How do you run this at 5845 cycles? I have to run it at 40000 and there are still occasional hiccups. Do you play non-GOG version with hard-to-find AESOP32 engine?

This is not the GOG version of the game. In the late 90s I bought the Forgotten Realms Archives, a 4 CD Collector's Edition, that consists of exactly those games, that GOG sells now in it's three collections. But it did cost more than twice the amount back then. And that's without taking inflation into account. ;-)

I just installed the game in my own DOSBox, where I run all my old DOS games in. But you are right, it did lag a litte with 5k circles and runs much smoother with 40k circles. I just never thought of increasing those to such a ludacris amount. I mean even UW2 doesn't need more than 12k circles. But thanks! Next playthrough will be much smoother.

My current character found a potion that displays a message about stronger muscles or something when I drink it. After drinking it, my status screen shows that I (temporarily, I assume) have 22 strength. I only have one potion of this type, so I don't know if the others are auto-identified when this happens.

To identify neutralize poison potions, I had to poison myself first. The problem is that the poison potion does allow a saving throw. In order to fail it, I had to rest and get my spells to wear off first.

There are paralyzing enemies on this floor, and I have no way to counter them except by boosting my saves with Bless, Protection from Evil, Aid, and Prayer.

I started a new playthrough. A human female bard named Gwenno is trying to brave a dungeon of 18 floors.

The first four floors were pretty smooth sailing. Food consumption has been maxed, which means that Gwenno is almost always hungry, but so far she has found enough rations to always have something to eat before resting. She stumbled early across a pair of fire giant gauntlets, that raised her strength to 22. She also found a ring of regeneration, which is a nice constant source of healing during rest. She also found a robe of the Archmagi, which lowered her AC by 5.

Spellwise the loot has been poor so far. As a bard Gwenno started with burning hands, magic missile and improved identify and she has only found detect undead (useless), Aganazzer's scorcher (sorry, I need all my level 2 slots for improved identify) and improved invisibility (that's a useful spell).

But now Gwenno has entered floor five and here there are wraiths (can level drain) and Xills (can paralyze). And the only defense, that I have against those, is sidestepping their attacks. But the good news is that xp is rushing in like crazy on this level. Gwenno has 311k xp right now and 100k she has gotten on this level.

Sidestepping was always confusing me in heat of battle. How I usually kite is wait when monster makes step, make step towards him and 2 steps back.

Wait when he makes another step, step towards him, 2 steps back.
If monster has high Movement, I do 3 steps back instead of 2.

Turning doesn't count as step but it must be made fast.

You can kite most of the monsters this way except when you use stairs down or teleporter. Monsters can pretty much camp you there...

Gwenno is now a level 15 bard and explores the 8th floor of the dungeon. The shambling mounds and umber hulks here are no challenge. She has found a ring of shocking grasp, that increases her melee damage significantly. She also finally has two decent weapons in form of a sword of slaying bone nagas +3 (has not encountered any yet) and a short sword +3. +3 seems to be the maximum weapon enchantment one could get in dugeon hack. She also found pipes of feign imagery, which grant the effect of a true seeing spell.

Spellwise she has found dispel magic (useless) and water breathing (useless, since she also has a helm of underwater action) and armor (useless, because her robe of the archmagi is too good for the spell to have any effect).

My Ranger/Cleric found two Mirrors on the same level. Turns out I have 3 Bracers of Archery and my most magical weapon is a Short Sword +2.

Out of curiosity, are you a fan of the Ultima series?

I had never found a use for bracer's of archery. Till floor 7 the only magical weapon in Gwenno's possession was a lousy short sword +1. Made fighting against monsters, that could only be hit by magical weapons, kinda stressful. Lots of attacking and retreating, instead of simply approaching and cutting them into pieces.

Gwenno has also found two chimes of opening, that will open every door, even if she doesn't have the proper key yet. Sounds like a good idea, but it isn't, because the keys will clutter up her inventory. And I can't just throw them away, because those chimes won't last forever and I have activated multi level puzzles, so a key, that Gwenno finds on level 7, may have it's lock on level 13.

What gave it away? My character's name or my avatar? ;-)

Your character's name, of course.

Incidentally, my title actually comes from the name I used to give to the Avatar when playing an Ultima game. (Unfortunately, it won't work for Ultima 8 or 9 (sexist game develpers), but I hear those games aren't that good.)

Played a bit more with my Ranger/Cleric.

Found a Necklace that is magical (glows with Detect Magic) and can't be used from the hand; therefore must be Magic Resistance.

I have three Wands of Lightning (ebony).

Also found a Necklace of Fireballs.

Of note, there is no cooldown after using a wand, so you can rapid fire a wand until it runs out of charges.

Found a Book of Vile Darkness (determined by mirror without saving). Reading it causes instant game over. (If you play Death Real, I suggest not reading unidentified books because of this.)

Boss was a Cockatrice. I knew from the previous playthrough not to engage it in melee. Good thing it wasn't the common enemy! (Previous playthrough actually had Cockatrice as a common enemy on one floor, with the other enemy draining levels. That level was nasty.)

Edit: Oh dear. Cockatrice are a common enemy on the next floor. That is going to be a pain. (Good thing clerics get multiple spells that boost saving throws, as well as Spiritual Hammers to attack from a distance.)

Edit 2: And I've already been petrified once. Fortunately, I found an Ioun Stone of Saves +1, so that should help a bit. (Also, a third Strange Mirror.) Incidentally, the other enemy can paralyze (but I have Free Action) and is worth around 2,000 experience, so I have been gaining levels.

Found a Ring of Shocking Grasp. My flame blade is now doing over 20 damage to some enemies!

As a side note, the attached screenshot demonstrates how use of a book at the right time can give a lot of experience. I just gained nearly 450,000 ranger experience from one book!

Gwenno has found a Manual of Puissant Skill at Arms, that would give her an additional level. She was waiting till she had gotten to the 12th level to get the maximum amount of xp (220k) out of it.

Actually, if it works the way the manual my character found, it will take you to the midpoint of the next level, allowing you to potentially get nearly 330k experience. Notice how my character got nearly 450k experience from a manual.

Did you identify it? What kind of manual was it?

Gwenno also found Manual of Gainful Excercise, which increased her strength by one. The Manual of Puissant Skill at Arms brought her to the beginning of her next level, although I'm not entirely sure whether it is supposed to work for a bard.

Unfortunately, I don't remember what the book was called.

Out of curiosity, have you found Vampiric Touch? Have you been using it?

The Lost Helm of Midnight gives a free True Seeing effect, so I no longer need to keep casting that spell and can replace it with a second Flame Strike. My ring of regeneration speeds up resting (I used a scrying glass to identify it and my ring of shocking grasp for convenience.)

Rings of Adornment are Gold in this dungeon. (Easy way to identify them: they don't change color when Detect Magic/True Seeing is in effect.)

Found a manual that raised my Dexterity to 19. I have 19 Wisdom thanks to a ring. Still only 18/00 strength, but that Ring of Shocking Grasp makes up for it.

For whatever reason, on the previous floor, Flame Blade did only half damage to Trolls.

Shambling Mounds on the next floor, which give a lot of experience IIRC.

-4 AC. Not as good as the previous character, but then again, there's no level draining undead in this dungeon to worry about.

One other observation: There's no cooldown after using wands, so if you're desperate, you can rapid-fire any offensive wands you have. (I have 3 wands of lightning. Note that they auto-identify if you use a charge from one.)

Found a potion that healed 9 HP. Decided to drink it right away (which should auto-identify any more I find) because of limited inventory space.