Troll Traps

[yeknod]

OK. So I hate dying. Also not super combat skilled. Had to improve my chances versus the Trolls. So what I do is find a fairly large open meadow. (BF seems not to have open spaces). Then I dig a straight trench, about 15 digs long, in the open space. Then a perpendicular trench, same length, at one end. At the junction of the trenches I put a couple floor tiles down so I can cross the trench easily. The trench needs to be deep, four or five hits deep.

The trap can't be too far from the Troll spawn. Sneak up on the Troll. First sneak hit can be over 100 HP. Then draw him to the trap. You position at the juncture, whichever side is near Troll. Take a shot or two. As he closes in cross the trench and shoot from the other side. You will be out of reach of his club and if he throws rocks they seem always to fall in the ditch.

He will walk around one of the trenches to get to your side. You should get a shot or two before he draws near. Cross the trench. Repeat until the Troll is dead.

The Troll Trap works consistently. Weaker bow and arrows just take longer. Eikthyr power helps but not absolutely essential if you get the knack of it.

A real bother are free range dwarves who mess up the shoot / run / shoot / run ballet.

I started with a zig zap Troll Trap with two crossing points. Works better. But two days of digging to set up.

[jonnin]

I admire your energy. But trolls are common spawns, and this is a LOT of setup if you start doing it for each one.

Trolls can be killed early on with fire arrows and constructive cowardice. By the time you are done with the swamps, you can all but one shot them from stealth and if not you can go toe to toe with them using a shield and its not really a challenge anymore. By all means, do whatever is fun and effective for you, but when you get tired of digging ditches, try shoot/move/shoot/move tactics. This isn't 'being good at combat' stuff, it should be easy enough to turn, shoot, and run, repeat? As for being good at combat... that mostly is using a shield to counter attacks (parry), which is tricky to learn. The rest of it is largely stepping backwards at the right time.

What you are doing is creative and cool, just an awful lot of work... and sooner than you think, you will face stuff that makes trolls look like what they are (tough, but still only a 2nd zone enemy).

[Zep Tepi]

You can also make a 3x3 square (6x6m) of land surrounded by a ditch. Normally I lure trolls back to my base with a trench, but if I want to hunt safely and am not near my base for some reason, this works. It cannot be any smaller than this. If you are only two squares wide, you will be in range of the log. Naturally, you need to sidestep the rocks and have enough room to do that too.

Though once I upgrade my atgeir, and/or my stamina food, I don't need any of that.

[yeknod]

Nothing easy about Trolls. 60 blunt damage. I have a level 3 fine bow and 24 armour. Just died again from a Troll. Didn't take the lure to the trap. Stayed in the BF where the trees make shooting and kiting difficult. He had only 50 HP left. I got my stuff back and finished him off. The player is immortal. There is no getting old in this game. Take a day off and dig a ditch costs you nothing because you don't age. For me, preparation is the key to victories and not dying. I know my combat skill is not the best.

[[FuFo] Mortucus]

Trolls are not an issue to go through this much trouble for somthing that dies from plains gear in 3 shots

[Twinkies]

Being a dedicated hardcore player, I must emphasize that Trolls have become a significant challenge. The club-wielding adversaries can now eliminate you with a single swing. While the ditch tactic is effective, it's not ideal for hardcore players who prefer not to engage in excavation due to our inherent laziness and the fact that terrain alterations consume precious resources. Moreover, relying on the ditch strategy demands a carefully selected location. It's not a universally adaptable approach and requires a suitable environment, such as water, to justify its implementation.

On a different note, acquiring a pickaxe is essential for digging ditches, meaning individuals who haven't vanquished the initial boss won't have the capability to undertake this task. I'm pondering; at times, I encounter a troll even before acquiring the pickaxe. Facing this challenge could be the solution to avoiding troll-related deaths.

I've had to refine my strategy for tackling trolls. The first step is acquiring the fine wood bow, which involves rolling logs down a hill to gather fine wood. Armed with the fine wood bow and potent arrows like fire arrows or flint arrows, you'll have your optimal weapons for the task.
Update: Fire arrows aren't as effective against trolls; in hardcore mode, relying on flint arrows is truly crucial.

[yeknod]

I did not know you could pick up logs. Clever.
Half my deaths to Trolls was forgetting to eat right before the battle. Ran out of food. TAB to eat. Whacked by the Troll.
Sneak attacks on Trolls are so effective I've wondered whether it is better to sneak attack and immediately run. Then sneak in for another attack. Immediately run.
But having Eikthyr power gives you a better than 50% chance. Don't know if I've killed a Troll before Eikthyr. Probably not. Risk averse here.

[knighttemplar1960]

Originally posted by yeknod:

I did not know you could pick up logs. Clever.
Half my deaths to Trolls was forgetting to eat right before the battle. Ran out of food. TAB to eat. Whacked by the Troll.
Sneak attacks on Trolls are so effective I've wondered whether it is better to sneak attack and immediately run. Then sneak in for another attack. Immediately run.
But having Eikthyr power gives you a better than 50% chance. Don't know if I've killed a Troll before Eikthyr. Probably not. Risk averse here.

Sneak attack has a 5 minute cool down on each enemy. To get a 2nd sneak attack in you would have to wait for the troll to drop you from attention (red exclamation disappears) and wait the five minutes without him becoming aware of you again.

My own tactic is to shoot them from sneak and then back away firing as I can. According to the wiki trolls are weak to piercing damage taking an extra 50% piercing damage from wood, flint, or flaming arrows (the ones available when you first start encountering trolls). They take normal damage from fire and their head is a weak spot the results in an extra 50% piercing damage (for double on the head).

With that in mind wood and flaming do the same damage (though fire is a long DOT) and flint does an additional 7 points of damage over either of those.

You can also sprint to the meadows to avoid graydwarves joining the fray. If you come across any neck, deer, or boar the troll will take the time to kill those if they are closer which gives you the opportunity to get in some free shots. The Meadows tends to be more open which means you are less likely to get stuck on something when dodging.

Make each piece of troll hide armor as soon as you kill one as each piece takes 5 troll hide (except the cape) and at level 1 is 2 armor points higher than the highest level your deer hide armor can be (except for the cape) provided you have both workbench upgrades that don't require bronze to build and with more troll hide you'll be able to take your armor value (except for the cape) to double what you can get from deer hide at this point in the game.

Completing the troll set gives +15 to sneak skill and also passively reduces your light and sound values which makes it even easier to sneak up on deer, boar, neck and other things.

[yeknod]

Good advice. 5 minute cool down means you can't repeat the sneak attack more than three times in daylight. And you will be not rested by the third shot. Don't know if Trolls regenerate overnight. Or if they evaporate and get replaced by a new full health Troll on another day.

[The Great Cornholio]

shoot troll with arrows while backup up
when he gets close run away for 1-2 seconds when he winds up
repeat
armor is good enough to clear swamp assuming you've figured out parrying

[avatar.zero]

Originally posted by yeknod:

Don't know if Trolls regenerate overnight. Or if they evaporate and get replaced by a new full health Troll on another day.

All creatures gradually regenerate health over time, just like a properly fed player character. I know for sure that a non-starred Troll will fully recover from near-death in about 40 minutes or so. This also happens regardless of whether or not they're in an active zone - the game will "jump forward" their recovery to make up for any time spent not being processed.

[WindyBlod]

Like Cornholio I just use fire arrows and keep running around, it doesn't take long at all.

Speaking of Trolls - they're my favourite creature from the game and the BF my favourite biome. I'll never forget marvelling at a Troll for the first time from my boat and paddling faster! I do think it's ridiculous how much weaker they are than later game creatures though, like Fulings, especially a Berserker.

[knighttemplar1960]

Originally posted by avatar.zero:

Originally posted by yeknod:

Don't know if Trolls regenerate overnight. Or if they evaporate and get replaced by a new full health Troll on another day.

All creatures gradually regenerate health over time, just like a properly fed player character. I know for sure that a non-starred Troll will fully recover from near-death in about 40 minutes or so. This also happens regardless of whether or not they're in an active zone - the game will "jump forward" their recovery to make up for any time spent not being processed.

Regeneration occurs at sun up. For tames the regenreation clock is reset at sun up and they regenerate if fed. If they are injured after the regeneration clock is reset and fed they will regenreate 0 hit points each regen tick (you'll see green zeros coming up from the tame) until the tame's status returns to hungry.

Troll respawn rate is one check every 66 minutes and 40 seconds. If the injured troll has not returned to the spawn zone (64 tiles x 64 tiles) and there is a successful spawn check the injured troll will despawn and a new troll will spawn at least 40 tiles from the active player instead.