Dev Null Nethack Tournament 2008
Nethack is hard. I already ascended several times but I still find that it's a major accomplishment when I manage to do it again. Without any particular reason, I decided to join the 2008 /dev/null Nethack tournament. In this post, I will try to summarize my adventure.
Back in 2005, I managed to make it on the top 5 on alt.org; I guess I though that it meant I had a chance to reach a nice position in the tournament.
I was wrong. The tournament trophies are designed so that farming won't help you. Ascending with a billion points doesn't mean much if you need a year of farming to do it.
If the regular conducts are too easy for you, the tournament has some extra spice: the challenges. I made the mistake of playing after a few drinks. When an in-game character asked me if I wanted to accept a challenge, I blindly went for it. The only challenge I enrolled was the Grue one. Without selling the punch, as soon as you end up in a dark room, you have only a few turn to run away or to find a light source; if you don't, you are eaten by a grue. It might seem easy but remember that the only place where you are sure to find light sources is in mine town, and that the mine levels above mine town are extremely poorly lighted.