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Comments
What happened was the dragon dissapeared around one corner,, at which point I walked along another. The moment I stepped around that corner, I died. Not even a fighting chance.
I should have known better.
Mojo (i.e. Mjollnir) has a lightning blast, but the dragon is immune to it. No matter. It couldn't hit me for enough damage anyway, so I just chipped away at its HP.
Then it got smart.
It took a step back and then zapped me.
how do I >begin?
Read the wiki.
Die a lot.
There's a tile version that comes with the most typical Nethack download.
Then there's the semi-3D texture pack called Vulture's Eye.
Make sure you know how to work all the many commands in the different interfaces, though. And that you can tell what's what. Remember that, yes, it's possible to move diagonally.
Also, if you don't mind the ASCII, you can play on a server--the nethack.alt.org server. Telnet into it using a program like PuTTY (unless you have Windows XP). Just make sure you have CP437 (code page 437) selected under Window -> Translation. You can save this setting in PuTTY.
The advantages to playing on the server are that there's an IRC channel for the server where people chat about the game all the time, including a bot that will tell you everything you're curious about (such as particular monsters or items). Also, the server lets you find bones files left by other players.
Also, a fuckton more hilarious fake monster names when you're hallucinating. Mother-in-law and ninja turtle not kooky enough? Start hearing about the Y2K bug.
The current version is 3.4.3.
The number of features in the game is positively astonishing--the game is, after all, the poster child for The Dev Team Thinks Of Everything. However, the rate at which new versions are released is also astonishing. -ly slow, that is. The game's been in active development for over two decades.
Anyway, the game is HARD. Make sure to try to identify items as soon as possible. Also, sometimes the only way to identify is to use it. And don't hoard. If you have an item which can get you out out of a bind, USE IT.
Make sure to have pets steal from shops.
Never make a rash decision.
Always be prepared. Killing indiscriminately will get you slaughtered. Don't ever get into a fight just for EXP.
And, please, don't ever put a bag inside a bag.
Got swamped by monsters.
I could'a used Elbereth and survived, and I had three Blessed Scrolls Of Teleportation. God dammit.
* wands: write anything on the floor with your fingers and then attempt to write on the floor with the wand. Keep it short; if you don't you'll take too many turns (and wand charges). A majority of wands can be identified this way.
* all items: price identification. Dropping an unID'd item into a shop lets you sell it. The shopkeep always offers you a price before asking you whether you want to sell it. That price is always either 1/2 or 3/8 of the full price of the item. If you know the prices of potions, wands, rings, spellbooks, scrolls, and various types of armor, you can narrow down the possibilities. However, all amulets cost 100 zm and cannot be price-ID'd.
* the cheapest scroll is the scroll of identify. This is very convenient. (Yes, it's cheaper than blank paper. It's also not technically the cheapest scroll, but the only thing cheaper is the scroll of mail, which is not a normal dungeon feature, but only usually available as a special feature on nethack servers.)
* rings: drop them into a sink. You will lose the ring (except for a couple rings), and you will get a message telling you what it is.
* beatitude (blessed/uncursed/cursed status) of items: Your pets will NOT enjoy walking over cursed items. If there's a cursed item on a square, they will avoid that square most of the time, and rarely they will "reluctantly" walk onto it.
* lamp: magic lamp is far more expensive than oil lamp. magic lamp, as long as it's magic, does not run out of fuel.
* bag: sack is mad cheap. bag of tricks can be applied to summon a random monster (but beware of usage fee). Bag of holding makes things lighter; try picking up barely too much stuff and then stuffing something in the bag. Expensive bag that's neither holding nor tricks is oilskin.
* food: always generated uncursed except for tins. Eggs can be safely eaten by pets but you will all too often end up eating rotten eggs; just feed them to pets by leaving them around (don't throw them. duh!). However, egg's monster identity will remain unknown unless you let it hatch; if you are male it might call you daddy. (If you are female, you can lay eggs if you're polymorphed into egg-laying monsters. They will hatch into pets.)
* gold: always uncursed; cannot be cursed or blessed.
* gray stone: DON'T PICK IT UP. First, kick it. If it doesn't move and your strength isn't insanely high like 18/**, then it's a loadstone, and IS ALWAYS GENERATED CURSED AND WILL STICK TO YOUR HAND WHEN YOU PICK IT UP. And if you uncurse it and drop it, it WILL AUTOCURSE AND STICK TO YOUR HAND WHEN YOU PICK IT UP AGAIN. If it moves, then pick it up. Try to name it "The Heart of Ahriman". If your hand slips, it's a luckstone. (This is due to the way artifact items work, and may be considered cheating.) If it doesn't, then scratch it against a metal item; if you get "scritch scritch" you have a touchstone, if not, then a flint stone.
** a rock really is just a rock. Seriously. Thank goodness.
* colored stones: get a touchstone, scratch it against the colored stone. The message clues you into whether it's a valuable gem or worthless glass. However, you still need to ID them in order to make a nice profit selling them. Also, glass golems never leave behind gems when killed.
* nymphs and potions of object detection: They like picking up lots of
crap, but they have a 50% chance of being generated with one of these,
so if they have a potion it's quite likely this.
testing by usage:
* Many usable items can be identified on use. Some of them self-identify on use--you might not see a message identifying it, but it will still be recorded in your discoveries.
* Cursed equipment and weapons cannot be removed/unwielded. At least one piece of armor, the dunce cap, auto-curses when you put it on (just like the loadstone). Also, many types of armor with bad effects tend to be generated cursed. The same applies to rings and amulets--cursed rings and cursed amulets CANNOT be removed. (Well, they can, but that's much more the exception than the rule.)
* Rings: If they are a stat-affecting ring (such as "ring of adornment" (charisma) or "ring of constitution"), they will be auto-ID'd upon wearing if they have a charge to them; if they are +0 they will not be.
** Foocubi and rings of adornment: Succubi consorting with you will ask
for or steal a ring of adornment that you're wearing; incubi will put it
on you (or ask you to put it on) if you're not wearing it. This only
occurs if you are hetero relative to the foocubi, since they do not
seduce same-sex characters.
* Sinks: sometimes drinking from a sink will produce a random stream of colored liquid; this has the same effect as drinking a potion of that color.
Got swamped by gnomes some red "h" things.
Tried going downstairs to escape onslaught.
Fell down them.
Died.
YSAD
Beware the slow dwarf who smashes your skull in with a broad pick. Also, the gnome with the wand of death. No, seriously, the gnome with the wand of death is a running joke (but nevertheless extremely dangerous) in the Nethack fandom.
You entered the mines. I hate the mines. They're often dark and just contain tons of gnomes and dwarves, more than I can reasonably eat. They also kill my pet too easily. However, it seems that more skilled players than myself (and yes, I do suck at the game) recommend it, because of stuff you can get in minetown and at mine's end.
On one dungeon level between 2 and the oracle level, there are two stairs down; one of them leads to the rest of the main dungeon and the other leads to the gnomish mines.