I’ve never been able to bring myself to ascend a 3-rune game either. By the time I get to zot, I know I can win — why not go for the bonus round? I don’t think I’ve won (though I cloned my save file one time to try both 3 and 15 one time and did technically win the 3). My closest was a wipe on sentinel island at 13-14 runes.
Huh, this seems like a new way of thinking about Crawl to me as I've only ever won three and four runes, and I've never collected more than six in a single game. So it still feels like a huge gap from that to 15!
Haha thanks, it was definitely a great feeling. I feel like I "beat" DCSS and haven't had any real desire to play since, but it's for the best I think...
I had dozens of Minotaur Fighters and Gargoyle Fighters that made it up to 7+ runes before dying. The worst death by far was a MiFi that died to Hellion Island because I was playing in bed, shifted my body slightly, and then accidentally held down the space bar for a few seconds right as I encountered it for the first time ever. Oops!
I am surprised no one has expanded on the DCSS experience in regards to auto/manual yet. The ability to seamlessly switch between automated exploration/combat and precision controls is the killer feature that kept me hooked, I think.
