Part 1, getting started, ascending in NetHack, overexplained

[@HandFromCoffin]

I remember playing NetHack on a 286 floppy drive. It's on my bucket list to someday "win" this game. Watching these how to video's I realize I would have never in my lifetime figured this game out on my own. The vibrating floor.... the candles... My best ever games I get killed just after Sokoban.. I don't think I'd ever have made it.

[@Zeon081]

that is what "Net" in NetHack stands for. You are supposed to look up guides on the net.

[@LambdaJPG]

Bro did a 3 and a half hour tutorial for less than 5k people to watch. Hella dedication

[@mossyevie]

ikr

[@juliust.5650]

I noticed you didn't throw any food to your kitten. Instead of just letting your kitten eat corpses, throw them at it. Your kitten will like you more and... get better at shop lifting :) The more it likes you, the closer it will want to stay close to you, and the easier it will be to lead it out of a shop with what it's carrying. I think someone once said that throwing an edible corpse at a pet after it picks up and brings out an item trains it to do that more. I have no idea if all of this is true, but I have used a pet to clean out a shop of all goods. So... It is really useful, if not a little tedious. I just love the depth that's built into this game. It's amazing.

[@d_i_s_p_e_r_s_e]

Yes, there is another hidden stat your pets have, called apport, which controls how likely your pets are to bring things to you. nethackwiki.com/wiki/Apport

[@ThomB0ne]

Note for anyone playing in late 2024 and beyond: Valkyries do not start with Longswords in Nethack 3.7 (knights still do), so dipping for Excalibur is less reliable as an early game strategy on that class.

[@d_i_s_p_e_r_s_e]

@@ThomB0ne if you download the latest executable from the website or play on NAO then you'll still be playing 3.6.7. Only Hardfought has upgraded to 3.7.

[@vyrsh0]

So I dipped the longsword in the fountain few times, and then snakes erupted and killed me.

[@d_i_s_p_e_r_s_e]

@@vyrsh0 Yep, sadly, this is one of the outcomes of dipping in a fountain, a nymph appearing and stealing your stuff, or an angry water demon are other negative consequences.

[@pollodiesh]

This was exactly the format I was waiting for

[@brianpendell6085]

1:11 or so -- by the way, about eating corpses: I think you'll find that vegetarian corpses such as lichen and fungi keep a lot longer than meat corpses, such as newts.

[@d_i_s_p_e_r_s_e]

@@brianpendell6085 I don't know if I mention it in this series, but lichen and lizard corpses are safe to eat regardless of age. I believe all other corpses age and rot similarly.

[@rodarmor]

This is an awesome series. Thank you for doing it!

[@BenLBroadfoot]

Great video! I'm only an hour into it and I've learned a lot. I like that you take your time explaining things.

[@user-od9cu7ix5s]

Thank you, Nethack seems to become my next favorite game

[@d_i_s_p_e_r_s_e]

Glad to hear it! We're streaming NetHack all weekend if you want to watch it played. The schedule is at nethackathon.org

[@msor6108]

Just so you know , in the modern versions of window, you can use the terminal app that comes with os and use ssh like you would in any MacOS/unix/unix like system. Putty is not necessary anymore, unless u prefer it. SSH is preinstalled in windows, hooray!!

[@d_i_s_p_e_r_s_e]

That's great! Is that PowerShell?

[@msor6108]

@@d_i_s_p_e_r_s_e well yeah the windows terminal by the default uses PowerShell as the Command-line interpreter but you can use cmd, though I found Powershell to render stuff better. You would think that the Command-line interpreter would have no effect on rendering but on windows things are weird.

[@d_i_s_p_e_r_s_e]

@@msor6108 I was primarily a Windows user until about 10 years ago when I started using Macs for work. I haven't kept up with it, glad to hear Windows ships with a default ssh client now!

[@msor6108]

@@d_i_s_p_e_r_s_e I use everything. Mac OS, linux distros, OpenBSD, FreeBSD, Plan 9, Haiku OS, Windows. I only use windows ( on virtual machines) for occasional college stuff, where I have to use microsoft software. My College recommended putty and I recall telling all my classmates and professors to stop installing unnecessary software and just use what comes with the windows operating system. Though I have noticed that a lot of experienced windows users still prefer putty for some reason.

[@d_i_s_p_e_r_s_e]

@@msor6108 Probably just long-time users who have gotten used to it, it does store servers for you if you prefer not to type `ssh [e-mail]` each time you want to play.

[@apiro1000]

You’re a hero for this bro

[@tizreader3682]

Are there any disadvantages to using the far look (;) command over forward slash twice?

[@d_i_s_p_e_r_s_e]

Not that I know of, I believe it's the same command. I'm just used to the slash command over the semicolon but the semicolon is one fewer keystroke.

[@lowgs4659]

You are appreciated bro, 🙏🙏🙏

[@brianpendell6085]

By the way, which version of nethack is this you are playing?

[@d_i_s_p_e_r_s_e]

This series was created using NetHack 3.6.7 on the alt.org server. Outside of this series, I more often play the development version of 3.7 on the hardfought.org server.

[@brianpendell6085]

@@d_i_s_p_e_r_s_e Thank you. I ask, because I last ascended in 3.4.3 but the game was made significantly tougher in 3.6 and above.

[@d_i_s_p_e_r_s_e]

@@brianpendell6085 agreed, you can't endlessly abuse Elbereth anymore. I do like the quality of life changes in 3.6+ though.

[@brianpendell6085]

@@d_i_s_p_e_r_s_e What I used Elbereth most for was to protect my caches. I would have a chest stashed every ten levels or so with potions , wands, scrolls, armour, all kinds of equipment. The wand of wishing in the castle was inside a chest on top of fire-engraved "Elbereth" to keep a gelatinous cube from eating it. What's the updated strat to accomplish the same goal?

[@d_i_s_p_e_r_s_e]

@@brianpendell6085 Elbereth still works for protecting caches. The biggest change in 3.6+ is that Elbereth will fade if you attack while standing on it (along with a small alignment penalty). There's also a change to how scared monsters act in 3.7: they may attack you if they have nowhere to run.