HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: dmd39855@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (huh?)
Subject: Re: Stuck in first level of hell
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 16:23:56 GMT

c89mikho@IDA.LiU.SE (Mikael Hovmoller) writes:

>In article <1992Nov10.144147.26531@bmers95.bnr.ca> snelling@bnr.ca (Peter Snelling) writes:

>[ Stuff deleted about how to carry a boulder upstairs ]

>>   Gauntlets of Power or 18/** strength are not enough to carry a boulder
>>   upstairs.  There are several ways you could do it though.
>>
>>   1. Polymorph into a giant
>>   2. Have a pet giant do it for you (I haven't tried this)
>>   3. bag of holding abuse (I haven't tried this either)
>>   4. If you get a boulder into a blessed bag of holding, you
>>      can carry it upstairs.  To get it into the bag of holding,
>>      you first have to pick it up, and to do that you'd have to
>>      either polymorph into a giant, use bag of holding abuse (?),
>>      or wish for a boulder (probably not the most useful wish).
>          ^^^^

>Now, if you're gonna wish for it, why bother carry it upstairs? Can't
>you just wish for it on the level where you want it? (That is - if
>you're using it to fill those castle-level trapdoors. If you get the
>wish on a throne, you only have to carry it down, andt that's easier.)
> 
>--

This is all kinda silly.. If the guy had a wish, he'd wish for a ring of
levitation, or something useful, not a freakin boulder!

-Dan


On a side note, I just had the weirdest death Ive ever seen:

Killed by falling into a sink.

Newsgroups: rec.games.hack
From: CLJONES@UCSVAX (CHRISTOPHER L JONES)
Subject: Re: Selling
Organization: UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS - AMHERST
Date: Sun, 8 Nov 1992 07:21:48 GMT
X-News-Reader: VMS NEWS 1.24

In <BxDr26.FHy@news.iastate.edu> rpickeel@iastate.edu writes:

> This might be a stupid question, but I looked through the spoiler file, and I 
> still don't know the answer.
> 
> How do you sell things to the shopkeepers?
> 
> Thanks, 
> 
> Trent
>  
I believe you sell things by dropping them when you are in a shop.
---
Chris "Psst. Hey buddy, want to buy a longsword?" Jones
cljones@ucsvax.ucs.umass.edu
From: rik@den.mmc.com (Rick Nelson)
Newsgroups: rec.games.hack
Subject: ?How to wish for Frostbrand, etc...
Keywords: Wish, WaterDemon, Frost brand, Excalibur, Stormbringer
Date: 12 Nov 92 00:32:55 GMT
Article-I.D.: den.1992Nov12.003255.19670
Organization: Martin Marietta Astronautics, Denver
Originator: rik@sandia




DAMN!  On level 1, when drinking out of a fountain, I released
a water demon (who being grateful) granted me one wish.  Thinking
this was my chance, I tried everything I could think of to get one
of the "Super-weapons" such as Excalibur, Stormbringer, etc...
I kept getting the following...

You may wish for an object.  What do you want? Excalibur
Nothing fitting that description exists in the game.

It finally got tired of me, told me I had enough tries, and gave
me a potion of self-knowledge!!! whoopi  ;~(
----------------------------------------------

How can a person ask for some "real" great things when you have 
a free wish?  Spoilers are welcome with this.  Even a list of
the name you would have to type in, and what you are really getting
would be great.


Thanks,

(Signed, Biting my lips off with frustation!!!)

Rik

---------------------------------------------------------------
| Richard P. Nelson  "Rik"                          |    ^    |
| Martin Marietta Corp., Astronautics Group,        |   |o|   |
| Mailstop L5422, P.O. Box 179, Denver, CO 80201    |   | |   |
|                                                   |   | |   |
|---------------------------------------------------|  / | \  |
| rik@den.mmc.com                                   | /  |  \ |
| (303)977-2352 telephone                           | ------- |
|                                                   |   :::   |
|                                                   |   """   |
---------------------------------------------------------------
From: rankin@eql.caltech.edu (Pat Rankin)
Newsgroups: rec.games.hack
Subject: Re: Debug mode
Date: 13 Nov 1992 18:08 PDT
Organization: California Institute of Technology
Distribution: world
Reply-To: nethack.rankin@eql.caltech.edu
NNTP-Posting-Host: eql.caltech.edu
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    

In article <12NOV199218121400@zeus.tamu.edu>,\
 dwr2560@zeus.tamu.edu (RING, DAVID WAYNE) writes:
> Well, I've patched nethack.exe so that it has my username at location 1041.
> And I tried the above, but it doesn't seem to do anything. If it helps, I'm
> on a VAX.

     There is more than one operating system which runs on a VAX.  Filename
"nethack.exe" suggests that you are running VMS.  If that's the case, any
mixed- or upper-case command line options must be enclosed in double quotes
because the C run-time library converts unquoted text into lower-case (after
the DCL command interpretor has just converted such text into upper-case).
Use "-D" rather than just -D.

In article <1992Nov13.020413.3095@ncsu.edu>,\
 mrmarcel@eos.ncsu.edu (MICHAEL RONN MARCELAIS) writes...
> On multi-user systems that have a real userid function, the -u wizard isn't
> required.  All that is required is the userid NUMBER stored in the executable
> at compile time matches the result of getuid() when the program is run.
> 
> The string that you hacked may just be something the program prints out when
> the program crashes as the person to go b*tch to about fixing it.  :-)

      You're right about not needing "-u wizard", but both the Unix and VMS
ports use the ASCII username, not a numeric ID code, compiled into the game
as WIZARD.  As long as the new username is the same length as the old one,
or shorter and he appended a trailing 0 byte, then what he did should be OK.
If the new username is longer then something will end up clobbered...
From: swatkins@copper.denver.colorado.edu (The Troll Master)
Newsgroups: rec.games.hack
Subject: A Cryptic Message.....
Summary: hear boom.
Keywords: message hear
Date: 13 Nov 92 10:14:51 GMT
Organization: University of Colorado at Denver
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL4


	What is on the level or occured on the level when you hear a distant
explosion?

thanks,
the troll.
Newsgroups: rec.games.hack
Subject: Re: Artifact damage
From: Joshua John Buergel <jbbb+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 02:13:21 -0500 
 <1992Nov6.155147.1318@klaava.Helsinki.FI><1992Nov11.004938.29780@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu><C89MIKHO.92Nov12162136@styr7.IDA.LiU.SE>
Organization: Sophomore, Math/Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA

>The way you think - you wield it and read a scroll of enchant weapon.
>Some tips may help though: an uncursed scroll gives you +1, whereas a
>blessed one gives you +1 to +3. And (and this is pretty important...)
>if your weapon is at better than +5, it may vanish if you read another
>scroll. So the trick is to get the weapon at +5 and then read a
>blessed scroll and hope for a +3 enchantment. (BTW, is this purely
>dependent on random or is your luck or stats involved?)

A blessed scroll (in Nethack v. 3.0j+) always gives you +3 enchantment. 
And, the chance of it disappearing is 2/3 per extra plus (so, it's 1/3
chance to keep a weapon for an uncursed scroll, and 1/27 for a blessed
scroll).

Josh "I once had a +49 Mjollnir, which is why save files are cheating" Buergel
Newsgroups: rec.games.hack
From: grogers@slacvx.slac.stanford.edu (Greg Rogers)
Subject: Carying capacity
Reply-To: grogers@slacvx.slac.stanford.edu (Greg Rogers)
Organization: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 18:04:37 GMT

Hi Nethack world,

How do I increase my carying capacity (ignore bags of hoding).  My strength is
18/15 and I can only carry by bare essentials.  My gauntltes of power increase
my strength to 25, but I can't carry any more.

I've seen lists of people carying almost twice the weight I've got (again,
not including bags of holding).

Help.
From: bpn@po.CWRU.Edu (Brian Nelson)
Newsgroups: rec.games.hack
Subject: Re: Intrinsics
Date: Sat, 7 Nov 1992 23:33:21 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University
NNTP-Posting-Host: b62102.student.cwru.edu

In article <BxD5AB.143@ulowell.ulowell.edu> jvigneau@cs.ulowell.edu (|Joe Vigneau|) writes:
>From: jvigneau@cs.ulowell.edu (|Joe Vigneau|)
>Subject: Intrinsics
>Date: 7 Nov 92 20:37:22 GMT
>
>	I'm a rookie at nethack, and I was wondering, how can I see my
>intrinsics without dying?  Is there a command from within the game?
>

Quaff a potion of enlightenment.

"So when I die, the first thing I will see in heaven is a score list?"
1st Law of Hacking:  leaving is much more difficult than entering.
2nd Law of Hacking:  first in, first out.
3rd Law of Hacking:  the last blow counts most.
4th Law of Hacking:  you will find the exit at the entrance.

Brian Nelson
bpn@po.cwru.edu
From: lemming@niksula.hut.fi (Henri M Saarikoski)
Newsgroups: rec.games.hack
Subject: Re: wishing
Date: 5 Nov 92 21:12:59 GMT
Organization: Helsinki University of Technology, Finland

petersonk@skcla.monsanto.com:
>I wished (thanks to a friendly water demon) for a "blessed +2 war hammer named
>mjollnir" and received exactly that.  My question is: did I get the real 
>Mjollnir, or just a regular war hammer named mjollnir?

	Unfortunately, you got a lousy rusty hammer with no special abilities.
I once made the same mistake with the broadsword named _s_tormbringer :(
--

| Henri Saarikoski 	             |\ /|  Truly great madness can not be
| Helsinki University of Technology  | ? |  achieved without significant
| Department of Technical Physics    |/ \|  intelligence. -- Henrik Tikkanen
From: daly@ecs.umass.edu (Bryon Daly, ECE dept, UMass, Amherst)
Newsgroups: rec.games.hack
Subject: Re: Mail Daemon and AC
Date: 10 Nov 92 20:42:27 GMT

In article <Dm71TB1w165w@netlink.cts.com>, jdriver@netlink.cts.com (John Driver) writes:
>         My copy of the spoilers lists a mail daemon as being a 
> creature in the game.  However, I have never seen one, and when I 
> try to polymorph into one, the game tells me that it has heard of 
> no such creature.  Well, why is it listed in the spoilers?  I am 
> running the dos compile of 3.0j.


mail daemons show up when your user account recieves email...Since DOS
doesn't offer email, Nethack is usually compiled without the mail features,
so the game won't know what you mean by mail daemon.  It's no big loss,
really, since they aren't very powerfull.  Vampire lord is a better choice
to poly into. 

>  
>         Also, how do you guys keep getting these impossibly low 
> AC's?  Even with a +3 dragon scale mail your armor class isn't 
> going to be at -16 like I've seen people posting as theirs.  What's 
> the secret?

The secret is in covering every square inch of yourself in as much armor as
possible.  This itself can take you down to the -20's at least.  For example,
take my current charater, Amil the priest: (a lucky bastard: he found 2 
(yes, count 'em: two) wands of wishing between levels 1-4)
+3 helm of telepathy
+3 gauntlets of dexterity
+3 cloak of displacement
+3 shield of reflection
+3 speed boots
+3 gray dragon scale mail
+3 Hawaiian shirt
This gives him an AC of about -28, I believe.  He gave every last cent to a 
temple priest (400*his level) and got an AC bonus from that too, so he's at
-31 now.  The really gross AC's you see some people mention (in the -60's or
beyond means that they spent mucho time at the temple donating money,
to get the AC bonus...Probably they get the gold to do this by using one of 
the several gold getting abuses.  Then you become totally unscratchable,
but it takes some fun out of the game...As it is, most monsters can barely
touch Amil at -31...To push it further seems like overkill.

Later,
-Bryon
Newsgroups: rec.games.hack
From: angus@hardy.u.washington.edu (Angus the Demonchild)
Subject: Non-standard deaths and Potions of gain level
Summary: c and black-D-related deaths should get special treatment
Keywords: suggestion for 3.1 and Spoilers
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 20:26:45 GMT


One thing that I noticed tinkering about in Debug mode was that
characters that died from petrification or disintegration left
corpses, which doesn't seem right.  It seems that characters that die
from petrification should leave a statue rather than a corpse, and
that characters that die from disintegration should not leave a corpse
at all (their body having been destroyed).  Perhaps this could be
included in version 3.1.

You sense the presence of spoilers.--More--

It's well documented that one cannot level teleport while holding the
Amulet.  What seems to be less well known is that potions of gain
level don't seem to be so affected.  That is, one can quaff a cursed
potion of gain level and be raised up one dungeon level even while
carrying the Amulet.  Ok, so it's not such a useful hint, but it makes
Debug mode that much easier.
			("You have 50 cursed potions of gain level.")

--
Disclaimer:  I could be wrong.  It wouldn't be the first time.

another fine product from the house of angst

Newsgroups: rec.games.hack
From: lrfox@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (linda ream fox)
Subject: Re: Mail Daemon and AC
Organization: Indiana University
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 06:11:39 GMT

So, if these mail demons only turn up on multiuser versions, howcum I get
occasional letters delivered to my character (which invariably read "Ignore
previous message") when I play Nethack on my Amiga?

LRFOX

Newsgroups: rec.games.hack
From: snelling@bnr.ca (Peter Snelling)
Subject: Re: Peter Snelling ..
Reply-To: snelling@bnr.ca (Peter Snelling)
Organization: Bell-Northern Research Ltd.
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 19:23:03 GMT

In article <umage.720846802@mcl>, umage@mcl.ucsb.edu (Slender Fungus) writes:
>
>  
>Peter,
>
>	i respect you because you play way too much nethack.
>

Hmmmmmm.

I'm not quite sure how to take that.  I guess I'll assume that 
anyone reading this group really would respect someone who spends
hours finding out what happens when you walk out the corner of a 
room, what to eat to get poison resistance without poison, etc.

If this is not the case, please don't disillusion me.  Send followups 
to /dev/null, or whatever that is on your system.

You might, however, respect me a lot less if you knew how often
I won without using a nethack abuse (namely never).
-- 
Peter Snelling
From: c89mikho@IDA.LiU.SE (Mikael Hovmoller)
Subject: Re: Artifact damage
Organization: CIS Dept, University of Linkoping, Sweden
	<JONT.92Nov6111635@ml.harlqn.co.uk>
	<1992Nov6.155147.1318@klaava.Helsinki.FI>
	<1992Nov11.004938.29780@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu>
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 15:21:41 GMT

In article <1992Nov11.004938.29780@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu> jcastner@nyx.cs.du.edu (John Castner) writes:

[ Stuff about artifacts deleted ]

>>
>>>   About super-weapons vs. large monsters
>>
>>>   +8 Excalibur            10-30   average:        20
>>>   +8 Frost brand          18-40                   29
>>>   +8 Mjollnir             10-36                   23
>>>   +8 Stormbringer         12-25                   18.5
>>
>
> How does one get these wonderful +8 enchantment weapons? 
 
The way you think - you wield it and read a scroll of enchant weapon.
Some tips may help though: an uncursed scroll gives you +1, whereas a
blessed one gives you +1 to +3. And (and this is pretty important...)
if your weapon is at better than +5, it may vanish if you read another
scroll. So the trick is to get the weapon at +5 and then read a
blessed scroll and hope for a +3 enchantment. (BTW, is this purely
dependent on random or is your luck or stats involved?)

--
     /                            \
    / Micke Hovmoeller             \    The best things in life are free -
   / c89mikho@und.ida.liu.se        \    The expensive part is paying for
  / Computer Science                 \ the dinner and movie that comes first
 / Linkoeping Institute of Technology \      - Alfred E. Neuman -
/                                      \
Newsgroups: rec.games.hack
From: cah@tyr.JPL.NASA.gov (Allen Halsell)
Subject: Re: small logistics problem
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA/Caltech
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 17:24:36 GMT

In article <NF2SBGS1@cc.swarthmore.edu>, rbrooks1@cc.swarthmore.edu (Rob Brooks) writes:
> Ok, this is going to sound kind of silly but I'm a little confused about
> something.  In a lot of the postings on this group people give the commands
> in nethack with a # immediately before the command (i.e. #apply or #offer).
>  What does this signify?  Is it something I need to know to help me with
> the game?

Yes.  Most commands are entered directly, like i="inventory" or p="pay."
A small set of commands don't fit on the keyboard (so I assume) and
so are entered after hitting the # key.  They are called extended
commands, and you can get help on them by selecting "?" and then option
"h."

I would say they're not _vital_ to the game; you might win without using
any of them.  But they include some of the most useful non-fighting
actions.  They mostly make the game more fun and flexible.

*********************************************************************
the only thing that speaks the truth is the eloquence of passing time
               the spoken word is a jacket too tight
Newsgroups: rec.games.hack
From: dwr2560@zeus.tamu.edu (RING, DAVID WAYNE)
Subject: Debug mode
Followup-To: rec.games.hack
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: Texas A&M University, Academic Computing Services
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 00:12:00 GMT

yucao@cco.caltech.edu (Yu Cao, aka Bobbo) writes...
>"What is Wizard mode, and how do I use it?"
>     The game maintainer can use wizard-mode as a debugging aid.  Try:
>     "nethack -u wizard -D" or "nethack -uWizard -D"

Well, I've patched nethack.exe so that it has my username at location 1041.
And I tried the above, but it doesn't seem to do anything. If it helps, I'm
on a VAX.

If you can help me, please reply by mail.

Dave Ring
dwr2560@zeus.tamu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.hack
From: misar@rbg.informatik.th-darmstadt.de (walter misar)
Subject: Re: Bards Tale 3...need a rainbow rose!
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 14:56:53 GMT
Organization: TU Darmstadt

In article <92309.135915RWM111@psuvm.psu.edu>, <RWM111@psuvm.psu.edu> writes:
>      I've been playing BT 1, 2, and 3 for the past 7 years and I have never had
>  a problem like this.  Ive spent 6 months on this screed and I just can't get b
> y it.  I have tried all I could but it wasn't enough.  I used magical water,
> regeneration spells, resurection spells, and youth spells but nothing revives
> the rainbow rose bush.  Please help, any suggestions are welcome.
> thanks

Hi !

Yes, magical water (the rose seems to grow a bit ..) kept me from solving
this a while, too. But where on this dimension is something else with the
name 'rainbow' ? Use it's blood and the rainbow rose will recover.

Walter
Newsgroups: rec.games.hack
From: mrmarcel@eos.ncsu.edu (MICHAEL RONN MARCELAIS)
Subject: Re: Mail Daemon and AC
Organization: North Carolina State University
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 18:05:27 GMT

In article <52770@licre.dn.mu.oz.au>, DAVIS@licre.dn.mu.oz.au writes:
|> I believe this is called a "joke".  Sometimes the message will be something 
|> like, "This appears to be junk mail addressed to the finder of the eye of 
|> Larn" or some such, a reference to the game of Larn (oddly enough).  
|> Obviously they don't just turn up on multiuser versions.  The other thing 
|> is that a scroll of mail can't be made into a blank piece of paper.
|> 
|> 
|> Ian Davis                      DAVIS@licr.dn.mu.oz.au

That's because Larn (an older, hack like game.) sends you all sorts of junk
mail when you win the game.

-- 

+-------------------------------------+------------------------------+
|  Mike Marcelais                     | mrmarcel@eos.ncsu.edu        |
|  356 Tucker, Box 04783, NCSU        | Fourth Bryan Productions     |
|  Raleigh, NC  27607                 | #include <disclaim.h>        |
+-------------------------------------+------------------------------+
| if the above address bounces, then try the address below:          |
| mrmarcel%eos.ncsu.edu@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu                              |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
From: datta@durban.berkeley.edu (Ruchira Datta)
Newsgroups: rec.games.hack
Subject: Stuck As A Ratwere
Date: 5 Nov 1992 07:35:25 GMT
Organization: U.C. Berkeley Math. Department.
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: durban.berkeley.edu
Summary: HELP!

Very Minor Spoilers

I was not paying much attention and didn't realize the ratwere had bitten
me.  A few turns after I killed it, I underwent a hideous transformation!
My stats appeared the same on the stats line, but I could barely carry
anything.  Could I wield a weapon?  Don't be ridiculous!

Well, being a priestess, I had my clove of garlic with me, which I ate.
I felt purified - but I was still a ratwere.  Then I prayed.  I was
surrounded by a golden glow - but I was still a ratwere.

What to do?  Maybe I should have eaten the garlic *before* I changed -
but I did that once too, in another game.  I felt purified that time
as well, but my stats all turned to 3!

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

-- Ruchira
From: aranta@milton.u.washington.edu (Aaron Ranta)
Newsgroups: rec.games.hack
Subject: Re: Stuck in first level of hell
Keywords: trapdoors, dragons
Date: 10 Nov 92 19:23:17 GMT
Article-I.D.: u.1992Nov10.192317.7444
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle

>I also tried taming an Umber Hulk and took him up to the castle hoping he would
>eat through the walls, but he didn't - I guess he couldn't.
>

I think tame monsters tend to act differently than 'wild' ones... perhaps if
you left the level for a while, and let him revert to his natural state...
*shrug*

>Well, I guess it's about time to give up - unless someone else has any
>ideas.
>

Hmm.... if you get yourself punished (ie: ball and chained) and throw the ball
away from you, how far does this carry you? and is it far enough to get over
a trap? (anyone?)


Aaron.
Newsgroups: rec.games.hack