How do I view my morgue file?

[Psyclone]

I'm new to the game and just had my best start ever, a total dream start... but being a noob, I had a sudden, unexpected, stupid death and wanted to see what I did wrong.

How do I view my morgue file? I saved my *.ts file from the morgue, but I don't know how to open it to read it.

I was playing a DEFE and by D:4 already had found ...

• the +9 short sword "Cimn" (weapon) {drain, rElec}
• Amulet of Magic Regeneration
• Ring of Wizardry
• Ring of Intellect +4
• Ring of Fire
• +2 Hat
• +1 Shield (i boosted it with enchant armor)
• uncursed Gloves

...I died on D:7 to a rare monster that has a bunch of pigs with him. I cast a Fireball at him and then lost 80% of my health. I ran up a level with 6hp and died to a stupid pig that had about 10% health left and hit me for 3 damage when I had 1hp left. As someone who has never made it past Lair:4 (just started playing online yesterday), it was painfully heart-breaking but has me dying to try again.

[VeryAngryFelid]

http://crawl.akrasiac.org/scoring/players/psyclone
http://crawl.berotato.org/crawl/morgue/ ... 053355.txt

[VeryAngryFelid]

Some advises if you are interested. Don't use shield that early with a fire elementalist if you want defense, train dodging and fighting instead, then shields to 4 if you find a buckler. Conjure flame can be better than fireball in corridors because it will make some monsters do nothing (if they are afraid to step into flame) or get high damage (if they do walk into it). Sticky flame is awesome too, cast it at adjacent monster and walk away (train some dodging/fighting for safety).

[Psyclone]

Some advises if you are interested. Don't use shield that early with a fire elementalist if you want defense, train dodging and fighting instead, then shields to 4 if you find a buckler. Conjure flame can be better than fireball in corridors because it will make some monsters do nothing (if they are afraid to step into flame) or get high damage (if they do walk into it). Sticky flame is awesome too, cast it at adjacent monster and walk away (train some dodging/fighting for safety).

First off, thanks for the advice!

I never used a shield this early before, but when I got the Ring of Wizardry I thought it might work. I was wrong of course.

I don't cast Fireball very often, at least early on. It kills me on the food too if I spam it until I get my Spellcasting up.

I use Conjure Flame in corridors like crazy. If a monster walks into the flame, I try to block them (trap them) if they can't kill me in a few swings. If they don't walk into the flame, I just pick them off with Conjure Flame and sometimes Inner Fire (depending on the situation/setup, eg - mouth of a corridor).

Other than Flame Tongue at low levels, the spell I use the most is probably Sticky Flame and kite. I'm going to take your advice and try to start putting points into Fighting/Dodging earlier.

[Psyclone]

By the way, what do you recommend for using as a melee and ranged weapons?

I use a Short Sword most of the time, but I haven't made it past Lair:4. I watched someone else last night win playing a DsFe and used a Long Sword.

I usually just use the best ranged weapon I find, excluding crossbows.

[VeryAngryFelid]

By the way, what do you recommend for using as a melee and ranged weapons?

I use a Short Sword most of the time, but I haven't made it past Lair:4. I watched someone else last night win playing a DsFe and used a Long Sword.

I usually just use the best ranged weapon I find, excluding crossbows.

You should not decide in advance what you will use. If you find a weapon of electro, venom or draining, use it. If you find a well-enchanted shortbow, use it etc.
For example, I am playing a DgFE at the moment and I found a +0 dagger of electro which made me put some points into Short Blades but I haven't invested much and probably will not because it is not a good weapon class in the long run. Dg is not DE of course and I am not playing it optimally at all but you can see how I trained some fighting/dodging early.

  Code:

Skill      XL: |  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8 |
---------------+-------------------------+-----
Conjurations   |  2     3     4     5  6 |  6.4
Spellcasting   |     2                 3 |  3.3
Fire Magic     |        3     4     5  6 |  6.1
Short Blades   |                 1  2  3 |  3.8
Dodging        |                 2     3 |  3.5
Fighting       |                 1     2 |  2.7
Stealth        |                         |  1.7

http://crawl.berotato.org/crawl/morgue/ ... dman25.txt

[tasonir]

By the way, what do you recommend for using as a melee and ranged weapons?

I use a Short Sword most of the time, but I haven't made it past Lair:4. I watched someone else last night win playing a DsFe and used a Long Sword.

I usually just use the best ranged weapon I find, excluding crossbows.

If I'm reading this right it sounds like you're using magic, then also picking up melee and a ranged weapon? If so, you probably want to focus a bit more. It's often a good idea to have some backup plan for if your mana runs out (primary offense: magic), or to have a ranged attack (if your primary offense is melee), or to have a secondary attack to conserve the ammunition that your primary attack needs (ranged weapons). But you don't want to spread yourself out too thin - focus on your primary offensive skills the most, and train one secondary when you have the experience to spare, without diluting your skills too much. Remember that you still need defensive skills like dodging/fighting/armor, depending on what you're using.