Tips?

[Ty the Smonk]

So far my latest run lost due to starvation and not having enough food on ruins, streaming the game to some friends and having it lag horribly doesnt help either. Also how do you level trading efficiently? Just get a bunch of gold and spam buy everything?

[Grandpa Crack Pipe]

Just remember that you don't need to full-clear every level. Merchants usually sell some kind of consumable, even if they aren't a food merchant, and fruit juice/booze counts as food in a pinch.

I believe trading has a percentage chance of increasing for purchases between 1 and 100 gold, with it guaranteed at 100 or more. Since you can't guarantee finding a merchant frequently, buy his goods, sell them back to him, then buy more until you're out of money. You'll get a big chunk of trading levels for this and better deals later on. Stuff at the bottom of the shop is usually pretty good for this.

[Sly-Scale]

Act faster. Easier said than done, especially with all the boulders and traps and tricky situations, and most especially with if your game lags and it throws your aim everywhere.

But on the food situation, I'll be more specific:
-Floor 2: The Gnomish Mines can be accessed here. The gnomes have a lot of fresh fish. See if you can't save a beartrap for one of the lightning gnomes, and fight the rest of them when you get that staff.
-Floor 3: Minetown, if RNG is kind and it spawns, has 4 shopkeeps. Even a little Charisma and Trading skill will usually reveal some food for sale, no matter what those 4 shopkeeps normally sell. (Minetown is more likely to appear if you brave the Gnomish Mines.)
-Floor 5: Between the Mines and the Swamp, there's a secret entrance to the Underworld. If you've still got lightning staves from the Gnomish Mines, you can afford a cursory visit and maybe find some food.
-Floor 7: The Temple has 4 guaranteed Strength potions, but otherwise has 6 chests and not much food. The potions will come in handy for the Labyrinth, particularly the Sobokan challenge on Floor 12 that requires a pickaxe to access.
-Floor 8: The Haunted castle has a few dozen Enslaved Ghouls that are best cheesed from across the bottomless pits. With some means to remove curses, their ghoulish meat can buy you some time. There's also 3 chests.

From there, there's nothing special when it comes to food. Bring a means of magic mapping, if you can.

[Ty the Smonk]

Originally posted by Sly-Scale:

Act faster. Easier said than done, especially with all the boulders and traps and tricky situations, and most especially with if your game lags and it throws your aim everywhere.

But on the food situation, I'll be more specific:
-Floor 2: The Gnomish Mines can be accessed here. The gnomes have a lot of fresh fish. See if you can't save a beartrap for one of the lightning gnomes, and fight the rest of them when you get that staff.
-Floor 3: Minetown, if RNG is kind and it spawns, has 4 shopkeeps. Even a little Charisma and Trading skill will usually reveal some food for sale, no matter what those 4 shopkeeps normally sell. (Minetown is more likely to appear if you brave the Gnomish Mines.)
-Floor 5: Between the Mines and the Swamp, there's a secret entrance to the Underworld. If you've still got lightning staves from the Gnomish Mines, you can afford a cursory visit and maybe find some food.
-Floor 7: The Temple has 4 guaranteed Strength potions, but otherwise has 6 chests and not much food. The potions will come in handy for the Labyrinth, particularly the Sobokan challenge on Floor 12 that requires a pickaxe to access.
-Floor 8: The Haunted castle has a few dozen Enslaved Ghouls that are best cheesed from across the bottomless pits. With some means to remove curses, their ghoulish meat can buy you some time. There's also 3 chests.

From there, there's nothing special when it comes to food. Bring a means of magic mapping, if you can.

So far ive gotten pretty decent at the game with the more beginner friendly classes, but I also think im probably taking my time too much, I can full clear gnomish mines pretty easily, and by then i can usually get to sand labyrinth if I dont get atomized by goblins. Ive gone through all the secret levels and died on the first floor of the ruins since I had no food going in. An issue is probably also me doing the swimming grind to 100 whenever I hit the swamp since I cant really help myself since water walking is really nice to have.

[LadstonFelisGaming]

How much are you eating per meal? If you pay attention to the in-game text, you can get an indication of how much time it’ll give you. For example, if you see “That (food) hit the spot!”, that means you’re satisfied but will need to eat again soon. Ideally, you want to eat until you see “Oof! You’re really full now.” Being full will maximize the time you have between meals.

[Sly-Scale]

Originally posted by Ty the Smonk:

An issue is probably also me doing the swimming grind to 100 whenever I hit the swamp since I cant really help myself since water walking is really nice to have.

To be honest? I'm from a time before slimes could pop out of water/lava tiles. I didn't care for waterwalking back then, and I definitely don't care for it now. Not much of a point to waterwalking when I'm actively avoiding it.

And this is coming from someone who always plays Mechanist, so my leather apron keeps me fireproof. I don't need to put myself out with water and I can't burn from a dip in lava, and I still don't bother with the Swimming skill.