mattock vs. pickaxe

[Bard]

Currently, I'm playing a bunch of random characters, getting a better
feel for tactics aside from "Valk Smash." I've grown incredibly fond of
"Rogue-Throw-Daggers-and-Run-Away" and "Tourist
Cower-Behind-Furry-Wall," but I'm not 'getting' those characters quite
yet. At least not to the point where I can survive the early game,
which is child's play now with a Valk.

But on to the issue at hand.

At the moment I've got a monk character and I figured I might as well
try for weaponless conduct. I need a digging tool however, and I've got
both a pickaxe and a mattock at my disposal. Which to choose? So far as
I can tell, the pickaxe is lighter (only by twenty, iirc, but hey every
little bit helps) and is one-handed(?), whereas the mattock is a much
more powerful weapon that can also be used as a digging tool.

At first glance the pickaxe seems to be the obvious choice. However, on
the understanding that the obvious choice often gets one killed, are
there any pros (beyond its weapon damage) that the mattock has over the
pick axe?

Thanks for the help!


Bard

[Doug Freyburger]

Post by Bard
At the moment I've got a monk character and I figured I might as well
try for weaponless conduct. I need a digging tool however, and I've got
both a pickaxe and a mattock at my disposal. Which to choose? So far as
I can tell, the pickaxe is lighter (only by twenty, iirc, but hey every
little bit helps) and is one-handed(?), whereas the mattock is a much
more powerful weapon that can also be used as a digging tool.
At first glance the pickaxe seems to be the obvious choice. However, on
the understanding that the obvious choice often gets one killed, are
there any pros (beyond its weapon damage) that the mattock has over the
pick axe?

The advantage of the dwarvish mattock is in combat. I've tried
to read through the digging code and I can't tell if there's a
digging advantage to it but there doesn't appear to be any.

Enchanting it makes it dig faster.

With both, if you're going for weaponless combat the issue will
be remembering to unwield it after digging. It's so easy to
forget and wander into the next monster and melee it.

[Richard Bos]

Post by Bard
At first glance the pickaxe seems to be the obvious choice. However, on
the understanding that the obvious choice often gets one killed, are
there any pros (beyond its weapon damage) that the mattock has over the
pick axe?

One _dis_advantage of mattocks: they're two-handed. That means no shield
(no problem for a monk), and it also means you're in real trouble when
it gets cursed.

Richard

[Jove]

Post by Bard
Currently, I'm playing a bunch of random characters, getting a better
feel for tactics aside from "Valk Smash." I've grown incredibly fond of
"Rogue-Throw-Daggers-and-Run-Away" and "Tourist
Cower-Behind-Furry-Wall," but I'm not 'getting' those characters quite
yet. At least not to the point where I can survive the early game,

Check every non-cursed piece of armor you find for enchantment.
You want the best combination of weight, AC, and spell
friendliness. That "best" combination will change a lot from
game to game, and even within a game.

As for weight, there are few better places to allocate carrying
capacity than to defense.

Pacifists can ascend using pets. The rest of us can surely
stay alive using pets. Pets can keep you out of trouble, but
will rarely get you out of trouble. Pets gain an equal amount
of experience from all kills. Let your pet get the small stuff.



Rogues should throw daggers early and often.
- Pick up all daggers found of any type
- for reserve stacks and
- to check for better enchantment.
(NB: a +1 crude/orcish dagger is superior to an elven
dagger.)
- #enhance dagger skill to max so you can machine gun daggers.
(That's why you need so many reserve daggers.)
- Then you can
- wear what shield you want and/or
- wield whatever weapon(s) you want.
- Find a means of detecting/seeing monsters at a distance.
- lit magic lamp works great for this.



Tourists:
- Throw darts early and often.
- Better to get to the mid-game with no darts left than
to leave a bones file stuffed with cursed darts.
- Let the Lady of the Stars as your tour guide.
- The camera is useful to escape/evade slow monsters, but
blinded monsters don't care about engravings on the floor.


A lot of what I find necessary (and sufficient) to survive
in Nethack is tedious, finicky, and made difficult by the
interface. The interesting parts of Nethack are what get
your character killed. Nethack bores you to death.

Post by Bard
which is child's play now with a Valk.
But on to the issue at hand.
At the moment I've got a monk character and I figured I might as well
try for weaponless conduct. I need a digging tool however, and I've got
both a pickaxe and a mattock at my disposal. Which to choose? So far as
I can tell, the pickaxe is lighter (only by twenty, iirc, but hey every
little bit helps) and is one-handed(?), whereas the mattock is a much
more powerful weapon that can also be used as a digging tool.

Dwarves may get a bonus to digging when using the mattock.

Post by Bard
At first glance the pickaxe seems to be the obvious choice. However, on
the understanding that the obvious choice often gets one killed, are
there any pros (beyond its weapon damage) that the mattock has over the
pick axe?

I believe you're over thinking the digging part of the game.
(Not that "question everything in Nethack" is a bad approach by
any means.)

No matter which tool you use, you'll spend a lot of time
digging. If you want your digging tool to be your primary
weapon, the mattock is better. I don't see any particular
advantage to your digging tool also being your primary weapon.

Getting a two-handed weapon cursed is one of the most
aggravating situations in the game. And there are a LOT
of aggravating situations in the game.

It would take an "insta-win" wielded weapon to overcome that
disadvantage. There are no "insta-win" wielded weapons,
two-handed or otherwise.

The worst part of a two-handed weapon is getting it cursed in
Gehennom. So always have a way to escape from Gehennom in
inventory. (NB. You can lose a lot of cursed scrolls of teleport
to firetraps that way.)

Lacking that, care and patience can generally deal with the
situation. Unfortunately, care and patience are generally what
is needed to win at Nethack. So don't spend your finite supply
of patience on a situation you can avoid in the first place.

Post by Bard
Thanks for the help!

Glad to.