trying to get farther using the suggested high elf ranger

[will_asher]

Dive 12: to dL24, cL25. I found Mordenkainen's Escapes, never used door creation spell before (never got this far with a magetype spellcaster), so I use it just to see exactly what it does. surrounded by doors, weird, doesn't seem very useful. I had expected it to ask for a direction and make a door in the nearest wall in that direction, but that wouldn't be real useful either. With more spells now, it seems like I should stop wearing the gauntlets of power but I would lose 2 attacks with my main gauche, tough choice.. I'm now significantly past the point where I usually die.

Dive 13: to dL25 and death to carelessness and Nar the Dwarf. I shouldn't underestimate him just because I'm seven levels past his native level, especially when there's also a group of black ogres with him. should've teleported away 3 or 4 turns earlier. stinkin. At some point I lapse from being careful into carelessness and I never notice when it happens until I'm dead. stinkin.

http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=7111

[Dragonboneman]

Damn. Oh well, it happens to us all. You're improving though, keep it up.

[Psi]

Dive 12: to dL24, cL25. I found Mordenkainen's Escapes, never used door creation spell before (never got this far with a magetype spellcaster), so I use it just to see exactly what it does. surrounded by doors, weird, doesn't seem very useful.

On the contrary, instant LoS disruption can be very useful. It prevents summons next to you and can often buy you a precious few turns against approaching casters.

[Magnate]

With the gauntlets of power, I get 4 attacks with the main gauche and 2 with the holy avenger trident. (which I've sold by this point) One of the main advantages of holy avenger is SI and I have that anyway. Am I wrong about the main gauche being better?

I thought about this some more and it's a fairly close call. I had assumed it was 3 vs 2 attacks, but 4 vs 2 evens it up a lot. At low dlevs most of your opponents are animals, which the HA doesn't slay, and the dice are not very different (if the HA was 2d5 or 2d6 it would be a lot better). So it was probably a good enough decision, since the HA sold for a lot more. Once you get deeper and face more evil/demon/undead, the HA would win out. As well as SI it gives you a random sustain, which can be very handy if it's STR.

I'm not used to playing rangers much, so I melee kinda often anyway, and I'm getting out of that habit. Better melee ability won't stop me from continuing to use my bow more.

It does for me. I play lots of rangers because I want to stop myself meleeing, but it's just instinctive for me. I keep bumping into things, and I whack away instead of phasing and shooting. I've got to the stage where I deliberately use crappy melee weapons (and pass up gauntlets of power) to make sure I have to phase away.

I'm not and was never trying to become a speed diver, I'm just trying to get my first win. I'm just calling my trips down into the dungeon 'diving' because it's faster than typing 'trips down into the dungeon'. Didn't mean to mislead. I may not be diving real fast, but it's still faster than I'm used to diving. Just want to dive fast enough to make me a better player and prevent tedium and hopefully carelessness.

No worries. I'm not a speed diver either - but I have accepted Eddie's argument that diving quicker than you normally do actually makes you a better player, so I try that. Exactly what you were saying really.

Wondering which of the rod of cold balls or staff of dispell evil I should take with me and which to leave at home.

I know this is out of date now, but I'd take the staff. The rod doesn't do much you can't do with arrows (you can usually only get a few balls to hit multiple enemies). The staff is devastating in pits and against big groups of escorts.

CC

[Bandobras]

death to carelessness and Nar the Dwarf

Pity. Have you tried the options that warns you when your hitpoints are below x%? Set at 30% it would probably save you this time, assuming no quick_messages.

[Dragonboneman]

I set mine to 70%.
Paranoia keeps you alive.

[will_asher]

Pity. Have you tried the options that warns you when your hitpoints are below x%? Set at 30% it would probably save you this time, assuming no quick_messages.

Yeah, I always have the warnings turned on, I've just developed the deadly bad habit of ignoring them most of the time. (usually have it on 30% or 40%) I'll have to break that habit.