Ttyrecs are recordings of NetHack games that can be played back.
Online Ttyrec Viewer - courtesy Nethack.alt.org. Shows
first few screens directly off of the internet, even bzipped
files. You don't even need to download the file first, just
paste in the URL.
Index to mrivan's ttyrecs on NAO - Ttyrecs for the later games were only roughly identified using the log file entries for mrivan.
Slightly different index to mrivan's and cmb's games - courtesy Shawn M Moore (aka Eidolos on NAO and #nethack)
"Also see "MarvinTV". 24/7 playback of Marvin's nethack.alt.org games (cmb's are included as well, just a different account -- he has a pacifist healer and a foodless monk on cmb). This is especially helpful if you don't have ttyrec playback available (and if you don't, shame on you!). To access MarvinTV, telnet into noway.ratry.ru port 37331. This is hosted by the TermCast service recently announced here on rgrn."
Shawn M Moore (aka Eidolos on NAO and #nethack)
The first 23 games are Ascensions. He did that in just under 11 weeks. 2 Ascended games per week. (If that doesn't put mrivan on top of nao's list of all-time best players, that's nao's fault.) There's more than one ttyrec per game. He made these ttyrecs specifically to help players, complete with embedded comments.
"The most helpful and educating thing for me, was watching Mrivan's
ttyrecs." - moleman
After the November 2003 DevNull Tournament Eric Wright asked Marvin
(Christian Bressler)
"I've just got to know this: how do you ascend 75%+ of your games?"
Marvin replied:
"Well the easiest answer, avoid to die, or more popular:
'The trick is to keep breathing.'"
Marvin's full reply.
Back to top of page.
Quick Ascension Post with link to ttyrec - by Shawn Moore.
(aka Eidolos on the nethack.alt.org server and #nethack on freenode.org)
Eidolos Wiz-Elf-Mal-Law - 2h 48m 30s / T:11070. (Yes, Eidolos
Ascended in under 12k turns and less than 3 hours.)
Post with link to instructional ttyrec about killing Master Kaen in complete safety - by Eidolos
Direct link to ttyrec on NAO - (Google is losing more and more posts from its Usenet archive.)
Post with link to instructional ttyrec doing the Endgame at warp speed - by Rast
Post with full description of the ttyrec. - Link in this post no longer works.
Direct link to ttyrec - (Google is losing more and more posts from its Usenet archive.)
"I just finished watching that and all I can say is ... wow! wow! and
effing wow!" - cdi
Ttyrec of Smitty's End - Four amulets of life saving.
Five deaths in the Endgame. Do the math.
What follows are just a few of many, many comments that could be made on this ttyrec. No one thing could have saved this Ascension. Maybe no ten things could have either.
Note that Smitty was doing just fine until the Plane of Air. The Ascension Run up Gehennom and the Dungeons set him up. The Plane of Earth was a cakewalk lulling Smitty into a false sense of security. Then all hell broke loose.
Four amulets of life saving and a successful prayer kept Smitty alive
an extra 500 turns, after almost exactly 56000 turns without dying once.
Smitty is a Swashbuckler, an XL:18 Valkyrie with Str:25 and the Orb of
Fate. HP:295 and AC:-18. The Orb of Fate gives half
physical damage and half spell damage. That's the equivalent of
590 hitpoints. 'L' and 'h' have been blessed genocided.
Smitty also has a (1:1) wand of wishing and and two uncursed magic
lamps. The wand of wishing and one of the magic lamps never
leave the bag of holding.
Smitty is Burdened throughout the entire ttyrec, starting in the
Wizard's tower on turn 50590. Among other things Smitty carries
the Bell of Opening, the Book of the Dead, and the Candelabrum of
Invocation to the end, along with 130773 gold pieces, and a rusty
pick-axe.
His ring of conflict never leaves his BoH, but he wears a ring of slow
digestion to the end. There were 3 potions of holy water in his
BoH he could have blessed the two magic lamps with.
With six blessed unlabeled scrolls Smitty could have wished for a magic marker, and greatly improved his AC. An average of two points of enchantment per blessed scroll of Enchant armor would mean 12 more points of AC. That should average to 6 less points of damage taken per hit. This is critical when taking many hits, such as when engulfed by an Air Elemental or while mobbed.
blessed +0 gray dragon scale mail blessed +1 Hawaiian shirt uncursed +0 orcish helm blessed rustproof +1 pair of gauntlets of power uncursed +1 pair of speed boots blessed +2 shield of reflection
Just trying on every non-cursed helmet in the game should have gotten at least +3 enchantment. Not to mention +0 dwarven helms give 2 AC.
Taking every item to +4 would mean 20 more points of AC, down to -38. Eleven blessed scrolls of Enchant armor. This needs to be done on the Plane of Earth at the latest. After that there won't be leisure for enchanting armor. Enchanting armor with Rodney on the loose is dangerous enough.
T:55328 - Smitty leaves the Dungeons of Doom.
T:55635 - Smitty leaves the Plane of Earth.
He changes his speed boots for levitation boots and does so while on the Plane of Air. He's immobile during those four turns. He should have been moving. He'll be "fast," instead of "very fast," and Burdened for the rest of the Plane of Air.
T:55997 - The first amulet of Life Saving gets used on the Plane of Air despite liberal use of wands of teleport. Air Elementals are nasty.
T:56067 - Smitty leaves the Plane of Air.
On the Plane of Fire Smitty switches from +7 Excalibur to the rustproof
+4 Mjollnir to fight an energy vortex. Two problems: Energy
vortexes are immune to Mjollnir's lightning attack. Wielding
Mjollnir does not confer shock resistance. Smitty will fight
other monsters immune to Mjollnir's lightning attack: the endgame
Riders, and several Angels. Without the special attack
+4 Mjollnir does 10 fewer points of damage per hit than +7 Excalibur.
| Weapon | Base | Strength | Expert | Enchant | Special | Total | Angels&Riders |
| Mjollnir | 3.0 | +6 | +2 | +4 | +12.5 | 27.5 | 15.0 |
| Excalibur | 5.5 | +6 | +2 | +7 | +5.5 | 25.0 | 25.0 |
T:56099 - The second amulet of Life Saving gets used on the Plane of
Fire. Smitty dies hitting an energy vortex with Mjollnir.
Smitty does not have shock resistance.
Energy vortexes are immune to Mjollnir's shock attack.
Wielding Mjollnir does not confer shock resistance.
T:56342 - Smitty arrives on the Astral Plane.
Killing Death twice with Mjollnir while Burdened without speed boots
lowers Smitty's maximum hitpoints from 295 to 154 in just 32
turns. T:56355 to T:56387. Using +4 Mjollnir instead of +7
Exalibur means 10 fewer points of damage per hit vs Death, Pestilence,
Famine, and Angels.
T:56441 - Third amulet of Life Saving gets used. Max HP:141
T:56472 - Last amulet of Life Saving gets used. Max HP:141
T:56473 - Smitty, wearing a ring of slow digestion and not even
hungry, facing only Pestilence of the Endgame Riders, stops to eat a
food ration.
T:56474 - Smitty, having been interrupted in eating, resumes eating.
T:56477 - Smitty kills Pestilence.
T:56478 - Smitty is ill from Pestilence.
T:56480 - With 7/148 hp and Ill from Pestilence, Smitty prays.
T:56481 - Max Hp are restored and the illness is cured. The (1:1)
wand of wishing is still in the BoH.
T:56481 - Smitty burns Elbereth into the floor with an uncursed wand
of lightning. As his character is blind he has a very low chance
of success. "You hear crackling" is the only indication of the
engraving. "Blind" has been pushed off the end of the status
line by his experience points, turncount, and "Satiated."
"Burdened is MIA too.
T:56481 - Smitty kills an ant with Mjollnir.
T:56482 - Smitty steps off of the engraving, whatever it is.
T:56483 - Smitty spends the last turns of his life feeling on the
floor.
When he died Smitty had two wishes in the (1:1) wand of wishing.
The two magic lamps could have been blessed earlier and probably
used for at least one other wish.
Compare Smitty's experience with Sleepy's ttyrec. (See below).
Ttyrec of Sleepy - As bad a summoning storm as I've seen, on the Elemental Plane of Fire. It manages to spill over onto the Plane of Water. What a difference a ring of conflict, 600 HP, and AC:-46 make. Sleepy does use one amulet of life saving, but still has five in reserve.
Sleepy may even have died on purpose, trading an amulet of lifesaving for recharged Pw.
Sleepy did make one mistake, not taking off the ring of conflict
after taming some Archons. Conflict meant they kept blinding,
stunning, summoning, and attacking.
Sleepy's Previous Ttyrec - For those how want to see how sleepy got into
the situation above.
DevNull 8 conducts game, foodless, illiterate... - by cbus
DevNull: YAAP LOOONG (8 conducts game, foodless, illiterate ...) - Post with full description of the game.
The above ttyrecs are usually compressed into bzip2 format.
gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/bzip2.htm - Binaries for
bzip2 for MS Windows.
angband.pl/termrec.html
- Ttyplay for MS Windows.
Online Ttyrec Player - courtesy Nethack.alt.org. Plays
ttyrecs directly off of the internet, even bzipped files. You
don't even need to download the file first, just paste in the URL.
These guys are good.