Food ration
A food ration is the most basic type of comestible that appears in NetHack. It is veggy and considered vegan.
Samurai know them as gunyoki.
Contents
Generation
Food rations are the most common type of comestible item, making up 38% of all randomly-generated comestibles.
Several roles can start out with a number of food rations:
- Archeologists and Monks start with 3 to 6 rations.[1][2]
- Barbarians and Valkyries start with 1-2.[3][4]
- Tourists start with a lot of random food, some of which can be food rations.[5]
General stores, delicatessens and health food stores can sell food rations.
Applying a charged horn of plenty has a 301⁄1000 chance (30.1%) of generating a tripe ration or two.[6]
Description
When eaten, food rations provide 800 nutrition, and take roughly five moves to eat. Food rations that are uncursed and older than 30 turns or blessed and older than 50 turns have a 1⁄7 chance of being rotten when eaten, while cursed food rations are always rotten.
Food rations can be thrown to tame domestic canines and felines and pacify domestic equines.
Strategy
Players that make it to the mid-game may start stashing excess food rations or else passing them up in favor of sustaining themselves on the corpses of monsters they kill and/or stocking up on C-rations or K-rations they nab from soldiers. A lembas wafer provides similar nutrition while weighing much less (2 aum compared to 20 for food rations), though it may provide more or less depending on if you are playing an elven or orcish character.
When preparing for the ascension run, it is common to stock up on lembas or other food items such as royal jelly, usually by polypiling standard rations and other food; food that can be eaten quickly is particularly handy to have in the event Famine cannot be avoided on the Astral Plane.
History
Food rations have been a part of the game since hack121, a variant of Jay Fenlason's Hack.
Origin
The term "gunyoki" used for Samurai is likely not real-life Japanese.[7]
Variants
Some variants introduce new starting races with more atypical diets compared to the standard ones, which naturally impacts the use of food rations for them.
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, player vampires cannot eat food rations, and will start with potions of vampire blood in place of the usual rations for their role. Vampires can still use rations to tame and/or pacify certain domestic animals.
Upgrading a K-ration, C-ration or lembas wafer will produce a food ration, and upgrading a food ration will produce a lembas wafer.
Killer food rations are a type of evil food monster that can be encountered, and have a 1⁄3 chance of dropping an actual food ration upon death.
All of the above also applies to SlashTHEM.
UnNetHack
In UnNetHack, player vampires also start with potions of vampire blood replacing their role's typical food rations.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, Incantifiers feed off magic rather than consuming food, and have their role's starting food rations replaced with scrolls of food detection with the exception of Tourists. Vampire characters in dNetHack also have their roles' starting rations replaced with potions of blood, similar to SLASH'EM. Various races of Anachrononaut start with several protein pills in lieu of food rations: protein pills provide the same nutrition as a ration, but only require one turn to eat and weigh only 1 aum.
The magic chest is a good place to store relatively-heavy food rations, particularly the one found on the last level of Sokoban (in the event the prize is not a bag of holding).
notdNetHack
In notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, in addition to dNetHack details, Ahazu generates with 4-5 food rations when summoned by an Illithanachronounbinder.
Hack'EM
Hack'EM includes the killer food rations from SLASH'EM, along with the playable vampire race and their food rules; food rations and other comestibles cannot be upgraded.
Encyclopedia entry
Food ration
The little girl stood on tip-toe and picked one of the nicest and biggest lunch-boxes, and then she sat down upon the ground and eagerly opened it. Inside she found, nicely wrapped in white papers, a ham sandwich, a piece of sponge-cake, a pickle, a slice of new cheese and an apple. Each thing had a separate stem, and so had to be picked off the side of the box; but Dorothy found them all to be delicious, and she ate every bit of luncheon in the box before she had finished.
Gunyoki
The samurai's last meal before battle. It was usually made up of cooked chestnuts, dried seaweed, and sake.
References
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 34
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 91
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 47
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 156
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 144
- ↑ src/mkobj.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2219: any comestible that can be randomly generated is eligible
- ↑ https://rec.games.roguelike.nethack.narkive.com/KM04loFL/etymology-of-the-word-gunyoki
