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DUNGEON OF DOOM 4.0 STRATEGIES Compiled by Jeff Massie 76474,1326 version 1.0 - 12/20/86 IMPORTANT: Even with the strategies explained in this file, Dungeon of Doom is a very involved and involving game. It still takes me at least twenty-four hours of continuous play to finish the game. It is exactly because the game is so involving that I urge you not to read this file until you have given yourself a chance to figure these things out on your own. As a general rule of thumb, I would say that if you have never seen at least the fifteenth level, you should read no farther. For purposes of clarification I have repeated some of the information included in the DoD help files. Insert page breaks wherever the @ sign appears in this file, and use 9-point Monaco font (80 columns) to print it out. KEEPING A LEVEL HEAD ==================== The biggest mistake neophyte DoDers make is failing to keep their experience levels high enough to compensate for the depths reached. The first five dungeon levels or so can be deceptively easy, and there is a great temptation to rush ahead in the game. Around the eighth or ninth level the monsters start getting a little too fierce for you to handle, and you haven't amassed enough hit points to handle them in any quantity. Through pluck and luck you might make it through a few more levels, but your character is doomed. The following is perhaps the single most important piece of advice I can give you: NEVER LET YOUR DUNGEON LEVEL BE GREATER THAN YOUR EXPERIENCE LEVEL! That is, do not proceed to the second level of the dungeon until you have attained the second level of experience, etc. This means that, especially in the early stages of the game, you may be spending a =lot= of time on each level. Use the time wisely - make sure you explore each and every area of the level. One thing I do is to methodically move my character back and forth across each square in the level until I have "painted" the entire level map into the upper right-hand corner. It saves having to use a mapping scroll, although I may squog a mapping scroll to see if I've left any items behind. (For a definition of "squogging" see the Dungeon of Doom Items List.) Since killing monsters is the standard means for increasing your experience level, obviously you will need to encounter as many monsters as possible. Therefore, I suggest you avoid using items such as fear wands, speed potions or teleport scrolls - you want to be near the bad guys, not avoid them! Besides, the monsters will ALWAYS find you again; even if you escape to the next level they will be waiting for your return! @THE MONSTER RING STRATEGY ========================= Somewhere in the first ten levels of the game you are likely to have come across one of the nastiest items in the game - the dreaded monster ring. When you put on the monster ring, a humongous swarm of monsters attacks you! The swarm dissipates only gradually after you remove the ring (assuming the %$*&^%#* thing isn't cursed!) If you're lucky, you'll survive with six or eight remaining hit points, and discard the dreaded ring at once ..... Don't. The monster ring is the key to a strategy that has gotten me to the 40th level and back several times. In fact, the Monster Ring Strategy is the =only= way I have ever reached the bottom level! To use this strategy, follow these rules =exactly=: 1) If you find the monster ring on the tenth dungeon level or above, put it in your pack; do =not= put it on yet! 2) If you have not found the monster ring by the eleventh dungeon level, keep playing until you find it. At that point, if you are wearing anything less than banded armor or wielding anything less than a two-handed sword, or if your strength is less than 16, keep playing until you have equipped these items and/or found enough strength or muscle potions to boost your strength. 3) Immediately backtrack for exactly ten levels. That is, if you are at the eleventh level go back to the first level; from the twelfth go to the second, etc. 4) As soon as you arrive, take a deep breath and put on the monster ring. The sethrons and alligogs will come at you like gangbusters. You should be well-enough developed and protected that you can mow them down easily. 5) As you hack away, keep a close eye on your hit points. If the graph falls to one-third of maximum, remove the ring =at once=. Note that the swarm takes a little while to dissipate once the ring is removed. Rest up and put the ring back on. 6) Continue with this senseless savagery until your experience level goes up. Remove the ring, proceed to the next level, take another deep breath and put the ring back on. When you return to where you were when you first backtracked, you will be TEN levels higher than when you started! (If you were to try this strategy without the monster ring, you would die of starvation, not to mention boredom, before you found enough monsters to advance your level.) Just because you are now well-advanced, do not abandon the principle of advancing one experience level per dungeon level. Remember that the the higher you advance in experience levels, the fewer hit points you will achieve for each new level, so that by the time you reach the bottom of the dungeon the advantage will be much less obvious. When you go to a new dungeon level, explore the level and pick up all items before you put the ring back on; once you are wearing the ring you'll have your hands full. Above all, =never= wear the monster ring unless you are at least ten experience levels ahead of your current dungeon level. @KNOW YOUR CATEGORIES ==================== The initial attribute points of the various character classes are as follows: Str Int Wis Dex Con Chr TOTAL Specialty Item === === === === === === ===== ============== KNIGHT 16 10 10 16 18 15 = 75 armor FIGHTER 18 8 8 16 15 9 = 74 weapons SAGE 14 20 8 14 13 15 = 84 scrolls WIZARD 14 8 20 14 13 15 = 84 wands ALCHEMIST 14 13 13 15 11 12 = 78 potions JEWELLER 14 12 12 18 11 13 = 80 rings & gems JONES 15 14 14 14 15 18 = 90 none I personally dislike the Sage, Wizard, Alchemist and Jeweller classes, because of their weak constitutions and because I find the manner in which they "guess" their specialty items to be especially confusing. An alchemist, for example, may guess three potions to be poison potions, but one of them may be a life potion, the second an extra-healing potion, and the third may really be a poison potion. The specialty functions of Knights and Fighters are unobtrusive because tey don't have to guess the identities of their specialty items, only their + or - values. The only character classes with which I have ever completed the game are Knights, Fighters and Joneses. That is not to say that it isn't possible with other classes, but I believe it would be much more difficult. The Jones may seem to be the weakest character class because of his lack of specialty, but note that he has the highest total of initial attribute points. I would recommend the Jones as the best class for beginning players, with the Knight and Fighter in a close tie for second. ATTRIBUTES: The maximum possible value of any attribute is 25. STRENGTH is far and away the most important attribute in the game, affecting both the power of your weapons and the amount of items you can carry. Use a MUSCLE POTION to permanently increase strength; use a STRENGTH POTION to restore strength points lost to giant scorpion stings, poison potions, etc. INTELLIGENCE affects your ability to read scrolls; higher intelligence means fewer scroll failures. Use an INTELLIGENCE SCROLL to increase intelligence. WISDOM affects your use of wands; high wisdom means fewer misses or boomerangs. Read a WISDOM SCROLL to increase your wisdom. DEXTERITY affects your skill at throwing items. Drink a DEXTERITY POTION to increase your dexterity. CONSTITUTION should perhaps be renamed "digestion". Characters with a high constitution lose food points at a slower rate. As noted above in the section on character classes, I have had difficulty maintaining characters with constitutions of less than 15. Drink a CONSTITUTION POTION to increase your constitution. CHARISMA has a subtle but noticeable effect. As you drink CHARISMA POTIONS and your charisma increases, you will notice that more monsters are standing still, "stopped in their tracks" by your dazzling presence. Until Brad Poulson set me right I thought they were asleep - turned out they just wanted my autograph .... @DUNGEON OF DOOM 4.0 ITEMS LIST ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here is a list of all the items in Dungeon of Doom 4.0. Armor, weapons, throwing items, food and gems will always be accurately identified by name when encountered. When you first encounter a scroll, potion, ring or wand, it will have a descriptive name ("Blue potion", "Ivory wand", etc.) With its first use, you will recognize the identity of any scroll, potion or wand, and any others of its type encountered thereafter. Otherwise, you can use an identify scroll. If you are specialist in the appropriate item, you may have an idea of the + value; otherwise you will have to use an identify scroll for a precise rating. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- SQUOG (skwahg): to use the Save, Quit and Old Game functions to the player's advantage; thus the acronym S/QU/OG. If you have ever played an Infocom game you already know how to squog. Before performing an action about which you have doubts, save the game. If the action doesn't work as you wanted it to, quit and return the previously saved game. (In DoD 4.0 you can go directly from Save to Old Game; there will be a dialog box asking if you really want to lose the curent game.) Squogging is especially useful for conserving identify scrolls. When encountering an unidentified item, save the game, identify the item, then return to the old game. Write down the item's identity on the chart below to keep track until you decide to use it. You will have saved a charge on the identify scroll and still know the item's true identity. Another use for squogging is to test whether armor, weapons and rings are cursed. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The following list includes the messages generated whenever an item is used, plus a brief description; more details are included in the notes for each section. Have a copy of this list available as you play. As scrolls, potions, rings and wands are identified, either by use, identify scroll or squogging, cross the item off the list of descriptive names at the top and write its descriptive name next to its identified name below. Keeping track of all items in this manner works only if you are a Knight, a Fighter or a Jones. Sages, Wizard, Alchemists and Jewellers tend to "guess" the identities of their specialty items rather than giving the descriptive name. If you are playing one of these classes, you can only keep accurate track of the items in which you do not specialize. Items listed in CAPS are harmful or useless; items listed with asterisks have limited or questionable use. Items marked with a # have a temporary effect that wears off with time. Items that are subject to + or - values are listed with the maximum + value the item can achieve. Of course, most items found will not have the maximum value. See below for further details on what the values mean. @ POTIONS ======= blue / brown / clear / cyan / dark black / glowing / golden / green / hot pink magenta / oily / orange / red / silver / swirly / white / yellow __________ BLINDNESS# I can't see!!! no vision of other squares __________ charisma Nothing seems to happen. increases charisma __________ CONFUSION# Huh,What? Where? staggering __________ constitution You feel strange. increases constitution __________ dexterity You feel more skillful! increases dexterity __________ extra-healing You feel much better! cures many lost HPs __________ healing You feel better. cures some lost HPs __________ INVISIBILITY# Where did you go? invisibility __________ LEVITATION# You start to float. floating (can't fight!) __________ life You feel normal!!! restores drained HPs __________ muscle You feel stronger! increases strength __________ POISON You feel sick. drains strength & HPs __________ resist cold# You feel very warm. vs. frosty beams __________ resist fire# You feel very cold. vs. flame bursts __________ speed# You are moving faster. flee monsters __________ strength You feel strong!!! restores drained strength __________ WORTHLESS Nothing happens. NOTES: All potions have a value of +1, meaning they can only be used once. Potions never fail to deliver their effect. A muscle potion increases strength permanently, whereas a strength potion only restores strength that has been lost to encounters with giant scorpions, poison potions, etc. Similarly, whereas healing and extra-healing potions restore HPs lost in combat, life potions only restore those HPs that have been permanently drained by vampires, poison potions, etc. @ RINGS ===== diamond / emerald / gold / jade / opal / pearl / ruby __________ HUNGER You feel strange. need food more often __________ MONSTER* You feel strange. attract monsters __________ resist cold {+2} You feel strange. vs. frosty beams __________ resist fire {+2} You feel strange. vs. flame bursts __________ REGENERATION* {+2} You feel strange. see below __________ SLOWNESS You feel different. monsters move faster __________ X-ray {+2} Your vision changes. see through walls NOTES: Rings must always be identified with an identify scroll; they will never identify themselves. You can wear no more than two rings at a time, and no more than one of the same kind of ring may be worn at the same time. The effect of a ring will disappear after it is removed, although not necessarily immediately. A regeneration ring +1 or +2 speeds the regeneration of hit points lost in combat; however, the same ring without a + value keeps hit points from being regenerated at all. Of course, most of the regeneration rings found in the game have no + value; all such rings should be fully identified before use. I have marked the monster ring with a * because it can be used to great advantage in the "Monster Ring Strategy"; otherwise it is a harmful and useless item. @ SCROLLS ======= Anul-nathrack / Ballani / Binga-sedu / Bogus-Mondus / Bonziana / Kalebunga Morgana / Naui-Bailut / Oha-Noa / Owe-stoas / papyrus / Shach-Abra Shlema-Nusae / vellum __________ AMNESIA I forgot!!! scrambles all item names __________ enchant armor Your armor glows! adds +1 to armor __________ enchant weapon Your weapon glows! adds +1 to weapons __________ gain level You feel experienced! adds 1 experience level __________ identify {+4} It's an identify scroll! identifies items __________ intelligence You feel intelligent! increases intelligence __________ JOKE That was funny! nothing else happens __________ magic mapping There is a map on it! maps current level __________ protection# You feel protected. can't be hit __________ remove curse Your body glows. remove cursed items __________ teleport You're somewhere else! always on same level __________ wisdom You feel wiser! increases wisdom __________ wishing {+3} Wish for a object! see NOTES __________ WORDS Nothing happens. NOTES: Unless otherwise listed scrolls have a maximum value of +1 and are good for that many uses. The chance of scroll failure decreases as intelligence rises. However, certain scrolls are more than usually susceptible to failure because of their power: enchant armor, enchant weapon, gain level, intelligence, wisdom and wishing. Amnesia scrolls make you forget all item identifications. Use of the scroll assigns new descriptive names, so that what used to be a blue potion is now a red potion, etc. Needless to say, avoid this scroll at all costs! Only armor or weapons that are currently worn/wielded can be enchanted. No body armor or weapon can be enchanted past +4, and shields, helmets and gloves cannot be enchanted past +2. The scroll works on the highest item on the Status list that is less than +4; if there is no such item a "Nothing happens" message appears and the scroll is wasted. (Thanks to Bradley Poulson for revealing the secrets of the enchant scrolls!) Save and re-squog gain level scrolls repeatedly in order to insure that you get the highest possible increase in hit points along with the level gain. Remember that the higher your experience level, the fewer new hit points you are likely to receive when your level rises. When you read a magic mapping scroll, your current position is marked on the map with a square; the up and down stairs are marked with Xs; unretrieved items are marked with diamonds and monsters are marked with triangles. Remove curse scrolls allow you to remove armor, weapons and/or rings that have been cursed and are otherwise unremovable. Remember that just because an item is cursed doesn't mean it has a negative value. A previously cursed item is still usable once its curse is removed; the curse will not reappear if you use it again. Before you use a remove curse scroll on armor, remember that elven cloaks worn over armor must be removed before the armor itself will come off. @ NOTES ON SCROLLS (continued) For obvious reasons, a wishing scroll can be the most valuable item in the game, if used correctly. Because of its failure rate (well over 50%), you will want to be sure you have saved the game before its first use. Read the scroll and wish for the item, being sure to SPELL IT CORRECTLY and include the maximum + value from this list. Read an identify scroll to make sure that what you got is exactly what you asked for; if not, quit and try again until you get it. Take a little time to decide what you want to wish for; it should be an item that will be of permanent use, not just something that will get you out of a temporary squeeze. My list of Items I Most Often Wish To Wish For, in order of preference depending on the situation: Plate armor +4 Death blade +4 Regeneration ring +2 (if you are low in experience level, wish for this before the Death blade) Muscle potion Constitution potion (if your constitution is below 15) Gain level scroll Unfortunately, you cannot wish for another wishing scroll, or for the Orb. @ WANDS ===== bamboo / brass / bronze / copper / ebony iron / ivory / maple / silver / tin / wooden __________ death {+3} A beam of death is released from the wand! __________ digging {+4} The wall (boulder) crumbles! __________ FEAR*# {+8} The monster is frightened! __________ fire {+7} A burst of flame is released from the wand! __________ ice {+7} A frosty beam is released from the wand! __________ INVISIBILITY# {+5} The monster disappears! __________ lightning {+5} A lightning bolt is released from the wand! __________ POLYMORPH* {+5} The monster's form blurs! __________ sleep# {+4} The monster falls asleep! __________ striking {+10} It hits the monster! __________ TELEPORT*# {+5} The monster disappears! NOTES: The values refer to the maximum number of charges possible before the wand disappears. The polymorph wand randomly changes the identity of the zapped monster. If used against a relatively weak monster you will probably create something that is harder to deal with. However, if used against a high-level monster there is a chance you will turn him into something easier to defeat. One zap of a digging wand will turn a section of wall into a boulder; a second zap will turn the boulder into a hole that you can walk through. If your strength is above 19, you can push the boulder if there is not a second wall or boulder behind it. Do not waste your digging wands! There is a very important point in the game where you will probably be needing several charges' worth of them. Although fear and teleport wands have the temporary effect of making the monster go away, the problem is that they ALWAYS come back! I consider these to be useless items because their only function is to aid your escape to another level - and don't forget that the monster will still be there when you have to come back! @ ARMOR ===== Leather armor} Body armor Chain armor } listed in order Banded armor } of effectiveness; Plate armor } maximum value +4 Elven cloak maximum value +4 Shield } Helmet } maximum value +2 Gloves } NOTES: An elven cloak can be worn over any body armor, but must be removed before the body armor can be removed. Shields, helmets and gloves can be worn in addition to the body armor. Each +1 value for body armor makes it the equivalent of the next higher class of armor, i.e. leather armor +1 equals chain armor, leather armor +2 equals banded armor, etc. Shields cannot be worn unless at least one hand is free of a weapon. See WEAPONS below. A minus rating for armor does not mean that it "attract" bows per se, only that it protection is that of the next lower class of armor, as above. @ WEAPONS ======= Dagger Leather whip Long sword Mace Two-handed sword Death blade Sling (see below) NOTES: Weapons are listed in ascending order of their effectiveness. All weapons have a maximum value of +4. All weapons except the two-handed sword require one hand to wield. Two weapons can be wielded at once, or else one weapon in combination with a shield. A sling has no effectiveness as a weapon by itself; its purpose is to increase the force of any thrown item. (See THROWING ITEMS.) @ THROWING ITEMS ============== Small rock {+45} Large rock {+20} Dart {+20} Spear {+30} Macintosh plus {+1} The values listed are the maximum number of throws before the item is shattered. Throwing items in combat is an effective way of dealing with approaching monsters, especially those kinds you'd rather not have too close: giant scorpions, vampires, ice whirlwinds, etc. Unfortunately, throwing and retrieving thrown items is a very awkward procedure, and keeping a stock of throwing items adds considerable weight to your pack. And, of course, you must have a free hand. At least for the monsters I've had a chance to try it with, throwing the Macintosh plus at a monster seems to guarantee the victim's demise. For $2200 it damn well should.... @ FOOD ==== Food ration Fruit Lizard Spider All forms of food are good for you. Very occasionally food will be rotten, but the worst that will happen is that your food points will not increase. As your constitution increases, you may decide to drop some food from your pack. Remember, though, that food can be extremely hard to find in the lower levels. When your food points drop below 15%, the menu line starts to flash. Shortly afterward you start "collapsing" from your load; when you are close to dying of starvation you freeze and cannot move. (You want a definition of frustration? A character of experience level 30, about to die of starvation, frozen in place ONE SQUARE from a food ration! Yes it happened to me ....) When you eat enough food to send your food points over 80% of maximum you will get a message, "You're Stuffed". If you have never done it, try saving the game and then eating another portion of food. If you are at more than 50% of your maximum food points, be sure to save the game before you eat a lizard. @ GEMS ==== Emerald {5k} Ruby {6k} Diamond {15k} Gems increase the total gp value with which your character is credited in the Hall of Legends after you have escaped. Otherwise, I have not been able to find a purpose for them in the game. I've tried scattering them around my piles of provisions as "bait" for thieves, but it's hard to tell if that strategy was effective. I just leave them by the up stairs for my return. THE ORB ======= What orb? The only hint I'll give you about Level 40 is: Things aren't always what they seem .... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The above strategies and hints were compiled by observation. Many of the observations I have made about Dungeon of Doom are, at best, imprecise. If you have found any errors, or anything that seems to contradict what I have said, or if you have additional observations of your own, please contact me by E-mail. If there are enough boo-boos, I will upload an improved version in the future. All persons responsible for corrections or additions will be duly credited. Good luck! -- Jeff Massie 76474,1326 Press any key to continue...