Talk:Basement Diving Guide

"Cursed" Combat Items to be Added to Page?

Ok, so with the new pirate content, there are three new combat items available that seem very pertinent to basement diving: cursed voodoo skull, cursed dirty joke scroll, and cursed cannonball. They deal damage equal to buffed mysticality, moxie, and muscle, respectively. Especially when used with Ambidextrous Funkslinging and the V Mask, these can shore up holes in any basement dive: Muscle Classes now have an answer to the N-dimensional horror, and Myst Classes now have an answer to N Bottles of beer on a golem. Any thoughts on this? --Wildfire393 06:07, 15 December 2007 (CST)

• They seem kinda pricey at the moment. Without crunching any numbers, I think it'd be more cost-effective to stick with two permed skills (Snapper and a spell). But there's no reason in principle why they couldn't be added as an alternative. --Bagatelle 21:21, 15 December 2007 (CST)
• They're really not all that pricey. Also, since Snapper and Fearful Fettucini have no practical use in ascensions, many ascenders will not be willing to spend an ascension on them. This way, you only have to be a TT or Myst class on your first few Dives, since the items can shore up the holes. --Wildfire393 19:47, 19 December 2007 (CST)

Optimal Time To Start A Dive

The section is marked as being incomplete because the combat rate is unknown. In the HCO forums I found a 220-level log from someone named "dalgar". After filtering out some duplicates, there are 81 monsters, 33 elemental tests, 50 stat tests, 7 gauntlets, and 5 festering powders, for a total of 176 (plus the 44 stat gains makes 220). This gives a "combat" rate of 36.8%, or 46.0% if you exclude the stat-gain adventures.

Semirelatedly, what's the ratio between substat gain and mainstat? Dalgar was getting 600 substats on average (after accounting for stat day) but from the logs it's not clear what his mainstat was. --PlatypusNinja 16:39, 26 November 2007 (CST)

I filled this section in. This math was done in anticipation of making my first dive, so it's very possible I got something wrong. Those of you who do this frequently: does starting at 739 sound right-ish? --PlatypusNinja 20:06, 30 November 2007 (CST)

• I can't speak to whether starting at 27 gets you to 30, since I eschew trophies, but a tiny question on the math... Where'd the extra +2 term in the ML exponential come from? I lifted it originally from the Fernswarthy's Basement article and the only post I found on the HCO forum was 2BL^1.4. The 40 in the sombrero equation had me confused for a bit until I realised a default weight of 40 was being used... Maybe note that explicitly? --Bagatelle 20:53, 30 November 2007 (CST)

• • It came from the Beast With N Eyes page, which in retrospect was probably the wrong place to take it. Fixing. --PlatypusNinja 21:45, 30 November 2007 (CST)

Code

For reasons of generality, the buff rate on the article is entirely arbitrary, and excludes equipment. That's unreasonable in practice, so here's some Python code that can calculate base stat/damage at given basement levels, as well as required main stat given a buff level that a player can maintain. It'll spit out two tables of tab-separated data, which should be able to be copy-pasted into any decent spreadsheet program. --Bagatelle 15:13, 12 November 2007 (CST)

################################################################################
# control outputs

# interval between basement levels to output...
# so 25 would output every 25th level
BLStep = 25

# minimum level to output
BLStart = 24

# maximum level to output, subject to BLStep and BLStart parameters
# i.e., it is possible to output zero levels if these parameters
# have strange values
BLEnd = 500

# percentage to pad tests when calculating challenge numbers
# 0 to suppress padding rows
PadPct = 5

# for those who wish to display ONLY padded output for the damage/required
# main stat tables, set this to "False"
# so setting PadPct = 0 and PrintUnpadded = False will guarantee empty output
PrintUnpadded = False

# whether to print basement levels that are multiples of 5
# usually set to "False" because levels mod 5 are always rewards, so
# no point in printing them
# however, if BLStep, BLStart, BLEnd are set to output only multiples of 5,
# the program will output an empty table
Print5 = False

################################################################################
# character/buff configuration: used to calculate main stat required to
# complete a dive

# the script has no error-checking, so don't be a nut a say "True" to both
# Seal Clubber/Turtle Tamer?
MusChar = True
# Pastamancer/Sauceror?
MysChar = False

# HP/MP percentage boosts: do you have these skills available?
GnomishHardigness = False
CosmicUgnderstanding = True
WisdomOfTheElderTortoises = True
SpiritOfRavioli = True

# Outfit data: all outfits assume you are not suffering a
# NET negative effect on stats

# input total percentages for equipment/effects using "Pct" parameters
# input total absolute modifiers for equipment/effects using "Abs" parameters
# input the equipment/buffs you are willing to sustain for the entire dive

# Muscle outfit
MusPct = 900
MusAbs = 50
# Mysticality outfit
MysPct = 900
MysAbs = 50
# Moxie outfit
MoxPct = 900
MoxAbs = 50

# HP outfit: ignores DR, which is negligible at high BL
HPMusPct = 800
HPMusAbs = 50
HPAbs = 0
HPDA = 1000

# MP outfit
MPMysPct = 900
MPMysAbs = 50
MPAbs = 0

# Elemental resistance outfit: assumes outfit is the same for all elements
EltMusPct = 900
EltMusAbs = 50
EltHPAbs = 0
EltPct = 60

# end configuration
# do not edit anything below this line
################################################################################
from math import *

# standardise percents into multiplier fractions
MusFrac = 1 + MusPct / 100.0
MysFrac = 1 + MysPct / 100.0
MoxFrac = 1 + MoxPct / 100.0
DAFrac = 1 - (sqrt(HPDA / 10) - 1) / 10
EltFrac = 1 - EltPct / 100.0
EltMusFrac = 1 + EltMusPct / 100.0
HPMusFrac = 1 + HPMusPct / 100.0
MPMysFrac = 1 + MPMysPct / 100.0
PadFrac = 1 + PadPct / 100.0

# change passive "skills" into multipliers
if MusChar:
  ClassHP = 1.5
else:
  ClassHP = 1.0
if MysChar:
  ClassMP = 1.5
else:
  ClassMP = 1.0
if WisdomOfTheElderTortoises:
  MPWisdom = 1.5
else:
  MPWisdom = 1.0
if CosmicUgnderstanding:
  MPCosmic = 1.05
else:
  MPCosmic = 1.0
if SpiritOfRavioli:
  HPSpirit = 1.25
else:
  HPSpirit = 1.0
if GnomishHardigness:
  HPHardiness = 1.05
else:
  HPHardiness = 1.0

# generate headers for list of basement data
BL = dict(
  BL = "BL", Stat = "Stat", Elt = "Elt (2x)", Phys = "Phys", Drain = "Drain"
)
Basement = [BL]
# calculate challenge data for desired basement levels
for Level in range(BLStart, BLEnd, BLStep):
  if Print5 or Level % 5 != 0:
    # format harddrive
    Basement.append(dict(
      BL = Level, Stat = Level**1.4 + 2, Elt = 4.48 * Level**1.4 + 8,
      Phys = 10 * Level**1.4, Drain = 1.67 * Level**1.4
    ))

# calculate chart of stat/damage done for common stat levels
for Rec in range(0, len(Basement)):
  Level = Basement[Rec]
  if Rec == 0:
    # header row
    TestStrengths = [[
      ["BL"], ["Stat"],
      ["Phys (0% DA)", "Phys (60% DA)", "Phys (90% DA)"],
      ["Drain"],
      ["Elt (0% Res)", "Elt (60% Res)", "Elt (80% Res)"]
    ]]
  else:
    # calculate unrounded numbers for common stat levels
    TempArray = [
      [Level["BL"]], [Level["Stat"]],
      [Level["Phys"], 0.4 * Level["Phys"], 0.1 * Level["Phys"]],
      [Level["Drain"]],
      [Level["Elt"], 0.4 * Level["Elt"], 0.2 * Level["Elt"]]
    ]
    # unpadded data: round up
    if PrintUnpadded:
      TestStrengths.append(
        [[repr(TempArray[0])]] + \
          [map(lambda x: int(ceil(x)), Arr) for Arr in TempArray[1:]]
      )
    # padded numbers: pad, then round up
    if PadPct != 0:
      TestStrengths.append(
        [[repr(TempArray[0][0]) + " (" + repr(PadPct) + "% padding)"]] + \
          [map(lambda x: int(ceil(PadFrac * x)), Arr) for Arr in TempArray[1:]]
      )

# calculate required main stat given sustained buffed main stat and
# character configurations as defined by parameters
for Rec in range(0, len(TestStrengths)):
  Level = TestStrengths[Rec]
  if Rec == 0:
    ReqStat = [["BL", "Mus", "Mys", "Mox", "Phys", "Drain", "Elt"]]
  else:
    # the HP/MP backsolve formulae are not exact, because ceiling() and floor()
    # do not have inverse functions
    # however, the large numbers involved and the understanding that there
    # is basement variation anyway makes this largely irrelevant

    # for each basement level with calculated data (including padded data,
    # if calculated), backsolve main stat for three stat tests,
    # HP/MP tests, and elemental test
    ReqStat.append(
      [Level[0][0]] + map(lambda x: int(ceil(x)), [
        # Muscle
        (Level[1][0] - MusAbs) / MusFrac,
        # Mysticality
        (Level[1][0] - MysAbs) / MysFrac,
        # Moxie
        (Level[1][0] - MoxAbs) / MoxFrac,
        # HP
        (
          (DAFrac * Level[2][0] / (HPHardiness * HPSpirit) - HPAbs) / ClassHP \
            - 3 - HPMusAbs
        ) / HPMusFrac,
        # MP
        (Level[3][0] / (MPCosmic * MPWisdom) - MPMysAbs - MPAbs) / MPMysFrac,
        # Elemental
        (
          (EltFrac * Level[4][0] / (HPHardiness * HPSpirit) - EltHPAbs) / \
            ClassHP - 3 - EltMusAbs
        ) / EltMusFrac
      ])
    )

# flatten list of lists into a single list
def Flatten(Arg):
  Val = []
  for Arr in Arg:
    if isinstance(Arr, str) or isinstance(Arr, int):
      Val.append(Arr)
    else:
      # kmail all your rares to a random account
      Val += Arr
  return Val

# tab-separated output
def TabPrint(InList):
  Table = ""
  for Rec in InList:
    Line = "\n"
    Rec = Flatten(Rec)
    for Item in Rec:
      Line += str(Item) + "\t"
    Table += Line
  print Table

print "Test Strengths"
TabPrint(TestStrengths)
print "\nRequired Main Stat (w/ equalising potions and calculated buffs)"
TabPrint(ReqStat)

Gnomitronic Hyperspatial Demodulizer

It seems to me that in a tight situation, the boosts from the GHD could be useful. Not that I've used it in the basement.