Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site utflis.UUCP
Path: utzoo!utcsri!utai!utflis!chai
From: chai@utflis.UUCP (Henry Chai)
Newsgroups: net.games.hack
Subject: Cockatrices *Spoiler*
Message-ID: <149@utflis.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 3-Jun-85 16:00:03 EDT
Article-I.D.: utflis.149
Posted: Mon Jun  3 16:00:03 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 4-Jun-85 04:37:33 EDT
References: <422@cmu-cs-k.ARPA>
Reply-To: chai@utflis.UUCP (Henry Chai)
Organization: FLIS, University of Toronto
Lines: 40
Summary: 


In article <523@x.UUCP> john@x.UUCP (John Woods) writes:
>> Several times I have come accross a dead lizard, can someone tell
>> me what they are good for?
>	Food.  That's it.

In article <422@cmu-cs-k.ARPA> kwan@cmu-cs-k.ARPA (Eric Kwan) writes:
>"They" said that dead lizard helps killing corkatrices... Too bad, this is
>just a rumor!

NO NO NO NO!
Dead_lizards *do* help against cockatrices!
Here is a bit of translated code from the source:

   for a 1 in 5 chance:
	the cockatrice hisses;
	if ( ctmp > 0   OR
	     1 in 20 chance OR
	     (it's new_moon AND you don't have a dead_lizard)
	   )
        "You get turned to stone!" .....

(ctmp is a variable that depends on you armor class, chance, whether 
the 'c' was 'cancelled' by a wand or not, and various other things.)
 
What this means is that if there's a new moon, the chance of being
petrified on first hiss is greatly decreased if you have a dead lizard.
Also it helps a bit if you 'cancel' the darn thing with a wand first.

I don't have too much of a problem with 'c's. I Engrave Elbereth and throw at it
everything I can, and more often than not it's killed before I run out of
ammo.  The most maddening experience I've had with this monstrous monster
is running along a corridor and bumping into one unknowingly, so whenever
I remember I use f(hjkl) instead of HJKL.

Happy Hacking!
-- 
Henry Chai 
Faculty of Library and Information Science, U of Toronto
{watmath,ihnp4,allegra}!utzoo!utflis!chai