Your favourite armour/weapon/misc. items setup?

[Paul Stevens]

there's a door, (near to the "Test your Strength" bit)

You are certainly taking the long way back.

[Jan]

You are certainly taking the long way back.

LOL, yeah, that's right.

Anyway, I've always thought that once you re-open that door (stepping on the pad behind the other door), it remains opened, even if you step on the pad again. Or am I wrong? Are there any differences between the various versions / engines?

[Adrena1in]

Long route back? Yeah, probably, but not aware of or can't remember the shortcuts. And maybe I do need to step on another pad to stop the door closing.

But Ameena, it's a reinforced door, (I think), so, (I'm guessing), immune to physical attack.

[Ameena]

Meh, you can fireball portcullises in CSB - I wouldn't make assumptions based on what it looks like the door's made of, 'cause, well, fireballs are magic, aren't they?

[Jan]

Yeah, probably, but not aware of or can't remember the shortcuts.

Here's one clue only, no more no less. Once you learn it, there will be nothing to guess.

Spoiler

Search for hidden switches.

Spoiler

The switch is on the second crossroad when you go from the Test Your Strength to the shortcut teleporter (about 15 steps from Test Your Strength sign).

[Toufman]

Yeah, probably, but not aware of or can't remember the shortcuts.

Here's one clue only, no more no less. Once you learn it, there will be nothing to guess.

Spoiler

Search for hidden switches.

Spoiler

The switch is on the second crossroad when you go from the Test Your Strength to the shortcut teleporter (about 15 steps from Test Your Strength sign).

And not too far from that very Test Your Strength area,

Spoiler

there is actually a couple of hidden switches granting access to quicker ways up the Couatl level entrance.

On-Topic: the Diamond Edge remains my favourite weapon of choice in both DM and CSB because it is so quick and is the fastest way to gain Ninja level after reaching Artisan. Plus it looks great with its shiny edge
My fave armour combo probably is the Mithrail body and leggings. As for Miscellaneous items, one could hardly beat... the Eye of Time. Guaranteed to save would-be heroes' butts a few times

[aster]

the Diamond Edge remains my favourite weapon of choice in both DM and CSB because it is so quick and is the fastest way to gain Ninja level after reaching Artisan. Plus it looks great with its shiny edge
My fave armour combo probably is the Mithrail body and leggings. As for Miscellaneous items, one could hardly beat... the Eye of Time. Guaranteed to save would-be heroes' butts a few times

Gotta agree with the Mithril pieces, they're definitely my favourite though I still collect the Armour of Lyte later on in the game.

As for the Diamond Edge, do you think it's a better sword than the Inquisitor?

[Jan]

As for the Diamond Edge, do you think it's a better sword than the Inquisitor?

Definitely not. The Inquisitor is one of two best weapons in the game (together with Hardcleave). It's a shame that you get it so late in the dungeon.

[Ameena]

Yeah, I favour any weapon with the "Thrust" attack because of its high damage for low speed. So, when I find them, I take the rapier, then Delta Blade, then finally the Inquisitor. Unfortunately due to the latter's location I only really get to use it on the Dragon .

[PaulH]

I'd have the Diamond Edge over the Inquisitor anyday!High damage, low speed, the Stab option on the Diamond Edge is the most efficient in the game:

The Inquistor has a base strength of 58, the Diamond Edge 62 - Thrust has a damage rating of 66 to Stab's 48. So multiplying we get a damage score of 2976 vs 3828, so the Inquistor hits about 30% harder with a thrust on average.

But... it takes the 320% longer to recover until you can use the action again! You are more likely to hit with thrust, but even so the Diamond Edge is still more efficient overall, and also lowers the armour of the opponent by 25%.

[oh_brother]

I was going to say that I prefer the inquisitor - if you have time berserk coupled with Ku potions is lethal. I normally have one person berserking, and the other with a quicker weapon knocking away during recovery times.

Then again that is just a feeling, I don't have PaulH's stats to back it up!

[PaulH]

Worth going for the Hardcleave over the Inquisitor (for Berzerk), as has a weapon strength of 70 (compared to 58). Berzerk strength is 96. Fatigue is 40 (vs 5 for stab, 16 for thrust)

[oh_brother]

Sounds sensible! I never studied the stats - I suppose I only found out about this site back in 2009, so my style was developed just intuitively by what felt right/looked cool.

Well this can be one more improvement to my play since I got here, along with substituting magic with melee as the main attack, not carrying shields and always holding flasks in the left hand!

[Jan]

always holding flasks in the left hand!

Now you do realise that technically this is the right hand, don't you?

*runs and hides*

[oh_brother]

always holding flasks in the left hand!

Now you do realise that technically this is the right hand, don't you?

Um..oh yeah, I never realised that! All the champions are left handed. Or else you are looking at them from behind. And they wear their armour and helmets back-to-front.

[b1llygo4t]

always holding flasks in the left hand!

Now you do realise that technically this is the right hand, don't you?

Um..oh yeah, I never realised that! All the champions are left handed. Or else you are looking at them from behind. And they wear their armour and helmets back-to-front.

no way man! its like your looking in the mirror you got them from!!

I usually pick a strong fighter and a fighter/wizard for my front row and a wizard priest and a ninja for the back row. i give my front fighters the heaviest armor with shields and thats about it to keep their weight in the grey. i give my wizard/priest all the magic stuff, backup ninja stars/darts and the better secondary armor. i give the ninja the boots of speed and use him as a pack mule, if i have a second pair my magic user becomes a pack mule too!

i chuck ful and ven bombs left and right, i use the hell out of freeze boxes and i always keep a magic weapon handy for when i run out of mana. and i leave random bits of armor and weapons laying about for the next dungeoneers!

i know shields are next to worthless and i know uber cross classing all your characters yields better stats and i know the pendant ferral just makes it harder to level up but i like playing the roll and i play it how i envisioned the designers intending it to be played. and there is a barbie dress up aspect in getting all the lyte and darc armorsets =] it works out for me, my guys pack a wallop and i rarely have to sleep since a health potion is nothing to my magic user. ninja kinda lacks in zaz. mule.

p.s. sorry for reviving a dead thread, but im going through both games again with csbwin, importing my chars. last time i played with rtc, admittedly csbwin seems more balanced and true to the originals. sucks rtc is dead, i created and imported tons of graphics and played with all sorts of game mechanics planning to make a dungeon.

[Seriously Unserious]

@b1llygo4t: RTC is definitely not dead yet. It may not be under development any more but there's tons of custom dungeons out for it and there's at least 1 or 2 more under development right now, that I know of.

It is good to read about your party selection and playing style. BTW, when playing RTC dungeons with the quiver item available, the ninja becomes a much more powerful character then most people give them credit for. A good bow and a quiver full of slayers will do some good damage to monsters at a distance, which can be very helpful when dealing with limited spells due to rune restrictions, low mana, or spell-resistant monsters (like the animated armors, for example), and with the quiver your ninja can shoot up to 12 arrows before running out of ammo.

When choosing a party I follow a system pretty similar to yours. Strong fighters in the front, at least 1 of whom can double as a spare ninja, priest or wizard. 2 good spell casters in the back, or 1 good spell caster and 1 good ninja. If I go with 2 spell casters I look for 1 of them to be a priest, and the other to be a wizard, and in that case the front of the party will usually be a fighter and a ninja. When developing my characters I usually start out training the mostly in their primary skills, but once they have gained a few levels I usually start cross training them into other skills whenever I can (eg. in DM I like to put my wizard/priest in the front row in the screamer room and hack away at screamers until (s)he has gained a level or 2). Also, level gaining slows down rapidly in the upper levels so once a character has reached Artisan they usually won't gain any more levels until you've progressed further down the dungeon anyways, so whenever the opportunity presents itself for your characters to work on different skills then it's a good idea to do it, as you'll see a better return on your efforts in trying to get your fighter to practice a few healing potions or your ninja to grab a sword and hack away at some monsters for a while.

[Monoven]

The Inquisitor is slightly better at a more hit and run style of combat because it has the stronger Thrust and Berzerk actions. In a more close combat situation, the Diamond Edge's higher efficiency tends to win out(also when you're trying to fight your way out of a situation there's something unsettling about waiting for someone's action hand to recover while monsters are chomping on you). The DE's defense modifier can also make a big difference against enemies with high defense(I found Thrust to be garbage compared to the DE's Stab against Animated Armors).

I realize this is a DM thread but I'd just like to say another awesome thing about Chaos Strikes Back that may or may not have been pointed out already: If you know what you're doing, you can play with your favorite DM weapons(or their equivalent) for a more significant portion of the game.

[Seriously Unserious]

Another thing I like about the Diamond Edge is that you can train a character in both fighter and ninja skills at the same time, one of the few good weapons where you can do that. The stab attack, used on a strong monster in the lower levels of the dungeon will give you a good rate of advancement on ninja levels, while the other attacks, especially thrust, give you a good rate of advancement on your fighter levels. For this reason, I also love using the DE as a training weapon. The rapier is also a good training weapon, mostly for the earlier levels, as it's just not strong enough to use against say, and animated armor or stone golem, but it is quite effecting for training your fighters against screamers, rock piles and other monsters from around that part of the game where those are common.

[Ameena]

Diamond Edge doesn't have a Thrust attack - that's the rapier, Delta Blade, and Inquisitor. Diamond Edge has Melée I think.

[Seriously Unserious]

Oh, right, yes, melee is one of the DE's attacks, I think the other 1 is actually chop. so Stab-Chop-Melee for the DE and Jab-Parry-Thrust for the rapier, are the move sets if I remember correctly.

[Monoven]

Actually the DE's actions are Stab, Chop, and Cleave. Which incidentally is the major drawback to the DE, it's actions all have basically the same combat strength. Stab is faster than Chop but has a defense penalty. I'm actually not sure what the point of having Cleave on the same weapon as Chop, it gives two more experience points than Chop, but has a longer recovery time and slightly less accuracy.

[Seriously Unserious]

I agree that Chop and Cleave on the same weapon is a bit of a waste. Still, the DE is a good training blade because of the rare ability to train a character's ninja and fighter skills with the same weapon, so no annoying swapping, or throwing a dagger to draw a sword or anything like that. Just follow a stab - chop - stab - chop pattern.

[Ameena]

I just use all the Thrust weapons (for best damage versus delay), and train my Ninja when I'm down to about Level 9 by having someone repeatedly chuck a boulder (or similarly heavy object) until I have to take a step in order to pick it up again. Then I switch to the other character and repeat. That's as much as I can be arsed to do so I don't tend to get past Journeyman level or so.

[Seriously Unserious]

I see. IMO in the original DM the ninja skills were really underutilized. I find being able to shoot at most 5 arrows, or throw 5 weapons before running out of ammo rather restrictive on the usefulness of that skill. Gaining ninja levels tends to be just another way of increasing health and stamina so your fighters will last longer against the nasty monsters in the lower levels. It's pretty much the same thing in CSB and it isn't until DM2: Skullkeep and the introduction of the quiver item that stores up to 8 arrows that the ninja really becomes useful since your ninja goes from being able to shoot 5 arrows at monsters to being able to shoot up to 12 arrows before running out of ammo, and a ninja with a good bow and a good set of slayers can do quite a bit of damage to monsters when you just can't use spells, either due to a lack of mana, or the monster is naturally spell resistant.

[Ameena]

Meh, I find everything dies eventually if you chuck enough Fireballs at it .

[Seriously Unserious]

Not so for the stone giants, especially not in the original DM; they were completely immune to fireballs, and somewhat affected by lightning bolts but it would still take more lightning that a party would have mana with which to cast them. I know this because I've already tried it. Of course, hacking away at them doesn't do much damage either, but shooting stuff at them does help, and because they're so slow you can shoot or throw a lot of stuff at them before they can catch up with you.

[beowuuf]

There is a physical component - small as it is - to powerful fireballs. But that's even worse than lightning bolts

[Ameena]

Well okay, I don't really chuck spells at those guys. Or the Knights. I tend to use hit-and-run techniques. But the only Stone Giants I bother killing are the ones who block the way to the Inquisitor (and I use doors to help kill those guys) - any others I can just ignore.

[Seriously Unserious]

True. But usually I feel compelled to kill them anyways, as I just have to get whatever it is they are guarding, and there's usually a handy door nearby to crush them under anyways, so it's not really all that bad dealing with them.