How to last?

[Sqrrt121]

Hi how do you guys last so long in ADOM? I would like to know what classes you go and what do you do at the start of game? Please don't debate over what strategy is the best. I have ADOM 1.1.1 and ADOM 1.2.0 pre-release 5. Please help!

[JellySlayer]

Any class in ADOM is playable. The easiest are probably Wizard, Priest, Barbarian, Beastfighter, Archer, and maybe Paladin. For the caster types, a High/Grey elf is an okay choice, though your starting HP/Toughness will be low. Gnome is a bit more durable and not a bad alternative. For the Barb/Beast/Paladin, Drakeling is good, along with Dwarf or Orc. These guys are all quite tough and usually have decent starting gear. For Archers, try an High/Grey elf, Hurthling, Drakeling, or even Human. Be sure to collect rocks you find as backup missiles.

Avoid the Small Cave and the Puppy Cave as these areas tend to be more dangerous. Don't wander the wilderness much either as encounters can be dangerous and wandering is costly in terms of food. The infinite dungeon is the easiest area since you can always flee/recreate a level if something bad appears. The village/druid dungeons are next easiest.

Try to be fast. With 110 or more speed, you can outrun pretty much any monster in the early game (as long as you don't burden/satiate yourself). You can get this most easily using talents--take long stride, quick, very quick, greased lightning for 114 total--or by rolling the Raven starsign. If you can outrun monsters, then you can kill them safely with missiles and avoid their special attacks (paralysis, poison). If you're badly injured, you can get a big speed boost for running while using Coward tactics.

[gut]

> Hi how do you guys last so long in ADOM?

by knowing all the scums

[LFk]

Hi how do you guys last so long in ADOM? I would like to know what classes you go

Play slowly. Be aware of what you have in your inventory, and don't be afraid to use it. For weak PCs in the early game with no means of identification, I tend to zap wands to blow a charge and just find out what they do. They are lifesavers in a pinch. Knowledge of the tool is worth more to me than 1 charge of it.

For ease of use if you're a newer player, I've always rated Paladins the highest. I say this because 1) They start out with excellent equipment and literate no matter what race you pick 2) They are reasonably tough and are less likely to get 1 shotted by a trap or crit 3) There's little they don't do at least competently, be it melee, magic or missiles.

Wizards and Archers are certainly more powerful given the sheer power of ball spells and slaying missiles, but to me, Paladins are by far the mistake-proof starting PC, that forgives you for mashing the direction key into a vault or kicking doors straight on etc. etc.

For powerhouse classes in general, Jellyslayer's list is accurate. Healers, played with a tough race (like trolls or orcs), are also very, very forgiving in the early game.

and what do you do at the start of game?

Definitely get healing if you don't have healing.
For later use, it's not a bad idea to at least generate the Small Cave at level 1.
If you cannot inflict more than 10 damage in a single blow, PC (the 2nd floor) is risky. Nothing wrong with skipping, just hiking over to the CoC and starting there.

Not sure to what degree you're familiar with the game (absolutely new? played a while but haven't gotten too far?).

[Sqrrt121]

I have played about 600+ characters but made it to dwarftown in most and started the slaying quest but not portal. I usually start as a gnome enementalist and depending on what wands i get i kill hotszenplotz for instant 2000+ money and lv6

[grobblewobble]

I think the most important things you need to learn are:

1. Recognize danger! You need to know what monsters can kill you, why they are dangerous and how to deal with them.
"How to deal with them" is often as simple as shooting instead of attacking in melee.

For example, take the ghul. It has a paralyzing attack, one of the most dangerous forms of attack in adom. Once it damages you, it can paralyze you. If your PV is very low (lower than about 5), that will probably mean it keeps hitting you and paralyzing you again until you die. So if you have low PV (and at the start you often do), shoot them, blast them from a distance or flee.

2. Learn to avoid being burdened and bloated. Those statuses make you slower, making it impossible to keep your distance to a monster that you are trying to take out from a distance, or to flee. Being burdened also lowers your DV and increases your food consumption.

3. Avoid races that start with low toughness. They're harder to play. Toughness is the most important stat for any character. Low strength is bad too, it means you become burdened easily.

4. Learn to appreciate the value of PV. In the early game especially, high PV makes life a lot easier. High speed helps, too.

5. If you're reading the guidebook, ignore the guidebook section that explains how to tame the big room. It is a dangerous operation and wastes tons of time. Taming any other level with herbs is ten times easier, safer and less time consuming. And if you play a race that starts with high toughness (and reasonable willpower), you will not even need any herbs to begin with.

6. Learn which items are safe to equip-id and which are not. For example, bracers and helmets almost can't be bad, even if cursed. It also depends on what the item looks like before equipping it, because you can often tell a lot about an item from its weight, but that's a lot of information..

[grobblewobble]

Another important bit: stay at high health. If you're low on health, go to a relatively safe room (or even the wilderness, if it is close) and wait until you're healed.

In emergencies, pray. You can usually get full health twice by praying. More if you make some sacrifices at a correctly aligned altar.

[LFk]

I think the most important things you need to learn are:
2. Learn to avoid being burdened and bloated. Those statuses make you slower, making it impossible to keep your distance to a monster that you are trying to take out from a distance, or to flee. Being burdened also lowers your DV and increases your food consumption.

I am almost always bloated and burdened =((((

In fact, before I hit 16 St, I'm almost always strained.

I don't push it with the Strained!. That extra exclamation point makes it feel too risky.

My most recent Hurthling Mindcrafter started with 3 str. I'm going to be burdened until the casino.

[grobblewobble]

It's hard to avoid with strength below 18. Luckily it's easy to train strength up to 18 (if your potential strength doesn't cap it below that value). Once you have a bit of money, go to the food shop in Terinyo, buy large rations, get bloated and strained! and wait outside of the shop (preferably in some place in the village where people don't disturb you all the time). Buy more rations as needed. Takes some time, but it's safe and easy.