geoff@desint.UUCP (Geoff Kuenning) (03/11/85)
Well, I just found myself attacked by a cockatrice while carrying a dead
lizard. I quickly ate it, of course. The result:
That dead lizard was delicious!--more--
The orc hits! The cockatrice hits!--more--
You hear the cockatrice's hissing!--more--
[you guessed it...]
You get turned to stone!
Oh, well, I guess it's back to the scrolls of genocide.
--
Geoff Kuenning
Unix Consultant
(213) 545-4413
...!ihnp4!trwrb!desint!geofflondon@oddjob.UUCP (David London) (03/12/85)
*** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR MESSAGE *** Hey guys, you *WIELD* a dead lizard against a cocatrice! Similarly, you wield garlic against vampires. David (won with all except S) London ..!ihnp4!oddjob!london
wws@whuxlm.UUCP (Stoll W William) (03/22/85)
I've tried eating them and wielding them (not standing on them...) Gee, dead lizards are useless. I must have hit the stupid c 6 times. Did it die? Did it run away? of course not. where were the stupid genocide scrolls (only way to ensure a win is to genocide c's). a disgruntled hacker Bill Stoll, ..!whuxlm!wws
ron@wjvax.UUCP (Ron Christian) (04/02/85)
Speaking of dead lizards, I've tried throwing them at cockatrices....
You hit the cockatrice --more--
You hear the cockatrice hissing --more--
Any guesses on what comes next?
I've looked at the code, and I don't think there is *any* way to avoid
turning to stone. It seems to be a matter of luck only.
This is crap.
A single life and death decision should NOT be a matter of luck only. This
part of the game needs to be thought out a little better. Even if you had
*one* turn to do something after you hear the hissing, it would mean something
(save against magic, rather than blind chance).
By the way: in mythology, it was the *glance* of the cock that turns you to
stone. The breath of the cock (or the basilisk) was so foul it would melt
stone and wither vegitation.
I think this monster needs a little work.
--
--
Ron Christian (Watkins-Johnson Co. San Jose, Calif.)
{pesnta,twg,ios,qubix,turtlevax,tymix,vecpyr,isi,idx}!wjvax!ron
"But it won't let me make a directory called R&D!"tdn@cmu-cs-spice.ARPA (Thomas Newton) (04/03/85)
I'm not absolutely sure, but I think that what you are supposed to do with dead lizards is to carry them in your pack. When you throw a lizard at the cockatrice, you don't have it any more . . .
aeb@mcvax.UUCP (Andries Brouwer) (04/03/85)
In article <399@wjvax.UUCP> ron@wjvax.UUCP (Ron Christian) writes: > ... You hear the cockatrice's hissing.--More-- > I've looked at the code, and I don't think there is *any* way to avoid > turning to stone. It seems to be a matter of luck only. You can genocide cockatrices. You can wear an elven cloak. You may cancel the cockatrice. At all costs avoid hand to hand combat; instead attack the cockatrice from a distance with arrows or rocks. With a careful policy you can reduce the chances of being turned to stone to less than 1 in 500 per encounter. > This is crap. ... Even if you had *one* turn > to do something after you hear the hissing, it would mean something > (save against magic, rather than blind chance). Can you tell me the difference between "save against magic" and a call to rand() ? One does not necessarily die after hearing the hissing. > By the way: in mythology, it was the *glance* of the cock that turns you to > stone. The breath of the cock (or the basilisk) was so foul it would melt > stone and wither vegitation. I can see that you are really disappointed that your good adventure ended so abruptly. Hack is a mythological world on its own, and outside references can never prove anything. In this case however, the quote given in the data file is authentical and mentions hissing as sometimes fatal.
srt@ucla-cs.UUCP (04/03/85)
In article <399@wjvax.UUCP> ron@wjvax.UUCP (Ron Christian) writes: ...cockatrices... >A single life and death decision should NOT be a matter of luck only. This >part of the game needs to be thought out a little better. Even if you had >*one* turn to do something after you hear the hissing, it would mean something >(save against magic, rather than blind chance). > >By the way: in mythology, it was the *glance* of the cock that turns you to >stone. The breath of the cock (or the basilisk) was so foul it would melt >stone and wither vegitation. > >I think this monster needs a little work. >-- I have to agree with this. I should also point out that poison works the same way - at times its a sure kill (i.e., The dart was poisoned! -more-). This attitude is a hold-over from AD&D, I think, where there is a saving throw against some things (stoning, poison) and if you fail, you're dead. The question is, how can it be (easily) fixed up. HACK doesn't have fuses like some of the other versions of ROGUE, so it is difficult to implement things that happen some time in the future (i.e., so you could have the hissing be a warning of impending stoning, or have the character die after 3 turns of poison). I'm not sure how hard it would be to add fuses to HACK. Another possibility is to make stoning in HACK be like stoning in SROGUE. In this case, you start to feel your limbs stiffening (slowing you down) and if you don't do something about it, you eventually turn to stone and are unable to move (curiously, you don't die). As far as making the cockatrice a line of sight monster (like U), I think that would be a bit too deadly. One has to remember that the mythological cockatrice was a very rare creature. -- Scott Turner
sean@ukma.UUCP (Sean Casey) (04/04/85)
I agree with Ron, and I also think the "Trapper" needs to be reviewed.
Without polymorph or digging, it's kill him right now or you're dead.
The most annoying is being digested in one turn when you have super armour.
Sean
--
Sean Casey UUCP: {hasmed, cbosgd}-\
{ucbvax, unmvax, boulder, research}!anlams---ukma!sean
{mcvax!qtlon, vax135, mddc}!qusavx-/
ARPA: "ukma!sean"@ANL-MCS or sean%ukma.uucp@anl-mcs.arpadrseuss@nmtvax.UUCP (04/05/85)
In article <> tdn@cmu-cs-spice.ARPA (Thomas Newton) writes: >I'm not absolutely sure, but I think that what you are supposed to do with >dead lizards is to carry them in your pack. When you throw a lizard at the >cockatrice, you don't have it any more . . . Carrying lizards in your pack does nothing special when fighting the dreaded cockatrice. I have been killed by a cockatrice while having a lizard in my pack. the cockatrice hits -more-... Dr. Seuss
aeb@mcvax.UUCP (Andries Brouwer) (04/07/85)
In article <4644@ucla-cs.ARPA> srt@ucla-cs.UUCP (Scott Turner) writes: > ... ~ I don't like the way cockatrices and poison can kill you instantly ... > > The question is, how can it be (easily) fixed up. HACK doesn't have fuses > like some of the other versions of ROGUE, so it is difficult to implement > things that happen some time in the future (i.e., so you could have the > hissing be a warning of impending stoning, or have the character die after > 3 turns of poison). Well, Hack *does* have fuses, although they are not called by that name in the source. In fact they occur in several shapes. The shape most easily used for the present purpose would be the code in hack.timeout.c (isn't that name revealing?). Add a bitfield to the struct u called being_turned_to_stone, and call done("died") after the timeout, if nothing else has happened in the meantime. It need not be more than 5 lines of code. If enough people support this view (letters from 25 sites expressing agreement would be enough) I'll put something like this in version 1.0.3 (this fall). Personally, I do not agree. There are many ways one may die instantly (I just died in the following way: ---------- / \ / REST \ / IN \ / PEACE \ / \ | andries | | 666 AU | | killed by a | | visit to the | | hell | | 1985 | *| * * * | * _________)/\\_//(\/(/\)/\//\/|_)_______ ) and usually but not always there is some warning beforehand. In the case of a cockatrice all players I know consider the mere appearance of a 'c' as a warning that if they be not very careful, they'll soon be a statue. More generally, I seem to recall that one of the fortunes contains the warning: "Playing Hack may be dangerous to your health". But let me be somewhat more constructive - one of the fuses in hack is started after eating corrupted meat; if you haven't quaffed a potion of healing within ten or so moves you die. By analogy one would want to have something stopping (reversing) the petrification. But what? [No, not dead lizards.]
aeb@mcvax.UUCP (Andries Brouwer) (04/08/85)
In article <1573@ukma.UUCP> sean@ukma.UUCP (Sean Casey) writes: >I agree with Ron, and I also think the "Trapper" needs to be reviewed. >Without polymorph or digging, it's kill him right now or you're dead. >The most annoying is being digested in one turn when you have super armour. > About "one turn": older versions of Hack had digestion acting cumulatively, so that if you already had spent 4 turns in the stomach of some other monster, you could be digested in one more turn. In the current version this is no longer the case. About "super armour": obviously your armour is not water- (or rather acid-) tight, so that your armour does not prevent the gastric juices from doing their work. (In the case of a trapper, a good armour does however slow the digestion somewhat.)
chuqui@nsc.UUCP (Chuq Von Rospach) (05/09/85)
In article <579@mcvax.UUCP> aeb@mcvax.UUCP (Andries Brouwer) writes: >> ... ~ I don't like the way cockatrices and poison can kill you instantly ... There are certain situations where it simply isn't reasonable to GET a second chance. I've yet to be killed by a cockatrice that didn't hiss at least once, and if you look at AD&D's Monster Manual on the beastie, that's about all a cockatrice will give you (of course, this game has NOTHING to do with TSR, AD&D, or any other trademark). If you don't like cockatrices, why not change the thing to a basilisk, which can turn you to stone from across the room, without needing to touch you first? THAT is something I'd bitch about. If you ARE going to 'fix' cockatrices, you need to deal with cockatrice corpses. I'm not nearly as bothered by dying from a cockatrice as I am picking up the stuff from some poor ghost and finding that there is a cockatrice corpse in it. That is a good way to perpetuate ghosts indefinitely... -- :From the offices of Pagans for Cthulhu: Chuq Von Rospach {cbosgd,fortune,hplabs,ihnp4,seismo}!nsc!chuqui nsc!chuqui@decwrl.ARPA Who shall forgive the unrepentant?
liang@cvl.UUCP (Eli Liang) (05/10/85)
> If you ARE going to 'fix' cockatrices, you need to deal with cockatrice > corpses. I'm not nearly as bothered by dying from a cockatrice as I am > picking up the stuff from some poor ghost and finding that there is a > cockatrice corpse in it. That is a good way to perpetuate ghosts > indefinitely... > -- > :From the offices of Pagans for Cthulhu: Chuq Von Rospach > {cbosgd,fortune,hplabs,ihnp4,seismo}!nsc!chuqui nsc!chuqui@decwrl.ARPA > > Who shall forgive the unrepentant? You shouldn't go groping through a dead guy's stuff unless you are prepared to accept the consequences. Such appalling manners..... -eli -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Eli Liang --- University of Maryland Computer Vision Lab, (301) 454-4526 ARPA: liang@cvl, liang@lemuria, eli@mit-mc, eli@mit-prep CSNET: liang@cvl UUCP: {seismo,allegra,brl-bmd}!umcp-cs!cvl!liang
phred@gitpyr.UUCP (Will Rogers) (07/11/85)
In article <343@ucdavis.UUCP> ccrdan@ucdavis.UUCP (Dan Gold) writes: >> > Several times I have come accross a dead lizard, can someone tell >> > me what they are good for? >> Food. That's it. > >Note quite. When there is a NEW moon you are reputedly safe from the little >beasts. > once again, Note (sic) quite. To the best of my rememberance (which may indeed be faulty)... Dead lizards are indeed good only for food at any time EXCEPT during a new moon. During the new moon (as I recall) there is a 100% chance that if you hear a cocktrice's hissing that you will be turned to stone, (I think) the rest of the time there is only a twenty percent chance that you will be turned to stone. During the new moon, if you have a dead lizard you revert back to the usual chance of turning to stone. Unfortunately I am not sure whether you have to wield the lizard or only to possess it. I apologize for the uncertainty of my information. I got it myself from someone who had looked at the code and knew for sure what worked and under what circumstances, but I consider the information to be useful under such limited circumstances that I consider it practically worthless myself. _____ ....gatech!gitpyr!phred "omni,omni,VOR,ILS,DME,SDF,ADF,NDB,ohhhhhhmmmmmm,omni,omni,..."