Let's Play Dungeon Keeper 2

[Tené]

Yeah, it's DK1 and its expansion. I know that there's a couple of DK2s for sale on Amazon, at least the UK site.

Anyway, I'll do the next update soon, once the thread reaches page 2. That way it won't take so long to load all the images.

And now we are on page 2. So the update will be as soon as I feel like making it.

[Tené]

Double-post. Bite me.

Chapter IV: "Snipers"

Regrettably, the impoverished land of Ramshackle yielded no new technology to me. However, west of that land is a realm famous for its strong defences, so perhaps I could find something useful there.

Shadygrove.
“Your next adversary, Lord Ludwig, is currently patrolling his keep, considering himself and all of his subjects safe in this land. Known as a cowardly wretch, he has always relied on others to do his fighting for him. This is one battle he will not avoid.”

My dungeon heart is once again placed in the south. I set about building up a complete dungeon. Copious gold seams around supply me with plenty of money, which will keep my campaign financed for a good while.

Tip: See the library in the bottom-left? I should have placed it differently. If it was moved one tile southwards, I’d have a three-tile wall, which would give me another lectern. Ah well, c’est la vie.
Building up takes a long time. My imps claimed a portal early on, but since the more productive rooms of the library and workshop were built last, I attracted a lot of goblins first. In order to allow more room for powerful creatures, I was forced to expel some of the goblins. I said I was streamlining the workforce for greater efficiency. I think they bought it.

Having a single portal allows you to attract fifteen creatures. I had attracted seven goblins. I had to get rid of some.
Tunnelling further north, I encounter something useful.

This looks like it used to be part of Ludwig’s perimeter defences. The coward must have pulled back his guards to have more security around his fortress. It won’t help him. My imps take the guard room, which will serve my cause well.
Any room can be claimed by your imps provided it is adjacent to one of your tiles. Of course, attempting to claim someone else’s rooms while they’re still being used will be met with resistance, and a dead imp can’t claim anything.

I place a lair and a hatchery by the guard room, so that the creatures defending it won’t have to travel far to meet their needs.
Any creature placed in a guard room will automatically engage enemies within a certain area. Look closely at the minimap there – the mauve square is the area this guard room defends.
While doing this, my warlocks come up with a new spell: Possession.

I’ll show you this spell later, as there’s a good opportunity later in the level. In fact, the last parts of this level centre around this spell.
Things are moving very quickly, and the open guard post drew the attentions of a dark elf.

I am reliably informed that she is female, though I have my doubts.
Dark elves are female. They are also bald and have gruff voices. They do, however, have breasts, so I guess that decides it.
North of the guard room lies a locked door. Wishing to know what is behind it, I have some goblins smash it down.

An ambush! Three armoured guards await my goblins. They are inexperienced, however, and quickly fall to the sword. They appear to have been guarding a portal, which I claim as my own.
Each additional portal allows you to attract five more creatures.

Lord Ludwig appears to have some semblance of strategy; he sends out frequent small skirmish groups to harass me. I would almost respect him if he weren’t such a coward. The skirmishers provide good target practice for my crossbow-wielding elves.
Around the lake that borders my dungeon, I find several magical boxes. My imps decide to take them to the library.

Imps will take powerups to the library if they can. When there, you can activate them from the spell tab. This is a Receive Imps powerup, which gives you ten free imps.
No sooner have I activated the box than heroes tunnel into my library.

Did they want those imps for something? Or was it coincidence? Regardless, warlocks don’t like having their research interrupted. They dispatch the invaders quickly.
At the end of the tunnel they made, I find a gateway with a guard room in front. Perfect! My imps claim the guard room, and now I can have a suitable defence against intruders from the west.
I suspect that Ludwig is attempting to flank from both sides – he runs the realm from above ground, so such a manoeuvre is possible. Pre-empting an eastern attack, I send imps out in that direction in the hopes of finding another guard room and gateway.

I am not proven wrong.
Not satisfied with simply repelling Ludwig’s attacks, I decide to strike at him as soon as possible. Mining further north, I encounter his guard...

A decrepit old dwarf. He looks as though a stiff breeze could knock him out. However, he is near enough to the fortress to call for help at any sign of danger. None of my creatures have the subtlety to swiftly kill him from afar, although my elves have the range.

I possess an elf. The spell my warlocks researched allows me to control a creature’s mind and body totally, though I cannot attend the management of my dungeon while doing so. Still, I can now directly strike at the pathetic guard before he even notices me…

He goes down with a single bolt.
I have some of my creatures dismantle the cannons guarding the door, and break it down.

That bastard destroyed the drawbridge! There is no way to claim the land near his fortress now, so I cannot send in my creatures by hand. However, my possession spell has no limit to its range. I possess a creature, and summon the other minions in my domain. This horde of goblins, trolls, elves and warlocks is marched across the moat, into the fortress.
With so many of his forces sacrificed in attempts to harass me, Ludwig has left his position within the fortress crucially unstaffed, having relied on his walls and the moat to block me. In a hail of swords, maces, fireballs and arrows, the old coward is cut down before he can raise his sword.

The Horned Reaper arrives, once again, to take the portal gem. With my creatures in the fortress, the town of Shadygrove is defenceless.


More flavour text: When you leave the game for a long time, the mentor makes a droll remark...

“The very rock yawns with anticipation of your next fascinating move.”

[Space]

This game still intrigues me. It's too bad that earlier link was just for the first game... I was interested in the My Pet Dungeon feature. Sandbox-style modes are what I like.

[Oberstleutnant Insipid]

Yes, well The Underdogs didn't have Dungeon Keeper 2.

EDIT: Demo download

I got mine from FilePlanet, but you need an account for that.

[Tené]

Chapter V: “Fear”

Continuing my campaign, I move north to the lands of Elmshadow.

“You face a strange quest this time, Keeper. You must not only conquer this land; you must also conquer fear. Lord Constantine has installed himself as master of all he surveys at Keep Fear, and protected himself with powerful traps. It is said that all who attempt to depose him turn back at their first attempt, their faces contorted with terror.”

I begin in the west. Simply listening to the sounds beyond the dungeon’s walls indicates that there is water nearby, in rather large amounts.

If you haven’t yet noticed, you can see a few tiles away into the fog of war.
I begin mining out my dungeon. Regrettably, there is very little gold near my heart, which means that I cannot afford to construct many rooms.

There will no doubt be plenty of money later, but for now my dungeon will have to consist of mostly vacant spaces. No sooner do I strike out to find more gold than heroes tunnel in, very close to my dungeon’s heart! Having only just claimed a portal, I have only two fireflies and a weak warlock to fight them off, and very little mana for my Thunderbolt spell.

One of the heroes even manages to reach the Heart. This must not happen again.
In an attempt to prevent this, I construct a guard room near to the breach, which opens out onto some sort of underground swamp... at least, it is a mess of interconnecting rivers.

My firefly scouts spot plenty of gold out in this marsh. While I cannot claim water, technology taken from Shadygrove allows me to construct a wooden bridge across it. No longer shall water be a barrier to me!

To be honest, it’s quite pathetic that it ever was.
Wooden bridges act as claimed land across water. They allow you to claim distant shores, and collect items that fell in. They are flammable, but that won’t matter yet.
Heroes continue to attack in droves. While fighting them off is still a challenge, at least they provide free training for my creatures.

While hero corpses do give a dungeon that lived-in feeling, it feels like a waste to leave them to the rats.
In an attempt to find out where they are coming from, I possess a firefly and guide it.

Possessing certain creatures gives you a different view – as here with the mesh. Dark Elves see everything purple, but that didn’t come out in the last realm’s screenshots for some reason.
Unfortunately, I cannot block it off. However, with my new wealth I construct a workshop and erect a door and cannon to stave them off.
While out mining, my imps discover a curious object. I have no idea whatsoever what it is. I pocket it until I can find out.

This powerup gives you access to a bonus level. There is also a special property to levels with these specials, regardless of whether you collect them or not...
My scouting fireflies discover Lord Constantine’s stronghold...

...and promptly flee with their abdomens between their legs. Fear traps! Enchantments that terrify intruders with the fear of death... this would be a difficult challenge.
Further to the south, my imps discover an outlying, undefended part of the stronghold.

A wizard seems to fall out of nowhere. I’m not sure where he came from, but I send in a warlock to duel him.

Shockingly, the wizard is victorious, but weak enough to fall to a single thunderbolt from my own hand. Playing fair is for heroes and idiots.
With my imps back in the area, they run across a prison.

Perhaps this could be a place to store beaten heroes. I promptly incarcerate the wizard – which, it appears, was not dead, merely lightly cooked – and a dwarf that had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Thanks to *ahem* completely accidentally forgetting to feed the captives, the dwarf starves to death. It doesn’t stop moving, though.

The lifeless skeleton also appears to be loyal to me... it promptly goes to train. I don’t know for sure what happened there, but I’m not one to look a gift horse in the mouth; it may bite.
Any imprisoned creature will lose health over time. If it dies in the prison in this way, it becomes a level 1 skeleton. Skeletons require no sleep and no food, however, this means that they cannot regenerate health without magic, and when skeletons die they die for good.
The wizard soon meets the same fate. Any further attackers shall also be sent to the prison for... conversion.
The fear of death means nothing to those who have already died. These skeletons will be able to dismantle the fear traps at Constantine’s keep, allowing me to send in my army to attack. All that remains is to build up my forces, which are still somewhat weak from all the attacks.
While mining, my imps discover another magic box. This one provides a massive influx of mana. Useful.
With my forces built to what I deem an acceptable level, I send my skeletons out to destroy the fear traps.

A pair of knights wait in the keep. They are strong, but against my full horde they fall.

Nothing else seems to happen. The keep is empty. My minions destroy the cannons and remaining fear traps, but soon leave as there is nothing else interesting to do.
Once all but the skeletons (which have nowhere to go) have left, Constantine chooses this time to descend to his keep. The sneaky bastard! I send back in my minions to attack, but his forces are large, greater than my own. At this rate, they would overpower my creatures.
However...

Constantine did not account for the fact that my imps have claimed half of the keep. He also clearly did not realise there was a massive mana boost in his realm... or that my warlocks upgraded the Thunderbolt spell. A volley of quick strikes of thunder brings him down.

The Horned Reaper returns to claim the prize as always. But there is something unusual. The strange object my imps found earlier reacts to his presence. I then recognise its shape...
I realise now. This is a part of the Talisman which binds the reaper to his place. It was broken into four pieces long ago. If anyone acquires the full talisman, they can summon and control Horny himself... and there even seems to be enough power in it to give me a sampler. This will be useful in the next land.

Speaking of the next land... it’s choice time!

As you can see, there are two possible maps for the next realm. One has me begin in a well-defended position, already besieging the Lord of the Land’s castle. However, I have no portal. The other allows me to build up my dungeon as usual, and ambush him as he leaves – giving me a time limit. Which one will I do? The choice is yours!
Also note the new land on the left. That’s the bonus realm I discovered. It’s a golf mini-game played with boulders.

[D00D64: AM I GONE OR WHAT]

The other one plz.

[Tigataga]

Lets see you start without a portal >=)

I used to love this game, it was so awesome... Then for some god forsaken reason it crashed my computer. I've never played it since then.

[Oberstleutnant Insipid]

It doesn't load on my computer.

[Sergeant Dull]

The one where he is escaping.

[Tené]

Current majority is for the ambush version (two for ambush, one for siege) so if nobody else votes between now and when I do it, that's what I'll go for.

Until then, here's a bonus image.

I think my game glitched.

[Tené]

Yes, I know, it's been a while. My game crashed twice doing this one. Still, I make up for it by this update being much longer.

Chapter VI: “Rout”

“It seems we are not alone in our quest. Your main rival is a keeper called Nemesis. He also has many lesser keepers allied to his cause; you must defeat them all to claim this kingdom for your own. Look there: Keeper Dante has revealed himself by invading Lord Titus’ land of Snapdragon. And there: Keeper Gormegan has made a move against lord Sigmund of Emberglow. I have a feeling Nemesis will move against us soon. You must be strong to defeat him!”
With any luck, Nemesis and his minions will slaughter any goodly bastions in this land. Still, he no doubt has dominion as his goal, and the world isn’t big enough for two overlords. He shall have to be dealt with. But, for now…

“Sweetwater. This realm is defended by the goodly Lord Ironhelm. Your minions are currently laying siege to his castle. Like a rat fleeing a sinking ship, Lord Ironhelm has his escape route already planned. However, with a regrettably small amount of torture, we have learned of his plans, and can now halt the cowardly wretch’s flight.”

Not long after conquering Elmshadow, I sent out a contingent of creatures to besiege Ironhelm’s castle from the northwest. They made an interesting discovery. In the caverns beneath Sweetwater was another dungeon, though this one was not built for besieging the local lord, no: it was something of a haven for a group of kinky mistresses to fulfil their desires away from the puritan eyes of Lord Ironhelm. They joined with my minions eagerly, and brought with them a number of effective, dangerous and above all creative methods of torture.

This information is useful to me, so I have established torture chambers both in the dungeon besieging the castle and in this one here, from where I intend to ambush the cowardly lord as he flees.
In setting up a dungeon, we had already encountered and defeated two heroes, presumably guards or scouts. I threw them to the torturers, and almost immediately they divulged the precise location of Ironhelm’s back door.

The torture chamber has three purposes. From the prison, you can drop defeated foes into it, and when they die they reveal areas of the map to you. The other two purposes I will explain later.
I will need to head to that area if I wish to ambush Ironhelm before he can escape to the surface. I have my imps strike out to the west, where I encounter a river.

Further exploration reveals that there is a series of bridges spanning this river. The heroes already have an extensive series of caverns here, full of relics claimed by Ironhelm during better days. Though most of his fighters are battling in the siege, there are still a few heroes down here.

Though I don’t have many creatures with me, and have yet to find a portal, I manage to take them down with little trouble. One of them falls into the river, but I quickly have him dragged out and sent to the prison. Why give them a peaceful death when they are still useful to me?

Imps will only take away fallen allies and enemies if they are on your territory. If they fall in water, you must build a bridge to them.
The effort proves rewarding, as the heroes reveal the location of some imprisoned trolls.

The creatures here are neutral. They won’t attack anyone – not even heroes. Their health flowers flash through different colours. They will join forces with the first creature they see, which in this case will be my imps.
My imps head out to rescue and recruit them, especially since without a portal recruiting creatures is slow. They are discovered by more heroes, who are defeated and tortured. They reveal something even more useful to me...

This is the gate through which Ironhelm intends to flee. Now I know exactly where to go to ambush him. This is extremely useful to me.
While all of this is happening, warlock researchers are hard at work for me. Their research pays off, and I am shown a spell which can heal creatures both friend and foe.

I use it extensively in my skirmishes with the heroes. I also have some fun casting it on the heroes in the torture chamber; it will be amusing to see what they do when faced with unending torture.
The bridges terminate at wooden doors – one on either end. Both doors are guarded with cannons, too. I send in my goblins and trolls to destroy them so that my imps can claim the land.

I hear word from the torture chamber that the heroes have finally snapped. Curious, I go to see what they mean...

Interesting.
The second use for torture chambers is conversion. Keep a tortured enemy alive and, eventually, it will serve you. Despite the manner through which it is recruited, the creature’s needs must still be attended to. Notice that hero portraits have red backgrounds as opposed to blue for the evil creatures.
As I explore deeper into Ironhelm’s vaults, I find that more and stronger heroes are coming to defend them.

Ironhelm clearly knows of my presence. Still, as far as he could be aware I am simply trying to loot his stores. He cannot know my aim just yet. Regardless, as his counter-measures become stronger, I am forced to use more of my army to defeat him. But I am in luck.

I now have a portal. Any minions that fall in battle can be replaced without having to drag away unconscious heroes. Not that I’ll stop torturing them. It’s so much fun.
Among the first creatures to enter through to assist in my ambush is one of the mistresses that had given me the torture technology.

Mistresses are interesting creatures. Attracted by the torture chamber, they are fierce combatants that can deal a lot of damage very quickly. They are also keen to get to the battlefield. Unlike other creatures, attempts to hurt them pleases them rather than annoys. While with other creatures a slap would make them work harder at the cost of health and happiness, with a mistress will both work harder and feel happier at the same health penalty, so do it often. They also enjoy using the torture chamber, either to torture or to be tortured. This brings me to the third use of the room: if a creature belonging to you is tortured, it will slowly get hurt and annoyed but the rest of its species will work harder. I don’t do that, though.
With the mistresses joining in, heroes convert to my cause a lot more readily. Even the weak dwarves join me.

They are pathetic warriors, but hard workers. They perform all the duties of my imps, even if they are slow. With their help, I find the perfect place to ambush the heroes.

Among Ironhelm’s stores were a number of traps ready for assembly. My imps took them to a workshop, and my trolls are now able to produce barricades, fear traps and alarm traps. I have all of them set up in the ambush area.

With all of the excitement, I find I am neglecting my creatures' needs. Several of them are becoming discontent. While there is no purpose in being generous to them, I likewise don’t want them to leave my service. Since Ironhelm seems to be waiting for a later moment before attempting his escape, I spend much of the time keeping my creatures satisfied.

If a creature’s needs are unattended to, it will become unhappy. This isn’t a large problem, but if they are ignored, they will become angry, and if they do they will leave your dungeon or defect to the heroes’ side and you will have to fight them within your own dungeon. They can be cheered up by either attending to their needs, using a “Make Happy” powerup spell or using the temple, though that last one won’t be available for a long time.
Ironhelm must soon be preparing his escape – significantly strong raids are being sent into my dungeon in an attempt to clear my out. They fail, of course, and ultimately serve to bolster my forces.

Does the hero know of my plans? Regardless, he has no choice now. He can either face down the siege battering his gates – I am told that it is going very well – or risk it through my own gauntlet.

From far away, I hear an almighty shattering noise and battle cries. My creatures must have breached Ironhelm’s fortress. He makes up his mind – taking the portal gem from its pedestal, he gathers all the forces he dares and charges out of the back gates.

They are blocked by barricades. While the heroes attempt to clear them, I think I’ll have some fun. Taking the talisman shard collected in Elmshadow, I draw its power and fire it at the blocked-off chamber.

The Horned Reaper emerges. Bloodthirsty, ruthless, and powerful. With a single swing from his brutal scythe, a guard’s head is swiped clean off. A wizard tries to cast a spell at him, but he deflects it back at its caster. Such grace, such power!

Ironhelm knows his escape is failing. The allies sent ahead to clear the way are all dead. But he has no choice, he rushes out through the gate... straight into the warm, strong embrace of the Horned Reaper. I almost envy him, until he is crushed like a bug. Muscles rippling, a fiery glint to his eye, the Reaper grins as he pulls the portal gem from the mangled corpse.

Satisfied, he returns to his realm. As I watch in awe, I decide for certain that I have to see that again.

[Naem]

Just letting you know that I'm still silently enjoying this.

[Sergeant Dull]

I like this. >.>

[Tigataga]

As do I, TORMENT THE INFIDELS WHO STAND IN YOUR WAY!

[Tené]

Good to know you all enjoy it.

I've realised that this thread isn't exactly fostering discussion. To remedy this, I'm going to be introducing challenges, so you all have something to post and the thread pages aren't too full of images.

So, your first challenge is this:
You might have noticed that the next realm is already occupied by another keeper. I am challenging you to give me a guess at what state that keeper's dungeon is in - be it small, sprawling, under siege, suffering a revolt, or whatever. The winner won't be the one with the correct answer, as anyone could simply look it up, but the person who comes up with the most interesting and entertaining concept of the first rival keeper.
The keeper's name is Gormegan and the local hero is Lord Sigmund.
Good luck, give me what you've got.