From: snelling@bnr.ca (Peter Snelling)
Subject: Re: Help, I'm a Beginer
Reply-To: snelling@bnr.ca (Peter Snelling)
Organization: Bell-Northern Research Ltd.
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 17:12:44 GMT

In article <722242883.0@ninejacknine.FidoNet.Org>, Matthew.Vandergrift@f99.n121.z1.FidoNet.Org (Matthew Vandergrift) writes:
>Hello Everyone,
>
>I am new to NetHack.  I am playing version 3.0 (j) and am having problems.  I
>know that this game is great but I can't seem to get very far in it.  Maybe
>to the fourth floor in the dungeon but that's it.
>
>What I need are some general pointers...What character is the best to use
>(for a beginner)...so far I usually go with a Priest or Barbarian.  The problem
>I usually run into is a lack of food.  I pick up all of the Food Rations,
>Eggs, etc. I can find and I eat all of the corpses after I kill them but I
>still run out of food.  Is there something I'm missing out on.
>

A Priest is probably a pretty good choice for beginners since you see the
blessed/cursed status of everything.  If you're running out of food all the
time, you're probably spending too much time on each level.  For a change,
you could try to NOT explore each level, and simply go down as soon as
you see the stairs.  (I wouldn't recommend this as a normal strategy,
but it's worth trying).

Also, when you're fainting and have no food, you should probably try to 
pray.  Although your god will punish you if you pray too often, it's
probably worth risking if you're about to starve to death anyways.

If you really can't find enough food, you could try playing a tourist,
but this class is fairly difficult.

>Second, is there a rule to where the "shops" are.  I've only found one, on
>the second dungeon level and made the mistake of trying to kill the
>Shopkeeper with a Striking Wand <g>.  Are there any shops that sell food?

Shops are never on the first level, but aside from that are more likely
on early on.  The most likely level for a shop is level 2.  Sometimes 
you'll find them on levels 2, 3, and 4, other times you won't find any.
You'll never find more than 1 shop on a level.

There are shops that sell food, but I don't think these are the most
useful shops going.  

>Third, what is the dog/cat I get for.  I found that sometimes they'd steal
>things from the shop for me.  I know that there is someway to use the pet to
>tell if an item is cursed.  How does this work?

The dog/cat will kill monsters for you (a mixed blessing since you don't
get the Experience, but valuable if you are wimpy), they steal stuff from 
shops, and they normally don't step on cursed articles.  Some people like
having several pets, others will abandon their pet right away.  It's up
to you.

>Finally, could someone please explain alters, temples, priests, etc...I don't
>understand the "religion" of Nethack at all.

Nethack theology is fairly complicated.  I won't attempt to explain it all.
Here are some basic pointers.

A player has three separate stats, alignment, luck, and pray time-out, 
which affect your relations with your god.  If you sacrifice at a
co-alligned altar (#offer), and the sacrifice is consumed in flame, then 
your pray time-out has expired and you could safely pray (eg: for
food if you're weak).  If you're not weak, it might be better to 
#offer again.  If you keep #offering, you god will eventually give you
a neat weapon.  When offering, try use a fresh corpse.  Heavier monsters
are better.

When sacrificing at a non-aligned altar you have a chance to convert 
the altar to your alignment (depends on your level), and if your 
alignment is poor, you could also convert yourself to the altars
alignment.

Altars are also useful for creating holy water.  If you drop normal
water on a holy altar it becomes holy.  For this reason, I try to 
avoid converting holy altars.

When playing a Priest I would typically convert the first altar I find
(once I'm over Exp level 5), and keep offering at it until I get 
Frostbrand.  If I'm not desparate for food, I wait next to the altar
(type n99.) until a monster arrives, and then kill it right on top 
of the altar.  I lose my pet somewhere while I'm doing this so it won't
eat the corpses.  With all the sacrificing, you shouldn't have any
trouble either finding food rations on the corpses or praying for
food if you're desparate.

If I already have the weapon I want, I may offer one thing at a
co-aligned altar to make sure my prayer timeout is ok.

>I really appreciate any help and this group is an awesome way to learn about
>NetHack from all of you experienced players.
>
>Thanks...
>
>//\\//\\atthew
>\\//andergrift
---
Peter Snelling