New Module: Hack and Slash (still in beta)

[Rollo]

Originally posted by David E. Gervais:

quote:

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Originally posted by Rollo:
Hmm, I guess I try master level next...

Rollo

Why am I grinning ear to ear right now? LOL Let me know how many times you die in your first few hours of play!

Cheers!

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hmm, I have no idea... .

will do, I have brought a priest to 7th in the Crack of Doom. Let's see how fast he can run... .

[Rollo]

okay, here are some stories about Baltharsar, the Priest, in Hack and Slash at 'Master' difficulty, starting at 7th level.

1st Death (5 min): After a crazy chase through the wilderness followed by a huge crowd of monsters, Baltharsar finds himself in the Ice Cave with no light source (oops). He doesn't even see what kills him.

City of Tarlumain: Skillfully zig-zagging through the wilderness B. finds the City. He is greeted by a band of orcs who bash him up pretty bad, but he manages to evade them long enough and decides to summon a mighty spectre (12th level) with a scroll he had brought along. The specter bodyguard is of great use and B. finds some needfull things in the city and manages to find Little Billy. He is now 9th level.

2nd death (30 minutes): Baltharsar enters the desert camp. Like in the city B. is greeted by a band of orcs. This time he dies.

B. hasn't really trained enough with his scepter, he only has a 30% hit chance. On the second try, knowing that the orcs are coming, B. goes 'Berserk' with a scroll. Not only does that increase his damage a lot, but also his chance to hit. The orcs don't stand a chance this time and B. heals himself back to maximum.

3rd death (40 minutes): Two bands of giant spiders web Balthasar to the ground, while a pack of giant flies rip him apart.

B. must use all availble resources to survive the Desert Camp. The first pack of Spider dies to a combined use of Lightning Storm and a summoned water elemental. Dodging the webs, B. manages to slay a few stray monsters. When he must fight, he charges up his weapons with fire, and ice, and lightning. He also makes a brave stand battling two monster Groups at once, after he used his scroll of Vigor to recharge his hitpoints quickly during the fight.

Having spent all his scrolls, B. leaves the desert with the fire key in hand. Now he must face the Ice Cave, the place of his first demise...

to be continued...

Ice Cave: apart from a vicious battle at start with three bands of monsters, the Ice Caves pose no problem for our brave Priest. He advances to 10th level and finds the Ice Key. On the way back to the village Baltharsar finds the wizard Gargamel. Since he has no monster hordes on his tracks at the moment, he decides to engage the wizard and slays him. "Hmm, nice amulet", B. thinks, "I think I'll keep that for a while. I bet the jester won't miss it much..."

to be continued...

next: the Old Mine at Nurtred

deaths 4 to 10 (or so), after 3 hours: Orc Berserkers just behind the mine entrance and practicly around every corner in the mine are a big problem for Baltharsar. He has no bow or efficient magic to strike from distance (hmm, I always thought Priests and Druids should be able to use slings... but that is another topic) and is not strong enough to take them on mano-a-mano. Maybe he should rather head for the Cave of Tarlumain...

to be continued

[ April 12, 2003, 01:05: Message edited by: Rollo ]

[Rollo]

Originally posted by David in another thread:...I'm currently boosting my level 6 char again before exporting him to try your new mod. I've died about 12 times now. When I get swarmed, the monsters really pack a wollop!

But I'm sure I'll succeed eventually.

yeah, I am sure you will. Hang in there .
One thing, though: If you start too high, the module might actually be tougher, as you don't make progress as fast and the monsters in the later dungeons will be more powerful. But hopefully your level mod will balance that out.

Do you think the mod is too tough? Were do you get killed the most? And what difficulty are you playing?

Keep me posted, this is most interesting for me to improve/balance things.

I am trying out the mod again. This time I am using a mage and I started as 6th level. Making good progress so far. I have gotten two of the keys (cave and dungeon) and now looking to take the temple of Tarlumain.

I do admit that the the module is tough at the beginning. You have to run away a lot... Also I have learned the use of the Space Bar sometimes to pause the game especially if the situation is confusing. This way you can look at the abilities of your foes and decide how to defeat them (for example not use Ball Ligtning on that guy with lightning resistance or if the the Orc Battle Monk has cast 'Bark Skin' on himself, don't bother to defeat him with weapons or summoned monsters).

I had a really tough fight with the orcs in the Mine. I was still 9th level then and had to use every trick in my arsenal to beat them. Using scrolls, playing 'hide and seek' and 'hit and run' and wait for my mana to recharge a bit. Later in the Mine I gained a level and was finally able to get some levels in Magic Aura . Now my mana was recharging fast and I took my revenge on the way out, raining lighting bolts on them .

oh, btw... the 0.51 Version of HnS still uses an outdated Spells.txt file that was based on a pre-1.06 DO Version. Some abilities have been toned down in 1.06 like Magic Aura and Vigor. Good thing, IMO. I have updated the spells for HnS 0.52, which I am now using. I will upload the new Version later today, after a couple of more tweaks/fixes.

Rollo

[David E. Gervais]

Do you think the mod is too tough? Were do you get killed the most? And what difficulty are you playing?

Keep me posted, this is most interesting for me to improve/balance things.

I'm playing at 'Master' level (because I'm brave and a bit suicidle!) Most of my deaths have been in the wilderness, with a couple in the castle.

I'm inching my way forward by saving the game after surviving each major encounter.

If you would like, I could send you a copy of my paladin so you can see how strong/weak he is! (Just send me an e-mail and I'll 'attach' him to a reply.)

Cheers!

[Fyron]

If I had any interest in DO, I would most certainly play this mod!

[David E. Gervais]

Memories and Nightmares...

My first death at master level was like this. As per my normal procedure when I leave town I stay put and allow the few nearby monsters creep up and I proceed to kill them with little or no trouble at all,... at master level in H&S in less than 1 min I was swarmed by no less than 20-30 monsters. (Most of those were just there to watch the first 4 chop me to pieces AaaaaaaaH!

In my second go, I didn't hang around, I didn't want a repeat of the battle at Big Horn! I began to run and killed a few monsters and continued evasion maneuvers. unfortunately I maneuvered myself into a road passing through a dense forest. monsters blocked both avenues of escape and I fought a valliant (but futile) fight. While I bashed the monster in front of me the one at my back was busy carving pretty pictures on my back! Once I ran out of potions (F11) I quickly died.

My third death was similar to one of yours, I made a b-line to Tarlumain (I wanted to find billy to gain some xp!) needless to say I was stirring up a lot of monsters on the way. (Also the now random placement of the main town had me a long way off. But I managed to get to Tarlumain and upon entering the first building, was 'webbed' by spiders while another band of monsters came up behind me blocking my avenue of escape. You know what happened next, I died!

Upon other explorations, I found the entrence to the mines a good safe place to heal up and it limited the onslaught because of the narrow passage leading to it. Just by entering and exiting the mine and killing monsters I was able to klimb from level 1 to 8! Quite an achievement, but once I took care of the monsters in the mine area I then made a mad dash to town to sell my wares and get some better equipment. The monsters had been waiting around town and I never made it home!

Rollo, this mod is lots of fun. And I look forward to exploring all the neat places you have created. Keep up the great work.

Have a Great Day, Cheers!

[ April 12, 2003, 12:17: Message edited by: David E. Gervais ]

[DarkStar]

Cool. I new update. What is a good starting level for your character? My level 3 guy is getting killed every 2 minutes, hehe.

Lots 'O Fun!

Glad to see someone is keeping this forum alive. I was hoping for a more active forum and more user support for the game.

[ April 13, 2003, 05:31: Message edited by: DarkStar ]

[Rollo]

Hey DarkStar,
I think the mod works quite well with 6th to 8th level characters. The quests yield between 10k and 250k EXP. That will bring your character to about 13th level (depending a bit on difficulty, I am currently playing 'Master' and gain a lot of EXP from the monsters...).

Yes, you can get killed quite easily in this mod. Learn to run, find out what the dangerous monsters are, kill from distance, and don't try 'Master' level on your first go... .

Hope to get some feedback from you, so I can further improve this. This is still in testing really and I do intend to put more work into this.

Rollo

[ April 13, 2003, 14:51: Message edited by: Rollo ]

[Rollo]

continued from an earlier post: I will make this shorter from now.

The Caves of Tarlumain: The excursion to the Caves was a great success. Balthasar kills enough monsters to advance to 11th level, find the cave key, and 'only' die 2 times (death count 11 and 12). Knowing about the difficulty he is about to face in the Mines, he decides to spend a point on 'Magic Storm' and Weapon Proficiency. He also builds up a stockpile of potions, which he deposits in the Town of Nurtred.

The Mine (take 2): Selling all his loot from the caves, Balthasar is now a wealthy man. He his also lucky enough that the Jester finally sells one the precious items that give bonus to all skill levels. The Angel's Amulet gives +4 and makes the Jester's amulet obsolete, so B. completes that quest also. Now that his 'Magic Storms' can be cast at 5th level and having also found a ring earlier that gives +3% Mana Regeneration, B. loads his inventory with mana potions in the hopes that multiple 'Magic Storms' and a few scrolls he found in the cave will be enough to take one the orcs.

The new tactic works out alright, B. is able to complete the Mine. But not without 'dieing' at least 10 times... (death count: 25 or so)

The Tower (level 1) : The battle at the entrance was insane. At least 10 minutes of running in circles, magic strorming, hit and run, heal back up... I don't remember how many times I died. Not that often, though. Let's say 5 times (count 30).

The Dungeon of Tarlumain: After the nerve-wrecking encounters in the Mine and Tower, Baltharsar takes a well deserved 'rest' in the Dungeon . Strolling though the passages, slaying the occasional monster, he picks up lots of neat stuff, and builds up another stockpile of potions and scrolls. He is now 12th level. (boy, master level does seem to make a difference EXP-wise)

Rollo

[David E. Gervais]

Originally posted by Rollo:
... and don't try 'Master' level on your first go... .

this is verry good advice! (I made that mistake! ) I'm currently playing a new game at 'average' level of difficulty. So far I have cleared all the wilderness and also the town of Tarlumain. I have fonud Bily and also returned the jester's necklace (maybe I should have kept that a little longer!) I'm currently at level 11. I'm going after the fire and ice keys next. I might also take a peek into the mines in town and perhaps another peek into the tower! (I need to find the key for the mine in the wilderness)

I'll keep you posted, Cheers!