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.