How do you play?

[Sqrrt121]

Hello I am kind of a useless player when it comes to ADOM (played over 600 chars and highest point was portal quest) and I would like to know-How do you stay alive during early game and what do you do?

[Harwin]

Some ideas:

Prayers - You generally have 2 of them at the start and they can save your life.
Tactics - Run around on "Coward" unless you are intending to fight, and think about which one you want to use.
Don't be afraid to leave an area that's too dangerous and come back, or flee.
Talents - Some talents are much better for early game survivability than others (Long Stride, various "Quick" talents).

Edit:
Also, some classes are much better for early survivability than others. Races with extra starting HP/Toughness, or better armor can help a lot if you're playing a melee class.

[Stingray1]

I use missiles a lot and First Aid and run away from monsters that can kill me.

Edit - Oh, and I drop junk so I'm unburdened when I fight.

[Qui]

Try HE or GE priests, a great combo for new players.

When in doubt, tactics to Coward and run. If can't run, pray.

Always heal up after a fight before proceeding.

If you're repeatedly encountering enemies that are close to killing you, it means that you're in a wrong place. Try somewhere else first. The name of the game is overkill. If you are barely surviving your battles, one of those barely is going to kill you. Go elsewhere, level up, get better equipment, come back, and smile when you see that the monsters you were afraid of now can't hurt you.


And if you want more targeted help, maybe write how are you playing. What are the places you're going and what ends up killing you.

[anon123]

Use tactics correctly. Depending on the circumstances, you might want to fight more aggressively, or maybe less so in exchange for a better defense.

Use and train your missile skills. Even throwing rocks with your hand can go a really long way. Tactics affect the to-hit and damage of missiles too - keep your distance and take advantage of this.

PV is very important early on, and every point of it you can get is precious. Doubly so if you're playing one of those classes starting with pitiful armor. High speed is also good. Carrying tons of items and being bloated by food slows you down, so try to avoid it whenever possible.

And last, but not least... when you see you're having a hard time taking something down, but that something looks very likely to kill you, you run - and avoid it until you're better equipped. This is probably rule no. 0 of how to survive in ADOM.

[JellySlayer]

Here (http://ancardia.wikia.com/wiki/Early-game_survival) is a relatively good (and fairly unspoily) primer on early game survival. It's 1.1.1 info, but mostly still applies.

[Mobius]

Don't play drunk. Don't panic. Don't melee Karmic anythings. Resist paralysis.

[Blasphemous]

Potion of exchange is your friend. You see a nasty monster? Throw a potion of exchange at it and turn it into a (potentially) harmless orc.
Amulet of free action which gives paralyzation resistance should also be called "amulet of life saving 2" since it can literally save your life multiple times.
Don't be afraid to run and return later. No point tackling stuff that is above you, there's plenty of things to do on your current level.
Use wands. Even if some are unidentified, there's a chance of having at least some offensive wands that allow you to dispatch otherwise dangerous monsters from a distance.
Farm herbs. They have many life saving properties, like fighting hunger or HP loss. Best if you have herbalism/gardening (or both for best effects) and just gather that spenseweed, stomafillia and what not.
Alraunia and curaria herbs save you from poison and sickness - some of the most common causes of early deaths.
Morgia trains toughness which in turn directly increases your HP - higher survival rate.
Calm down. I remember many situations where I panicked because some monster took half of my HP with one hit.
This game requires patience and careful evaluation of what you have available in your inventory. It's turn based so you can just open inventory and spend half an hour analyzing what to do next.
Careful approach, planning and utilization of all possible assets is the key here. Sometimes that dull potion may turn out to be blessed potion of ultra healing and can save your life.

[Ravenshire]

something on topic that im curious about been playing alittle bit of HE assassin and was curious if the archery skill affects my thrown daggers or not.

[blunk]

I have similar problems but hope to get past portal soon (with current or future char).
1. Treat the game like a ranged game and not a melee game, clay pieces are great as thrown since they never get destroyed, even if you play barbarian.
2. Look at all mobs before engaging and read your notes about that mob (or the wiki about it if you're me).
3. PV is way more important than DV.
4. Class/race with decent S/T seems a lot easier early/mid, if you also get some armor ....
5. Don't equip items that could be cursed, if you have more than one of the same item you can check sellprices and guess status, soon you only need one to guess correct according to sell price.
Of course you can drop it on altar, but there aren't always one of correct align available.
6. Beware of bloated, this may mean you won't be able to outrun that Troll/cave bear/spider/ant.
Beware of strained, while training S, this may mean you won't be able to outrun that Troll/cave bear/spider/ant.