Odd monster behaviour (maybe...)

[Guest]

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

I was waiting out an unfortunate polymorph accident (jackal) in a room
with only one doorway and was able to position myself in such a way
that monsters would "sense" me and come towards me but NOT actually
enter the room I was in as the doorway was a long way from my actual
position. They would just move around in random circles, centering
around my position in the adjoining room (I could "see" all this via
telepathy).

I was fully expecting to die at any moment and thought that some of the
more intelligent monsters (a Succubus and a Grey-elf) would realise
that they just had to move a few squares over and they would find the
door to cause my demise!

Has anyone else experienced this? Do you regularly use such tactics to
escape big nasties/recover? Is this normal?

 

[Guest]

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

Adamusan wrote:
> I was waiting out an unfortunate polymorph accident (jackal) in a room

In the event you wish to be unspoiled here... lbh jvyy erireg gb lbhe
abezny sbez vs lbh tb gb mreb uc va lbhe cbylzbecurq sbez. Zl snibevgr
jnl gb nppbzcyvfu guvf vf gb guebj zl jrncba hc fb gung vg pbzrf qbja ba
zl urnq (or fher abg gb or jrnevat n uneq uryzrg!).

> with only one doorway and was able to position myself in such a way
> that monsters would "sense" me and come towards me but NOT actually
> enter the room I was in as the doorway was a long way from my actual
> position. They would just move around in random circles, centering
> around my position in the adjoining room (I could "see" all this via
> telepathy).

Did you have invisibility through some means? You can often keep
enemies off your trail while invisible with significant space from them.
Not a tactic I would stake my life on, but one that can be successful.

> I was fully expecting to die at any moment and thought that some of the
> more intelligent monsters (a Succubus and a Grey-elf) would realise
> that they just had to move a few squares over and they would find the
> door to cause my demise!

In case you decided not to decode my above spoily, I'll try to hint
carefully here - it might have been a good thing for you to be attacked
while in the form of the jackal.

> Has anyone else experienced this? Do you regularly use such tactics to
> escape big nasties/recover? Is this normal?

Any means at hand to stay alive is fair game. There are some tactics
that don't require distance from your enemies, but nothing is fool-proof
in this game. If I *really* need to recover from hitpoint loss I make
my way to known stairs, assuming I don't have means of instant healing
at hand.

-Ken

 

[Guest]

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

Adamusan wrote:
>
> I was waiting out an unfortunate polymorph accident (jackal) in a room
> with only one doorway and was able to position myself in such a way
> that monsters would "sense" me and come towards me but NOT actually
> enter the room I was in as the doorway was a long way from my actual
> position. They would just move around in random circles, centering
> around my position in the adjoining room (I could "see" all this via
> telepathy).
>
> I was fully expecting to die at any moment and thought that some of the
> more intelligent monsters (a Succubus and a Grey-elf) would realise
> that they just had to move a few squares over and they would find the
> door to cause my demise!
>
> Has anyone else experienced this? Do you regularly use such tactics to
> escape big nasties/recover? Is this normal?

Monsters have various senses. But monsters aren't smart
enough to explore the whole dungeon looking for alternate
ways to get to you. They will stay where you are "in
range" in at least one of their senses most of the time.

Some see invisible, some don't, some have infravision, some
have clarvoiance. This means some monsters can see through
walls to a limited extent even if you're invisible.

Monsters can hear, and stealth desn't appear to bring your
sound down to zero.

I'd have to read monmove.c to figure out whether higher
level monsters are more willing to explorer farther to
get to you, but it seems like monsters deeper will do that.

 

[Guest]

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

Thanks for the info guys, I was not invisible and was in a position
simillar to what Boudewijn describes...

However, I guess that what I'm really asking is this...
Doesn't anyone else feel this behaviour a little, dare I say it, "easy"?

 

[Guest]

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

Ken Cuvelier wrote:
> Adamusan wrote:

>> with only one doorway and was able to position myself in such a way
>> that monsters would "sense" me and come towards me but NOT actually
>> enter the room I was in as the doorway was a long way from my actual
>> position. They would just move around in random circles, centering
>> around my position in the adjoining room (I could "see" all this via
>> telepathy).

> Did you have invisibility through some means? You can often keep
> enemies off your trail while invisible with significant space from
> them. Not a tactic I would stake my life on, but one that can be
> successful.

Invisibility is not an issue here. The situation he describes (unless
I'm very much mistaken) is the following:

.....NHa <- corridor with monsters
---|------- <- wall with (open) door
.........@. <- you in room
...........

I guess we all make use of dungeon layouts like this. It's one of the
basic tactics I suppose everyone applies.

>> Has anyone else experienced this? Do you regularly use such tactics
>> to escape big nasties/recover? Is this normal?

Does anyone *not* use this tactic? You would be very stupid not to...

--
Boudewijn.

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