What's up with unicorns?

[Guest]

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

Usually a monster is either peaceful or hostile to you. What's up with
these unicorns? They jump around you very fast. Sometimes they don't do
anything. Sometimes they kick you (and very bad I might add). Are they
peaceful or hostile (the desciption doesn't say peaceful but sometimes
they don't kick you when you're near them)? How do you usually counter
them early in the game?

 

[Guest]

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

BandC wrote:

> Usually a monster is either peaceful or hostile to you. What's up with
> these unicorns? They jump around you very fast. Sometimes they don't
> do anything. Sometimes they kick you (and very bad I might add). Are
> they peaceful or hostile (the desciption doesn't say peaceful but
> sometimes they don't kick you when you're near them)? How do you
> usually counter them early in the game?

Unicorns have a colour. This colour reflects their alignment: lawful,
neutral or chaotic. Unicorns of your alignment will normally be
peaceful, others will be hostile.

Unicorns will always try not to be standing in a straight line with you,
where you could use wands on them, or throw things at them. If they have
no place to move to, they will teleport away.

Note that it is possible to manoeuvre them into a corner, where they
have exactly two spaces to alternate between, and let your pet do the
killing. It takes some time, but the horn is worth the wait.

(spoiler space)



















Most importantly, it is good to know that tossing known gems at a
unicorn of your own alignment will increase your luck by quite a large
amount. To make this something of a challenge, even peaceful unicorns
will normally not align themselves with you.

--
Boudewijn.

--
"I have hundreds of other quotes, just waiting to replace this one
as my signature..." - Me

 

[Guest]

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

BandC wrote:
>
> Usually a monster is either peaceful or hostile to you.

Pet and your own character are the only other options.

> What's up with
> these unicorns? They jump around you very fast. Sometimes they don't do
> anything. Sometimes they kick you (and very bad I might add).

Pay closer attention to color, your own alignment, and
whether they really are peacefull. The peacefull ones
will never kick. The hostile ones are more interested
in evading you than in killing you so they run away far
more often than they kick, and they teleport away about
as often as they kick.

> How do you usually counter them early in the game?

Evade the hostile ones as much as you can. Try to chase
them towards a wall to get them to teleport away. They
don't come back al that soon. Pursue any source of
speed so you can chase them faster than they can leave;
your goal is to get the horn from a hostile one.

 

[Guest]

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

>They jump around you very fast.

This confused me for a long time.

It's an effect of the nethack speed and movement system.
Once I realized that, many things became much clearer.

Before, I just considered it to be a defect in the range weapon
targetting system. ("What do you mean, I can't target at any
angle???") Hated the game for that, for a long time.

When a monster can avoid being in a straight line with you,
it just means they are getting more moves per round than you
are. If you're burdened, it's even worse. Then they have the limited
ability to teleport. Makes them pretty powerful, but, killing your
first unicorn is one significant turning point in the game, after all.

>How do you usually counter them early in the game?

They are susceptible to bear traps. There are some levels that don't
allow teleport. They like pretty rocks. A healthy pet can do
significant damage to one, even if you are somewhat weak.

 

[Guest]

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

On Mon, 18 Jul 2005 07:15:28 +0200, Boudewijn Waijers wrote:

> To make this something of a challenge, even peaceful unicorns
> will normally not align themselves with you.

Pun intended?