Autechresaint
Level: Roachling
Rank Points: 10
Registered: 01-10-2004
IP: Logged

What are the best methods for cleaning out the tar blob things in level eight. Frustating as funk. I haven't managed to clear out a single room yet, it'll take me forever unless there is a clear cut strat.

Any help?

agaricus5
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1838
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

Look at the wisdom of "Gunthro Budkin" in the help file, the Tar section on DROD.net and the threads here.

A few general tips:

It would be a good idea to avoid stable tar as it doesn't count as a monster only remove it if you have to.

Cutting tar so that a piece becomes 1 square wide will make tar babies from the 1 square wide tar area (2 or more doesn't).

Corners are uncuttable. Bear this in mind if you have a 2 square wide passage. Tar in the corridor may be impassable because there are two corners that cannot be cut and block the way. Sometimes a tar growth may be needed to create flat edges for cutting.

Finally, 3-square wide blocks of tar (3*x size) are always fully destroyable. If you need to clear a lot of tar, try to cut the tar so you make lots of 3 square wide blocks so most of it can be removed.

If you need more, someone else may be able to add to what I've given you.

____________________________
Resident Medic/Mycologist

Viper
Level: Delver
Rank Points: 33
Registered: 11-13-2003
IP: Logged

I had the same problems a while ago but once you get the hang of it its as simple as. I found this with many of the monsters, when I stumbled across a copy of webfoot and downloaded it and cleared the first level in about 10 minutes flat I laughed my arse off at how long those roaches took me originally.

Here's a useful link to the help I got, it covers the tar mothers too, you know the little eyes in the tar that make it grow...

http://www.drod.net/forum/viewtopic.php?TopicID=1803&page=0#12960

Autechresaint
Level: Roachling
Rank Points: 10
Registered: 01-10-2004
IP: Logged

Thanks for your help, but I am afraid that I am through with the game. I just can't defeat any of the tar mothers, and i've been playing for a few hours. I just keep going around in circles with them, it's so frustrating.

The_Red_Hawk
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 783
Registered: 09-02-2003
IP: Logged

I'm sure none of us like to see anybody new go. We all hate tar anyways. It's nearly impossible the first time through, then when I replayed it I was shocked at how easy I found it.

____________________________
Slashing, whirling, diving, twirling,
Snapping, turning, rising, swirling,
Screeching, flipping, gliding, sliding,
The red hawk's dance of death.

.....the king of the skies.....

Autechresaint
Level: Roachling
Rank Points: 10
Registered: 01-10-2004
IP: Logged

Well, see, before the game was a fun little action/puzzle game. The tar mothers make it a tedious repetitive hack and slash. One or two rooms with them would have been ok, but four or five? I don't have time for this.

Oneiromancer
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2936
Registered: 03-29-2003
IP: Logged

Well, I'm also sorry to hear that the tar is causing you so much frustration. The first time I played the game, it was in an old version where there were no checkpoints, and level 8 made me quit too. Trust me, you have a it a lot easier now! One last thing to try, though, before you delete the game: would you like a demo or two supplied for the rooms you are having trouble with? Perhaps if you see the strategy involved and the fact that it can be done, you'll have more incentive to try again.

On the other hand, the game can't be for everyone. If you aren't having fun playing a game, then there is no purpose in playing the game, by definition. There are 25 levels, and level 8 is far from the last one with tar...I believe levels 16 and 17 feature it prominently, as well as two infamous rooms on level 24. And many of the user-made holds have devilish implementations of tar and tar mothers. So, this isn't the end of it, I am sorry to say.

Good luck, whatever you choose.

Game on,

____________________________
"He who is certain he knows the ending of things when he is only beginning them is either extremely wise or extremely foolish; no matter which is true, he is certainly an unhappy man, for he has put a knife in the heart of wonder." -- Tad Williams

agaricus5
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1838
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

Try to get to the mother first. This will stop the production of more tar and babies. I think what you are doing is trying to kill all the babies and remove the tar before getting the mother.

Examples would be 4S and 3S 1E. You must try to get ito positions where you can kill as many tar babies per 30 moves as possible so you can advance on the mother.

Oh, and as the old Webfoot demo for 3S 1E shows, if you cut a 1-square wide opening then take a two or more steps back, you can step sideways and back again with your sword pointing in a non-diagonal direction and this will allow you to kill off up to 30 babies / 30 moves (Well, it works for this room at least...).

Finally, do it slowly. With tar, the dynamic reforming of its shape and the creation of tar babies just when you don't expect them makes it hard to manage if you haven't seen it before. Be aware of what effects cutting the tar may have on the mass, and when the tar mother will spawn again (Press the right mouse button to bring up the dialogue box giving you this information).

____________________________
Resident Medic/Mycologist

The_Red_Hawk
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 783
Registered: 09-02-2003
IP: Logged

Oneiromancer wrote:
...and level 8 is far from the last one with tar. I believe levels 16 and 17 feature it prominently, as well as two infamous rooms on level 24. And many of the user-made holds have devilish implementations of tar and tar mothers. So, this isn't the end of it, I am sorry to say.

Even so, the majority of the rooms in later levels are without tar. And when you get to them, it becomes much easier. There is no tar again until level 11, but it has no mothers at all. Except for levels 16/17, after that most levels just have one or two tar rooms.

As said before, we all hate tar, and I think that in user-made holds the tar rooms are fairly easy and in a much lesser proportion. The ones based around tar are even less.

Still, I might be wrong.....

____________________________
Slashing, whirling, diving, twirling,
Snapping, turning, rising, swirling,
Screeching, flipping, gliding, sliding,
The red hawk's dance of death.

.....the king of the skies.....

Autechresaint
Level: Roachling
Rank Points: 10
Registered: 01-10-2004
IP: Logged

Oneiromancer wrote:
One last thing to try, though, before you delete the game: would you like a demo or two supplied for the rooms you are having trouble with? Perhaps if you see the strategy involved and the fact that it can be done, you'll have more incentive to try again.

Actually, yeah. That would be very very helpful. I really do like this game, and up until level 8, I was having a whole lot of fun with it. If I saw a few solutions on some of the tar folk, maybe that'll give me some encouragement.

Thanks for your help so far.

Scott
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 578
Registered: 02-12-2003
IP: Logged

File: tar.zip (3.6 KB)
Downloaded 78 times.
License: Other
From: Unspecified

Heres demos of a few early rooms. 1E, 2S & 4S. That should give you an idea of how to deal with tar.

DiMono
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1181
Registered: 09-13-2003
IP: Logged

There's also a demo of... I think it's 3 South 1 East, in the demos that play on the DROD menu.

____________________________
Deploy the... I think it's a yellow button... it's usually flashing... it makes the engines go... WHOOSH!

The_Red_Hawk
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 783
Registered: 09-02-2003
IP: Logged

I think they had different room demos for Webfoot an Caravel. Which rooms were which now.....?

____________________________
Slashing, whirling, diving, twirling,
Snapping, turning, rising, swirling,
Screeching, flipping, gliding, sliding,
The red hawk's dance of death.

.....the king of the skies.....

krammer
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 904
Registered: 02-12-2003
IP: Logged

The strange thing is I can remember this, being so amazed to see all the cool new things when I only had the demo.

The Webfoot title screen demos, in order, were:
Level 2: Entrance, 1N, 2N and 2N1W (all in one demo)
Level 3: 3N
Level 7: 1N1E
Level 8: 3S1E
Level 20: 2N1W
Level 23: 1E

Caravel demos are:
Level 3: 1S1W
Level 5: 1S2E
Level 7: 3N
Level 8: 3S2E
Level 14: 2N

____________________________
+++ Divide by Cucumber Error +++ Please Reinstall Universe and Reboot +++

"Oook!"

agaricus5
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1838
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

krammer wrote:
The strange thing is I can remember this, being so amazed to see all the cool new things when I only had the demo.

Same here.

I really wanted the proper version to see the tar mentioned in the help file - it was so intriguing, and was really excited when I finally reached level 8. I think, though, that I regretted that feeling when I reached 4S and 3S 1E.

____________________________
Resident Medic/Mycologist

The_Red_Hawk
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 783
Registered: 09-02-2003
IP: Logged

How do I get the Caravel demos to play? because it doesn't seem to work on my computer.

____________________________
Slashing, whirling, diving, twirling,
Snapping, turning, rising, swirling,
Screeching, flipping, gliding, sliding,
The red hawk's dance of death.

.....the king of the skies.....

Scott
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 578
Registered: 02-12-2003
IP: Logged

Select King Duggans as the active dungeon then leave it at the main screen and wait.

Autechresaint
Level: Roachling
Rank Points: 10
Registered: 01-10-2004
IP: Logged

Thanks for the demos, but I can't seem to get them to work. I import them into the game, by pressing f6, it says import succesful, but when i click watch, it doesn't work.

Oneiromancer
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2936
Registered: 03-29-2003
IP: Logged

You can only watch a demo for a room if you are in the same room the demo was made in. If that's already the case, then I have no idea what is going on.

Game on,

____________________________
"He who is certain he knows the ending of things when he is only beginning them is either extremely wise or extremely foolish; no matter which is true, he is certainly an unhappy man, for he has put a knife in the heart of wonder." -- Tad Williams

The_Red_Hawk
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 783
Registered: 09-02-2003
IP: Logged

One thing that I think should change is the inability to watch them in the editor. Really.....why not?

____________________________
Slashing, whirling, diving, twirling,
Snapping, turning, rising, swirling,
Screeching, flipping, gliding, sliding,
The red hawk's dance of death.

.....the king of the skies.....

DiMono
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1181
Registered: 09-13-2003
IP: Logged

The_Red_Hawk wrote:
One thing that I think should change is the inability to watch them in the editor. Really.....why not?

Put it in feature requests, my friend

____________________________
Deploy the... I think it's a yellow button... it's usually flashing... it makes the engines go... WHOOSH!

The_Red_Hawk
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 783
Registered: 09-02-2003
IP: Logged

DiMono wrote:
Put it in feature requests, my friend

It was just a comment.....

____________________________
Slashing, whirling, diving, twirling,
Snapping, turning, rising, swirling,
Screeching, flipping, gliding, sliding,
The red hawk's dance of death.

.....the king of the skies.....

eytanz
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2708
Registered: 02-05-2003
IP: Logged

The_Red_Hawk wrote:

Oneiromancer wrote:
...and level 8 is far from the last one with tar. I believe levels 16 and 17 feature it prominently, as well as two infamous rooms on level 24. And many of the user-made holds have devilish implementations of tar and tar mothers. So, this isn't the end of it, I am sorry to say.

Even so, the majority of the rooms in later levels are without tar. And when you get to them, it becomes much easier. There is no tar again until level 11, but it has no mothers at all. Except for levels 16/17, after that most levels just have one or two tar rooms.

As said before, we all hate tar, and I think that in user-made holds the tar rooms are fairly easy and in a much lesser proportion. The ones based around tar are even less.

I don't hate tar - I hate walls under tar - but I have to say that I find that comment rather ironic coming from you, since you are probably responsible for more insanely difficult tar rooms and tar mazes than anyone else who is involved with DROD

Eytan

____________________________
I got my avatar back! Yay!