Dungeon 3 Turn 41
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Kamau charges the spider, but immediately gets caught in a web that neither he nor Ricki could detect. This gives him a -1 penalty to Atk and Def, and also prevents him from moving from his current position. The web will have to be destroyed in order to free him!
Fortunately (?) the spider obliges in walking close enough for Kamau to attack. He and Ricki deal a bit of damage to it, but it seems like it’s got plenty left in the tank. It bites Kamau but doesn’t hurt him through his armour, even with his current Def penalty.
So no poison (yay!). But spiders mean webs nearby (most likely).
Kamau: Attack!
Ricki: shoot web with hat
So confirmed then that spider attack is 5 or less. Lets see if web has more than 1hp or any defense
Both: Continue attacking the spider
I assume the web is weak but I don’t think it’ll be fragile. We could spend a few turns of Ricki attacking the web (-2 atk total/turn, then -0 atk/turn), one turn of both attacking the web (-6 atk once, cause Ricki alone isn’t going to damage the spider), or ignore it completely (-1 atk/turn until dead).
Here’s napkin math, somebody else
King Marthwith more intelligence/effort please validate or correct. I’m going to assume a TTK (time to kill) of 4 turns if we attack the spider only now (hopefully that’s generous).For every turn Ricki spends attacking the web, we would need to spend an equal number of turns attacking the spider to match, 2*-2, then 2*0 for net -4 atk over 4 turns. If the web breaks in one hit, then we would profit by 2 damage.
If Kamau attacks the web, it’s certain to break in one turn, but then we lose so much damage we’d have to attack the spider for 6 turns to compensate.
If the TTK is higher, either due to high spider hp or def, removing the penalty would be a significant benefit because it would add more damage the more attacks we had to make. Most enemies we’ve fought have not had high TTK, even the sunhead had 3 at full party strength (see Marth’s stats on github).
That’s why I think attacking straight will save the most time, since running is not something we need to consider right now.
The primary problem I see here is that to engage in melee, Ricki would likely also get caught in the web, which wouldn’t do anyone any good.
With 5 incoming damage to the spider (Kamau’s 5, -1 for web, +1 for Ricki), we did “a bit” of damage. Note that if destroying the web is what makes Ricki’s melee possible, then we go from 5 incoming damage to 7, and I agree that it’s reasonable to expect Ricki to take two turns to clear the web with a dagger. Other insectoid enemies have around 3 Defense, but let’s simulate:
5-6 HP, 3 Def: 2 total damage each turn, TTK 3. Ricki web-clearing keeps us at TTK 3, as the first two turns of 1 damage are followed by a turn of 4 damage.
5 HP, 4 Def: 1 total damage each turn, TTK 5. Here Kamau can’t damage the spider on his own so he’d probably cut himself out in one turn, then two turns of 3 damage for TTK 3.
If safe melee is possible:
5-6 HP, 3 Def: 3 total damage each turn, TTK 2.
5 HP, 4 Def: 2 total damage each turn, TTK 3.
Note that skipping a turn to clear the web isn’t as bad as you think, because blocked damage doesn’t matter either way. We don’t lose 6 damage for skipping a turn of 6 Attack, we lose 2-3 damage, which isn’t a 6-turn loss.
Reminder that I’ve set my stat notes as my name link.
We don’t actually lose that many turns by having Kamau attack the web. The spider’s defense isn’t regeneration–the first X attack each turn is wasted, but if we don’t attack it at all it doesn’t trigger. Plus we’d also gain DPS on Ricki by letting her get close enough to use melee, or at least grab the torch and use her throwing dagger instead of throwing weaker light orbs. If the spider has three defense, we only did two damage to it last turn, and we will break even in one turn of better attacks.
Plus the main risk in this fight is the solar armor breaking. Having an extra defense makes the possible consequences much safer. If the spider has four attack, that’s that, can’t pierce Kamau in leather. If it has five, we take half damage in every remaining turn of the combat after we lose the solar armor.
If we attack it straight, then whole dmg that Ricky does from afar in fact goes to even out the Atk penalty Kamau received, but Kamau’s DEF penalty stays. I also think the web isn’t “fragile” like skeletons-with-a-flower, but I also don’t think the web has any DEF at all.
Remember Kamau’s “Heroic Effort I: +1 Atk against enemies with twice as much HP or more.”? We didn’t hear anything about Kamau’s feeling in that direction, so if Kamau’s currently at 6 HP, then the spider’s HP started at 11 or less. That’s not a huge deal I think.
That’s why I think we can let Ricky try nibbling on the web, to see if we can learn how much HP it has. There;s also a chance that the web is i.e. 1 HP and 3 DEF, to simulate relatively resistant thing that breaks easily when overpowered. But we can learn that on just a single shot – it either has def, or not. And if it has, we immediately know that all further shooting will be done at the spider.
So I’d rather first have Ricky shoot once at the web. Then analyze, and maybe switch to shoot at the spider, rather than just shoot the spider.
Ricki: Borrow Kamau’s torch. Burn the web!
Kamau: Attack spider.
There’s probably other ways to clear the web, but when in doubt, burn things.
…the issue with burning things is that often times, people get caught on fire.
As in, say, a person stuck in said web.
🙂
If Kamau thinks that the web being burnt will weaken it enough for him to break free before catching on fire, then go for it, Ricki! But otherwise… setting people on fire is not a great way to maintain friendships.
I suspect that any fire damage will also be blocked by armour, possibly with the web’s defense penalty removed. Fire is also definitely going to be fast, which means fewer turns of damaging the solar armour. There’s probably more webs around here for experimentation while not being chewed on by giant spider.
I also don’t think that the spider has 5 Attack.
That said, I respect not wanting to run this particular experiment. The armour is reasonably safe to use and we’re in a safe holding pattern.
Spins a web any size!
Catches adventurers just like flies!
Look out, here comes the giant spider!
So I had a look at the image rather closely and I didn’t see anything (while the broken glass is hard to spot, it IS visible). I guess we’ll need trap detection II as soon as possible with Ricki, in order to get the visual hints for these things.
Or, knowing that this spider can cast webs, just assume webs on sight of a spider 🙂
not “or”, but “and”: Assume web@spider and get trap detection II. This is already the second trap we missed: first the stalkroach, second the spider web.