Diving speeds

[tummychow]

OK, I tend to play Angband in a very conservative fashion. Scum around until I"ve cleared a whole dlevel, before going to the next one, etc. I'm very much interested in changing that. But I have no perception of how quickly I should be diving.
I tend to play rogues with most of the standard options on (preserve on, maximize on, no randarts). How fast should I be diving, and how do I know when to turn back and go back to the surface?
(I know I'm not being very specific about the clevel I have in mind; that's because I'm looking for a general explanation that can apply right from clevel 1.)

[d_m]

You know you're going too fast when you die

But seriously, I usually try to slow down if I realize that I'm having to recall out of levels so frequently that I can't find enough gold/items to be able to restock myself with ?recall, potions, etc.

Other than that I think there's a "fake it 'til you make it" feel, where you'll feel really outgunned and then suddenly find a ring of speed +8 or something and be fine. Especially with "Detect Treasure" I think you should be able to dive pretty aggressively looking for good gear.

[Derakon]

Generally my strategy is to take every staircase I see for a half-dozen levels or so, then try clearing part of that level and see how I do. If I'm struggling, I stop taking stairs for a little bit; if it's easy, then I start diving again. That breaks down past 2000' or so, where I know that I'm not going to be able to clear anything, but by that point I should be able to survive anyway as long as I'm careful, so I keep diving anyway.

[fizzix]

My strategy is to go down the first staircase I find until dlevel 9 or 10. Then the strategy is to kill anything nearby that I can kill, or gather any treasure if I can get to it (and can detect it). As soon as I find a stairs, I'm loath to move that far away from it though, so I have to find something pretty enticing. I'll usually slow down somewhere between dlevel 15 and 20 because that's where I tend to start having trouble. Then I find some good item and I drop quickly to dlevel 30 for stat gain. I slow down again between 30 and 50, exploring more, and killing anything that might drop a statgain potion. If I'm still alive at 50 I tend to drop straight to 99 as quickly as possible. There's no reason to hang out at any of the intermediate levels.