OT: Nethack

[jiansonz]

Re: OT: Nethack

Really, though, congrats; that's one sexy looking character.

The incubi certainly thought so! :azn:

Side question: When you use tiles, do you still specify the ascii character when genociding?

Yes, it works exactly the same.


@Nerigazh, TheReadMenace, maareek and Colorless Green: About ACSII vs. tiles; I think nearly all players will prefer the version you "grew up on", learning the game. Myself, I would never have 'gotten into' the game if it weren´t for the tiles. Nowadays, I would probably enjoy a game in ASCII, but not nearly as much. I don´t think tiles are ugly, I think most of the pictures are cute (especially the dragon (baby dragons in particular) and lich tiles are adorable imo).

(OK, the succubus/incubus tiles are indeed hideous - they could have done them so much better...)


@Nerigazh: succubi/incubi can be randomly generated. Two of the ones in Laura´s game were.



Whoa! A stethoscope is even more useful than I thought. If you use it on yourself, you can see how strong your alignment is. I got the message "Status of Laura (piously neutral): ...."

 

[Nerigazh]

Re: OT: Nethack

May my barbarian rest in piece.

Really, I don't think I had a chance. Got to medusa level. Right next to stairs was a titan. He summoned lots of stuff very fast, including 2 minotaurs and a black dragon. Minotaurs don't respect Elbereth. I went back upstairs to heal, and was attacked by a Master Mind Flayer. He got me to 3 Int, and thus I forgot everything I ever knew. Decided to try and fight some more, in the gigantic melee, but it was hopeless.

But definitely my best run so far! 330k points.

 

[jiansonz]

Re: OT: Nethack

R.I.P. to the barbarian. 'Summoning storms' can be nasty indeed.


I think your best chance would have been to zap a wand of digging downwards when you realized you were not going to win the fight.
Then you could have returned from the other stairs and taken them on later. Much later, if needed.

(and next time, do not let a mind flayer reach a square next to you if there is any way to prevent it.)

 

[smips]

Re: OT: Nethack

I lost my barbarian that was looking so promising last night =/. Things were going well as i continued down the mines, until I hit a statue trap. A statue turned into a panther, which wasn't TOO bad; only took off 1/4 my health by the end of the encounter. However, a Storm Vortex was lurking in the shadows. I never even saw it come on screen(perhaps it was invisible or something?). I lacked shock resistance, so I was pretty much done for. I got 4 swings at it, then I tried and unIDed scroll with 8 HP left. Ended up being a scroll of light =/. After my possessions were identified, I discovered I had 2 teleportation scrolls in my inventory. Ah well, perhaps I'll start trying to cost ID scrolls.

 

[azn_apocalypse]

Re: OT: Nethack

@jiansonz Very impressive character. Wow, clvl 30! That is unheard of for me.

Anyone know what is the probability of leveling up from a foocubus? I couldn't find it on the lists of spoilers.

 

[Trim]

Re: OT: Nethack

From the wiki:
"The probability of a beneficial effect from the encounter is (INT+CHA+1)/35."

There are five positive effects, and as far as the spoiler says it seems that each has an equal chance to occur. So my best guess is, for every successful roll to the above equasion, divide by five and that's your answer!

 

[jiansonz]

Re: OT: Nethack

From the wiki:
"The probability of a beneficial effect from the encounter is (INT+CHA+1)/35."

There are five positive effects, and as far as the spoiler says it seems that each has an equal chance to occur. So my best guess is, for every successful roll to the above equasion, divide by five and that's your answer!

Yep, and the risk of the foocubus to self-cancel (when it gets a severe headache and can no longer be "used") is 4% each time. So a foocubus is good for 5 level-ups, on average.

Wow, clvl 30! That is unheard of for me.

I have 13 ascendants (one of each role). I think 12 of them were level 30 at the endgame - but this is the earliest I´ve done it.

 

[smips]

Re: OT: Nethack

I've been thinking about something lately... What's the best way to identify things like potions and scrolls? Do you just wait until you can bless ID scrolls?

Edit: Another thing...I'm going through the mines and I stumbled upon a Queen Bee. According to Wikihack, these only spawn in the Wizards tower and cannot randomly spawn anywhere else. Any comments?

 

[Colorless Green]

Re: OT: Nethack

Queen bees spawn in beehives (in the sense that they're in a beehive once when you first encounter it. They do not randomly generate there later.)

Personally, I price-id identify, enchant X, and remove curse scrolls, and don't attempt to identify any other scrolls or any potions. Everything else I save until I can read blessed id scrolls. It is probably better to price-id everything and test potions with unicorn horns and all the other tedious methods of identifying things pre-blessed-id, but I don't find the added early-game value worth the effort.

I do always engrave-id wands at the first opportunity, though.

-CG

 

[Nerigazh]

Re: OT: Nethack

I used to spend a lot of time price-IDing, but now I'm doing closer to what CG does. Except I do dip a unicorn horn in potions once I get one. It's pretty quick and helps me get some potions of water; if they don't clear, I just drink em usually.

 

[Colorless Green]

Re: OT: Nethack

Oh, don't get me wrong. I dip horns in the potions, but I do it while trucking a whole pile of potions around to clear to make holy water (primarily to save on fountains and/or speed up the process). I've been doing it less lately, though, because of the number of times I've polymorphed my unicorn horn into a tin opener with my nearest stashed spare 20 levels away.

By the time I've gotten water I've generally got most of the heals and gain level and stuff identified by seeing monsters drink them, and I don't really care about most of the rest of the potions, so when I'm going to make my stack of holy water, I generally clear just about all my potions that I don't know for sure are ones I'll want forever. I've never had a problem collecting ten times as many of any given potion as I need by the time they become useful (late gehennom).

I consider a large stack of holy water in the midgame (that generally lasts the rest of the game) of more value than access to potions in the early game or a couple extra useful potions in the late game.

-CG

 

[jiansonz]

Re: OT: Nethack

Edit: Another thing...I'm going through the mines and I stumbled upon a Queen Bee. According to Wikihack, these only spawn in the Wizards tower and cannot randomly spawn anywhere else. Any comments?

Yes, they normally only spawn in beehives.

Since it was the mines, I think something stepped on a polymorph trap.

 

[smips]

Re: OT: Nethack

Yes, they normally only spawn in beehives.

Since it was the mines, I think something stepped on a polymorph trap.

Ahh, yes. That explains why it was surrounded by Orcs as well

 

[azn_apocalypse]

Re: OT: Nethack

My valk killed the Wizard and is going down to the vibrating square. Unbelievably, she just found her first scroll of enchant armor - on Gehennom level 42! (It was also cursed, so she will need to find some way to take off her robe now). I also made the mistake of digging down in the Wizard's chamber - the valk fell into a pool of water and a bunch of her scrolls went blank.

An electric eel brought her one turn away from death when it swung itself around her - a wand of sleep saved the day. (The first shot actually missed, luckily she was fast enough to zap again and hit)

EDIT: Spent a long time climbing up, got to the End Game. This is it! Now what? Is there anything special I need to be aware of?

 

[Nerigazh]

Re: OT: Nethack

Tried out a couple samurai. Notice I say a couple--lessons learned:

1) Don't play while lazy. ("I bet I can kill this floating eye in one shot with my katana.")
2) Don't trust a "curse-test" from a pet when there is also food on that square.
3) Trap doors can really suck.

 

[jiansonz]

Re: OT: Nethack

EDIT: Spent a long time climbing up, got to the End Game. This is it! Now what? Is there anything special I need to be aware of?

I have no idea how spoiled you want to be, but here is some excellent advice. Read at your own risk of lowering the surprise factor.


Here (at the end of this spoiler) are some more details of the planes.

Then I have some tidbits to add about the Astral Plane:

* Jumping (spell or boots) can be very useful on the Astral Plane. If you use jumping boots, it´s a good idea to get very fast for a while by another method (potions of speed, spells of Haste Self). You need to see the square you want to land on, so light a lamp.

* Don´t wear a ring of conflict when you enter the Astral Plane, but do wear one soon thereafter.

* For a character with MR and reflection, the only really dangerous enemies (unless ki-rin or Archons show up) are the Riders of the Apocalypse. The Astral Plane consists of three temples (one for each alignment) well separated from each other, and you need to get to an altar to see its alignment. I usually put on a blindfold for a turn when I enter, to see which Rider inhabits which temple. Then I try the temple with Famine first, then the one with Pestilence. This way, I will only need to get past Death once, if at all.

* Angels (all types) and Death are immune to death rays, but the various priests, Famine and Pestilence are not (but these two won´t stay dead for more than a few turns).

* Pestilence has a strong sickness attack, so if he hits you, you need a way to cure yourself. Blessed unicorn horn is usually OK, but an appropriate potion or the spell Cure Sickness at 0% is better. Eucalyptus leaf is not good - it may be rotten and you may lose consciousness a couple of turns (which would be BAD).
Famine will make you very hungry if he hits you a couple of times. K-rations are good cures, because they only take one turn to eat. Lembas wafers take two turns, but give twice as much.

* If your god is not angry with you, remember that you have one prayer you can use in a dire situation.

* If you are not against betraying the god that has helped you the whole game (you ungrateful b*stard!), bring a helm of opposite alignment. If you reach the chaotic altar as a lawful (or vice versa) you can do a last-minute conversion and ascend. Neutrals will become either lawful or chaotic with such a helm, so it´s more of a gamble for them (you lose your divine protection if you change alignment, which could be bad if you now need to reach another temple).

1) Don't play while lazy. ("I bet I can kill this floating eye in one shot with my katana.")
2) Don't trust a "curse-test" from a pet when there is also food on that square.
3) Trap doors can really suck.

Lessons well learned indeed (not that you can do much about #3 other than bring a pet, be careful and search a lot).

 

[Nerigazh]

Re: OT: Nethack

Grats on getting to the endgame, azn! This is your first time, I take it?

My current attempt, a Valkyrie, is doing very well. I've beaten mines and sokoban (had BoH). I have +3 Excalibur, a silver saber, and just got Mjollnir (I hear the latter sucks eventually, but it's quite fun for the moment). Also maxed my polearm skill, letting me hit knights-moves away (first time I've advanced polearms... fun!).

Since I didn't get the "oR in sokoban, I used my wish from a lamp I blessed on a SDSM (asked for +2 enchant but the greedy djinn left it at +0). I assume this means my next wish, if I ever get one, should be for a cloak of MR?

Oh, and I got poison resistance from a naga corpse.

Here is what is frustrating about this game though: haven't found a single ID scroll yet. I have a bunch of stuff (especially rings and scrolls) that needs IDing, and a bunch of holy water to bless with if I ever find a darn scroll.

Anyway, depth-wise I just got to my quest level, but I'm only clvl 11. Haven't seen any sinks yet...

 

[jiansonz]

Re: OT: Nethack

Here is what is frustrating about this game though: haven't found a single ID scroll yet. I have a bunch of stuff (especially rings and scrolls) that needs IDing, and a bunch of holy water to bless with if I ever find a darn scroll.

I had one game where there was no shop that would buy scrolls. No general store, no second-hand bookstore and no rare books store. I solved it by throwing some scrolls into a delicatessen store. This way, the scrolls became the shopkeeper´s, and I could now get a price tag on them.

 

[Nerigazh]

Re: OT: Nethack

I had one game where there was no shop that would buy scrolls. No general store, no second-hand bookstore and no rare books store. I solved it by throwing some scrolls into a delicatessen store. This way, the scrolls became the shopkeeper´s, and I could now get a price tag on them.

Lol, that's awesome. I'll have to remember that. Anyway, price-IDing isn't the problem; there are a couple of general stores. It's the actual scroll that's not spawning!

Do you agree about the wish for Cloak of MR?

 

[jiansonz]

Re: OT: Nethack

Do you agree about the wish for Cloak of MR?

Yes, I do. It will protect you from many dangerous effects. Your SDSM will be safe from polymorph traps as well.