[Shade]

Well, they still give a really nice effect, so it's not wasted at least, just... less awesome than it might've been.

[BloodEagle]

I'll just farm them, and hope that the price goes up within the year.

[karajorma]

Yeah. Market speculation is a tricky thing. In general I've usually made a fair return on my investments but there have been a couple of times I've lost my shirt on a deal.

[Shade]

Well, that's it for Hobopolis this time round. Luckily Hodgman wasn't as stingy with his loot as the sub-bosses were, and gave up two vault items, a book (Link - it's tradeable so I'll send it to Kara), as well as some flasks of booze - 3 of those in fact, so one for each

[Edit] It seems the skill given by the book is *not* marked as Hardcore Permanent when you get it, so it has to be permed on ascension. Just so whoever gets the book is aware of this and doesn't waste it.

[BloodEagle]

That's a nice skill. 

[karajorma]

Does anyone have anything they particularly want? I was planning to do an AT run next and none of that stuff (apart from Hodgman's) is of any use to me so you might as well take first pick guys.

Do remember that me and Shade paid for this run and will probably have to pay for the next one too though.

[BloodEagle]

All I want is Ol' Scratch's ol' britches. And I have 625k, now.

[Shade]

Interested in Hodgman stuff obviously, book or hat in particular as I've got no hobo power yet. As for the rest, nothing this time round that really strikes my fancy - Got the bag of candy and wand last time, and my next run will likely be as a Pastamancer so nothing left that'll help.

Oh, and for making money, remember to hit the duck farm every day with a meat-drop familiar equipped. Those things can give 10k easy per day just for the 15 turns, and maybe as much as 20k if you're buffed up beyond all reason.

[karajorma]

Yeah. If I use 10 turns of Mick Inhaler I can quite easily farm around 20k there. And it's even higher now that I've got myself a scratch 'n' sniff sword.

But even without that stuff you can still get a fair chunk of meat from there and the Giant Castle.

I'll have a look what everyone got. I think two items each for me and Shade and 3 for Blood Eagle seems fair especially if those getting two take Hodgeman's stuff.

The main question becomes when should we flood Hobopolis and dig it out again? Right now I'd rather spend my turns in Crimbo Town so if no one is going down there we might as well wait.

[Shade]

Agreed, let's wait till after Crimbo.

[BloodEagle]

Agreed. I didn't spend any real time clearing out Hobopolis once the Crimbo events started occuring, anyway.

[BloodEagle]

The Penguin Mafia has sent in Hit-Penguins! 

They're dropping Grimacite Knee-capping Sticks. 

[karajorma]

And also the rather cool Canteen of wine.

[BloodEagle]

The drop-rate on that knee-capping stick is starting to piss me off. 

[karajorma]

I don't think I've got one yet and I spent over 200 turns there.

[NGTM-1R]

It annoys me despite having gone up a couple levels since my first attempt at it, crimbotown remains frustratingly able to beat me to death in about three combats. Or less.

[Shade]

Those monsters scale to your stats... so no matter how high you go, it won't help There are a few things you can do to tilt things in your favour though:

First, forget about boosting stats, particularly Moxie... ideally, your Moxie should be the same level as your Muscle or lower - This will effectively lower the monsters' level as the stats they scale to are lower. Second, equip the highest-power armour you have, regardless of other bonuses, as this will migitate a fair amount of damage. Third, use any buffs or equipment that directly boosts damage without also improving stats, as this will let you kill them faster without them gaining levels. And fourth, use a deleveling familiar like a Barrnacle.

[Edit] Also, just sent some buffs your way that should hopefully help some.

[karajorma]

Personally I just load up on purple snowcones and then lunging-thrust-smack my merry way through them all.

[Shade]

Yep, same here (well, no snowcones... I've got more than enough mana for a day of LTS just using the three massages from the war sidequest). Works well when you have a bunch of ascensions... LTS is not really a viable strategy for a DB with no ascensions yet, though

[karajorma]

A Disco Face Stab should make for a good strategy in those situations though.