[net.games.hack] "Opinion Poll"

hopp@nbs-amrf.UUCP (Ted Hopp) (02/23/86)

>    Here's a question, what's the first thing you would use a scroll
> of genocide on?  What else would you kill if you had more than one?
> 
> 	-ed falk

Usually the first thing to go are cockatrices.  If I have real good armor
(<0), including gloves, and good strength (18+), I would rather risk
having them around, since they make such good weapons.  This is especially
true if I have some wands or lots of throwing weapons that I can use to
get them relatively safely.

After c's, I get rid of xans.  (I used to get rid of k's, but they
really aren't too much of a problem now that I figured out that I should
rest while fighting them off.  I can usually get into a good defensive
position and get them all easily.)  Xans are a real nuisance since they
are so good at hitting.  Of course royal jelly helps, but I'd rather not
lug it all around just to help cope with them.

If I don't have a ring of fire resistance, I get rid of dragons next.  They
are too hard to deal with otherwise.  At least I don't know a good strategy
for dealing with them.  (Without a scroll of taming, of course :-).)

Following them, I'd like to get rid of trappers and lurkers, but I can't.
(Hack 1.0.2).  The only swallowing monster I can get rid of (and do -- one
game I found three scrolls of genocide, without wishing!) is purple worms.

After that, I don't think I would genocide anything else.  It would take
too much fun out of things.

By the way, orcs rob shops!

-- 

Ted Hopp	{seismo,umcp-cs}!nbs-amrf!hopp

barnett@im4u.UUCP (Lewis Barnett) (02/24/86)

In article <158@nbs-amrf.UUCP> hopp@nbs-amrf.UUCP (Ted Hopp) writes:
>>    Here's a question, what's the first thing you would use a scroll
>> of genocide on?  What else would you kill if you had more than one?
>> 
>> 	-ed falk
>
The author suggests genociding c's and x's first.  I concur, but I do it
in the reverse order.  There, our philosophies diverge.
>
>If I don't have a ring of fire resistance, I get rid of dragons next.  They
>are too hard to deal with otherwise.  At least I don't know a good strategy
>for dealing with them.  (Without a scroll of taming, of course :-).)
>
Not me -- Dragon corpses are too valuable.  The way to deal with a dragon
is to maneuver until you're at a corner of a hallway, with the D on a
diagonal.  (Like so:

		#
		D
		#@##
)
Usually, in such a position, a Dragon will forget about breathing fire
(notice I said USUALLY.  There are always exceptions...) and just pound
you.  Dragons are pretty heavy hitters, but they can be dealt with.
And eating the corpse makes you intrinsically fireproof, so you don't
have to burn food wearing that ring of fire resistance while marching
around hell. But... (Spoiler alert...) I discovered by accident the 
other day that you really don't need to wear the ring around all the
time... only when you first enter Hell, and when you climb stairs.
(I think the last part is true, but I didn't verify it empirically.)
I found out by eating a tin of salmon while down there -- my hands
got slippery and my rings fell off...Anyway, once you're fireproof,
dragons are fun -- you can use them to kill off other monsters, etc.

>After that, I don't think I would genocide anything else.  It would take
>too much fun out of things.
>
Agreed.  Except in place of Dragons, I put V's.  Nasty bloodsuckers.  
And if I have an abundance of genocides, I take out A's.

Lewis Barnett,CS Dept, Painter Hall 3.28, Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX 78712

"Frankly, there's something about reality that gives me the shivering willies!"
						-- Hank the Hallucination --

-- barnett@im4u.UTEXAS.EDU, barnett@im4u.UUCP,
      {ihnp4,harvard,seismo,gatech,ctvax}!im4u!barnett

m1b@rayssd.UUCP (M. Joseph Barone) (02/26/86)

In article <775@im4u.UUCP>, barnett@im4u.UUCP (Lewis Barnett) writes:
> around hell. But... (Spoiler alert...) I discovered by accident the 
> other day that you really don't need to wear the ring around all the
> time... only when you first enter Hell, and when you climb stairs.
> (I think the last part is true, but I didn't verify it empirically.)
> I found out by eating a tin of salmon while down there -- my hands
> got slippery and my rings fell off...Anyway, once you're fireproof,
> dragons are fun -- you can use them to kill off other monsters, etc.

	In 1.0.3 this is NOT true.  I wanted to see if hack kept track
of such things so I 'R'emoved my ring of fire resistance around level 29
(coming up, no less) and immediately I was burnt to a cinder with the
appropriate message that appears.  What is described above sounds like
a bug since the necessary checks are not done to determine if you burn
or not.  (The above description does not make clear whether he had eaten
a dragon as well.  If he did, that would account for surviving.)

Joe Barone,	{allegra, decvax!brunix, linus, ccice5}!rayssd!m1b
Raytheon Co,	Submarine Signal Div., 1847 West Main Rd, Portsmouth, RI 02871

stephen@dcl-cs.UUCP (Stephen J. Muir) (02/27/86)

In article <775@im4u.UUCP> barnett@im4u.UUCP (Lewis Barnett) writes:
>around hell. But... (Spoiler alert...) I discovered by accident the 
>other day that you really don't need to wear the ring around all the
>time... only when you first enter Hell, and when you climb stairs.
>(I think the last part is true, but I didn't verify it empirically.)
>I found out by eating a tin of salmon while down there -- my hands
>got slippery and my rings fell off...Anyway, once you're fireproof,

Not quite true, if you *take* the ring off you will get killed.
-- 
UUCP:	...!seismo!mcvax!ukc!dcl-cs!stephen
DARPA:	stephen%comp.lancs.ac.uk@ucl-cs	| Post: University of Lancaster,
JANET:	stephen@uk.ac.lancs.comp	|	Department of Computing,
Phone:	+44 524 65201 Ext. 4120		|	Bailrigg, Lancaster, UK.
Project:Alvey ECLIPSE Distribution	|	LA1 4YR

barnett@im4u.UUCP (Lewis Barnett) (02/27/86)

In article <2014@rayssd.UUCP> m1b@rayssd.UUCP (M. Joseph Barone) writes:
>
>In article <775@im4u.UUCP>, barnett@im4u.UUCP (Lewis Barnett) writes:
>> around hell. But... (Spoiler alert...) I discovered by accident the 
>> other day that you really don't need to wear the ring around all the
>> time... only when you first enter Hell, and when you climb stairs.
>
>	In 1.0.3 this is NOT true.  I wanted to see if hack kept track
>of such things so I 'R'emoved my ring of fire resistance around level 29
>(coming up, no less) and immediately I was burnt to a cinder with the
>appropriate message that appears.  What is described above sounds like
>a bug since the necessary checks are not done to determine if you burn
>or not.  (The above description does not make clear whether he had eaten
>a dragon as well.  If he did, that would account for surviving.)
>
>Joe Barone,	{allegra, decvax!brunix, linus, ccice5}!rayssd!m1b
>Raytheon Co,	Submarine Signal Div., 1847 West Main Rd, Portsmouth, RI 02871

I should have specified that I was talking about Hack 1.0.2.  I suppose
it is a bug, now that you mention it -- and I hadn't eaten a dragon in
that particular game.

Here's another question:  I was playing that game as a Fighter, and I had
killed several dragons (perhaps as many as 5 or 6), but none left corpses.
I finally did get a corpse, but D corpses seemed unusually scarce in the
game.  I'm always suspecting intelligent behavior behind what I know must
just be the vagaries of the random number generator in this game, but is
there any basis for the suspicion that Fighters don't see D corpses with
the same probability that other characters do?

Lewis Barnett,CS Dept, Painter Hall 3.28, Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX 78712

"Frankly, there's something about reality that gives me the shivering willies!"
						-- Hank the Hallucination --

-- barnett@im4u.UTEXAS.EDU, barnett@im4u.UUCP,
      {ihnp4,harvard,seismo,gatech,ctvax}!im4u!barnett

ptraynor@bbnccv.UUCP (Patrick Traynor) (02/27/86)

In article <2014@rayssd.UUCP> m1b@rayssd.UUCP (M. Joseph Barone) writes:
>
>In article <775@im4u.UUCP>, barnett@im4u.UUCP (Lewis Barnett) writes:
>> around hell. But... (Spoiler alert...) I discovered by accident the 
>> other day that you really don't need to wear the ring around all the
>> time... only when you first enter Hell, and when you climb stairs.
>> (I think the last part is true, but I didn't verify it empirically.)
>> I found out by eating a tin of salmon while down there -- my hands
>> got slippery and my rings fell off...Anyway, once you're fireproof,
>> dragons are fun -- you can use them to kill off other monsters, etc.
>
>	In 1.0.3 this is NOT true.  I wanted to see if hack kept track
>of such things so I 'R'emoved my ring of fire resistance around level 29
>(coming up, no less) and immediately I was burnt to a cinder ( ... )

On 1.0.2 I did the same thing and got the same results:
'The fires of hell burn you to a crisp'  [r.i.p.]
Lewis, I think you must have eaten a dragon corpse and then forgot.  I
know how easy it is to forget that I HAVEN'T eaten one and then go to the
center of the earth. (I hate it when that happens...)

--pat traynor--

-- 

uucp:  ...!harvard!bbnccv!bbncc7!ptraynor
arpa:  ptraynor@bbncc7