aunty snooty's basic ascension bootcamp, ns13 goodness included!

[spikeboi2007]

i see...

[Midnight Dragon]

I always ask this question and never remember maybe this will force me to...

eat pate straight away or wait till a stat day?

[achtung5]

HCO is really fun! i reccomend it, especially for first timers!

heh... heh...

[Banukas]

If you're more than two days away from a stat day, then eat immediately.

Also, I would or would not eat immediately depending on what stat is coming up. If the next stat day is Mys, and I'm a Muscle class, I won't wait.

[snooty]

Initial post updated to include some ns13 info. *bump* 

[snooty]

Once again shamelessly bumping my own thread...this time with extra win!

Want to 1hk your shadow? Yeah, thought you might

Take the time to get massage oil in the harem. Boost your hp as much as possible, but go in to face the shadow with about a third of your hp. Yes, you will lose initiative, you want to! As long as you have at least 1hp left from the shadow's first hit (and you should), toss a massage oil for supremely sexy one-hit victory!

I tried this on SevenLances, seal clubber, bad moon. It will take a while before I can test it myself on mys/mox classes, but that should be done before Crimbo. If anyone is in a position to test this on mys/mox classes, send me a kmail with results, if you'd be so kind, thanks!

This little tip will be added to the original post. Good luck!

[teh_bigquack]

I disagree with you, snooty, on the choice of sauceror as a first hardcore run - Disco bandit is a good option for the advanced cocktailcrafting which gives a good improvement in stat return compared to 'normal' booze along with a pile of extra adventures, which is nice.  Also, as you are only worried about one stat (moxie) the run is a lot less complicated and allows you to decide whether you are really cut out for the hardcore life.  After that, probably Sauceror or Turtle Tamer (for the passive familiar weight increase).

Disco Bandits are an excellent choice for hardcore as they have the pickpocket ability, particularly useful in the hippy fruit stall sidequest at level 12 where the glands can be pickpocketed - drastically improves your chances of picking up the next gland needed before your current one runs out.

Also, in relation to the level 12 side-quests, using meat vortexes against the bandits is extremely helpful - the nuns take away all the meat that drops normally, but combat using a meat vortex yields between 0 and the base amount of meat the bandits have (something in the region of a 1000) which you *do* get to keep - it can be essential to generating the meat to buy some of the more expensive skills to help you through the level 12 quest generally.

Most people know about the Arena side-quest quick win in terms of preparing the guy made of bees and slapping a flyer on him for a one-shot quest complete.  If you happen to have both sets of gear available (frat and hippy) at level 12, you can do this sidequest as a frat boy to get access to the +meat buff before changing gear and completing the nun quest as a hippy.

A big part of the NS13 game is making best use of the semi-rare adventures that crop up.  There is a script available for you Greasemonkey users that can predict when the next one will occur after you eat at least 2 fortune cookies.  Useful ones to pick up are lunchboxes, inhalers, pet snacks and mystic shell.  Why mystic shell?  The massive damage absorption offered by it is extremely helpful against the gremlins - they always hit anyway so you might as well reduce the damage caused each time in order to allow the maximum chances to encounter the molybdenum tool.

Also, it is worth noting that semi-rare adventures occur more frequently in hardcore than softcore, and initial research indicates that going oxygenarian increases their frequency also (to roughly one semi-rare adventure every 100-110 turns).

I've been doing a bit of spading on the level 12 battlefield and it seems to me that the 'heroes' are randomly allocated a number between 1 and 1000 (999?).  If your battlecounter equals that number then you get the adventure.  This would indicate that if you spend the full 1000 turns defeating everyone then you will encounter all the heroes, with the more sidequests you do decreasing the chances significantly.  I haven't come up with a way of exploiting this yet though if you are after a specific item (like the natty blue ascot) then you *will* encounter it if you go slow...and given mall prices for ascots this means that you could easily pull in the meat to buy a Mr A each month providing you can complete a run in under around 10 days

Hmmm...a somewhat long post.  Oh well, hopefully it's helpful

Edit: It might be helpful to link in Lechef's Ronin Guide to the original post too

[Captain_Sensible]

Does anyone know what the deep fat friars' blessings do?

[sarspastic]

http://kol.coldfront.net/thekolwiki/index.php/Copse_of_the_Deep_Fat_Friars

try there   they're still currently being spaded to find out the exact effects, but you can get the gist there.

[Captain_Sensible]

Thank you.

[zomguberclubber]

 

This would indicate that if you spend the full 1000 turns defeating everyone then you will encounter all the heroes, with the more sidequests you do decreasing the chances significantly.

Not true. I did a run on a multi where I fought every single enemy on the battlefield with no sidequests completed, and didn't encounter the frat that drops the ascot. (The only one I wanted, too  ) Just pointing out something.

Also, I've heard that the fortune cookie counter works for the heroes. Has this been confirmed or denied?

[teh_bigquack]

This is shamelessly copied from the KoL main forums, and was originally posted by Emily Yaffle (a player who I hold in esteem when it comes to HC-based wisdom).  A short guide to handling day 1 in Hardcore, enjoy:

Day one is the toughest in hc, until you've got the hang of it. It is all about driving hard towards the levels where you can get food and drink into you, to give you adventures to go back and clear up the stuff you skipped.

Essentially, adventuring with a volleyball-type and a green pixie to get the absinthe (for not a pipes) is the general principle in hc.

You're wanting to get out of level 1 as quickly as possible, and ideally with either the manor unlocked or an encryption key found. Volleyball, with as much poundage as you can slap on it with buffs (bear in mind if you aren't TT casting empathy at level 1 isn't an option). Do NOT bother with the arena on day one. (I'd argue not to bother with it at all, frankly)

If you have orange hearts or snowcone this is absolutely the day to use them. They are most powerful relatively when you are at your weakest.

When you hit level 2, switch to getting the larvae. You may as well, in hc, equip the wooden stakes while you're looking, in the hope of some hearts. You'll need to weigh up where you are in terms of adventures by the time you get the larvae, to see if continuing to get the map parts is worthwhile right now, or if you need to reconsider. (This is quite fluid, so there are no hard and fast answers)

Ideally, by the time you get the larvae, you want to be close to level 3, with two absinthes. Bear in mind it'll take you at least 4 turns to convert those absinthes into not a pipes. It may be worth getting the first not-a-pipe at this point - you can't smoke it yet, but the mp farming you do on the way might help you get empathy, leash and antiphon up.

Your goal here is to get the tavern done and the reward drinks - ideally without eating. If absolutely necessary, you're eating a little bit of fullness - boring spaghetti maybe. You pray, pray, pray that the drinks match your summoned garnishes. If not, you've probably got to swag them.

Once you've done the tavern, your goal moves to - getting a couple of not-a-pipes and hitting level 4 so you can use them. So you're swapping between volley-type and green pixie (don't use the pixie while you're acquiring your not-a-pipes). You may want to eat more food at this point, if you feel that hitting level 6 is beyond you. (if you can make 6 on day one and eat even one reagant pasta, you'll really improve your speed)

That's roughly it. If you've got time after doing that, opening the knoll is not a bad plan. In the early runs, you can use the hidden temple (sparingly) if you're just a little short of the next level and want to get there quickly.

[Daitezen]

One addition for the wood in HC. at level 2, it is the prime time for those with a few HC skills, to get the basic equipment of whatever class (such as TT for empathy), to be able to cast the buffs, so if you have a few, then its usually worth considering, even after getting the mosquito, to carry on to get the ones you need, as well as the temple stuff... at least that makes sense to me.

[cavaloso]

I've been doing a bit of spading on the level 12 battlefield and it seems to me that the 'heroes' are randomly allocated a number between 1 and 1000 (999?).  If your battlecounter equals that number then you get the adventure.  This would indicate that if you spend the full 1000 turns defeating everyone then you will encounter all the heroes , with the more sidequests you do decreasing the chances significantly.  I haven't come up with a way of exploiting this yet though if you are after a specific item (like the natty blue ascot) then you *will* encounter it if you go slow...and given mall prices for ascots this means that you could easily pull in the meat to buy a Mr A each month providing you can complete a run in under around 10 days

Bold is mine.

I don't believe this is correct. I have done the battlefield for the full 1000 turns 3 times already with my DB multi, and I haven't got all heroes not even once (I once thought I did, but I found out there were more heroes than I had once believed.) You do get a significant number of them; usually 3-4 (out of 5) on each side is my experience. They also have very different occurance rates, the most rare being the C.A.R.N.I.V.O.R.E. Operative (C.A.R.N.I.V.O.R.E. button), Glass of Orange Juice (Orange Peel Hat) and Monty Basingstoke-Pratt, IV (Natty Blue Ascot).

Sorry if this is too off-topic.

[Bluff Bluff]

I've been doing a bit of spading on the level 12 battlefield and it seems to me that the 'heroes' are randomly allocated a number between 1 and 1000 (999?).  If your battlecounter equals that number then you get the adventure.  This would indicate that if you spend the full 1000 turns defeating everyone then you will encounter all the heroes , with the more sidequests you do decreasing the chances significantly.  I haven't come up with a way of exploiting this yet though if you are after a specific item (like the natty blue ascot) then you *will* encounter it if you go slow...and given mall prices for ascots this means that you could easily pull in the meat to buy a Mr A each month providing you can complete a run in under around 10 days

Bold is mine.

I don't believe this is correct. I have done the battlefield for the full 1000 turns 3 times already with my DB multi, and I haven't got all heroes not even once (I once thought I did, but I found out there were more heroes than I had once believed.) You do get a significant number of them; usually 3-4 (out of 5) on each side is my experience. They also have very different occurance rates, the most rare being the C.A.R.N.I.V.O.R.E. Operative (C.A.R.N.I.V.O.R.E. button), Glass of Orange Juice (Orange Peel Hat) and Monty Basingstoke-Pratt, IV (Natty Blue Ascot).

Sorry if this is too off-topic.

That has been my experience as well.

Also, note that each hero can appear only after a certain image number. If the hero mechanic is just a percent chance to appear, then the earlier heroes would be encountered more often.
http://kol.coldfront.net/thekolwiki/index.php/Talk:The_Battlefield#Earliest_Enemy_Sightings