Ivy
| Ivy | |
|---|---|
 | |
| ASCII | C C (Jungle) |
| Movement | Growing |
| Native Lands | Jungle Lost Mountain R'Lyeh Irradiated Field |
A huge plant growing in the Jungle.
The Ivy is a multi-tile, plant-like monster. It is native to the Jungle, but makes appearances in some other lands: Lost Mountain, R'Lyeh (where it has special generation rules) and Irradiated Field.
Generation[edit]
In Jungle, Ivies are initially generated with their roots on heptagonal cells and separated somewhat from other Ivies. With a chance of 1% for every Ruby and 5% for every Orb of Yendor collected by the player (capped at 25%), Ivies in the Jungle will generate twinned -- that is, two Ivies with their roots directly adjacent. A lone (non-twinned) Jungle Ivy also holds a Ruby under its root.
In R'Lyeh, Ivies are generated with their roots on hexagonal cells adjacent to three heptagonal columns, which makes them have 3 branches instead of the usual 6 or 7. They also have a Statue of Cthulhu under their root.
Ivies in Irradiated Field have a Torbernite under their root. There are no special rules for Ivy generation in Lost Mountain.
Properties[edit]
Each Ivy consists of a root (cyan) and several branches, which normally appear dark green. One of the branches is active; this branch is highlighted green with its outermost leaf in yellow, and will grow or attack on the current turn as applicable. After doing so, the branch goes dormant and the next branch in clockwise order becomes active. If the Ivy has grown to have multiple branching points in its branches, this clockwise advance happens along the outermost branching point possible (or the root, if there are none).
Cutting an Ivy leaf will instantly destroy all Ivy leaves that are now unconnected to the root. Killing the root will destroy the entire Ivy at once.
In Lost Mountain, cells adjacent to Ivies count as stable, except that Ivies cannot climb themselves or other Ivies.
Strategy[edit]
Most of the time, defeating an Ivy involves cutting off a currently dormant branch and going in for the root as soon as possible. If necessary, one may attack a currently active branch to slow the growth of the Ivy in the direction of oneself. The rules of Ivy generation in other lands where it appears can sometimes drastically change the required strategy.
- Jungle: Twinned Ivies are much harder to defeat than lone Ivies, as they essentially behave as one Ivy that grows at double the normal rate. Timing is key here.
- Lost Mountain: Ivies are valuable for climbing, so it may be advantageous to leave an Ivy alive if it lets you climb up to a point you want to reach. Watch out for which of its branches is active, though.
- R'Lyeh: Since Ivies here have only 3 branches, they grow much more quickly than the 7-branched Ivies in the Jungle, and are thus harder to defeat.
Trivia[edit]
The Ivy was inspired by a monster known as the Ivy Creeper in the roguelike Ragnarok (a.k.a. Valhalla). This is also the source for the symbol used to represent Ivies in ASCII graphics, which is C. [1]