToDmg Melee +3

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

    Ironman        (Level 2) ***
    Son of a bitch (Level 3)
    Eagle Eye      (Level 3)
    Cateye         (Level 2)

  EE->SoB->SoB->EE->Cat->Cat->EE->SoB->Iro->Iro->  ****

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

    [a] [ Armor      ]   red armor [2/4] (28%)
    [b] [ Weapon     ]   modified BFG 9000 (10d8) [90/130] (M1)
    [c] [ Boots      ]   modified protective boots [4/4] (66%) (P)
    [d] [ Prepared   ]   plasma rifle (1d8)x8 [14/40]

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

    [a] modified rocket launcher (6d6) [1/1] (A1)
    [b] BFG 9000 (10d8) [20/100]
    [c] rocket (x14)
    [d] rocket (x14)
    [e] rocket

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

    71 former humans
    56 former sergeants
    11 former captains
    121 imps
    41 demons
    45 lost souls
    20 cacodemons
    28 barons of hell
    21 hell knights
    29 arachnotrons
    12 former commandos
    6 pain elementals
    3 arch-viles $
    8 mancubi
    1 revenant

-- 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 4 he stormed the Chained Court.
  On level 11 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 he found the City of Skulls.
  He fled the City in terror! $*
  On level 18 he ventured into the Spider's Lair. $**
  He cleared the Lair, kickin' serious spider ass!
  On level 23 he entered the Lava Pits.
  He decided it was too hot there. $***
  Then at last he found Phobos Arena!
  On level 25 he finally was killed by a Cyberdemon.

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

 The baron of hell fires! Boom! The baron of hell fires! The missile hits
 the baron of hell. The baron of hell fires! Boom!
 Fire -- Choose target...
 The arch-vile raises his arms! The mancubus suddenly rises from the dead!
 The baron of hell fires! You are hit!
 There are stairs leading downward here.
 
 You enter a big arena. There's blood everywhere. You hear heavy mechanical
 footsteps...
 You swap your weapon.
 Fire -- Choose target... The missile hits the Cyberdemon.
 You start running!
 Fire -- Choose target... 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 Cyberdemon

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

 Before him 474 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
 438 of those were killed.
 6 of those were killed by something unknown.
 And 28 couldn't handle the stress and committed a stupid suicide.

 Some rumours though, say that the Cyberdemon was killed already!
 Is he immortal? 2 souls claim to have killed him...
 1 sacrificed itself for the good of mankind.
 1 killed the bastard and survived.

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

* Once I got the BFGs from Halls of Carnage and City of Skulls, whenever I could get to stairs, I used them immediately.  Special or not, enemies left behind or not, didn't matter.
** Cybie either has as much vision range as a player with Cateye(2), or else he just retaliates to anything shot at him no matter how far.  I also suspect he's immune to knockback of any sort.
*** I didn't think getting Triggerhappy was a smart idea because I'd ditched the chaingun by then and went mostly with the plasma rifle (surprise, surprise).  So I was at a loss as to what to get.
**** I initially went with 'glass' before 'cannon', but decided to switch because this seems more effective.  Eagle Eye needs to be first however.
$ And one of these I accidentally ambushed at POINT-BLANK range, where with my traits, two plasma rifle volleys is enough to kill.
$* Not quite true - I just snagged the BFG9000 and left.
$** First stairs I found on that level, but I believe going here was a mistake.  I cleaned out the place because I felt I was never close enough to the stairs to make a mad dash and survive.  Cost me two large medpacks, which might have been better served against Cybie - but I did get a LOT of plasma ammo which might have gotten me to Cybie in the first place.
$*** Again, just needed to find stairs ASAP.


So, basically, I've reached the point where I nearly have the challenge down.  I believe I had enough ammo to take Cybie down, maybe even just with the BFG, but it was health that was the bigger issue.  Lastly, I regret not tossing rockets away and picking up a thermonuclear bomb when I had the chance (I thought I'd need the ammo to even survive), as I'd have won without that slip-up.


Because I'm so utterly frustrated with AoLT and just want to reach Captain status, I'm strongly considering savescumming next time I do it.  To make such a playthrough worthwhile to me at all (both strategy-wise and accomplishment-wise) I'd probably do it on UV, with 100% kills and doing every special level I find (barring maybe Unholy Cathedral).  AND getting a full win, which I haven't had the chance to get since skipping an opportunity due to 'not feeling ready'.  Trust me, that'd be plenty difficult.

11

Discussion / Roguelike ideas I thought up at one time or another

« on: January 22, 2009, 20:40 »

Okay, so I have one of those minds that tends to either drift randomly or come up with unusual things.  At several different points I came up with ideas for other games to turn into roguelikes.

While I intend to eventually pick up one of these ideas and actually make a roguelike out of it (note that I have this and this in mind, and was thinking of using the 'Curses' library), I decided I'd share all of them with you guys for two reasons:

1) Maybe people could help me decide which one to work on and expand more.  Heck, I could wind up with ideas to further implement.
2) Maybe someone likes an idea so much that they want to beat me to the punch and make it into an actual roguelike on their time.  In these cases, I'd like to be kept in the loop to help with design ideas.

So without further ado, let me share the ideas I had for potential roguelikes.

HereticRL

Some of you will immediately comment that this would be too close to DoomRL.  My original design document for this (it's not really much, though I still need to make quick notes for the monsters) hinted at completely different inventory and level-up systems (yeah, I come from the school of thought that says 'design a lot of it before you do much work at all') to attempt to separate this enough from DoomRL.  (And actually I also wound up putting stuff from Hexen into the design as well.)  Still, it might wind up an uphill battle.

RotT-RL

"RotT" stands for "Rise of the Triad".  As in, the game that originally was intended to be the sequel to Wolfenstein 3D, but wound up something completely different.  Unfortunately, implementing the most well-known thing from this game into the roguelike would probably have to be part of the 'step 15' of design.  Inventory wouldn't be too hard though (in the original game, there were no ammo drops - bullet weapons had infinite ammo and all the ammo in missile weapons was locked in the weapon itself).

Altered Beast - The Roguelike

Sadly, when I look at it, most of my design intent for this bears great resemblance to the existing 'Berserk!' roguelike.  There's probably still enough difference somewhere, though.  I should note that when writing my design in this case, I pulled from both the original arcade game and the GBA remake to get my ideas.  One thing that would change from the original 'Altered Beast' games is that instead of a different form in each level, the player probably would get one form for the entire game and that form would power up every few levels.  (This would also allow a little replay value to seep in.)


If anyone wishes to inquire into one of my ideas or perhaps persuade me into a particular choice, feel free to let me know.

[--------------------------------------------------------------]

12

Pre-0.9.9 / [H|AoLT|90%|14|YASD] I am NOT attempting The Wall on this challenge again!

« on: January 17, 2009, 22:35 »

--------------------------------------------------------------
 DoomRL (v.0.9.8.10) roguelike post-mortem character dump
--------------------------------------------------------------

 Wesker, level 7 Cacodemon Lieutenant, killed by a baron of hell
 on level 14 of the Phobos base.
 He survived 79524 turns and scored 56582 points.
 He wasn't afraid to be hurt plenty.

 He killed 403 out of 446 hellspawn. (90%)
 He held his right to remain violent.
 He was an Angel of Light Travel!


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

  ###########################################################
  ..#.......#...............#.#............hhhh.........i....
  ..#...#.#.#}........#######.#.....##.......%#######..i.Bi.O
  ......#.#.#...........#...#.#.......B.%.....%......i...ii..
  ......###.#.......#...#...#.#.X...##....%...........#######
  ......#...#.......#.......#.#.....#......i.................
  ###...#...#.#...#.#...#.#^#.#.#...#...%...#######...#######
  .....s#.....#.O.#s#...#.#.#.#.#...#........................
  ###########.###s#s#.|.#c#.#.#.###.#.......#######.......\.#
  .s.........s#.#R#s#...#.#...#.#...#.........#..............
  ....#########.#######.#.#...#.#...#######...#.....#.#######
  ............#.#.......#.#.....#.............#.....#........
  #####...#####.#.......#.#.....#...#.#.......#.....#........
  ............#|#.......#.#.....#...#.#...........^.#....h...
  #.........s.#.#...#...#.#.....#...#}#....+....#############
  ............#.#...#...#.#.....#...#.#.............#........
  #########...#.#...#.###.#;#...#...#.#######.......#######..
  ..................#...#...#.......#.#.|...........#........
  ###########################################################
  ###########################################################

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

  Health -8/60   Experience 21794/7
  ToHit +4  ToDmg Ranged +2  ToDmg Melee +2

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

    Ironman        (Level 1)
    Son of a bitch (Level 2)
    Eagle Eye      (Level 2)
    Cateye         (Level 2)

  EE->SoB->EE->Cat->Cat->SoB->Iro->

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

    [a] [ Armor      ]   nothing
    [b] [ Weapon     ]   modified chaingun (1d6)x5 [35/50] (R1)
    [c] [ Boots      ]   plasteel boots [4/4] (68%)
    [d] [ Prepared   ]   modified rocket launcher (6d7) [0/1] (D1)

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

    [a] modified BFG 9000 (10d8) [130/130] (M1)
    [b] 10mm ammo (x95)
    [c] 10mm ammo (x100)
    [d] rocket (x2)
    [e] rocket (x10)
    [f] rocket (x10)
    [g] rocket (x10)
    [h] rocket (x10)

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

    77 former humans
    58 former sergeants
    16 former captains
    83 imps
    32 demons
    49 lost souls
    21 cacodemons
    8 barons of hell
    16 hell knights
    2 arachnotrons
    2 former commandos
    6 pain elementals
    1 mancubus
    2 revenants

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

  He started his journey on the surface of Phobos.
  On level 5 he stormed the Chained Court.
  On level 10 he found Hell's Armory.
  On level 12 he ventured into the Halls of Carnage.
  On level 13 he witnessed the Wall.
  Not knowing what to do, he left.
  On level 14 he finally was killed by a baron of hell.

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

 Fire -- Choose target... The missile hits the imp. The imp dies. You hear
 the scream of a freed soul! You hear the scream of a freed soul! You
 hear the scream of a freed soul! You hear the scream of a freed soul! You
 hear the scream of a freed soul!
 You swap your weapon.
 Fire -- Choose target... The missile hits the baron of hell. The missile
 hits the baron of hell. The missile hits the baron of hell. The
 missile hits the baron of hell. The baron of hell uses a small med-pack.
 The baron of hell looks healthier!
 Fire -- Choose target... The missile hits the baron of hell. The missile
 hits the baron of hell. The missile hits the baron of hell. The
 missile hits the baron of hell. The missile hits the baron of hell.
 Fire -- Choose target... The missile hits the baron of hell. The missile
 hits the baron of hell. The missile hits the baron of hell. The
 missile hits the baron of hell. The missile hits the baron of hell. The

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

 Before him 396 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
 365 of those were killed.
 6 of those were killed by something unknown.
 And 23 couldn't handle the stress and committed a stupid suicide.

 Some rumours though, say that the Cyberdemon was killed already!
 Is he immortal? 2 souls claim to have killed him...
 1 sacrificed itself for the good of mankind.
 1 killed the bastard and survived.

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


AoLT has seriously been ripping me a new one.  After about a week of just straight AoLT (this is the only thing stopping me from being a Captain right now), this is as far as I've gotten, and the circumstances of this and the second-closest death were exactly the same - both had attempted The Wall the level before their deaths.  (The other one cleared it though.)

I know it was suggested to me that The Wall could be done without taking any damage by luring the Barons away... yeah, right, I haven't been taught this particular 'luring' technique.  (I'm suspecting it's more than just giftdropping, considering that takes precious resources that an AoLT player can't afford to give up.)

If you're going to try to persuade me to stick with handling The Wall, what's the right destruction approach?  I usually head to the bottom and destroy a length of wall upwards diagonally, figuring that'll afford me the least chance of a rocket hitting the reward room.

Anyway, let me go over a few things I've learned in this past week:
-Actually, for me, 24 out of 25 playthroughs on this mode did not make it past floor 2, and surprisingly, my better attempts seem to come when I DON'T manage to get BOTH medpacks on the first floor.
-Nowadays I avoid Hell's Arena like the plague in this challenge, as I've found that's it's more or less blind luck that determines whether I pass.  19 times out of 20 Hell's Arena has been a grave for a promising character - usually from the cacodemons, who I could have sworn have aimbot on this difficulty (yes, even if I'm running).
-I used to avoid Chained Court unless I had a rocket launcher, as I've died in those corridors when trying to take the long way in the past.  Turns out my fear was a little unnecessary.  Still, for a chaingun and rocket build, the level really doesn't offer a whole lot.
-Is there another BFG level I should look out for that's safe to do for a build that favors rockets and chainguns?  Halls of Carnage is really a gimme, but I've considered City of Skulls (once I make it that far) and want to know if it's a smart idea (Spider's Lair and Mortuary aren't happening on this challenge, unless I have invulnerability just as I enter).
-The trick to revenants seems to be getting right under their noses - I find them much less dangerous in melee.  Good luck doing this on purpose though.

And things for this specific playthrough:
-Yes, THAT Wesker.  This mode reminded me a bit of Resident Evil at first, so I went with the name of a character from that series.  Will take other ideas if people think I'm tarnishing that name.  (I actually tried the name "Billy Blaze" as the character name for this challenge at one point, but it didn't feel right.)
-The reason I've been trying to do it on this difficulty and not HNTR (besides being a rank requirement down the road) is early chainguns.  Yes, chainguns have been my savior more often than not here.  Eagle Eye, which I feel I need to even use a chaingun properly at all, helps rockets too (I rely more on firing right into crowds rather than relying on walls), and rockets are the weapon I want to use later, once I get to the point where I just rush through everything.  Honestly, do I have a reason to downgrade to HNTR in this case?
-In fact, as soon as I can, I put chainguns in both the primary and prepared weapon slots.  They don't leave them until I find a rocket launcher.  Last I checked, this is faster than just keeping one and reloading it.  (I first heard this logic specifically pertaining to shotguns - whether that one meant the basic one, which I always skip, or the combat/double shotguns I don't know.)
-Hell's Armory was completely useless this time around.  I couldn't hold any more rockets, there were no rocket launchers (I desperately needed one at the time), and the 'unique' weapon turned out to be a mere Blaster!

13

Requests For Features / Revisiting an old idea - Hand Grenades

« on: October 18, 2008, 11:21 »

Okay, I'm well aware this idea was proposed before at least once - but please, bear with me, as I've got this more thoroughly thought out, I think, than the last time this was proposed.  (I'm using a new topic for my version partly because the post I remember as proposing this last time was over a year old, but partly because people were pretty well against the old idea's implementation.)

First, if you're asking where hand grenades fit into the Doom universe - They were a weapon in Doom 3.  Twist detonator, exploded instantly if they struck directly, but otherwise ran on a timer.

How would they fit into DoomRL?  Rather than bind them to a weapon key and have them out like a normal weapon, I was thinking bind a key for both pulling the pin (or activating whatever detonator there is) on a grenade and then throwing it (so you'd be hitting it twice to use them properly).  Throw to a specific spot, and if it 'hits' that spot (similar to if you're attacking an enemy on that spot with another weapon), it will land right there.  If not, it will land somewhere up to 2 squares away from that spot (or maybe one square - I don't expect to know how good the marine is at accurate throws).

However, these are not contact grenades.  They're timed.  I was thinking 3 seconds, like the grenades in Doom 3, but 5 seconds is another possibility (and the timing might be made aware to the player by something like a 'tick... tick...' kind of message for every second that passes).  Once that much time has passed, the grenade explodes in... for now, I'm going to say a 3-square radius.  (Whatever it is, the range should allow the risk of destroying goodies in a room as well as enemies.  A 3-square radius might not be big enough, and for all I know a grenade's explosion radius might need to be bigger than a rocket's - which I think is a 4-square radius.)  Considering that the time is measured from when the pin (or whatever detonator is used) is pulled, you could wait a bit to throw it to increase the odds of certain monsters being in the blast radius.  (Or a grenade could explode while someone is still holding it.  Kamikaze tactic or just a dumb player/enemy, I dunno.)

Damage?  If I remember it right, in Doom 3, if you strike an Imp directly with a hand grenade, they're dead, no questions asked.  Enemies above an Imp in stamina would not die from a single grenade though.  Using that measure, I'd say have the damage at the center of the explosion be enough on average to do the same - something like 5d4 or 6d4.  Have it drop off as you get farther away until you wind up with half damage or less at the farthest ring of the explosion.

Plus, these things would probably shred armor like no tomorrow.  If loss of armor durability and the amount of damage done are not inextricably tied together, maybe give a bonus to how much armor durability is lost?  (More an issue if an enemy uses a grenade - but some enemies can carry player-usable armor so I feel the need to bring it up.)

Inventory space?  More than 3-5 in a single space is too much if you ask me.  I see these as a secondary tactical weapon, not a primary method of attack (even though Doom 3 and a number of much older games would make you put away other weapons to use hand grenades).  That being said, 1 per space - my original plan - just wouldn't work.  I'm going to say 3 per inventory space.

Other stuff?
-While it's un-Doom-ish, I could very easily see enemies using these against the player, but not being knowledgeable on waiting a bit after pulling the pin before throwing (though a few enemies, like Former Commandos, might know to wait).
-I'd say make them first available about the same time as when chainguns show up, maybe slightly sooner - but in higher difficulties one of the guys on the first level might carry a grenade.  In any case, their appearance rate would probably be slightly less, percentage-wise, than rockets.  This is a case where too frequent a drop rate is impossible to counter-balance without making the weapon entirely useless.
-If your character can move really fast, due either to mobility-enhanced armor or the Hellrunner trait, you could theoretically just drop the grenade after pulling the pin and run.  This might be tougher to implement if grenades are more than 1 per stack.  Maybe have a second key bound for this kind of thing?
-The implementation of bouncing these off of walls is something I wouldn't really know well.  I'm pretty sure it's possible, I just don't know how exactly.


And now, for the real fun of grenades, the reason the niche these occupy isn't already taken up by the rocket launcher, and the least Doom-like part of this idea.  Enemy behaviors.  I will assume not all the monsters will be completely dumb about grenades and, because the enemies will have time to react to them (unlike with the rocket launcher), I can see four possible enemy reactions to them:
1. Ignore - Don't get me wrong, but some enemies WILL be ignorant about thrown explosives.  Probably a behavior for Demons, Lost Souls, and possibly Pain Elementals.
2. Evade - They see a grenade, they'll try to get out of its radius (or at least, out of the worst of it).  This may mean them abandoning whatever item they were standing on and/or charging at you instead of playing keep-away.  Any of the "Former" enemies (as in former humans, sergeants, captains, and commandos) are very likely to do this (they're the most likely to recognize a grenade, I'd think) - but just about any enemy that doesn't completely ignore grenades would probably do this.  The enemy may sometimes not even fire while they're evading (generally the weaker enemies will be like this - the stronger ones probably won't completely lose their cool and may fire at you while they evade.  It's possible that they may still get caught in the blast radius as a result).
3. Toss Back - If they're right on or next to a grenade when it lands, they may try to throw it back (or kick it back, if their arms aren't suited to throwing).  Any enemy that knows enough to evade should also be allowed to toss or kick grenades back except for maybe Cacodemons, who as far as I know don't have any means of propelling a grenade away safely.  (Their shot would probably destroy the explosive.)
4. Cover - Occasionally (so there's really no predicting this on the player's end), if an enemy is part of a group and is either the strongest or weakest in that group, they may try to contain the grenade's explosion radius.  An enemy who 'covers' a grenade in this manner takes a lot more damage (I was thinking 50% to 100% more) than if the grenade simply exploded normally, but the blast will only affect them.  Could apply to any enemy who isn't ignorant of grenades in the first place, really.  I specified strongest and weakest enemies partially because I intended this to generally be a bad thing when it happens (I can discuss the logical semantics that define my other reason if asked).



Thoughts on this?  I'm aware it get a bit un-Doom-ish if the full implementation is done (I don't remember enemies running from or even paying attention to thrown grenades much in Doom 3, although I'll have to check on that again because I didn't use the grenades a whole lot), but if this idea strikes a good note with the crowd here, not doing the full implementation of the concept really ruins the purpose in my mind.

[--------------------------------------------------------------]

14

Pre-0.9.9 / [M|AoI|86%|YAVP] Finally, persistence pays off.

« on: September 21, 2008, 20:19 »

--------------------------------------------------------------
 DoomRL (v.0.9.8.10) roguelike post-mortem character dump
--------------------------------------------------------------

 Akrilae, level 8 Imp Lieutenant, sacrificed himself to kill the Cyberdemon
 on level 25 of the Phobos base.
 He survived 94967 turns and scored 67117 points.
 He didn't like it too rough.

 He killed 374 out of 430 hellspawn. (86%)
 He was an Angel of Impatience!


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

  ###########################################################
  #..........................................................
  #..........................................................
  #..........................................................
  #..........................................................
  #..........................................................
  #..........................................................
  #..........................................................
  #..........................................................
  #..........................................................
  #.X........................................................
  #..........................................................
  #..........................................................
  #..........................................................
  #..........................................................
  #....................................>.....................
  #..........................................................
  #..........................................................
  #..........................................................
  ###########################################################

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

  Health -123/80   Experience 28180/8
  ToHit +2  ToDmg Ranged +1  ToDmg Melee +1

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

    Ironman        (Level 3)
    Tough as nails (Level 2)
    Son of a bitch (Level 1)
    Eagle Eye      (Level 1)
    Badass         (Level 1)

  TaN->TaN->Bad->Iro->Iro->Iro->EE->SoB->

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

    [a] [ Armor      ]   green armor [0/1] (43%)
    [b] [ Weapon     ]   modified BFG 9000 (10d8) [80/130] (M1)
    [c] [ Boots      ]   protective boots [2/2] (70%)
    [d] [ Prepared   ]   modified rocket launcher (6d7) [1/1] (D1)

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

    [a] plasma rifle (1d8)x8 [40/40]
    [b] plasma rifle (1d8)x8 [40/40]
    [c] rocket (x2)
    [d] rocket (x10)
    [e] rocket (x10)
    [f] rocket (x10)
    [g] power cell (x40)
    [h] envirosuit pack
    [i] thermonuclear bomb
    [j] weapon magazine mod

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

    62 former humans
    62 former sergeants
    23 former captains
    76 imps
    28 demons
    37 lost souls
    13 cacodemons
    8 barons of hell
    1 Cyberdemon
    11 hell knights
    18 arachnotrons
    5 former commandos
    3 pain elementals
    1 mancubus
    2 revenants

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

  He started his journey on the surface of Phobos.
  On level 13 he ventured into the Halls of Carnage.
  Then at last he found Phobos Arena!
  He nuked level 25!
  On level 25 he finally sacrificed himself to kill the Cyberdemon.

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

 Unknown command. Press "?" for help.
 Are you sure you want activate the thermonuclear bomb? (Y/n) You use a
 thermonuclear bomb. Warning! Explosion in 10 seconds! Warning!
 Explosion in 9 seconds!
 Warning! Explosion in 8 seconds!
 Warning! Explosion in 7 seconds!
 Warning! Explosion in 6 seconds!
 Warning! Explosion in 5 seconds!
 Warning! Explosion in 4 seconds!
 Warning! Explosion in 3 seconds!
 Warning! Explosion in 2 seconds!
 Warning! Explosion in 1 seconds!
 You hear an explosion! You hear an explosion! You hear an explosion! You
 hear an explosion! You hear an explosion! You hear an explosion! You
 hear an explosion! You hear an explosion! Congratulations! You defeated the

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

 Before him 125 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
 112 of those were killed.
 3 of those were killed by something unknown.
 And 9 couldn't handle the stress and committed a stupid suicide.

 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.

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


I'd spent the past couple of days' worth of playing exclusively on Angel of Impatience (a few of my earlier attempts were done on the Ultra-Violence difficulty but those never made it past about level 6 - consider those a crash training session), and finally, I have it done.  I had about four (non-consecutive) runs before this die somewhere in Phobos Hell (that's levels 16-24, for those that don't know) - one of them just because I got completely surrounded by lost souls, but any of those four might have qualified for interesting YASD posts here (I have a LOT of stories from this experience, like the time I basically ran at 3% health towards a Supercharge with a demon in hot pursuit and managed to get the powerup in time).  I figured I'd give some time between topics in this forum though, so I waited for the YAVP to say anything.

I was unlucky enough to not have Hell's Armory even spawn, for some reason, so Halls of Carnage (the level I keep the double shotgun for - I pitched it after that level, feeling I had enough weaponry) was basically my salvation.  Not just for the BFG 9000 (which saved me on level 24 - Arachnotrons are the bane of my existence, I tell you), but for those extra rockets.  I was using the rocket launcher a lot in the Phobos Hell area, but still, I had to officially give up on 100% kills around level 18.  I just knew I wouldn't survive if I tried to kill everything (I barely made it as it is).  My excuse for nuking the Cyberdemon is simple - after all the frustration I'd encountered, I was not about to lose in the final level.  Had it not been for that, I would have overloaded a plasma rifle (my excuse for carrying two) and let fly.  Surely with EE and SoaB, the overcharged rifle would have brought him down far enough that a single BFG 9000 shot could kill him, right?

Skill-wise, everything up to and including the first rank in Ironman was planned - more than one level of Badass is something I'll maybe save for Angel of Masochism (yeah, right, I won't touch that challenge until I beat the Nightmare skill), but not having Badass meant I may not have the extra health by the time I need it.  So for this challenge mode, one rank of Badass was important and at the same time enough.  After the first Ironman, I went for the other two ranks figuring I'd need the extra health badly (and let's be frank - I did need it in the end).  By the time I got Eagle Eye, I'd already stocked up quite a few power cells and a plasma rifle, and knew I'd need to use it eventually (but I'd been using a chaingun for quite a while too).

The second thermonuclear device (the one you see in inventory) was carried in the event I could nuke a tough level, but I never got the chance.


I'm debating what to do next.  Angel of Light Travel or Angel of Marksmanship?  (I'm not doing Angel of Berserk yet - not until I get a good plan for more safely reaching melee range against former sergeants, the enemy that usually kills me in that mode.)  Either way, I'd do it on Hurt Me Plenty to fulfill another requirement down the road.

As before, feel free to comment.


P.S.  There's a certain naming code for character names that I use for different challenge modes (or for not being in a challenge mode).  I don't know why - this is just a habit of mine.

15

Discussion / About higher difficulties and random in-game stuff.

« on: September 17, 2008, 21:18 »

Let me set the backdrop for those who didn't see the start of this discussion already in the thread where this started.

After completing my first win in the new version, my posting of the post-mortem file and comments brought some people to tell me to jump into HMP and UV difficulties.  Eventually, after I gave in to such suggestions and tried the Ultra-Violence difficulty seriously, I came up with the thought that some of the supposedly higher difficulties actually felt EASIER.  Here's my exact comment on that:

I considered this consensus and attempted the Angel of Impatience challenge on Ultra-Violence a few times.

Here's whats odd - despite me not getting as far yet as I have with the "Hey, Not Too Rough" difficulty, doing that challenge on Ultra-Violence actually feels EASIER.  It may have something to do with finding chainguns and double shotguns in the first few levels and gaining levels faster due to so many more kills.  Then again, finding Hell Knights by level 3 and Barons by level 5 is a bit of a shocker.

Now, keep in mind - I've yet to reach Liutenant ranking (with only the Angel of Impatience requirement standing in my way), so I figure I can maybe glean some insight from you veteran players by posting my random thoughts.  Some of it might sound like meaningless drivel, but that's just how I tend to be at times.  And if something I mention seems obvious to you (whether from reading the wiki or personal experience), don't fret then either.


Anyway.  Two questions before I start on some of the random things about this game that I've found out from playing.

Who agrees with my viewpoint that the higher difficulties, due to their specifics (extra ammo, plus more monsters and thus more experience), are actually easier than suggested?

Also, I don't notice anything about this on the wiki.... is it just me or does being berserk drastically reduce the damage you take?


Random things:

Barrels.  Ugh.  For a time when doing Angel of Marksmanship (which I'm not done with yet - I'm taking a break for Angel of Impatience), I got compulsive destroying these when I could because I'd had enough of stray enemy fire destroying me with them before I could get away from them.

Friendly fire.  It seems the enemies in DoomRL are..... not very careful where they're aiming.  Many a time I've seen enemies tear up their buddies in the process of shooting me.  I have to wonder how abusable this tactic really is.

It seems like I'm one of the few players who actually likes the shotguns a lot.  I tend to prefer the combat shotty over the double shotty because I have a few separate shots, possibly in different directions, before I have to start reloading.  Plus I can reposition during those shots instead of having to stand still reloading (assuming I don't have Shottyman, because if I have that the double shotty wins out easily).  Double shotty, as far as I'm concerned, is mainly a specialized weapon for dealing with close-range packs of enemies (3 demons with just one blast, anyone?).


Until I reach Captain status and unlock that long list of challenge modes, I'm pretty much focusing on things required to get there.  So that means I still have to deal with Angel of Berserk, Angel of Impatience, and Angel of Light Travel.  My thoughts:

Angel of Berserk: If there is any challenge I outright dread.... this is it.  Why?  First, I can't destroy barrels, so that means many more explosives the enemy can use against me.  Second - and this is just weird - whenever I've tried anything other than Brute as my first trait (generally either Hellrunner to get close faster, or Eagle Eye to offset the frequency of melee attacks missing - after all, what good is the extra damage from Brute if you can't get in range or nothing hits?), the former humans on the first level manage to steal both of the level's small medpacks (I was playing on "Hey, Not Too Rough" at the time) and 95% of the time, they use them before I can kill them.  When I do stick with Brute (the skill the wiki implores AoB players to pick first), they almost never even touch the medpacks.  It's like the game's trying to force my choice here.

Angel of Impatience: I've tended to focus on TaN (to work on Badass, because why let bonus health go to waste?) or SoaB (standalone or for Triggerhappy, because this is one time where I actually got used to chainguns more than shotguns.  Consider I was playing on Ultra-Violence at the time though) early on, and I'm thinking I may have to un-specialize and distribute among a few 'basic' traits (read: any trait without prerequisites) before getting the 'advanced' traits like Badass or Intuition.

Angel of Light Travel: While I haven't unlocked this yet, I can safely say I'll probably mostly treat inventory management here as if I were playing a Resident Evil game - two weapons, a little ammo (likely no more than 2 stacks) for each, and a medpack or two (silly me, using the term 'healing item' as if there were any other carryable healing item than medpacks).  (I'm a bit wary about using a plasma rifle just because the ammo takes up so much space and depletes so fast.)  I'm a bit scared of The Wall, but I haven't seen a backpack anywhere else in the game so I may have to go there.


Leave your thoughts about my thoughts so maybe I can learn.