When should I prefer light to heavy armor?

Question

There is no technical distinction between light and heavy armor, but there is a statistical one. Lighter armor has a lower evasion penalty and has a lower AC boost. Heavy armor has a severe evasion penalty but in return gives you a large boost to AC.

In reading guides for different types of characters, I've seen some that are focused on evasion and others that are focused on AC. Nowhere does it give any guidelines, however, to determine which is more effective than the other.

What kinds of characters should be focusing on increasing their evasion vs. AC? Does heavier armor inhibit movement or slow down your attack speed or have any other effects?

As a case study, if I wanted to play a Minotaur Berserker, what thought process should I go through when determining whether to stick to leather armor vs. putting on the plate mail I just found?

Asked by StrixVaria

Answer

You should always prefer heavy armour, unless you have a specific reason to avoid heavy armour and use light armour.

Armour has the ability to always reduce the damage of incoming attacks. The heavier the armour, the more the damage is reduced. Evasion only gives you a chance to avoid the attack, and a guaranteed reduction in damage beats a chance at evasion, especially when that evasion chance fails and you take full damage from the attack. Plus, for the last few versions of Crawl, Amour and Dodging are no longer mutually exclusive, so you can wear heavy armour for the damage reduction AND gain the odd miss due to the evasion granted by the Dodging skill.

The specific reasons for avoiding heavy armour relate to the skills that you are using (or planning to use) to cause damage to the enemy:

• You are using Spellcasting. Most armour gives massive penalties to spellcasting, though increasing your Armour skill can mitigate this and allow you to cast spells effectively while wearing increasingly heavy armour.
• You are using Unarmed Combat. Armour gives penalties to unarmed combat attack speed.
• You are using Stealth/Stabbing. Armour gives penalties to stealth, making it impossible to sneak up on someone and dispatch them with a single hit.

In your case study, a Minotaur Berserker is not using Spellcasting, only uses Unarmed Combat for it's horns, and is not using Stealth or Stabbing. Therefore, you should always use the best armour you can find. You should pick up and wear the plate mail immediately.

Answered by Jason Berkan

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Can I disable ghosts?

Question

I'm really tired of being killed by myself as I delve into the dungeon. I am very overpowered in ghost form, apparently, and it's really annoying to have to run away.

Is there any way that I can tell the game that I want to play as if it's my first ever game, i.e. without dealing with former-mes running around trying to kill current-me?

Asked by StrixVaria

Answer

The game itself does not offer a way to remove the ghosts.

But you can just delete the bones.* files in /saves to get rid of ghosts.

In fact, I used to do this with a little shell script, but I was wrong to do so:

• Ghosts make you think about the strength and weaknesses of your last and current toon.
• They drive home a very important point on playing crawl: You are on the run. There is no class combo that can just plow through the whole of the game. You have to learn to circumvent enemies anyways, and ghosts are easy to circumvent.
• Ghosts are a nice boost to XP.
• Would you disable Sigmund, Menkaure and others because they kill you? Ghosts are just as much a part of the game as named mobs.

Running from monsters is a natural part of Crawl, there is no way around it. Once you accept that, the few ghosts you encounter are just XP to pick later.

Nerdly confessions: I used to have a set of scripts to remove ghosts, commit saved games to subversion, restart the game after comitting, revert failed games etc. Did that allow me to reach deeper levels? Yes. Did that make me a better player? No. It made me better at shell scripting, though.

Answered by posipiet

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Strategy for reaching Ecumenical Temple consistently

Question

I'm trying to beat the game for my first time with my HuFi and my runs are pretty consistent due to being a Fi but it seems Ecumenical Temple is a bit hard to find. I already know that it can be found between dungeon levels 4 and 7, it just seems so elusive and difficult to track down. Is there any strategy to find Ecumenical Temple or to track it down and make sure you haven't missed it other than to autoexplore and try all the stairs?

Asked by I take Drukqs

Answer

The strategy you have detailed is the best way to ensure nothing has been missed. Ensuring you have fully explored the level and have gone up and down all six staircases into a level (three from the level above and three from the level below) will allow you to find the Temple.

(I don't believe the Temple is ever generated in a non-connected part of the dungeon, as I do not recall ever not finding it. I haven't checked the source code lately, though...)

However, I do question why you are so concerned with finding the Temple, especially as a player learning to play Crawl. While it is a good early stash location, if you want to worship a god, it is far better to pick a character that starts off worshipping a god so that you accrue piety from the very start of the game.

Answered by Jason Berkan

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Altars for certain gods missing from Ecumenical Temple?

Question

I just reached Ecumenical Temple on dungeon level 4 and Okawaru's altar is missing. What gives?

Asked by I take Drukqs

Answer

The Ecumenical Temple never contains altars for every god.

Altars can be found in the Ecumenical Temple (which randomly contains 6-14 altars), as well as scattered around the Dungeon.

So if you visit the Temple and you don't see the altar you need, keep looking in the dungeon. By the time you reach level 9, you should have found the altar you want, with rare exceptions. Of course, reaching level 9 is no guarantee ...

Since version 0.6.0, altars for every god (except Lugonu, Jiyva, and Beogh) are guaranteed to appear either in the Temple or in the main Dungeon between level 2 and level 9. You can find additional altars in various other locations. Since 0.8, you can also find altars in the main Dungeon at level 1.

Lugonu's altar may be found in the Abyss. Jiyva's altar may found at the entrance to or inside the Slime Pits, and, very rarely, early in the main dungeon. Finally, altars to Beogh can appear in the Orcish Mines, or more rarely in the main dungeon, most commonly near the Mines entrance.

Answered by Dave DuPlantis

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What do the +x, +y values represent on weapons?

Question

My guess is...

x = accuracy y = damage

...but I figured I'd ask just to be sure.

I checked the wiki pretty thoroughly but couldn't find any info on these two values.

Asked by I take Drukqs

Answer

You guessed right.

The first + is a bonus to your accuracy, meaning the chance that your attack connect with the enemy.

The second is a damage bonus, which is, of course, only applied if your attack actually hit the enemy.

Note that missiles can only have an accuracy bonus, not damage.

Source: Scroll of enchant weapon

Answered by Jupotter

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Stats required to use various pieces of equipment?

Question

My HuFi currently has 17 str at level 3. I found a +0 plate mail that I'd like to use, but when I try to equip it it says "Your low strength makes using this armor a little more difficult."

The Crawl wiki doesn't say anything about stat requirements on certain pieces of equipment, e.g. the page on plate mail doesn't say how much str I need to equip it properly.

Where can I view the stat requirements for gear?

Asked by I take Drukqs

Answer

The data is on the wiki, it's just a bit hard to find, primarily because the strength value to remove the penalty varies.

From the Strength entry, the strength required to wear heavy armour is:

STR = EV penalty times 3

It is the EV penalty that varies, hence why the strength value required to wear heavy armour also varies. There are a number of factors that are used to calculate the EV penalty, and the precise calculation does change between versions, so that the wiki is often out of date. Regardless, it is generally the case that your dexterity actually plays a part in the calculation, such that a character with a low dexterity will need more strength to remove the penalty and a character with high dexterity will need less strength.

Due to this, and the part dexterity plays in attack rolls, I tend to keep my strength and dexterity identical when playing a fighter character, unless I am playing a character that starts with a massive strength bonus (such as a Mountain Dwarf Fighter), in which case I just put a few points in dexterity so that it doesn't lag too far behind my strength.

One final note - the message does not indicate that you cannot wear heavy armour, it just indicates that you won't be able to use it effectively if you do wear it. In other words, your ability to block attacks with your armour will not be as good as if you had a higher strength. No character in Crawl is prevented from using any piece of equipment.

Answered by Jason Berkan

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What does “you can now tap ambient magical fields” mean?

Question

This just popped up seemingly randomly on my HuWz.

Asked by I take Drukqs

Answer

The ability to tap ambient magical fields is granted by worshipping Sif Muna. It allows you to regenerate mana at the cost of food.

Answered by Jason Berkan

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Should I keep good items I cannot/will not use in Crawl?

Question

I keep running across enchanted items I have no use for. Such as:

• Armor that does not fit my race
• Weapons I have no intention of ever using
• Scrolls with negative effects
• Duplicates or items that I have better versions of

What should I do with these? Keep them in my stash? Leave them? Can they ever become useful later on?

Answer

The items you list can serve a specific purpose; despite the fact that Crawl doesn't allow you to see items, these items can come in handy in certain situations.

Items you do not intend to use can serve as "protection" against effects (usually creature-based) that randomly affect one or more of your items. For example, keeping scrolls of random uselessness means that if an attacker lights one of your scrolls on fire, it's less likely to be a scroll you care about. Similar things happen when an item is cursed or stolen.

Duplicates or weaker items can be useful in two ways: as "protection" against the effects of certain attacks and as replacements for damaged items. If you have a +3/+3 long sword that gets damaged three times by acid, that +2/+2 long sword might look a little more useful to you. (Alternatively, you can carry the weaker weapons and use them in situations where they might get damaged.)

However, you don't need to carry them if you only want them as replacements. It'll work just as well to leave them and come back for them if you need them.

There are also occasions when items that are useless to you suddenly acquire a purpose. For example, if you decide to follow Elyvilon, the weapons you had that you didn't care to use can boost your piety (if you go back and pray over them). Again, though, it's not necessary to carry them; you can simply return to them and pray.

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Crawl: Should I keep good items I cannot/will not use?

Question

I keep running across enchanted items I have no use for. Such as:

• Armor that does not fit my race
• Weapons I have no intention of ever using
• Scrolls with negative effects
• Duplicates or items that I have better versions of

What should I do with these? Keep them in my stash? Leave them? Can they ever become useful later on?

Answer

The items you list can serve a specific purpose; despite the fact that Crawl doesn't allow you to see items, these items can come in handy in certain situations.

Items you do not intend to use can serve as "protection" against effects (usually creature-based) that randomly affect one or more of your items. For example, keeping scrolls of random uselessness means that if an attacker lights one of your scrolls on fire, it's less likely to be a scroll you care about. Similar things happen when an item is cursed or stolen.

Duplicates or weaker items can be useful in two ways: as "protection" against the effects of certain attacks and as replacements for damaged items. If you have a +3/+3 long sword that gets damaged three times by acid, that +2/+2 long sword might look a little more useful to you. (Alternatively, you can carry the weaker weapons and use them in situations where they might get damaged.)

However, you don't need to carry them if you only want them as replacements. It'll work just as well to leave them and come back for them if you need them.

There are also occasions when items that are useless to you suddenly acquire a purpose. For example, if you decide to follow Elyvilon, the weapons you had that you didn't care to use can boost your piety (if you go back and pray over them). Again, though, it's not necessary to carry them; you can simply return to them and pray.

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Why are my items losing points?

Question

I started a new game playing Crawl Stone Soup and have noticed that my weapons and armor get weaker over time.

My weapon started at +2/+2 and is now at +2/-4. My armor went from +1 to -1.

What is causing this?

Answer

The most likely cause is that you fought a jelly (a red capital J). Hitting a jelly can cause your weapon to degrade, while being attacked by a jelly can cause your armour to degrade. In both cases there is a message that displays, but that is easy to miss.

The best way to fight an early jelly is stones. They are always lying around the first levels and throwing them is effective, even if you don't have a sling. As the majority of the races are faster than a jelly, you can run away from them and pelt them from afar.

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How can I extinguish myself?

Question

My SpEn had the pleasure of killing Azrael and part of his escort. However, this involved sticky flames, that burned off all of my scrolls and shattered a few potions. Luckily, my +2 robe of fire resistance helped survive me the experience. I do grieve the scrolls however, and it doesn't help that part of the escort was a mottled dragon, which now attached me sticky flames of its own.

How can I put sticky flames off myself?

Answer

Once you've been set aflame, there is only one way to extinguish yourself: stepping onto a water square (including fountains). This is guaranteed and has immediate effect; oddly, you don't need to step into the water, levitating above it is fine.

Conservation is checked on each potential item destruction, so if you wear an amulet of conservation while aflame, you reduce the chance of every surviving item being destroyed by 90% each turn.

(Source: reading the DCSS 0.8 source code.)

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What is a reliable source of electric resistance in Dungeon Crawl?

Question

The LearnDB suggests that you should not consider taking on the Zot dungeons without some source of rElec. However, I have never found so far any item that granted such a protection, except for potions of resistance and spells.

What is a reliable source of electric resistance in Dungeon Crawl?

Answer

The primary ways to get electrical resistance are Storm Dragon armour, or artefacts (especially certain non-random artefacts, like the Amulet of Cekugob).

I'm not certain that there is a reliable way to obtain either, but the more areas you explore, the more artefacts you will gain, and with each artefact you gain, there is a chance that it will grant electrical resistance.

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