Surgical Strike keys questions

[Joramun]

(post split from old archive thread - b.
EDIT : SORRY I ACCESSED THROUGH SEARCH WITHOUT CHECKING IF IT WAS AN ARCHIVE.

Ok sorry this thread is a bit old, but I'm stuck )

I have found 2 master keys, I have one remaining iron key, and have still to open the topaz lock with the 4 pits (can't find the key) and what I suppose is a square lock (two rectangle outlines, it's near a stair up to a lonely trollin)
This is really infuriating because every time I start SS again I never manage to find 3 topaz keys (ie 3 master keys). But this time I've been to the tower.

I have finished nightmare and corbamite mine, and I'm currently boiling my brain on the prime puzzle (I'll find by myself, there are too much clues already)
I wonder if I have not lost keys stupidly in the nightmare area on a swaping lock.

Also : the game still indicates SStrike v2.1

[Sophia]

Can we split this one back to the Custom Dungeons, maybe? (Or just move it, but all those old posts aren't needed)

Nightmare's swapping lock gives you all the keys you need in the chest right in front of it. You can use other keys there, but you'll never come up short...

The square lock takes an Onyx key. You should find that if you can get past the 4 pits.

There are three topaz keys in this dungeon-- two on the scorpion level, and one a bit more down. I'm not sure which one you're missing...

[Parallax]

I just finished this dungeon and I have to say I love it.

I did get frustrated with its maze-like qualities, but it was my choice not to map, and the game certainly does not teleport the party around much, so I have no excuse for getting repeatedly lost beside my own lazyness. Total distance: 44.9km. Run, Forrest, run!

Once I understood the principle, actually, it is quite logical. In a replay, I doubt I would run around in circles quite as much. I love the new weapons and the various secrets, although from this standpoint I still have a way to go, I barely found half of them, and two I could not do (one-man team makes Dance! impossible to win without cheating, I have yet to check whether the particular brand of cheating I had in mind works (summoning extra players doesn't, well done!) The other secret, the lost hallway, I just don't get. I'll have to rack my brains.

I was disappointed by Chaos's wimpiness. I killed all of his instances in the game (4) that I could find, and actually keeping him alive long enough to kill him properly at the end was quite a challenge. Methinks it might be a backward compatibility problem with V0.42 of RTC (the one I played on.) Also, on our first encounter, he did not say anything, I thought he would have but he was mute, even if I did not kill him straight away.

Favorite weapon: The explodagger. So Bond-esque, too bad it's one use only.
Most-used new weapon: Tie between the Zo bomb (suicide pill for exploring pits and other nonsense) and the vorpal arrow (stabbity-stabbity )
Favorite secret so far: Tie between Dance! and the special screamers. The secrets are one of the strengths of this module. The puzzles are great too, but the secrets are really the icing on the cake. Maybe it's just because I'm such a sucker for Easter eggs.

I was not bothered by the respawn rates, but it's true I always walk around with all the stats maxed out by potions, so I kill fast and don't take much damage.

I only had to use the spoiler threads once, to find the last sapphire key in the Nightmare. Although I was well aware of how to open the way (I had explored the other side fully) it had simply not occured to me to just explore it. Once again I blame lazyness and no mapping.

I am left with a few loose ends after completing the game and the alternate Hellion ending. I will certainly replay it to find more secrets. On the other hand, I am a proud 'fashion casualty.' (boy what didn't I try for that puzzle! Never has an obvious puzzle been so hard!)

[beowuuf]

Yes, it is a backwards compatibility issue - he should appear and be invisicible - even at the end he isn't killable by normal means - surprised you managed to take him out normally...maybe he's that wimpy then, before the spawning of the end creatures with him made it quite tough unless you know what you are doing, i found anyway...

[Parallax]

He is still immune to weapon damage (regular and magical) but thrown items and spells destroy him upon impact. I'm guessing he has only 1 hitpoint since he's supposed to be invincible. Anyways, considering what's around him when you're supposed to kill him according to the script, you'll understand my frustration at his lack of projectile resistance...

[beowuuf]

Backwards compatibility strikes again then, or else it's a bug in the invulnerability code no one has spotted before...

[George Gilbert]

Well, a generic "invincibility" flag for any monster was introduced in V0.38 (before that, invincibility was an intrinsic property of chaos and anything cloned from it, and was applied by the engine).

If a monster was cloned from Chaos by a pre-V0.38 compiler, the new chaos wouldn't have the invincible flag and so a post-V0.38 engine wouldn't think it was invincible...

If the dungeon was recompiled, then it would Just Work (TM) without any need to modify the properties (i.e. for invincibility, the *.txt file is backwards compatible, but the *.RTC isn't).

[beowuuf]

Oh, i forgot to say, you are missing so much not using the north star! It's sophia's favourite wepon, so had to try it to see why...then i found out!

Alos, the improved dragon spit is kinda cool, and the skull is fun!

So is the axe of ya gor...really, the weapons rock : )

[Parallax]

Hahaha, I haven't found the North Star. Nor the axe of ya gor. Mmh, I used an axe for most of the dungeon, I noticed that the ya gor spell did nothing... But I'm pretty sure I have tried to cast it while carrying the axe... Interesting.

Anyways, I'm far from done with this dungeon. There is a teleporter in Nightmare I haven't found how to access, a door with no lock still closed way back in the skeleton room, near the black door flanked by Chaos heads, a turquoise lock still in want of a key, a Ra lock in the same situation, although I have found it could be disabled, blue dragons that are way too cocky for their own good, etc... I also must have missed an iron key somewhere because I saved one by not activating a back way that needed it, yet all I have left is the gold key I recovered from the stupid lock, out of spite, because it took me so long to figure it out.

This reminds me, kudos to Sophia for planning against people dropping the knight in the pit and jumping on his head there. Smart knights press buttons.

[beowuuf]

It's actually called the axe of ya gor, and you'll see what the spell does then

Ah, the north star looks liek a shuriken, but it great as a close combat weapon imho