Hi guys, I'm a 'newbie' to IVAN (just over 60 plays) but I don't seem to get very far.

Any tips? Like when to heal, when to eat etc?

(Furthest I got was GC3 and then I stepped on a mine and chain-reaction wand explosion followed. )

For starters, keep your fragile stuff (wands, bottles) in a chest, so they won't explode on your face.

Changing the weapon class after UT2 is generally a bad idea.

A cloak of fire protection is extremely handy to have.

Don't save health potions until you're about to die, chances are you die before getting the liquid down your throat.

Pray to gods every 2.5-3 hours. If you do it more often, they get annoyed.

If you're having difficulties getting past Jenny (the huge plant on UT3), a wand of teleportation/polymorph is sometimes an easy way out.



I'd have a lot more tips, but you should see the Little Details topic instead. A lot of good info there. Also the wiki is available.

Welcome to the forums

Actually Bored, the greater plants give very good experience early game, so it doesn't matter if you change weapon class in UT.

Training on the plants is a very dangerous game though; I've gotten myself killed on UT3 many times trying to practice my weapons, either by over-sized plants, being surrounded, or starving to death. Subsisting on kiwis alone is difficult.

I agree with chaostrom. I change weapons late in the game lots. I often use the plats to get a good base in may weapons classes since it doesn;t take long at all. Like atomic said, its a dangerous game, training on plants but pretty safe if you have a few outs (telewands, dulcis, Sophos, Legifer, lyre etc.)

You can get respectable skill levels without special training. Even if all you're doing is clearing out the level before killing Jenny, you can still get 8-12 in most weapon classes.

Just a few general tips.

Don't save your healing potions. You'll find plenty more later. If your torso goes red, then you can try resting. But as soon as an enemy appears in sight, it's better just to drink the potion. Better safe than sorry.

Equip EVERYTHING. If you see some leather boots, don't dismiss them as useless. I used to do this. Just wear whatever you find, and of course replace as you find better items. But even some leather gloves will help a lot against the plants.

Eat perishables first. Don't eat cans of food unless you are hungry, since they will be preserved. But if you find a lump of banana flesh or a carrot lying around, eat them immediately. On a related note, when you get past UT, make sure you 'l'ook at the world map. You will be able to see where the city is. I've sent many characters to a slow painful death from starvation searching for the city.

And yes, cloak of fire protection is probably the most useful protection against mines for beginners. (Levitation and a certain goddess are even better, but pretty hard to accomplish if you're new to the game)

I really dislike using Silva to disarm mines; the falling boulders and wall squares, as well as the general re-arrangement of the level, plays havoc with my OCD-impulse to explore every level and take anything of value to sell/sacrifice.

I agree. She breaks/hides a lot of very useful stuff. I've actually gone and mined all the fallen blocks to try to find useful stuff that got buried. When I pray to Silva I usually go up a level to the one I just cleared. She can be usefull for opening chests early in the game or getting into UT4 with no pickaxe, and of course for moving Genetrix versana from the stairs.

*Make sure you can get some equipment that has fire protection before going into GC.

*If a hattifattener shows up, stay well away and let it clear out the level for you

*Hattifatteners make good friends if you have electricity resistance

*Using enough bottles of sulphuric acid, it is possible to slaughter all the banana growers in New Attnam to steal their equipment and get a vitually unending supply of bananas

*Don't fight kamakazi dwarfs up close

*Take some time after getting to Attnam to collect and sell things to get better armour and weapons from the shop

*Try not to be burdened, it impacts your combat effectiveness.

*It's always fun to edit the script to give you some starting equipment

more from me later, maybe i'll make a whole thread
Oh, and I use IVAN 0.50 incase anything is different for the other versions

h4xx0r

hey I've done that before

So have I, but I renamed the version so it wouldn't interfere with the normal scores.

I've also added some random items for testing.