POWDER

[Alienated]

I started this topic because I didn't want to mix up my diablo topic any more. If you have any thoughts and questions about POWDER, feel free to drop a post here.

 

All I want to say right now about POWDER is I was able to run the program on my Linux op. system. I downloaded the executable for Windows and ran it under influence of wine (WINdows Emulator). I tried to install the POWDER package and the neccessary libraries on my PC but the dependency messages just told me not to do that. By the way, I play NetHack for Windows too under wine when I play NetHack at all. Linux is just like that.

 

What, POWDER has a tutorial. It's nice when you don't have to read several additional FAQs to know how the game works at all. The info boxes also have useful hints. NetHack just gives you a quote from the Lord of the Rings for example. In other aspect POWDER is much like NetHack. I died two times in the turorial already. There was a room with some water and there was another with red dragons in the way. I tried to ford the water and drowned. I tried to pass the dragons and they killed me. But I guess I can beat the tutorial somehow in my life time so POWDER definitely is worth playing.

 

I have already learned some things. For example the magic missile (not the particular spell) ricochets from walls just like the missile from a freeze thrower in Duke Nukem 3d. This brings more complexity in the picture... Now I just wonder when the enemies start to fell me from behind corners and the other end of the dungeon. Sooner or later, I bet.

[Bomb Bloke]

I don't think it's possible to "beat" the tutorial. The point of the dragons is to demonstrate that some battles can't be won, at least, not in the near future - sometimes, "victory" is having an escape plan. The water is there to simply point out that your character doesn't swim very well.

 

That is to say, the tuturial serves only to teach basic gameplay. To learn how to survive, you must play the game proper.

 

There are various ways to deal with water, most of them relating to special items or spells. An ice spell is a simple example.

 

Sufficient levelling will allow you to tank your way through just about anything. To start with, I strongly recommend following the god Hruth (or whatever his name is), as although he completely forbids the use of magic, he'll quickly take you from "get killed by a fireball shot from something you couldn't even see" to "take on eight dragons at once and win" status. You can then change to a different god if you later want to start raising your spellcasting abilities, but make sure your new choice likes you before you make the switch.

 

Usually, enemies must detect you before they can start to follow/attack you. A certain status effect will make you visible to EVERYTHING, at which point you should probably bunker up somewhere until it passes (or revel in the surge of xp, if you've got the strength to take them all on).

 

Items are very important. Boots, rings, helmets and amulets are usually enchanted; some helms will sap your mana, and those that do will usually be cursed (unremovable by normal means) so be careful randomly equipping them unless you're taking the barbarian path or confident the gods like you. Some amulets will strangle you, and those that do are again usually cursed, leading to a swift death. You will often find you need to change your equipment depending on the situation, so don't automatically drop a "good" item just because you have another you feel is better.

 

Bucklers are more valuable then they appear, depending on your weapon choice.

 

The resurrection spell is presented as having no limitations. This is not false representation - if you can kill it, then you can potentially have it as a minion. The possession spell goes hand-in-hand with having a "companion"; if you wish to try the familiar spell, make sure you can cast the other two first - you can use possess to have your minion pick up/drop/equip items, or even to use the same skill/spell books your character uses.

 

One major earlyish obstacle you'll run into is the cockatrice (looks like a yellow rooster). A lot of time can be saved by knowing that the "unchanging" intrinsic will save you from it - if you don't have this, then do not under any circumstances attempt to attack it head-on. Run! Jump! Teleport! Carry multiple weapons so you have something to throw at them. The polymorph spell is a short-term solution, if you really have to use melee.

[Alienated]

Then it seems monsters in POWDER aren't a bit more merciful than the monsters in NetHack.

 

Do you mean those red dragons in the tutorial can't be beaten?

 

By the way I died again. I zapped a flaming staff at a rat. The missile killed the rat and it still had enough power to bounce off the wall behind the corpse and hit me back. The good news is I can then burn several monsters lined up in a corridor. I like it when staves have power.

 

I read the game help, the skills/spells and gods, and the class change during the exploration. Such flexibility greatly increases the survival ratio unless the game designer invented things that greatly decrease it.

 

The barbarian class seems a good plan, however, I try to choose my class according to what items I find in the dungeon. I dig the class system of POWDER all in all. I don't think I can ever beat the game but I see some funny dungeon clawls in the future. Sometimes NetHack also can be enjoyable. It is when I find several valuable items and several shops on the first few floors. I usually play an elven ranger, and when he can shoot three arrows per turn, I am getting to see the light in the end of the tunnel.

[Bomb Bloke]

Do you mean those red dragons in the tutorial can't be beaten?

I mean they're not intended to be beaten. It may be possible. It is certainly possible outside of the tutorial, where you can potentially kill anything if you have the right skills/spells/items/minions/levels. Dragons probably don't even qualify as "moderately powerful" when you place them against the list of all the other monsters in the game, and if you can get elemental resistance against them, they become a joke faster still.

 

By the way I died again. I zapped a flaming staff at a rat. The missile killed the rat and it still had enough power to bounce off the wall behind the corpse and hit me back. The good news is I can then burn several monsters lined up in a corridor. I like it when staves have power.

Note the distinction between staves and wands; wands are for zapping, staves are for equipping. Equipping a staff grants you a LARGE amount of spells. Positive or negative, you can always zap yourself - teleport a monster away for eg, or teleport yourself away...

 

Polymorph is a tricky one. It wears off... eventually. If something is killed in it's polymorphed state, it goes back to normal minus 10% of their max stats. An amulet of unchanging prevents polymorph and petrification, but can also be used to stop polymorph from wearing off. A ring of polymorph control lets you choose what you'll change into (out of a list of anything you've encountered). Eating a changeling may cause you to change.

 

If you move over water and drop items, they will fall to the bottom. You can still pick them up again, but they won't be visible until you also fall in - the fetch spell can also be used to retrieve an item if you know it's there. You can fill empty bottles by dropping them over water.

 

Dipping things in a bottle of holy water uncurses them, great for testing amulets and stuff. If the item wasn't cursed, then it becomes holy (which in some cases provides bonuses, eg holy arrows don't break, holy wands provide increased effects, etc - cursed items are the opposite, eg a cursed scroll of mapping will WIPE your map!). You can dip an entire stack of items at once - eg, if you have ten bottles of normal water and dip them in a single bottle of holy water, you end up with ten bottles of holy water...

 

The trick is getting your first bottle of the holy stuff. Pax'll provide you with one if you can make him happy and you're carrying a regular water bottle. He also provides the best stat increases per level, so...

 

It's very difficult to follow Pax from the start. Usually you end up starving (he dislikes you attacking anything that doesn't pick a fight with you, and also dislikes you eating anything unless you're "hungry"). H'ruth, on the other hand, wants you to mow down everything in your path, which leads to swift levelling - and if you maintain a "full" state, your HP regens faster. The Book of H'ruth ironically contains skills which are ideal for surviving under Pax (immunity to hunger with increased chances of finding things to eat in the first place)!

 

Both books about armour are well worth reading, by the way.

 

By the time you're strong enough to follow Pax, he'll likely be pretty pissed at you, so the solution is to shut yourself in a room and start throwing things in the air (done by aiming two blocks above your character), then cast heal after they land on you. Rinse and repeat until he's up to about twenty points positive in your favour, then go level as a cleric.

[Alienated]

By the time you're strong enough to follow Pax, he'll likely be pretty pissed at you, so the solution is to shut yourself in a room and start throwing things in the air (done by aiming two blocks above your character), then cast heal after they land on you. Rinse and repeat until he's up to about twenty points positive in your favour, then go level as a cleric.

This reminds me of self-lashing. A really mazochistic game!