You're ready...  It's time to stare this construct in the face.

$$$ DWEMTHY_S ARRAY ^!^ A RUBY MINI_DUNGEON ^!^ CODE TO KILL BY $$$

Here, try this: http://poignantguide.net/dwemthy/

The sixth chapter of Why's (Poignant) Guide to Ruby is on its way.  This
chapter covers metaclasses and method_missing with the help of Dwemthy's
demonic list.  The code for the little RPG is now available.  A full
explanation is forthcoming in chapter six.

Please send your hacks to the poignant-stiffs list.  Subscription
information is at http://poignant.rubyforge.org/.

Well done, I say.  Raise a chalice of valor!!  Let the mead flow thickly
through our devoursome fingers and ankle beards!!

...yeah, I ran into the same problem.

How about:

dwar = [IndustrialRaverMonkey.new,
                      DwarvenAngel.new,
                      AssistantViceTentacleAndOmbudsman.new,
                      TeethDeer.new,
                      IntrepidDecomposedCyclist.new,
                      Dragon.new]

dwar.each {|creature|
   r ^ creature

[Rabbit is too dead to fight!]
[Rabbit is too dead to fight!]
[Rabbit is too dead to fight!]
[Rabbit is too dead to fight!]
[Rabbit is too dead to fight!]
[Rabbit is too dead to fight!]

No doubt _why has put some magic in DwemthysArray that we're missing.

Of course the only way I could beat the array was with a little smoke
and mirrors:

r = Rabbit.new
r.life = 9999

ALls I can say is: you sure skipped a lot of lettuce-eating.

Thanks as always for the enjoyable read, yours is one of the more
interesting ways to introduce people to Ruby.

Patrick

is maybe a bit less of a hack ;-)

technically

maybe

-Brian

On Mar 23, 2005, at 8:52 PM, Shalev NessAiver wrote:

It may be better to switch over to more damaging weapons somewhere down
the line.
(After you've gotten a bunch of life from the early guys).

-Shalev

On Mar 24, 2005, at 8:58 AM, Brian McCallister wrote:

On Fri, 25 Mar 2005 04:28:44 +0900, Shalev NessAiver

Doing it to myself seemed....cheating.

-Shalev

On Mar 24, 2005, at 2:36 PM, Patrick Hurley wrote:

First, I found this cheat code on the internet:
class Rabbit
  # you can defeat enemies easily with the
  # secret cheater's laser gun
  def =~( enemy )
    fight( enemy, 2691 )
  end
end

It reminds me of the little laser soldiers in Age of Empires.

It allows the Rabbit to laser things to death like this:

And sometimes like this, which isn't as good for the Rabbit:

Secondly, I put together this strategy that any Rabbit can use to defeat
DwemthysArray 1.0, without using lasers or anything dodgy like that.
# requires Patrick Hurley's [Quit flogging my dead monsters!] patch
# to DwemthysArray to work properly
class Rabbit
  def battle( enemy )
    stats = Hash.new(0)
    while enemy.life > 0 || self.life <= 0
      weapon = if self.life <= 0 then             :%
               elsif enemy.life % 10 >= 5 then    :/
               elsif bombs and rand < (0.1) then  :*
               else                               :^
               end
      send weapon, enemy
      stats[weapon] += 1
    end
    total = 0
    stats.each_pair do |weapon, uses|
      puts "[#{ self.class } used #{weapon} #{uses} times]"
      total += uses
    end
    puts "[#{ self.class } attacked a total of #{total} times in that
battle.]"
  end
end

Output:

And finally, I would also propose the following patch, to stop the Rabbit's
ability to eat when he or she is dead, but it makes the game too difficult:
--- rabbit.rb
+++ rabbit.rb
@@ -18,6 +18,10 @@
   # lettuce will build your strength and extra ruffage
   # will fly in the face of your opponent!!
   def %( enemy )
+    if life <= 0
+      puts "[You are beyond the help of the healthy lettuce.]"
+      return
+    end
     lettuce = rand( charisma )
     puts "[Healthy lettuce gives you #{ lettuce } life points!!]"
     @life += lettuce

Happy meta-dungeon-programmeering!