Maybe I just can't play non OP characters

[mattlistener]

I just splatted a promising Centaur who found a +2 trident of venom, a +3 leather armour, and a +6 ring of slaying by dungeon level 5. I just don't seem to be able to train myself to respond properly to the one thing in a hundred that can kill me.

I let an "extremely dangerous" ghost follow me down a dead end hallway to get to a Sewer. Cleared Sewer easily, dawdled as long as my hunger clock would allow, went back to dungeon, and of course the ghost was still right there and killed me.

I'd used my one teleport scroll getting away from it on a prior, failed approach to the Sewers (due to getting stuck between the ghost and popcorn). Hadn't found an altar to Okawaru yet, who probably could have powered me through.

It's not a matter of knowing what to do instead. ("Let the Sewers go, it's not worth it.") It's just that I don't do it, like when I'm in the headspace of playing DCSS the part of me that's making decisions isn't willing to play the threat assessment part of the game. However it doesn't feel interesting to re-win with the powerful gods/combos I've won with before. So it seems to me I have to come to grips with either that DCSS is played out for me now, or that to carry on winning with novel gods/combos I'll somehow need to get the rest of me on board with contextually appropriate cowardice.

[edgefigaro]

When your crawl feels lost you should spend time playing wanderers.

[4Hooves2Appendages]

It's hard to suggest anything specific, but shorter sessions are usually better for concentration. Playing slower may help too. Perhaps the best thing to do is to regularly ask yourself: "Can this kill me?" If the answer is "Yes!", then stop pressing buttons and think.

That said, Ce are actually one of the strongest species, and with decent gear you could've probably killed the ghost by kiting. (Unless it had dangerous spells. Always avoid those!)

Ghosts can't use stairs, so you should've lured to a different upstairs, come back down somewhere else and left it at that. If you bump into it again, just repeat. Ce can outgallop almost all ghosts except spriggans.

[stoneychips]

Don't feel bad... I can barely play OP-geared ones without early hubris, late fatigue, losing too much time training that amazing-looking stuff, or finally the awful encounter/layout versus resources of the moment whammy.

Sometimes it's just a matter of getting the right combo of power and defenses but not too many switchups/complex choices (which often also come with a few "generally quite good" but few "excellent in most pinches" options/skills). And yes, getting a game without too many horrible layouts/surprises at just the wrong times. Which is partly a matter of not playing when personally down, and partly a matter of luck/running order of drops v. mobs.

I had under 1% tournament wins, with one win in the like two weeks, and with a bunch of 2-rune flubs my score was still just under the top 10% of player numbers (unless maybe some people were running multiple accounts, I dunno). So don't feel too bad. Mean dungeon is mean.

[Vajrapani]

I would also second playing shorter sessions for crappy combos,for example: It took me 76 tries to win my first octopode, it would have been won on the 5th try or so were it not for the fact that I was playing tired in Zot:5.

Also, try and figure out which situations that character is strong in and which situations it is not strong in and plan around that(e.g Octopodes are really crappy at fighting lots of packs of enemies so I train stealth to pick and choose my battles.)

[watertreatmentRL]

If you're losing centaurs, the problem is you're trying to have too much fun. That's not a weak character, it just locks you into a very tedious playstyle and you have to recognize that with disciplined, unfun play you will consistently win easily. Your big advantage is speed and to use it, you need to do a lot of luring. So you just do it and it makes you win.

As soon as you recognize that whatever fun there is playing weak combos is in being able to consistently win them, not in actually playing them, you will be able to make a better decision about whether and how to play them.

[mattlistener]

Thanks for the replies. I like "can this kill me?" as a mantra to snap me out of my "having fun" trance.

On the subject of Centaur bow users -- after the Str/Dex reform, should I be raising Str or Dex?

[4Hooves2Appendages]

In a Ce I wouldn't usually raise Dex. Because of the size and the barding ER it's difficult to get high EV. So as a heavy armour user I would typically raise Str, to get to comfortable plate level ~20 or so, then the rest in Int. If I'm casting spells, I'll probably just go with lighter armour and Int mostly. Ce book starts are actually pretty good!

[Odds]

I asked a similar question here, and got some very helpful answers.

[mattlistener]

Doing better on this one! Also here's a first for me: I received two gifts simultaneously. Unfortunately both were ammo. Which is super-boring now that branded ammo isn't a thing anymore.

12225 | D:9 | Killed Erica
12225 | D:9 | Received a gift from Okawaru
12225 | D:9 | Reached ***** piety under Okawaru
12225 | D:9 | Received a gift from Okawaru

Edit: only artifact in game as of Lair:2, the +10 Black Knight's horse barding {ponderous, rPois rN+}.

[mattlistener]

Tombstone: chopped to bits by a spriggan berserker with a friggin +1 antimagic hand axe vs. my 42 AC and 24% GDR.

[stoneychips]

Those spriggans can be amazingly strong in melee, practicallly on par with shrikes against an early-Depths visitor.

They're good candidates for being parked under the effect of cloud wands/lamp of fire, or repeated AOE blast from distance, if you have them.

[VeryAngryFelid]

SpBe has 27 base attack, with hand axe it becomes 34, with berserk status it becomes 51. AC 42 and GDR 24% means you still can get 51-min(42,51)*0.24=41 damage per attack. Also berserk status means the monster attacks 50% more often.

Edit. Basically see my signature, AC is overrated.