Strategy against bad moves

[Ace]

Just waited for that comment :)) Thank you :)

[Ace]

In a recent char dump, someone passed 1000 ft w/o free action and lows. Do not do that - play it safe :)

[PowerWyrm]

In fact you don't need FA and lows at 1000ft. Breathers at that depth are weak (baby dragons, hounds... although you don't want to go < in a room full of them), and the first dangerous paralyzing monsters are found at 1250ft (ogre mages + carrion crawlers), so feel free to push your char to 1250ft without those. If your paranoid about FA, remember that homonculi start to show up around 750/800ft and they can cast the hold spell (not mentioning the floating eyes of course...)

[serina]

Not to mention druids, illusionists at 650FT.

ZAL

[PowerWyrm]

hounds... although you don't want to go < in a room full of them

Speaking about that...

You enter a maze of up staircases.
You have a good feeling...
It breathes time.
You feel life has clocked back.
It breathes time.
You feel life has clocked back.
It breathes time.
You feel life has clocked back.
It breathes time.
You're not as strong as you used to be...
You die.

Using > is safe now (well almost, see my post about the death of my char Groquik)... but using < is like playing russian roulette at high level. Either you need to recall quite shallow and then just use >, or recall at your normal depth and stay at that depth, or simply macro < and *destroy* everytime you want to go up.

[PowerWyrm]

Another one about time hounds...

The Time hound breathes time.
You feel life has clocked back.
The Time hound breathes time.
You're not as hale as you used to be...
The Time hound breathes time.
You feel life has clocked back.
The Time hound breathes time.
You're not as wise as you used to be...
The Time hound breathes time.
You feel life has clocked back.
The wall turns into mud!
The Time hound breathes time.
You're not as powerful as you used to be...
The Time hound breathes time.
You're not as powerful as you used to be...
You die.

I don't know what made you think digging would help against those :)
Usually I simply *destroy* time hounds, or leave the place immediately if I can (below 2500ft it means running away BEFORE they see you heh... I already lost a char and almost a second one by teleporting in a room full of those buggers). If you can't kill them in melee in one round, it's not even worth bothering with them... the chance they drain your xp below the amount of xp they give is too high.

[PowerWyrm]

01:06:03 3000ft 40 Reached level 40

I see a lot of players that dive really deep for their level. It's nice to get better gear or simply chat about frightening battles and get the name of the char in the Best Divers statistics... but it usually means dying a lot. Usually those players are armed with a stick and protected by a paper armor... and unprepared for the dangers of the depths. I don't know what's everybody feeling about their chars, but I never like losing a level 40 character that took 20/30 hours to build to a Q summoning a pack of plasma hounds at 3000ft just because I don't have res sound...

[PowerWyrm]

It hits you.
It hits you.
It touches you.
You feel your life draining away!
It tries to blank your mind.
You resist the effects!
It casts a frost bolt.
It casts a fire bolt.
Your Holy Book of Prayers [Beginners Handbook] {@p1} (a) was destroyed!
Some of your Scrolls of Identify (h) were destroyed!
It stares deep into your eyes!
You are unaffected!
You cannot run in that direction.
You cannot run in that direction.
You cannot run in that direction.
It casts a nether bolt.
You feel your life draining away!
You die.

SI is another important thing to have if you don't have ESP... Below 1500ft there are a lot of deadly monsters (in particular Dread packs) that are invisible and cold blooded...

[PowerWyrm]

The Great Wyrm of Chaos breathes chaos.
You feel drugged!
You feel your life draining away!
You die.

Here's a vital link:
http://www.thangorodrim.net/TANG/index.html#depths

Btw I found something strange about this char... when you find

03:21:10 4850ft 45 Found The Small Sword 'Sting'

... you don't want to keep this

a) The Long Sword 'Anduril' (3d5) (+10,+15) [+10] (+4)

[Ashi]

Sting was found while diving in a big party, and at the time, everyone had better weapons so they decided to sell it. After a few deaths, that player lost his superior weapon so he had to downgrade to Anduril...

[PowerWyrm]

Carcharoth, the Jaws of Thirst breathes nether.
You feel very good.
You have 12 Potions of Healing {@q1}.
Carcharoth, the Jaws of Thirst breathes gas.
Carcharoth, the Jaws of Thirst breathes nether.
Carcharoth, the Jaws of Thirst breathes nether.
There is a wall blocking your way.
Carcharoth, the Jaws of Thirst breathes darkness.
You die.

Sounds like someone panicked here... usually when you fight a big monster and you see your HPs going down quite fast even when quaffing heals like mad (it happens a lot of time... 300 hps is not a lot compared to the melee damage, breaths and spells from high level monsters), you only have two options: carry *heals* and use a couple between heals while severely wounded, or simply end the fight by teleporting or *destroying*

[PowerWyrm]

Induriel the level 50 High-Elf Mage killed by a Pit Fiend (18 Jun 08)

A few mistakes here...
1) Using as weapon:
The Two-Handed Sword 'Zarcuthra' (4d6) (+19,+21) (+4)
when you have this in your inventory:
The Great Axe of Eonwe (5d4) (+15,+18) [+8] (+2)
Zarcuthra does more damage, but it aggravates... so everything will be awake and that's not what you want when there are a pack of high Us around. Eonwe will also boost INT to 18/200 (0% fail for spells) and CON (to 18/190, probably meaning over 100 more hps), not mentioning immcold to preserve potions
2) Lack of nether and sound resistance: I imagine the death spot being below 4000ft, those resists are vital at that point
3) Quaffing CCWs: those are useless at level 50, you need to have heals instead (Warrior has over 200 of those in his house, so it's possible to stack 10-15 of those for tough fights)

[PowerWyrm]

Shagrat, the Orc Captain hits you.
Shagrat, the Orc Captain misses you.
Shagrat, the Orc Captain hits you.
Shagrat, the Orc Captain hits you.
You hit the Half-orc.
The Half-orc flees in terror!
The Half-orc hits you.
You die.

Sounds like you asked for that death...
1) Blows/Round: 1
Even with a Glaive (Defender) (2d6) (+5,+11), having 1bpr with a melee character is pure suicide
2) Spellbooks not macroed
At level 27, a rogue still can cast phase door
3) No means of teleportation
Below 1000ft, you need at least one way to escape a difficult situation... teleport spell, staff or scrolls. I don't remember what's the failing rate on teleport self for a level 27 rogue, but it's quite high IIRC, and this char lacked res blind and confusion, so a staff is probably the best thing to carry.

[Ace]

One of your Scrolls of *Destruction* {@r6} (f) was destroyed!
The Giant fire ant misses you.
The Giant fire ant bites you.
You are enveloped in flames!
The Giant fire ant misses you.
You have 16 Scrolls of Teleportation {@r2}.
The Snaga misses you.
The Great crystal drake creates a mesmerising illusion.
You disbelieve the feeble spell.
The Nexus vortex breathes nexus.
You die.

Teleportation is more dangerous than a destruction scroll, since you never know where you will end up. In the above case, the player appeared in an even worse area. If you have the choice, always *destroy* ;)

[PowerWyrm]

I think that char was on a rescue level, so he refrained from using *des* on dead char loot... but that meant one more character to rescue ;)