Genocide

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Revision as of 14:47, 28 April 2009 by 193.205.200.213 (talk) (→‎Common genocides)
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Genociding something is the action of wiping out all members of a certain race by magical means. Do not confuse it with extinctionism, where you must kill all the creatures by yourself.

Genocide can take place in the form of a scroll of genocide or you may get to genocide one monster when #sitting on a throne. Genocides gained from a throne are always safe, scrolls may not be if they are cursed or if you are confused.

If you want to keep a genocideless conduct, you can always answer "none" when asked what to genocide. Specifying an invalid race five times in a row will also result in nothing being genocided and your conduct will be preserved.

Genocide does not break the pacifist conduct. There is no penalty for genociding a species including pets or peaceful monsters.

Restrictions on genocide

The following creatures cannot be genocided:

If you genocide your base race or role, you will die. Variants of your base race are safe to genocide; for example, as a gnome, you could genocide gnome lords or gnome kings, but choosing "gnome" to genocide is fatal. An amulet of life saving will not save you from death by genocide. This is usually only an issue with dwarves; see below.

Reverse genocide

Reading a cursed scroll of genocide will create 4-6 of the specified monster. This is what makes reading a non BUC-identified scroll of genocide dangerous. However, it can work to your advantage if the resulting monsters are useful and can be killed easily. Some useful monsters to reverse genocide are

If you are a Monk, you might want to reverse genocide gelatinous cubes if you are strong enough to defeat them, as eating them does not break the vegetarian conduct, and they convey a number of useful intrinsics. Beware though, that their corpses are acidic and will damage you unless you have acid resistance (such as from an alchemy smock). They can also clear a room of junk items pretty quickly.

For monsters that you want to eat, especially those that provide a large amount of nutrition, it is valuable to have a tinning kit on hand when reverse genociding.

You cannot reverse genocide a monster which cannot be genocided, or which has already been genocided.

Reverse genociding does not break the genocideless conduct.

Emergency genocide

The scroll of genocide is a useful escape item, as it can instantly kill a monster which poses an immediate threat and cannot be dealt with in any other way. For example, a sea monster holding you, a single monster about to take your last hit point, or a nymph who is robbing you blind. Keep in mind however that some monsters cannot be genocided.

Common genocides

Some species are widely considered to be so nasty, or so annoying, that they merit genocide as soon as possible:

It is nearly always best to postpone genocide until you can bless your scroll, as the worst monsters don't appear until later, giving you plenty of time to build up a cache of holy water. Note that if you are a dwarf, genociding h will be instantly fatal! Thus, this is a good use for uncursed scrolls or genocides offered by a throne.

Genocide by class (blessed scroll)

Glyph Monster Reason
L liches (4 kinds) Curses inventory items, and touch of death.
; kraken Drowns you.
electric eel Drowns you, plus electric shock destroys items.
giant eel Drowns you.
h mind flayers (2) Note: Must specify h or humanoid to genocide both mind flayers, see below.
humanoids (5) Includes dwarves, do NOT genocide these if you are one.
c cockatrice (3) Including corpses, multiple sources of instadeath through stoning.
m mimic (3) Increases number of useful items in stores, especially in Orcus Town.
R disenchanter Reduces item enchantment, but trivial with MC3 and bare-handed melee.
rust monster Rusts weapons and armor, but trivial with rustproofing.
N nagas (8) Golden can curse, others often nasty. Other than golden, not worth it.
t trappers (2) Engulfing attack can instakill pets, but not much risk for players.
T trolls (5) Often an annoyance, but not really worth genociding. It is easier to kill the troll and put the corpse somewhere else or eat it.
D dragons (18) Breath attacks can be dangerous, but trivial if you have reflection. They also can give dragon scale mail and useful intrinsics. Probably better not to genocide them.
q quadrupeds (6) Tough if low level. Not worth it at high levels.
V vampires (2) May increase number of wraiths in graveyards.
Z zombies (7) May increase number of wraiths in graveyards.
P green slime Turns you into green slime.
black pudding Corrodes weapons and armor.
brown pudding Rots weapons and armor.
gray ooze Rusts armor.
n nymphs (3) If you can't kill them from a distance or in one turn.

Genocide one species (uncursed scroll or throne)

Glyph Monster Reason
h mind flayer Amnesia attack. Better candidate for blessed, UNLESS player is a dwarf.
h master mind flayer Amnesia attack. Better candidate for blessed, UNLESS player is a dwarf.
R disenchanter Reduces item enchantment, but trivial with MC3 and barehanded melee.
R rust monster Rusts weapons and armor, but trivial with rustproofing.
: chameleon Pets eat them and transform into worse pets.
@ doppelganger Pets eat them and transform into worse pets.
b gelatinous cube Eats organic items (esp. bags and boxes).
v energy vortex Electric shock destroys rings and wands.
g gremlin Sometimes steal intrinsics at night.
J jabberwock Tough opponent. Not really worth it.
H minotaur Tough opponent, but carries wand of digging. Not really worth it.
w purple worm Tough if low level. Engulfing can instakill pets, but makes a good pet.
U umber hulk An annoyance; confusion gaze and tunneling.

No genocides

It can be argued that all species are a source of useful items and properties, and hence genociding actually makes the game harder. Liches provide athames, mind flayer corpses can boost intelligence, sea monsters are trivial for a well equipped player to deal with, etc. This viewpoint usually advocates genociding only mimics, as this will increase the number of items present in shops, especially in Orcus Town.

Another possible exception is sea monsters, which although trivial can be annoying or cause YASD by inattention. These are not randomly generated, so genociding them does not affect random generation. Since they typically live—and therefore die—in water, they are not normally a significant source of corpses or items (although electric eels are a potential source of shock resistance if you can recover the corpse). Electric and giant eels might make a good use of any single-species genocides that happen to be granted, saving mimics for a class genocide.

Another problem with genociding is that it can increase the chances of getting more difficult, ungenocidable monsters. Thus it is generally a bad idea to genocide any more of the Nasties than is absolutely necessary. This is because ungenocidable nasties that can cast the summon nasties spell, like Archons, Titans and Ki-rins, are more likely to summon more of their own kind, leading to a self-perpetuating swarm of powerful creatures that can quickly fill up an entire level. This can be especially problematic in the Planes.

A player who wishes to maintain genocideless conduct can answer "none" when prompted for which species to genocide.

Wizard mode genocide

Wizard mode offers an additional option for genocide: entering * for your genocide choice on a blessed scroll wipes out all enemies on the level, even those you can't see. This includes normally ungenocideable monsters, tame monsters, peaceful monsters, and everything else that isn't you.

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