ASCII Invasion ~ playtesters requested!

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AKA "Who got their roguelike in my roguelike?"​

ASCII Invasion is a mod designed to greatly increase the tactical variety of any character exploring Dredmor's Dungeon, while still maintaining the humorous atmosphere and careful balance present in the unmodded game. Inspiration has been drawn from classic roguelikes (with more than a few cheeky references included) but no outside knowledge is needed to enjoy the new content. This mod is designed for the original ten floors only and does not require any expansion packs to play.

Features:
~ 50 regular monsters and 17 mini-bosses, all with unique spells or abilities.
~ 58 themed room layouts, including hidden lore.
~ 82 offensive consumables or equipment options, many with special effects.
~ 180 taunts. Just for fun.

Current Version: 1.5e
This is the last major update, although I will continue to investigate any new bugs I've missed or fix balance issues brought to my attention. Note that there are a few known rare crashes or technical issues that I'm able to reproduce but are the result of current errors/bugs with DoD's core game and outside of my control.

Dropbox download link.
Steam Workshop link.

Full beastiary (1/2):

Spoiler

S is for Snails
What are you, Dredmor's gardener? Snails are slow, weak, and vulnerable to crushing, but can resist or block other mundane damage with their shells. Their abilities aren't directly harmful, but wizards had better keep watch during battle.
Baby Snail - Sporadically slow. Stubbed toes cause 'blinking curses'.
Ghost Snail - Ethereal damage. Trails ectoplasm that gunks up mana.
Snail Swarm - Summons further (non-summoning) snail swarms.
! Pimp Snail - Strongly resists most damage. Sometimes drains health at range or knockbacks.

D is for Dogs and only Dogs
Not dragons this time so let out that breath. Dogs are your basic agile fighters without any magic powers or killer stats, found mostly on the upper floors. Don't get careless though; these varieties can still give you trouble in packs.
Hunting Dog - Highly aggressive and good detection.
Wild Dog - Barking alerts enemies. Transmits rabies, a contagious mostly-debuff causing transmutative damage.
Adorable Puppy - Causes hyperactivity, maybe stunning you on a dodge/block/counter. Weakens next attacks after dying.
! 1000th Dog - No abilities, but high stats and huge health for its depth. Drops sweet loot.

K is sort of mostly for Killer Animals
They're tired of your low-level bolt-fodder nonsense, and this time they're really not messing around. Killer animals come in various mundane forms, but share one critical factor: If you get trapped next to one the results will be devastating.
Kiwi - High piercing damage. Cowardly and self-confuses on hit.
Carnivorous Mutant Bunny - Rips off limbs. Non-animal replacements get unique effects depending on taxa and limb.
Kobold - Carries a single dungeon-wrecking rocket. Flees often once it's spent.
! Kraken - Wide evasive mist, necro clouds, slow-drowns you. Raises wisps from corpses. Dives for stats and waves.

E is for Eyes
Famed as the more dangerous halves of cyclopses, eyes are magically-inclined demons who float through the dungeon and make life miserable for you in specific ways. Specialised heroes had best learn to start packing a few good piercing bolts.
Floating Eye - Paralyses you on contact. Does no damage itself.
Evil Eye - Resists magic, casts a weak antimagic field, and necromantically drains mana in melee.
Ceiling Eye - Stackably reduces your defences. Hits for piercing / existential damage.
! Doom Eye - Causes very heavy necro / putrefy damage to start in 72 turns. Inflicts minor spells in the meanwhile.

M is for Mold
Ugh, why is it always your turn to clean these up. Molds are underpowered but their special damage types and hindering abilities require some tact to deal with. They all resist piercing, righteous and especially putrefying damage.
Dungeon Ooze - Resists magical elements, regrows if killed by summons, corrupts artifacts.
Violet Fungus - Causes harmless but indistinguishable and inconveniencing hallucinations.
Slime Mold - Plain attack. Grows more health from corpses. Slimes you for slowly increasing primary stat loss.
! Ascended Scum - Casts weak spells every turn. Moves only by blinking. Nasty melee damage if muted.

Y is for Yeeks!
Because even diggles need something to feel sorry for. These putrid, malnourished goblinoids are physically feeble and technically count as undead. To survive, they've learned a few tricks that are surprisingly deadly against distracted heroes.
Yeek Trapper - Lays traps nearby and distracts you in melee to reduce trapsight/skill until hit a few more times.
Yeek Alchemist - Breaks flasks for acid/piercing pools. Sets unstable potion 'runes'. Spawns immobile Gelatinous Cones.
Rainbow Yeek - Hits and casts very mild damage of each element simultaneously.
! Lucky Yeek - Zaps a wand of death. It temporarily skeletonises you.

L is for El-fuh
Elves are better at everything, including providing exp. Elves have decent vision and resist bolts, but are otherwise much less fantastic or skilled than advised. Sneaky archers and wizards will still hate their improvised roguish attacks.
Thug Elf - Steals zorkmids. Taunts you, causing exp loss if you avoid melee fighting.
Broke Elf - Shoots any items left on the floor back at you.
Elfephant - Trumpet damage is buffered by mobs. Charges quickly then casts magic. Tramples others back.

H is for Humanoid
You don't know how these 'monsters' evolved. But you do know they're still trying to kill you. Humanoids are a mixed bag of foes whose abilities depend mostly on their upbringing. Attacking hastily is ill-advised; some may even be friendly.
Doobah - High block. Throws weighted nets, several turns without struggling will free you.
Dar Blademaster - Stills your blade at range. Attacks often turn your Melee Power stat against you.
Gorgon - Low damage. Melee gaze insta-kills with < 20 HP. Transmutative / 2-turn muting first strike when awoken.
! Little Girl - Friendly, not targeted by monsters. May share candy, kick monster shins, pull faces or go exploring.

 

Full beastiary (2/2):

Spoiler

( is for ... Mimics?
They blend perfectly into other dungeons, they swear. Mimics are constructs with average stats. They resist choking and poison but are weak to transmutation. Their base attack crushes / chokes you, but what else they'll try is usually a surprise.
Lesser Mimic - Counters or reflects some of your attacks back at you.
Greater Mimic - Regularly switches forms, each giving a different attack, spell and set of stat bonuses.
Clever Mimic - Can [REDACTED] in my [REDACTED] oh God they're all [REDACTED] perfectly safe fountain.
! Glorious Loot - Necro / holy melee, pulls you into its tile. Casts worse existential damage for each step away you are.

I is for (theoretically) Invisible Stalkers
Not all stalkers are quite as subtle as they'd like to imagine. These stalkers will ignore heat or cold to keep creeping a short distance from you. Their debuffs can be deadly in the wrong situation, so best to put them out of their misery.
Highly Visible Stalker - Their touch causes nausea, making eating / drinking inadvisable. Their gaze causes paranoia.
Envious Stalker - Occasionally magically forces you to take its place.
Cupid Stalker - Shoots weak dodgeable arrows that degrade your piercing / conflagratory resistances.
! Gentleman Stalker - Blinks on hit. Blinks and evasively buffs monsters around you.

G is for GIANT MECHA
How do skyscraping tanks fit in the same physical tiles as diggles? Usually, poorly. Mechas are brute force fighters with high raw damage and health. Their clumsy abilities can be used against them with some clever thinking.
Toy Mecha - High chance of knockback with each attack.
Giant Mecha - Especially strong, but acts at a consistent 2/3 speed.
Humongous Mecha - Destroys dungeon walls around it.
! The Giga Giant Meta Mecha - Ridiculously strong. Its rare ranged asphyxiative attack leaves it weaker for a few turns.

V is for Vortices
What kind of lame elements are these, anyway. Vortices are a little difficult to hit but dissipate easily from any disturbances. Their powers are surprisingly dangerous if you don't take care of them quickly. Some can be played off against other foes
Heart Vortex - Drains general willpower for next attacks. Causes deep sleep with 3 turns warning. Gives you heart attacks.
Uranium Vortex - Glow (de)buffs (health) attack to all nearby. Toxic / transmutative beam. May mutate monsters on death.
Precious Snowflake - Polymorphs you to prevent skills. Area snowstorm. Multi-missile righteous spell instead when angry.
! Omnipotent Vortex - Stupidly unkillable. Small chance of entropy nerfing it each turn (5 stacks = normal stats). High exp.

* is for Shut Up I mean Seeds
If a tree falls in a forest, it could kill somebody - unless you get in first. Seeds are special monsters that create stat-boosting terrain on death. Their abilities make it difficult to pin them down though. Resists cold / choking and weak to necro / putrify.
Tree Sapling - Roots the player, causing damage if they break free early. Forest tiles boost defence.
Hill Root - Blindly charges, then curls back into the ground and repeats from elsewhere. Hill tiles boost attack.
Aether Spawn - Launches slow-moving aethereal bombs that also explode on damage. Mystic Growth tiles boost magic.
! Dungeon Seed - Entombs you. Mock-crash drops item / blink you. Spawns mobs with loot. RNG-damage cast.

U is for Uni(etc.)s
Such glorious, imaginative beasts that I have well represented! Uni(etc.)s are powerful and imbued with many elements, but clumsy and weak to existential or voltaic damage. Their mere presence in a horde can often be a game-changer.
Unidolphragin - Debuffs your (magic) attack power with a clear line of sight.
Unidolphraginprechaun - Buffs the (magic) attack power of allied monsters.
Unidolphraginprechaunicore - Drains its own health to frequently cast direct-damage elemental spells.
! Unidolphragincorn - Evokes a holy aura that drains your exp but also variously troubles constructs, demons and undead.

Q is for Qzlyuoptesse ... Q-things
Real monsters with real names just happening to start with Q. These otherworldly monstrosities are wizardly and haywire often. They each cast unique elemental spells for their offence and defence. They're only found deep in the dungeon.
Qzlyuoptice - Throws dodgeable ice skewers. Summons a gale for area knockback. Chills allies for moving snowstorms.
Qzlyuoptacid - Acid showers sometimes ruin your items. Protects self with acid armour. Causes brain-melting acid trips.
Qzlyuoptacer - Casts targeted lightning strikes. Hides behind multiple light walls. Ominous clouds damage over time.
! Qzlyuoptangle - Object-using tentacles, snatching tentacles, constricting tentacles, lashing tentacles, poison tentacles.

@ is for @dventurers
Fellow heroes, for lack of a better word. Adventurers come in as many flavours as your hero does. All carry several strong pieces of equipment (no you can't have them) and at least some class-appropriate armour. Keep an eye on their positioning!
Rogue - Wields an imaginary dagger. Grinds himself notably stronger over time if you leave him alone.
Paladin - Stomps on a knight's L movement tiles. Final Blow spell can strike once after death. Stances/roots himself on hit.
Sorceress - Blinks / damages diagonally. Debuff hurts if you don't move on next turn. Multiturn expanding aethereal super.
! Greg the Paladin - 'Commands' monsters using knock and brief fear. Often raises dead. Debuff hurts if you attack.

F is for Fallen, The
Spirits of murdered heroes, now twisted puppets of a hateful lich. WITTY HUMOUR HERE. Fallen are nimble, invisible and rare. They resist aethereal, necro and holy. Freeing enough will award you a powerful perma-buff to fight Dredmor with.
Fallen Wizard - Charges to remove your combat buffs. Melee hits may cause damage over time. A few generic spells.
Fallen Fighter - Regenerates health. Shoots slashing bolts. Passes any debuffs to you on melee hits.
Fallen Rogue - Sees through nearby invisibility. May poison your max health in melee. Can step briefly out of time.
! The Fallen - Final swarm of souls that appears as four monsters. Able to use many wizard, fighter and rogue abilities.

 

It's nice to see something like this! IIRC, about 8 months ago, an idea like this was thrown around, but never stuck. More monsters are always welcome. I'll try it out with a few games and hopefully whip the serif off of any potential bugs.

 

the spell "Defeated Soul" is removable by the player. Looking in the XML, it doesn't appear that it should be.

 

That's deliberate, so that players who can't be bothered hunting down all of the Fallen don't have to be bothered by the buffs hanging on their UI the whole dungeon.

 

Where's the Jennaraficorn? Also, this is sweet as hell!

 

Having actually sat down and played the mod through to victory, I've made a few mild balance changes and fixed a couple of bugs that I'd missed during my initial testing. Existing save files should be safe. See the OP for the updated download.

And now, for a sneak peak at what's planned in the next version of ASCII Invasion.
* Violet Fungus with a working hallucination effect!
* The wizard Rodney, who will recurringly haunt you through the dungeon!
* Cockatrice, who are no fun to hug.
* Kobolds! With rocket launchers!
Two of those are lies. The other two are true facts which I will begin coding tomorrow.

 

This is so exciting! I want that essence's beta finished now, because I want to try this so bad.

 

Did you say working hallucination effect?

Oh god I hope that's the real one. That would be glorious.

Also, I learned that floating eyes work exactly how they're supposed to. Ouch. :/

About Seeds. Their corpses make it hard to see the little tile, and standing on them seems to only apply the buff every other turn.

This mod is every bit as awesome as I thought it would be. Good show!

 

Yeah, seeds are a little ... problematic. I haven't figured out a way to remove their corpses on death without CTDing. Making their corpses tiny or mostly transparent is a possibility, but then it looks stupid when they get knocked elsewhere and so long as the corpses are still there for spells to target they should probably stay clearly visible. The buff icon only showing up every second turn (or showing twice on monsters every second turn) is a weird and known issue, but I did test the spell with highly exaggerated values when I first implemented it and it should still be applying the stats during every turn's "combat phase", if you will.

 

Quoted both for thruth, the Eye is nasty.

The other stuff didn't look too dangerous on floor one, except I ran into the Yeep boss in the first room I opened and he was puny but entertaining and well written ^^

 

How nasty exactly are we talking here for the Floating Eye? I managed to avoid it until last, or pelt it with softballs, or back into a safe chokepoint before engaging with my last character, but I may well have just been luckier or tankier than most.

 

Ok, so the eye incident happened to be fatal only once. I got stunlocked by it and got pounded helplessly into powder.

The * trees are one of the better concepts (havent seen all yet ), except I'm not sure about the bonus working only for a small number (1?) turn before requireing you to move. Or is it ment to boost monsters who fight you, but not too much?

I'm generally enjoying the boss monsters quite a bit, and hope nothing apart from the snail has the dreadfull blink trap debuff.

 

The bonus should apply each turn, but due to weird trigger timing the icon doesn't always show during at the moment you input your next command. I'll frig around with it some more before releasing the next version ... bluh, I wish monsters didn't ignore destroyonmove.

 

Well if it's any help, for me it sayes it only gives the bonus for 2 turns and resets when I move out and move back in. Have to check wether the actuall bonus sticks, and if it doesn't hope it can get fixed because it's an awesome joke

EDIT: Awesome joke on top of an awesome ability, make no mistake.

 

Ok, loving the mod so far, in a genious way it doesn't clash aestethically with the game apart from all the enemies being asciII characters - they don't have individual arts so they can't really feel graphically out of place on the floors you run into them ^^

Two questions:

1) Fiddling with the taxa. How much thought did you put into it? The abilities are great (well, fun anyway), but this might be a minor nitpick - if there are too many animals in there maybe it upsets the vegan/BGH thing (and I'm making the "other" taxa mod, so it might upset it and I'd love to have it compatible with this one.)

2) Were you thinking about arts for the various debuffs? I have a feeling there's a bunch of unused art around the place, people have been using it for other mods, but at least some of it would probably fit. The monster, hah, design is fine The brown tooltips for debuffs show effort, but crowd the left edge of the screen with light brown samey rectangles. You have an opinion on this? Mind if i make a set of suggestions maybe?

FEEDBACK: The yellow adventurer boss just kicked my ass. I was a rogue on GRPD and he spawned in the middle of a zoo. Awsome stuff, but he might be a bit too fat ATM. And I hope Essence makes note of you and puts you on that wall of his, you totaly deserve it - this mod would make a good expansion on its own.

 

I have tried to spread the taxa out, but maybe not well enough ... After reading your post I checked my taxa statistics vs those in the base (expanded) game. Counting not-miniboss mobs in the standard ten floors, DoD has ~31% animal population, while ASCII Invasion has ~28% currently and ~37% in 1.2. So it's actually pretty close, but I'll need to reclassify some before my next release. Apparently I have too many undead and not enough constructs or 'other' as well, hmm.

I kinda like my silly buff icons, but wouldn't be opposed to be using actual artwork if there was enough available that was otherwise unused. The thing is though, I can't draw pretty much at all, and my working skills/spells folder has 113 buff icons it. Not including the 64/32 duplicates. So yeah.

... Minibosses can even spawn in monster zoos? This can't end well.

 

OK, well, now I'm going to have to actually play with this.

 

Well, if you reclassify adventurers as "Other" going from the joke that youre using @ to represent what is essentialy a monkey, to them actually representing other adventurers in a literal sense, you'd get at least "Other" sorted out.

I don't mind them as such, and I loved some of them, and most of the flavor text is A-grade, the problem is that with art I can ussually see what i got on my self with a glance, if these pile up, not so much. What if you just replaced some, I could dig up the available artworks, since I've been interested in seeing what's in there anyway.

Well there was a really fat adventurer ressurecting a zoo full of tanky stuff over and over again and blinking around the place. I just coudn't kill him, and he hit qute hard. If any of the following wasn't a factor - damage, hp, blink, ressurect, no problems, this way - he'd make a fine end boss for a roguelike

Do! This is actually incredibly fun. So many good debuffs, most of the flavour is A-grade, and somehow simple AoE stuff seems fresh and imaginative. Awesome use of traps (or rather spellmines), and... Just try it. Heck, even if 100% of the stuff is references, he's got good references