NetHack - This cockatrice corpse tastes terrible!

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Darth l33t: Jul 6, 2000

code:

NetHack - This wand of wishing is delicious!

Social Animal posted:

Can you sacrifice corpses on the high altars or are they only to be used for the amulet?

You can if you want to, not sure why you would except for bragging rights though. Your own altar, mind you; trying to convert a high alter, well, you'll regret it.

# ¿ Mar 3, 2009 08:09

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 02:36

Darth l33t: Jul 6, 2000

bort posted:

Whenever I try that, I get a yellow mold.

The trick is to have magic resistance and displace your pet into the trap repeatedly, or keep blowing a magic whistle while next to the trap. That way you can pick and choose which monster you keep.

# ¿ Mar 10, 2009 16:39

Darth l33t: Jul 6, 2000

ToxicFrog posted:

No ring of free action? Bummer.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2009 00:31

Darth l33t: Jul 6, 2000

KGBAgent185 posted:

A question of strategy for you guys, how do you ID potions/scrolls/books if you don't have identify already known?

I mean, you need to learn identify somehow, but do you just start randomly reading scrolls till you learn it? I have taken to dipping weapons into potions before randomly quaffing them just in case, that's seemed decently safe for the most part, seems to have saved myself from some nasty surprises.

This guide has pretty much everything you need to know. Basically, price-ID stuff first so you have a general idea of what it can and can't do.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2009 04:41

Darth l33t: Jul 6, 2000

tripwood posted:

I'm starting to get how to survive in the dungeons, but I was wondering what's the right order to do things as to not go down too fast and get owned by horrible spawning monsters.

Once you get at the gnomish mine fork, should you keep going down and ignore it for now? What's at the bottom of the mines after Minetown? What's waiting for me at the bottom of the main dungeon if I don't go into the gnomish mines?

I generally make a try for Minetown first, then head toward Sokoban. If I find a dark level on the way, I abort and finish Sokoban first before resuming. In any case, I don't try for Mine's End until Sokoban is done.

And yeah, I don't wear a cloak or suit I'd really miss until I have magic resistance.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2009 17:03

Darth l33t: Jul 6, 2000

McNerd posted:

I'm surprised though, I thought eating a cockatrice egg was an instadeath for sure. Touching a cockatrice is, isn't it? I thought its combat ability was the only delayed stoning in the game.

Being hit by a wielded corpse also causes stiffening. I think the delayed deaths were implemented because dying instantly from eating an unidentified egg, or being hit by a corpse you didn't see wielded, would be patently unfair. If you bite a cockatrice as a vampire lord, or assign its corpse to the 'y' key and then try to eat something off the floor, that's your own drat fault so you die instantly.

# ¿ Mar 20, 2009 16:29

Darth l33t: Jul 6, 2000

angryblackguy posted:

How do you avoid water nymphs? One literally stole my entire set of armor off my loving back.

Where the hell do they go when they seduce you? Do they teleport away or are they just really speedy?

Yes, they teleport.

Ranged attacks are the key, so get a set of daggers or something. Nymphs also respect Elbereth.

# ¿ Mar 27, 2009 05:12

Darth l33t: Jul 6, 2000

That was a good try at a naked ascension, Sartak

# ¿ Apr 5, 2009 04:10

Darth l33t: Jul 6, 2000

Argon_Sloth posted:

I don't think I could handle playing a ranger without autopickup exceptions enabled. I'm not sure if I'll ever want to play another one because the first ranger quest level is so drat tedious.

Seriously, whoever designed that thing should be sentenced to play Etrian Odyssey without a map.

# ¿ Apr 7, 2009 17:59

Darth l33t: Jul 6, 2000

stubblyhead posted:

How does this work, exactly?

I think some other monster must have stepped on a polytrap, turned into an arch-lich, and then died. Showborn is quirky like that.

# ¿ Apr 8, 2009 15:59

Darth l33t: Jul 6, 2000

Nicolae Carpathia posted:

Definitely not someone who would lose three amulets of life saving to Pestilence and still bite it

Does it matter that he was trying to ascend naked in under 30k turns?

# ¿ Apr 8, 2009 20:57

Darth l33t: Jul 6, 2000

ThreeHams posted:

Edit: I could probably ascend right now (first one ever!) but I am being unbelievably paranoid. What am I probably forgetting?

That it's entirely possible to ascend without Grayswandir?

# ¿ Apr 11, 2009 04:30

Darth l33t: Jul 6, 2000

Golbez posted:

So, could one eat a cockatrice and live? I figure if you were polymorphed into a stone golem, but any other way?

Any form of stoning resistance would work. An amulet of life saving will save you from the stoning, but I think that makes you stop eating.

# ¿ Apr 13, 2009 19:53

Darth l33t: Jul 6, 2000

Greybone posted:

I suck at riding apparently, did the incubus seduce my dragon, removing the saddle?

Yep. Gotta hand it to that incubus, seducing a creature 100 times its size.

# ¿ Apr 15, 2009 19:35

Darth l33t: Jul 6, 2000

Argon_Sloth posted:

- I'm kind of curious about the lurker/trapper/worm, because I've never been swallowed while riding a pet. I guess a ring of slow Digestion will save the pair of you, but it will have to be worn ahead of time.

If you're riding, a digesting monster will swallow you and not your pet (the source specifically mentions that swallowing mounted players is buggy). If you're worried about losing your pet while unmounted, dragons are too big to be swallowed. I'm uncertain of the exact cutoff, but dragons are the very biggest size class, so they're safe.

As for spells, monster spells only target you, not your pet. The lich's chilling touch could still hit your pet, but don't worry about instadeath.

I just did a test in Wizard mode, wielding Vorpal Blade will NOT cause you to attack a tame jabberwock. Be careful if you have Stormbringer, of course.

Pets are immune to the Riders' instadeaths, but they do more damage than a pet can easily handle (a maxed-out dragon has 176 HP, and a Rider does an average of 48 damage per move). Jousting is definitely your friend here.

Slimes can indeed slime your pet. Use a light source and apply your lance to hit them from a distance.

Personally, I think riding in the late game is more hassle than it's worth. By the time you find a saddle (I've found two in over a dozen ascensions), or blow a wish on one, you're much tougher than most pets and deal more damage than a pet. Even a hasted dragon will slow you down, while the faster pets, warhorses and unicorns, lack HP and are vulnerable to polytraps and rays of any kind. Maybe if you're playing under some sort of crippling conduct combination, you could use the extra firepower, but for the most part riding means you have to worry about lots of things a non-riding ascendable character could ignore.

# ¿ Apr 16, 2009 19:14

Darth l33t: Jul 6, 2000

Argon_Sloth posted:

The vorpal blade comment was more in reference to the odd time you run into an monster with one on the Astral Plane. I was wondering if the instakill effect vs. Jabberwocks would kick in if it was a monster attacking your pet.

I imagine it would, but if you run into an enemy with Vorpy, you should really be more worried about saving your OWN neck.

# ¿ Apr 16, 2009 21:36

Darth l33t: Jul 6, 2000

factorialite posted:

Don't iron chains? Maybe not, but I coulda swore that my iron chain was purple.

They're the same blue as any other iron item.

# ¿ Apr 18, 2009 18:12

Darth l33t: Jul 6, 2000

Greybone posted:

Or so I thought - Nibbles got killed despite me checking him every now and then, and I've no clue why, can pestilence hurt him? I never got him to pick up a unihorn

Monsters don't get diseased, but remember that all the Riders do 8d8, 8d8 per attack, which will dispose of any monster quickly. Ki-rins don't have hands (they're basically angelic horses), so they can't use unihorns.

And yeah, Knights rock with 112 damage per hit of magic missile. They're a little hard to get going, though (how many other roles can kill themselves on turn 1?), and Rogues are certainly competitive with (d3+6[ST]+7[enchantment]+d6[poison]+d30[backstab])*2 darts (plus the odd instakill).

Why'd you erodeproof your gauntlets but not your robe?

# ¿ Apr 20, 2009 00:08

Darth l33t: Jul 6, 2000

Mr Right posted:

That would be a bad move.

Sure as hell would.

Is Death ever generated with a wand of death? If so, does he know to use it on himself?

# ¿ Apr 20, 2009 15:43

Darth l33t: Jul 6, 2000

Argon_Sloth posted:

Good news everybody!

Weapons that that confer level drain resistance(Excalibur, Stormbringer or Staff of the Aesculapius) are immune to the effects of disenchanters!

Actually, all artifacts are less likely to be disenchanted (10% vs. 90% for non-artifact weapons).

MarionetteOwl posted:

Quick question: If I mount a pony and run around the dungeon chopping poo poo up, will the pony level, or do I need to be unmounted for that?

Experience goes to whoever makes the kill. Typically that's you if you're mounted, but sometimes your steed gets the kill.

# ¿ Apr 20, 2009 22:29

Darth l33t: Jul 6, 2000

bobwhoops posted:

No they can't. Master and Arch-liches can cast Summon Nasties, but Demiliches cannot.

That actually depends; monster spellcasting is based on monster level. Summon Nasties is a level 16 spell; demiliches have base level 14, but can be generated up to base level 16 (at 17, they'd become master liches), so it's entirely possible to have one summon nasties.

# ¿ Apr 21, 2009 23:43

Darth l33t: Jul 6, 2000

It's not really all that complicated. Your base polymorph time is 500-999 turns. This is then adjusted downward by the proportion of your XL to the monster's base XL, e.g. if you're level 12 and polymorph into a level 15 adult dragon, you'll have 400-799 turns. I don't think you get a time bonus for polyselfing into a low-level form.

Do note that being a dragon doesn't stop eels from drowning you.

# ¿ Apr 22, 2009 22:22

Darth l33t: Jul 6, 2000

I'm pretty sure the only spoiler on GeoCities not duplicated elsewhere or terribly out of date is dcorbett's 101 Ways to Get Stoned by a Cockatrice.

# ¿ Apr 24, 2009 15:24

Darth l33t: Jul 6, 2000

JawnV6 posted:

Just when I think I've got a handle on the various escape items available and how to move around something basic like this... eugh.

If it makes you feel any better, I tried this once and it was incredibly tedious. Each breath costs 15 Pw and freezes only two or three squares, so you'll have to take lots of recharge breaks. And as has been mentioned, you have to blaze a path three squares wide to be safe from eels. Then once you've built your ice bridge, you'll probably slip every other square.

# ¿ Apr 24, 2009 20:03

Darth l33t: Jul 6, 2000

JawnV6 posted:

I was trying this out in wizard mode, but what's supposed to happen when I'm wearing SDSM and I step on a polymorph trap when Silver Dragons are genocided?

It printed out: "You feel rather silver dragon-ish." Is that a result of being in wizard mode or is this one thing that won't just outright kill you?

This also happens if you try to controlled polymorph into a genocided species. As far as I know, you can't instadie by polymorphing into a genocided species. You do die if you genocide your current polyself, or if you genocide your base race or role and then revert.

# ¿ Apr 27, 2009 19:53

Darth l33t: Jul 6, 2000

ToxicFrog posted:

Souvenir. I tin all the named monsters I can, personally, so that I can ascend with their remains in my backpack. Ditto dead pets.

I hope someone ascends with your statue.

# ¿ May 16, 2009 03:19

Darth l33t: Jul 6, 2000

Broken Loose posted:

That actually sounds like a really cool thing to do. Ascending with bones files corpses. It's like you're helping them achieve their dreams

I once ascended with a partly eaten apple someone had choked on. I figured the guy should be allowed to finish his last meal.

# ¿ May 16, 2009 04:34

Darth l33t: Jul 6, 2000

McNerd posted:

This is weird since if your god were angry when you tried to convert the altar, you would have instead converted yourself to the other god (which screws you over, making the game unwinnable). So it must have been after that.

Actually, you only convert yourself if your alignment record is negative. Your alignment record goes down when you behave in a manner not consistent with your alignment, or with certain actions generally frowned upon, such as killing your pet. Your god only gets angry if you specifically offend him or or his religion; the most common way is to pray too soon. As long as your alignment record is positive, you can safely convert altars even if your god is angry.

# ¿ May 18, 2009 22:03

Darth l33t: Jul 6, 2000

Speakeasy posted:

How often are the best players using Elbereth? Do they spam it in every battle, or do they try to hold off on it?

They use it for every nontrivial battle. Any speed, pacifist, or Tourist ascension that isn't illiterate can be assumed to abuse the hell out of Elbereth, and you can bet the illiterate ones took advantage of the preburned E-words in Sokoban and the Castle.

# ¿ May 21, 2009 22:50

Darth l33t: Jul 6, 2000

Argon_Sloth posted:

I find the best way to deal with them is teleport. The planes are no-teleport, which means that nothing can self teleport, but you can teleport other things. Zapping a wand of teleport in any direction but . while engulfed sends them away.

Ever found a tooled horn? It should really be called the horn of "gently caress off, air elemental engulfing me".

# ¿ May 22, 2009 04:06

Darth l33t: Jul 6, 2000

Fury1671 posted:

That tourist I killed cause I'm retarded and use the numpad? I found 7 Geno Scrolls total. Got ONE enchant armor scroll.

So curse them all and nurse dance, and you won't really need the extra AC.

# ¿ May 23, 2009 18:27

Darth l33t: Jul 6, 2000

bavid posted:

I had a couple more ideas - if I change alignment, then equip and unequip excalibur, won't it hit me with some lightning damage?

No, touching a cross-aligned artifact deals pure magic damage, not shock. And you don't have a way to change alignment anyway.

bavid posted:

I guess reading those three unID'd spellbooks is the way to go, in case one happens to be remove curse.

I'd say so. The only other thing I can think of is that if you can somehow get the Bell of Opening cursed, and run it out of charges (in either order), it will start acting like a regular cursed bell, which has a chance of summoning a nymph. So if a lich or something comes up, you might want to let it curse your stuff until it gets the Bell.

# ¿ May 25, 2009 16:04

Darth l33t: Jul 6, 2000

Bavid, when they said "all NetHack games are winnable", I don't think they had yours in mind. I think you'd better plan a spectacular way to die, because even if you somehow get that ring off your finger, I doubt you're getting out of Gehennom alive.

The moral of the story is not to carry around a wand of cancellation. To everyone whining "But my cursed BoH :supaburn:

" -- carry some holy water, rebless the bag every time it gets unblessed, and the chances of it becoming cursed are slim. Keep some holy water and blessed ?oRC in an oilskin sack. Or just don't carry so much junk around that you get so overencumbered by a cBoH.

If you want a /oC for mass blanking, keep in in your stash. You can always fetch it down to uncurse your bag.

# ¿ May 25, 2009 19:12

Darth l33t: Jul 6, 2000

bobwhoops posted:

/oC are pretty useful, especially against enemies. In my most recent game a nymph had stolen some of my armor and then a fire elemental spawned who nearly killed me because I didn't have fire resistance. I zapped it with the /oC and it became harmless.

Both of those creatures respect Elbereth, so you might as well have used a /oDi/F/Ln. Pretty much anything that's a substantial threat and ignores Elbereth is either not affected by cancellation or has enough MR to resist it most of the time.

# ¿ May 25, 2009 19:50

Darth l33t: Jul 6, 2000

Erdos posted:

What are good early wishes for monks since GDSM/SDSM is out? I found a blessed magic lamp in the mines.

You didn't mention your alignment, but once you reach 41 HP, a quest artifact might be a good choice. The (wizard) Eye is the best choice for neutrals, and the Scepter is pretty good if you're lawful. If you're chaotic, you might want to skip the Key, since you already get teleport control at level 17. Other options for your wish are gauntlets of power (you can still cast at 0% fail if you wear your robe) and speed boots.

Try to save one of the lamps until you have your quest artifact. You could use it just before Master Kaen to wish for a blessed spellbook of drain life; levitating over lava while draining MK's levels is one of the best strategies for dealing with him.

# ¿ May 26, 2009 00:09

Darth l33t: Jul 6, 2000

McNerd posted:

I hear the Orb of Fate is good too for neutrals: half physical as well as spell damage is quite nice when you can't wear armor, though you don't get the magic resistance. Might be worth considering? I don't know.

It's not a bad choice by any means, especially once you reach level 17 for the controlled levelports. It's just that the power regeneration from the Eye is too good to pass up; you can cast extra healing or something almost constantly, which is even better than half damage. Also, crystal balls are really heavy, and with an early-game monk's STR, he probably won't be able to avoid being burdened while carrying it.

# ¿ May 26, 2009 03:26

Darth l33t: Jul 6, 2000

Grisly Grotto posted:

ugh, YASD. Probably the most promising archaeologist I've had (most of mine die before minetown), and I died in the most retarded manner. Didn't have anything especially great, but I was alive, I'd gotten to minetown, I had a wand of teleport and a ring of teleport control, a few ok pets and a magic whistle, I also had a silver saber. Things started going bad when a mind flayer wiped out all my pets, so I ran out of the mines quickly. I then hit a teleport trap, teleport control prompted me for what level i wanted to go to... but me not really watching I'd tapped left twice and hit enter before thinking about it. I teleported myself to the valley of the dead. Things ended pretty quickly from there.

So now my question is: is there a safe way to teleport back from way deeper in the dungeon than you should be? I know a cursed teleport scroll or cursed levitation would have been useful, but I had nothing like that.

Cursed scroll of teleportation yes, cursed potion of levitation no. The lesson you should learn from this game is to never press or hold a direction repeatedly. You could have run into a rust monster or floating eye just as easily. Use g<direction> to cover long distances.

I have to say, though, the concept of an absent-minded adventurer accidentally teleporting himself to hell is hilarious.

# ¿ May 26, 2009 05:00

Darth l33t: Jul 6, 2000

What's really impressive about this one is that he pulled it off in under a month.

# ¿ May 27, 2009 04:48

Darth l33t: Jul 6, 2000

Lazerface posted:

Is there a good source of these ascension summaries? I've read through these here http://nethack.wikia.com/wiki/Notable_ascensions but I'm less bothered about mad conduct ascensions. More instructional/entertaining if there are any?

For a "notable" non-ascension game, check this out.

# ¿ May 27, 2009 18:53

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 02:36

Darth l33t: Jul 6, 2000

MysteryVortex posted:

I somehow lost my telepathy intrinsic just before I entered the planes, any ideas why that could be? I killed an angry shopkeeper on the way up, could that be it?

That's probably it. Killing a formerly peaceful human when you're not chaotic is considered murder, and the penalty is -2 luck and loss of intrinsic telepathy.

axolotl farmer posted:

Any advice?

Retreat into corridors when a swarm spawns, and keep and level up your pet.

If you want to master a role, try starting with something simpler like a Valkyrie. Or if you want to do a ranged role, I suggest Rogues. Much of what you learned as a Ranger will carry over, and Rogues have at least two major advantages: their daggers don't break, so you can throw them whenever you want, and you're almost guaranteed 18 DEX (+4 to hit), whereas Rangers usually have crappy DEX.

# ¿ May 28, 2009 01:14

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