fighter vs hunter start

[ajon]

I've noticed people taking a hunter start sometimes but when they post the dump of their files, they look like a fighter. Why not just start as a fighter? Is there some reason to go hunter first?

[Tiktacy]

I'm afraid I don't really understand what you mean? Usually, people who start as a hunter tend to pickup some melee skills as well and simply use their ranged weapons as backup(or in case of emergency). I personally prefer to use ranged weapons 24/7 the moment that becomes doable, but different people have different preferences, so I dunno.

If I wanted to be a fighter, I would just roll a fighter. But I guess different people have different preferences? =/

[XuaXua]

Monsters are generally less dangerous at range.

[ajon]

Just looking at some of the CiP, the title says XXHu, but their primary skills are melee and not ranged sometimes.

[pratamawirya]

Because ranged combat is really powerful in crawl, and starting off with a ranged weapon is more convenient than trying to find one on the floor.

[daggaz]

Yeah that right there, especially if you want to start with a crossbow. I think I've seen a crossbow drop in the first seven levels all of ten or twenty times in my entire crawl career..

[Wark]

It can also depend on floor drops. For instance, I had a HEHu who switched to long blades because he found the plutonium sword and managed to nearly run out of arrows at some point in Vaults.

[1010011010]

I always pick ogre hunter over fighter mostly because of giant OHKO grinder rocks, crossbows provide a similar effect being quite powerful early on.

[Volteccer_Jack]

the only difference between a hunter and a fighter is what weapon you are holding

[Silk]

Hunters also start with an attribute score distribution that is likely to be more beneficial in the long run. Not much of a difference of course, but for some it may tip the scales.

[Turukano]

Why not just start as a fighter?

Monsters are generally less dangerous at range.

Because ranged combat is really powerful in crawl, and starting off with a ranged weapon is more convenient than trying to find one on the floor.

Yes, and I'd like to add an example.

Unarmed trolls start with strong claws, so their survivability in the early game is high. In lair some nasty things will appear, hydras are usually dangerous foes. Should you attack them with claws they'll grow two more heads for each head they lost.

So how to deal with hydras? With rocks you can kill them easily from a distance but in early dungeon levels you often won't find rocks.

That's why it's interesting to start as TrHu as you'll get some rocks from the very beginning.