The Mad Rat’s Lab

The day has come! It’s Saturday, and it’s time to register for the tournament.

Well, I say registration, but the registration process has already finished: applying to the tournament, selecting the level we will participate in, and receiving the reply saying we have a spot reserved. What we need to do now is select the Champions and create a dungeon together, using elements and mobs from all of our four dungeons.

The most vital decision is selecting the Champions we’re going to use. They’re the units we’re going to play as, making them the central piece of all our strategies; and they are the only units we can control in tomorrow’s first phase.

But there’s another reason why choosing the Champions is the most critical decision: the champions we select now are the only ones we can use in the tournament. Not only changing Champions isn’t allowed, but it isn’t possible to change their skills either.

Dungeon Master’s Arena is a game about planning ahead of time, making everything possible to stop the enemies at the same time as you prepare for their countermeasures against you. Especially so in Dungeon Battles (PvP). And the tournament isn’t different from the rest of the game. We must decide on the Champions we’re going to use before it starts, and must stick with them until the end, so every team should make balanced teams that can beat any dungeon they encounter. This way they also prevent players from swapping champions depending on the opponent team.

Technically, there’s no restriction on what Champion you choose as long as it can be unlocked at or before reaching the selected player level for the tournament, which in our case is player level 5. But in reality… you don’t want to be too greedy. Why? Because there’s a cp limit to create the dungeon, and the Champion’s cost is also included in it. They give us a limit of 6.000 cp for the dungeon, so if we spend all of it in the Champions, we’ll have to leave our dungeons empty. And believe me when I say that’s the worst idea you can have.

The second thing we’re going to do today is to design a dungeon using parts of our four dungeons: mobs, traps, rooms, etc. It’s also possible to build an entirely new dungeon instead of using preexisting parts, to make sure it looks decent instead of being a patchwork monstrosity; but all mobs and traps must come from our dungeons. And let’s not forget that all elements must be available at player level 5.

Hm… I’m sure I’ve already explained something about the first phase of the tournament, but I’m going to explain more right now to you! And in more detail! Hahaha! How generous I am!

In the first phase, which we’ll do tomorrow, every team will only be able to use their Champions, so no support mobs are allowed. Every team will randomly dive into the dungeons prepared by the other participants and try to achieve the most points and qualify for the next phase: the ‘real’ tournament, in the cup format.

If a team beats a dungeon, it will then enter the dungeon of another team. The whole thing lasts two hours, and you can enter any number of dungeons if you manage to clear them… this should give every team time to clear between four and five dungeons.

The points are obtained by clearing dungeons, and also by killing invaders inside your own. It’s also important to not die because you’ll lose points for every death you suffer. Yeah…a glass-cannon team is definitely not the best option for this phase, even if you could technically make it work for the second phase.

According to Ricard, this first phase is mostly to purge those teams who didn’t properly plan the team composition. You know, the ‘enter a random dungeon’ thingy makes it almost impossible to survive the first phase unless your team is capable of adapting to any situation, or at least most of them.

Also according to him, it’s a general consensus between all players to make the dungeons as deadly as possible instead of taking the ‘wasting time’ approach. That’s because you get bonus points when killing Champions or defeating the whole enemy team, and not for how much time the enemy spends in the dungeon. If you design it to waste time you can make the unlucky invaders unable to win lots of points, maybe even disqualify them for the next phase… but you’ll also lose the points you can earn by killing the other team; turning it into a lose-lose situation that nobody likes or wants, where you make the other team lose but you are also disqualified due to lack of kills.

Oh, and another thing you must know… this first phase can’t be spectated and the recordings can only be shared after the tournament ends. That’s because the DMA staff wants the players to go all-out without compromising the main event; so that the participants don’t have to save their finishing moves or secret tactics, and can use everything in their arsenal to qualify for the second phase, also called the Main Tournament.

If we reach the second phase, we’ll be able to create a new dungeon for each match. But for now, let’s focus on the first one…

 

---

 

“Everybody’s ready, right? There are no redoes after we select our Champions. Oh, I almost forgot! Have you two been able to reach player level 5? I also raised my player level to level 7! Aren’t I amazing? Hahaha!”

The four of us (I, Ricard, Laura, and Clara) are currently in the game. We are in some kind of fantasy office room assigned to us for the tournament. The DMA staff assigned one room to every team, so that’s easier to meet in person while inside the game, and only that team’s members can enter it. You could say it’s a luxury to have a room for every team when there are over a thousand teams participating only at our player level… but this is a digital world, so there’s no real cost for them.

The first to answer Ricard’s question is Laura. “I was very close to leveling up after the slime dungeon. Luckily, yesterday I had some extra time and after two Dungeon Battles, I managed to reach level 5!”

“Did you win them?”

“I won one and lost the other.”

“Not bad.”

I ask her, and she answers my question. And after our short exchange, it’s Clara’s turn to answer Ricard’s question.

“I too managed to reach level 5! With the help of my sla… friends and my brother! Thank you again, Andreu!”

“... You’re welcome.” You almost let the word ‘slaves’ slip there!

I involuntarily shudder at Clara’s answer. Not because of the word slaves, but because I had to enter her dungeon. Again. I already promised myself I wouldn’t enter her dungeon a single more time, but if I didn’t help her, there was no way she could reach player level 5 by now. She just reached level 5 earlier today, after all.

But this time my brain didn’t shut off completely due to fear and I managed to bring a little ‘something’ back with me. Fufufu! Hahaha! I’m going to share my suffering with the other players in the future! Those players who decide to invade my dungeon! Hahaha!

Oblivious to Clara’s slip and my shuddering, Ricard continues to talk.

“Oh, nice! Then we’ll have a full Champion level 6 team for the tournament! Because I suppose you didn’t forget to upgrade your Champions? Oh, oh! What skills did you take?”

“Who do you think I am? Of course, I leveled up my succubus! Also, in consideration of the rest of you, I decided to upgrade one of the skills I had instead of picking a new one.”

“Good job, Laura! This way we won’t need to take anything extra into account for our teamplay!”

“Well, yes…” She awkwardly scratches her cheek at Ricard’s enthusiasm… aren’t you too excited, Ricard!? “This is the skill I decided to upgrade.”

“Hey, hey! I too decided to upgrade a skill instead of picking a new one! But in my case, it’s because it really complements the rest of my skills! I didn’t take the teamplay into account, but it worked out anyway! Hehehe! This is the skill I upgraded!”

When we invaded the slime dungeon, she had already reached player level 4 some time ago. So she also had this other skill called Paralyzing Touch, which I forgot to mention before.

That’s the reason why she was in charge of dealing with the Matrioshka Slimes: the paralyze status effect really crippled them because only the external one of them was ‘active’ at the same time. So by paralyzing the external slime, the other slimes couldn’t do anything and the Matrioshka Slime was rendered useless.

And now that I remember… I forgot to show you the stats I have after upgrading my champion! Well, here it goes!

“Perfect! Then, let’s register our Champions already!” Says Ricard.

All of us select our current Champion and set them as the one we’re going to use for the whole tournament.

There’s no going back now!

“All of our Champions together cost a little bit over 2.000 cp… this means we have almost 4.000 cp for the dungeon we need to design right now, and the ones we will design for the second phase. This includes traps, environmental effects, mobs… Hmmm… difficult decisions here…”

Having selected our Champions, Ricard starts to mutter alone. And Laura joins him immediately.

“Do you think we should focus on a single one of our factions for this phase? Or should we use mobs from all factions? Also, what about the big surprises, like our bosses or especially dangerous monsters?”

“I think a mix is the best option. This allows us to combine our strengths. Also… there are no bosses in the tournament. I mean, we can use them, but they won’t receive the 100% stat-increasing buff. They will be treated as normal units.”

“Is that so…? I was hoping to put my Boss there… what a shame!”

“You have to consider the fact that in the second phase, we’ll be able to actively participate in defense too. So having a Boss would be too much. It would also break the cp limit balance. Remember that the same happens when you do a Dungeon Battle: the Boss’ buff doesn’t work.”

“Ah, yes. Now that you mention it…”

“Hey! Do you think my The Tunnels’ Nightmare will make a good option for this dungeon?” I decide to interrupt them by asking a question. I look forward to using it in this tournament.

“Not for the first phase.” Ricard immediately turns down my idea. “Remember that we should focus on killing the enemy team, not on making them waste time. We want to achieve the most points possible, so we better think of ways to kill them as fast as possible. I would also like to keep those ‘special monsters’ a secret for the main tournament if possible.”

“...but didn’t you say there won’t be any recording during the first phase? Then what does it matter if we show our surprises early on?”

“There won’t be any problem in our dungeon invasions, so we can do whatever we want with our Champions. But this doesn’t stop other players from explaining what they encountered in the first phase. So I don’t want to use those special mobs for the dungeon this time.”

“Ok… it makes kind of sense…” Dejected, I accept Ricard’s point. Though it’s a shame I can’t use those ‘special’ mobs.

Clara rises her hand at the same time as she says. “I have an idea! Why don’t we put all our strongest units right next to the entrance and make them kill all invaders!?”

This time it’s my turn to shut her idea down. I’m his brother, so she’s my responsibility. Kind of.

“Clara… don’t you know this isn’t allowed? In Dungeon Battles, as well as in this tournament, you can’t do something like this at all because of something called cp density…” I then proceed to explain to her the cp density rule, a mechanism exclusive to the Dungeon Battles, the PvP mode of this game.

In Dungeon Invasions, you can create the dungeon as you see fit. There are very few restrictions, like having a path that connects the entrance to the dungeon core. But regarding the mobs and traps, you can do anything. If you abuse it and make an impossible-to-clear dungeon, the one who suffers is you, because you get bad reviews and then nobody enters your dungeon anymore.

But to ensure the Dungeon Battle is an actual battle of wits instead of a slaughter fest, where everyone puts all monsters next to the entrance, there’s a rule we players call ‘cp density’. It basically limits how many monsters you can put clumped together, as well as how strong they can be. There are ways to circumvent this limitation, like making them move in a certain pattern, or putting alarm traps that call all nearby units to your position; but all of them can be avoided if the other player is smart or good enough.

Oh, and it’s also completely impossible to put units right next to the entrance in a Dungeon Battle.

“...and that’s why we can’t do as you proposed, Clara.” I finish my explanation.

 

We continue with the brainstorming.

“Laura, do you still have your poison-resistant units?” I ask.

“Huh, yes, I do. Why do you ask?”

“Well, I was thinking of putting my poison mushrooms mixed with Ricard’s skeletons and your poison-resistant units…”

“Oh! Good idea! This way we can force the other team to fight inside the poison clouds without killing our units! Hahaha!”

“That’s what I was thinking.” I say.

 

---

 

We have finally settled on the dungeon we’re going to use for the first phase of the tournament.

“Hahaha!”

“Fufufu!”

“Hehehe!”

“Hey, guys… you’re creeping me out with your weird laughs…” Complains Ricard. But he’s the creepiest one when he starts to talk about the game, or when obtaining ‘souls’, so we ignore his ramblings. “I also like the dungeon, but to like it so much as to laugh like this…”

Why are we laughing like this? Well, it’s because of all the ideas we put into it.

The first zone or area is filled with all my random and dangerous units: Tunnel Mimic, Goblimp Pest, Braindead Assassin, Death Butterfly, Fiery Fly, Stareshrub, and Static Lamb. Plus a few Braindead Leader/Mob squads to increase the difficulty. It is a very volatile combination because they can kill each other with the auras and death bursts, creating potentially lethal combos.

It looks like a mix of my cave area and tunnel area and has no traps or any hazardous terrain.

At first, I was against revealing so many ‘secret’ units… but Laura and Ricard convinced me by saying they are too situational to be used in the second phase effectively. We might use them later on too, as extras, but it’s true they are too difficult to control.

You can say this first area is just a lot of random units put together. We hope they’ll deal as much damage as possible to the invaders and take them by surprise. If lucky, at least one of them will die; but what we are hoping for this is to put the enemy team on edge against what comes next.

The second area is the hazardous area. Taking advantage of the poison immunity of the skeletons, and the poison resistance skills Laura gave to some of her units, plus the Demonic Swarmer’s immunity to mushrooms… we prepared this special area, packed with poisonous mushrooms. The idea here is that, after being surprised by my random but dangerous mobs in the first phase, the enemy team now has to fight in an environment packed with poison everywhere, against units unaffected by it.

And the third area is the tip of the cake. Exhausted, and hopefully low on HP, SP, and MP, now the enemies have to fight against the most resilient of our units: the zombies, specters, and other undead. And let’s not forget there are lots of demon units supporting them from the back with spells.

Oh, but Andreu. You said it was a dungeon using units from all four factions, but you didn’t mention anything about your sister’s monsters!

That’s true. I purposely left them for the end because they are the central piece of our strategy. The Abyss units are going to be put throughout the whole dungeon, separated from one another to maximize their MP draining. Their role is to reduce the MP of the enemy team as much as possible so that they can’t properly deal with the last area. Especially against the specters, who are very hard to deal with if you have no MP because only elemental damage can hurt them properly.

Come! Come and suffer in our dungeon! I’m sure you’ll be happy to see all the ‘love’ we have packed! Hahaha!

 

“I never expected the surprises I would find in the tournament. Especially not one surprise related to the rising popularity of ‘The Mad Rat’s Lab’.”