Talk:Dragon

Disintegration Resistance

If I understand correctly, the latest edit by 75.18.174.213 states that black pudding corpses are another source of disintegration resistance.

WTF?

--Gneek 14:39, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

How much does it take for baby dragons to grow up into adults, i. e. at which experience level is the dividing line? Why did my hatchlings have XP11 (stethoscope), the article promises XP12 base? -Tjr 08:39, 29 May 2009 (UTC)

Silver Dragons might also have cold resistance

The one I'm blasting with Cone of Cold doesn't seem to be affected by it, anyways. Anybody want to double check?

Just checked with a tame silver dragon and a blue jelly. "The silver dragon is mildly chilly". Makes sense, as they breathe ice at you. The corpses do not give cold resistance though. -- Qazmlpok 21:34, November 28, 2009 (UTC)

DSM in SLASH'EM

I would actually allege that DSM is easier to come by in SLASH'EM without a wish, although perhaps a little later in the game. SLASH'EM has the Wyrm Caves, with 24 random D at dungeon level 20 or so, very likely to contain at least a few adult dragons (generally around 4 or 5), as well as randomly generated dragon lairs. The increase in base level does mean they appear later on, but the longer dungeon means you will likely see more of them. Also there are guaranteed gray dragon scales on the Lawful Quest, although one needs a wand of cancellation to make those useful. -Ion frigate 01:55, March 17, 2010 (UTC)

My strategies for making DSM in nethack early on always involve polymorph. I either lock a pet in a polytrap into I get a good dragon, or I turn into an adult female dragon and lay eggs. The former does not work at all, due to how polymorph works in SLASH'EM. Due to the massive level difference and how damn weak baby dragons became in SLASH'EM, it's too difficult to do the latter for more than 1 dragon at a time. It's perfectly possible to spend a few thousand turns goading monsters next to your baby dragon until it grows up, only to have it not drop the desired scales when it dies. In Nethack I can simply raise 4-5 dragons at a time and be almost guaranteed to get an early DSM; plus I don't have to worry about killing the dragon myself, as I can simply untame the lowest leveled one and have the others kill it.

Or, if I don't want to use either polymorph method, I usually head for Fort Ludios and hope that one of the 4 dragons there are of a useful color. Failing that, I'll probably run into some before the Castle, and then there's 4 guaranteed ones at the castle. The increased difficulty of adult dragons, plus adults dragons no longer being the only possible random D, means that adult dragons are simply rarer in SLASH'EM than in Nethack. For the Wyrm caves to generate adult dragons (unless there are guaranteed adult dragons in there. I don't know how to check this and the article here simply says D) the character would have to be at least level 20. I don't think that's terribly likely at dungeon level 20. Same with Dragon Lairs; according to the article here, you're simply guaranteed D, not adult D. I'm not really seeing any reason why dragons would be more common in SLASH'EM through random generation, you lose the guaranteed adult dragons, and the polymorph tricks are nerfed. The only way I see it being easier to obtain DSM in SLASH'EM is the guaranteed GDS you mentioned on the Lawful quest (which I missed when I went in there, since I didn't want to deal with the arch-lich or trying to get inside that area), but even that's of no use without a wand of cancelation, and of little use to a character that wants silver or deep dragon scales. -- Qazmlpok 02:46, March 17, 2010 (UTC)