Achtung's Bad Moon Guide/Discussion Thread

[achtung5]

Bad Moon is a moon sign that = teh win, if you're willing to make sacrifices. To unlock it, complete a hardcore ascension* without using a ten-leaf clover.

One of the main ideas behind Bad Moon was that it will give you something, but at the same time take something away from you. This can be demonstrated even in the rewards, because they give you +50% to one stat while giving you -20% to another stat. However, if you have all of the rewards (or other "give and take" items/skills), they will help you.

Welcome back to the Kingdom of Loathing. Noob.

So, you just ascended. What do you do? Start out with stuff you normally do, and unlocking stuff that will help later, such as Spookyraven Manor. Also look for the +20 mainstat adventures that can be found in Cobb's Knob (muscle), the Sleazy Back Alley (moxie), and the Haunted Pantry (mysticality). Those will help you gain immediate access to your guild.


Meat is pretty important. There are 7 new skills to buy (get all 7 and they help you, but without all 7 they help you but at the same time slow you down) as well as the skills you can purchase at your guild. Well how do you get the meat to buy all these skills?

                                                              Gain                             Loss                                  Area, Pre-Condition
* Onna Stick -                                           3000 Meat           -20 Moxie, 10 turns                     Bat Hole Entryway, beat Boss Bat
* Flowers for (familiar) -                              2000 Meat           -20 Mysticality, 10 turns              Degrassi Knoll, build your meatcar
* This Doesn't Look Like Candy Mountain -      1000 Meat           Missing Kidney (no effect known)   Spooky Forest, none
* A White Lie -                                          5000 Meat           All Attributes -20%                      Whitey's Grove, opened the Road
* The Beaten-Senseless Man's Hand -            4000 Meat           Beaten Up, 10 turns                     South of the Border, none

Once you've gotten some meat and a few skills (Meansucker's Skills that you may want to get right away are pride and envy), time to start doing stuff. As in, get some familiars. Get the familiars you will need for the tower (get the potato from the Bad Moon adventure The Placebo Defect in the Conservatory), get a fairy and volleyball (not necessary, but nice to have), start doing the Daily Dungeon, etc. Leprechauns are not worth it unless you get lucky and pick one up right before the level 12 quest, but even then they aren't worth the adventures to train them.

As for low level equipment, try to get the Knob Goblin Elite Guard uniform. And the Lab key. The Lab has a few nice items (including the knob pet-buffing spray, excellent for the tower) and you can pick up the irradiated pet snacks while you're there.

Killing ratsworth may or may not be worth it depending on the class you pick. This run I did not fight him, but last run I did. If you are in Bad Moon you probably have some experience with when to fight him and when not to, and it's entirely up to you. If you're a pastamancer, entangle your noodles upon him and watch him die as your teh awesome spells kill him. also, i heard from somebody in /hardcore that a Poltergeist-in-the-jar-o is a really cheap and effective way to kill him. I think they drop in the Cemetary.

Go get daily buffs from the Styx Pixie! He is awesome!

I really like the LEWs because they really help you out until you can pick up some better gear at about level 8 or 9. Again, it depends on your preference.

As for food, a chef-in-the-box = teh win (don't kill me for not picking one up yet snooty i'm sorry!!). cooked foods rock, and i think you can make potions with it as a sauceror (somebody look it up, i'm not a citb expert).

Snooty also picked up the Spookyraven skill for me this run, so I am assuming that it is good (i am a pasta). The TT skill is generally the awesomeness so you may also want to check that out. I don't know about any of the other ones though, as I have not ever used them. Unlocking the ballroom early also helps with the level 11 quest.

Some skills I like...
-All the Meansucker skills. Combine them, and you will win. Lust for pastamancers is especially helpful, even though you get the -5 spell damage.
-Spectral Snapper and Fearful Fettucini
-Torso Awaregness. Yes, you can get the torso. Unlock the Hidden Temple early and go back to the Forest to snag it. It gives you -50% Muscle for 5 turns but I think it is worth it.

* You may use clovers after freeing the King.

[teh_bigquack]

With the exception of myst classes, using the +20 mainstat boost to open your clan is a complete waste - they are much better saved up for tackling a boss earlier than you would be able to otherwise (i'm looking at you Goblin King and Bonerdagon).

Also, a trick I used with good success in my last run was to pick up the Whiteys Grove/South of the Border meat bonuses one after the other and then immediately use that meat to open the island, simultaneously burning off the negative effects

Taking all the 7 deadly skills is a complete waste of meat.  You want to take Pride early for the +stat bonus and Envy for the +items bonus.  Once you have regular access to good food then take Gluttony to offset the -adventures from food that Pride gives you.  The other 4 skills I wouldn't bother with.

Also, in BM, tracking when your next semi-rare adventure is due to occur is almost essential.  The key two you want are in the Knob Kitchens (Elite Guard Outfit) and Valley Beyond the Orc Chasm (All scrolls in one go).  Getting the pet snacks is next on the hit list unless you are a TT.

Going for your LEW is a given, even for Pastamancers.  Primarily because the 'Fun' House is a good early source of booze and food (in the form of the Bugbear Outfit and lemons - a combination of Bugbear Outfit and Hippy Outfit gives you unlimited access to Pies).

Also, you *need* to get the Lab Key for the Level 11 quest

[Zaranthos]

Looking at the so-called guides I'd say 90% of them suck.

They completely overlook the obvious. What do you do with your early adventures when starting bad moon? Bad moon is nothing like normal or hardcore.

[teh_bigquack]

Well, everyone has their preferences, but you might as well pick up your fairy gravy from the dungeon while the stat gain is reasonable when compared to your level.  After that you want to scrape the meat together for Pride and/or go for your volleyball.  Next up is opening up the manor to give you a range of places with varying base ML to adcenture in, along with access to the kitchen for low-level food and booze.  Once you've managed that lot, or interspersed with it, it is worth spending some time in the forest getting extra vials of blood to level up more quickly (that and the spooky mushrooms are a reasonable food until something better comes along at level 4 - enchanted bean burritos).

[achtung5]

Looking at the so-called guides I'd say 90% of them suck.

They completely overlook the obvious.

Boss, come on. You know better than to not give a little constructive advice instead of just throwing a blanket bash on every guide posted here, except for one because 90% of 10 is 9.

[Zaranthos]

I'm not talking about here only. I searched the wiki and the official KoL forums. You know what's lacking?

Welcome to the Kingdom of Loathing newb!
- Don't waste your adventures, this is Bad Moon not hardcore.
- Adventure here, here, and here in your first 40ish adventures for meat, food, items.
- Have you been to Hey Deze? Better go there right away and get this, this, and this.
- You need to do x right away!
- ...
- ....
- .....

I think my main problem is I started off like I was playing hardcore back in the NS11 days. What no sign location for food/booze/whatever? Well I guess I just burn my adventures (doh!). I spent maybe an hour reading Bad Moon crap that was ZERO help when you don't know what the heck you should be doing. I think I was getting screwed by the RNG on top of it though since I wasn't finding much of anything I was looking for.

I just don't like reading strategy guides for hours when all I want to do is use my adventures without a lot of hassle. That's not possible without one of two things. Knowing what you're doing, or having something that tells you what to do in simple terms. Page after page of "some people like to do this, some people like to do that" gets sickening to read when what you really need is "The best generic strategy is this unless you have a better one".

[teh_bigquack]

Well, looks to me like you've found a gap in the market

[Zaranthos]

Anyone know if getting a bad moon adventure that forces you to lose your semi-rare adventure still cancels out your chance to get the semi-rare in that zone the next time around? I think I got a bad moon adventure in the knob kitchens and now after 40 adventures in the kitchen I'm not getting my semi-rare adventure. Either I can't count or the bad moon adventure canceled it the first time around but it still counted as getting it so I can't get it this time either....

[zomguberclubber]

http://forums.kingdomofloathing.com:8080/vb/showpost.php?p=2878509&postcount=1

There you go, bossman.

[Zaranthos]

That link makes no sense whatsoever to this discussion....