HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: nemesis@pcuf.fi (Ville Salo)
Subject: Re: WoW
Organization: PCUF
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 16:05:50 GMT

Ok, I should have mentioned that I am playing NetHack 3.0pl10
So, what happened to my WoW?
From: tom@soda.berkeley.edu (Tom Holub)
Newsgroups: rec.games.hack
Subject: Re: Polypiling
Date: 15 Oct 1992 03:25:18 GMT
Organization: U.C. Berkeley, CS Undergraduate Association
NNTP-Posting-Host: soda.berkeley.edu

In article <1992Oct14.050154.21341@bhprtc.scpd.oz.au> dif@bhprtc.scpd.oz.au (David Faulkner) writes:
)
)Rubbish. The game is NOT too easy. You've just got very good at it.
)(Extremely good, I might say, if you can win 4 times in two weeks
)without any restored save files or cheating in any manner.)

Five, now, and it looks like it's going to be 6.  I'm winning about
10% of my games.  No cheating.

)If you think polypiling makes it too easy, then I challenge you to win
)without polypiling, using a ring of conflict, engraving Elbereth
)(which is one thing I personally think should definitely go), and
)anything else you think makes it too easy. At least then you will have
)a challenging game again, if you want to keep playing Nethack.
)I mean, who really gives a shit about high score lists?

I don't care about the high score list; the highest winner I have is
fourth on our list.  And I rarely polypile, and at least two of my
winners were without a ring of conflict (both had them but got them
blown up by trapped chests).  

And Nethack isn't just unbalanced because of the tricks.  It's much
easier to win the first time than, say, Moria.  Hell, if you find some
good items on Level 1 they'll take you to the castle almost on their
own.  #3 on our high score list found a fully charged wand of wishing
on the first move of the game; why not just have a 1 in 500 chance that
you'll see

Hello, Mojo, Welcome to Nethack--More--
You win!

Again, I'm not saying the tricks should go away.  I'm saying the game
should be more balanced.
 -Tom
From: holland@dutiws.tudelft.nl (Gerhard den Hollander)
Newsgroups: rec.games.hack
Subject: My 2 stupid deaths
Date: 9 Oct 92 09:14:34 GMT
Organization: Delft University of Technology

So I have this great Valkyrie (AC -50, HP >100),
wiped out the wizard and headed upwards,

Being telepathic I found tyhe demon in the middles of level 35 (or so)
Well, what can harm me, right,
so I attack (I have allmost all resistancies)
You hit the invisible Demogorgon,
Demogorgon stings,
you feel deathly sick
-shit-,
allright I pray (last time I prayed was before I entered hell,
some 50,000 turns ago,
and after that I've offered a lot.

But what happens:
"A Voice booms out :"...Goodbye level 14

Well, some 15 turns later I died from my illness
(Oh yes Demogorgon summoned a bunch of nasties,
but I finally killed all of them (and Demogorgon),
and died while wandering fruther through the dungeon,
spells of healing didn't work either.

My Valkyrie died with +500K points,
killed by a demogorgon.


Death 2:
after backing up my savefile
(Ohh, you dirty boy, cheaters allways loose you know)
I encountered Vlad's tower,
looted it,
killed all the V's killed Vlad,
got all sorts of goodies etc,
but I didn't feel like going down 3 levels,
so I polymorphed into a Xorn
-You tear out your armor -more-
So i lost
a +5 Gray Dragon scale mail
a +5 Mummy wrapping
a +5 Cloak of displacement

2 levels up the wizard attackls
-your helemt truns to dust-
-your gloves vanish-
-shit-
-your boots crumble-
-you feel yourself slow down-

And then he used his wand of death on me

Questions:
How do you cure sickness ?
Why was my GOD angry with me ?
	I killed everything I could find,
	and ate it, incl nurses and the WoY
Which monsters do not ruin your armor when polymorphing ?


	Gerhard,
--
    Gerhard den Hollander         __o                 Lourdes:
== The Acoustic Motorbiker ==   =`\<,   Where lame can see, and blind can walk
holland@dutiws.twi.tudelft.nl  (=)/(=)  Where mute can hear, and deaf can talk
From: coutu@cithe303.cithep.caltech.edu (Stephane Coutu)
Newsgroups: rec.games.hack
Subject: Another mystery message
Date: 7 Oct 1992 05:12:49 GMT
Organization: California Institute of Technology
Reply-To: coutu@cithe501.cithep.caltech.edu.UUCP (Stephane Coutu)
NNTP-Posting-Host: cithe303.cithep.caltech.edu


How's this for a funny nethack message:

"You are a very tricky wizard, it seems."

Did anyone else ever get this? Any guess how I did it?

Stephane Coutu
Newsgroups: rec.games.hack
From: rnmg1200@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Walrus and April)
Subject: Re: Polymorphing Self
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Distribution: usa
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 15:12:51 GMT

[Mucho stuff about leprechauns and nymphs deleted]

Speaking of polymorphing, I recently acquired a ring of polymorph and a ring 
of polymorph control while making a foray into Hell.  After uncursing them, I
tried them out to see how polymorphing works (never done it willingly before),
and turned into a vampire lord, then a vampire, a tengu, and a lich, just for
fun.  Now I'm trying to turn back, and I don't know how.  It doesn't accept
"Enchanter" (my level title), "Wizard" (my class), "Damon" (my name), or even
"human" or "man" (you figure it out :)).  What am I doing wrong?  Should I 
just take the rings off for awhile, or is there a trick to it?  Please don't 
tell me I'm stuck as a lich/vampire/whatever I turn into....that would be 
really annoying.

Thanks for any help.

The Walrus
From: scythe@byron.u.washington.edu (The Grim Reaper)
Newsgroups: rec.games.hack
Subject: Re: Monster Spells
Date: 13 Oct 92 17:41:06 GMT
Article-I.D.: u.1992Oct13.174106.10997
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle

In article <Bw2Lr4.6Jy@acsu.buffalo.edu> v104pwrb@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Michael J Peet) writes:
>In article <1992Oct7.174034.16913@wdl.loral.com>, dcb@wdl1.wdl.loral.com (Predecrement David) writes...
>>[...] 
>>Holding  <-----Mimics
>>Wounds  (OK, I saw this once...)
>>Blindness  <-----Yellow Lights (surely you've seen this..)
>>Sticks to Snakes (or Ants)
>>Confusion  <-----Umber Hulks
>> 
>>We should definitely have more monsters that cast these spells.  So far,
>>only one type of monster casts these.  Do you know which? 
>> 
>	Yes.
>>--David
>
>	mike
Actually, I think David meant priests/priestesses.  

--------------------+-------------------------+
HIC IACET ARTVRVS   + The Grim Reaper         + 
IN INSVLA AVALONIA  + SCYTHE@U.WASHINGTON.EDU +
REX QVONDAM REXQVE  + ----------------------- +
FVTVRVS             +                         +
--------------------+-------------------------+
Organization: Sophomore, Math/Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: rec.games.hack
Date: Wed,  7 Oct 1992 12:17:09 -0400 
From: Joshua John Buergel <jbbb+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: fake amulet?
	<1992Oct7.004301.5712@wdl.loral.com>

>Yes.  The Wizard may steal a fake amulet of Yendor.  (I checked the source.)
>I don't think it matters whether or not you've identified it as fake.

Not at all.  The first time I won the game (with Elvis the Barbarian) I
had something like six fakes and a real one.  It was great because I had
the real one identified.  I could pretty much ignore the Wizard when he
stole the amulet.  I would just rough him up,  he would swipe a fake and
motor to the up stair.  I would just laze over there and kill him. 
Pretty convenient, that.

Joshua Buergel      | Every time she slit her wrists
allroy+@cmu.edu     | I wish she hit instead of missed.
jbbb@andrew.cmu.edu | Every secret family crime
                    | All my love a waste of time.
                    |    - ALL, Scary Sad
From: cavedon@cogsci.ed.ac.uk (Lawrence Cavedon)
Newsgroups: rec.games.hack
Subject: Am I ever gonna get a floating eye corpse???
Date: 10 Oct 92 13:56:59 GMT
Organization: Centre for Cognitive Science, Edinburgh, UK

Some time ago I killed a shop-keeper, so losing telepathy. Since then,
I've been roaming up down between levels 1 and 23 (been up and down
about 12 times) trying to get a eye corpse. I've killed about 10 eyes
since, but none of them has left a body!! So, is there something I
should know?? Alternativey, I'm considering just trying my luck on
killing Medusa anyway (I have a blindfold). However, if I do look upon
her, I've got an amulet of life-saving (actually I've got 3!!), but my
question is, will I immediately die again on being revived (before I
can apply the mirror), or will I get a chance to do something (i.e.
use the mirror) without looking at her?? Perhaps a shiny shield would
help?? Then I can go to the castle and wish for a floating eye
corpse(what a waste, although I pretty much have all I need to win the
game, although conflict would be nice for the end game).

It's really pissing me off, esp. since I also have intrinsic teleport
and no teleport control (I've eaten about 6 or 7 tengus and haven't
been awarded tel contl---can anyone tell me why this is so?? I don't
think my luck would be that bad, although I've been praying regularly
so as not to use the little food I have).

Thanks for any help.

Lawrence.
Newsgroups: rec.games.hack
From: bill@snoopy (Bill Poitras)
Subject: Re: PC Nethack query
Reply-To: bill@msi.com
Organization: Molecular Simulations, Inc.
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 20:29:58 GMT

Mr. John T Jensen (comjohn@ccu1.aukuni.ac.nz) wrote:
: My 12-year old has asked me to post three questions about PC nethack (sorry,
: don't know what version he has):
: 
: 1)      He has found half a dozen or so throne rooms, killed all the
: 	monsters, and sits on the throne.  When he does, he is told
: 	"you feel out of place" and the throne disappears.  Has anyone
: 	any comment?

What happens greatly depends on the luck of your character.  I don't have
the specifics, but having really high luck (a luck stone would also help)
greatly increases your chances with a lot of things, including getting a
wish from a throne.  Throwing identified gems (not glass) to a unicorn of
your alignment (black=chaotic, grey=nuetral, white=lawful) will bring you
luck if the unicorn catches it.

: 2)	He knows how to get Excalibur, but wants to know how to get:
: -	a katana named Snickersnee
: -	a war hammer named Mjollnir
: -	a broadsword named Stormbringer

These weapons have some sort of alignment (Snickersnee and Mjollnir are
lawful, and Stormbringer is chaotic).  You can get them either by wishing
or if your alignment matches that of the weapon, if you offer enough
monsters at your altar, then eventually your god will give you a special
weapon.  It might turn out to be the one you want.

: 3)	The verb 'pray' does not give a syntax error, but 'offer' does.
: 	There are altars.  Any suggestions?

What do you mean a syntax error?  What is the message the program gives?

--
+-----------------+-------------------------------+-------------------------+
| Bill Poitras    | Molecular Simulations Inc.    | Tel (408)522-9229       |
| (bill)          | Sunnyvale, CA USA             |                         | 
|                 | FAX (408)732-0831             | bill@msi.com            |
+-----------------+-------------------------------+-------------------------+
From: tom@soda.berkeley.edu (Tom Holub)
Newsgroups: rec.games.hack
Subject: Re: Polypiling
Date: 16 Oct 1992 03:44:34 GMT
Organization: U.C. Berkeley, CS Undergraduate Association
NNTP-Posting-Host: soda.berkeley.edu

In article <1992Oct15.145411.6860@bmers95.bnr.ca> snelling@bnr.ca (Peter Snelling) writes:
)
)I'd also consider telepathy practically indispensible (otherwise a 
)simple yellow light could lead to your death -- plus finding the wiz 
)can take a long time without it).  Of course most players will get 
)telepathy so early it almost goes without saying.

Well, a helm of telepathy is really cool, and telepathy is
useful, but not necessary once you have a unicorn horn.  That Valkyrie
got to Medusa's level without telepathy and just blundered around with
the blindfold on until she found a Medusa corpse.   

I did forget to mention fire resistance.
 -Tom
(By the way, that Valkyrie died on the castle level.  Choked on food.
I am totally embarrased, didn't even notice I was satiated, and it
wasn't even a corpse I needed to eat.)
Newsgroups: rec.games.hack
From: snelling@bnr.ca (Peter Snelling)
Subject: Re: Shop generation question
Reply-To: snelling@bnr.ca (Peter Snelling)
Organization: Bell-Northern Research Ltd.
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 92 20:23:34 GMT

In article <1992Oct15.104227.1769@gnv.ifas.ufl.edu>, afc@gnv.ifas.ufl.edu writes:
|> In article <1992Oct14.152605.26548@bmers95.bnr.ca>, snelling@bnr.ca (Peter Snelling) writes:
|> > |> "Also, if the shop is "big", it is not allowed to be a wand shop or a
|> > |>  book shop -- these are turned into general stores."

|> I have encountered used bookstores with > 20 books many times.  I am not
|> sure about wand shops because they are so much rarer.  I don't think that
|> I have ever seen a rare book shop.
|> 
|> A. Cockburn
|> 

Second hand book stores can be larger than 20.  It's just the wand shops
(quality apparel and accessories) and rare bokks stores than can't.
-- 
Peter Snelling
From: afc@gnv.ifas.ufl.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.hack
Subject: Re: Shop generation question
Date: 15 Oct 92 15:42:27 GMT

In article <1992Oct14.152605.26548@bmers95.bnr.ca>, snelling@bnr.ca (Peter Snelling) writes:
> In article <1992Oct14.102511.18773@ugle.unit.no>, wolff@kjemi.unit.no (Erik Wolff . Kjemiteknikk) writes:
> |> P. Snelling writes:
> |> "Also, if the shop is "big", it is not allowed to be a wand shop or a
> |>  book shop -- these are turned into general stores."
> |> 
> |> I recently encountered a wand-shop that was app. 3-by-9 (e.g. 27 wands)
> |> I wonder if you could define more precisely what 'big' is?

I have encountered used bookstores with > 20 books many times.  I am not
sure about wand shops because they are so much rarer.  I don't think that
I have ever seen a rare book shop.

A. Cockburn

> |> 
> |> BTW, I just walked around the shop looking for a *very* expensive wand. Sure
> |> enough, there it was. Turned out to be 'just what the doctor ordered'...
> |> 
> |> Erik
> |> 
> 
> The isbig routine seems to return true if the area is > 20.
> From how I interpret the code, you shouldn't ever see a wand shop
> with 27 (or so) wands in it.  The code is not exactly crystal clear,
> but I'll include the relevant part of mkroom.c here for those of you
> who are really curious.
<deleted> 
> -- 
> Peter Snelling
From: jmt8@po.CWRU.Edu (James M. Trela)
Newsgroups: rec.games.hack
Subject: Another Obscure Message
Date: 14 Oct 92 01:50:56 GMT
Article-I.D.: usenet.1bfue1INN8er
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: thor.ins.cwru.edu


Here's another one:

	A friend of mine just went down the stairs on level 20 and

		"you hear dice being thrown"

Jim Trela
jmt8@po.cwru.edu
From: holland@dutiws.tudelft.nl (Gerhard den Hollander)
Newsgroups: rec.games.hack
Subject: My lucky day
Date: 15 Oct 92 14:52:47 GMT
Organization: Delft University of Technology

OK,
nethack -u SukiYaki -s
1st level a breeze,
kicking the shit out of all living creatures
2nd level, lots of goodies (food, $ etc)
3rd level, eneter a room,
with a sink, a potion
well what can happen ?Quaff,
This tastes like liquid fre (Booze !)
I'm confused,
grid bug enetres,
zaps me,
I kick back (I think)
Black mud pops up from the drain
(SHIT I've kicked up a black pudding)
The balck Pudding bites (Whoa 11 HP down)
Time to run,
the black pudding divides as you hit it
[Shit, I though i ran away,
in stead I attacked the P.

Well, needless to say I died the next round.

Later I restarted again as a caveman,
found a shop (A wand shop !!!),
I try a wand (engrave)
and immediately go blind (the thing exploded in my face or something stupid)
OK No problem just pick up a few other wands, 
keep the expensive ones,
coz that'll probably be the Ray-wands,
-Wait this is a Giant mimic-
-The giant mimic bites (or hits)-
[What are they doing at level 3 ???]
Run
-You cannot escape the Giant mimic -
-The giant mimic bites (or hits)-
Attack
-Wait that's a giant Mimic
-The giant mimic bites (or hits)-
(I knew that, but I cannot attack it)
-You hit the Giant Mimic-
-The giant Mimic bites -
-You die-
Grakentjil takes all your possesions

[How's that uh?, robbing dead persons]


	Gerhard,
--
    Gerhard den Hollander         __o                 Lourdes:
== The Acoustic Motorbiker ==   =`\<,   Where lame can see, and blind can walk
holland@dutiws.twi.tudelft.nl  (=)/(=)  Where mute can hear, and deaf can talk
From: agrimm@slate.mines.colorado.edu (Snarf)
Newsgroups: rec.games.hack
Subject: Re: bones
Date: 9 Oct 92 21:28:24 GMT
Organization: Colorado School of Mines

h8915726@hkuxb.hku.hk (Loser) writes:
: Hello,
: 
: 	What will happen if I delete the bones.* files? Will
: 	I kill those ghost? Moreover, as you know, we die because
: 	of attacked by powerful monster(s), when later if nethack
: 	retrieve those bones.* information, it may cause a greater
: 	difficulty.
: 
Well, yes, deleting the bones files will nuke all ghosts (and the bones
piles...)  Having the game create a harder level with a great reward is the
whole point, though!

: --
: Chris Lo
: University of Hong Kong
: H8915726@hkuxa.hku.hk
-- 
Snarf (alias Andy Grimm) agrimm@mines.colorado.edu  |      Cheery thought
"And if I refuse?"                                  |       for the day:
"If you refuse, you die, she dies, EVERYBODY dies." | Jump off a cliff, 20,000
Sounded reasonable to me!              -Heavy Metal | lemmings can't be wrong!
Newsgroups: rec.games.hack
From: dcb@wdl1.wdl.loral.com (Predecrement David)
Subject: Re: Polypiling
Organization: Tomobiki-cho
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 17:21:33 GMT

laruedm@ucsu.Colorado.EDU (David Larue) writes:
>Y'know, I thought intrins. Fire Resistance was a must...I've had about 5 or
>6 deaths where a nymph stole my ring of fire prot. or my +8 Fire Brand in
>hell...ouch!

You're not even safe with intrinsic fire resistance.  Guess what gremlins
get a kick out of doing in hell?

--David
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| David Blume            | "These games aren't meant to be fun,         |
| dcb@wdl1.wdl.loral.com | "They're meant to be *played!*" Phil Requist |
+-finger acct. for prefs------------------------------------------------+
From: 91vanderkolk@gw.wmich.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
Subject: Re: Space Marine How to fight a Gargant!
Date: 9 Oct 92 11:50:51 EST
Organization: Western Michigan University

How to kill a Gargant? Easy there are plenty of ways, granted the are tough and
hard to kill. Here are but a few...
1) Eldar vibro-cannon. They ignore power fields
2) Eldar Phantom titan with 2 pulsars or with a Tremor Cannon
3) A Warhound with a vulcan mega bolter is great for droppoing power fields
4) Close combat it with a Warlord titan
and so on.
What you want are weapons that ignore shields or weapons with lots of attack
dice. The best Gargant killer I have found though is aEldar Phantom Titan
with 2 Pulsars w/ 2 lascannon wings. Later

John
a.k.a Ghostdancer
of the Ulthwe Craftworld.
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
From: nexus@ylum.cgd.ucar.edu (Jeff Berry)
Subject: Re: EiA: Great Britain
Organization: Climate and Global Dynamics Division/NCAR, Boulder, CO
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 15:33:46 GMT

In article <1992Oct14.230204.20423@pei.com> fred_s@earwax.pei.com (Fred Scott) writes:
>Then, when you count your V.P.s to the end of the game and noone can possibly
>catch you, you just float home to England and hide behind your "naval"
>fortress.  THIS IS WHY EXPERIENCED PLAYERS FEAR GREAT BRITIAN!
>Fred


Exactly the point I meant to say:-)

Unless you gang up early and chop GB's boats a little, there is no real way
to get to Britain.  With no way to get to Britain, there is no way to force
a British surrender.  With no way to force a British surrender, there's no
way to get them down on PP, and they do just this.


In the several games that we played (well, Ok, we never finished), Britain
would sit invulnerable to any naval action and wait for cheap shots, like
Marine landings at St. Pete.  Everyone was so scared of France, that they
wouldn't see the necessity of keeping Britain in balance.


As Austria, Prussia, or most especially Russia, my goal is something like
this:

a) before the game start, get an alliance of all three of these and Britain,
if possible.

b) kick the hell out of France

c) soon after, kick the hell out of Britain.


The second game we played, a three way alliance of Austria and Prussia and GB
forced France to a peace in April, I think, at a loss of several hundred
factors amongst all the combatants, so it can be done.  (France took out
its frustrations on Spain.)


badger                                      Don Alexandre Lerot d'Avigne
Jeff Berry                                  Seneschal of Caer Galen, Outlands
               nexus@ncar.ucar.edu
NCAR doesn't tell me what to think, and I return the favor.
"You're a notch and I'm a legend"-------Alice Cooper
"You're still doing the things that I gave up years ago.."-----Lou Reed
From: barich@bach.udel.edu (Dewey H Barich)
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
Subject: Re: A&A House Rules
Date: 14 Oct 92 02:15:57 GMT
Article-I.D.: news.Bw3AAM.GK7
Organization: University of Delaware

In article <1992Oct14.002240.21838@ll.mit.edu> shoham@ll.mit.edu (Daniel Shoham) writes:
>In article <Bw0v1v.A5s@news.udel.edu> barich@bach.udel.edu (Dewey H Barich) writes:

>Funny, I think MB research rules favor the Axis. We agree it is a heavy
>randomizer. A common view that I share is that the game is biased in favor of
>the Allies. It is easy to show that heavy randomizers favor the side AGAINST
>which the game is biased!

>Generally, I consider MB research to be TOO expensive. Since half the results
>are nearly useless, it takes $60 to get a good one. That's too much. When I am
>clearly losing (more often as Axis) I spend on research! It gives me a 1/12
>chance of getting back in the game for a mere $5 (assuming I am not losing so
>badly that a good result can't save me). A 1/12 chance is better than none!
>If I fail in the research, then my position is even more losing than before
>and hence I do further research. (After losing most of my money in such a
>desperation tactic, it may be needed for me to win TWO good results to get
>back in the game!). Of course, if other desperation tactics are also available,
>I consider those too (specifically, "desperation" attacks).

Well, we agree on most things.  We agree on the _problems_ not the
solutions.  I am generally conservative, so when things are going badly
I feel less inclined to take the R&D risk.  To a point.  If I truly feel
I have no conventional chance, I look to other options, which include
little more than research...

On the other hand, if my planning and execution has gotten me into that
mess, I look to review the planning and execution, not turn to Lady
Luck...

Maybe technology is too expensive, but I still prefer to work on
strategy, not look for improvements in technology.  Simply different
styles of play...

I deleted the stuff about influence on MB's 2nd edition rules, but I
would be curious to know if that is just club folklore or not...

>Dan Shoham
>shoham@ll.mit.edu

Dewey Barich
barich@brahms.udel.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.board