Any tips?

[ancient karmic drake]

There is something obviously wrong with my playstyle. I tend to do best with my beastfighters due to no need for weapons, and can wear platemail and whatnot. The furthest I get is between 15-20 in the CoC. Can anyone give me a few tips on how to survive those sections? I go through the pyramid at level fourteen, too.

[goldaryn]

there is really only ONE big tip that I have found to help me a lot in ADOM (as it happens it is SUPER important for beastfighters, maybe the most important thing of all)

* have a way to deal with things you'd really rather not touch (e.g. ghuls, jellies, karmics, anything really overpowered)

missiles
magic
zapped wands (to attack from distance or escape)
thrown potions (to do things to the enemy, make self invis)
scrolls (etc etc)
speed/cautiousness (to run away) <-----------

i have highlighted the last one because many times it will be your BEST option.. you are likely to die in certain situations at certain levels. good example: mixed vaults - dangerous at low levels. certain monsters are especially dangerous to certain classes. e.g. dopplegangers and archers, elementalists and keethrax (he resists hot and cold). so. go away and come back later.

i also had no idea until recently quite how important item usage is in tough spots and tough fights. read some of guts tutorials for tips on how certain potions, wands, scrolls can make (certain boss fights/retreats/crowd control/cat management/basically anything in ADOM) easier.

for most characters, training missiles from an early stage is a VERY good idea, almost mandatory for a non magic user. there will be nasties at all levels that you do not want to melee. this might be a caveman or an ogre at low low level, a wmopc if you are unlucky, perhaps a mimic hivemind at higher levels.

so my favourite class to play and the easiest to keep alive is a hurthling elementalist. they powerful in magic, powerful in missiles (thrown rocks) and get a way to obtain more rocks before too long (use Earthquake on D:1). with ranged magic, ranged rocks, 2 shields, use of tactics, scrolls, wands and potions to "play the game" and soften up bosses, get rid of cats, and the caution to retreat when it is the best option, he is almost indestructible. my last one underestimated the master moggy and paid the price :-(

the other tips
* make the most of herbs, and of your deity.
* know what protection you need for each monster's special attacks. esp in ToTHK, the graveyards, the temples, the corpse level, you get the idea

EDIT: for a beastfighter, spells are pretty much out. so: tactical retreats at times: mandatory, use of items: very advisable, missiles: very advisable. those 3 will likely save your bacon. it's particularly important not to rush too deep too fast with a beastfighter as melee dmg levels with your level. so pace yourself a bit. if you reach an impasse, go explore somewhere else in the chain. few places have the lvl restriction of the pyramid. use herbs. kiss up to your god :-)

g.

[Dudley]

just a tip or two on beastfighting : try dark elves.
try to get as soon s possible to PC : 2 ( i would recommend UD dive just before), you NEEED acid resistance. When you get it, the only troublesome mosters are gorgons, floating eyes&gelatinous cubes. good luck on that

[gut]

> There is something obviously wrong with my playstyle.

More likely it's just lack of info on how to handle certain
monsters/bosses. ADOM can be beaten with just about
any playstyle.

> I tend to do best with my beastfighters

Good for the early game, incredibly powerful in the late game,
but in my opinion, they need herbs for the mid game.

> furthest I get is between 15-20 in the CoC.

That's pretty far into the mid game.

> Can anyone give me a few tips on how to survive

The biggest thing is herbs. With willpower, toughness, and
dexterity at 26, it's a different game. Also, it's most often
the easiest method of crowning, which is extremely helpful.

Second biggest thing is killing Khelevaster. This allows an
early crowning, and early access to the Water Orb, which is
an (almost) unlimited source of healing.

[Dudley]

Uh. personally, i never used ANY orbs. save for passage to d:49

[moomoo]

I think one of the biggest breaking points for me was missiles.

Pick up every arrow and quarrel, train those skills and use slaying arrows to anything you've never seen before or otherwise scary things.

Teleport, run and turn invisible. Zap with wands or disable enemies otherwise and shoot those missiles.

Basically be a slick, quick and clever coward bastard

[Dudley]

Bah. Once you get high level, the problem is getting ENNEMIES dangerous. So that you can gain some xp

[moomoo]

Bah. Once you get high level, the problem is getting ENNEMIES dangerous. So that you can gain some xp

But if the problem is getting high level enough

[fazisi]

Mid-game is where most of my characters die. If it wasn't for stone block traps and other such RNG fuck-overs, anyone with enough caution can survive the early game.

Beastfighters are insanely powerful at high levels because of their scaling damage but this means that you are also limited by this. Gaining levels fast is pretty important for a beastfighter but for the most part, their damage is on par with what is needed for their level. Sadly, lots of ultra-tough melee characters like beastfighters and barbarians get so set into being so ultra-tough that they don't train any of their missile skills and entirely ignore using wands and such because they have an unlimited resources of damage in their hands. But once these powerhouses reach mid-game, there are several monsters who can put them in their place and remind them that all ADOM characters are mere mortals.

Don't be shy of death, just learn from each one and think of new strategies to avoid that death. Eventually, you will die enough times to learn enough lessons that one day when the RNG isn't at its ultimate evilness (or you are just that prepared and chicken out of every single dangerous encounter until you can defeat it) that you get a win easily. There's a lot of things that you won't know until you beat the game, such as how much corruption a PC really can take. I used to be so scared of corruption that I thought I would always turn into some mass of purple until I finally beat the game (on a crowned C beastfighter actually) and realized that you can work around corruptions (I had poison hands most of the game which was awesome for the extra damage on bosses and tough monsters but I can vividly remember having a huge stack of poisons after picking up my gear from an altar b/u/c id...)

[pblack]

Uh. personally, i never used ANY orbs. save for passage to d:49

do you mean, by any chance, that using the orbs makes them not useful for d:48 passage? because orbs have unlimited usage, they don't have charges or anything... they just cause corruption when used, but using them for healing or whatever doesn't change a thing in d48... there you actually throw the orbs into the anomalies and that's why they disappear there.