NetHack units

Many have tried to convert NetHack units of measurement to a scale that would more or less correlate with real life. This attempt uses metabolism as the transition factor. The result was approximately 7.5 seconds per turn, which seems to be within proper degrees of magnitude. The translated NetHack time will be called Correlated NetHack Time, or CNT.

Calculation

According to the guidebook, divine intervention was certainly sufficient to influence sleep of the chosen hero ("Strange dreams... haunted you in your sleep"). Therefore, it can be extrapolated that whilst in the dungeon (or Gehennom), magical or divine influence allowed the hero to not require regular sleep. This explains why no occurrences of mandatory sleep occur through the game.

Assuming, then, that the hero hacks continuously, and that hacking is hard work, the hero's caloric consumption can then be calculated. Averaging the energy spent during combat and the energy spent leisurely exploring, the caloric consumption should be somewhere around 400 Cal/hour, which is equal to a brisk walk for a human of 80 kg.

Hero consumes $400\ Cal/h$ continuously (no sleep).

Since food rations are frequently in the hero's inventory from the start, it can be safely assumed that food rations are not magical products, but designed for normal mortal humans to eat three times daily with a daily consumption of 2000 Cal / day.

Failed to parse (unknown error): \frac{\frac{2000\ Cal/day}{3\ rations/day}}{400\ Cal/h} = 1.\overline{6}\ h/ration

In NetHack, one ration is 800 nutritional points, which lasts 800 turns in standard hacking conditions. Therefore,

$\frac{800\ turns/ration}{1.\overline{6}\ h/ration} = 480\ turns/h$

Failed to parse (unknown error): \frac{3600\ s}{480\ turns} = 7.5\ s/turn

Extrapolations

With this core value of 7.5 seconds/turn in mind, one can calculate the scale of magnitude of other values in the NetHack world.

An average ascension is 50000 turns, this means that:

$(50000\ turns/ascension)(7.5\ s/turn)\left (\frac{1\ day}{86400\ s}\right ) \approx 4.34\ days/ascension$

4 days and 8 hours of NetHack time seems reasonable for an ascension.

A human walks at approximately 5 km/hour. This means that one NetHack tile is:

Failed to parse (unknown error): (5\ km/h)(\frac{5\ h\cdot m}{18\ km\cdot s})(7.5\ s/tile) \approx 10.4\ m/tile

This seems reasonable, as a dragon has to fit into one. Ceilings should be about this high as well, seeing that going up and down stairs take a similar amount of time.

A dungeon level's dimension limits are roughly 78×20 varying a little between levels (80×25 minus borders and status lines). This means a dungeon is approximately 810 m by 210 m (roughly, 1/2 mi by 1/8 mi).

Results

The Hero:

• ... consumes 400 Cal/hour continuously (no sleep).
• ... takes 7.5 seconds to experience one NetHack turn.
• ... ascends in 4 days and 8 hours of Correlated NetHack Time (CNT) on average.
  • rast's record fast ascension took 13.5 hours CNT.
• ... eats a full meal every 1 hour 40 minutes CNT.
• ... forgets spells about every 42 hours CNT. (no sleep, remember?)

Also:

• A NetHack tile is approximately 10.4 m × 10.4 m × 10.4 m (34.1 ft. × 34.1 ft. × 34.1 ft.), or 1130.3 m³ (39,915.5 ft.³).
• Dungeon dimensions are approximately 810 m × 210 m (1/2 mi. × 1/8 mi.).
• The Plane of Water contains about 170.1 million liters (430 million gallons) of water, weighing 170.1 million metric tons (1.6 million tons).