Help with diving (warning: long)

[bebo]

Hi everybody, i started playing Angband a few months ago, and am really loving it;

just recently i found out about this diving style of play, which if i'm correct implies going down stairs as quickly as possible with minimal recalls back to town, in order to reach optimal depth for good drops from easy lone monsters;

howerver i'm having some difficulties - for reference my best char ever was a high elf mage, clvl34, max depth around dlvl40, however with a huge turn count, i literally spent an INSANE amount of time on this char before he succumbed, .

I started playing with a high elf mage (again, gotta love utility spells), char dump will follow, and managed to get to 1500. Initially i had to stair-scum very little, went down pretty fast, and gained levels relatively quickly; now howerver things are getting really tough, it seems i don't have the oomph to tackle almost anything, let alone explore to find good dungeon drops, and exp gaining has slowed down to a crawl.

a few questions, then

1- am i too deep for my clvl? i get the idea of diving (i think), but it doesn't help much if i can't deal with most monsters without massive stair scumming to get a relatively easy level

2- i am aiming to stay a bit at 1500, i seem to recall this is a good sweet spot for drops etc, am i wrong?

3- any tips for what monsters to look for to get a good risk/reward ratio?

thanks

char dump follows

[Angband 3.1.0 beta Character Dump]

Sex Male Age 111 STR: 14 +1 -5 +1 11
Race High-Elf Height 95 INT: 17 +3 +3 +0 18/50
Class Mage Weight 227 WIS: 10 -1 +0 +0 9
Title Illusionist Social Lordly DEX: 17 +3 +1 +2 18/50
HP 124/124 Maximize Y CON: 16 +1 -2 +0 15
SP 22/41 CHR: 9 +5 +1 +0 15


Level 20 Armor [17,+26] Saving Throw 69%
Cur Exp 11336 Fight (+3,+3) Stealth Very Good
Max Exp 11336 Melee (+3,+3) Fighting Very Good
Adv Exp 12420 Shoot (+11,+8) Shooting Very Good
MaxDepth 1550' (L31) Blows 1/turn Disarming 53%
Turns 707811 Shots 1/turn Magic Device Heroic
Gold 23945 Infra 40 ft Perception 1 in 16
Burden 97.8 lbs Speed -2 Searching 19%

You are one of several children of a Telerin Ranger. You have light
grey eyes, wavy black hair, and a fair complexion.



Acid:............. Confu:.............
Elec:......+...... Sound:.............
Fire:............. Shard:.............
Cold:............. Nexus:.............
Pois:............. Nethr:.............
Fear:............. Chaos:.............
Lite:............+ Disen:.............
Dark:............. S.Dig:.............
Blind:............. Feath:.............

PLite:............. Aggrv:.............
Regen:............. Stea.:.............
Telep:............. Sear.:.............
Invis:............+ Infra:............+
FrAct:...........+. Tunn.:.............
HLife:............. Speed:.............
ImpHP:............. Blows:.............
ImpSP:............. Shots:.............
Fear:............. Might:.............


[Character Equipment]

a) a Rapier (1d6) (+0,+0)
With this weapon, you would currently get 1 blow per round,
averaging a damage of 6.5 against normal creatures.
b) a Long Bow (x3) (+8,+8)
c) a Tortoise Shell Ring of Strength (+1)
+1 strength.
Sustains strength.
d) a Moonstone Ring of Soulkeeping
Sustains strength, intelligence, wisdom.
e) (nothing)
f) a Lantern (7995 turns)
Cannot be harmed by fire.
Radius 2 light.
g) Hard Leather Armour of Resist Lightning (-1) [8,+5]
Provides resistance to lightning.
Cannot be harmed by electricity.
h) a Cloak [1,-1]
i) a Small Metal Shield [4,+5]
j) (nothing)
k) a Set of Caestus of Agility (+0,+3) [2,+7] (+2)
+2 dexterity.
l) a Pair of Leather Boots of Free Action [2,+7]

Prevents paralysis.


[Character Inventory]

a) 2 Books of Magic Spells [Magic for Beginners] {@m1@b1@G1!d!k!v}
b) 2 Books of Magic Spells [Conjurings and Tricks] {@m2@b2@G2!d!k!v}
c) a Book of Magic Spells [Incantations and Illusions] {@m3@b3@G3!d!k!v}
d) a Book of Magic Spells [Sorcery and Evocations] {@m4@b4@G4!d!k!v}
e) 3 Flasks of oil
f) 4 Violet Speckled Potions of Cure Critical Wounds
g) a Scroll titled "tasco bi sia" of Teleportation
h) 2 Scrolls titled "ingum abus" of Word of Recall {!*}
i) a Steel Rod of Lightning Bolts
j) a Tin-Plated Wand of Stone to Mud (7 charges)
k) a Cypress Staff of Mapping (8 charges)
l) a Locust Staff of Cure Light Wounds
m) a Corundum Ring of Resist Cold
Provides resistance to cold.
Cannot be harmed by cold.
n) a Glaive of Lightning (2d6) (+8,+8)
Provides resistance to lightning.
Cannot be harmed by electricity.
You are too weak to use this weapon effectively!
With this weapon, you would currently get 1 blow per round,
averaging a damage of 32 against electricity-vulnerable creatures,
and 18 against normal creatures.
o) 8 Arrows (1d4) (+2,+2) {@f1}
Fired from your current missile launcher, this arrow will hit targets
up to 120 feet away, inflicting an average damage of 37.5 against
normal creatures.
35% chance of breaking upon contact.
p) 10 Arrows (1d4) (+0,+0)
Fired from your current missile launcher, this arrow will hit targets
up to 120 feet away, inflicting an average damage of 31.5 against
normal creatures.
35% chance of breaking upon contact.


[Home Inventory]

a) a Red Potion of Healing {!*}
When ingested, it heals you a really large amount (35% of max HP,
minimum 300HP), heals cut damage, and cures stunning, poisoning, b
lindness, and confusion.
Provides nourishment for about 100 turns under normal conditions.
b) a Blue Potion of Restore Mana {!*}
When ingested, it restores your mana points to maximum.
c) 5 Green Speckled Potions of Speed {!*}
When ingested, it hastens you for 2d10+20 turns.


[Options]

Maximize effect of race/class bonuses : yes (adult_maximize)
Randomize some of the artifacts (beta) : no (adult_randarts)
Restrict the use of stairs/recall : no (adult_ironman)
Restrict the use of stores/home : no (adult_no_stores)
Restrict creation of artifacts : no (adult_no_artifacts)
Don't stack objects on the floor : no (adult_no_stacking)
Lose artifacts when leaving level : no (adult_no_preserve)
Don't generate connected stairs : no (adult_no_stairs)
Adult: Monsters chase current location : yes (adult_ai_sound)
Adult: Monsters chase recent locations : yes (adult_ai_smell)
Adult: Monsters act smarter in groups : yes (adult_ai_packs)
Adult: Monsters learn from their mistakes : no (adult_ai_learn)
Adult: Monsters exploit players weaknesses : no (adult_ai_cheat)
Adult: Monsters behave more intelligently (broken): no (adult_ai_smart)
Score: Peek into object creation : no (score_peek)
Score: Peek into monster creation : no (score_hear)
Score: Peek into dungeon creation : no (score_room)
Score: Peek into something else : no (score_xtra)
Score: Know complete monster info : no (score_know)
Score: Allow player to avoid death : no (score_live)

[Pete Mack]

1. Don't play a mage. Ranger or Rogue is better for utility spells, and is much more survivable. Rogue has most HP and stealth. Ranger is killer with a bow.

2. If you do play a mage, use magic devices for offense. (Rod of Lightning is worthless. Use Rods (and Wands) of Light(!); Frost; Fire; Acid; and the various ball spells.)

3. Don't wander around at speed -2. It WILL get you killed.

4. http://angband.oook.cz/fun/mages.php

[camlost]

You seem to be describing "punctuated equilibrium", wherein you dive to yummy depths and then wait a little while and then dive to another yummy depth spending very little time in-between.

Diving is more of a race to the bottom wherein you are scared witless over half the time and vastly outclassed by monsters. You pick and choose fights and run away a lot.

Pete Mack knows what he is talking about.

Also:
a) a Red Potion of Healing {!*}
b) a Blue Potion of Restore Mana {!*}
Is this a joke, or has this trope come true with your character?

[chem]

a) a Red Potion of Healing {!*}
b) a Blue Potion of Restore Mana {!*}
Is this a joke, or has this trope come true with your character?

heh, Diablo-esqe. nice. I didn't notice that when skimming the post.

[bebo]

the -2 speed is from the glaive, i had to recall back to town right after i found it, the dump is just after that - i'd never dream of running around the dungeon slowed, i already manage to kill myself in many other inventive ways

i understand what you are saying about the rods, the problem being that short of town-scumming for the black market (and i don't have that much gold), i have a fairly hard time finding them. Wands are fairly more common though, i'll keep a better eye out for them.

i checked out the description for the rods of light, they seem to do fairly low damage, even against monsters vulnerable to light, am i missing something?

i like the concept of "punctuated equilibrium" that camlost expressed - it depicts my recent style of play quite effectively - seems like i got my definitions wrong - the problem being that i seem to not be powerful enough to loiter around 1500 at the moment; any other (lower) suggested depths?

LOL at the diablo reference, i didn't even notice
-btw, even if it's way off-topic, can't wait for diablo3 to be released

[Pete Mack]

i checked out the description for the rods of light, they seem to do fairly low damage, even against monsters vulnerable to light, am i missing something?

They do low damage, but they recharge very quickly and they always beam, so you can fry a whole row of Trolls or Orcs at once. With a stack of 4 or 5 you can use them almost continuously.

[Jungle_Boy]

Also useful for checking out lon corridors to make sure you are not gonna be running down it with something breathing at you the whole way.