Your typical play sequence

[adom-admin]

My recent ponderings about the new quest to add made me wonder about one more thing: What's the typical progression through quests/maps that you take with your characters? I still have the impression that I'm playing ADOM very differently than other people out there ;-) Any insights are welcome!

[Superteeth]

I typically start in the small cave to get to the High Mountain Village. The shopkeep there usually offers good prices for the junk I have picked up at that point. After that, I go to the Village Dungeon to get healing if I do not have it, and to the Druid Dungeon if I do (sometimes, I go to the VD anyways). After that, I go ahead and retrieve the cute dog corpse and finish that quest.

After doing all these things I start to descend in the Caverns of Chaos. I then do all of Thrundarr's quests (including the Dwarven Graveyard after all of Thrundarr's main quests). After that I descend to the Water Temple if I am feeling confident enough, or I go to the Tomb of the High Kings. Otherwise, the order is reversed for these two places. I hit the Gremlin Cave at random times, I more or less do it when I remember to. I get to the Pyramid around level 15-16, so when I go depends on how many things I have killed. The last (required) thing I do on the surface is the Tower of Eternal Flames.

I then descend past the Eternal Guardian and take the shortcut into Darkforge, which is when I do all the Darkforge things that there are to do. After this is when I typically go to the Assassin Prince's cave, on the way back to the CoC. If I am strong enough at this time, then I do the Bug Temple. The Minotaur Maze is usually avoided, although this time I was able to take a Dwarven Chaos Knight in and come out with the AotME. I also visit the Library at this time. Finally, I do the final descent through the levels of the CoC, only coming back up through the shortcut to store important items.

I wonder you play, Thomas Biskup? I did not even have any idea that you played your own game.

[*invalidname*]

Standard Adventure.

terinyo > *holeinthewall* > smc > VD/dd > Pc > UD > CoC > Pyramid > graveyard > DF > ToHK > ToEF > rest of CoC :)

[LFk]

Very typical sequence:

1] Terinyo -> Get quests, acquire rations until burdened. If Lawful, lure farmer/goodwife out of Terinyo, kill until neutral.
2] Bandit Town -> view (ID) items in black market -> acquire Pick Pockets from Yeguris.
3] SMC. Attempt to locate down stairs and/or blanket. Weaker characters bail on this at first sign of trouble, stronger characters persist until ~level 5. Leave SMC, NOT through UD.
4] VD / DD. PCs without the means to dispatch Keethrax turns back at DD:7.
5] PC. Clear Vault, unless mixed.
6] CoC to Dwarftown, get thundarr quests.
7] At this point, everything splits off based on PC. Some combination of these things are to be done before ToEF: UD Dive, ToTHK, Water Temple, Griffyard, Pyramid, DF Raid, Thundarr's Quests. Very much based on the items acquired, though Pyramid/GY are the easiest of the above tasks.
8] ToEF.
9] Lower CoC dive, to Casino. Always pass EG peacefully, and raid gift shop. Trade a corruption for money if items are truly remarkable (i.e. 7LB, artifacts, etc.)
10] Hopefully acquire RotMC. Dive lower CoC, do temples in the order they appear, stopping when only Mana is left.
11] At this point, I usually do the side quests, if necessary. Rift, Ultra ending components (if applicable), Bug Temple, Quickling Tree, Unicorn, BDC. In a typical gate closure, many of these are skipped, especially if Mystic gave SoCRs.
12] Mana Temple.
13] D:50.

The vast majority of my games fall into this archetype.
I group these quests together as "sidequest early" : UD Dive, ToTHK, Water Temple, Griffyard, Pyramid, DF Raid, Thundarr's Quests, and complete them to prepare for ToEF.
I group these quests together as "sidequest late" : Rift, Ultra ending components (if applicable), Bug Temple, Quickling Tree, Unicorn, BDC, and complete them to prepare for MT.

My playstyle centers around those two encounters, the ones I regard as the most dangerous in the game. Ironically, I have never died to Nuurag Vaarn OR ACW due to my level of paranoia.
I die far more to carelessness on ordinary dungeon levels, with a randomly generated dangerous monster.

[JellySlayer]

Terinyo -> DD (preferred, kill druid if strong enough, otherwise return after PC) or VD (rarely... I am usually happy to trade healing for herbalism/gardening) -> PC -> CoC -> Visit as far as DH/AF split unless I can go further from Thrundarr quests -> Pyramid -> VDDL for wand if I can get it -> Griffyard -> Darkforge and High Kings, WDC if I'm Raven-born -> Dive to wall of flames, get Water Orb on way up -> ToEF (usually level 18-20) -> Casino (rob, usually) -> Dive to D:46 and check for greater vaults to rob (or, rarely, clear) -> Air Temple -> Earth Temple -> Mana Temple -> Unicorn Quest -> Finish game

For stronger characters or prospective ultras, I may follow other paths (SMC -> UD start, for example), but this is pretty typical for me.

[gut]

bugwil (for xp) > darkforge (for tp control) > terinyo (to kill druid) > darkforge again (shield of raw steel) > dorftown (to open coc gate) > water temple (water orb) > tower (fire orb) > casino (to further break the game) > UL:5 (to kill the ancient karmic wyrm for xp) > air temple (air orb) > earth temple (earth orb) > mana temple (mana orb) > D:50 (close gate) > terinyo (to kill a child and/or goodwife) > exit the chain (to gain a massive score) > post on forums (to relish in nerd companionship and approval)

[Singbird]

Buy food from Terinyo and check the stair situation in the small cave. Then go to either village dungeon or druid dungeon and explore. Keethrax is usually left alive at this point. Then go to puppy cave if the character is strong enough, otherwise go to Caverns of Chaos. After puppy cave get pickpocket from Yergius if I think I need training for climbing of stealth. Then go the unremarkable dungeon if the stair situation is good or if the PC is strong (a low level troll for example) or if I have teleportation. Otherwise it will be left until I have.

With trolls usually the first trip is to the arena to buy cooked lizards, before doing anything else. Otherwise get to Dwarftown after the beforementioned stuff and get Thrundarr's quest. Unless the monster is very rare, hunt it before going beyond the forest. I do all the Thrundarr's quests if I can (the only problem usually being the animated forest), then the pyramid if I'm strong enough, then dwarven graveyard, kill Keethrax, get training from Yergius and go to the unremarkable cavern if that was left out earlier and if I can. Also do Blup quest.

After this explore Caverns of Chaos until the wall of flames, do the Tomb of the High Kings, do Darkforge, get wand of teleportation. After doing the tower, just dive deep and hopefully get the Ring of the Master Cat and see what vaults there are and if it's possible to get any artifacts. Then try to do the earth temple and air temple and get the corpses to Guth'Alak. Visit the library at some point if corruption is an issue. Otherwise just close the gate.

I only do regular endings because I don't know how to do the others really. I also don't visit bug temple/minotaur maze, because in the few times I did I felt like what I got was not worth the risk / hair pulling / corruption (that was long ago though...). Corruption is usually not an issue for me unless I play chaotics (Guth'Alak, mystic, unicorn quest is enough for my normal plays) and corruption removal seems the biggest reason to visit these places.

[asdf]

Terinyo > Lawenilothehl > SMC (blanket only) > PC/VD/DD in no particular order > UD > CoC > Pyramid > Graveyard > ToHK/Water Temple/Darkforge > Maze/Rift/Bugvil for some characters > ToEF > rest of CoC

[GordonOverkill]

1) Preparation:
I enter Terinyo to check my char's stuff, skills, spells etc., read books, equip missile weapons, buy some food if needed etc. Afterwards I go to the outlaw settlement, kill a begger if I feel like trying an ultra, check the black market to identify some stuff, probably learn pick pockets (though I never use it... just wouldn't like to get it from a potion of education ;-)).

1a) With weak or careful chars:
A beginner quest from Terinyo (taked during the earlier visit)... VD if healing is needed of for archers, DD for everyone else. If I feel too weak to engage Kethrax, I do the PC first, otherwise I do it afterwards. When this is done, I check for close stairs in the small cave and try to reach the UD without taking big risks. If it works, I try to reach the HMV and from there on continue to the CoC, if not I usually check the DDL for herbs on my way to the CoC.
If I find a coalligned altar in any of the dungeons, I might grind a little piety boost for some additional healing prayers. If I find a level with herbs in the PC, I might also grind for some pepper petals or spenseweeds.

1b) With tough or daring chars:
I go directly for the small cave, try to pick up the blanket and then go through the UD - eventually skipping extremely big threads - untill I reach the HMV. From there I go directly to the CoC.
If I find a coalligned altar in UD or DDL, I might grind a little piety boost for some additional healing prayers. If I find a level with herbs, I might also grind for some pepper petals or spenseweeds.

2)First CoC dive:
Quick dive through the CoC untill I reach Dwarftown. If necessary I stay a little longer in the arena level to buy cooked lizards. In Dwarftown I get the first quest and check the shop. Afterwards...

2a) With weak or careful chars:
Explore the higher CoC levels that I skipped earlier, maybe secure and farm some herbs or even pacify the big room for intensive farming. If I haven't found the monster of the first dwarven quest after scouting all the levels between D1 and Dwarftown, I go for the deeper levels until I reach the two-downstairs-level. If the second quest was already started, I might go deeper untill I reach round about exp level 15 or 16. Meanwhile I try to finish as many dwarven quests as possible, hopefully reaching the arena quest.

2b) With tough or daring chars:
Directly go deeper into the CoC like explained above. Maybe care about herbs in the big room on my way back up.

3) Back to the surface:
If the quest is already started, try to become arena champion and finish the remaining dwarven quests. After the arena I might go for dwarven graveyard (usually exploiting my spoiled knowledge and asking for the quest though my char doesn't know about the portal yet), the Tomb of the High Kings, Darkforge, the VDDL (for the wand of teleportation), the underwater cave (and afterwards to Bulp), maybe finish some remaining duties in the starting region (if I fled from any of the dungeons earlier)... well, just all the stuff I want to do before the Tower and for which I feel strong enough. During this time I usually increase my char's power massively. If I try an ultra, I would also start with the chaos quests and maybe try to get the phial from the gremlin cave etc. The order of events may differ a little from game to game, but the Pyramid is always first and Darkforge or the Tomb of the High Kings are usually last. If I realize that I am not yet strong enough for any of these challanges, I first return to the CoC ( as explained in 4)) and see how far I can progress there.

4) Back to the CoC:
If not done so yet, I cross the dwarven halls, finish the remaining dwarven quests (untill I reach Khelly), the gladius quest and - if no ultra attemp - try to get crowned (in the new version usually by saccing monsters). Maybe I then do some pool-drinking in hopes of getting a wish to save Khelly. How far I dive depends on the developement of my char. Sometimes I feel strong enough after finishing the dwarven quests and getting crowned, sometimes I rather do the Water Temple first in order to get the orb and increase my equipment a little further. If I still don't have a fireproof blanket or ring of ice at this point, I dive untill I reach the wall of flames. No later than this point I return to the surface again.

4) Tower:
Well, I go inside and hope that I am well enough prepared to finish off the ACW. I do never grind like a madmen for preparation... if I am still missing an important piece after the preparation mentioned above, I just try to do it without.

5) Endgame:
From here on I might already go directly for victory, if my char feels tough enough. Important stations are the casino (which I usually try to rob), the cat lord (which I usually have to fight), the elemental temples and maybe the greater vaults that I find on my way (I usually try to clear giants, red dragons or fire creatures (if I can protect my equipment), rob everything else if possible, maybe just flee from undead vaults).
If I still feel to weak for whatever reason, I might go back to the surface through the shortcut and go for another location at first (library or Minotaur Maze). Then I go for D50 and afterwards try to get rid of my corruptions before I leave the chain.

6) Maybe some notes of the developement of this order with growing experience:
As an unexperienced player I thought that it was easiest to start with all the beginning quests and not progress untill I had finished them. I always thought that it would not make sense to progress if I am not even able to survive these early challanges. That changed when I realized that some of the early quests are a whole lot more dangerous than the early CoC levels (PC, DD bottom level, Kranach and his gang).
Also I realized at one point that quick early leveling gives you quite an advantage compared to slow leveling, because there is actually something like a "point of relative safety" somewhere around level 10-12. When this point is reached, your char is tough enough to survive one or two stupid mistakes. That's when I started going for the UD with strong enough chars in order to minimize the duration of the extremely fragile first levels, duing which a stupid misklick or lack of concentration usually means instant death. Of course that's always kinda risky in it's own way, but on the other hand the risk is calculatable if you know the game well, you just have to keep your concentration at maximum for a shorter time and and it's also really big fun ;-)
Finally I developed a tendency to play more economically. Early UD dives take less real life time than the "traditional" starting quests and shorter play means less chances to make a stupid mistake. Same with dwarven halls compared to the animated forest etc. I also try to minimize grinding processes by farming less and less herbs and avoiding grinding for specific items. I think, the tendency goes towards speed runs, but (being an old pen and paper player) limited by the bounds of reasonable roleplaying.
And last but not least of course there is a growing desire for a change, so I recently started to include various rather "optional" locations into my play sequences like the rift/library, the minotaur maze etc.

Guess that's more or less it. Hopefully it helps you a little.

e: One more thing, I REALLY love ChAoS KnIgHtS, just because they force me to break with this typical routine and do something else, something simmilar to a reduced lithium challange run. It makes them a challanging class, but also extremely fun to play for me.

[Blasphemous]

Terrinyo comes first. I get quests depending on skills. With a duelist for example, I don't have herbalism but I have healing so obviously I will take the druid quest.
I get a few rations (typically 4) and eat them right away. Then I'm off to bandit town to get my first kill, typically a beggar/outlaw leader.
After that it's SMC to generate it at a lower char level. With that done, I head for ID to get a few more basic items and level up till 7-8.
Then it's VD or DD since they are closer to ID, after that it's PC.
Occasionally I will run into rivers that I cannot pass and won't risk swimming so I will abandon the dungeon. I don't do the raider lord quest.
After all that it's SMC -> UD. If I can find down staircase in SMC, I will get all the way to HMV and sell/buy stuff.
If SMC is too difficult and staircase isn't too accessible, I will head for CoC, stopping at dusty dungeon hoping to get altars/shops/pools/herbs.
Also after HMV I will head for CoC, typically around lvl 12-13. From then a lot depends on class/items/hp/spells.
Most commonly I reach dwarftown and get portal quest and kill monster quest, train some stats with herbs in the big room, kill stuff in the arena.
After that it's either precrown (VD/DD/PC typically due to high chance of altar generation) or pyramid.
With amw and ankh I head for the dwarven graveyard and perhaps access some previously inaccessible area (due to rivers) and clear vaults which I could not clear earlier without strength of atlas or blessed girdle of carrying.
This is the point where a lot can happen so I have no set 'directives', I try to adapt.
Occasionally I will find aols at some point during this early game and so I will try to save Khelly if I can reach him safely. I will postpone that however if I can't simultaneously complete thrundarr's animated forest quest.
That depends on what monster he wants slain first, which can be something pretty crazy. Last time it was a berserker prince that I only managed to find around char lvl ~35.
Assuming I can find the monster quickly, I proceed with the second quest and typically take DH path. Occasionally I will find a vault on my way to Khelly.
I typically turn back around banshee level, go to the TotHK, level up a bit there and with lvl 20-22 I will consider if I'm ready for the Tower.
At this point I will either head for the Tower or more often to clear darkforge and have a poolsipping session. With darkforge stuff I'm usually ready for the tower so that is where I go.
After this, it's either library/labyrinth or deep CoC, all the way to greater vaults.

[Stingray1]

My sequence for typical normal games probably goes:

Get quest from tiny girl and either elder or druid. Visit the Outlaw settlement to get the Pickpocketing quest and look at items in the shop, kill a few 'outlaws' to gain levels to not die to traps, etc. Go to the last level of the puppy cave, either save the carpenter or go to the last level of the druid dungeon. Explore and kill the monsters and collect items in the levels I rushed through. Sell junk items.

Then go to VDDL and try my luck with a few random teleports. Go to the Dwarven city and get the quests from the elder, then return to all the levels in the CoC I just rushed through and explore them, killing monsters and collecting items. Sell all the items I don't want. Explore down to the level below dwarftown with the 2 downstairs.
At this stage it depends heavily on the items found thus far what I'll do next, also on whether the first dwarven quest has been completed. If all went well, I'll go to the VDDL to retrieve a certain wand and go to the home cave of the gremlins to retrieve the phial of Caladriel. Then go kill the druid and get the Detect traps skill. Then kill Rehetep. Then kill Nonnak. Harvest some herbs. Then get crowned.

Retrieve the ring of the High King, finish the dwarven quests. Obtain the Water Orb. Raid Darkforge. Tell Blub about his Momma, maybe go through the unremakable dungeon. Maybe do the library and minotaur mazes. Obtain the Fire Orb(sometimes before doing the previous two) and then dive to bottom of the CoC, save the puppy, get cleansed and go home.

Edit - I'm intrigued as to what your sequence is TB?

[Al-Khwarizmi]

Unless the character is really weak, I start with a blanket run. I enter the SMC and I only exit through the down stairs, and only with the blanket. Then I do an UD run, and exit through the HMV. Most of my characters have died at that point, but if I make it there, I have an easy early midgame.

After that (or directly, for weak characters) comes typically the druid quest, then puppy quest, then grabbing the wand of teleport from DDL (if I remember), then early CoC, some arena fights and chats with Thrundarr. I then do the Pyramid and Griffyard. And then it depends a bit. The Thrundarr quests depend on whether I find the monster for the first quest or not. I used to do most of them before Pyramid/Griffyard in 1.1.1, but now the random monster is so rare that I often have to leave them for much later (when they're a pushover - this should be changed).

If I have found the random monster, I typically go through DH (and often die, but it's fun) and dive until the Khelavaster level. If I have an AoLS or a wish, I save Khelly and do the water temple and then Darkforge and TotHK (in varying orders depending on availability of wand of cold, odds of defeating steel golems, etc.) and then ToEF. If not, I skip the water temple and do Darkforge, TotHK and ToEF directly, hoping for an AoLS or RoDS to drop.

At this point I may do the Library depending on character class and climbing skill, and whether I have an AoLS. Then comes the time when even if I don't have it, I let Khelly die and just dive to the deep CoC. I do the temples, may or may not do the blue dragon cave depending on character and resistances/immunities, close the gate, kill all the balors. Go back to surface, get unicorn quest, clean corruption and leave the Chain.

I've never done the Minotaur Maze but now that the rewards are juicy, I will surely try it. I never go for ultras for two reasons: on the one hand, the game is already rather long as it is and I tend to not have much time (some of my characters end up lost in the deep CoC because I don't have time to keep playing them for a while, and when I get the time some weeks later, I no longer remember the char). On the other hand, even in periods where I have time, ultras tend to require scumming and also switching aligment which goes against my typical roleplaying of lawful/neutral chars, this holds me back. I seldom visit the ID, maybe in one out of ten games I give it a visit when no AoLS has dropped, always a straight dive without stairhopping until it begins to become risky, and then back up. I never go to the gremlin cave or the quickling tree.

[zasvid]

My gameplan that calcified over many playthroughs.


take quests in Terinyo, buy food
visit Holeinthewall, look at shop items, learn pickpocketing
generate smc, find blanket or stairs or get out if the ratio of character power to level too low
save the carpenter or generate the druid ASAP
dive to Dwarftown to pick up Thrundarr's first quest while it might still be something not too deep (though that doesn't seem to work anymore)
clear CoC above Dwarftown, return to clear Puppy Cave and Druid Dungeon, Unremarkable Dungeon if stairs are accessible, upper Dwarven Graveyard if DV/PV allow, kill Hotzenplotz
return to Dwarftown, complete Papa Dwarf's 1st quest (by checking out level or two below dwarftown and grinding the big room if all else fails)
try to get a hold of the wand of teleportation in VDDL if not already done and teleport control (by looking for blink dogs in the ID) likewise, clear the UD if previously inaccessible
cross the animated forest/dwarven halls and return
kill the ogres in dwarftown
become a champion of the arena
clear Pyramid (with the help of \oFireballs from Dwarf's second quest)
kill Nonnak and Griff Bloodax (\oFireballs and !oHolyWater, respectively)
finish dwarven quests, grab the mystic's reward, perform a crowning
clear the Darkforge and Tomb of the High Kings
dive for the Water Orb
ToEF
dive to Casino, stack everything and identify, buy or steal the nice stuff
deal with all the special levels like Air Temple and Earth Temple up to D:48 (kill grues there for xp)
dive through Unreal Dungeon to Mana Temple, kill Nuurag
go to D:50, achieve victory
return to the surface, visit the unicorns, collect the reward and exit Drakalor Chain

[kNightCrawler]

1/ Dive through the SMC and UD [aka the 'Darwin Dive'].
[ if character doesn't have Healing, I'd first find a quick path to UD:1 in the SMC then get Healing in the VD before the dive.
2/ Get to HMV, sell stuff, head to CoC
3/ Raid the CoC as far as the entrances to AF/DH, until Thrundarr's second quest is complete.
4/ Complete the portal quest, clean out the Puppy Cave, do Keethrax quest
5/ Complete Pyramid if PC level is 15 or 16
6/ If either Thrundarr's first quest is not complete or an AoLS or wish hasn't been found, go to ToTHK and get the ring whilst there.
7/ Complete Thrundarr's quests
8/ Go through DH usually, only taking AF route if something *really* nasty pops up. Get to D:16 and either save Khelavaster or not depending on if an AoLS has been generated at this point [no scumming is generally used]
9/ Raid CoC levels until Wall of Flames, take on the Water Temple on the way back
10/ Clear out Darkforge [sometimes earlier than this, depending on how the char's coming along]
11/ Take on the ToEF, get Fire Orb
12/ Clear out the rest of the CoC, sometimes taking on the Minotaur Maze somewhere within this time frame
13/ Close the gate, do the unicorn quest unless chaotic.

...Usually the [I]plan, anyway. Of course, very few of my chars actually managed this... =}

[SirTheta]

I always start the early game by retrieving the blanket from the SMC and discovering the downstairs to UD (1). If the character is strong enough, I proceed through UD (2), out by HMV (selling some stuff on the way) to do VD or DD (3) and/or PC (4). If the character is not strong enough, I do VD or DD (2) [usually saving druid for just before UD or after UD] and/or PC (3) then do a UD dive (4).

Next, I visit the Caverns of Chaos (5). I obtain the SI and stabilize any herbs in the Big Room on my way to Thrundarr [though herbs are usually mostly useless now]. In the past, I would attempt to complete some of Thrundarr's quest line, etc. but the ridiculous change to the first quest has resulted in me just getting it, ignoring it until much later (unless a monster I can obtain easily), and leveling to 12 [hopefully avoiding entering AF on the way] (6).

Once at level 12, I exit CoC to do the Dwarven Graveyard (7), Pyramid (8), VDDL (9), and Tomb of the High Kings (10). 7 & 8 sometimes get intermixed – clear top level of GY to get level 13, murder Rehetep for AMW, murder the master necromancer. 9 can be done before the Pyramid if digging implements are available. 10 sometimes has to wait if I don't have ice (usually not a huge problem).

Next I dive to the wall of flames, clearing the water temple either on the way forward or back (11). Hopefully by this time I've been able to do Thrundarr's quests (12), get crowned (13), maybe talk to the mystic (14), and clear DFG (15) in preparation for TOEF.

I then do the Tower (16), dive to and rob Casino (17), talk to / avoid / kill the cat lord (18), complete all the temples / other challenges I wish as they come along [e.g. BDC, MM, Library, etc.] (19), clear D:50 (20), and win the game (21).

Things beyond the early game usually become intermixed but that's my normal route.

[grobblewobble]

In the early game my play sequence varies a lot, depending on race and class. Sometimes I go to the puppy cave for the vault and ant corpses, sometimes I go through the UD, sometimes I skip them both. I never pursue Kranach and rarely bother at all with Yergius' training.

Next I run to dwarftown. I only stop for vaults (if not mixed) and the Arena (where I get food and some gold). In dwarftown I bless water, check the shop and get the quest for Nonnak. I also check the levels just below dwarftown for vaults.

In 1.1.1, this would be the moment where I would try to do the dwarf quests. Unfortunately, the first dwarf quest is now almost always for some hard to find monster.. so I usually skip them now.

So the next step is now usually to go kill Griff & Nonnak. This usually is enough to get to level 13, so next I do the pyramid.

Then I return to dwarftown, get the quest rewards and I dive to the water temple, letting Khelavaster die along the way. And taking the DH route, never the tedious forest.

When I have the water orb and get back to dwarftown, I sell all my precious items to Waldenbrook, kill him, sacrifice the gold, sacrifice an artifact or two and get crowned, usually neutral.

Then I kill the golems in Darkforge and check armor and weapons.

Then I assault the tower of eternal flames.

Then I bypass the Eternal Guardian. Maybe kill a few copies.

Then I do the rest of the temples and win the game. I often ignore greater vaults. Undead vaults especially, they are not at all worth it (high cost/risk, low reward).

[Silfir]

My Let's Plays are a generally accurate representation of the way I play ADOM!

The following is my general game plan, so to speak; those are the mental steps that my mind ticks off pretty much in very game. I'm following the same game plan in both of my Let's Plays as well.

Enter Terinyo and stock up on food with the initial money. Enter the SMC, proceed to the Unremarkable Dungeon. If I survive all the way to the HMV, I hike back to the starting area and do either the druid's or Rynt's quest, then explore the puppy cave.

Then I'll hike to the Caverns of Chaos. I crawl the dungeon usually all the way until Dwarftown, then embark on Thrundarr's quests. If the monster for the first quest is forthcoming, I proceed to crawl past the Animated Forest clearing D:16, then turning around, collecting the wand of fireballs, and proceeding to the pyramid, now assured of the mummy lord's fiery demise. Then I return to Thrundarr's quest line usually to the finish, receive and complete the Griff Bloodaxe quest and collect the Ring of the High Kings.

Then it generally depends. If I've found a wish or an AoLS along the way, I'll definitely save Khelly and proceed to crawl the CoC up to the wall of flames. Otherwise, I will generally attempt to obtain wishes from the Darkforge pools, maybe look for the water dragon cave if I have the tools for it. If all that fails, and depending on my mood, I will kill Khelly and crawl to the Wall of Flames. If my character is especially buff at this point, I won't bother and complete the ToEF first.

I will convince myself that I have the tools to clear the ToEF before I do it, working off the mental checklist of "healing, HP and defenses, fire protection, some way to bloody kill the thing". Usually by now I will have crowned and fixed up my stats as much as possible. Once I've done the ToEF, I will generally get pretty restless at this point. I crawl the CoC (Khelly definitely by damned by now; often he will be dead since I rely on the water orb for healing a great deal) generally straight ahead, through Air Temple, Earth Temple, skipping Sharad-Waador's quest entirely and not even exploring UL levels because of the background corruption, clear Mana Temple, clear D:50, win, clear out my corruption with Yrruir, leave.

If I haven't mentioned any locations in the game, it's because they aren't part of the game plan; not necessarily because I never visit them. And I have visited basically all of them in the past. They're all nice enough, they just aren't all that interesting once you've done them once. I didn't use to rush so many parts of the game, but eventually my focus became to go through the class list and collect a win with every class, and I don't like to dawdle.

[grobblewobble]

Reading back my reply I was a bit blunt and forgot some nuances. Normally my goal is to win quickly, without worrying about ultra endings. But not all my games are like that.

One extremely important location I forgot to mention is the guaranteed wand of teleportation near the assassin prince. I always try to get it as soon as possible.

The underwater cave is a place I also visit sometimes. If I'm raven born I will definitely go there before the ToEF.

The library is a place I normally skip, but for spellcasters it's of course a very nice side quest. If I do it, it's usually just after the ToEF.

The bugcave and minotaur maze have attractive rewards. If I do them, I usually do the bugcave first (just after the ToEF) and then use the scrolls of magic mapping from the bug cave in the minotaur maze next.

[Utnapishtim]

I'm a newbie, but perhaps my typical sequence of play may still be of some interest, as probably all the other posts thus far are from much more experienced players. My latest attempts have been with dwarfen healers. With them, the following has become the typical "project plan":

1. Terinyo: get the druid and puppy guests.
2. Scout quickly the first level of DD looking for any helpful items. Try to find a rat for the first kill (for easier future Courage), and try not to get past experience level 2.
3. Visit the outlaw settlement to see the shop items. Sell any useless stuff. Try to outrun hostile assassins etc. (I always pick Quick talent first unless born under Raven.)
4. Back to Terinyo to buy all rations I can afford.
5. SMC: try to get as quickly as possible to the blanket, then to downstairs.
6. UD to HMV. Without swimming skill it is a priority to go down quite quickly to ensure that the passage is even possible. Then back to explore upper levels of UD more fully. If this is successful, after UD the character is usually at level 9-11 and pre-crowned in case a suitable altar was found.
7. CoC all the way to Dwarftown unless blocked by water. Take first Thrundarr quest and precrown now if not already done (live monster saccing, manoevering to try to save them from Ruun).
8. Back to conclude the early quests: kill the druid to get frost bolt, use that to kill the crime lord for the amulet of order, and fetch the puppy corpse.
9. Upper level of Dwarven Graveyard. Lower also, if the character seems up to it.
10. Pyramid and conclusion of Dwarven Graveyard if not already done.
11. (Rarely) Concentrate on concluding the first Thundarr quest unless already done. (Once I was assigned to kill a steel zombie and cleared the golems from Darkforge at this point).
12. Second Thundarr quest. Always through the forest if I have a good source of invisibility and/or controlled teleportation. If not, and low on DV/PV, extremely carefully scout DH to see if I get lucky with stairs.
13. Third and fourth Thundarr quests. Trade the gladius for the Tactics skill. Usually I also get Courage somewhere around this point.
14. Crowning with a combination of gold and live sacrifices. I never use Big Punch, but may use the fifth Thundarr quest at this point to get rid of Ruun and some of the guards that are on the way.
15. Darkforge and ToTHK, order depends on which the character seems more ready to face up first.
16. Pass Khelavaster, explore down to the Wall of Flames.
17. Water Temple

After that, the final preparation for the ToEF and the endgame ensues. I have not enough experience past this point to have any "typical sequence" yet.

[TDau]

1. Terinyo > Lawenilothehl
2. If strong enough, try to go SMC > UD > HMV. Otherwise I leave this step for a later time, when I have a cloak/ring of invisibility
3. VD/DD > PC
4. CoC > some dwarven quests > Pyramid > graveyard
5. Back to CoC > water temple > down to the wall of flames > DarkForge > ToEF > ToHK > sometimes the Library
6. rest of the CoC, with a trip to the surface to do the maze when I'm approaching level 30

[Qui]

I'm rather non-linear ;)

1. SMC->UD->HMV (unless I'm playing something that I think might not survive that, in which case I'd start with VD/DD and PC - skip to 3 ;))
2. Either dive to Dwarftown to get the first quest asap (made sense in 1.1.1, not sure if does now), or go back to Terinyo first.
3. Terinyo quests - VD/DD, PC, visit Holeinthewall, maybe kill Hotzy if strong enough, maybe hang around in ID if I feel like it.
4. Dwarven quests.
Here I do things however I see fit for the char. Usually dwarf quests and clear CoC down to Khelly. Farm herbs if can/need. Train with Garth if any stats really low. Griff. Pyramid whenever I'm in the level range and feel like I can handle it, Darkforge if I have a way to deal with golems. ToTHK (may be earlier if I can't find monster for 1st quest). Proceed deeper into CoC if I find AoLS or just decide to let Khelly die (option nr 2 usually).
5. Water Temple.
6. Clear CoC down to wall of fire.
7. ToEF.
8. Dive into CoC. Now I don't explore much, just descend, unless there's something of interest (vault, shop). Explore Casino Shop, but don't gamble. Rarely did in 1.1.1, don't like Casino much. Just mass identify and grab what I can afford. Usually I go all the way down to D:48 before backtracking.
9. Temple of Air.
10. Temple of Earth.
11. Temple of Mana.
12. Close the Gate.
13. Unicorn and get out.

[gym21]

With healing:

1) UD dive
2) Get to Dwarftown, acquire portal quest and kill random monster quest. Hopefully I've found a coaligned altar before I hit DT, if so double livesac precrown.
3) Level to 16 in big room, herb farm/stat train as I go
4) Pyramid
5) Dusty dungeon for wand
6) Dwarven graveyard
7) Talk to Druid, kill Keethrax if I feel like dealing with DD:7. If not, just generate it.
8) Finish DT quests
9) Darkforge raid and hope for wishes
10) CoC dive to wall of fire
11) Water temple
12) ToHK (grind to open up Minotaur Maze if I think I can do it)
13) Minotaur maze (optional)
14) ToEF
15) Dive, kill temples as I find them
16) Keep diving if Kelly saved, Unicorn quest otherwise
17) Kill everything on D:50
18) Wander off.

I almost never do the Rift or the Puppy Cave, and I mostly forget to visit Holeinthewall. Without Healing I generate SMC, do healing quest and then go straight to CoC