Everything you always wanted to know about ADOM but was afraid to ask

[mjz15]

So, here's some questions for ya:


* How is every single adventurer able to accurately weigh every single item he/she finds? Does he/she carry huge scales with him/her? Scales that are accurate enough to tell you that a potion of water weighs 4 stones, and big enough to tell you that a moloch armor weighs 15.000 stones? So how much do these scales weigh?

* How exactly does teleportation work? When you teleport, your backpack obviously teleports with you... Is this because it's attached to your body? If you were to encounter a cave lion and he sinks his fangs into your arm, the cave lion would be attached to your body too, but he does NOT hitch a ride on the teleport train. How does that work?

* Do mist elves take damage from eating iron rations?

* What exactly is a scroll of identify, is it a giant list of every single item available in the game? Is it comparable to, say, a tablet device with a single app, that when you take a picture of the item, identifies the item and tells you what it is?
- If it's cursed, would it be an illegally downloaded app that removes itself after identifying only one item?
- If it's uncursed, is it a free trial that tells you about items of a certain type and then advertises for the premium version?
- If it's blessed, is it the premium version?

* Consider the following course of action. Watching a Gordon Overkill video on Youtube, I saw him do this: On D:50, he reads a scroll of familiar summoning, which gives him a tame greater earth elemental. He zaps a wand of monster creation, which gives him a second greater earth elemental. He orders GEE #1 to attack GEE #2, and we have a duel of GEE's. Whenever one of them gets injured, he casts a healing spell on it, so none of them will die, so they can continue the fight. So in a nutshell: he summons two creatures, befriends them, and makes them fight each other indefinitely. I can hardly think of a more sadistic thing to do. But here's the big punchline: he gets rewarded for LAWFUL BEHAVIOR! Let me try and paint a more realistic picture for you: let's say you were to keep two ferocious dogs and make them fight each other. Whenever a dog gets seriously injured, you perform surgery on it so it can fight again. You do this over and over again. Would you consider this a lawful thing to do, just because you keep on healing the dogs? This is the kind of twisted sense of justice that the ADOM gods have. Now am I alone in this opinion or does anyone else think this is pretty sick?

Call me crazy but these are the kind of thoughts in my mind when I've played ADOM a little too long

[kuniqs]

So, here's some questions for ya:


1) How is every single adventurer able to accurately weigh every single item he/she finds? Does he/she carry huge scales with him/her? Scales that are accurate enough to tell you that a potion of water weighs 4 stones, and big enough to tell you that a moloch armor weighs 15.000 stones? So how much do these scales weigh?

2) How exactly does teleportation work? When you teleport, your backpack obviously teleports with you... Is this because it's attached to your body? If you were to encounter a cave lion and he sinks his fangs into your arm, the cave lion would be attached to your body too, but he does NOT hitch a ride on the teleport train. How does that work?

3) Do mist elves take damage from eating iron rations?

4) What exactly is a scroll of identify, is it a giant list of every single item available in the game? Is it comparable to, say, a tablet device with a single app, that when you take a picture of the item, identifies the item and tells you what it is?
- If it's cursed, would it be an illegally downloaded app that removes itself after identifying only one item?
- If it's uncursed, is it a free trial that tells you about items of a certain type and then advertises for the premium version?
- If it's blessed, is it the premium version?

5) Consider the following course of action. Watching a Gordon Overkill video on Youtube, I saw him do this: On D:50, he reads a scroll of familiar summoning, which gives him a tame greater earth elemental. He zaps a wand of monster creation, which gives him a second greater earth elemental. He orders GEE #1 to attack GEE #2, and we have a duel of GEE's. Whenever one of them gets injured, he casts a healing spell on it, so none of them will die, so they can continue the fight. So in a nutshell: he summons two creatures, befriends them, and makes them fight each other indefinitely. I can hardly think of a more sadistic thing to do. But here's the big punchline: he gets rewarded for LAWFUL BEHAVIOR! Let me try and paint a more realistic picture for you: let's say you were to keep two ferocious dogs and make them fight each other. Whenever a dog gets seriously injured, you perform surgery on it so it can fight again. You do this over and over again. Would you consider this a lawful thing to do, just because you keep on healing the dogs? This is the kind of twisted sense of justice that the ADOM gods have. Now am I alone in this opinion or does anyone else think this is pretty sick?

1) But I don't want to play Nethack. Besides, shop receipts from Lawenilothetl have weights listed for products.

2) The teleportation algorithm starts a flood-fill that stops whenether it encounters an atom that doesn't belong to you.

3) Do you commit cannibalism when you polymorph into an elf and eat elf meat?

4) Ever heard of ingredient lists?

5) Consider this - an C- character stumbles into an red dragon lair. He slaughters everyone, hungry for their treasure. In the end, his alighment shoot up to L! How much sense does that make?

[Rick]

1) But I don't want to play Nethack.

Why not? I still think that NetHack is a masterpiece, less free roaming than ADOM, but still a great atmosphere And very very harder than ADOM.

I have some some question too..

1) What could be the reason for a Large Bat or a Rat to carry around a piece of clothes, a bottle of water, a piece of paper or a mandoline?

2) Why I have to identify those damn amulet of the cold heart every time I found one?

3) Why I can't take one of those goodwifes as companion? She could spot some special interactions when (O)rdered to.. ..to raise some hidden stat like "spirit" or "joy of life"

4) Why, of all creatures you can meet, the only one smarter enough to not to step on your altar is that Hill orc sergeant, while even dark sages and wizards are so dumb?

5) Who took so much time and efforts to place traps here and there on the floor guarding nothing special, for no reason beside to have fun thinking to this poors tourists exploding away?

6) Seriously, I'm trying to save the world but I will not, just because having more Willpower than perception killed that cat for mistake with a bolt, and the most powerful NPC in the game care much more for that cat than making the world safe for all the others cats?

7) Why I can't stop playing a game that hate me?

[mjz15]

4) Why, of all creatures you can meet, the only one smarter enough to not to step on your altar is that Hill orc sergeant, while even dark sages and wizards are so dumb?

YES, that always baffled me too!

[_Ln_]

1) What could be the reason for a Large Bat or a Rat to carry around a piece of clothes, a bottle of water, a piece of paper or a mandoline?

The usual explanation is that it ate it. Yes, even an anvil and a set of chain mail 13 times heavier than the rat. Yesterday a fire vortex I've killed dropped a scroll and I barely flinched.

2) Why I have to identify those damn amulet of the cold heart every time I found one?

Since amulet has really low Charisma score, you don't like it and act like you haven't recognized it to avoid an awkward conversation.

3) Why I can't take one of those goodwifes as companion? She could spot some special interactions when (O)rdered to.. ..to raise some hidden stat like "spirit" or "joy of life"

I thought they were married. Also you don't really put food on the table, do you?

4) Why, of all creatures you can meet, the only one smarter enough to not to step on your altar is that Hill orc sergeant, while even dark sages and wizards are so dumb?

Because they are constantly drunk (the sergeants that is). Ever saw a sober sergeant?

5) Who took so much time and efforts to place traps here and there on the floor guarding nothing special, for no reason beside to have fun thinking to this poors tourists exploding away?

Previous adventurers zap-iding their wands. Duh.

6) Seriously, I'm trying to save the world but I will not, just because having more Willpower than perception killed that cat for mistake with a bolt, and the most powerful NPC in the game care much more for that cat than making the world safe for all the others cats?

Cats are mean. Human-level intelligence cats are mean.

7) Why I can't stop playing a game that hate me?

Reminds me of my school love. Yep, can't see anything wrong with that.

[mjz15]

Also you don't really put food on the table, do you?

Not really, except for the countless orc corpses, giant bat corpses, kobold corpses, spider corpses, and, of course, farmer corpses...

[kuniqs]

Why not? I still think that NetHack is a masterpiece, less free roaming than ADOM, but still a great atmosphere And very very harder than ADOM.

Nethack - bloodsports for people too flimsy to play rugby.
Since Omega I renounce games that expect me to read their sourcecode if I want to know what's going on.

1) What could be the reason for a Large Bat or a Rat to carry around a piece of clothes, a bottle of water, a piece of paper or a mandoline?

- They're pack rats, obviously.

2) Why I have to identify those damn amulet of the cold heart every time I found one?

- And how do you know they are cold before putting them on? Stop wearing thick gauntlets.

3) Why I can't take one of those goodwifes as companion? She could spot some special interactions when (O)rdered to.. ..to raise some hidden stat like "spirit" or "joy of life"

- It doesn't work IRL, either. Yeah, it pains me too.

4) Why, of all creatures you can meet, the only one smarter enough to not to step on your altar is that Hill orc sergeant, while even dark sages and wizards are so dumb?

- Because orc sergeants aren't allowed to die without permission!

5) Who took so much time and efforts to place traps here and there on the floor guarding nothing special, for no reason beside to have fun thinking to this poors tourists exploding away?

- Gremlins. Buncha gremlins.

6) Seriously, I'm trying to save the world but I will not, just because having more Willpower than perception killed that cat for mistake with a bolt, and the most powerful NPC in the game care much more for that cat than making the world safe for all the others cats?

- They are mean, selfish, lying, cruel, uncaring, absent... everything adventurers hate in men, they love in cats.

7) Why I can't stop playing a game that hate me?

- The player yelled "Punish me!", and the RNG said "No".

[Blasphemous]

1) What geographical phenomenon caused all rivers and lakes to be equally deep everywhere, without a shallower section between the depths and the bank or the shore?
2) Why trees don't have any fruits? Here's a hint for survival skill - when used over forest, it gives apples while for grasslands we could have melons.
3) How come titans are so huge they can shape young worlds to their liking but they occupy the exact same amount of space in the game as a petty rat?
4) Who makes all those *foo* slaying missiles when not even my extremely experienced archer or smith with maxed metallurgy, archery, fletchery and smithing can create them?

[kuniqs]

1) What geographical phenomenon caused all rivers and lakes to be equally deep everywhere, without a shallower section between the depths and the bank or the shore?
2) Why trees don't have any fruits? Here's a hint for survival skill - when used over forest, it gives apples while for grasslands we could have melons.
3) How come titans are so huge they can shape young worlds to their liking but they occupy the exact same amount of space in the game as a petty rat?
4) Who makes all those *foo* slaying missiles when not even my extremely experienced archer or smith with maxed metallurgy, archery, fletchery and smithing can create them?

1) The same that made forests' perfectly square borders.
2) All fruits in Drakalor Chain have been imported. Fruit shops will open soon!
3) Titans are taller than you, but not really hostile - you just have to sweet talk them a little.
4) None of Kherab's fletchers reached level 18 yet.

What does Old Crone need with a scroll of danger, a potion of cure corruption, a farmer corpse, a wand of monster creation and giant boar skull? What those item have in common?

[sweetnothing]

Nethack - bloodsports for people too flimsy to play rugby.
Since Omega I renounce games that expect me to read their sourcecode if I want to know what's going on.

Reading of source code is not necessary to ascend in NetHack. I've recently read a story about a man who beat NetHack without spoilers/source code diving etc. That was a really interesting story I would say. In fact, he has done a research of the game, played a lot in exploration mode, figured out effects of all corpses, un-ID'ed wand messages, etc. I think this approach to roguelikes has its own unique benefits and is rewarding in its own way. You would feel yourself as a true trailblazer.