So now that I've played a bit, I'm noticing imbalances in monster difficulty at a given depth.
There's a lot of monster I haven't seen. But some common monsters seem crazy.
Kats, in particular, seem to do three kinds of damage.
Armor only protects against two kinds.
The different threats of different monsters -- the equivalent from two families at the same depth -- seems off. In other words, beginning wolvers and chromalisks should be about as nasty as beginning devlites, or beginning kats and zombies (skeletons? Raised dead?) or beginning jellies and lichens.
They're not.
Jellies and lichens, at a given depth, are easiest. (Except for sleeper lichens.)
Hardest seems to be either kats or devlites, depending on your equipment.
I can understand different monster families having different attacks -- I like that.
But widely different strengths?
(Oh: I haven't seen rocket puppies at shallow depth anymore. Was that a one-time fluke, or was the heart puppy supposed to be enough to balance the danger?)
Not really, kats attacks are highly predictable, so they are easy to kill without getting hit. Same as golems or trojans.
Wolvers are easy as long as you don't attack them just before they attack and make them teleport to bite you in the ass.
Chromalisks are always easy.
Jellies depend on the weapon you're using and how patient you can be. Same as devilites. Same as zombies.
Gremlins are certain death if they come in numbers.