Just started Nethack

[Trekkin]

I downloaded Nethack, and in about a day I've died over a hundred times and become utterly enamored of it.

Obviously, I'm reading the small mountain of data on how to maybe make it to a double-digit level before starving/dying of food poisoning/getting killed by a jackal/shopkeeper/coyote/goblin, but that probably won't be enough. Therefore, friends, I ask: how do I get a Wizard down to see Rodney and up to talk to (usually) Thoth without losing his/her life in the process?

[Bucky]

Obviously, I'm reading the small mountain of data on how to maybe make it to a double-digit level before starving/dying of food poisoning/getting killed by a jackal/shopkeeper/coyote/goblin, but that probably won't be enough.
If you have time, I'd advise against reading all that stuff. It's more fun to figure out the early game on your own.

The answers to those hazards are Pray, Pray, fight one at a time, don't hit the shopkeeper or break/steal the merchandise, throw things at it and let your pet handle it, respectively. Oh, and if you're about to die, pray.



Therefore, friends, I ask: how do I get a Wizard down to see Rodney and up to talk to (usually) Thoth without losing his/her life in the process?
By not dying on the way down and not dying on the way back up.

[Lord Seth]

Perhaps this (http://www.youtube.com/user/lseths#g/c/52C16F3AA789593E) could help? Granted, it's rather long and isn't about the Wizard class, but it could definitely help you out a lot in NetHack...

There's also this (http://www.youtube.com/user/lseths#grid/user/5A7CB3958FD23935) (again not the Wizard class) but I think the first one I mentioned is better.

I'd also suggest not sticking too much to one class. Try a bunch out and see what works best for you. My first ascension was as a Knight, even though the bulk of my attempts previously had been Barbarians.

[Trekkin]

Wow...your Let's Play has been tremendously informative, Lord Seth. I've already stopped immediately eating everything edible (including corpses) and my lifespan's probably doubled, and then doubled again from stopping dragging every corpse on the level to an altar to try to get Magicbane...at level 2
.

[IthilanorStPete]

That definitely looks helpful, Lord Seth. Watching now!

[Lord Seth]

Wow...your Let's Play has been tremendously informative, Lord Seth. I've already stopped immediately eating everything edible (including corpses) and my lifespan's probably doubled, and then doubled again from stopping dragging every corpse on the level to an altar to try to get Magicbane...at level 2.Huh, color me surprised on that. I never realized beforehand that you did have to be above level 2 to get an artifact from the altar! Just goes to show you can always improve your NetHack game or learn more.

[Trekkin]

And in the vein of improvement/learning, I'm dying less as a Healer than as a Wizard, so I'm probably going to work with that for a while. This naturally presents more questions:

1. How do I get my pet to follow me? The dog/cat seems to follow me only lackadaisically, and as it seems preferable to go with the divine protection racket I need it closer to hand.
2. How do I make Stone to Flesh work? It seems like it always fails.

As always, thanks.

[Lord Seth]

And in the vein of improvement/learning, I'm dying less as a Healer than as a Wizard, so I'm probably going to work with that for a while.Yeah, Healer is probably my second favorite class after Knight. The protection racket is tricky, but if you manage it you'll have a nice low armor class, which helps make up for the healer's low offense capability early on.


This naturally presents more questions:

1. How do I get my pet to follow me? The dog/cat seems to follow me only lackadaisically, and as it seems preferable to go with the divine protection racket I need it closer to hand.Throwing tripe rations at it will make it stay closer to you. Other than that, though, you just have to put up with it. You might have to just stand around for a while and wait for the pet to come to you before continuing on.


2. How do I make Stone to Flesh work? It seems like it always fails.You can't cast it at level 1 because it requires 15 power and you won't have that much, and if that's what you're at (it's preferable to stay at level 1 for the protection racket) then that's why you can't cast it. If you do have enough power, likely it's due to you wearing metal, which hinders spellcasting.

[Top_Hat]

Yay, NetHack!

Lord Seth's lets play is a great place to start and the ones at the let's play archive (http://lparchive.org/search/nethack#results) are great as well. Filburt Shellbach ascends a wizard at one point, and I believe someone else ascends a healer.

About pets, I suggest not throwing tripe to your cat. It makes them more likely to bring stuff to you and feeds them obviously, but having a tripe ration (or carrot) for a horse) will make the pet stay as close as constantly blowing on a tin whistle would.

About stone to flesh, I suggest taking extreme care with the spell, because turning boulders into meat makes a huge meal which can make you choke easily if you try to eat something soon after.

Good Luck!

P.S. Lord Seth's let's play inspired me to ascend a priest this past summer, so I am sure that with his lets play, and maybe some wikihack (http://nethack.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page) you can do it too!

[IthilanorStPete]

Lord Seth - I'm working through your (2nd) LP, and it's really really helpful. I've been trying (very unsuccessfully) with samurai in the past, now I think I'm going to try and follow your example and use a healer.

EDIT: Incidentally, what screen recording software did you use?

[Lord Seth]

Lord Seth - I'm working through your (2nd) LP, and it's really really helpful. I've been trying (very unsuccessfully) with samurai in the past, now I think I'm going to try and follow your example and use a healer.

EDIT: Incidentally, what screen recording software did you use?Snapz Pro X.

You can also check out my first NetHack LP as a Knight, which gives some information for a more combat ready class and might be more applicable to Samurai. I don't like it as much, though, there were a bunch of deaths and I wasn't quite as good at the game so some of my advice isn't the greatest.

Still glad I'm helping you out!

[IthilanorStPete]

Well, I'm still working through your second LP - up to Gehennom. I'm doing a run with a Samurai right now - just finished Sokoban, got the amulet of reflection instead of the bag of holding I would probably have preferred. I also have:
-boots of speed
-a cloak of invisibility
-a dwarven mithril coat
-gauntlets of power
-a unicorn horn
-sleep resistance
-fire resistance
-telepathy, though no blindfold
-and lots of wands, scrolls, and potions, though mostly unidentified.

My only other annoyance is that I haven't found a longsword to dip for Excalibur. Otherwise, things are going quite well! I'm planning to head back to Minetown to BUC-test and identify things, and probably head down to Mine's End for the luckstone. How's that sound?

EDIT: If I don't find gray dragon scales or a cloak of magic resistance, I'll probably want to wish for something that grants it. Looking at wikihack, I'm looking at 3 options if I get a wish:
-blessed greased +2 GDSM
-The Orb of Detection
-The Sceptre of Might
Which would you recommend?

[Lord Seth]

Trying for Mine's End without magic resistance is a recipe for trouble due to polymorph or teleportation traps. I'd really suggest getting magic resistance first. You might want to check out my first LP for Samurai strategy, Knight is in some ways similar. (unfortunately, that LP also had a lot of deaths, skip to Part 56 if you want the run that lead to victory...sorta) The Samurai Quest is harder than the Knight quest, though.

Forget the Orb, it's too heavy to be worth it. The decision is really between the Sceptre and the Gray Dragon Scale Mail, and which you want will probably depend on whether you want a greater bonus in the short or long term.

The sceptre is the long-term strategy. You won't be getting as much AC as the dragon scale mail will, you'll still have the mithril-coat which is a lot heavier than the dragon scale mail, and the mithril-coat will hinder spells significantly (not that it matters early on for a Samurai, though). However, the sceptre will give you magic resistance without using up an equipment slot and give. you toggleable hungerless conflict. If you get silver dragon scale mail, then you're all set for (my preferred) set-up of an amulet of lifesaving, silver dragon scale mail, a magic resistance granting artifact (the sceptre), and whatever you want for the cloak, I like the Robe. Even if you never get silver dragon scale mail, you'll probably get some dragon scale mail sometime and can use that to gain the advantages of dragon scale mail while still keeping the amulet of reflection for the reflection. So in the long term I'd take the sceptre, because it makes it easier to set up the ideal armor group. Plus you can get dragon scale mail without wishing, you have to wish to get the sceptre.

Wishing for gray dragon scale mail, though, will give you much better AC and weigh less than the mithril-coat. So it's a bigger bonus in the short-term. It's up to you which way you'd prefer to go. If it were me I'd probably wish for the sceptre, but as you're relatively new and might be worried about if you'll even survive long enough to get the aforementioned long term benefit, you might want the scale mail.

Personally, though, I prefer wishing for +3 when wishing for armor. That way if it's successful, it takes only one blessed enchant armor scroll to max it out.

[IthilanorStPete]

Ah, ok. Thanks for the advice! With that said, I think I'll go for the GDSM if I do get a wish. So instead of going for Mine's End, you think I should just head down in the main branch?

PS: I really wish I had a magic whistle. It's more annoying than anything.

EDIT: Also, turns out I misidentified a bag, and it's actually a bag of holding! So I have one now. :smallbiggrin:

[d12]

I'm doing a run with a Samurai right now - just finished Sokoban, got the amulet of reflection instead of the bag of holding I would probably have preferred.

Funny story: I had a game where I got the amulet at the end of Sokoban also, and I also generally prefer the bag of holding. That amulet actually saved my ass during my Quest (Valkyrie). A giant fired a death wand at me, but it reflected back and killed him. :smallbiggrin:

Now that I think of it, I'm pretty sure I still have that save somewhere. I just sort of stopped at Juiblex's level because I started running into situations where I only really felt like playing when it was technically "night" and didn't feel like resetting my computer's clock, and I don't want to deal with hordes of gremlins, which flooded the level in my ascension game.

[Lord Seth]

Personally I'd rather get the amulet of reflection than the bag of holding. Bags of holding are really, really convenient. But your livelihood is rarely going to depend on them. An amulet of reflection, on the other hand, is instant protection against all kinds of things, including things like wands of death or amulets of reflection. I'll take not dying over convenience any day.

I guess bags of holding are more useful in the long term because you'll probably want to eventually replace your amulet of reflection with silver dragon scale mail and an amulet of lifesaving, but unlike the Sceptre of Might (which offers the useful hungerless conflict), the only thing you get in the short term with the bag of holding is convenience.

The luckstone at Mine's End is nice, but the traps can be annoying if you don't have magic resistance. Usually I only go there after getting the wand of wishing in the castle.

[IthilanorStPete]

Then down to the castle I will go!

[IthilanorStPete]

Dangit! Got killed in combat by an Olog-hai. Oh well, now that I've had my first really good game, I've got a much better idea of what to do for the future!