Difference between revisions of "Idlechasing tips"

Revision as of 13:37, 11 May 2022

WARNING: This page contains information about idlechasing, which now returns less xp and is no longer possible by sharing experience in a group due to changes[1] to the game.

Since the change all commands that give xp typically return 20 times (or less) the cost in GP and command xp is no longer shared.
The creators have proposed missions as a way to gain experience without combat.

Personal idlechasing that gives 20 times the gp cost is still possible and these pages still contain interesting information on using commands, keeping in mind the differences outlined above.

Feel free to share your own tricks for better idlechasing!

General tips

• Moving the group - If you want to move the group for some reason, such as thaums getting too high, just "group follow all", accept the (automatic) follow requests from everyone, and move. Make sure you aren't depriving anyone of their sheep shearer or anything else that's temporarily summoned, however. Also, remember to 'lose all' and 'unfollow all' after you move the group, or you could forget and lead them on a magical mystery tour of the city of your choice, or drag them through a portal to a faraway land.

• Deluding - If you have an item you're deluding, the simplest and least spammy way to cater to it is to add "locate <item name>" to the ends of your aliases. This will get it up to the "flickering haze" stage reasonably quickly if you idle a lot, since you'll be referring to it quite often. (And then, of course, since there's some kind of minimum to the time it takes to delude something, it'll probably stay at that stage for a while.)
  • If you want to help people delude their stuff, keep "options auto show" set to "off". Automatically accepting show offers doesn't help delude things.

• Bandaging/Healing - don't use "health all"--"health wounded humans" will give you much more concise results (leaving out everyone who's "in good shape").

• Dependent Commands - If you have dependent commands in your alias--for example, "unhide" depends on having successfully hidden, and "play flute" depends on the flute being tuned--and there's a chance you can fail the thing they depend on, do the thing they depend on more than once. Repeat the "hide" multiple times before you try to unhide (trying to hide after a successful hide will simply fail, and not take any gp), bestow a low-cost ritual once or twice after your main one if you're scouring it out afterwards, tune your instrument a few times before trying to play it, and so on. Whether you want to do this, of course, depends on how annoying it would be to not be able to do the dependent command.

• Check "bright all" - The more light there is in a room, the better it is for giving TMs (and shared TMs!) from stealth commands such as hide, backstab, slip etc because they become harder to perform (logically a bigger audience including more players/NPCs/pets would also affect it, but this has not been tested). On a related note, bronze helms seem to give a sensitivity to light which can make you blind while you are wearing it, this is not permanant don't worry and goes back to normal straight after!

• Firing Your alias'" - Making your alias' use less than your max gp allows you to fire your alias before your gp is fully regenerated. This reduces the gp lost from the time you hit full gp till your first gp using command is processed by the mud.

eg. The alias  "get 1 pinch of dust from bag;hold staff;octograve;recharge staff with dust"
The section "get 1 pinch of dust from bag;hold staff" is not gp using an takes 2-4 seconds to complete resulting in a loss of 3-6gp at a 3gp regen
when fired from max gp.

This method also stops the last gp regenerating heartbeat being cut down to 1, 2 or 3 gp when hitting your maximum gp.

• Spam management
  • Using "brief combat" cuts down on combat spam (shearers, and thieves and watchmen who wander in)--you don't see attacks that are dodged/parried. ("Verbose combat" turns it back the other way.)
  • Using colours (Helpfile on colours, or just syntax colours in the game) and/or colour triggers helps greatly in making the things you're more interested in seeing stand out more against fast-moving idle spam. Using colours on zmud.
  • A chat redirector can be helpful if your client supports it, or if you can get a plugin that does it. Putting chats and tells in a separate area of the screen can make them much more noticable (and easier to read if there's a lot of scrolling). It can be particularly helpful if you're the leader, helping make sure you don't miss invite requests (and potentially making it a bit easier to keep track of the queue). An example for MUSHclient is here (it may require editing, depending on the talker channels you listen to).
  • Burying summoned items (balls of fluff, roast sheep, flowers, etc.) after summoning them will help keep the description of what's lying on the floor from filling someone's entire screen when they come in or look. This is more relevant for items that are different each time they're summoned and that therefore don't "stack": fifty balls of fluff, each one a different colour for the most part--or fifty bunches of flowers in a dozen different types, and various states of decay--is much spammier than fifty thaumic funnels sitting on the floor.

Suggestions for recolouring

There are some phrases which it may be more than usually useful to recolour, or add sound triggers to. For example:

This is what it looks like to be invited into a group--it's easy to miss this if the room is busy.

You have been invited by <group leader> to join <pronoun> group called '<group name>'. You have 120 seconds to join the group before the invitation is withdrawn. Use "group join <group leader>" to join.

You may also wish to be alerted when a command has failed. These are the generic failure messages:

What?

Try something else.

Here are some failures due to lack of a target:

Cannot find "<item/person>", no match.

You do not know a ritual called <ritual name> on <target>.

You cannot perform <ritual> on targets that aren't nearby.

You make an obble kissy face.

You make a shearer kissy face.

You serenade everyone tzere on flute

You serenade the scruffy tabby cat on flute.

In some cases, you end up doing the soul instead of the command.

Here are some failures due to lack of gp:

You feel too drained to lockpick anything right now.

You do not have the mental focus to perform <ritual>.

You cannot concentrate sufficiently to <action>.

You are too tired to <action>.

You are too weary to complete a proper search of your surroundings.

If you're having an unusually large number of failures due to lack of gp, you may want to check that you're not under any gp-draining effects (such as gp light sources, dex gloves, or orthopedic shoes) and that all your stats are normal (as stats affect your gp regen).

Some failures due to lack of skill, that may affect later commands or otherwise make things awkward:

You try to find a place to conceal the <item> but it proves too difficult and you give up before you attract unwanted attention. [Failed conceal.]

You try to quietly unconceal the <item> (concealed) but it proves too difficult and you give up before you attract unwanted attention. [Failed unconceal.]

The large round stone explodes! [Failed Convince that destroys stone.]

Finally, here are some warning messages which indicate some kind of danger:

Maybe it's something you're wearing? [Part of the warning message for injury from a flat cap or bronze helm.]

You feel a bit chilly. [Triggered a Divine Hand ward into the butchers' guild freezer]

Some more of your life force slips between your fingers. [Bleeding from Holy Sacrifice.]

<Player> continues to bleed profusely. [Someone else bleeding from Holy Sacrifice.]

Randomness

To add a little diversity to your routine you can do something like:

 identify random thing in packs as RANTOY; palm RANTOY from packs;[...];unidentify every RANTOY in pack..

though it destroys identifies at random (if you have any identified items in your pack), it adds some fun diversity...

you palm the sexy looking bed catalogue from your black backpack

Tweaks and Optimisations

Quick Burial

You can bury an item in your inventory, without dropping it first:

bury <thing> in me

Automatic holding

The 'get' command has additional syntax to hold at the same time. If you get multiple items, you can automatically hold the first item like so:

get fan, violin, bow from pack into right hand; snap fan; hold violin, bow; ...

This holds the fan, without needing an additional 'hold' command. It doesn't allow you to hold multiple items this way though, and only tried to hold the first in the list.

Using ampersand "&" instead of the comma ",":

The standard "get hammer, rock from pack" will not get either item from the pack if you have neither any rocks or hammers in your pack
The modified "get hammer & rock from pack" will still continue to retrieve one of the items if the other doesn't exist in the pack

Extra tms

Sometimes, you can squeeze extra potential tms out of commands you're already using. There are also things that take no gp, but can still tm something.

• covert.manipulation.sleight-of-hand can be tmed by slipping things to or palming things from a closed container (handy if you already use palm or slip in your alias), wrapping things in furoshiki cloths, or wearing things while hiding (less useful, as it can bring you out of hiding)
• covert.casing.place can be tmed by using the map command while hidden. As this can bring you out of hiding, it's best used if you're not planning on using unhide afterwads.
• crafts.arts.design can be tmed by wrapping things in furoshiki cloths.
• faith.items.scroll can be tmed by holding a barbed quill (this does varying amounts of damage, too, so beware).

Location-specific:

• crafts.arts.sculpture can be tmed by making sandcastles or building on them in various sandy rooms (some beaches). There can only be one sandcastle in a room at once, but you can "kick down" completed ones to make room for new ones.
• magic.methods.elemental.water can be tmed by opening the regulator in the gym of the Sto Lat wizards' guild. You can only open it once per minute.
• magic.methods.mental.channeling can be tmed by touching the rune in the Sto Lat wizards guild entrance. This moves you upstairs if successful.
• magic.methods.spiritual.divining can be tmed by moving around, looking directions, or using map in the courtyard of the Bes Pelargic wizard's guild, or moving around horizontally in the willow tree there (Caution: it's unknown whether you can fall doing this).
• people.culture (various) can be tmed by looking at exhibits in the Royal Art Museum.

Even if you don't care about the skill in question, it can still be worth doing for shared tms, or for varying the skills you're using (as it may be easier to tm a skill after tming a different one).

Useful items

• A barbed quill can be held for 100-150hp damage, useful for practicing your healing skills afterwards. It can also tm faith.items.scroll.
• A black pine box can be opened without disarming the trap for around 200 hp of damage.
• Holding a faith rod or praying while holding them can get you faith.items.rod tms. This takes faith gp; the exact amount varies, but seems to depend on the ritual or rituals bestowed on the rod (the difficulty--and chance of tming--depends on this, too) as well as your faith.items.rod bonus. To make it more difficult and use more gp, you can use a rod with multiple rituals on it. The rod doesn't need to be charged all the way--imbued works fine for this.
• Holy relics and wearable holy symbols are good items to attempt to consecrate.
• Maps have three commands that can be used repeatedly with them: study (20 gp), consult (10 gp), and locate (20 gp), all of which use adventuring.direction. Multiple maps can be used at once, but this seems to count as command repetition.
• Musical instruments can be played, or you can use them to serenade or perform solos. Some instruments have additional commands, such as "blow" (whistles) or "strum" (some stringed instruments).^[1] Some instruments need to be tuned occasionally, so it's a good idea to put that in your alias before you try to play them. ^[2] A wooden whistle is an especially good choice as it is lightweight (only 1/9 lb), has the "blow" command in addition to play/perform solo/serenade, and doesn't need to be tuned and tms at low levels.
• A package is a locked item, on which you can use probe, disable, and pick (as long as you fail or stop). You can get one by going to the harbour master in his office in the dock area in Genua and asking for a job.
• A tin of paint, holding 1 quart, provides enough paint for fifty uses of the warpaint command.
• Reading a pamphlet will make you spam says, and anyone who hears you may start doing it, too. This is good for language practice. If other people are doing this and you don't want to spend gp to try to tm the language, speak your native language or speak Grunt (speaking Grunt also makes your says less spammy).)
• A rubber knife can be thrown at other players or npcs without making them attack you (and therefore isn't pk-checked). Even if you hit the rubber knife will just bounce off so you get take it back. Thieves and Assassins can use them for backstab. Very useful in combination with a sheep shearer and abscond.
• A toy crossbow can be loaded with a toy bolt from the north Ankh-Morpork toy shop and then fired at anyone without entering combat. Even if it hits it will bounce off harmlessly allowing you to take it back. This can tm fighting.range.fired.
• Holding a senssu fan, and then 'snapping' it open and closed can tm people.culture.agatean, as well as sometimes dealing a little bit of damage.
• Reading a thaumometer uses 10 gp (Unless there is no background magic, in which case it will cost no GP), and gives 15x GP to XP. "Point"ing a thaumometer at an enchanted item is the same. It uses magic.methods.spiritual.divining.
• Custom turbans use 15 people gp to "tie turban", "wear turban", "untie turban", or "remove turban". Each command is 15x, and they all count separately. It's still possible to tie/untie/remove/wear them if you don't have enough people gp, but if wearing you get a much sloppier description.
• There are various tricks you can attempt to perform with a yo-yo (see 'help yo-yo') which can tm fighting.ranged.thrown. 'Attempt' and 'thwack' both count as commands for your list, and cost 15gp each.
• Aside from combat, weapons are useful for judging. "Locate weapons" will tell you what you have that counts for this (things such as needles, quills, crayons, and faith rods can be judged).

GP Sources

If you are a truly dedicated idler, various GP sources can be used to get that bit of extra XP.

Pink Crystal Rings

Twisting a pink crystal ring grants either 50, 150 or 250 GP depending on the power of the ring, with no side effects. Failing the twist will drain GP, but there is no significant danger to your health involved. On the downside, rings are expensive, and contain a very limited number of charges. While recharging a drained ring is possible, it most certainly does involve very significant danger to the health of the recharger.

Energy Potions

While this witch brewed tea may sound tempting, it blocks command XP, and thus is mostly pointless for idling.

Bury

Burying corpses restores a bit of GP, though obtaining corpses while idling can be difficult.

Warpaint

While you are warpainted and in combat, you will regenerate an additional 3 gp every 4th heartbeat. Staying in combat is typically nontrivial; even combat dummies will eventually have their tender end the combat.

Holy sacrifice

This ritual generates more gp than it costs, although it can be dangerous for your health. There is also a cooldown timer on it.

Relief

If you can persuade someone else to perform relief on you, they can act as a gp battery for you. Since relief drains and provides a relative amount of gp, this means a dedicated battery with 4 gp regen of his own can provide 100% gp regen every 12.5->13 heartbeats, although you will have to find a battery with high ritual bonuses and a 0 bonus in fa.poi. Since this will also cost the battery hit points, 4 hp regen is preferred. This is trivial for a warrior; a sample rearrange for a priest battery with this is Con 20, Int 10, Wis 19 (actually this comes to 5 hp regen, useful if relief acts up). Since the return is 100%, no matter how many gp that comes to, this can arbitrarily approach infinite gp regen, although every time your battery tms faith points he'll get worse at relief.

Useful Websites

General

• The TM Project: good for figuring out what you might be able to tm at your bonus.
• Kefka's Discworld MUD maps: just what it says on the tin, plus Kefka's item database--good for finding out exactly where to get stuff.
• Deb's Discworld Music MUD Database: Lists musical instruments, where to get them, how heavy they are, and what bonuses you need to play them.
• Regeneration rates: Useful if you want to rearrange for 4 gp regen (as opposed to the default 3), which increases your idling power significantly.

Guild

• Priests Guild Wiki: Gives information on priest rituals, commands, and other stuff.
• A Study of Wizardry: A general wizard site, describes spells and gives their headspace and gp requirements and general bonus info, as well as other things.
• The Spellcheck Project: For wizards; gives an idea of bonuses necessary to fail/succeed/tm at various spells.

Footnotes

1. ↑ Playing music from a primer or playing a custom message counts as the same command as just "play", and it seems to be the command you use to play the instrument, not the instrument itself, that matters--"play"ing five different instruments will still count as repetition.
2. ↑ Tuning seems to take five gp, and gives little or no xp, but you can tm from doing it, and it seems like you can't use gp or gain xp by trying to play it when it's untuned.