Trying again without savescum

[blunk]

With a couple of months break I've decided to try again but this time to beat the game with no savescum.
After a long session I feel the need to write something ....

After numerous random disasters I decided to look up what race/class I'd like to go with and chose between darkelf archer and drakeling healer.
I went with dark elf archer (so far).
Of the darkelves I rolled both with tree ss got elven chain +0+8, others got +0+5, coincidence?
Had one with extremely good stats that I threw away, I blame beeing away from the game.

Finally got a tree DE archer through smc, no special luck in UD, got dwarf shoppie in HMW
Did healer quest and managed to get N so I could get the skill-reward.
Also did detect trap quest and killed hotzenplots for Amulet of Order.
No artifact in pc6.

Pyramid was probably the easiest monster combination I've ever got (at lvl 15), stone giant was toughest random monster....

Have done a few derps but that tends to happen (door traps that need not be triggered, rusting stuff when swimming, cats dead etc) but nothing too bad.

No altars until CoC, 2 L altars on my way to dwarf town.
No light/heavy crossbows until after dwarftown (including shops).
Fletching saved me some trouble and got me x-bow training thanks to hand-x-bow.
Despite a lot of fletching I had surpringly little ammo.
At 90+ a lot of fletched stuff seems to be slaying, is this normal?

Have last dwarf quest and dwarven graveyard left to do in CoC.
Now want L+ to kick in so I can crown...

I miss food preservation (drakelings are nice) and while I will be able to manage a few spells it still ways to go (concentration nearing 100 but lacking in literacy).

[Joe]

As an archer you won't need spells

[Scooter Fox]

No artifact in pc6.

Is this a thing? I don't remember when was the last time I had an artifact spawn in a lesser vault early game, but it was a long time ago for sure.

[blunk]

Is this a thing? I don't remember when was the last time I had an artifact spawn in a lesser vault early game, but it was a long time ago for sure.

Well there you are, there's a lot of things where I sort of know but get details a bit wrong.

Anyway, got crowned with Suns messenger (and shock immune). very close to one-shot on griffblood.
Will finish off dwarf quests and probably do a bit of gravedigging.
Got potential up to T 24 but str isn't very good yet.

Question, does corruption level in ogre caves depend on dwarf town level?
In this case dwarf town was at D11, does that mean ogre caves is equal to D12?

As an archer you won't need spells

Utility spells are very nice to have but yes I begin to see where this is going, with 100 archery and 100 find weakness ...

[taickyto]

There's no reason to worry about the corrupting nature of any level below D:30 (unless you plan on restocking shops), and ogre cave has virtually no use once cleared (unless you are a trollish farmer digging gems and planting herbs).
Grave digging is a bad idea because monsters will spawn next to you and you won't be able to use any kind of hit and run.
If you have sun's messenger, spend some time making as much arrows as you can; chaos isn't spreading that quickly and you need a lot of slaying ammos.
As for utility spells, as an archer you only want Farsight, all other spell are you wasting a hit of a (1d6+OMG)*WTF arrow; especially with find weakness.
GL with that char !

[blunk]

Thanks for answers.

no reason to worry about the corrupting nature of any level below D:30

Good, I taken in a bit too much worry from ppl on forum who may or may not go for ultra.

ogre cave has virtually no use once cleared

It's a good storage spot and I sometimes use it to read books there.

Grave digging is a bad idea because monsters will spawn next to you

Yes, I know the risky monsters, align drop and rewards.

As for utility spells, as an archer you only want Farsight, all other spell are you wasting a hit of a (1d6+OMG)*WTF arrow

A bit of healing (if found can be very handy) also in some crowded areas a few bolts spells can be useful.
Not to forget bolt spells can be used in full defence when stuff sneak up base to base.

Btw I realise this character got through SMC/UD w/o healing skill, a very very rare for me.

[blunk]

Since I've often played less dextrous classes I've seldom had the luxurie of extreme dex potential.
Question, are there any decent ways to train my dex 26/42 ?
I got 2 daggers of returning, I think someone said catch training works, but dunno if that applies past 25.

[Joe]

Yeah, catching returning weapons is supposed to train it, but I've had no big experience with that once your dexterity is already decent. You could try losing two points to 24 and then squeeze 200 blessed mosses, might be that it brings you to 27 or so.
Potions, leveling up and wearing equipment are probably the most reasonable actions to increase dexterity further.

[blunk]

Yeah, catching returning weapons is supposed to train it, but I've had no big experience with that once your dexterity is already decent. You could try losing two points to 24 and then squeeze 200 blessed mosses, might be that it brings you to 27 or so.
Potions, leveling up and wearing equipment are probably the most reasonable actions to increase dexterity further.

Thanks, thought as much, did chance on a dark elven wizard but only got the mana gain (could regain the T with morgia).
Guess I'll chuck a bunch at Garth if I ever get rich (shopkeepers seems to be DE biggest drawback).

Another first btw, I managed to get the +perception from carrot room.
It did however only net me +3 (and not the +5 wiki says) maybe I got capped at 20 something, I did crank it one more after that to a perception of 23 (blessed cjuice have a small chance).
Nice compared to some races who stick with close to single digits, every bit of extra vision is nice.
I've also found a more traps than usual w/o searching.

2 potential T, one potential S and one (unused) potion of S. A single random shop with scrolls.
Could have had better luck here I guess.
But no extensive grinding yet and most seem to proceed smooth so ...

PS. Of course I oneshot High king. DS.

[Dlightfull]

Thanks, thought as much, did chance on a dark elven wizard but only got the mana gain (could regain the T with morgia).
Guess I'll chuck a bunch at Garth if I ever get rich (shopkeepers seems to be DE biggest drawback).

Another first btw, I managed to get the +perception from carrot room.
It did however only net me +3 (and not the +5 wiki says) maybe I got capped at 20 something, I did crank it one more after that to a perception of 23 (blessed cjuice have a small chance).
Nice compared to some races who stick with close to single digits, every bit of extra vision is nice.
I've also found a more traps than usual w/o searching.

2 potential T, one potential S and one (unused) potion of S. A single random shop with scrolls.
Could have had better luck here I guess.
But no extensive grinding yet and most seem to proceed smooth so ...

PS. Of course I oneshot High king. DS.

Uncursed carrot juice only gives 3 points, you need to drink a blessed one for the +5. What i usually do, when i have enough carrot juice, i drink blessed ones to get Pe to 20, then hope for a room with smell of carrots.

Don't forget to give Blup some carrot juice for the Swimming skill.

Also, next time you decide to play an Archer, start with Raven starsign and try to get the RCT at lvl 16 (you need some charges of tele and some means to survive under water for about 4-5 turns - just get in and teleport 36, if i am not mistaken, swuares to the left and speak to the Dragon).

Slaying ammo from fletching is your luck, i never got it myself. With Sun's Messenger and a wand of tele and some potions of booze, i'd try some gravedigging. Just teleport away in case of trouble and shoot them with any blessed ammo (unerring would be perfect).

If you get lucky and find Thunderstroke or True Aim, your Dex will train fast enough .

Have fun and good luck, DE Archers are extremely powerful once you get going. Just avoid some places like Bug Temple and you should be fine.