Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup 0.8 out!

SirJames

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This awesome combat/loot centric graphical roguelike is FREE.
There is a tiles version and an ascii version. Both are playable online or offline.
You can watch other players games in progress and chat with them offering advice or condolences and compete in the online highscores.

What’s changed? Here’s an excerpt of some major changes:

New god: Ashenzari: the god of curses and divination, who gifts a number of passive and active abilities in return for wearing cursed equipment, gaining knowledge, and exploring the dungeon extensively. The most significant of these passive abilities includes magic mapping, see invisible, clarity, and the active abilities of scrying, which allows the player to see through walls (though not to perform smite-based attacks), and transfer knowledge, which allows the player to improve one skill by sacrificing experience invested in another skill.

New race: Felids. These sentient furry felines are incapable of using rods, armour, wands or weapons, nor are they able to throw things, but are granted extra lives as they gain levels. These extra lives allow the player to escape death! As one might expect, felids are fast and come with claws and fangs, making them excellent at unarmed combat, and have excellent eyesight — the ability to see invisible creatures.

The Enchantments school has been split into Charms and Hexes. While a significant and drastic change, it has certainly been long in the making: the Enchantments school contained a large percentage of the game’s spells, and was certainly a no-brainer in terms of experience usage.

Character backgrounds have been improved: the Stalker background now focusses on transmutation for the purposes of stabbing. Makhleb and The Shining One are no longer accessible as starting gods as Paladins have been removed, and Chaos Knights are now worshippers of Xom, while the new class of Abyssal Knights provides access to Lugonu.

Heavy armour has been improved. Guaranteed damage reduction has returned! The formula has been tweaked since the great armour nerf in version 0.6, making it more efficient again.


http://crawl.develz.org/wordpress/downloads
 
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This should have been front page news!!

Couldn't agree more!
This is from the manual and they have done very well.

Major design goals
  • challenging and random gameplay, with skill making a real difference
  • meaningful decisions (no no-brainers)
  • avoidance of grinding (no scumming)
  • gameplay supporting painless interface and newbie support
Minor design goals
  • clarity (playability without need for spoilers)
  • internal consistency
  • replayability (using branches, species, playing styles and gods)
  • proper use of out of depth monsters
 
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Well, I've given it a couple of plays. The changes are excellent. I'm especially fond of some of the class changes.

The new Wizard with the perfect spellbook, rather than selection of a few flavors. Makes sense considering there were already Elementalists if you wanted to focus on one particular flavor of magic.

Long Blade being a starting weapon option, and the removal of paladins (since shining one really doesnt become useful until endgame)

Monks getting a choice to go staff.

The new Stalker as a more fighter oriented Transmuter mage.

I had just the one go of Felid as a berserker and found he went very well, but I like finding loot too much. I'd kinda rather go Kobold still.

My only "decent" play was a "random viable" and unfortunately Banished

19424 ThiefyGaxx the Fighter (level 12, -1/95 (96) HPs)
Began as a Sludge Elf Assassin on May 10, 2011.
Was a High Priest of Okawaru.
Killed from afar by a smoke demon (20 damage)
... with a ball of steam

... in The Abyss on May 11, 2011.
The game lasted 02:29:22 (30461 turns).

with a +5,+3 elf quick blade and +1 pair of boots {run} as his best items.

I've pretty much put Avadon on hold to get more time in with Crawl. :)

Surprised theres not more fans of the game here!
 
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I just got done writing an article about Crawl Stone Soup. It'll be on Rampant's site later this week.

Truthfully I prefer ADOM. Crawl Stone Soup is a great game, but I play it more like a coffee break game than I do ADOM.

The interface is great and the tilesets are amazing. I would spend more time with it, but I only have so many hours in the day and there are just too damn many great roguelikes to choose from. Not to mention the other games out there. I seriously need a "stop time" spell :p

I'll post a newsbit about this when I get home tonight.
 
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The graphical tiles are a huge deal for me. I mean, I've played ascii games in the past... Kingdom of Kroz, or something, on my 286?

The problem I have is I can't just look at a ╚ and go "oh, thats a bugbear".. Theres that learning curve thats not so much learning how to play but just learning to identify what i'm looking at. Once I got past that identification curve the immersion would be the same, though.

I actually find voice acting and 3d graphics often LESSEN the immersion for me. Especially if done poorly. I guess I just never expect any of my party to have American accents. lol
 
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Never hold down the run button!!!!! :`(

316204 Frosty the Devastator (level 22, -6/91 (92) HPs)
Began as a Deep Elf Ice Elementalist on May 12, 2011.
Was a High Priest of Vehumet.
Killed from afar by a Pit Fiend (40 damage)
... with a blast of hellfire
... summoned by a deep elf demonologist

... on Level 5 of the Elven Halls on May 14, 2011.
The game lasted 10:17:28 (78763 turns).

HP -6/91 (92) AC 15 Str 17 Exp: 22/598395 (0), need: 93204
MP 15/53 EV 33 Int 31 God: Vehumet [*****.]
Gold 1846 SH 13 Dex 18 (19) Spells: 11 memorised, 1 level left

Res.Fire : . . . See Invis. : . e - staff of power
Res.Cold : + . . Warding : . . K - +5 robe of the Hanged Man {Str+5 Dex+1 Dam
Life Prot.: + + . Conserve : . E - +0 buckler {rN+}
Res.Acid. : . . . Res.Corr. : . v - +0 helmet {Int+3}
Res.Poison: . Clarity : + s - +0 cloak of Starlight {rElec rC+ EV+4 Stlt
Res.Elec. : + Spirit.Shd : . X - +2 pair of Fencer's gloves {EV+3 Dex+3 Acc
Sust.Abil.: . . Stasis : . C - +2 pair of boots {Stlth+}
Res.Mut. : . Ctrl.Telep.: . S - amulet of the Four Winds {Clar rN+ MR}
Res.Rott. : . Levitation : . N - ring "Xoca" {unknown, MR EV+5 Str+4 Acc+3}
Saprovore : . . . Ctrl.Flight: . y - +6 ring of evasion

Skills:
+ Level 2 Fighting
+ Level 2 Staves
+ Level 5 Dodging
+ Level 4 Stealth
+ Level 2 Stabbing
+ Level 1 Shields
+ Level 5 Traps & Doors
+ Level 16 Spellcasting
+ Level 22 Conjurations
+ Level 7 Charms
+ Level 2 Summonings
+ Level 22 Ice Magic
+ Level 11 Air Magic
+ Level 1 Poison Magic
+ Level 2 Evocations


You had one spell level left.
You knew the following spells:

Your Spells Type Power Success Level Hunger
a - Orb of Destruction Conj #########. Excellent 7 Honeycomb
b - Ice Form Ice/Trmt #######... Excellent 4 None
c - Ozocubu's Armour Ice/Chrm ########.. Perfect 3 None
d - Throw Icicle Ice/Conj ######### Perfect 4 None
e - Repel Missiles Air/Chrm #######... Excellent 2 None
f - Freezing Cloud Ice/Air/Conj ########.. Excellent 6 Choko
g - Lightning Bolt Air/Conj ########.. Excellent 5 None
h - Bolt of Cold Ice/Conj #########. Excellent 6 Choko
i - Swiftness Air/Chrm #######... Excellent 2 None
j - Ice Storm Ice/Conj #########. Great 9 Ration
k - See Invisible Chrm #######... Excellent 4 None
 
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I WON, I WON!!! WHAAAAAAA!

2174284 mf7 the Blademaster (level 27, 166/166 (176) HPs)
Began as a Spriggan Berserker on May 14, 2011.
Was a High Priest of Trog.
Escaped with the Orb
... and 5 runes (of 5 types) on May 15, 2011!


HP 166/166 (176) AC 9 Str 20 Exp: 27/1740006 (91935)
MP 25/25 EV 39 Int 12 (13) God: Trog [*****.]
Gold 3986 SH 26 Dex 25 Spells: 0 memorised, 28 levels left

Res.Fire : + + . See Invis. : + Z - +6,+7 Captain's cutlass {god gift, speed,
Res.Cold : + + . Warding : . . y - +5 mottled dragon armour
Life Prot.: + . . Conserve : . G - +3 dwarf buckler {rC+}
Res.Acid. : . . . Res.Corr. : . (helmet restricted)
Res.Poison: + Clarity : + t - -4 cloak {rPois}
Res.Elec. : . Spirit.Shd : . (gloves unavailable)
Sust.Abil.: . . Stasis : . (boots unavailable)
Res.Mut. : . Ctrl.Telep.: . b - amulet of the Four Winds {Clar rN+ MR}
Res.Rott. : . Levitation : . N - ring of Miapni {rF+ Dex+5 Dam+2}
Saprovore : . . . Ctrl.Flight: . r - ring of Lesser Demons {rF+ rC+ Str+2}


You had 91935 experience left.

Skills:
+ Level 24 Fighting
- Level 24 Short Blades
- Level 2 Axes
- Level 3 Maces & Flails
- Level 3 Crossbows
- Level 6 Armour
+ Level 23 Dodging
- Level 14 Stealth
- Level 15 Stabbing
- Level 11 Shields
- Level 10 Traps & Doors
- Level 7 Unarmed Combat
- Level 1 Spellcasting
- Level 5 Translocations
- Level 11 Ice Magic
- Level 4 Earth Magic
- Level 5 Evocations

Innate Abilities, Weirdness & Mutations

You are tiny and cannot use many weapons and most armour.
You have supernaturally acute eyesight.
You are a herbivore.
You cover ground extremely quickly.
You need consume almost no food.
You have large cloven feet.
You are partially covered in colourless scales (AC +1).
You often lose your temper in combat.
Your mind is acute (Int +1).
Your body is deteriorating.
You are very frail (-20% HP).
Your magical capacity is very low (-20% MP).
You passively map a small area around you.
Your system is resistant to poisons.
You occasionally shout uncontrollably.


My first win ever! I was trying to copy 7hm's idea but stuck with Trog the whole way.

A few of my kills:
Vanquished Creatures
the royal jelly (Slime:6)
Tiamat (Zot:5)
Khufu (Crypt:5)
3 orbs of fire (Zot:5)
2 ancient liches
A greater mummy (Crypt:5)
A curse toe (Zot:4)
Norris (Swamp:4)
Margery (Vault:2)
2 golden dragons
Mennas (D:21)
A Killer Klown (Zot:5)
3 Fiends
2 demon lords
Xtahua (D:23)
Frederick (D:21)


Found some cool stuff too...

a +9,+9 dagger of speed (quivered) {Jimstab}

k - the +7,+6 Sceptre of Torment {god gift, }
(Trog gifted it to you on level 24 of the Dungeon)

l - the +9,+6 Wyrmbane {slay drac, +Rage rPois rF+ AC+5}
(You found it on level 8 of the Vaults)

c - the +9,+12 sling "Punk" {frost, rC+}
(You found it on level 8 of the Vaults)

U - the +12,+0 Mace of Variability {chaos}
(You found it on level 26 of the Dungeon)

G - a +3 dwarven buckler of cold resistance (worn)
J - a +3 dwarven buckler of protection
R - a +5 gold dragon armour

a book of Annihilations {highlevel}

Very nearly died to Lob Lomob or something, but i teleported away with his magical rune xD
 
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Congrats on the win.

What is 7hm's idea?

I was trying out the orc priest, but then I got a beta to Dungeons of Dredmor…..let's just say that one sucked me in lock, stock and barrel.

I just noticed it only took you a day to finish. How many actual hours total did this one take?
 
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Feb 3, 2007
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thanks :D I was running around like a kid on christmas lol

Was around about my 800th attempt, so I was happy to finally win one.

It took The game lasted 11:59:20 (134850 turns). Pretty much playing non stop.

7hm is a guy from rpgcodex. I made the exact same post there first. Just trying to get something similar going here.

7hm's idea was a spriggan berserker, but he abandoned Trog and became an air mage. I was just so badly mutated I thought if I don't win it now I might rot to death.

Got a cool new roll going atm… I call it… Green draconian necromonk! Check this out…

Aurak the Reanimator (Green Draconian Monk) Turns: 24182, Time: 02:35:22

HP 119/119 AC 14 Str 15 Exp: 14/80962 (9023), need: 22637
MP 26/26 EV 15 Int 15 God: Kikubaaqudgha [*****.]
Gold 1716 SH 0 Dex 11 Spells: 6 memorised, 0 levels left

Res.Fire : . . . See Invis. : . v - +3,+2 lajatang (speed)
Res.Cold : + . . Warding : . . x - +1 troll leather armour
Life Prot.: . . . Conserve : . (shield restricted)
Res.Acid. : . . . Res.Corr. : . (helmet restricted)
Res.Poison: + Clarity : . A - +1 elf cloak
Res.Elec. : . Spirit.Shd : . (gloves unavailable)
Sust.Abil.: . . Stasis : . (boots unavailable)
Res.Mut. : . Ctrl.Telep.: . s - amulet of rage
Res.Rott. : . Levitation : . P - ring of wizardry
Saprovore : . . . Ctrl.Flight: + c - ring of protection from cold

@: studying Earth Magic, somewhat resistant to hostile enchantments, stealthy
A: breathe noxious fumes, unfitting armour, stinger 1, poison resistance
a: Breathe Noxious Fumes, Receive Corpses, Torment, Renounce Religion, Evoke Berserk Rage


You have 9023 experience left.

Skills:
+ Level 12 Fighting
- Level 9 Staves
- Level 1 Armour
- Level 10 Dodging
- Level 3 Stealth
- Level 2 Stabbing
+ Level 1 Traps & Doors
- Level 3 Unarmed Combat
+ Level 6 Spellcasting
+ Level 14 Necromancy
+ Level 3 Earth Magic
+ Level 3 Evocations

Your Spells Type Power Success Level Hunger
a - Pain Necr ##### Excellent 1 None
b - Vampiric Draining Necr #######… Excellent 3 Choko
c - Twisted Resurrection Necr #######… Excellent 5 Honeycomb
d - Dispel Undead Necr #######.. Excellent 4 Honeycomb
e - Agony Necr #######.. Excellent 5 Honeycomb
f - Death Channel Necr #######… Good 7 Ration


Innate Abilities, Weirdness & Mutations

You can breathe blasts of noxious fumes.
Your lurid green scales are hard (AC +7).
Your body does not fit into most forms of armour.
Your tail ends in a poisonous barb.
Your system is resistant to poisons.

Those are all natural mutations for green draconians. immune to poison, can breath clouds of confusion gas and a poison tail for your bonus unarmed attacks.

I've been raising Abominations to serve as my slaves too. They're permanent and will follow you when you change floors. I've got 4 with me at the moment. :)
 
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Give me about three weeks and I'll join you in posting victories….errrr more likely deaths, but still they're a victory depending on how far I lasted. For now though the beta of Dredmor needs to be my main focus with Witcher 2 thrown in every now and then. I seriously need a freaking TIME STOP spell.

Not too sure why Stone Soup isn't more popular. It is sooooo easy to jump right into and play, but it may be the the complexity of it that throws people off. I guess that is where people get hung up on. I wouldn't think it would be the graphics because Stone Soup's tileset is second to none amongst the roguelikes and the complexity is a breath of fresh air in RPGs. Sure there is a lot to know, but that's the appeal to these games. There is almost always something new to be discovered or try out.

Ok, mini-rant aside, I gotta say congrats again. I didn't realize this was your very first win ever. I thought maybe you meant the first win on the new version.

Good luck with greeny. Gotta say I like where you went with him. I had no idea that monks could be so cool. I normally hate that class and want nothing to do with it (the typical D&D monk)….freaking unarmed fighting my butt, give me a staff and let me crack someone over the head with it then animate his corpse and make him a follower :)
 
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Yeah, monks are usually pretty lame. Nice saving throws, but they can't beat a real fighter type. In Crawl they only just got staff as a starting weapon choice in 0.8.

So the theory with that guy was since draconians can't wear armor I'd start as monk so i have good Fighting (which is simply extra hitpoints) and he'd already be proficient with staves. Then I'd turn him into a caster as soon as I found a spellbook. Since the best weapon for a caster is a staff (staff of power, staff of wizardry, staff of conjuration, etc, etc) he'd already be able to fight with it. I got lucky and found a scroll of acquirement (which lets you wish for an item) and got a very, very nice Lajatang. A fighting staff with blades at either end.

I didn't plan on becoming a necromancer, but I found an altar to Kikubaaqudgha early on. That god gifts you necromancy spellbooks at an awesomely fast rate, starting with the basic one at just 1 star of piety. I'd had all skills turned off but fighting so I had plenty of XP in the pool and then I spammed the pain spell at a slow moving jelly and raised it up very quickly. Another cool thing about Kikubaaqudgha is one of his abilities is to let you summon corpses. They make a handy snack if you're starving, but for a necromancer they're fantastic because you don't have to find anything to kill to start your undead army. Twisted Ressurection is the one to make Abominations. The more corpses you put into your Abomination the more powerful it will be!

Where I went wrong with my Ice Elementalist was not having any Fighting skill. Deep Elves have awful hitpoints so Fighting is even more important. I didn't really think about it like that. I just thought all wizards would need is spellcasting, but he died horribly fast to just a couple of spells even though his magic was amazingly powerful. As you can see my level 22 deepelf had 91 max hitpoints but the draconian already has 119 at level 14.
 
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