Hit and Run....

[Fendell Orcbane]

Carelessness is a bigger problem than poison, paralyzation, and stunning put together. If your strategy increases the likelihood of dying to carelessness in order to decrease the other forms of death, it is a mistake IMO. My favorite rgra post ever was this one

"Several of the long time players here mentioned how faster == more fun. I
wasn't really sure if that would be true for me, after all those players
have won this game for years have lot more experience etc... But I can tell
you, this is true for everyone, including newbies, what is my rank for sure! "

I tend to agree with this, but I do want to add that equipment definitely helps...if you get speed items earlier it makes diving easier. My last character was lucky and got +4 speed in the early part of the game, my latest one got his first speed item at lvl 80. I don't think I'm careless..otherwise I wouldn't have gotten at character to Morgoth, or close to him like my last character. Honestly I could have survived both those deaths if I teleported away. The main lesson that I've learned by diving is to play hit and run style. Get to a new level, hit detect monster, detect traps&doors and treasure detection. Gauge the level of reward next to danger. If danger versus reward is close to equal DON'T go for it. Okay I do have a hard time with this, but that is what I generally do.

[Derakon]

I think one of the key insights for playing Angband quickly is that most dungeon levels are not special in any significant way. Thus, playing 25% of two levels each is basically equivalent to playing 50% of one level -- but you can cherry-pick the best parts of the 25% and not bother with the dangerous/unrewarding/boring segments. It's only when there are vaults, pits, or unique monsters you need to kill that the greater structure of the level becomes significant.