License to Adventure
From A KoL Wiki
License to Adventure is the Summer 2017 special challenge path, introduced on May 15, 2017. This path adds variant rules and restrictions to an ascension run. Its description in The Bureau of Reincarnation reads "You're a trained Loathing Operative, serving on His Majesty's Secret Service! Prepare to save the world over and over."
The whole thing is basically a huge reference to the spy action book and film series James Bond.
Restrictions
- Your liver capacity is equal to (level + 2). This reaches a maximum at level 11.
- You can only drink booze that uses a
glass.
- You're not sure this beverage was shaken, and what the heck kind of glass is it in!? Never!
- You cannot eat.
- You can't risk being slowed down by a full stomach.
- You cannot use a familiar. Not even in a Crown of Thrones or Buddy Bjorn.
- Your familiar doesn't have a license to adventure and can't accompany you.
- You cannot adventure in The Sea. Attempting to talk to An Old Man gives the following message:
- That shack you saw on the main map was just a picture of a shack drawn on the ground.
- You keep your normal skills, but get access to an additional skill tree where you can gain skills based on your "social capital."
- You have access to Secret Villain Lairs. If you leave them unattended for too long, you become Disavowed.
What Is A Martini?
For the purposes of this challenge path, a martini seems to be a drink that uses the 
icon.
This includes the following, which can be boosted by having connections with either Barry (+1) and/or Ben Dover (+4):
| Q | Item | Mus | Mys | Mox | Level | Adv | Drunk | Adv/Drunk | Adv/Drunk (Barry & Ben +5) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| barrel-aged martini | 0.0 | 7.5 | 15.0 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 3.00 | 5.50 | |
| dry martini, dry vodka martini | 0.0 | 0.0 | 9.0 | 3 | 7.5 | 3 | 2.50 | 4.16 | |
| gibson, vodka gibson | 0.0 | 0.0 | 18.0 | 3 | 7.5 | 3 | 2.50 | 4.16 | |
| hacked gibson | 50.0 | 50.0 | 50.0 | 4 | 21 | 4 | 5.25 | 5.50 | |
| martini, vodka martini | 0.0 | 0.0 | 9.0 | 1 | 5.5 | 3 | 1.83 | 3.50 | |
| rockin' wagon | 0.0 | 0.0 | 35.0 | 4 | 12 | 4 | 3.00 | 3.25 | |
| soft green echo eyedrop antidote martini | 7.0 | 7.5 | 38.0 | 5 | 13 | 4 | 3.25 | 3.50 | |
| basic martini | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3.00 | 8.00 | |
| improved martini | 18.0 | 18.0 | 18.0 | 3 | 4.5 | 1 | 4.50 | 9.50 | |
| splendid martini | 18.0 | 18.0 | 18.0 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 6.00 | 11.00 |
As well as the more obscure:
| Q | Item | Mus | Mys | Mox | Level | Adv | Drunk | Adv/Drunk | Adv/Drunk (Barry & Ben +5) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon Delight | 4.0 | 4.0 | 37.5 | 1 | 12 | 4 | 3.00 | 3.25 | requires Kokomo Resort Passes from the PvP season | |
| beertini | 0.0 | 11.0 | 11.0 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 2.00 | 3.66 | requires a Bartender-in-the-box (Campground) explosion | |
| bloody kiwitini | 30.0 | 30.0 | 30.0 | 15 | 15 | 3 | 5.00 | 5.33 | from Dreadsylvania | |
| dream of a dog | 16.5 | 20.0 | 16.0 | 8 | 10.5 | 2 | 5.25 | 5.75 | rarely from Resting | |
| Dreadsylvanian grimlet | 40.0 | 40.0 | 40.0 | 26 | 38 | 4 | 9.50 | 9.97 | from Dreadsylvania | |
| eldritch distillate | 333.0 | 333.0 | 333.0 | 12 | 10 | 3 | 3.33 | 3.66 | elaborate crafting method | |
| low tide martini, piscatini | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 5.00 | 10.00 | requires Robortender to drop items from fought Fish |
Standard-restricted martinis (may be consumed when out of Ronin and/or when the path is no longer current):
| Q | Item | Mus | Mys | Mox | Level | Adv | Drunk | Adv/Drunk | Adv/Drunk (Barry & Ben +5) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bee's Knees | 15.0 | 15.0 | 15.0 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 3.50 | 6.0 | |
| chocotini | 0.0 | 0.0 | 15.0 | 5 | 7.5 | 3 | 2.50 | 4.16 | |
| discocktail | 0.0 | 0.0 | 9.0 | 1 | 9 | 3 | 3.00 | 4.66 | |
| Golden Mean | 0.0 | 28.5 | 0.0 | 4 | 6.5 | 2 | 3.25 | 5.75 | |
| Herringtini | 18.5 | 18.5 | 19.0 | 8 | 8.5 | 2 | 4.25 | 6.75 | |
| Humanitini | 5.5 | 7.0 | 9.5 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 2.50 | 5.0 | |
| Lollipop Drop | 0.0 | 0.0 | 13.0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 2.50 | 5.0 | |
| More Humanitini than Humanitini | 12.5 | 13.5 | 14.0 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 3.00 | 5.5 | |
| Red Dwarf | 0.0 | 17.0 | 0.0 | 1 | 4.5 | 2 | 2.25 | 4.75 |
This specifically excludes:
- a little sump'm sump'm or other drinks that use
- corpsetini
- moreltini or other drinks that use
- nothingtini
- steel margarita
Divergences
- No familiar may be used at any time during the run.
- No food may be eaten.
- Each day, before you spend your first adventure, you are diverted to a meeting at the LI-11 HQ. There, you are informed by a superior that a villain has established a lair at a specific place in the Kingdom and you are assigned to eliminate it. If you adventure anywhere else for too long before completing the assigned lair, your spymaster superiors will get angry with you and you will eventually begin receiving the Disavowed debuff before every adventure.php encounter. You can only spend 10 encounters in adventure.php locations before receiving the debuff. This includes things like entering the Gift Shop in the Shore and turnless encounters, but not things like the Tavern Cellar or Witchess fights, which also do not give Disavowed even after this limit has passed.
- Disavowed gives -1% to all stats, -1% to item drops, -2% to meat drops and -1 stats per fight, for each encounter spent ignoring your mission, and applies at the start of combats so it even hampers you on that turn.
- The Super Villain's Lair is a zone that may appear off the coast of Seaside Town, the Nearby Plains, or in the Big Mountains. It contains several dozen combat encounters with a single type of minion -- e.g. aquanaut, Soldier, Ski Patroller, etc. -- one or two combats with a Villainous Henchperson, and finally, a combat with the villain himself. Minions yield meat but no items, while henchpeople can drop a variety of quest-relevant items, and defeating the final villain rewards you with Victor's Spoils and two pounds of Social Capital to spend back at headquarters.
- Clearing a Lair can be accelerated by making the correct choices in three non-combat adventures that appear in the Lair.
- First, you are confronted with A Strange Panel with three colored buttons. Choosing the correct button eliminates 10 minions from the lair; choosing incorrectly can result in 7 more minions being added, making the zone take even longer to complete. The correct button can be identified in advance of the adventure by examining post-combat messages after fights against minions. You will be informed of a radio report warning lair staff not to press a {color} button, lest some {result} occur. The {color} message will usually be a shade of a base color: "navy" or "jade" or "seafoam" among others. (The mechanic is similar, but not identical, to the combat mechanic against the Unusual construct.) The {result} message will either suggest a situation in which fellow minions might be placed in peril if the button is pushed -- e.g. "Don't press the navy button until our guys have their gas masks on!" -- or a situation that suggests that pressing the button will invite more minions in -- "Don't press the seafoam button! The barracks are too crowded already!" You will want to look for messages that would put minions in peril and note the base color (e.g. blue, green, or orange) that is closest to the shade of color described in that message. When you encounter the noncombat, push the appropriate color button and enjoy the carnage.
- Second, you are confronted a choice of three doors. One will cost 1000 meat to enter; selecting that door and spending the meat banishes 5 minions from the zone. Another door requires you to have a random one of the three Daily Dungeon legend keys -- Boris', Jarlsberg's, or Sneaky Pete's -- in inventory. The key is consumed upon use, but selecting that door eliminates 15 minions. The third door is for a "massage room" with a "spies welcome" sign. That door is always available, but selecting it seems to add about 13 more minions to the zone. There is also a fourth option to skip all of the doors; this is the best choice if you have neither 1000 meat or the required key.
- Third, you will be confronted with a panel with "strange symbols" and a choice of three settings. If you have already obtained the Universal Symbology Guide skill from the LI-11 HQ, the three settings will be labeled with a description like "roaring fire" or "monorail shutdown"; otherwise, the labels will be illegible, and you will have to guess randomly at their effects. Selecting the correct button will eliminate 20 minions from the zone; selecting incorrectly can result in 10 minions killed or even adding 15 minions to the zone.
- The lair can also be accelerated by using spider webs, razor-sharp can lids, and Knob Goblin firecrackers in combat against a Villainous Minion (not a Villainous Henchperson!) once per day, which will each remove 3 minions from the Lair in addition to its normal effect. The three items may be used against the same minion.
- Once a Lair is cleared, you can adventure freely in the Kingdom for the remainder of the day without accumulating any more of the Disavowed debuff. A new Lair will need your attention tomorrow.
- Instead of the Naughty Sorceress, you fight "Blofeld". You do not need the Wand of Nagamar.
Skills
- When you begin, you choose one of the six basic classes.
- You keep your usual skills.
- At LI-11 HQ, you can spend social capital on various bonuses.
Strategy
- You definitely want astral energy drinks, since other astral items are useless.
- Astral mask or astral shirt are good candidates for astral pets, as the path mechanics render the astral pet sweater useless and the astral belt unnecessary.
- Obtaining the Universal Symbology Guide as one of your first skills at LI-11 HQ is an excellent plan. Poking blindly at the buttons can result in a net increase of 35 henchmen in the zone (missing out on the ability to kill 20 and accidentally adding an extra 15). At 3 social capital, the skill is expensive and beyond the reach of anyone who can't hit Level 6 quickly on Day 1. Regardless, this skill effectively helps you save 20 turns a day (that you can use elsewhere!), which is more than virtually any other use of social capital.
- Every day, you can use one each of the Gourd quest items in combat (knob goblin firecracker, razor-sharp can lid, or spider web) to defeat 3 minions each. Firecrackers can be acquired when unlocking Cobb's Knob, while alley spiders make viable targets for the Time-Spinner or Duplicate.
- Since Secret Villain Lairs take lots of adventures to clear and are completely optional, you could not do them instead of doing them to save roughly 20 turns each day. For example, in a three-day Hardcore run skipping the lair on the second day (and no longer adventuring once you get down to enough turns that rollover won't put you over 200) is viable.
Rewards
- Finishing a License to Adventure run that began while it was still the current special challenge path -- that is, between May 15th, 2017, and August 14th, 2017 -- gives players 100 (in Hardcore) or 50 (in Normal) extra karma points the next time they visit Valhalla.
- Players will receive a Thwaitgold bug statue and License To Kill upon defeating "Blofeld".
- Players in Hardcore gain the stainless steel equipment for their class.
