how to skip the orcish mines and go deeper in the dungeon

[daftbloke22]

I was wondering if there was anyway to skip the orcish mines as I usually get killed in them and go deeper in the dungeon and level up before I attempt the mines. I read in some strategy guide it's best to save the mines for later, but I'm on level 3 of the dungeon and all the staircases seem to be going to the orcish mines. Is this something I have to complete or is there a way to skip the mines until I'm stronger? Let me know, I can't find any advice on google about this. Thanks. Adam

[and into]

There are orcs all over the dungeon. And also the Vaults. And (to a lesser extent) still orcs in the Depths. Deeper in the dungeon and in depths you will also run into elves outside of the Elven halls, too. These are itinerant populations, is my point, even if they are more densely inhabiting certain areas.

So the staircases you are talking about are still in the dungeon, you are just getting owned by orcs in the dungeon, which makes sense as orcs are among the most common player-killers, and most of their PKing happens in the early floors of D. The wizards and priests in particular are bastards.

Practical advice: Play a Minotaur Berserker or Hill Orc berserker if you aren't already. Don't walk towards enemies, retreat a bit to a good choke-point (or failing that at least take a few steps back) and let them come to you. (You can hit the period button . to force wait for one turn.) Unless you first see them when they are very close to you, try to break line of sight against stuff like orc wizards and orc priests, and let them come around the corner. When you cannot see them, they cannot see you, and thus cannot attack you. You can also close adjacent doors with CTRL+<direction>, this can be used to break line of sight and will force stuff to come close to open the door. Also animals and unintelligent enemies and the like cannot open doors, as you would expect, though jellies will eat through them.

Starting as a berserker, you will be able to berserk right out of the gate, which is great against stuff in melee, and you will get the ability Trog's Hand pretty soon, which can be used liberally; it temporarily gives you a nice buff that boosts HP regen and gives a big boost to magic resistance (which helps against confusion and slow and other nasty status effects wizards and uniques like Grinder and Sigmund will try to throw at you).

[daftbloke22]

So there is no way to skip the orcish mines then right? It seems like a few characters I played I went deeper in the dungeon and skipped the mines completely. It just must be this character. I just really hate the orcish mines and I wish I could skip them completely and just keep going down in the regular dungeon.

[Siegurt]

So there is no way to skip the orcish mines then right? It seems like a few characters I played I went deeper in the dungeon and skipped the mines completely. It just must be this character. I just really hate the orcish mines and I wish I could skip them completely and just keep going down in the regular dungeon.

There's only one way to enter the orcish mines, and taking that staircase isn't required, you can certainly skip them (or skip them and come back later) The entrance to the mines will look different than the other staircases. If you do end up in the mines when you don't want to be there, go up that staircase, and go back down a different one.

Typically you'll want to stay in the dungeon until you reach the lair, then explore the lair (without going into any of the sub branches (snake/spider/shoals/swamps) then go back and do orc.

[tasonir]

And into and Siegurt are talking about slightly different things, so just to clarify:

The orcish mines are an optional branch you don't have to enter. However, you'll always encounter orcish mobs in the main dungeon, and they have to be dealt with. You seem to be running into orcs in the main dungeon, which can't be skipped.

[daggaz]

To be really, really specific, assuming you are playing tiles:

The orcish mines entrance has a brown tile that looks like a mine tunnel going straight down with some rail tracks or something going into it. It looks nothing like a flight of steps. Once you go down, you will be in a yellow-brownish colored cave that will be almost entirely populated by orcs, with the occasional goblin, hobgoblin, and ogre. It looks nothing like the rest of the dungeon. There is only one entrance into, and out of, the orcish mines. That holds true for all branches, and helps to define them as such.

The regular dungeon floors always have 3 stairs going up and 3 stairs going down to the next dungeon level, plus one hatchway up and one hatchway down. (Branch floors will also have this structure internally.) Going down in the dungeon, as people have mentioned, will also result in meeting more orcs. Orcs are everywhere. Hint: they are edible.

[damiac]

Yeah, just to clear things up, as this thread is rife with confusion, the orcish mines is a branch off the main dungeon, just like the lair. There is only ever 1 staircase that leads to any branch, orcish mines included. So assuming you haven't hit some crazy bug(Which is always possible, though unlikely) you're probably just a bit confused, and those stairs do just lead further into the dungeon, or, you're already in the orcish mines, and need to go back up to the dungeon.

There is no way for there to be a staircase to the orcish mines on Dungeon 3, it just doesn't appear that early, so why do you say that the only 3 staircases all go to the orcish mines?

You never have to go into the orcish mines(Although you usually want to at some point).

EDIT: There, clear as mud now. Dungeon layout hasn't been altered as far as orcish mines goes.

[and into]

Okay I deleted my weird posts. (Well, my weird posts that were in this thread, at least.)

[Hopeless]

Based on the OP name + the description of Orcish Mines on level 3 it seems like this is a trollish thread. I could be mistaken, however.

[Psiweapon]

Based on the OP name + the description of Orcish Mines on level 3 it seems like this is a trollish thread. I could be mistaken, however.

I'm not sure if OP is the most confused of players ever or a frighteningly good at "passing" bot.

[damiac]

Eh, I assume he's just confused somehow, although I can't for the life of me figure out how he's under the impression that he has to go through the orcish mines. Maybe he just got an orc heavy D4?

I suppose it's possible he's just messing with us, although that's a pretty low impact trolling if that's what it is.

[daftbloke22]

Thanks for all the concern guys I figured out that I was just descending into a normal part of the dungeon with just a lot of orcs and it wasn't necessarily the orcish mines. Usually my characters die way to quickly before even reaching the orcish mines. I guess I was just confused when the layout of the game changed from normal stone walls to a more rocky lock with a lot less corners to evade monsters with. I hope I got a handle on it now. I really am dumb to this game, just been playing it a few days so forgive my lack of knowledge.

[damiac]

That makes sense, when I first started playing I thought certain dungeon floors always had the same layout after a few short games where I kept getting the wide open levels on D5 or whatever.

Just so you know, those guides on the wiki are typically not that great, and on top of that, they're pretty badly out of date. But stick with it, it's a great game! And don't hesitate to ask for advice here. You'll usually get some great advice, plus some entertainment out of the people arguing about the advice you were given!

[XuaXua]

Hey, just glad to know it wasn't trolling. Good luck!