Most optimal way to progress?

[NeonTerminus]

What it says on the tin. This question is more or less for people that have explored much of Qud.

I'm at the point where the only quests I have is the one you do for the goatman warden which tells me I'm supposed to find a goatmen village that I can't seem to find on the map. The other is to repair a waydroid in Golgotha but I'm holding off on that since I want to explore it in its entirety when I'm a much higher level.

When you create your character what is your preferred way to progress? What do you do and where do you go?

[Mehukannu]

I tend to do my runs in this order:
Waterlogged dungeon > Red Rock > Rust Wells > Ruster Archway > Grit Gate > Level up and get better gear and more imporantly get Corpus Choliys from Kyakukya > Speed through Golgotha > Bethesda Susa > Tomb of the Eaters > Spindle
It is fairly straight forward, though lately when I am finished with Bethesda Susa, I tend to get a bit bored for the lack of content so I tend to just do random stuff until I die.

[RobJ81]

Originally posted by Mehukannu:

I tend to do my runs in this order:
Waterlogged dungeon > Red Rock > Rust Wells > Ruster Archway > Grit Gate > Level up and get better gear and more imporantly get Corpus Choliys from Kyakukya > Speed through Golgotha > Bethesda Susa > Tomb of the Eaters > Spindle
It is fairly straight forward, though lately when I am finished with Bethesda Susa, I tend to get a bit bored for the lack of content so I tend to just do random stuff until I die.

If you are bored, why not play something else? Just randomly playing a game you are bored at doesn't sound like fun.

The lack of content is exactly why I rarely buy early access. Once this gets more stuff, I'll likely buy it.

[Mehukannu]

I do play other stuff. :) Though right now what keeps me playing Caves of Qud is filling the wiki with information, which you should of course totally do too! There is favor of Cteshipus in it for you! ;D
But on the game itself, I feel like I owe to the creator of the game because way back when I played the old version I enjoyed this game a lot even though it was still pretty bare bones.

But yeah, the lack of content is a huge thing, which is why I would advice people to buy some other game unless they have money to spend and no other game in sight.

[zehelvion]

Hi Stratomsk,

The order of missions is important (somewhat) but more important is the build. If you are new and just want to explore, go for a max toughness (Farmer + Two hearts + regen) build with sufficient strength and/or agility to kill stuff. With great toughness, you can easily go beyond 200 hp early on in the game + learn dual weilding and go double axes for nice melee dps. Agility will lend itself to high DV + ranged dps.

I'd preffer to do all the quests in *Joppa, then do the Goat quest (just walk north from the village and then follow the river east).
Only after that will I consider my readiness for the Golgotha quest.

If you are bored with high toughness, you can go with max Ego instead and learn Mental Mutations. Precognition will let you pick any further mental mutation you want. You will need light manipulation for dps against small creatures; Force Wall for defence; Other damage skills like Sunder Mind Pyro and Cryo for damage against more powerful mobs. Ego projection could be nice, I like to use it if I go Ego + Agility to further boost agility.

Int is probably the hardest to play. I'd grad Fire hands and Electric Discharge if you pick Int with possibly Carapace if you sacrifice Strength. These powers will provide good alpha-strike damage to save you from unpleasant situations. You can get sleep gas for a last ditch escape power.