From: peg@cs.washington.edu (Peter Granger)
Newsgroups: rec.games.hack
Subject: Re: Questions on Unicorns, Polymorph Control
Date: 29 Jul 92 01:09:59 GMT
Organization: Computer Science & Engineering, U. of Washington, Seattle

In article <1992Jul27.145211.12514@phillip.edu.au> t9114145@phillip.edu.au writes:

>Given that that is an old version, what I am saying may not apply. However,
>it all works (personally tested!) for 3.0j.

Unfortunately (or fortunately?) there are no alignments in 2.3, so
some of this doesn't apply.

Some of this may be spoilers on gems and such...


>Never seen one pick up a gem by itself, but they love it if you throw gems
>to them. This can increase or decrease luck - If you can, throw identified
>gems at co-aligned unicorns.

Right, I knew about throwing them. That's what I meant when I said I
knew unicorns liked gems. It has been confirmed elsewhere that they
will collect them (I guess "steal" isn't really the right word, since
they weren't on my person) from floors. This actually is a way of
halfway identifying gems -- unicorns only seem to pick up valuable
ones by choice, although they will accept non-valuable ones if thrown.
The catch, of course, is that you have to get the gems back then.

It's kind of a catch-22. Thrown gems are supposedly worth more if they
are identified as valuable. But if you know they're valuable, are you
really going to throw them? I prefer to throw a dozen that I know are
worthless pieces of glass than one I know isn't. And of course,
"knowing" isn't the same as having them identified. You can usually
tell the worthless ones just because they appear so frequently.

>> Second, I accidentally killed one unicorn. I was very cautious about
>> praying afterward, because I think the gods are fond of unicorns. I
>> eventually figured I'd gotten back into their good graces in the usual
>> way, and prayed, and everything was okay. Did I need to make the
>> atonement, or can unicorns be killed freely? I've got one level with 7
>> of the buggers running around on it, including the one who lifted my
>> gems, and I'd really like to be rid of them.

>You can kill them if they are a different color to your alignment. If you're
>Lawful, kill black and grey, but not white.

Well, I never did find out the actual answer to this. I waited until I
was on my way out of the dungeon (with amulet) and just killed
everything in sight. Figured I wasn't going to need to pray anymore,
so it didn't matter if I annoyed the gods. Ended up with a *good* pile
of valuable gemstones -- more than I could carry out. Ended up with
just the few cursed items I couldn't remove, all the gems I could
carry, and the amulet. No cash.

>> Third, if I kill a unicorn that's holding gems, will I get them back,
>> the way you can get money back from a leprechaun?

>Again, don't know. Never killed a unicorn that I threw gems at.

Confirmed -- you get it all back. This might not be a good idea in
later versions, I guess, since the gods might be more watchful of you
and your alignment. Can anyone confirm?

>Yes. I think that it works most of the time, but not all. A ring of PC
>isn't a guaranteed Vampire Lord. (Or whatever you like to be.)

I used to be a Vampire (no lords in 2.3), but I've gotten into the
habit of being a Wraith instead. Sure, you've only got 20-30 hit
points, but with an additional -5 on armor, it doesn't seem to matter
much. And you can still carry everything, plus drain other creatures.
-- 
--------              --------
Pete Granger          | "Eight and a half hours was not enough. The alarm
peg@cs.washington.edu |  went off like attack and mayhem and universal doom."
                      |    - C.J. Cherryh, "The Kif Strike Back"
Newsgroups: rec.games.hack