Questions about Unangband

[Anne]

I have a whole slew of questions already, poor you. My thanks to any of you who care to respond. Hopefully I'm not posting anything spoilerish. Time to show my newbness again...

I was looking at the Character Screen to compare two weapons in terms of blows per turn. One gave me Blows of 3/turn(x1) and the other gave me 1/turn(x3). To me, that looks like I'd get 3 blows per turn either way. Am I reading that right?

When something "marks you as (race)" what does that mean in terms of gameplay? I had a Lantern of Man, and no shops wanted it, which makes me think that being identified "as a man" is probably not a good thing.

I discovered eggs in the dungeon. I picked them up, thinking they might hatch into helpful pets ala Nethack. They hatched pretty quickly into hostiles. So I've been destroying the eggs I find for monsters I'd rather not fight. Is there any reason -not- to destroy eggs?

So, I get to Rivendell. Lo and behold there's an extra house for me to stuff, woohoo! Am I right in assuming that Elrond's house is just a little extra storage exclusive to Rivendell, and it won't appear in other towns like my house does?

In the Resist help file, the description of nexus says that it may swap two "internal" stats. It's the 'internal' that's confusing me. Does it just mean regular stats like strength, dexterity, etc? Or something else?

Current Dungeon Knowledge - under the 'Reached' column, do all the ones marked with '***' have the possibility of turning into 'victory'? Or do only some of them? And what does the '!!!' mean?

And that reminds me of another question - in order to get a 'victory' is there always a guardian that I have to beat, or will I sometimes need to do something else?

[Rizwan]

In the Resist help file, the description of nexus says that it may swap two "internal" stats. It's the 'internal' that's confusing me. Does it just mean regular stats like strength, dexterity, etc? Or something else?

In V thats exactly what it means by "internal" stats. I'm betting that it means the same in Un too. I guess the "external" stats would be the resistances and such or maybe the saving throw, stealth, fighting, shooting etc stats.

[Svladd Cjelik]

Internal stats are your base atributes including any racial/class modifier... That is for example, your Strength score, minus any item/equipment bonuses that give + or - Str.

[Bandobras]

I was looking at the Character Screen to compare two weapons in terms of blows per turn. One gave me Blows of 3/turn(x1) and the other gave me 1/turn(x3). To me, that looks like I'd get 3 blows per turn either way. Am I reading that right?

Nope, sorry for the lack of docs for the 'C' screen. The first is 3 blows, but only weak charging damage, the second is 1 blow, but triple charging damage. Charging is when you attack in the direction (roughly) you walked the previous turn. Then you usually get the message "You charge" (or something similar) instead of "You hit". There is more about charging, I wonder if it's written anywhere.

When something "marks you as (race)" what does that mean in terms of gameplay? I had a Lantern of Man, and no shops wanted it, which makes me think that being identified "as a man" is probably not a good thing.

Yeah, being a man is a bitch. In particular, you can't comfortably wield weapons of "Slay Man", IIRC. Perhaps other bad effects, too.

I discovered eggs in the dungeon. I picked them up, thinking they might hatch into helpful pets ala Nethack. They hatched pretty quickly into hostiles. So I've been destroying the eggs I find for monsters I'd rather not fight. Is there any reason -not- to destroy eggs?

They were added when allied monster were not ready, yet. Not allied monsters are OK, but they vanish when you leave a level (which I like, BTW). So I guess the egg monsters should have the allied flag set, at least most of the time. I'll report that.

So, I get to Rivendell. Lo and behold there's an extra house for me to stuff, woohoo! Am I right in assuming that Elrond's house is just a little extra storage exclusive to Rivendell, and it won't appear in other towns like my house does?

Yes, you are right.

In the Resist help file, the description of nexus says that it may swap two "internal" stats. It's the 'internal' that's confusing me. Does it just mean regular stats like strength, dexterity, etc? Or something else?

Yes, as others say, these are the stats. Howeve, the docs are outdated for beta2 (including unofficial). Now nexusonly temporarily increases a random stat and temporarily decreases another. No swap, no permanent effects (they are deadly in Un, where you can't top all stats).

Current Dungeon Knowledge - under the 'Reached' column, do all the ones marked with '***' have the possibility of turning into 'victory'? Or do only some of them? And what does the '!!!' mean?

I don't remember, but it's only a visual abbreviation of the full data you get when 'r'ecalling information about the dungeon zone in question (move with arrows to the right of the dungeon knowledge screen).

And that reminds me of another question - in order to get a 'victory' is there always a guardian that I have to beat, or will I sometimes need to do something else?

Only guardians (for now). But getting through to the other side alive (regardless if there was a guardian) will grant you a congratulations and an entry in the text dump of your character, too

[Anne]

Yeah, being a man is a bitch. In particular, you can't comfortably wield weapons of "Slay Man", IIRC. Perhaps other bad effects, too.

Hey, at least you don't have to deal with PMS day. Oh now there's a thought. For female characters, randomly occuring bouts of berserk strength once a month. LMAO.

Thanks.

[Psi]

Hey, at least you don't have to deal with PMS day. Oh now there's a thought. For female characters, randomly occuring bouts of berserk strength once a month. LMAO.

...plus confusion LOL

[Anne]

...plus confusion LOL

Now, there's a person who's familiar with PMS!

[Psi]

Now, there's a person who's familiar with PMS!

Unfortunately I never have any !CCW in stock to sort her out.

[Anne]

Pssst... keep little pieces of chocolate on hand. Works like a charm. Trust me on this. It's also standard equipment for resisting bugfixing headaches.

[Anne]

More newbieness!

Studying runes to gain new spells - is that only for certain classes? Or maybe I just haven't figured out how to study them. Peruse and Gain Spell don't work. (This was with an Istari character.)

I'm finally branching out from good ol' Istari, which brings up a new question. I chose wizard for this one, and I see that in the shop, I can see the spells in some of the magic books but not in others. Would that be dependent on what school of magic I chose as my specialty?

[Anne]

One more to go along with the ones in the above post. When I try to 'p'eruse a certain spellbook that I found in order to see what spells are contained, it says: "You cannot read that spell. It shows a lack of grasp of simple theory." Does that mean that my character will never be able to use that particular spellbook, or that he can't use it yet? (This is with my wizard.)

[Bandobras]

Studying runes to gain new spells - is that only for certain classes?

Yes, in particular all mages. Just try to gain spells and when it asks you for a book, choose the runes.

I'm finally branching out from good ol' Istari, which brings up a new question. I chose wizard for this one, and I see that in the shop, I can see the spells in some of the magic books but not in others. Would that be dependent on what school of magic I chose as my specialty?

Yes. If you want all mage spells, don't choose a magic book style with a book that has the same name as a school (a bit complex at first, I agree).

One more to go along with the ones in the above post. When I try to 'p'eruse a certain spellbook that I found in order to see what spells are contained, it says: "You cannot read that spell. It shows a lack of grasp of simple theory." Does that mean that my character will never be able to use that particular spellbook, or that he can't use it yet? (This is with my wizard.)

Never. See above. However, he can use every spell from that book, if it appears in other books, outside the sets of the competing schools.