Analytics - Winning and Dying

[Raajaton]

Mages are screwy, because they're so dependent on what spells they have access to and what the failure rates on those spells are. Getting Teleport Other down to 0% fail pretty much means you can dive to dlvl 98, but you're not going to be able to fight much of anything once you get there unless you get lucky with wands. Once you get Meteor Swarm/Rift you can theoretically start killing things, but you're so fragile that most deep monsters are still verboten.

Bottom line is, there is no safe depth in the game, but especially there is no safe depth for mages. They have so few HP that they really can't afford to make mistakes; even with max CON, they're at best two bad turns from death. But in a way this is liberating because it means that, once you're at the depth where you're at serious risk of instadeath anyway, you might as well dive to the bottom. Dead with -1 HP is just as dead as dead with -500 HP, after all.

In a strange way the elevated level of danger as a mage almost seems to make my game safer in a way. With sturdier classes I tend to have those overconfidence deaths where I keep mindlessly bashing through monsters and suddenly I'm dead. With mages I spend a lot more time thinking through each turn, and as a result I make way less mistakes. Not to say my mages never die, as they certainly do, but generally through stupidity or bad luck rather than lack of attention.

[Derakon]

Well, what with the mage? How do you know that I'm on the right depth?

Mages are screwy, because they're so dependent on what spells they have access to and what the failure rates on those spells are. Getting Teleport Other down to 0% fail pretty much means you can dive to dlvl 98, but you're not going to be able to fight much of anything once you get there unless you get lucky with wands. Once you get Meteor Swarm/Rift you can theoretically start killing things, but you're so fragile that most deep monsters are still verboten.

Bottom line is, there is no safe depth in the game, but especially there is no safe depth for mages. They have so few HP that they really can't afford to make mistakes; even with max CON, they're at best two bad turns from death. But in a way this is liberating because it means that, once you're at the depth where you're at serious risk of instadeath anyway, you might as well dive to the bottom. Dead with -1 HP is just as dead as dead with -500 HP, after all.

[Timo Pietilä]

Well, what with the mage? How do you know that I'm on the right depth?

When you need to run away from just some monsters instead of all of monsters, naturally.

Mages need to run away a lot.

[Timo Pietilä]

(Almost) inevitable. ^^

In more detail: I usually start out with dungeon level = char level while gathering stuff and trying to identify most scrolls and potions.
When I feel ready I boldly go, where .... No, wait, that's the wrong genre.
I go deeper until I feel uncomfortable, then I stay there or go up a level.

With some combos diving fast enough to keep ratio dlvl=clvl is almost impossible, you gain levels so fast. Finding stairs becomes the problem. Other combos the reverse is true if you just keep diving when you feel comfortable doing so.

My hobbit warrior won the game with turncount where my dwarf mage was struggling at mid-game.

I think fastest level gains in early game I have with dwarf priest. 18/50 starting WIS helps you gain spells and you gain levels almost by just casting those spells first time. OOD couple of orcs to complete level gains.

[Mondkalb]

Don't ask me, I'm no good with mages.

[Angrist]

Well, what with the mage? How do you know that I'm on the right depth?

[Mondkalb]

I get that at dlvl 100.

(Almost) inevitable. ^^

In more detail: I usually start out with dungeon level = char level while gathering stuff and trying to identify most scrolls and potions.
When I feel ready I boldly go, where .... No, wait, that's the wrong genre.
I go deeper until I feel uncomfortable, then I stay there or go up a level.

[Timo Pietilä]

Can't really say exactly, but I often find my rogues midgame at Dlevel=2x Charlevel. Rogues can easily do that because of high stealth.

I get that at dlvl 100.

[Raajaton]

Detection is the best form of protection against hounds, particularly in the cast of a lower level rogue. Know where they are on the map, and know which areas of the map are safe to explore in order to avoid them. Abandoning a level as a result of a particularly nasty group of hounds you're not prepared to deal with many times is a good idea.

[Mondkalb]

And how do you protect yourself from the hounds, when you deeply? After all, since dL51 appears Plasma hounds.

Well, detect and leave.

[Angrist]

high stealth.

And how do you protect yourself from the hounds, when you deeply? After all, since dL51 appears Plasma hounds.

[Mondkalb]

Can't really say exactly, but I often find my rogues midgame at Dlevel=2x Charlevel. Rogues can easily do that because of high stealth.

[Angrist]

dive very fast

And how quickly you dive? I had tried to go down pretty quickly, but my characters quickly died.

[Mondkalb]

I am also interested to know whether the experienced players play high elves?

There was a time early on where I almost exclusively played high elves. I was scared to death of invisible monsters and at the time didn't want to live without having see invis all the time. I hadn't played a high elf for a very long time, until somewhat recently I ran a high elf ranger which ended up being quite successful.

I started out years ago (if not decades ... ) with playing lots of high elf rangers.
Later I changed my playstyle and my first winner was a dunadan paladin.

For new players certainly high elf and dunadan are tempting because of their high stats, high elf in particular because of see invisible. OTOH the experience penalty leads to a bit of grinding early in the game and also later on, when you want to achieve certain levels in oder to get spells or something.

During the last years I came to appreciate other races like hobbits, gnomes, and Kobolds. Playing rogues with these races is lot of fun. I have changed my playstyle completely and use to dive very fast nowadays.

[Raajaton]

There was a time early on where I almost exclusively played high elves. I was scared to death of invisible monsters and at the time didn't want to live without having see invis all the time. I hadn't played a high elf for a very long time, until somewhat recently I ran a high elf ranger which ended up being quite successful.