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Poll

Have you beaten Nethack?

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


Pages: 1 ... 7 8 [9] 10 11 ... 128

Author Topic: Nethack  (Read 176433 times)

JoshuaFH

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Re: Nethack
« Reply #120 on: May 05, 2009, 05:46:42 pm »

Awww, beguile me with how he passed.
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LegoLord

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Re: Nethack
« Reply #121 on: May 05, 2009, 05:57:38 pm »

Um.  You know, I can't remember anymore.  I think it was blindness.  Induced by reading a book, or maybe a scroll.


Edit:  Whoa.  Wierdness.  I found a key in a room with a new Valkyrie, and I try to open the door ahead of me, and it's locked.  First floor with a fresh character, too.
« Last Edit: May 05, 2009, 07:38:05 pm by LegoLord »
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"Oh look there is a dragon my clothes might burn let me take them off and only wear steel plate."
And this is how tinned food was invented.
Alternately: The Brick Testament. It's a really fun look at what the bible would look like if interpreted literally. With Legos.
Just so I remember

JoshuaFH

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Re: Nethack
« Reply #122 on: May 05, 2009, 09:35:14 pm »

I'm afraid of continuing my awesome wizard. I'm scared something freakishly bad will happen, so now I'm playing other characters, to better get a hang of dungeon crawling.

Not doing a very good job, I tried with two knights (always lawful humans) and I failed miserably with both. I can't remember how the first one died, but the second one, I forgot to feed my horse (it never compains! I forget!) and I got all my gold stolen by a leprechaun, which I chased around the level for 10 minutes, and after getting me thoroughly angry, I killed the sonuvabitch and ate his body, completely forgetting that they convey teleportitis. Then I was hounded by a werejackal and ended up getting lyconthrapy. I hid out on the floor above that one for awhile, summoning dozens of jackal helpers, and averting death over and over and over thanks to the teleportitis. Then when I tried going back down, I go struck by my wereform and dropped my lance, which the werejackal then picked up, and promptly stabbed me to death. A surprising amount of fun.

I'd have used Elbereth, but I was aiming to die anyway.
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umiman

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Re: Nethack
« Reply #123 on: May 05, 2009, 10:10:16 pm »

I don't think I ever used Elbereth... it goes against my pride to use some false pretense as a shield. Besides, in the lower levels of the dungeon, most monsters aren't affected by it anyway and the wizard is usually strong enough to blow anything that comes near him to bits.

JoshuaFH

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Re: Nethack
« Reply #124 on: May 05, 2009, 10:12:45 pm »

"false pretenses"? I don't know what you mean by that, but being able to erect an imaginary shield that monsters respect is pretty sweet. Just drop a coin on it nad it stays active too, so you can place one in front of each door and make a safe room.
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umiman

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Re: Nethack
« Reply #125 on: May 05, 2009, 10:18:58 pm »

If you think about it, all you are doing is scribbling someone's name on the floor. Sure, it could be the name of some goddess but I can't help but think that I'm just fooling the monsters into respecting a power that wouldn't do anything to them. This is obvious because plenty of things can pass Elbereth that aren't good or holy.

It would be like... say... me writing "Buddha" on the floor and people run away screaming or something. That's why I call it a false pretense.

I won't doubt that it works, but I don't go to a boxing match and use hypnotism on my opponent.

inaluct

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Re: Nethack
« Reply #126 on: May 05, 2009, 10:51:20 pm »

I now respect umiman a lot more, because he agrees with me about Elbereth.
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kcwong

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Re: Nethack
« Reply #127 on: May 06, 2009, 04:47:41 am »

In Lord of the Rings, Sam and Frodo both recited a portion of the elvish hymn to Varda (starting with "A Elbereth Gilthoniel..."). They didn't even know what they were saying, and that was enough to invoke the power of the Phial of Galadriel.

In Nethack Elbereth won't save you in all cases anyway... ranged attacks can still be used against you, and often you will face a bunch of elves with wands.
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Sowelu

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Re: Nethack
« Reply #128 on: May 06, 2009, 12:58:53 pm »

Not doing a very good job, I tried with two knights (always lawful humans) and I failed miserably with both.

Knights seem to be very unlucky (and I don't mean the luck score).  I think they're actually kind of underpowered compared to lots of classes, unless you remember your 'jump' ability, which I never do.

The ability to make a knights-move at any time you could walk normally is a huge bonus.  You can run like heck if you need to, which is great.
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LegoLord

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Re: Nethack
« Reply #129 on: May 06, 2009, 04:19:34 pm »

I have not once successfully written "Elbereth"
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"Oh look there is a dragon my clothes might burn let me take them off and only wear steel plate."
And this is how tinned food was invented.
Alternately: The Brick Testament. It's a really fun look at what the bible would look like if interpreted literally. With Legos.
Just so I remember

ToonyMan

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Re: Nethack
« Reply #130 on: May 06, 2009, 04:41:28 pm »

Why couldn't it be "Urist"?  We all know how to spell that.
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kcwong

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Re: Nethack
« Reply #131 on: May 06, 2009, 08:42:23 pm »

The ability to make a knights-move at any time you could walk normally is a huge bonus.  You can run like heck if you need to, which is great.

Don't overuse it though. Jumping makes you hungry much faster.

Knights are also burdened with a strict code of conduct - stealing, hitting neutral, sleeping or fleeing monsters, eating to satiated, etc. will give you negative alignment. Which means you can't pray for help and with a less-than-perfect alignment you will be rejected by your class quest giver.


@ Legolord:
How are you doing it?

The fast method is writing in dust with your fingers (E, then -). You have a 75% chance of success writing E-word in one round, unless you are stricken with status effects like fumbling, blind, confused, hallucinating, etc., which then you can forget about it. Writings in dust also erodes very quickly, and even faster if you try to melee attack on it. Ranged attack or waiting (no one can stand perfectly still) have a weaker effect on the dust. If you can levitate over it, it will last forever.

Don't try to dust multiple E-words in a single round. Most other actions will be interrupted if you're attacked, but not engraving. Your characters will keep engraving until finished, even if they die in the process (it's a game balance mechanism I think). So when dusting, only do one E-word at a time, and do it again and again for several rounds to guard against erosion.

The fast but expensive method is to use a wand (E, then wand's index). You will need sufficient charge in the wand (1 for a E-word in vanilla NetHack). Wand of Fire or Lightning will engrave a permanent E-word, but lightning will also blind you as a side effect. Wand of digging will leave a semi-permanent engraving. Other wands will have various effects, and some wands will be used to write in dust.

The side effect is that you can identify majority of the wands by engraving with them... so experiment with the non-cursed ones! ;)

The slow method is with other items (hard gems or sharp weapons). These make semi-permanent (erode slower than dusting) engravings like a wand of digging, but takes a lot more time - one character in a turn. Also weapons lose 1 enchantment bonus per character written, eventually going into negatives. At -3 (IIRC) the weapon will be too dull to engrave anything else.
« Last Edit: May 06, 2009, 08:58:31 pm by kcwong »
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beorn080

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Re: Nethack
« Reply #132 on: May 06, 2009, 09:13:16 pm »

Note that an anathame(sp) a special type of dagger that doesn't stack, doesn't dull and writes quickly IIRC. Magicbane is one of those daggers, which is why its such a nice artifact to find.
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umiman

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Re: Nethack
« Reply #133 on: May 06, 2009, 09:15:51 pm »

Note that an anathame(sp) a special type of dagger that doesn't stack, doesn't dull and writes quickly IIRC. Magicbane is one of those daggers, which is why its such a nice artifact to find.
I believe liches carry them?

Yeah, wizards love Magicbane. It's probably the only -bane weapon that's useful.

I really like wizards in Nethack...

inaluct

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Re: Nethack
« Reply #134 on: May 06, 2009, 09:26:05 pm »

Note that an anathame(sp) a special type of dagger that doesn't stack, doesn't dull and writes quickly IIRC. Magicbane is one of those daggers, which is why its such a nice artifact to find.
Aren't those things knives? Not daggers?

Anyway, there's also jousting, which makes knights very useful.
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