Question from reborn noob

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.nethack (More info?)

Greetings,

I first played Hack about 16 years ago but stopped when more graphically
rich games came out. Now I am (re)discovering that Nethack has a lot
more going for it than the vast majority of the eye-candy dungeon crawlers.

Essentially I am a noob (again). I want to find out as much as I can
by myself, but I'd appreciate if somebody could tell me how the credit
card works (or whether it will work at all)

Many thanks,
Old/New Nethack fiend

 

[Manuel]

Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.nethack (More info?)

LinuxNoob wrote:
> I'd appreciate if somebody could tell me how the credit
> card works (or whether it will work at all)


You can (a)pply it to unlock doors and boxes, but you can't
use it for buying.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.nethack (More info?)

Manuel wrote:

> You can (a)pply it to unlock doors and boxes, but you can't
> use it for buying.
>

Ah, I get it. Thanks to you and to Janis.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.nethack (More info?)

LinuxNoob wrote:
> Greetings,
>
> I first played Hack about 16 years ago but stopped when more graphically
> rich games came out. Now I am (re)discovering that Nethack has a lot
> more going for it than the vast majority of the eye-candy dungeon crawlers.

Welcome back!

> Essentially I am a noob (again). I want to find out as much as I can
> by myself, but I'd appreciate if somebody could tell me how the credit
> card works (or whether it will work at all)

They say that thieves open locked doors and boxes with credit cards.

Janis

BTW, there is also a powerful quest credit card with special abilities.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.nethack (More info?)

Janis Papanagnou wrote:

> LinuxNoob wrote:
>> Essentially I am a noob (again). I want to find out as much as I can by
>> myself, but I'd appreciate if somebody could tell me how the credit card
>> works (or whether it will work at all)
>
> They say that thieves open locked doors and boxes with credit cards.

Does it strike anyone else as odd that a) you can unlock boxes and chests
with a credit card, and that b) boxes and doors unlocked with a credit card
don't lock themselves again when you close them? I realize NetHack is not
Real Life, but it does leave me wondering how NetHack lock mechanisms work.

--
Benjamin Lewis

Although the moon is smaller than the earth, it is farther away.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.nethack (More info?)

chuck wrote:

> Benjamin Lewis <bclewis@cs.sfu.ca> wrote:
>> Janis Papanagnou wrote:
>>
>>> LinuxNoob wrote:
>>>> Essentially I am a noob (again). I want to find out as much as I can
>>>> by myself, but I'd appreciate if somebody could tell me how the credit
>>>> card works (or whether it will work at all)
>>>
>>> They say that thieves open locked doors and boxes with credit cards.
>>
>> Does it strike anyone else as odd that a) you can unlock boxes and
>> chests with a credit card, and that b) boxes and doors unlocked with a
>> credit card don't lock themselves again when you close them? I realize
>> NetHack is not Real Life, but it does leave me wondering how NetHack
>> lock mechanisms work.
> As far as chests & boxes go, yeah that is strange (like some D&D things
> like constant speed when you fall) but with doors I have yet to see a
> door that you couldn't unlock from at least one side, so I guess that
> could be arguably implied.

But locked NetHack doors cannot be unlocked from *either* side without a
key or card. Perhaps they have a latch on the edge that is inaccessible
when the door is closed, but allows the mechanism to be unlocked when the
door is open. Alternatively, perhaps the very act of retracting the bolt
unlocks the mechanism.

In real life people fall at a constant speed once they reach terminal
velocity. I guess this speed is just reached more quickly in the D&D
universe (although I *thought* I remembered higher falls leading to higher
damage from when I played the game years ago -- could this be version
dependent?)

--
Benjamin Lewis

Although the moon is smaller than the earth, it is farther away.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.nethack (More info?)

Benjamin Lewis <bclewis@cs.sfu.ca> wrote in
news:yy7oekcptthp.fsf@css.css.sfu.ca:

> Janis Papanagnou wrote:
>
>> LinuxNoob wrote:
>>> Essentially I am a noob (again). I want to find out as much as I
>>> can by myself, but I'd appreciate if somebody could tell me how the
>>> credit card works (or whether it will work at all)
>>
>> They say that thieves open locked doors and boxes with credit cards.
>
> Does it strike anyone else as odd that a) you can unlock boxes and
> chests with a credit card, and that b) boxes and doors unlocked with a
> credit card don't lock themselves again when you close them? I
> realize NetHack is not Real Life, but it does leave me wondering how
> NetHack lock mechanisms work.
>

That's a good point, and it's odd that it never occured to me. I just
happily open boxes and chests with a credit card if I have one, without
even thinking. If just any person with a credit card could open my safe,
I'd be... rather angry in the general direction of the manufacturer.
Perhaps the locks are very, very cheaply made.

 

[Chuck]

Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.nethack (More info?)

Benjamin Lewis <bclewis@cs.sfu.ca> wrote in
news:yy7oekcptthp.fsf@css.css.sfu.ca:

> Janis Papanagnou wrote:
>
>> LinuxNoob wrote:
>>> Essentially I am a noob (again). I want to find out as much as I can by
>>> myself, but I'd appreciate if somebody could tell me how the credit card
>>> works (or whether it will work at all)
>>
>> They say that thieves open locked doors and boxes with credit cards.
>
> Does it strike anyone else as odd that a) you can unlock boxes and chests
> with a credit card, and that b) boxes and doors unlocked with a credit card
> don't lock themselves again when you close them? I realize NetHack is not
> Real Life, but it does leave me wondering how NetHack lock mechanisms work.
As far as chests & boxes go, yeah that is strange (like some D&D things like
constant speed when you fall) but with doors I have yet to see a door that
you couldn't unlock from at least one side, so I guess that could be arguably
implied.

 

[Sean]

Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.nethack (More info?)

Benjamin Lewis wrote:

>>>>>Essentially I am a noob (again). I want to find out as much as I can
>>>>>by myself, but I'd appreciate if somebody could tell me how the credit
>>>>>card works (or whether it will work at all)
>>>>
>>>>They say that thieves open locked doors and boxes with credit cards.
>>>
>>>Does it strike anyone else as odd that a) you can unlock boxes and
>>>chests with a credit card, and that b) boxes and doors unlocked with a
>>>credit card don't lock themselves again when you close them? I realize
>>>NetHack is not Real Life, but it does leave me wondering how NetHack
>>>lock mechanisms work.
>>
>>As far as chests & boxes go, yeah that is strange (like some D&D things
>>like constant speed when you fall) but with doors I have yet to see a
>>door that you couldn't unlock from at least one side, so I guess that
>>could be arguably implied.
>
> But locked NetHack doors cannot be unlocked from *either* side without a
> key or card. Perhaps they have a latch on the edge that is inaccessible
> when the door is closed, but allows the mechanism to be unlocked when the
> door is open. Alternatively, perhaps the very act of retracting the bolt
> unlocks the mechanism.
>
> In real life people fall at a constant speed once they reach terminal
> velocity. I guess this speed is just reached more quickly in the D&D
> universe (although I *thought* I remembered higher falls leading to higher
> damage from when I played the game years ago -- could this be version
> dependent?)

Higher falls do lead to higher damage, but this damage is capped at a
certain height (200 feet, the books tell me), presumably to indicate
characters reaching terminal velocity.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.nethack (More info?)

> In real life people fall at a constant speed once they reach terminal
> velocity. I guess this speed is just reached more quickly in the D&D
> universe

It's probably the same sort of thing that causes D&D to sink like rocks
when in water.

 

[Chuck]

Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.nethack (More info?)

>
> But locked NetHack doors cannot be unlocked from *either* side without a
> key or card. Perhaps they have a latch on the edge that is inaccessible
> when the door is closed, but allows the mechanism to be unlocked when the
> door is open. Alternatively, perhaps the very act of retracting the bolt
> unlocks the mechanism.

Ok, so it doesn't make sense. Welcome to fiction I guess...


> In real life people fall at a constant speed once they reach terminal
> velocity. I guess this speed is just reached more quickly in the D&D
> universe (although I *thought* I remembered higher falls leading to higher
> damage from when I played the game years ago -- could this be version
> dependent?)
>

My point was about the initial acceleration in the real world, and the lack
(initial speed instead) in D&D.