I WIN I WIN I WIN!!! AYAAAAAYYYYYYAAAAYYYYHOOOOOO!

like I said.. thanks. I owe you...as soon as I get the fixins' for the spicy bloddy mary.. o5r the sum'sump in somthinn' you'll be set

Bah, I'm an idiot. Blasted through my turn surplus today, beat the Boss Bat, beat the Goblin King, got up to level 7, felt good about myself... then realized that tomorrow is a Mysticality Day and I could have gotten 1.5x the Myst gains from most of those turns.

Ah, well. It's a living.

Not a bad Myst day's work. Both of my characters have Ascended twice now; one went Turtle Tamer -> Pastamancer -> currently L6 Sauceror, the other went Seal Clubber -> Disco Bandit -> currently L7 Turtle Tamer.

(Hint of the day: the moons, Ronald and Grimace, can significantly affect your stat gains. When one or the other is full or they are in the exact same phase, one of the stats will go up 1.5x faster than at other times, and that _does_ include major bonuses for things like Meat Globes or the Chest of the Bonerdagon. "Saving up" adventures to use on those days, particularly if it's your major stat that's going to be enhanced, is highly recommended.)

I've got a level 9 Turtle Tamer with blue stats 93/64/60, and I can't hit any of the higher-level creatures I'm meeting, including the Bonerdagon, which is the boss of a mission from several levels ago. I was under the impression that muscle determined your to-hit likelihood, but I'd think 93 is good enough for the Bonerdagon at least, if not a yeti or a gnome.

To-hit likelihood, yes, but its defenses may be too high. A hit that does no damage reads the same as a miss.

Try something that'll lower monster resistance, such as Wussiness potions. Disco Face Stab is awesome in that respect; I kept that instead of Mad Looting Skillz when I migrated to TT from DB, and haven't regretted that at all.

If worst comes to worst, try boosting Moxie to keep yourself in the fight and bring an attack familiar, who can sometimes hit when you can't.

By comparison, my TT is currently 80/69/68, and DFS helped me clear the Bonerdagon in one attempt. It's letting me hang in there in the Goatlet at the moment.

A couple of attribute points can make a big difference in whether you can deal with a certain monster type. Three or four points of Moxie can be the difference between getting hit for 8-9 damage every round or taking no damage most rounds.

Moxie days are coming up on Wednesday and Thursday, for those who wish to benefit from that.

Man, I was trying to take advantage of Moxie day in the Palindome, but papayas to the head seemed to even out any gains I made...

Dude. The Palindome is evil. Other than fishing for Pagoda parts and _maybe_ drink parts (limes and jumbo olives), I never go there, as there's not much reward and too many chances for crappy adventures.

If you're not Moxious enough to climb the Beanstalk and survive, pound the Orc Chasm critters 'til you are.

Please, could you help me out?

Where is the freakin calendar? About "moxie day" grue will fight, etc? I've seen one "chart" but there was no date. Also, I get the sense that for those that aren't hardcore/oldskool there are helper sites out there that are semi-spoilerish. and one is the "official" site (coldfront?). anyway, where else should I be paying attention? I burned through 800 turns last night and I felt like I was spinnin my wheels. Like in the *%@#)^* bat hole.



SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT
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I *did* use the sonar in a biscuit, but used it as a combat item. didn't have the same shitshaking effect needed to complete the quest. Sooooo, I wound up spending a couple of days just accumulating points/treasures in the guano room (19 sonar biscuits, only earned, not bought *sheesh*)

SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT
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You can open your eyes now.

So where can I educate myself so I can play more effectively? I don't want a walkthrough, I am pretty sure I can find that on my own. Please? Thanks.

I am indeed looking for pagoda parts.

And BigV, I pretty much rely on the coldfront site.

I don't know of any particular calendar that lists dates for stat days, but they're pretty easy to figure out. Borrowing your spoiler technique below:



See those two moons up there, Ronald and Grimace?
* Ronald changes phases every day. Grimace changes phases every other day.

* Whenever Ronald is full, it's a Mysticality day. Myst gains are 1.5x, and MPs regenerate twice as much when resting or relaxing at your campground. Since Ronald changes once a day and has eight phases, every eighth day is a Myst day.

* Whenever Grimace is full, it's a Muscle day. Muscle gains are 1.5x, and HPs regenerate twice as much when resting or relaxing at your campground. Since Grimace changes every other day and has eight phases, Muscle days always happen twice in a row, with 14 non-Muscle days in between.

* Whenever Ronald and Grimace are in the same phase (which will always be like today's, waning crescent before a new moon, and like tomorrow's, a double new moon), it's a Moxie day. Like Muscle days, Moxie days always happen in pairs with 14 non-Moxie days in between.

So if we're charting by date, as an example:
6/29: Ronald: Waning Crescent, Grimace: Waning Crescent. Moxie Day.
6/30: Ronald: New, Grimace: New. Moxie Day.
7/1: Ronald: Waxing Crescent, Grimace: New. No effect.
7/2: Ronald: First Quarter, Grimace: Waxing Crescent. No effect.
7/3: Ronald: Waxing Gibbous, Grimace; Waxing Crescent. No effect.
7/4: Ronald: Full Moon, Grimace: First Quarter. Myst Day.
7/5: Ronald: Waning Gibbous, Grimace: First Quarter. No effect.
7/6: Ronald: Third Quarter, Grimace: Waxing Gibbous. No effect.
7/7: Ronald: Waning Crescent, Grimace: Waxing Gibbous. No effect.
7/8: Ronald: New Moon, Grimace: Full Moon. Muscle Day.
7/9: Ronald: Waxing Crescent, Grimace: Full Moon. Muscle Day.
7/10: Ronald: First Quarter, Grimace: Waning Gibbous. No effect.
7/11: Ronald: Waxing Gibbous, Grimace: Waning Gibbous. No effect.
7/12: Ronald: Full Moon, Grimace: Third Quarter. Myst Day.
7/13: Ronald: Waning Gibbous, Grimace: Third Quarter. No effect.
7/14: Ronald: Third Quarter, Grimace: Waning Crescent. No effect.

Repeat the cycle from there.

* Grues do more damage when the moons are newer. Think of a full moon as +1, new moon as -1, half moons as 0 and mostly-new or mostly-full as -1/2 or +1/2, respectively, then add Grimace and Ronald's effects together. Negatives mean Grues hit harder, positives mean they aren't as effective.

* Blood of the Wereseal (a Muscle sign item) makes your Muscle go up or down with the moons while it's in effect. It's the opposite of the Grue effect: fuller moons mean more Muscle bonus, new moons penalize Muscle. Since you can get a double new moon but never a double full, it's not quite as potentially powerful.

SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT
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Thank you.

I don't feel that looking at the moon phases on coldfront is spoilerish, cheating, whatever. It's a nice tool, and it tells you whether or not the grue will fight on a given day.

just like reading an astronomy chart! there are things in the world which you would know.. if you want to look at it from an RPG angle

Things you can learn from RPGs:

The best way to destroy the object which will foil your evil plan is to disassemble it into easily recombined parts, and hide each part in a different climate.

Other things you can learn:

If you have an object that a lot of people look for, and it's easy to find if you figure out where to look, and a lot of people don't know where to look, you can make a shitload of meat by repeatedly picking up said item and then selling it at the Flea Market.

and two (or more) things that you need to complete a quest/task will be just far enough apart to be really annoying when going between the two, Cute things are always dangerous (in oriental games.. the cuter the more leathal!)

perhaps there's a whole 'nother thread in the 'wisdom I learned from video games' idea

currently getting my ass kicked by the bonerdragon and the swarm of flies. ran out of gas at the goatlet, though that looks tough too.

grinding through the monsters is cool enough, but I feel I'm underutilizing the non combat options of bigcecil. I know he's *just* a turtle tamer, but theoretically, his meatsmithing abilities should be getting more play. I just don't know how at this stage.

Apparently, I float like a butterfly and sting like a butterfly too.

Anybody else get this?

I'm still getting my butt kicked by the boss bat. I guess I need a more appropriate weapon (I usually can't hit at all with my White Sword). I have 27 strength and 33 moxie if I buff up.. maybe that's just not enough.

I haven't even made it to the boss bat.

Oh, and thanks to whomever the Less-Than-Three Shaped box and other goodies came from. What's that all about??

WHeeeeee I am awash in meat!!!

Also, I didn't realize the lenses were a big deal, couple adventures in the tavern, a lot of drunkenness and a little meat paste later, and well, I have something cool now. It was my first successful combination, and I am quite pleased with myself.

I bought a cocktail kit only t odiscover I didn't have any cocktail-able ingredients. Who the hell said vodka and cranberries couldn't make a nice drink??

By the way, I've found another good KoL site.

It does, at least last time I tried that combo. It's not a Disco Bandit only recipe, so anyone should be able to make it.

bartender in a box... *sigh* if only I had one in real life... okay, I'm stuck. where the hell is the bean stalk?

You have to plant it. In especially fertile ground. And you can't use ordinary beans.

And you have to wait until the Council instructs you to do so.

Seems to me that I read somewhere that once you've completed n Ascensions, that you get to take more than one skill each time you Ascend. Hope so; I'm on my fourth incarnation for each of my characters, and am finding it tough to decide which classes I need more. (#1 has Wisdom of the Elder Tortoises, Pastamancery and Advanced Saucecrafting permanently, while #2 has Wisdom, Disco Face Stab and either Claws or Hide of the Walrus, I forget which.)

How in the HELL are you on ascension 4 (5?)?

I'm almost ready to ascend my softcore no-path sauceror for the 2nd time (in the tower, need to toughen up so the golems don't hit me for 70+). Admittedly, I spent a lot of time goofing off in Little Canadia.

My Hardcore Oxy Disco Bandit is level 8 yet, and I ascended him the day ascension came out. I would probably be higher level there, but clockwork items are tough to get. :)

I'll censor myself as best I can on this, since we have a lot of new players listening in who might not want blatant spoilers.

* The Naughty Sorceress has variable stats that level with yours. There's no point in levelling to 15 if you can take her out at 11, which is the earliest you can get that quest.

* Obviously, the best food and drinks == more adventures == faster Ascensions. If you cook/craft/purchase up good items and have them in storage for your next run, you can pull out things like Chow Meins and umbrella drinks on Day 1 and get out of Ronin in about six days. Not that you _have_ to get out of Ronin to beat the Sorceress, as the record's a bit under 600 turns right now... but I don't have three Mr. A's (or better items) per character to speed things up. With one each, I can barely survive in the Castle in the Sky around Turn 1000, and when I end Ronin and can hit the Mall and such again, Ascension comes quickly.

* The path to the Sorceress's Chamber doesn't have a lot of variation to it. The puzzles are similar every time, the monsters going up the Tower have set solutions (though you might get different ones or a different order each time through), and you can plan ahead by keeping stashes of items you'll need later in your inventory/Hagnk's Storage.

* Likewise, before you Ascend, pre-assemble cool stuff (food, drinks, x-in-the-boxes, meat maids, beanbag chairs, cottages, etc.) that you can pull out and benefit from right away on the other side. Put the items for things like the Pagoda, the outfits, etc. on standby, so that when you find a Hey Deze Map you can go straight to Hagnk's and *whammo* instant quest reward, instead of having to slog through certain zones for hours on end. If you need Ores, have the Miner's outfit handy. If you need to cross the Orc Chasm, have the proper outfit ready to get _that_ quest item. And so on.

That can get expensive, particularly for the food and drinks. I think I worked out up-front costs for my characters at something like (Chow Mein components: (~2500 + ~400 + ~1000 + 64 + noodles I make myself) x 3 = ~12000/day, DB drinks = (~2400 x 5) = ~12000/day, putting that around 150K meat for a six-day Ronin run. That's a lot of meat, but when I've Ascended I can spend some time hammering on the Icy Peak or playing the mall to make a lot of that back. You'll also earn a guaranteed 27K or so along the way, plus whatever you get from adventures.

But anyway, the point is to spend adventures building up stats with your trusty Volleyball boosting them, not slogging through 75 unproductive trips through the the Haiku Dungeon waiting for a fucking Fairy Gravy to drop.

* High Moxie or items/skills that lower monster power are important for keeping you alive in fights that should be killing you.

* Abuse stat days to their fullest. A newly Ascended character starting on a stat day that matches its new class's primary can be Level 7 by end of day, if he's got the proper edibles ready to pull out.

* Abuse familiars to their fullest. Skills and items that boost familiar levels are wonderful. Between Empathy of the Newt, Amphibian Sympathy, Leash of Linguini, Tiny Figures and each familiar's signature equipment, you can start _new_ familiars at Level 24, or jack them all the way up to Level 43. THAT's something we couldn't do in the old days, and a level 43 Volleyball or Leprechaun can have startling results. The Cake-Shaped Arena is vital for boosting familiar levels.

My current characters have three "extra" skills each from prior Ascensions, took advantage of the Myst day yesterday, and have played through two days each on these runs. Their stats:
#1: L7 Turtle Tamer. Muscle 65 (45), Myst 61 (41), Moxie 66 (31). Currently battling the Cyrpt. Equipment: Lihc Face, Linoleum Sword (can pull out better tomorrow), Miner's Pants, Mr. A, (bonus item giving +5/all), Sneaky Pete's Breath Spray, Palm-Frond Toupee.

#2: L8 Pastamancer. Muscle 47 (32), Myst 70 (55), Moxie 61 (31). Currently battling the Cyrpt. Same equipment as above, but subbing in a Homoerotic Frat-Paddle and Kickback Cookbook.

*f*ckin writer's cramp*

<Vizzini>
WAIT 'TIL I GET STARTED! Where was I? Oh, yes. Today's thoughts:
</Vizzini>

<b>Ranking the Class Skillsets</b>
Wondering what class to take on your next Ascension? Here's a quick and biased guide in descending order.

1) Disco Bandit
PROS: An embarrassment of riches. DBs get what I consider to be the best attack in the game, Disco Face Stab (never misses, never fumbles, does minor damage AND decreases monster power), which is vital to quick advancement. They get more meat and more drops after combat. They get a self-heal (Power Nap). They get a crafting skill (cocktailcraftings), which isn't one of the better ones but can still create some decent drinks. They get a to-hit boost on their trademarked crossbow attacks. AND they get a combat-initiative boost. What more do you want?
CONS: DFS can burn through MPs fairly quickly if you're using it all the time. You need a variety of bottles of booze and mixers to use Cocktailcrafting effectively, _and_ you won't be able to make a whole day's worth on your own (5 drinks, you can generate 3 items per day). Some of the skills are repetitive. Still, the best of the skillsets out there.

2) Pastamancer
PROS: This is a strong competitor for the top slot, after being underpowered for a long time. Pastamancery is _the_ best crafting skill by far, allowing you to make stunningly powerful and efficient food items. You get an even bigger combat initiative boost, two self-heals, an overall HP boost, a familiar boost with Leash of Linguini, and the assorted spells to do direct damage. If Entangling Noodles was just a _little_ more powerful, this would be a no-brainer for #1.
CONS: You need to equip a Kickback Cookbook to get best usage out of the spells, which uses up an Accessory slot. The heals and HP boosts help negate the lack of Moxie, but it's still a fragile class. You can burn through MPs very quickly. Still, this would be #1 except that DFS is just _that_ damned good.

3) Turtle Tamer
PROS: This class _used to_ be a contender for the top spot, but it's been nerfed. However, it is still a familiar-boosting machine, with Amphibian Sympathy and Empathy of the Newt each jacking familiars up 5 pounds; a lot of people will take a turn or two through this class just to acquire those. Wisdom of the Elder Tortoises is a much-needed MP boost, vital for any class. Tenacity of the Snapper and Reptilian Fortitude are nice but expensive, Spectral Snapper even more so.
CONS: Armorcraftiness is useless once you have the Mall available, and not very useful even then. Headbutt is dependent on normal attack to-hit rates, so it won't let you jump ahead like DFS will. The Shell skills used to be great, but have been nerfed into uselessness even when fully jacked-up.

4) Accordion Thief
PROS: A very wide variety of buffs. You can jack up your (or anyone else's) stats, meat drops, item drops, combat initiative, melee damage or MPs. Ode to Booze gives a couple of extra adventures per day. Polka of Plenty is vital for building up huge stacks of meat once you have access to some of the big-drop areas.
CONS: You can only have three AT buffs running at any given time, and they get expensive in terms of MPs to begin with. The fact that large numbers of players are in Ronin at any given time lowers the usefulness of buffing others dramatically. The skills boost combat ability indirectly, but aren't as effective as spells or DFS. You'll be able to avoid a lot of damage, but not deal much out.

5) Sauceror
PROS: Advanced Saucecrafting produces Scrumptious Reagents, which used to be in high demand (for Hell Ramen and PvP potions) but aren't as crucial any more. Still, they're nice to have around. Elemental Saucesphere provides a number of useful resistances. Saucy Salve is the only in-combat healing skill in the game. The spells do direct damage, and Intrinsic Spiciness helps lower the need for a Kickback Cookbook.
CONS: A Cookbook is still pretty vital, and the spells are MP-expensive. The advent of Stir-Fries/Chow Meins really nuked the Hell Ramen market, and PvP potions sell for a fraction of what they used to sell for. This is the most fragile class, and the Saucespheres don't do that much to remedy that. Saucy Salve can be useful, but in many cases when you're fighting something that's strong enough that you'll need it, it'll be doing as much damage as the Salve heals each round, leaving you at zero-sum with fewer MPs.

6) Seal Clubbers
PROS: The traditional whipping boys of KoL have a couple of useful tricks. The Otter/Walrus skills provide combat bonuses, armor and heals, though nothing spectacular in that regard. Tongue of the Walrus is a nice heal. The Thrust-Smack series combined with Eye of the Stoat is all right for combat.
CONS: As a SC, either you're whacking things or you're not. Not much variety in this class. The Otter/Walrus skills aren't particularly robust. Meatsmithing is useless. Rage of the Reindeer doesn't do all that much. Beyond that, just keep building up Muscle, hitting Attack and hoping for the best.

man.. i thought i thought about this game too much... *handing you the cake* thanks for the info tho..

I'm in no hurry to ascend, but I think I'll go Pastamancer->Sauceror and keep my cooking ability, just so I can cook it all. :yum:

And my turtle tamer to disco bandit, keeping sympathy.

vsp, you kick ass. Excellent information all around. I thought I understood this game pretty well, but now I see that I am merely the student. :)

Also, check out the Store of Loathing, if you havent already. I CRAVE the stickers and shot glasses.

Back when Hell Ramen was the uberfood, I was lusting at the prospect of having both Pasta and Sauce capabilities. Now that I have both, I find myself wondering why I bothered with the Sauces.

Chow Mein dishes blow Hell Ramen away in many respects. They require more components, but most of them are common items that are cheap at the Mall, and you end up with higher stats and more adventures for your investment over Ramen with no Reagents or Sauceror help required. Burritos and Delicious Spicy Noodles are your best mid-range food bets, and no Sauceror input is required for either.

It's nice when you pick up a Hellion Cube and blammo, instant high-end food, but it's not a must.

Amphibian Sympathy, on the other hand, is a top-tier skill. That and Wisdom of the Elder Tortoises are the must-haves from the Tamer set.

Yeah, I know. But I want it anyway...

What I really want is a more reliable way to get spices.

On that note, more holding court:

Why YOU Want Pastamastery

Once you've beaten the Naughty Sorceress, you may Ascend. Once you have Ascended, you are stuck in "Ronin" for 1000 turns, during which you have no access to the Mall, Flea Market, or donations/trades involving other players. You can pull up to 20 items and/or 1000-meat increments from your storage stash each day while you are in Ronin.

The one thing I can say about Ronin is that when I'm in it, I want it to stop. With top-notch food and drinks, I can get through Ronin in six days. Therefore, I want six days' worth of top-notch food and drinks stashed away before I formally Ascend. How much does that all cost?

(Spoilerized for your protection)

On the Drinks side, the very best drinks all require a special item (the Tiny Plastic Sword) that costs millions of meat. (About 7 million at time of this writing.) If you weren't lucky to get one in last year's Crimbo stocking, you won't be getting one any time soon. So let's stick to drinks that common folk can obtain, then.

Disco Bandit drinks give about 10-15 adventures per drink and cause 4 drunkenness. Over 6 days, figuring that you'll have Liver of Steel the whole while (not out of the question for Day 1, though difficult), that's 30 drinks total before becoming drunk as a skunk on each day.

If you have Advanced Cocktailcrafting, you can generate three DB drink items (Magical Ice Cubes, Little Paper Umbrellas, Coconut Shells) per day. That's 24, so you'll need 6 more, and LPUs go for about 1000 each. 6K so far.

You'll need 30 bottles of booze. You can vary those according to what you want to make, but an average bottle of booze might be around 1000, some more, some less. That's 36K so far.

You'll need the assorted fruit and other mixers. With a Hippy Costume, that's about another 2K for 30 oranges, olives, strawberries and such. 38K overall.

You'll need a Bartender-in-the-Box. You can adventure for the parts for one, but if you don't feel like wasting time at the Typical Tavern, that's 7.5k for two Beer Lenses. 45-6K overall and we're done building six days' worth of alcohol.

If you don't have Cocktailcrafting, what does the above cost? Most DB drinks go for around 2000-2400 apiece. So 2400 * 30 = 72K. You've saved about 26,000 meat by going the do-it-yourself route. Not too shabby.

Now food. The best food in the game is Chow Mein, and you can choose which kind you want to make according to which stat you want to boost. You can eat three per day, meaning that you'll need 18 for the six-day run.

You can assemble the ingredients for Bat Wing Stir-Fries (boosting Myst, which is never a bad idea anyway) for about 4K. All components are commonly found at the mall. 4K * 18 = 72K. I'll add in Chef-in-the-Box components similarly, so we'll bump that up to around 80K total for your Ronin run as a generous estimate.

If you just want to buy Bat Wing Stir-Fries and save yourself some trouble, they go for around 6500 commonly at the mall. That's 117K, so you're saving nearly 40K by building the Stir-Fries yourself.

Pastamastery is required to turn Stir-Fries into Chow Meins. Since you can generate three Dry Noodles a day for free, the transformation is essentially costless.

But what if you don't have Pastamastery? You're stuck buying the three best Chow Meins at the Mall... at ~11K apiece. That's around TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND MEAT instead of an 80K investment. The ~26K you save on drinks can be made up in an afternoon's trading on the Mall or Yeti-hunting; 120K meat is another thing entirely.

And THAT is why Pastamastery rocks.

The following post may be spoilerish.

My Sauceror defeated the Sorceress for the 2nd time today. VSP is quite right saying it's the most fragile class. The Topiary Golems were a bitch.

After several defeats at the hands of the Sorceress with the Maple Leaf familiar, I swapped him with the Potato and managed to beat her.

Before ascending, I bought a Clockwork Maid, 18 Tofu chow meins, and a beanbag chair for good measure. I did NOT prepare as well as I could have. I didn't worry about buying drinks because I have a Tiny Plastic Sword and about a million limes and bottles of tequila (This was a slight mistake, I think).

I ascended, choosing Pastamancer and the Muscle sign that supposedly increases combat initiative (Though after 100+ adventures I suspect otherwise). The first thing I did upon ascending was eat 3 chow meins and drink 2 Bodyslams. After finishing my adventures for the day, my stats are:

Muscle: 21(13)
Mysticality: 24(16)
Moxie: 16(8)

...Massively imbalanced against Moxie. Lesson learned. I'll catch up next moxie day. For the record, I have Mad Looting Skills (DB) and Saucemastery(S). Next Ascension I'll go Disco Bandit again and take Face Stab. I may do that one in Hardcore to ensure it stays with me on all ascensions.

Tofu Chow Mein wouldn't have been my choice, only because it's less filling than most of the others (3 fullness instead of 5). In terms of adventures gained and total stat gain, it's pretty similar to the big three (Rat Appendix, Knob Sausage and Bat Wing Chow Meins), but you'd need five per day instead of three. Your stat gains being split between Muscle and Myst may actually be better than focusing on one, depending on your outlook on such.

No huge problem, though -- adventure for the parts for a Chef-in-the-Box and you'll be able to make Hell Ramen and Delicious Spicy Noodles to make up the difference. If you have a TPS, you're set as far as drinks go. Only one of my chars has one and I wish the other did, but it's not worth the 7-8 million it currently costs.

Honestly, the Topiary Golems shouldn't be a big deal for a Sauceror, for a simple reason -- Reagent potions. A dose or two of Orangish Aphrodisiac should've boosted your Moxie to the point where they couldn't touch you for 5-10 turns, enough to get the Hedge Key and stumble through to the Tower. The problem with Saucerors is that that kind of focused stat-boosting is only possible for so many turns each day, and then you're back to normal Moxie when you're grinding the Orc Chasm or Airship for stat gains. Thank goodness for Hair Spray and Sneaky Pete's Breath Spray.

Cool,. I picked Accordian Thief just cause I thought it sounded cool.

Beat my record today -- got out of Ronin _and_ beat the Sorceress on Day 6 with my TT, albeit with about 3 adventures remaining.

My Pastamancer will take a little longer, as he can't take advantage of Muscle Days as efficiently.

I'm still figuring out how all this food & drink stuff work... I've essentially been adventuring without them because when I often skip 2 or 3 days so I'm often close to 200 adventures anyway. But now I have a Chef-in-a-box and I'm working on some stuff.. I've got a mushroom pizza, lich eye pie, and knob sausage stir-fry waiting to go for tomorrow.

vsp.... you are my hero.. I'm still grappling with the yeti and the giants (although I have to say I love the airship! being an old FF geek... from 3 on) hee hee, anyway! bravo sir!

hey... do you get to keep your campground stuff after ascending? (gurk I cannot spell today... long ass work week)

Only the Colossal Closet (the contents of which get shifted into Storage), Familiar Terrarium, and Trophy Case. Everything else, including your Hippy Stone, gets reset.

I just killed the sorceress!

http://www.cellar.org/images/smilies/jig.gif

sorry to keep asking questions, but... into storage? is it then accesable again once you get to the appropriate level again? or do you just re-build everything?

rock on Hmonkey! naughty naughty sorceress....

When you Ascend, a new area pops up on the Right Side of the Tracks, entitled Hagnk's Storage. Every item you own and all of your meat goes into storage. Certain quest-specific items vanish entirely, though there are workarounds for a couple of them (example: Bitchin' Meatcars disappear. If you Untinker one into Dope Wheels and a Meat Engine, though, those items remain and can be recombined post-Ascension for quick access to the Shore).

Post-Ascension, you will spend 1000 turns in Ronin status, which is just what it implies; you are a lone wolf for that span. You cannot receive items from other players, buy things from other players, buy things at the Mall, buy things at the Flea Market, or obtain items from anything but adventures and the built-in shops in the Market and elsewhere. (If you have a Mall store, you _can_ put items in it and sell them, but the meat goes into storage when the items are sold until Ronin is over.)

Hagnk's allows you to pull up to 20 items or 1000-meat increments out of storage each day. For example, I could pull out 5000 meat and 15 items if that's what I needed. This calls for some cleverness in stacking your stash before Ascending and in choosing which items to retrieve each day, because once that limit is reached, you're stuck with what you can adventure for until the next day.

My typical Day 1 pull, for instance:
* 3 Chow Meins, or two Hell Ramens and a Delicious Spicy Noodles, a full day's supply of food
* 5 Ducha De Oros or other DB drinks, a full day's supply of alcohol (note: I can't use the fifth one unless I get Liver of Steel on Day 1, so I might get only 4)
* Beanbag Chair
* Meat Maid
* Chef-in-the-Box
* Cottage
* Mr. Accessory
* Palm-Frond Toupee for my Volleyball
* Class-specific item (Kickback Cookbook/Enchanted Toothpick for caster classes, Ye Old Golde Frontes for DBs) if needed
* A few thousand meat for buying skills

And so on throughout Ronin. In later days, I'm typically pulling out the best weapons and armor I can use as my stats go up, certain outfits that let me clear certain obstacles (Miner's Outfit, eXtreme Cold-Weather Gear, the Pirate Disguise) as I need them, food and drink, and a bit more meat when necessary. I don't pull out all that much meat during Ronin unless a skill is absolutely necessary.

Once the thousand turns are up, you can pull everything out of Hagnk's at once, and then you're back to normal until you Ascend again.

thank you for a very detailed response. I guess I'll put off ascending for a while then. more sinister planning is needed.

I decided to treat myself (and treat Jick for finally implementing Ascension), and added a second Mr. A to my primary character today before Ascending.

Holy CRAP did that make a difference in the early game. (Being a Myst day didn't hurt, either.)

After Day 1, my TT->PM->SA->TT->DB looks like this:
Muscle: 67 (24) Myst: 68 (35) Moxie: 77 (35) Ronin remaining: 792
Equipment: Crown of the Goblin King (from storage, haven't fought the King yet), Diamond-Studded Cane, Ninja Hot Pants, Shiny Ring (to be replaced by Badass Belt tomorrow), two Mr. A's, Palm-Frond Toupee
Quests done: Larva, Bat Hole, Tavern, Meatcar, Deep Fat Friars

Not too shabby.

How to make disgusting amounts of meat in five easy steps:

1) Realize that there is one item of which every player who wishes to Ascend will need four, and that it's an item that requires no skills whatsoever to craft.
2) Get a Continuum Transfunctioner.
3) Burn a day's worth of adventures, preferably with a juiced-up Baby Gravy Fairy helping out.
4) Create as many of a given item as you can, and sell them at the Mall.
5) Wonder what to do with your piles of white, blue and green pixels.

okay, a couple of more questions.. 1.) after ascending.. can you chose your the same class you just ascended from? yeah, sounds kind of redundant, but! in time a person could kick some serious ass at any one particular class. 2.) the spoiller above.. well not so much a spoiler as a 'Hey! how's about this!' is it potions or the keys? I'm sorry to ask, but in context of the game world this should be fairly common knowledge, and the forums aren't particularly helpfull.. I'm not looking to make a ton of meat or anything (well.. sort of) but I'd rather know as much as I can before doing something awfully stupid. ya know?

Work has sucked so much major ass that I haven't even managed to log in for like a week.

On the upside, if it's a slow night, I'll have enough turns to play all night, won't I? Didn't someone say they keep accruing?

uh apparently not so much, th emost I have gotten has been 199, however I'm sure there is some super double secret way around that.. then again.. there might not be.. one of the reasons I really like this game is for the most part it's pretty freakin' simple.. on one level.. bedevilingly complex on others...

They only accrue to 200, (un)fortunately.

Indeed. Here's my progressions so far:
Turtle Tamer -> Pastamancer -> Sauceror -> Turtle Tamer -> Disco Bandit
Seal Clubber -> Disco Bandit -> Turtle Tamer -> Pastamancer -> Disco Bandit

One DB is getting Disco Face Stab, and the other has that already and is getting Mad Looting Skillz. One or both may remain DBs after Ascending to get MLS and Nimble Fingers or Cocktailcrafting, respectively.

When you come right down to it, choosing the same class isn't all that exciting; you're just a L1 DB with a L10 DB skill, so to speak. By the time you work your way back up to L10, the experience will be exactly the same. It's all about taking skills to new classes and trying life as a Pastamancer who can Face Stab or a Turtle Tamer that can play Polkas.

As for the other things:

* It's not the keys. Look up "pixel" at the Mall and see what's higher-priced.
* Turns accrue up to 200. Of course, you could have 200 turns stored up, use some of those, and _then_ eat and drink to add to that total. In theory, you could end up with about 350 or so on a given night, though you'd be back to your normal total the next night.

Guildies, here's a chance to win a Tiny Plastic Sword of your very own. I'm thinking of an item which can be found somewhere in the Seaside Town. You cannot buy it in the market, though it may be available on the flea market. Starting after tonight's rollover (which occurs around 10pm Mountain), the first person to drop the correct item into the clan stash will win their very own Tiny Plastic Sword.

In case you're wondering what the sword is for, look here: http://kol.thraeryn.org/wiki/Tiny_plastic_sword

perth:

Is that really enough clues to guess what the item might be? I don't have a clue. Ok, I have a clue or two. I'll try.

You don't have to guess if you just put in as many types of items as you can. Of course, the fact that it's not available in the market narrows it down nicely.