Don't understand

[Wiggoggs]

Ooooh, I read so many posts of people that get so freaking far in the game, with such high levels. The most I've gotten is like level seven with an orcish wizard. Got ganked by like 5 gnomes, and escaped, walking down a hallway, and suddenly I die. Look at the message that says: "The golden golem hits. You die..."

I never get very far at all, it's so frustrating, I don't know how you people do it.

EDIT: Oh, and why does everyone call their dogs Sparky? Yeah, I do it, too.

 

[Fireball64000]

I had that problem for a while to. There are a few things you can do:
1. Try a lot of different chars.
2. Play the one you can play best for the most success.
3. Look for a way to get an early wish. Then wish for something usefull. I usually go with orb of fate or master key of theivery in order to avoid gang bangs. But that's mostly a lucky point
4. Find/create an alter of your alignment and sacrifice stuff till you get a weapon. Very important for wizards, since your first gift will be magicgane, which is great for engraving elbereth, which will also prevent ganging.
5. Set priorities. When playing a wizard my first priority is always finding food, because that's what I usually die of early on.
6. have combat strategies. Hit and run, for fast chars; blind and run for tourists etc
7. If you don't mind using spoilers, then they are extremely helpful.
8.Move slowly. Think before you get into bad situations.
9. As a spell caster I always do sokoban, then gnomish mines and vice versa for melee chars.
10. I'm sure there's more but that should get you going. Good luck!

 

[SMACMAN]

I normally get to ExpLvl 5 or 6 when I start the Gnomish mines, should I stay in the regular dungeons untill I get to a higher level, cuz I always end up dying in there (by unlucky circumstances it seems, like I get gangbanged by monsters that don't seem like they should be there, last time it was apes, once I got turned into a werejackal at the most unfortunate moment ever...etc.)

 

[SMACMAN]

K, I've been playing all day,and can't get past lvl 8 or 9 because some random high lvl monster pops out of nowhere (mostly soldier ants) and kills me. There's nothing I can do cuz I die in like 2 turns. I'm getting really pissed that these things keep spawning and I can't kill them. WTF can I do when these things come up? I zap wands and read scrolls but eventually they get me. What should I do?

 

[Eemeli]

I've had that problem some time ago too. Soldier and is a top killer since it's fast and strong. With some luck you could take the ants down from a distance, but it doesn't always work, so you'll have to have good equipment. I'd advise you to go down to gnomish mines, kill a dwarf or two to get a dwarvish mithril coat. It'll help you a bit, and when you reach the town in gnomish mines, go to the lamp store and call a lamp for example number 1. If the lamp is normal, a lamp with no name is a magic lamp (they can be found quite often in the store). Then you'll have to get some holy water by praying in order to bless the lamp and make sure you'll get a wish. Blessed +2 gray dragon scale mail is a lot of help in the dungeons.

And that's just one strategy, you'll make up some of your own while playing. The most important thing is to be careful - remember that you have no hurry and think before you do. That'll save you a lot of time. (Plus get some experience by killing monsters, my advise is that you exp level is about the same as the dungeon level in the beginning.)