Total newbie advice

[itsacarp]

Howdy!

I'm new to crawl (have played some ADOM and some TOME a while ago) and I get the impression I'm missing something. To keep it simple I always play Minotaur Berserker of Trog. Started around 50x maybe, didn't get past lvl 4 a single time. That's only half of the problem, though - I understand crawl is about dying a lot. But I don't feel I get any insights into what this game wants me to do - I press "o" > meet weak monster; kill > meet strong monster, try to run away, no fast enough, die.
So basically I'm running blindly around until I meet Sigmund or Grinder or an ogre or a pack of kobolds with poisoned darts ... ... and I don't feel I learn anything.

What I am missing?

Thanks guys

[smock]

Try a kobold or troll (with claws)! They're easier than Minotaurs for me. You'll learn and have more fun if you stay alive longer, though you learn a lot from dying, too. Trolls are nice because there are fewer choices so you'll choose wrong less often.

Ideally you learn by not dying the same way again. But it's hard. I find Crawl to be good/frustrating because it's randomized and then re-randomized, so it can be especially hard to learn about things.

Are you using up your potions and scrolls? Reading teleport scrolls instead of berzsering? Berszerking to run for a staircase rather than to fight? (berserk and fight when it's the best way to stay alive; berserking too often means that an orc priest will wander in while you're slowed.) Identifying items and using wands liberally, except for polymorph? Picking up junk (stones, darts) and throwing it at things before closing for battle? Most are generally good ideas.

Also, if you don't mind getting spoiled, ask the bots about monster and stuff: http://crawl.develz.org/wordpress/bots

Also, I'm a terrible player so you might want to ignore all this.

Have fun!

[bobross419]

I was in your shoes not too long ago. Could barely get to Temple. Then I worked past it and could get to Lair/Orc but not past. Now I've got 3 runes and prepping for my first journey into Zot!

Use your consumables, don't try to save them.
Throw stuff at bad guys.
Learn how to use the skill training (version dependent).
Try some other builds.

But what helped me the most...
Read the wiki.
Whenever you find a tough and/or new monster look it up on the wiki and the bots (sometimes different tips are hidden in each)
Read the forums - Especiall "I think we learned an important lesson today. " and "The 'Questions too small to need their own thread' thread "

[galehar]

So basically I'm running blindly

autoexplore is convenient but it's not mandatory. It will often put you into dangerous situations. It's better to start exploring new levels manually to make sure you always have an escape route to a nearby upstairs. When the level is mostly explored, then use autoexplore to finish it. In the mid-game, when your character becomes powerful, you may want to use autoexplore more liberally, but it will always be safer to explore manually.

[Mackerel]

As suggested above, try some different builds. I suggest that for education's sake, you try something with a Spriggan and something with a Naga.

The Spriggan gives you a frail character that can successfully run away from almost anything. It will teach you that there are many situations where your character is too frail to bulldoze your way through. Unless you've put yourself in an absolutely impossible situation, though, it is pretty forgiving, because if you are paying attention, you can usually run away faster than they can chase you.

The Naga gives you a strong character who is too slow to run away from almost everything. It will teach you to plan your moves: to think carefully before going around the next corner or across the room. Again, if you've put yourself in an absolutely impossible situation, you'll just die; but again it's pretty forgiving in many situations, because you have a character with lots of hp, extra AC, immune to poison, and able to poison its enemies.

The combination of lessons: knowing when to run away, and learning to think tactically before the battle, will see you in good stead on every other character you try.

[itsacarp]

Thanks guys, will give it a try.

[snow]

Dude hit aa. You have special abilities as a beserker you know....

Here's an example of a game as a beserker:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWw-g30ZLt4

[Sjohara]

So basically I'm running blindly

autoexplore is convenient but it's not mandatory. It will often put you into dangerous situations. It's better to start exploring new levels manually to make sure you always have an escape route to a nearby upstairs. When the level is mostly explored, then use autoexplore to finish it. In the mid-game, when your character becomes powerful, you may want to use autoexplore more liberally, but it will always be safer to explore manually.

For me, I always found that it's the exact opposite. If you're walking around manually and you accidentally take a single step towards Sigmund after he pops into view, you're pretty much 100% dead with a lot of character builds. He's going to confuse you and shoot you to death before you have a chance to run. Autoexplore stops you the instant he appears and lets you turn around immediately, so even if he's awake you can keep him just barely out of range until you get to a staircase. The day I started using autoexplore religiously was the day I stopped dying consistently to Sigmund and other similar early-game threats.

[RFHolloway]

This is mainly due to the loss of concentration factor - if you expect to move to the end of the corridor, you probably have already taken the extra step before you realise someone has come round the corner.

[pratamawirya]

Shift-direction solves that problem.

[speciesxx]

I hate autoexplore and mostly use manual exploring or shift-direction.
The automatic stopping on monster sight is really useful, but i just love the manual exploring. Think that is most of the fun .

Shift-direction don't even let you move if there is a monster in sight, even if you try to. I wish the same behaviour could be implemented while moving a single tile at a time (for example with another key combo like ctrl-direction). That would make manual exploring even faster . You can just walk around easily until you see a monster, then release the ctrl key and go from there.

Gief (*looks at the devs*)

[Tiber]

I'd actually recommend centaur for a beginner. They have most of the speed of a spriggan and the buffness of a naga (including an unmentioned advantage of being able to eliminate shield penalties earlier). They're a strong but overlooked race.

I also prefer manually exploring. I do auto-travel between floors though.

[bobross419]

I usually combine auto and manual. First few levels are all auto if I'm sure I can take everything but an invis Sigmund (invis is the only time he ever kills me). Once I start hitting a point where I feel I might be threatened regularly I'll manual scout down each stair case, manually scout the areas between and around the stair cases (ensuring clear evac routes) then auto explore the rest. I'll switch to manual on some levels if there is a feature I want to avoid without setting exclusions (e.g. Lair level with a lot of water in the middle [eels] and no rElec yet).

Also, for newbie advice. If you fall through a shaft, look at the level you are on before clicking past the "You fall through a shaft" message then look at the new level (I rarely know what level I'm actually on lol) and start looking for staircases leading up. I've been dropped 3 or 4 levels a couple times which can be mighty dangerous for a low level character.

[itsacarp]

Didn't have too much time to play lately, but made some progress with suggested backgrounds - I have a mountain dwarf fighter on lvl6 now and still very alive. Also did better with the kobold berserker than with the minotaur previously.

Thanks again for the advice. By the way - are there some rules of thumb about which char level you should have to explore a certain dungeon level .. like don't bother with dng lvl 8 until your lvl10 or such?

On we crawl.

[Grimm]

It's more important to know what char level you need to be to take on a given monster, especially if you are playing a melee character.