How fast do you dive?

[Namdeht]

In V I usually dive more or less as fast as humanly possible, with a "if I don't see anything I specifically want, go down" partly because there is no perceptible difference between dlvl 60 and 98 other than Saruman occasionally chases you around and the stuff is way better, though if I have bad stealth and am attached to the character I might stick around key points waiting for anti-instakill stuff.

If you are stealthy enough to avoid any fight you want to avoid, you should definitely be deeper. If you're not doing great in the fights you do decide to pick, pick different fights with weaker monsters, and deeper. Same loot, easier fights. Also pick fewer fights, probably.

That's a good point about the loot actually, I think that's what I needed to hear to get me unstuck. Down we go then

[Philip]

In V I usually dive more or less as fast as humanly possible, with a "if I don't see anything I specifically want, go down" partly because there is no perceptible difference between dlvl 60 and 98 other than Saruman occasionally chases you around and the stuff is way better, though if I have bad stealth and am attached to the character I might stick around key points waiting for anti-instakill stuff.

If you are stealthy enough to avoid any fight you want to avoid, you should definitely be deeper. If you're not doing great in the fights you do decide to pick, pick different fights with weaker monsters, and deeper. Same loot, easier fights. Also pick fewer fights, probably.

[Namdeht]

In vanilla Angband how fast do people suggest diving?

My latest @ is starting to show promise - http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=18782 but at CL29 / DL41 I feel like he's a little out of his depth. I've been hovering around DL35 - DL40, backing up a few levels when it feels really dangerous, but generally heading downwards hoping RNG will throw me some more good loot and stat gain (don't think I've even ID'd !DEX yet), and I'm not sure whether to back off and grind it out around DL35 for longer, or keep diving.

@ is stealthy enough to avoid any fight I want to avoid so far, but despite some nice pieces of equipment he's not doing great in the fights I do decide to pick when I want loot or XP gain. Using lots of escapes and consumables to win and progress feels slow.

What are people's thoughts on CL vs DL for diving in general, and suggestions for this character specifically?