Why paranoia is not a bad thing
Soren Bjornstad
What do you want to use or apply? [acdfhlnp-tyzAGKMPR-U or ?*]
In what direction?
There is a chest here, unlock it? [ynq] (q)
You succeed in unlocking the chest.
There is a chest here, loot it? [ynq] (q)
You carefully open the chest...
You have a little trouble lifting an ebony wand. Continue? [ynq]
(q)
You have a little trouble removing m - an ebony wand.
Your movements are slowed slightly because of your load.
What do you want to call? [c-ik-tx-zADG-NP-UWYZ or ?*]
Call an ebony wand: wishing
What do you want to zap? [hmnp-rAGKMRS or ?*]
The wand called wishing suddenly explodes!
Your movements are now unencumbered.
#
Really quit [yes/no]?
Well, I guess I'm going to start engraving with my wand to avoid the
1/800 chance that my castle wand explodes on the first zap...(shakes
head)
http://alt.org/nethack/userdata/s/scorchgeek/dumplog/1300314283.nh343.txt
James
1) Never use a wand of wishing without first having determined
how many charges are left in it (using a scroll of identity.
2) Is the castle wand of wishing so important. In order to get
to the castle, you need most, if not all, of what you need
to go further anyway. (I've got the castle wand of wishing
in my bag of holding, unused.) If you manage to do the
castle without magic protection, yes, but otherwise, loosing
it is disagreeable, but hardly a reason to abandon.
--
James Kanze
Soren Bjornstad
> how many charges are left in it (using a scroll of identity.
Yes, I suppose I should start being paranoid about that one too. The
first zap is always fine, though. I was going to get charging since I
didn't yet have it identified, and then write identify with the marker
in my pack.
> 2) Is the castle wand of wishing so important. In order to get
> to the castle, you need most, if not all, of what you need
> to go further anyway. (I've got the castle wand of wishing
> in my bag of holding, unused.) If you manage to do the
> castle without magic protection, yes, but otherwise, loosing
> it is disagreeable, but hardly a reason to abandon.
I had no magic resistance and my armor class was positive 1. I had
absolutely zero chance without the castle wand.
TJR
> The wand called wishing suddenly explodes!
> Your movements are now unencumbered.
Commiserations, and good writing.
BTW, now I'm happy I recommended engraving instead of zapping on
nethackwiki.com/Wand_of_wishing.
Janis Papanagnou
[...]
> What do you want to zap? [hmnp-rAGKMRS or ?*]
> The wand called wishing suddenly explodes!
>
> 1/800 chance that my castle wand explodes on the first zap...(shakes
> head)
A non-empty/non-cancelled wand can only explode if it's cursed, right?
Probability is then 1 in 100 for a cursed wand.
if (obj->cursed && !rn2(100)) backfire(obj);
An uncursed to be generated wand of wishing will be cursed 1 in 34 cases.
I don't see in the code that the wand-object will be set to cursed/blessed
before the check in blessorcurse(). So it's probably a 1 in 3400 chance
that it explodes? And only if you haven't checked for cursedness, I think.
I've once lost the castle wand due to an electric shock from a chest trap,
where I carried the wand in open inventory instead of putting it in my bag.
Janis
ais523
wrote:
> An uncursed to be generated wand of wishing will be cursed 1 in 34 cases.
> I don't see in the code that the wand-object will be set to cursed/blessed
> before the check in blessorcurse(). So it's probably a 1 in 3400 chance
> that it explodes? And only if you haven't checked for cursedness, I think.
>
> I've once lost the castle wand due to an electric shock from a chest trap,
> where I carried the wand in open inventory instead of putting it in my bag.
In last year's /dev/null tournament, Adeon had to do a game wishless,
because the Castle wand, which was a breakable sort (glass or
crystal), was destroyed in a chest trap explosion. I don't think
there's any way to be 100% paranoid about that, other than playing
Rogue and using the MKoT to untrap the Castle chest before opening it,
as all other untrap sources have a chance of triggering the trap
instead. (Non-Rogues couldn't guarantee a wish to wish up the MKoT in
the first place.)
--
ais523
James
[...]
> > 2) Is the castle wand of wishing so important. In order to get
> > to the castle, you need most, if not all, of what you need
> > to go further anyway. (I've got the castle wand of wishing
> > in my bag of holding, unused.) If you manage to do the
> > castle without magic protection, yes, but otherwise, loosing
> > it is disagreeable, but hardly a reason to abandon.
> I had no magic resistance and my armor class was positive 1. I had
> absolutely zero chance without the castle wand.
I'd have said that you had no chance of getting as far as the
castle in that state. (I wouldn't go below around level 10
without a decidedly negative AC.) Generally, if it's a question
of need or making a significant difference, the castle wand
comes too late (in my experience, at least---although I have
been known to reach the castle without magic resistence, in
which case GDSM is quite appreciable).
--
James Kanze
