Yes. Using a magic whistle is the best way. Other than that, if your pet
is a cat or dog, I believe it will stay closer to you if you have tripe
in your open inventory.
>Can I feed my pet?
Usually yes, but it depends on what kind of pet it is. Most will eat
corpses. Some only eat vegetation. Some do not eat at all.
>Anyone have a link to a document on Pet Care?
http://www.statslab.cam.ac.uk/~eva/nethack/spoilerlist.html lists
several in the section "Spoilers About Pets". Hopefully one or more may
be of use to you.
Use a leash, or apply a magic whistle (or a blessed
eucalyptus leaf in case you've got one).
Janis
A leash will keep them very close. Carrying a treat will keep
them motivated to follow you so it's second best. A regular
whistle will cause a lost pet to move towards you, though in
a complex level that might not work. With a magic whistle it
does not matter how complex the level is.
Since pets want to follow you I think you are the one running
away from your pet not the other way around. Move back
into line of site with your pet and move back and forth. Your
pet will see you and follow you with no other tricks than
knowing how to do this.
But pets are very much like the dogs in the movie "Up".
Squirrel! And off they go chasing whatever monster they saw
or heard. Go back and retrieve those ADD/ADHD pets.
> I loose them because they wander off.
This is likely to be an inaccurate conclusion. Pets do not get
into combat likely to kill them. The few exceptions are the
most interesting monsters. Otherwise a pet near me is more
likely to be put into combat by me and die sooner to one of
those few exceptions (note to self, don't keep a dog on a
leash on a level with a watch captain ...). Pets die to traps
about equally near or distant.
> Can I feed my pet?
Yes and that's the main contributor to longer pet life in my
experience. On their own pets will only attack monsters at
1 level higher than them on down. Pets withdraw from combat
when injured. This adds up that carnivorous pets can clean
out a level and starve yet you still have some stronger monsters
you might be able to take out. Also herbivore pets don't seem
to find enough plants in the dungeon.
Throw the food to your pet.
(Assuming you mean line of sight.) I've got the impression that
line of sight is not the effective factor. If you observe your
pet with some sort of ESP you'll see (in a layout like this...)
|....d....|
+-------.-+
#
#######
#
+-.-------+
|.y..@..x.|
that the pet tries to reduce (dx,dy) distance between you and it;
so to let him find the entry to the hallway it is advantageous to
move to place x, first. (This is just from thorough observation,
I haven't inspected the code.)
> [...]
>
> Yes and that's the main contributor to longer pet life in my
> experience. On their own pets will only attack monsters at
> 1 level higher than them on down.
Hmm.. - I thought it was up to three levels difference beyond their
own level.
Janis
I find this one particularly helpful for feeding pets:
http://www.statslab.cam.ac.uk/~eva/nethack/pets2.html
Another point about this is that certain items are much
more valuable as food to your pet than to you. If you have
a herbivorous pet (most likely a horse), then an apple
will keep it fed for a fairly long time, but it won't give
you much nutrition. So save any fruit you have for
herbivorous pets where applicable. As Doug pointed
out, they have trouble staying fed otherwise.
Does anyone know whether pet nutrition works like pet
experience gain -- that is, does eating always give the
pet the same amount of nutrition, regardless of what is
eaten?
Here is a spoily, but very important piece of information:
If your pet drops an item next to you, and on the next turn, you throw
tripe to him, thenceforth, the pet will be much more likely to drop
stuff at your feet.
This is among the few things I figured out myself and not from
spoilers.
> Is it possible to get your pet to stay close by? I loose them because
> they wander off. Can I feed my pet?
> Anyone have a link to a document on Pet Care?
The only problem I've had is when the pet is in another Room - or in
certain variations of corridor where the path to you isn't completely in
one compass direction. To clarify, in Janis'illustration, if the pet is at
"d" and you are at "x", it will take forever for the pet to get to you,
however if you move to the branch in the corridor just below the entrance,
wait for the pet to be beside you, and then switch places with him, you
can "single square" him to the room below. Moving only when the pet is
*not* in a square adjacent to you. In these cases, going to beside where
the pet is and blocking his way back until he moves away from you toward
the wanted room is the only way without a magic whistle. This happens
fairly often, and isn't related to hunger, tameness or traps. It seems to
just be a random artifact.
I didn't mean line of sight but I'm not certain exactly what I
did mean. I think it's some combination of line of sight and
line of hearing - Pets track monsters by sound better than
our characters can. Except I might be totally wrong when I
attribute pet behavior to sound.
> If you observe your
> pet with some sort of ESP you'll see (in a layout like this...)
>
> |....d....|
> +-------.-+
> #
> #######
> #
> +-.-------+
> |.y..@..x.|
>
> that the pet tries to reduce (dx,dy) distance between you and it;
> so to let him find the entry to the hallway it is advantageous to
> move to place x, first. (This is just from thorough observation,
> I haven't inspected the code.)
I thought it was by sound. It might be infravision?
> > Yes and that's the main contributor to longer pet life in my
> > experience. On their own pets will only attack monsters at
> > 1 level higher than them on down.
>
> Hmm.. - I thought it was up to three levels difference beyond their
> own level.
Different parts of the code use different numbers for the levels,
so the word is ambiguous.
Pets will attack monsters slightly more powerful than they are.
Pets will retreat from combat when injured. Pets heal.
Monsters hit back but stop combat as soon as a pet retreats.
If a pet heals faster than a monster, a pet can end up taking
out a monster at the top of their combat willingness.
Some monsters hit much harder than their depth. If a pet
attacks a purple worm and the purple worm responds by a
swallow attack that succeeds, goodbye pet. If a pet attacks
a watch captain based on the captain's unarmed strength, the
damage caused by the captain's long sword or silver saber
may be enough to kill the pet before it can retreat and heal.
I've lost a lot of dogs to watch captains on the way back up
from mines end. Priests hit with their mace plus other attacks
much harder than the unarmed strength used to judge combat
willingness and I've lost some war horses to priests.
> >Is it possible to get your pet to stay close by? I loose them
> >because they wander off.
>
> Yes. Using a magic whistle is the best way. Other than that,
> if your pet is a cat or dog, I believe it will stay closer to
> you if you have tripe in your open inventory.
And if it's a pony or horse, if you have apples or carrots.
Then there are leashes, and even ordinary whistles can help
some. And patience.
> >Can I feed my pet?
> Usually yes, but it depends on what kind of pet it is. Most
> will eat corpses. Some only eat vegetation. Some do not eat at
> all.
All that eat will accept human food if they're hungry enough.
--
James Kanze (GABI Software) email:james...@gmail.com
Conseils en informatique orientée objet/
Beratung in objektorientierter Datenverarbeitung
9 place Sémard, 78210 St.-Cyr-l'École, France, +33 (0)1 30 23 00 34
> > Is it possible to get your pet to stay close by?
> A leash will keep them very close. Carrying a treat will keep
> them motivated to follow you so it's second best. A regular
> whistle will cause a lost pet to move towards you, though in a
> complex level that might not work. With a magic whistle it
> does not matter how complex the level is.
One funny thing about leashes---they seem to work through walls.
If you have something like:
| |
.###.
| |
.###.
| |
And you take the upper passage, with your leashed pet behind
you, it's not rare to find him waiting for you when you arrive,
having taken the other passage.
> Since pets want to follow you I think you are the one running
> away from your pet not the other way around. Move back into
> line of site with your pet and move back and forth. Your pet
> will see you and follow you with no other tricks than knowing
> how to do this.
I don't think it's line of sight. I think it's simply distance.
If the pet's nearby, the odds of it moving closer are higher
(but never 1).
[...]
> This is likely to be an inaccurate conclusion. Pets do not
> get into combat likely to kill them. The few exceptions are
> the most interesting monsters.
Like just about anything that is wielding a weapon. The pet
judges whether the opponent is weak enough based on the
opponent's base something, not taking weapons into account. Two
frequent early pet killers: the minetown watch captain (with his
sabre or long sword), and dwarves with mattocks. And also
anything which can use poison---pets do not have poison
resistance. (Later, of course... I've lost a pet Titan to a
black dragon who was attacking me. I had reflection, so I
wasn't worried. But the attack missed, and my pet was just
behind me. Similar story with some strong pet in the castle,
and a guard with a wand of death.)
> Otherwise a pet near me is more likely to be put into combat
> by me and die sooner to one of those few exceptions (note to
> self, don't keep a dog on a leash on a level with a watch
> captain ...).
Note to self: keep the dog on a leash, and stay away from the
watch captain. I've lost at least one pet while I was busy
buying protection---it strayed, found the watch captain (I
suppose) and that was it.
A converse to this is that pets with passive attacks seem to
be pretty fearsome. My last game I had a pet fire vortex
and fire elemental for a while, and they took out shopkeepers
incredibly quickly, because when the shopkeepers fought back
they'd get toasted for 10d4 or so fire damage. In fact,
sometimes too quickly to be convenient -- I didn't have enough
time to reach the stuff I wanted price-IDed. They still wouldn't
attack everything they could beat, though. Maybe that's one
use for a ring of conflict, just so long as you stay far enough
away that the firefoo attacks the lich instead of attacking you.
Whether I give food or not to my cat while at the shop, he already
loves me, so I can usually get most of what is in a shop without any prep
at all, saving several moves of "prep time".
Chaos can be your friend at times.
Ask me if I still believe that on 12/21/2012, if you can, that is. :-]
If I read that right the leash passed through a wall.
> > Since pets want to follow you I think you are the one running
> > away from your pet not the other way around. Move back into
> > line of site with your pet and move back and forth. Your pet
> > will see you and follow you with no other tricks than knowing
> > how to do this.
>
> I don't think it's line of sight. I think it's simply distance.
I would have to read the pet code carefully to figure it out. I
thought it was hearing but pets follow my characters even
after I have stealth plus invisible to others. It must be
simply distance. Thanks!
> If the pet's nearby, the odds of it moving closer are higher
> (but never 1).
With a little extra patience pets come to you. Thus folks
who lose pets are folks in a hurry. Consider a common bit
of advice from serial ascenders - Type slowly but play fast.
Yet serial ascenders don't lose their pets until they decide
to do so.
> > This is likely to be an inaccurate conclusion. Pets do not
> > get into combat likely to kill them. The few exceptions are
> > the most interesting monsters.
>
> Like just about anything that is wielding a weapon. The pet
> judges whether the opponent is weak enough based on the
> opponent's base something, not taking weapons into account. Two
> frequent early pet killers: the minetown watch captain (with his
> sabre or long sword), and dwarves with mattocks.
Armor also effects the outcome but less directly. Pets attack,
and then retreat to heal when they get to half (?) of their max
hit points. Pets seem to heal faster than most monsters. But
a monster wearing armor takes less damage. The cycle of
attack, retreat, heal, resume attack will end up with an armored
monster lasting more cycles. Taking less damage ends up
similar of effect to healing faster.
> > Otherwise a pet near me is more likely to be put into combat
> > by me and die sooner to one of those few exceptions (note to
> > self, don't keep a dog on a leash on a level with a watch
> > captain ...).
>
> Note to self: keep the dog on a leash, and stay away from the
> watch captain. I've lost at least one pet while I was busy
> buying protection---it strayed, found the watch captain (I
> suppose) and that was it.
I have also lost pets who attacked priests on the way back up
from the mines. Priests have a mace which is a poor weapon
but still more than the pet considers. Priests have a robe which
is poor armor but still more than the pet considers. Priests stay
in a shrine with a single door so the pet is less likely to leave
while healing. Because of this combination a pet who can kill
a shopkeeper can die when facing a priest.
* magic whistle, leash
* Keep pet tameness up. (Know what tameness and apport are
respectively)
* carry pet treats in open inventory (and know what is a treat)
* learn to lure your pet:
* - It will tend to run to you in its spare time if it can see you
(line of sight, not invisible)
* - stand in the direction you want your pet to go, regardless of
walls etc
* - you pet will place higher priority on keeping up with you if you
are moving, even if back and forth
Yes, I'm quite sure sound has not the least to do with it.
>> If you observe your
>> pet with some sort of ESP you'll see (in a layout like this...)
>>
>> |....d....|
>> +-------.-+
>> #
>> #######
>> #
>> +-.-------+
>> |.y..@..x.|
>>
>> that the pet tries to reduce (dx,dy) distance between you and it;
>> so to let him find the entry to the hallway it is advantageous to
>> move to place x, first. (This is just from thorough observation,
>> I haven't inspected the code.)
>
> I thought it was by sound. It might be infravision?
No, certeinly not. Pet behaviour in another typical dungeon layout
may make it yet more apparent that it's just a try to reduce (dx,dy)
distance...
+----------+ +------+
|..........| |......|
|.........d| |......|
|..........| |.@....|
+-.--------+ +-.----+
#############################################
The pet is "trapped" in the right half of the room because the random
part of the pet movement is too small compared to the primary factor,
the distance reduction. The pet is reluctant to increase the distance
by the necessary amount to reach the door.
>>> Yes and that's the main contributor to longer pet life in my
>>> experience. On their own pets will only attack monsters at
>>> 1 level higher than them on down.
>> Hmm.. - I thought it was up to three levels difference beyond their
>> own level.
>
> Different parts of the code use different numbers for the levels,
> so the word is ambiguous.
I was aiming at the XL of pet versus XL of monster to be attacked; the
numbers that you see when applying a stethoscope. Without conflict (or
other effects like a confused pet, etc.) a pet of, say, XL:10 will not
attack a monster beyond XL:13. This is what I meant. Therefore if you
want your pet purple worm attack level 25+ monsters, like major demons
or so, it's good you let your purple worm pet clear all those wraith
populated morgues (since, as opposed to the player, the worm will get
one experience level per swallowed wraith guaranteed).
Janis
"12/21/2012" - does that number indicate an extreemly very wide hip,
a black pudding maybe (or just the non-standard US date format)? :-p
Janis
The Maya people developed one of the most advanced and accurate
calendars we have ever found any civilization using. It measures
not just the years and days, but also such features as the
precession of the earth's axis (a 25800-year cycle) and relative
orbits of other planets, and it does it correctly. This is an
astonishing achievement for people who hadn't yet developed
spaceflight, let alone people who didn't even have electronic
computers and atomic clocks.
But unlike all the cruder and less accurate calendars in the
world (including the one we use), the Maya calendar does not
endlessly cycle. It has a definite end, a particular date on
which the world is finished and there is no more time in the
universe.
On this date, according to Maya belief, the "Road to Xibalba"
opens in the sky, and our world ceases to exist, joined forever
with other worlds (other universes? hard to say exactly what
the translations mean) and unknowable fates.
That date, on our calendar, is December 21 2012. It's enjoying
some popularity with mystics and millennialists - people whose
world didn't meet its expected doom with the end of 1999, 2000,
and 2001.
Some of the surviving Maya people, in Mexico, are these days
causing a certain amount of ethnic unrest and local politics
by refusing contracts, obligations, legislation, and credit
that has anything to do with transactions or actions beyond
that date. None of them want to owe anybody anything, or be
owed anything by anybody, when the end of time arrives.
Perhaps they are wrong. Regardless, the date is interesting.
Bear
I'm modestly sure that's on/after the date the Mayan
calendar finishes its 12th and as far as is known
final cycle. Superstitious people equate that to the
end of the universe, but then superstitious people
have been predicting the end of the universe every
20 years or so for as long as history records.
xanthian.
First off, dipshit, there is no "standard". There are SEVERAL date
formats used around the world, none of which and at the same time all of
which are "standard" and ANY adult should have enough brains to decipher
any format immediately. Particualrly in today's information rich
society. You pussy. Step up to the bar and LEARN something, and stop
declaring everything outside your little geographical shitspot
non-standard. There. That's out of the way. I have met your retarded
uncivil crack with one of my own, so do not get bent out of shape. Back
to business.
Secondly, of course it is a date. It is a very important date.
If that date comes to pass, then a whole lot of people will realize
that they are wrong, and the world continues to rotate about its wobbly
axis.
If that date does not come to pass, nothing will matter any longer
anyway.
The lead up to the date 20 December, 2012 will be no small worldwide
circus as well.
Mark my words... the critters are above ground now, and a whole lotta
shakin' is comin' down, so keep your powder dry and your ears keen. The
next couple of years are going to be a wild ride.
NOT a Brewster!
Yet another retarded response from the now gotta go google idiot,
Dolan!
The number is 13, you stupid twit!
And it coincides with our passage across the galactic equator.
TheEarth could get a pole reversal. If that is the case, it will be
noted well before the cross-through. We will see it happening. If the
poles do shift or reverse, we are in very deep kimshee <sp>.
Go back to school, little boy.
>On this date, according to Maya belief, the "Road to Xibalba"
>opens in the sky, and our world ceases to exist, joined forever
>with other worlds (other universes? hard to say exactly what
>the translations mean) and unknowable fates.
The word for today *may* be "entropy"?
>
>The Maya people developed one of the most advanced and accurate
>calendars we have ever found any civilization using.
Thank you!
You know, there's a pretty compelling theory that the Mayan scribes,
who were entrusted by the king with creating calendars ad infinitum,
tired of the job and told the king that the world would end at an
arbitrary date.
Also, I doubt your dry powder will help against the golden cube
that EVERYBODY knows is coming down from GOD's heaven to carry away
the good Christians on that hallowed date. Praise be.
adonis
You must have missed that part where we are all NOT worthy, and are ALL
sinners, and ALL can only get there by one way.
So it comes down to whether or not you know what the last words on your
lips are going to be. Unless you are out cold when it happens. You know
not the hour.
First, there's no need for insults. Especially if you have, apparently,
and once again with yet another topic, no clue about it.
Of course there's an international date standard. Have a look at the long
existing ISO 8601, now widely used and accepted, not only in computing
area, but also in many countries worldwide at least as optional format to
their native one.
In a country where they still use non-metric units that might not be well
known, though.
Janis
There are many countries that use non-metric units, you retarded twit.
Nearly all do, in fact. Do you still use pints of beer?
Also, there is no connection between the metric system and the fucking
calendar, or how a date is expressed in written form.
There are many countries with idiots, you ridiculous tautologist. It's
just that they don't let people outside the country see that.
Incidentally, most scientists seem to be using metric nowadays.
> Nearly all do, in fact. Do you still use pints of beer?
No, but I might be a minority.
I doubt that, though.
> Also, there is no connection between the metric system and the fucking
> calendar, or how a date is expressed in written form.
They both involve multiplication by constants, but that's probably not
the kind of connection you want.
Yes, there is a standard. If you paid any attention to Janis, iso8601.
The summary from
http://www.iso.org/iso/support/faqs/faqs_widely_used_standards/
widely_used_standards_other/date_and_time_format.htm
> ISO 8601 advises numeric representation of dates and times on an
> internationally agreed basis. It represents elements from the
> largest to the smallest element: year-month-day:
>
> * Calendar date is the most common date representation. It is:
>
> YYYY-MM-DD
>
> where YYYY is the year in the Gregorian calendar, MM is the month
> of the year between 01 (January) and 12 (December), and DD is the
> day of the month between 01 and 31.
>
> Example: 2003-04-01 represents the first day of April in 2003.
'internationally agreed basis' is approximately the same as 'standard'
in this language.
--
"Six by nine. Forty two."
"That's it. That's all there is."
"I always thought something was fundamentally wrong with the universe"
> <janis_papanag...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> >Son of a Sea Cook wrote:
> >> Ask me if I still believe that on 12/21/2012, if you can,
> >> that is. :-]
> >"12/21/2012" - does that number indicate an extreemly very
> >wide hip, a black pudding maybe (or just the non-standard US
> >date format)? :-p
> First off, dipshit, there is no "standard". There are SEVERAL
> date formats used around the world, none of which and at the
> same time all of which are "standard" and ANY adult should
> have enough brains to decipher any format immediately.
Really. What about 03/02/01? And there is an ISO standard,
even if it isn't widely used when communicating with people.
> Janis Papanagnou wrote:
>
> > Son of a Sea Cook wrote:
> >>
> >> Ask me if I still believe that on 12/21/2012, if you can, that is. :-]
> >
> > "12/21/2012" - does that number indicate an extreemly very wide hip,
> > a black pudding maybe (or just the non-standard US date format)? :-p
>
> The Maya people developed one of the most advanced and accurate
> calendars we have ever found any civilization using. It measures
> not just the years and days, but also such features as the
> precession of the earth's axis (a 25800-year cycle) and relative
> orbits of other planets, and it does it correctly.
This is a myth.
> But unlike all the cruder and less accurate calendars in the
> world (including the one we use), the Maya calendar does not
> endlessly cycle. It has a definite end, a particular date on
> which the world is finished and there is no more time in the
> universe.
>
> On this date, according to Maya belief, the "Road to Xibalba"
> opens in the sky, and our world ceases to exist, joined forever
> with other worlds (other universes? hard to say exactly what
> the translations mean) and unknowable fates.
This is even more a myth.
Richard