Plane of Air - Revision history

Umbire the Phantom: potholes et. al.

2025-07-02T18:03:48Z

potholes et. al.

Cathartes: /* Survival and combat */ upcoming, music is less effective on Plane of Air

2023-06-12T00:15:24Z

‎Survival and combat: upcoming, music is less effective on Plane of Air

Cathartes: lurkers above can fly, but are excluded from plane of air. the code uses S_TRAPPER, of which lurker above is a flying member

2022-09-13T04:28:05Z

lurkers above can fly, but are excluded from plane of air. the code uses S_TRAPPER, of which lurker above is a flying member

Lightning 11: Added the factoid that trappers cannot fly. If this is untrue, the page about trappers and the page about flying creatures should be updated instead.

2022-09-12T22:36:36Z

Added the factoid that trappers cannot fly. If this is untrue, the page about trappers and the page about flying creatures should be updated instead.

Umbire the Phantom: /* History */

2021-07-03T08:51:04Z

‎History

Umbire the Phantom: /* Moving */

2021-07-03T08:49:54Z

‎Moving

Umbire the Phantom: /* Strategy */

2021-07-03T08:47:01Z

‎Strategy

Darth l33t: add pre-3.6.0 map to history

2021-07-02T18:48:59Z

add pre-3.6.0 map to history

Luxidream at 15:10, 5 February 2021

2021-02-05T15:10:51Z

Actual-nh: /* Moving */ Leftover

2021-02-05T15:04:06Z

‎Moving: Leftover

@@ Line 34: / Line 34: @@
 The monsters on this plane are fairly tough. The air elementals move much faster than even a [[very fast]] player and can dish out damage quickly; while a [[wand of slow monster]] or [[wand of opening]] will force them to expel you, the air elemental may likely re-engulf you before you can escape. They are also generated to be much tougher than the ones encountered in the dungeons; keep an eye on your HP and be prepared to expend some resources to escape and/or kill them when necessary. As mentioned above, they may also pull you close to or into the clouds, making escape paramount.
-Air elementals are susceptible to various spells and wands, such as the [[wand of sleep|sleep]] [[spell of sleep|spell]], [[wand of death|death]] [[Finger of death|rays]], [[wand of teleportation|teleportation]] [[spell of teleportation|beams]], and so on. [[Polymorphing]] is also a valid strategy, but carries the usual risks of producing something worse.
+Air elementals are susceptible to various spells and wands, such as the [[wand of sleep]], the {{+ of|sleep}} spell, [[death rays]], the [[wand of teleportation]], the {{+ of|teleport away}} spell, and so on. [[Polymorphing]] is also a valid strategy, but carries the usual risks of producing something worse.
-As this plane has no normal floor, you cannot use [[Elbereth]] in emergency situations; the [[scroll of scare monster]] still works normally. [[Tooled horn]]s and [[leather drum]]s are also solid monster deterrents. You can also hide in the steam vortexes as mentioned previously - with fire resistance, they will do no damage and allow you to safely restore HP while engulfed, though the primary hazard then becomes the clouds and their aforementioned lightning strikes. [[Conflict]] is also viable to keep monsters occupied and away from you while you prioritize finding the portal.
+As this plane has no normal floor, you cannot use [[Elbereth]] in emergency situations; the [[scroll of scare monster]] still works normally. [[Tooled horn]]s and [[leather drum]]s are also solid monster deterrents. You can also hide in the steam vortexes as mentioned previously&mdash;with fire resistance, they will do no damage and allow you to safely restore HP while engulfed, though the primary hazard then becomes the clouds and their aforementioned lightning strikes. [[Conflict]] is also viable to keep monsters occupied and away from you while you prioritize finding the portal.
-{{upcoming|NetHack 3.7.0|Mindless monsters, including air elementals and vortices, are no longer afraid of music. ({{commit|6e49372d8f76172f5dde2a9a8ecb551d4be2a1e1}})}}
+{{upcoming|NetHack 3.7.0|Per {{commit|6e49372d8f76172f5dde2a9a8ecb551d4be2a1e1}}, [[mindless]] monsters (including air elementals and vortices) are no longer afraid of music.}}
 ===Portal detection===

@@ Line 36: / Line 36: @@
 Air elementals are susceptible to various spells and wands, such as the [[wand of sleep|sleep]] [[spell of sleep|spell]], [[wand of death|death]] [[Finger of death|rays]], [[wand of teleportation|teleportation]] [[spell of teleportation|beams]], and so on. [[Polymorphing]] is also a valid strategy, but carries the usual risks of producing something worse.
 As this plane has no normal floor, you cannot use [[Elbereth]] in emergency situations; the [[scroll of scare monster]] still works normally. [[Tooled horn]]s and [[leather drum]]s are also solid monster deterrents. You can also hide in the steam vortexes as mentioned previously - with fire resistance, they will do no damage and allow you to safely restore HP while engulfed, though the primary hazard then becomes the clouds and their aforementioned lightning strikes. [[Conflict]] is also viable to keep monsters occupied and away from you while you prioritize finding the portal.
 ===Portal detection===

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
   |teleport=no
 }}
-The '''Plane of Air''' is the second of the [[Elemental Planes]]. It is reached by a magic [[portal]] from the [[Plane of Earth]]. Only monsters that can [[fly]] (excluding [[trappers]], even though they cannot fly), can float, are amorphous, are noncorporeal, or are whirly will be randomly generated.{{refsrc|makemon.c|60}}
+The '''Plane of Air''' is the second of the [[Elemental Planes]]. It is reached by a magic [[portal]] from the [[Plane of Earth]]. Only monsters that can [[fly]] (excluding [[lurkers above]]), can float, are amorphous, are noncorporeal, or are whirly will be randomly generated.{{refsrc|src/makemon.c|70|nethack=3.6.6}}
 The Plane of Air is ineligible to leave [[bones]] files. The entire level is no-teleport.
@@ Line 23: / Line 23: @@
 ===Moving===
-Movement on the Plane of Air without either [[levitation]] or flight is hard - there is a {{frac|3|4}} chance of failing to move, with equal chances of exercising dexterity, abusing it, or neither. Every turn, there is a {{frac|8}} chance of lightning strikes. If you are inside the clouds when lightning strikes, you will be paralyzed for three turns and [[deaf]]ened for 30&ndash;49 (more) turns; the paralysis ignores [[free action]].{{refsrc|timeout.c|1484|nethack=3.6.1}} The lightning strikes themselves can occur outside the clouds, but are [[reflection|reflectable]].
+Movement on the Plane of Air without either [[levitation]] or flight is hard - there is a {{frac|3|4}} chance of failing to move, with equal chances of exercising dexterity, abusing it, or neither. Every turn, there is a {{frac|8}} chance of lightning strikes. If you are inside the clouds when lightning strikes, you will be paralyzed for three turns and [[deaf]]ened for {{rn1|20|30}} (more) turns; the paralysis ignores [[free action]].{{refsrc|src/timeout.c|1613|nethack=3.6.6}} The lightning strikes themselves can occur outside the clouds, but are [[reflection|reflectable]].
 Even if you are not levitating at will, some of the effects of levitation apply. If you throw objects or kick monsters, you will be propelled in the opposite direction, in accordance with Newton's third law. If you want to escape a situation quickly, you can propel yourself by throwing junk objects - although you will then be left helpless for a number of turns equal to the distance you moved.

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
   |teleport=no
 }}
-The '''Plane of Air''' is the second of the [[Elemental Planes]]. It is reached by a magic [[portal]] from the [[Plane of Earth]]. Only monsters that can [[fly]] (excluding [[trappers]]), can float, are amorphous, are noncorporeal, or are whirly will be randomly generated.{{refsrc|makemon.c|60}}
+The '''Plane of Air''' is the second of the [[Elemental Planes]]. It is reached by a magic [[portal]] from the [[Plane of Earth]]. Only monsters that can [[fly]] (excluding [[trappers]], even though they cannot fly), can float, are amorphous, are noncorporeal, or are whirly will be randomly generated.{{refsrc|makemon.c|60}}
 The Plane of Air is ineligible to leave [[bones]] files. The entire level is no-teleport.

@@ Line 42: / Line 42: @@
 ==History==
-In [[NetHack 3.4.3]] and earlier versions, as well as variants based on it, the clouds do not move, and the layout is static:
+In [[NetHack 3.4.3]] and earlier versions, as well as variants based on them, the clouds do not move, and the layout is static:
 <div class="ttymap"><replacecharsblock rules="ttymap">

@@ Line 23: / Line 23: @@
 ===Moving===
-Movement on the Plane of Air without either [[levitation]] or [[flying]] is hard; there is a {{frac|3|4}} chance of failing to move, with equal chances of exercising dexterity, abusing it, or neither. Every turn, there is a {{frac|8}} chance of lightning strikes. If you are inside the clouds when lightning strikes, you will be paralyzed for three turns and [[deaf]]ened for 30&ndash;49 (more) turns; the paralysis ignores [[free action]].{{refsrc|timeout.c|1484|nethack=3.6.1}} The lightning strikes themselves can occur outside the clouds, but are [[reflection|reflectable]].
+Movement on the Plane of Air without either [[levitation]] or flight is hard - there is a {{frac|3|4}} chance of failing to move, with equal chances of exercising dexterity, abusing it, or neither. Every turn, there is a {{frac|8}} chance of lightning strikes. If you are inside the clouds when lightning strikes, you will be paralyzed for three turns and [[deaf]]ened for 30&ndash;49 (more) turns; the paralysis ignores [[free action]].{{refsrc|timeout.c|1484|nethack=3.6.1}} The lightning strikes themselves can occur outside the clouds, but are [[reflection|reflectable]].
-Even if you are not levitating at will, some of the effects of levitation apply. If you throw objects or kick monsters, you will be propelled in the opposite direction, in accordance with Newton's third law. If you want to escape a situation quickly, you can throw junk objects to propel you - although you will then be left helpless for a number of turns equal to the distance you moved, so this cannot be used to increase your average speed).
+Even if you are not levitating at will, some of the effects of levitation apply. If you throw objects or kick monsters, you will be propelled in the opposite direction, in accordance with Newton's third law. If you want to escape a situation quickly, you can propel yourself by throwing junk objects - although you will then be left helpless for a number of turns equal to the distance you moved.
-If at this point you lack access to levitation or flying, then movement across the level will be difficult; trying to move by struggling through the air will take far longer than any other method, making it much more likely that you will end up in the cloud banks at the wrong time. As indicated above, one way to travel without control of your movements is to throw objects in the opposite direction. This is reasonably expeditious, and may warrant carrying some light junk objects to the Planes if you don't have levitation.
+If you don't have any sources levitation or flight, trying to move by struggling through the air will take far longer than any other method, making it much more likely that you will end up in the cloud banks at the wrong time. As indicated above, one way to travel without control of your movements is to throw objects in the opposite direction. This is reasonably expeditious, and may warrant carrying some light junk objects to the Planes if no other options are available.
-Another option is to get engulfed by a steam vortex with [[fire resistance]] and let it ferry you around; however, '''do not''' get carried into the clouds! The clouds move across the level, and [[whirly]] monsters can move near or into them while you are inside&mdash;the tougher air elementals in combination with an ill-fated lightning strike can make short work of even a well-prepared character. If you find yourself engulfed by a whirly monster intent on dragging you deep into the clouds, do your best to break out as soon as possible.
+Another option is to get engulfed by a whirly monster (e.g., a steam vortex if you have [[fire resistance]]) and let it ferry you around - however, '''do not''' get carried into the clouds! The clouds move across the level, and whirly monsters can move near or into them while you are inside them&mdash;the tougher air elementals in combination with an ill-fated lightning strike can make short work of even a well-prepared character. If you find yourself engulfed by a whirly monster intent on dragging you deep into the clouds, do your best to break out as soon as possible.
 ===Survival and combat===

@@ Line 20: / Line 20: @@
 ==Strategy==
-As always, the priority is locating and entering the portal to the next Plane. There are two main challenges to this end - controlling your movement across the level and surviving the monsters and lightning strikes.
+As always, the priority is locating and entering the portal to the next Plane. The two primary challenges to this end are controlling your movement across the level and surviving the monsters and lightning strikes.
 ===Moving===

@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 ==Map==
-[[Image:Plane_of_Air.png|thumb|right|280px|The Plane of Air.]]
+[[Image:Plane_of_Air.png|thumb|right|280px|An example layout of the Plane of Air.]]
 <div class="ttymap"><replacecharsblock rules="ttymap">
 @=[[you|{{white|@}}]]
@@ Line 42: / Line 70: @@
 ...........................................###..............................
 </replacecharsblock></div>
-===Survival and combat===
+The best path for most players is to either break through the cloud bank at the narrow point near the middle of the map, or go around it altogether at the top.
 ==Variants==

@@ Line 67: / Line 67: @@
 ===Portal detection===
-As with the other elemental planes, you must locate the portal; it is stationary, but not immediately visible &ndash; the [[Portal detection methods|usual methods]] work nicely. As the area the portal can be placed in is relatively small, it is easier than usual to find it with [[The Amulet of Yendor|the Amulet]]. The moving clouds, however, limit the reliability of a [[wand of secret door detection]].
+As with the other elemental planes, you must locate the portal. It is stationary, but not immediately visible, so the [[Portal detection methods|usual methods]] work nicely. As the area the portal can be placed in is relatively small, it is easier than usual to find it with [[The Amulet of Yendor|the Amulet]]. The moving clouds, however, limit the reliability of a [[wand of secret door detection]].
 ==History==