CIP/YASD: GrFi^Makhleb, first runes, mauled at Vaults:5

[DraconicPenguin]

Gargoyle Fighter of Makhleb on DCSS desktop tiles 0.18.1. Character dump: http://pastebin.com/HTd6qHSN

This is the first game where I've ever gotten to a single rune. An earlier attempt failed at Snake:4 after some naga teleported me into a position I could not escape from. (Lesson learned: always make sure you have an escape path, especially on rune floors, and make appropriate use of stair dancing!)

This time, I managed to get to Swamp:4 and fetch the decaying rune. A brief but foolish entry into Slime led to an MP-powered wands mutation, but this has not proven to be a serious issue thus far.

I kinda doubt I can turn this into a win as I've never gotten this far before, but I'll certainly play the game out.

Your thoughts?

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The character has since fallen in Vaults:5. Read on for details, including the final character dump.

[VeryAngryFelid]

Stop training either shields or bows, they cannot be used together.
Put remaining stat bonus points into Dex.
Don't train maces if you are going to switch to polearms.

Edit. Also find and clear Orcish Mines, it has some shops and is much easier than any Lair branch

[DraconicPenguin]

I intend to stop training Shields.

I'm rather torn on whether to switch to Polearms at the moment. This will depend on what weapons come up as the game progresses, but mindelay will probably be a factor.

I was thinking of doing Spider next but it certainly looks like Orc makes more sense at this point so that's the next branch I'll cover.

[VeryAngryFelid]

Also most players clear D15 before going into Lair branches. Morningstar is a good enough weapon so you don't need to switch to polearms if you don't want (as a character without spells you have enough XP to train everything you want)

[DraconicPenguin]

...and so the game ends at Vaults:5 with two runes. I probably should have tried to pull out in advance with blink or teleport but got a bit panicked under pressure and became unsure what to do in this complex a situation.

I'm very proud I managed to get this far, and I hope to do similarly well (or better!) in a future game.

The final dump is here: http://pastebin.com/8jwghEwh

[dpeg]

DraconicPenguin: You're making good progress! Dying in rune map that's new to you is nothing to be ashamed of. Unless you're spoiled, or have someone helping you, this is quite normal: these threat density is always a serious step up from the levels below. And at least, it happened to me, with all of Snake, Vaults, Elf, Slime. (And, of course, again in Zot:5 -- only that I died there more than once before finally making it. )

You died to paralysis (and don't even complain about it, hats off). The relevant resistance is MR; that's something which should be explained more clearly, somewhere. Anyway, I am sure there was something better than a ring of Dex+2. For example, that ring of MR you've been carrying.
Your message log is very long (which is good), and I might have missed something, but a place like V:5 is great to use god powers. Don't be stingy! You could've probably trained more Invocations. Greater Summons are nothing to be laughed at -- use them. The log file is unerring: you use a single Greater Servant all game Perhaps you got burnt because that one was dangerous? Train more Evocations, and try again.
The final screenshot shows a very high monster count. V:5 is so dangerous that you can teleport, and probably land in a better spot. (It helps that the place has lots of structures.)
Finally, some more standard stuff: you had potions of agility, resistance, invisibility, haste, and scrolls of fog, blinking. Use them! Branchs ends are generally good places to use Mapping, too.

Better luck next time, it'll work out some day!

[DraconicPenguin]

You're right that more MR would have helped. I didn't see the paralysis coming.

I tried to stair-dance but was denied the opportunity to do so (by a hostile teleport) around the third time I entered the floor. Either blink (towards the stairs) or teleport should have been used at that point instead of attempting to engage the enemy; without prior experience in the Vaults, I had no idea just how dense the field would be.

You're also right that I didn't take full advantage of my god. I used Lesser Servant numerous times to try to stall the minotaur after getting hit hard in a labyrinth. At this point, however, I was not confident enough that Greater Servant would have been particularly useful due to the enemy density (and I have never really held summoned creatures in high regard—that probably should change).

I did read a scroll of mapping as I entered Vaults:5, but it's clear that there were tools at my disposal to recover from this.

With all this in mind, I should have a much better shot of pulling it off the next time I make it this far. I've purposely configured the game to generate verbose output (1000 lines message history, low HP note threshold at 65%) to ease analysis. Thanks for your support and I look forward to the next milestone in my Crawl career.

PS. I was unexpectedly banished (to Abyss:2) while in Vaults:3 but had little trouble making my way back out. I decided against playing for the abyssal rune; perhaps I'll reconsider next time.

[VeryAngryFelid]

you can press 'x', target an enemy and then 'v', it will tell you what spells it has and specifically what chance you have to resist banishment, mark, paralysis etc.
potion of cancellation removes marked status and teleportation status, being marked means every non-sleeping monster is aware of your position no matter where you are and is coming to see you, even teleport does not help if you are still marked. so for curing mark status people usually switch to ring of mr (to decrease chance that vault sentinel will mark you again (it can be applied multiple times, durarion increases), then quaff a potion of cancellation and read teleport or blinking.
make sure to check with 'xv' all monsters which you see for the first time, some summoned monsters are extremely dangerous even if they are behind other monsters (for example, Brimstone Fiend is one of the most dangerous monsters in the game, it has 2 attacks which ignore both ac and ev).
good luck in next game!

edit. also that flail was not a good weapon, you can check weapon description with i<letter of the item> and see its base damage and how many skill levels you need for maximal speed. dire flail, great mace, eveningstar, morningstar are better.

[DraconicPenguin]

...and upon review of the log, it is evident why I was unexpectedly teleported:

  Code:

You fly downwards.
The tengu reaver hits you but does no damage.
Your surroundings suddenly seem different.
[...]
Aim: a tengu reaver, wielding a great sword of distortion and wearing a scale mail (hasn't noticed you)


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Further review indicates that I was distracted by an OoD monster (ancient lich) and was too focused on eliminating it over the rest of the field. Those scrolls of holy word could have been used to soften up the multiple demons and undead in the enemy field. I was also too focused on trying to eliminate that pesky tengu reaver.