New post: My Best Nethack Game (So Far)

content/blog/2022/11/my-best-nethack-game-so-far/index.md

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+---
+title: "My Best Nethack Game (So Far)"
+date: 2022-11-24T09:13:15-05:00
+categories: ["Games"]
+tags: ["Nethack", "Roguelikes", "Video Games"]
+resources:
+  - name: wishing
+    src: wishing.png
+    title:
+  - name: oracle
+    src: oracle.png
+    title:
+---
+
+I just finished my best ever game of Nethack. I earned 31,118 points as a level
+9 Valkyrie.
+
+Some highlights:
+
+I got all the way to the bottom of the Mines, fought several vampires and
+trolls, but somehow completely missed the luckstone. I did pick up a grey stone,
+but it ended up being a touchstone.
+
+I got a Wand of Wishing! I was zap testing wands in Minetown and the game asked
+me for a wish! I had no idea what to wish for -- it was my first time getting a
+wish 😱 -- but I had been watching [Adeon's Nethack speedrun][adeon] at the 2017
+Roguelike Celebration and remembered him wishing for some absurdly qualified
+dragon scale mail, so I ended up with a *+2 uncursed silver dragon scale mail*
+that brought my AC down to -10. It saved my butt later on when I ran into a
+bunch of winter wolf pups because it reflected their cold beams.
+
+{{< figures/image name=wishing >}}
+
+Later on in the mines, I stepped on a polymorph trap that transformed me into an
+ice dragon. That transformation caused my dragon scale mail to fuse into my
+body.  When the transformation ended, I was left with simple dragon scales,
+which were still silver, but no longer had the big defense bonus. Boo. :( I did
+get to lay two eggs that hatched into baby ice dragons. Baby dragons are
+ravenous and indiscrimate.
+
+The baby dragons killed the Oracle. Whoops.
+
+{{< figures/image name=oracle >}}
+
+In the oracle level, I tried to dip my long sword into the fountains around the
+Oracle, hoping to find Excalibur. Just a few turns before, I'd fought a
+gelatinous cube that corroded my sword. I didn't notice at the time though, so
+dipping went horribly wrong... Not only did my corroded long sword become
+*thoroughly rusted*, it also eventually became cursed. Oddly enough, that sword
+was still the best weapon I had, and I used it to the very end. I need to figure
+out how to replace weapons that get degraded like that.
+
+I solved Sokoban with some help from the Nethack wiki for the first time. The
+puzzles are hard but I enjoyed thinking through them. The monsters in there,
+especially in the upper levels are *hard*: multiple elementals, several packs of
+winter wolf pups, yetis, apes, and a zruty. I got through the last level and
+discovered a mimic blocking the hallway to the zoo. It killed me.
+
+Near the end, I was testing amulets and put on an Amulet of Changing that caused
+me to switch genders. Boo.
+
+It's in my [logfile][logfile] now too.
+
+[adeon]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIB0y_kwFuY
+[logfile]: {{< ref "nethack" >}}