Abyss Ambulator
Posts: 1249
Joined: Sunday, 18th September 2011, 02:11
Up Against A Wall
I discovered Crawl a month or two ago, and have been playing heavily (200+ games, sometimes several hours a day). I've gotten the basics down fairly solidly, and can consistently get to level 10 or so with race/class combos I've learned well (Berserkers, DrFE/IE, CeHu).
However, I have never gotten past Lair:1. Ever. Most of my deaths (past D:3 or so) are fairly clearly my fault, but I can't quite seem to bridge that gap between knowing why I died and advancing further because of it. When I reach further down, I often just end up feeling outclassed at every turn, where the main dungeon monsters become too deadly for me to handle and I don't have the rPois necessary for the lair, or similar situations. Most of my characters (including MdFi, SpEverything, DE/SE casters, and most of the other "easy-to-learn builds" outside of the ones I listed never really get off the ground in the first place, unless I find something fantastic like a DsAr finding a +4 rod of venom in the sewer.
I feel like I'm missing some vital piece of understanding about the game that, once I discover, will allow me to start progressing further. As it is, I just keep throwing myself at a wall futilely trying to break it down. The problem is that I have no clue what that is. I've read all the tips I can find on the Wiki and here, I've tried watching a couple of games (I'd like to watch more, but not many skilled players are usually on the early dungeon levels where watching would be of much use for me, so not much has come of that so far), I've played virtually every race/class that's supposed to be fairly simple (and some not-so-simple ones; I've tried many DsXX and DrXX simply because I enjoy playing those races), and am entirely at a loss for how to improve from here.
So...any suggestions as to how to get past this wall? I love what I've played of Crawl so far, but I'd really like to figure out how to stop limping along in the very early game and start closing in on the midgame for once. (A 3-rune win, or even a rune grab, is hardly even on my radar right now).
EDIT: Also, one thing I forgot to ask...am I at a normal level of success with my level of experience? I feel like I should be better than I am at this point, but I have no basis for comparison, so if would be useful to know if such extended early-game struggles were typical.