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Yup.

65 (12.2%)

Not even close.

391 (73.4%)

Almost . . . but didn't

26 (4.9%)

Maybe managed halfway

51 (9.6%)

Total Members Voted: 530

[JoshuaFH]

I really like finding hard gems now. Cause, for just 9 turns, I can spell a semi-permanent Elbereth anywhere I want, and gems never get dull.

That may not seem like much, but I've gotten into the habit of engraving them on stairways and in hallways for no reason at all, which has come in handy atleast once.

I encounterd an odd YASD once, I chilling out in a room guarded by locked doors and Elbereth's, I was waiting for my health to regen. In this room with me was a peaceful pony, who I didn't mind much because he was minding his own business. As I was turn skipping (being very careful to watch that nothing unexpected would pop out and attack me) the peaceful pony went berserk and killed me, for no reason. I asked the guys in the Nethack chat, and they said the only reason would be if it were confused by an invisible blacklight, which I've never seen before.

Is there anything that'll make a peaceful animal go wild and kill you, without you actually doing anything to it?

EDIT: Also, in those LP videos, those guys are zipping around really fast. How do they do that?

[beorn080]

I think you can click on a square to auto travel to it, but that might just be in the graphical version.

I think the blacklight is probably the right thing. Those bastards are essentially random confusion if you don't have see invisible or telepathy.

Gee, candles seem like a waste of a wish as well, since there are almost always enough in the light shop.

Obviously you've never reached that point in the game, or you'd definitely think otherwise. I'm pretty sure one of the most common wishes is for candles at that stage of the game because a heck of a lot of people forget them and the crazy long journey to go all the way back just to get candles makes it far easier to wish for it.

See, at that point you should have your AK filled out or nearly filled out. When you just start, getting a highly useful scroll plus extra wishes is better then just going,"oh look a wand of wishing. lets store it in case I forget to bring candles with me." Actually, it would probably be better to wish for a wand or book of polymorph if you lack candles, especially if you have a marker and can write scrolls of charging. With the wand of polymorph, you can poly pile for candles and probably get other useful items while doing it. With the spell, assuming you can use it, you can really do some serious polypiling and get some really good stuff.

Edit: Just started playing again, and wouldn't you know that the first wand as a valkyrie is polymorph.

[umiman]

I'm just going to ignore beorn here. Anyway, kcwong, your logic is true as well but this is like a discussion of risk taking behaviour. We're essentially mitigating against different versions of risk here. Indeed, both have value in that you believe that by preparing for general and known risks which are less random (armor, reflection, etc.), you are better prepared. I'm proposing that by preparing for the unknown risks (in dire need of lizard, need pet now), you are better off against the nature of the RNG.

What it comes down to is a utility scale of risk management. Depending on what you value, you would choose the different choice.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

However, just to be a dick, I'll emphasize my position by saying that I actually ascended before.  (I'm not being serious here)

[Sowelu]

There's strategy and then there's metastrategy.  This is actually relevant both to wishes and to sinks.

Someone employing a metastrategy might say "If I apply this strategy, then more of my characters will die early, but the ones that don't will get farther--so I'll get farther per hour of playtime".  Metastrategy will sometimes lead you to drink from sinks, to experiment with unknown objects when your character doesn't yet have any above-average stuff, and it also compels you to save your wishes.

Someone who strategizes on a per-character basis may say "Well, I could really use this item from my ascension kit right now, even if I'm likely to find it later, because I might not otherwise survive that long".  Their characters will, on average, score higher.  Someone who strategizes by aiming for a win and nothing less, is more likely to save those wishes for future use.

...And then you have me.  I think I got to Medusa once.  I would never save a wand of wishing or a scroll of charging for later, because sometimes monsters damage your items or you fall in the water--and that's the extent of my understanding of the game. 

[ToonyMan]

Never hold down a movement key.  Tap it slowly



YASD.

[Sowelu]

Never hold down a movement key.  Tap it slowly



YASD.

Oh man, that's killed me way more times in ADOM than I'd care to admit...  Normally a less lethal game than Nethack.  Normally.

[ToonyMan]

It justs....sometimes when you play NetHack it goes really slow and boring and you can rush around and then blam!  You get some mega creature that pops out of nowhere.  10 turns go by in a flash and you're dead.  Do you want your possesions identified?

[kcwong]

I encounterd an odd YASD once, I chilling out in a room guarded by locked doors and Elbereth's, I was waiting for my health to regen. In this room with me was a peaceful pony, who I didn't mind much because he was minding his own business. As I was turn skipping (being very careful to watch that nothing unexpected would pop out and attack me) the peaceful pony went berserk and killed me, for no reason. I asked the guys in the Nethack chat, and they said the only reason would be if it were confused by an invisible blacklight, which I've never seen before.

Is there anything that'll make a peaceful animal go wild and kill you, without you actually doing anything to it?

I'm not sure if black light affects pets... I mean, they only explode in the player character's face. Pets can kill them just fine by biting for a few rounds. The guys you asked in chat forgot one very simple reason...

Hunger!

It's especially for herbivorous pets, as they don't get as much food as carnivorous ones. Also, your pets do not respect Elbereth. So while you're waiting, it grew too hungry and went berserk.

When your pony's starving, it will accept rations as food as well. That's one way to keep them alive... though when starving their max HP will be reduced, and after being fed they still have to regenerate the lost HP in normal ways.

What's strange is that the wait command would stop immediately when your pony attacked... maybe you have too few HP to endure even one round?


EDIT:

About the zipping around really fast, and holding down move button - in the Windows port you can either mouse click a location, or in both DOS and Windows port you can use the "_" command. You can then select a location, press ENTER, and your character will move to it. There're options to control if you would be interrupted by things like corridor, doors and such.

There are commands to ignore things while moving, but that could very well be a way to suicide.

[JoshuaFH]

It wasn't my pet Kcwong, it was just a random pony that happened to be peaceful. Do those rules still apply?

[kcwong]

It wasn't my pet Kcwong, it was just a random pony that happened to be peaceful. Do those rules still apply?

!!!

Whoops. Missed that.

In that case I have no idea... I mean, peaceful creatures in my game that are not shopkeepers, guards and priests die pretty quickly, often not by my hands.

Edit:

Hmm. I have some more thoughts on it. Still no explanation, but more food for thought.

1. Is your E-word a permanent one? If it is not burned (with a wand of fire or wand of lightning) it will decay over time. If you levitate over a non-permanent one it will not decay too.

2. If your E-word is permanent, then a non-pet horse would have no ways to attack you. Non-pet horses respect E-word.

3. Non-pet horse and invisible black light are not hostile to each other.

4. Invisible black light would flee instead of explode when it is adjacent to you.

[JoshuaFH]

Well, I wasn't standing on an E-word. I'll just have to learn to take more precautions in the future. I was playing another archaeologist when I kept getting repeatedly poisoned (and my Strength kept getting drained) and I eventually died of poisoning in my pursuit for poison resistance.

I'm playing an Orc Rogue right now, doing pretty good, got a lot of daggers. Anything that starts with poison resistance looks like a really good choice.

[Sowelu]

It wasn't my pet Kcwong, it was just a random pony that happened to be peaceful. Do those rules still apply?

Were you wearing any unidentified rings?  Did you eat a dead puppy or something else horrible--I think that's one of the things that can give you the 'causes conflict' intrinsic?

[cowofdoom78963]

Yes, ring of conflict is the best explination.

Anyway you guys over analyze the game too much, just go and PLAY.

[kcwong]

Yes, ring of conflict is the best explination.

Anyway you guys over analyze the game too much, just go and PLAY.

I play everyday on my mobile.

[JoshuaFH]

Nethack on a mobile? Pretty sweet.

I'm upset that my super awesome neutral human monk just got stomped into the dust when I was doing Sokoban, and I stupidly thought "Psh, I can fight a Mumak.", this is what I get for not watching LotR. I had like 3800~ gold coins too, I murdered an entire leprechaun hall for that cash.

Doing a Dwarven caveman now.

Anyone else think that the Minetown altar is rigged? It has never once been co-aligned for me.

How Kcwong, have you ever ascended? Can I see the score of your best character?

EDIT: Can one look at the record board without having a character die?