My First Solo Run

Varndler · Post by **Varndler** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 1:06 am

Fantastic website! I'm a long time player, first time poster.

Almost at the end of My First Solo Run (running on My First OS, oops, I mean Windows XP)

I've been playing DM for many years but have always played it 'safe' before; I can't believe it didn't even occur to me to try it solo. However, I'm still a bit tentative so I'm playing safe even now and using Zed.

Many apologies if these subjects have been raised before, but I can't find any previous mention of the following things:

- Stone Golems - fair enough, they're slow, pretty stupid and easy to hit, but the weapon they fear the most is their own stone club. While the Hardcleave does consistent damage, there's nothing more fun than getting lucky and killing one with a huge 400+ blow! Makes a nice change.....(imagine the situation in real life: some human wuss attempting to lift a massive stone club, swinging and getting lucky once or twice!)

- Heavy chests thrown against doors? Pah! The best place in my opinion to get ninja levels is the Trolin passage on level 11 (HoC=1). Hurl those clubs up and down the long corridor repeatedly (you can do it one-handed, leaving the other hand for more important tasks like drinking beer). And, of course, more Trolins will appear occasionally to beat up and practice fighting/magic/even more ninja skills.

- Is it just me or is the dragon actually quite easy? Yes, he takes many, many hits but if you run round the pillar he doesn't actually threaten that much. Or is it just that I find the beast so beautiful that time passes quicker while fighting it? Hmmmm.......

And a couple of questions:

- Looking at the maps of level 7 (again, HoC=1), what are those empty rectangles just above centre? Are they accessible?

- Did anyone see the excellent walkthrough to DM in Ace magazine?

Post by **Ameena** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 4:03 am

Likewise, it never occurred to me to play DM with any less than four people until I heard people talking about having done so in this forum. I've since tried it solo and with two people, and I must say I prefer a duo the best.
Now as to your questions...
The first one - I'm not sure which empty rectangles you mean...there are a bunch of dinky rooms about two squares long, all in a line, which are opened by the Turquoise Key yes you only have one such key and there are about four or five doors to choose from) but all the loot in there is pretty crap really...well, I think so anyway. I can't remember what's in any of 'em atm apart from the Dragon Spit. Anyway, if that's not the rectangles you meant then I'm sorry, my map book is in my room under my bed atm and it's just gone 3am and I'm using in someone else's room using her laptop while she's trying to bed so I won't go looking it up now

.
As to your second question - no, sorry.

beowuuf · Post by **beowuuf** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 8:46 am

There are completely empty areas on the map - i think they just did them for the look of it. Nothing there, no way in.

Stone clubs are fun, I only found that out in a custom dungeon when pegged into a corner by one and did it as a 'wah tthe heck' thing. I'm sure they actually do large damage in inexperienced hands more...sure there was a post recently

Trantor · Post by **Trantor** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 9:16 am

Interesting thing about those stone clubs. As far as I recall, they used to be really good in RTC because of their weight. In original DM, I never found them useful, but maybe I was just unlucky.

The rooms accessible with the Turquoise Key in Level 7 actually do contain some nice items, especially the Crown of Nerra (+10 Wisdom). The dragon is indeed not very difficult.

Just like you and Ameena, I never even thought of using only one character before I came to this site. I was actually a bit disappointed when I finally did it, because the game wasn't much harder than with 4 characters. Still is great fun! And welcome to the site!

Post by **Ameena** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 3:53 am

Omg the Red Dragon! I was gonna say stuff about him but duhh I forgot

. Anyway yeah I used to be scared of the Dragon (played DM presumably when it first came out or so...born in '84 and think I was about, like, six when I played it on the Atari myself). The Dragon noise is still...well, not scary scary, not like the bloody Scorpion noise, but when you hear it from a distance you just know you're gonna get smackd upside the head by a very large Fireball any second. and of course it doesn't halp that Giant Rats and Hellhounds use the same sound

.
Anyway, since finding RTC I've discovered it's GREAT FUN to kill Dragons and I love doing it. With the DM one, on the Atari I remember me and my dad used to kite him round the long bit of all in the bit with the Altar of Rebirth in it. But then I stopped doing it there once I got RTC, so many years later, and tried instead kiting him around the pillar at the bottom of the main stairs. Then I think I even gave up on that and just kited him "properly" in 2x2 squares in a random spot in the room. That's how I do the ones in CSB too. It was fun on my solo run (using Fippy aka Wuuf), where I had the Delta Blade and the Firestaff and (because there was only one person) frantically (but having great fun doing so) swapping staff for sword and twatting him when he came round the corner, then swapping them back (kept one on the cursor the whole time of course), stepping backwards, and chucking a spell with the Firestaff before he turned and nuked me, then swapping back to the sword and sidestepping to wait for him to come again. Ahh that was fantastic

. He doesn't last long. Nor do any of those in CSB. Muahahahhahaha

.

DraconicMajesty · Post by **DraconicMajesty** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 4:00 pm

It's a shame that so many of the other games of DM's ilk insisted on forcing you to have four characters - in Black Crypt, I think it was essential, as you had to use all the four uber-weapons to defeat the Big Bad. It didn't take me long to switch to one-character games, and I usually pick the weediest character with the best resists, and reincarnate them.

If you think one-character DM is fun, justy wait 'til you try one-character CSB. Even with one character, you'll still manage to fill the room before the DDD with chests full of stuff.

beowuuf · Post by **beowuuf** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 5:19 pm

I only ever played one charatcer CSB funnily...just how I naturally started exploring it, not thinking I was going to carry on

Aroc da man!

Sabreman · Post by **Sabreman** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 6:04 pm

I think I've only ever played through DM with a full party on my first two or three plays back in the ST days. Since then I've always gone for a duo - because I like to have them wearing the Lyte and Darc armours, or a soloist with Flamebain and Boots of Speed. When I go solo I pretty much always take Tiggy because it's more of a challenge to take the weakest possible character. Having her

bashing all and sundry with great aplomb at the end is very satisfying.

For Stone Golems I load up on Ful Bro Ku potions, then have a reserve of high-power VI potions and just go in head-on. The only creature I never fight head-on is the dragon, because it seems that no matter how powerful you get you simply can't stand there and take more than a couple of fireballs from it. Anyway, I love the traditional dragon-fight dance

beowuuf · Post by **beowuuf** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 6:56 pm

Not a problem if you solo - spin away from those fireballs and only regen the bite damage

somemale · Post by **somemale** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 8:07 am

I thought I was the only one who liked Zed! For my first solo run I finished the game with him.

beowuuf · Post by **beowuuf** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 10:13 am

No, though some people have a weird idea of the noble duke! I like his multi=classed-ness

Though these days I do with heavy hitters in both fighter positions (stamm and Halk)