Ok so I actually bought this back when it just came out, and have been playing it since it's release, which makes me feel all the stupider for not already knowing these answers. Quick note, I have played many Rogue Likes in the past, only one have I ever been able to beat (And I cheated to do it, so it don't really count), so I'm no pro by any means, Dwarvish Moderate is already hard for me and I try a lot of tactics like Funneling mobs into a single square hallway for 1v1 instead of a Zoo surrounding me on all 8 sides. Short story, I suck at Rogue Likes lol. Anyway my problem, I have always sold off most potions in the game that weren't healing or resistance kind of buffs I know a lot of the potions are used for alchemy, but they seem like they are supposed to be used another way, like I should be able to through a bottle of Acid at an enemy, or place poison on my weapon for more nasty of a punch. So how does one go about using these otherwise dangerous potions outside of Alchemy (If at all possible, just seems like I'm missing something here). My second problem involves the Lutefisk God, I know you need to tithe a lot of lutefisk to get anything really, but it seems I'm doing something wrong or am the unluckiest person ever. I'll tithe a stack of 100 and it says I have tithed it, but I get nothing for it, every time, at first I thought it was just that I got super unlucky and it failed to create anything, but I've done it many times now and still have got nothing, the Statue just says I tithed 100 Lutefisk. I have to be missing something here, how do I claim the rewards?. Does it just randomly appear as I wander around?, do I need to click something?. For those of you who have managed to beat this game on GR with PD, I salute thee, I will never accomplish such a feat.
After 1.0.5, the amount of Lutefisk needed to have a 100% chance of getting a reward is 500. It was actually multiplied by 5 because of the modification to the Horadric Lutefisk Cube, which now factors in every item in a stack, as opposed to every fifth item. Hope that clears stuff up, with regards to the Lutefisk God.
As far as the poisonous potions are concerned, crafting (alchemy AND tinkering -- don't think smithing uses them at all) are the only ways of making them useful right now, though poisoning weapons does seem like a decent thing to add for a future patch (maybe add the ability to the assassination tree?). You know about alchemy, well, tinkering allows you to make poisonous and acidic bolts, traps, and thrown weapons. As far as monster zoos are concerned, funneling the monsters into a narrow space is probably just about everyone's key tactic, in addition to using AE attacks (if you have any). Using Area Effect (AE) attacks helps speed the process immensely -- in addition to spells (promethean magic having the most popular of them), and even some special melee attacks, you have tentacular wands, squid bolts, bolts of mass destruction, various grenades and flasks, some of the acid and poison bolts, and maybe a few others that don't immediately come to mind. Don't worry that you die a lot -- visiting these forums will give you a slanted view of how many people are actually conquering the game -- people who are unsuccessful really don't brag that much and those that do, post about their conquests everywhere to everyone who will listen. If you look at the stats, only a small percentage of people who play have actually beaten the game. Rogue-likes are hard and unforgiving, and this game is no exception.
Pretty much what he said. I've been playing roguelikes ever since I got a copy of the original Rogue on a floppy disk some time in the late 80s. In all this time, the only ones I've ever legitimately beaten have been the really simple, dumbed-down ones. Roguelike players have a masochistic side they probably don't admit to, because one of the key aspects of any RL is that you lose frequently. (As they say in Dwarf Fortress, "Losing is fun!")
The best way to deal with Zoos is Bolts of Squid. Seriously. Fire 2 of them as deep into the room as you can - the trickiest part is finding or creating an angle that will get the Bolt through the doorway and into the room itself. Follow that up with 1 or 2 of the following: Brimstone Flask (thrown), Poison Flask (thrown), Poison Bottle Bolt, or Acid Bottle Bolt. Monsters will continue to walk towards you, taking damage from 2 separate (and powerful) sources of AoE damage per square. Unless it's a floor 9 or 10 Zoo, that combo can easily wipe out 30-50 monsters if positioned properly. Keep in mind that the answer to most difficult situations in the game is either 1) Fire a powerful AoE Bolt/throw a powerful AoE Flask/cast a powerful AoE Spell at it, or 2) use Ninja Vanish/Knightly Leap/Teleport Spell/Teleport Potion/Teleport Mushroom to gain some range, then perform the aforementioned step 1).
Yea Zoos generally aren't a problem for me, I have a habit of using all my traps I gather and making a nice little deathly hallway they have to walk down filled with fire, poison, toxin, blades, and of course the ever useless boulder. I usually botch it against a single boss or something really stupid, like getting somehow pinned in a corner with several mobs there to eat ma face. but I've been making a lot of really smart choices lately, so I should do a lot better than I normally do.
