Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.nethack (
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Mike wrote:
>
> Any tips for a beginning NH Player?
Take your time. Nethack is not real time and I always
want to play at my typing rate. *Much* too fast. Almost
all of the characters I lose are from rushing.
Watch your hit points. If they start dropping fast
get the bleep out of there. Being in a crowd of hostile
monsters is a *very* bad place to start watching your
hit points. One soldier ant in a corridor followed by
the next one just isn't the same risk as one in every
direction. Encountering a new type of monster the
first time out in the open is a *very* bad time to
start watching your hit points. Monkeys and apes may
both be Y but they aren't the same risk. Same with
hobbits and bugbears, rothes and baluchatiums or
however it's spelled, and so on.
Learn to tell when you can and can't pray. Prayer can
solve all manner of problems once you know how to tell
when it is safe. Learn the consequences of praying
when it's not safe.
Learn the luck system. There's a special stone at the
bottom of the mines that's worth more than any weapon
or piece of armor once you know the luck system.
Read all of the messages. Figue out which ones are
common and pay special attention to the ones that are
not common. Every single message carries meaning. The
ones about swings and hits and misses tell you how
your battles are going. The ones you don't expect,
those are the ones you should write down and figure out
what they mean.
Throw everything. Daggers, rocks, whatever. Fight
remotely. For fighting classes do use spells. For
spellcaster classes do use fighting.
Lower armor class equals better survival. Carrying
heavier stuff means worse survival. Combine these
two and it tells you a lot about what armor to wear.
Try on all blessed or uncursed armor. Any time you
find one with a better enchantment than a provious
one switch to the better one. Among types of armor
consider AC plus weight plus other effects.
You want both better armor and better weapons, but if
you are forced to chose, chose better armor.
Shopkeepers in general stores will #chat about prices.
Within classes (say armor to armor) the price difference
say much about the relative value. Consider just how
much more a crossbow costs and then think about my
point of throwing everything. Consider how much really
good armor costs in a shop compared to how much a really
good weapon costs, and you'll get my point about needing
to pick excellent armor if you're really forced to chose
between armor and weapon.
The mines are crowded so they are risky. Be ready to
retreat. On the other hand the mines are crowded so
they plentiful combat gets your experience higher faster.
Sokoban makes the mines easier, the mines make Sokoban
easier, so think which you want to tackle first. Some
do the mines to the town then Sokoban then mines end,
but when it comes down to it the strategy tht works for
you is the one to use.
Learn what corpses have what effect. This goes back to
my comment about reading all messages. But stuff in
nethack is based on chances. Some monsters are sure to
have benefits when you eat them fresh, some do so only
sometimes.
Being burdened equals dying young. I mentioned this in
my armor section but it bears repeating. Gather stuff
into a pile or leave it where you found it, but don't
just pick up everything. When you pick something up,
either carry it to a pile near a stairs or have in mind
what you'll be doing with it. Only go past burdened if
you have very good reason. Encounter even an easy
monster and drop heavy stuff to fight it.
Weight management and inventory management. Think about
them, do them.
There's never only one right answer. It's a great thing
about Nethack. There's never only one wrong answer,
either. There are always several fatally wrong answers.
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