Advice on Centaur Hunter

[wayreth]

It's my first time playing a centaur hunter (and my 1st time as a ranged character as well) and since things are really going great I decided to come here and ask for some advice on how to stay alive.

Right now, "Archer" is a level 13 Centaur Hunter of Okawaru and he is wandering the deeper levels of the Lair (8). This is what I've been doing so far:

>Skills
Fighting: 7,5
Long Blades: 7,5
Bows: 15
Armour: 12
Dodging: 10
Invocations: 6,5
Everything else residual/default for a centaur

>Religion
Okawaru: 5 stars, can do hero and finesse without any problems

>Items of note
+4+0 sword of protect
+7 scale mail of the game afoot (plus centaur barding)
+3 cloak of flash
+8+2 bow of dissatisfaction

AFAIK, the options that I have available are:
- keep going down the Lair
- start doing the orcish mines (or swamp, or snake pit or slime pits. But I reckon these last 3 are harder than the orcish mines)

The only thing that has really frightened me so far was going up against hydras and death yaks without arrows. And then running into a catoblepas. But I managed to survive. Because I'm fabulous like that, running around and shooting arrows like there's no tomorrow.

So... any tips greatly appreciated. Also, if you could provide detailed info on skills development that'd be great. Because I have no idea what I'm doing here. Cheers!

BTW, I'd provide a char dump but I don't know how to get one.

[nordetsa]

If you play on console, you can get your character dump on 'morgue' folder.

[wayreth]

If you play on console, you can get your character dump on 'morgue' folder.

Ah, thanks! Attached it to this post.

[mopl]

Ah, thanks! Attached it to this post.

Even better, post it in your message between code tags

[code][/code]

[wayreth]

I'm learning things already.

  Code:

Archer the Markscentaur (Centaur Hunter)           Turns: 23918, Time: 01:59:14

HP  43/103       AC 36     Str 17 (18) XL: 13   Next: 77%
MP  20/20        EV 16     Int 10 (11) God: Okawaru [******]
Gold 809         SH  0     Dex 17      Spells:  0 memorised, 12 levels left

Res.Fire  : . . .   See Invis. : .   S - +4,+0 great sword (protect)
Res.Cold  : . . .   Warding    : .   L - +7 scale mail of the Game Afoot {Str+2 Int
Life Prot.: . . .   Conserve   : .   (no shield)
Res.Poison: .       Res.Corr.  : .   n - +2 wizard hat
Res.Elec. : .       Clarity    : .   y - +3 cloak of Flash {+Fly EV+4}
Sust.Abil.: . .     Spirit.Shd : .   p - +0 pair of gloves {Dex+3}
Res.Mut.  : .       Stasis     : .   B - +1 centaur barding
Res.Rott. : .       Ctrl.Telep.: .   d - amulet of faith
Saprovore : . . .   Flight     : .   t - ring of sustenance
                                     K - +1 ring of evasion

@: very quick, somewhat resistant to hostile enchantments, extremely unstealthy
A: hooves 3, deformed body, herbivore 1, speed 2, fast metabolism 1, tough skin
3
a: Heroism, Finesse, Renounce Religion, Evoke Flight


You are on level 8 of the Lair of Beasts.
You worship Okawaru.
Okawaru is exalted by your worship.
You are not hungry.

You have visited 2 branches of the dungeon, and seen 20 of its levels.

You have collected 988 gold pieces.
You have spent 199 gold pieces at shops.

Inventory:

Hand weapons
 o - the +8,+2 bow of Dissatisfaction {velocity, MR Int+3 SInv}
   (Okawaru gifted it to you on level 8 of the Dungeon)   
   
   Any arrow fired from it inflicts extra damage.
   
   It affects your intelligence (+3).
   It affects your resistance to hostile enchantments.
   It enhances your eyesight.
 M - a +5 blowgun
 S - a +4,+0 great sword of protection (weapon)
Missiles
 k - 2 arrows
 s - 4 poisoned needles
 D - 15 poisoned arrows
 N - 12 curare-tipped needles
Armour
 n - a +2 wizard hat (worn)
 p - a +0 pair of gloves of dexterity (worn)
 y - the +3 cloak of Flash (worn) {+Fly EV+4}
   (Okawaru gifted it to you on level 3 of the Lair of Beasts)   
   
   It affects your evasion (+4).
   It lets you fly.
 B - a +1 centaur barding (worn)
 L - the +7 scale mail of the Game Afoot (worn) {Str+2 Int+1}
   (You found it on level 4 of the Lair of Beasts)   
   
   It affects your strength (+2).
   It affects your intelligence (+1).
 Q - the +3 robe "Trocejut" {Dex+2}
   (Okawaru gifted it to you on level 11 of the Dungeon)   
   
   It affects your dexterity (+2).
Magical devices
 h - a wand of digging
 i - a wand of slowing {zapped: 5}
 r - a wand of draining {zapped: 1}
 A - a wand of draining {zapped: 1}
 C - a wand of cold {empty}
 F - a wand of polymorph (10)
 G - a wand of lightning {empty}
 H - a wand of paralysis {empty}
 U - a wand of digging {zapped: 2}
 X - a wand of fire {empty}
Comestibles
 f - 6 bread rations
 z - 3 meat rations
 O - 3 pears
Scrolls
 j - a scroll of identify
 l - 9 scrolls of teleportation
 m - a scroll of fog
 q - 11 scrolls of remove curse
 v - 3 scrolls of blinking
 Y - a scroll of fear
Jewellery
 d - an amulet of faith (around neck)
 e - a ring of dexterity
 t - a ring of sustenance (right hand)
 K - a +1 ring of evasion (left hand)
 R - an uncursed ring of sustain abilities
Potions
 a - a potion of invisibility
 b - a potion of might
 c - 2 potions of speed
 g - 8 potions of curing
 u - a potion of resistance
 w - 2 potions of agility
 x - a potion of berserk rage
 J - 2 potions of restore abilities


   Skills:
 - Level 7,4 Fighting
 * Level 7,7 Long Blades
 - Level 15,0 Bows
 - Level 12,0 Armour
 - Level 10,6 Dodging
 - Level 0,5 Stealth
 - Level 6,5 Invocations


You have 12 spell levels left.
You don't know any spells.

Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations

Branches:
Dungeon (12/27)            Temple (0/1) D:5             Orc (0/4) D:6
   Lair (8/8) D:12          Swamp (0/5) Lair:5        Snake (0/5) Lair:6
  Slime (0/6) Lair:7     


[mopl]

Seems now you can go in Orc up to 3, Orc:4 can be a nasty place but you can try and see...
You may want to train some more Bows
I usually like Polearms on a Centaur : high speed allows you to kite easily

You can also stash items in Lair (empty wands, some scrolls and potions)

[nago]

Switch to a longbow as soon as you find one.
Why are you training long blades? A longbow is enough to kill everything in a game, plus you have Oka + faith so it's impossible you'll actually run out of ammo. If you want to melee something, just use weapons which are good even untrained - e.g. elec dagger. Keep training bows, unless you have found very good spell (namely, haste) For the rest it seems okay, I probably wouldn't train more dodging until late game - and switch to a heavily enchanted plate armor when possible.

[wayreth]

Seems now you can go in Orc up to 3, Orc:4 can be a nasty place but you can try and see...
You may want to train some more Bows
I usually like Polearms on a Centaur : high speed allows you to kite easily

You can also stash items in Lair (empty wands, some scrolls and potions)

Sound advice, tks. What's kite?

[nago]

You walk away from a monster until there's a space between you and him. You attack him thanks reaching, then he spends his turn to get close to you again. Repeat until the monster is dead.
Obliviously, this tactic doesn't work against monster faster of you, or with ranged attacks, or when attacking with a delay higher than 1.0.

[Amnesiac]

Not only it doesn't work with monsters faster than you, it also doesn't work with monsters of the same speed. (I thanked you accidently, sorry )