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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

[rickvoid]

Okay, so I gave the Metal Gear Nethack thing a try. Three to be precise.

It just... wasn't fun. Maybe if I had been recording it, with others watching and commenting, but I think the concept itself was flawed.

I had more fun writing out Codec calls than I did actually playing. 

[Quincunx]

After my last valkyries' death, I kept thinking: How do you cope with curses when you're going for non-neutral, genocide-less and wishless? Which means, you have no Magicbane to block curses and lots of curses will be thrown in your direction.

I always carry at least 3 or 4 blessed scrolls of remove curse into the second part of the game, usually even more, along with several potions of holy water, which I keep in my bag of holding.  If my bag of holding becomes uncursed I immediately bless it, but otherwise rarely use my holy water.  I also never read my scrolls of remove curse unless I really need to remove equipment that is cursed.

Of course wishless + genoless is a tough combination.  I tried to go for wishless with my tourist, but after polypiling all the magical cloaks I could find and all the amulets until they disappeared, I never received magic resistance or reflection, and two enemies had a wand of death in the quest.

I need to start going for some conducts other than artifact-wishless.  Maybe with my monk.

As for your samurai, chaoticjosh, if you are already going with cursed scrolls of genocide, saving them for the end allows for a much cooler way of clearing the Astral Plane, without need for a cockatrice:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Not sure about the cursed magic marker, though.  Don't you have enough cursed blank scrolls already?  I usually never use all that I get from those paper golems.

Finally, dipping for Excalibur is an excellent strategy for a lawful valkyrie, knight, or samurai.  Excalibur is one of the better artifacts, and all three classes can advance to expert in long sword.  As a comparison, the knight and samurai can only get to basic in dagger, so I wouldn't go with magicbane.  It's up to you though.

[ToonyMan]

Your screen is a different font, how do you do that?

[JoshuaFH]

How the heck does that work anyway Quincunx? Cursed geno purple worms, then a scroll of taming?

I agree that Excalibur is one of the better artifacts, but if you have a longsword, then you can get it anytime you want, and I still think that getting two artifacts of your choice is much better than Excalibur early on.

I could get Excalibur later, but if I fancied it, I would probably prefer to twoweapon Magicbane with a katana for all the benefits that entails.

Also, I was reading up on polymorphing some more, and I found out something interesting, there ARE monsters that can twoweapon. My favorite of all of them are Aleax's, which I just found out it's possible to poly into. They don't have all the neato intrinsics of a vampire lord, or the absolutely devastating brain sucking attack, in fact they're even slower than either (vampire lords are 14 speed, master mind flayers are 12 speed, Aleax's are 8 speed), but they DO have a a unique advantage over both. They can twoweapon, they possess three guaranteed attacks (If you're not twoweaponing, then they punch with their other hand, and then kick) which WON'T turn them to stone if used on a cockatrice (provided you're wearing gloves and shoes, which you should be). EDIT: actually, they attack 5 times when twoweaponing, surprisingly, as I just wizard checked it. They hit 4 times with weapons/fists, and then a kick.

They certainly aren't powerhouses, but since they have the same natural AC as both VL's and MMF's, and if you have some awesome weapons to twoweapon, then I might give it a try. They are a bit lacking in HP though...

Also, MMF's get REALLY damaged from trying to suck out the brains of acidic jellies, like Ochre jellies, because they attack like 5-6 times, and none of those attacks do damage, while you're getting splashed the whole time.

Also, @ToonyMan: That's PuTTy, a program that can be used to play on NAO.

[Quincunx]

How the heck does that work anyway Quincunx? Cursed geno purple worms, then a scroll of taming?

2 cursed scrolls of genocide, then 2 scrolls of taming while confused.  I ended up with 10 purple worms, eight or nine of which I successfully tamed.  Then I zapped all of them with wands of teleportation and started hearing "burrrrp".
For example:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[kcwong]

Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!

I started another neutral human wizard called Tim. If he's going to ascend, he will ascend with all fire spells and spellbooks.

He completed Sokoban, got "oR. But he lost all his pets in the zoo - when he was heading back, a spotted jelly blocked the path and a bunch of wood elves shown up behind it. I dispatched them with forcebolt, E-word and throwing rocks.

Tamed another large dog on Soko1, but again another 3 damned elves arrived when I exited Sokoban.

The large dog was apparently not good enough to tackle the elves... and I had to pray for HP once and used up my wand of striking.

Then yet more damned elves arrived... I was forced to choose between zapping my wand of cold (and risk not killing the last elf by missing or not enough dmg) or death... I chose jumping down the "Vlad was here" trapdoor.

So now I'm on DL10, alone, with 5 HP left and cannot pray. I got the way back up discovered already, but the layout means I had to go through that elf.

Wish me luck... it's like the RNG is adapting. You use E-word to clear the zoo? No problem, I'll send elves! And lots of them!

[JoshuaFH]

RNG adapting to play style Warning Forever-style?! That's enough to send shivers down my spine!

Find yourself a nice closet, and stay there for a thousand turns or so, or until your health regens.

[kcwong]

I survived... luckily nothing other than a kitten came my way when I was resting - I  only found a door-less closet. I rested to full HP, then headed back up with kitten. A  jaguar appeared and I had to lock it away with my kitten.

The experience in Sokoban was scarier... I only got 1 HP left when I got surprised by a giant mimic!

Back to the Sokoban entrance level I killed the last wood elf with poison arrows I got from orcs, and reunited with my large dog. We headed to the Gnomish mines, but large dog got levelported away just above Mine town.

Edit: My pack is stuffed with scrolls, potions and wands. I have a bone level, and I moved the cursed items, including a non-heavy bag, to DL5's co-aligned altar. I think it's time to camp for Magicbane before heading deeper. Also, I found a magic lamp in mine town, but got no inventory space for it yet.

[Luckk]

I'm starting to get the hang it I think.  I currently got a monk on lvl 9 with way to many close calls.  Ran into a chickatrice which I left behind after I killed it when a little later a cockatrice came up and met the same fate.  Had some fun turning some Green elfs and a nymph into statues.    Then I almost died from ants killing me when I was staggering from a door exploding, but luckily I put it to sleep.  Do you think I should have more then -2 AC at this point or no?  I keep finding elven armor, but it makes it impossible to hit when I wear it.  One last thing, is there a easy way to fix my alignment?  I accidently punched my dog when I was staggering (exploding door again...) and it died.

[kcwong]

Do you think I should have more then -2 AC at this point or no?  I keep finding elven armor, but it makes it impossible to hit when I wear it. 

At which point? If you're heading to the Castle level, it's best to have it at -10 or more. A good AC will reduce the physical damage you take, so get as much as possible. Fill up your armor slots (except body armor), and enchant those armors.

At higher character level, with more points in dexterity and unarmed skill, you can land a hit even when wearing armor. At earlier stages you can still wear armor, but use kicking instead of punching. I've read some results of code-diving that you have a slightly better chance to hit when kicking as an armor-wearing monk. Wear kicking boots if you can find one for better damage.

One last thing, is there a easy way to fix my alignment?  I accidently punched my dog when I was staggering (exploding door again...) and it died.

Altar camp. If you offer a cross-aligned unicorn on a co-aligned altar you get a huge boost (+5). Most other methods get you just +1.

If your alignment is negative, donating at least 600 x level gold to a co-aligned priest, while having that amount as more than half of your visible gold will set your alignment to zero.

[JoshuaFH]

Or you could just do nothing, alignment is very easy to regenerate over the course of the game.

[kcwong]

You fall down the stairs.
You fall down the stairs.
You feel agile!
You must have been working on your reflexes.


I'm still trying to ascend... another neutral human valkyrie, finished Sokoban and Mine's End.

[JoshuaFH]

I'm rooting for you Kc! Keep us updated.

[kcwong]

I found big room on DL12... used a charge of wand of fire to clear without breaking a sweat.

Then on DL13, I got dropped into DL15. I went back to DL14 and found it contains the home portal. Back on DL13, I found an orange dragon called Pet1. I got "oR from Sokoban, so killing it shouldn't be a problem.

I think I'm going to find a rich stash of items... from a wizard perhaps - magic resistance! Yay for bone level!


Edit: Mission accomplished, sleep resistance is mine. And it is indeed a wizard's bone level: "Tim, killed by an Elvenking, while helpless". I've avenged you before I knew how you died, Tim!

I am using a 32x32 tile set to spice things up a bit...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Oh boy, Magicbane! I wonder if it's neutral or chaotic... since it's Tim, it's probably neutral! The presence of two bags, according to my habits, means one of them is a BoH.

Edit 2:

You break out of the large dog's stomach!

Aieeee! My first experience at NetHack's gruesome graphical violence.

[kcwong]

I often see a trend of dungeon features... in my current game:

Altars:
1 (x2), 4, 5 (x2), Mine town (Temple), 9 (Temple), 10, 15, 21, 24

Shops:
Food (Mine town)
Book (DL6)
Hardware (Mine town)
Lighting (Mine town)
Many rooms in Mine town are generated with incomplete walls.

Fountains (already exhausted 6, many levels have multiple copies):
7, 13, 14, 18, 20, 22, 23

Sinks:
2, 18, 19, 23


While in others games I find a lot of shops (appearing as deep as level 20+) scatter throughout the levels but very few altars and water source (e.g. only in mine town).

Is the dungeon generator coded to behave that way? Generating dungeons with a certain feel/theme to it?


Edit: I returned to my stash on DL5 to enchant. I don't have my best armor pieces yet, so I only enchanted two items: +3 speed boots and +3 cloak of MR. My current armor is dwarvish mithril, dwarvish iron helm (rusted), plain leather gloves and small shield +3.

I found a poly trap on DL18... it took a long time, but I got my large cat turned into a silver dragon (not baby). If it lives I'll have a good help, if it dies, I get my armor. I have the turn undead wands for retries too.

Edit 2: I have no way to cross water, so I used a blessed scroll of Earth, and wrote another one (had a pyrolisk accident earlier before I have a bag). Castle is directly underneath, but I forgot my instrument... I'll return to my stash to grab it.

I think I'll see if I can find Fort Ludios too... there're lots of MMV in this game, and hopefully that will give me levitation or at least a wand of polymorph.