Imperilous Quest

[Borenwil]

Hail, I am new to these forums(first time been writing in them, although been reading them for about a week) and am also new to Angband. Although I have played some easier rogue variants(desktop dungeons, rogue for iphone, aliensRL). I had a question on getting off on a good foot in this game. I have been playing a Warrior Half-elf n will get down a few levels and usually run into a mob of something and be overconfident and get slain. I was wondering in early game am I supposed to just go in and out of first/second level of dungeon and level up, do I just need to be more tactical in my play style? Also, is buying stuff in town a waste of money should I just be looking for dungeon drops?

Thanks for the help! good questing.

[buzzkill]

Patience in a virtue, moreso in Angband. It's an easy game, it's just very long. The trick is staying alive that long.

It's perfectly normal to want to rush forth and kill everything you see, so when you see a large pack of killables you want to kill 'em all, cause killing stuff is fun and being low on HP makes the game a little more exciting exciting (probably also why I hardly ever Rest).

I like finding my gear in the dungeon. I hit a few shops just to buy the consumables listed below, maybe window shopping at other shops that are conveniently located. That's just me, probably sub-optimal.

Buy and use a lot of Detect Objects.
In they very early game buy and carry a stack of phase door and CLW and/or Heroism.
A little later, when you can afford it, add Teleportation and switch to CCW.
Buy Teleport Other and/or Teleport Level the first chance you get, they're game changing, not all that uncommon or expensive in the Black Market.

[Derakon]

If you're new, I'd suggest trying a hardier race. Half-elves are practically a challenge race. Half-trolls are much more sturdy.

Warriors can take on most things they find in the dungeon pretty well, but they do have to know what they're doing. You can't expect to just blindly hack away and come out of it the victor; it's very easy to get in over your head. In fact, even if you know what you're doing, you need to be prepared to bail on a fight if it's not going well. Carry Phase Door scrolls (available from the alchemist) as a not-very-reliable escape mechanism. Later you'll find Teleport which is more reliable, then later still Teleport Level and Destruction. Phase Door remains useful for tactical movement though.

You should also be carrying the best Cure Wounds potions you can afford to buy in bulk; by early-mid-game I try to have 15 Cure Critical Wounds potions in my backpack before entering the dungeon, though early on it's more like a couple of Cure Light Wounds. Heroism is also very useful for young warriors, since it makes you fearless for awhile, cures some damage, and makes you more accurate.

[Borenwil]

Well I have been working my hardest on slowing down and remembering to use scrolls, and my half elf is still alive! It has added quite a bit to the lifeline thus far, although, I do believe once he dies I will have to try a "hardier race". Thanks for all the help. It is amazing how there are TONS of roguelikes out there and plays style can differ so much between them.

[smack]

Good to hear your half-elf is still alive. You must be learning something

My 2 cents: Tactics is very important of course, so learning to control the battlefield is almost always better than running in headfirst. I'd actually suggest you play a rather weak race/class for a little while to get used to managing your engagements. It'll teach you to only bite off what you can chew pretty quickly. Perhaps a hobbit rogue or gnome mage or something of that sort. The trouble with warriors is that in the early game they can smash through almost everything whereas in the mid-game and late-game all characters have to proceed with at least some caution, and very often with lots and lots of caution. So warriors teach you the wrong habits in dungeon levels 1-20 or so.

The other thing to consider heavily is detection, and is again a good reason to try a mage or rogue who have good spells for this very purpose. As a warrior you can look for rods of detect 'x', but these are slightly uncommon, especially in the early game. Nonetheless, some sort of ESP / detection is paramount as you plunge deeper into the dungeon. Without detection, you'll have to rely on tactical approaches and not get caught with your sword of mighty smiting swinging in the wind. This is much much harder to do than finding some means of detecting the enemy from afar.

[ulrichvonbek]

So warriors teach you the wrong habits in dungeon levels 1-20 or so.

I had been looking for some way to explain the problems I had always had getting warriors past level 20. That's a perfect way of putting it.

[PowerDiver]

It's not just warriors. Everyone learns the wrong lessons in the early game. One of the advantages of diving is that you learn what it takes to survive past DL40 much sooner.