ZAPM

ZAPM is not a true variant of NetHack, but it had importance in the 2008 /dev/null/nethack tournament.

ZAPM is a sci-fi roguelike game by Cyrus Dolph. From the homepage: "It's my humble attempt to create "the sci-fi NetHack". It is very much a work in progress."

The latest unstable version 0.8.2 was released 2010-06-06. The source code of version 0.8.3 can be downloaded here from the /dev/null/nethack page. A continuation of ZAPM named PRIME has been started in March 2011.

The aim of ZAPM is to explore a derelict space hulk in search of the fabled "Bizarro Orgasmatron", rumored to be the most powerful artifact in the galaxy and the only hope of saving the universe from an unknown doom.

Classes

ZAPM has only five playable classes: Psion, Quarterback, Space Marine, Software Engineer and Janitor.

Psion

Psions are mutants, using their supercharged DNA to survive the hostile space hulk. They are guaranteed to start with at least 14 Charisma.

Starting equipment:

• debugged +1 laser pistol
• debugged +1 ordinary jumpsuit
• debugged pair of sunglasses
• 200 energy cells
• 2 debugged canisters of Nano Cola
• 1 debugged canister of healing
• 1 debugged canister of Rad-Away
• 2d10 buckazoids

Skills:

• Restricted: Programming
• Improvable by 1 point every 4 levels: Thrown Weapons, Light Guns, Heavy Guns, Unarmed Combat, Basic Melee Weapons, Pick Locks, Repair
• Improvable by 2 points every 4 levels: Handguns, Spot
• Improvable by 3 points every 4 levels: Search
• Improvable by 4 points every 4 levels: all Mutant Powers, Swords, Concentration

Starting skills:

• First random mutant power - 2
• Second random mutant power - 2

Common opening strategy is to drink from sludge vats hoping for more mutant powers. This is especially important if the Psion starts with utility mutant abilities.

Quarterback

Quarterbacks are strong athletes, looking to take on a new challenge but with the physical strength to survive - hopefully.

Starting equipment:

• debugged +0 set of football pads
• debugged +0 football helmet
• debugged +3 football
• 200 energy cells
• 6 debugged canisters of beer

Skills:

• Restricted: all Mutant Powers, Pick Locks, Repair, Programming
• Improvable by 1 point every 4 levels: none
• Improvable by 2 points every 4 levels: Light Guns, Heavy Guns, Swords, Concentration, Search
• Improvable by 3 points every 4 levels: Basic Melee Weapons
• Improvable by 4 points every 4 levels: Thrown Weapons, Unarmed Combat, Spot

Starting skills:

• Thrown weapons - 2
• Spot - 2

Since the quarterback starts without a gun he should destroy fuel barrels by throwing the football. When space goblins with pea shooters appear it is wise to let them shoot a few times at you to see if their weapon is buggy.

Space Marine

Space Marines are well-equipped "badasses" that fight aliens for a living. A space hulk may not be too much of a challenge. They are guaranteed to start with at least 10 Strength.

Starting equipment:

• debugged +1 flak jacket
• debugged +0 pistol
• debugged +0 pulse rifle (set to burst mode)
• 99 bullets
• 100 energy cells
• debugged motion tracker
• 2d10 buckazoids

Skills:

• Restricted: all Mutant Powers, Concentration, Programming
• Improvable by 1 point every 4 levels: Swords
• Improvable by 2 points every 4 levels: Pick Locks, Repair, Search, Spot
• Improvable by 3 points every 4 levels: Thrown Weapons, Unarmed Combat, Basic Melee Weapons
• Improvable by 4 points every 4 levels: Handguns, Light Guns, Heavy Guns

Starting skills:

• Thrown weapons - 2
• Handguns - 2
• Light Weapons - 2
• Heavy Weapons - 2

Marines have easy start. It is prudent to immediately switch the rifle to single fire by applying it. Weak creatures may be bashed with butt of the rifle since marines usually have very good strength.

Software engineer

Software engineers are physically weak but computer whizzes. They inherently know the ZAPM equivalent of BUC of items and can use technical items from the beginning of the game. They also do not suffer penalties for trying to write unidentified program.

Starting equipment:

• debugged +0 pea shooter
• debugged +0 ordinary jumpsuit
• debugged mini computer
• 4 random floppy disks
• 1 or 2 debugged canisters of Nano Cola
• 1 or 2 debugged rolls of duct tape
• debugged restaining bolt
• 200 energy cells
• 2d100 buckazoids

Skills:

• Restricted: all Mutant Powers, Unarmed Combat
• Improvable by 1 point every 4 levels: Light Weapons, Heavy Weapons, Basic Melee Weapons, Swords
• Improvable by 2 points every 4 levels: Thrown Weapons, Concentration, Spot
• Improvable by 3 points every 4 levels: Handguns, Programming
• Improvable by 4 points every 4 levels: Pick Locks, Search, Repair

Starting skills:

• Programming - 2

Painfully weak at the beginning the Software Engineer should make use of his sense bugginess innate ability to wear whatever he can as early as possible. Later on he is in perfect position to crack many floppy disks and have unlimited enhancements, identification, teleportation and many other utility powers. One should use the restraining bolt to force an early bot into service and repair it with duct tape whenever the need arises.

Janitor

Janitors start with a mop and a master keycard allowing them to bypass almost any door. By striking the "I'm just cleaning here" pose a janitor can get into Robot Town without a fee.

Starting equipment:

• debugged +1 mop
• debugged +1 janitor uniform
• debugged canister of super glue
• optimized monkey wrench
• debugged master keycard
• debugged restraining bolt
• 75 energy cells
• 1d100 buckazoids

Skills:

• Restricted: all Mutant Powers, Programming
• Improvable by 1 point every 4 levels: Thrown Weapons, Light Guns, Heavy Guns, Swords
• Improvable by 2 points every 4 levels: Unarmed Combat, Concentration
• Improvable by 3 points every 4 levels: Basic Melee Weapons
• Improvable by 4 points every 4 levels: Pick Locks, Repair, Search, Spot

Starting skills:

• Repair - 2
• Search - 2
• Spot - 2

Janitors often spot or find hidden niches generated in rooms which usually contain additional loot. In result have slightly more objects to choose from when assembling equipment. Janitors can hide from any monster behind a door by locking it with the master keycard. So far no monster can deal with locked doors.

Differences and similarities

Being roguelike, ZAPM has some things that are familiar, some that are different:

NetHack	ZAPM
Scrolls	Floppy disks - requires a computer to "run", can sometimes be reused
Potions	Canisters don't have effects when thrown at monsters
Wands	Ray guns are not tied to particular energy ray type but can be reloaded with something else when empty
Doors	Automatic opening doors, locked doors with individual key cards, faulty doors that slam on the player
Launchers	Guns of many descriptions
Projectiles	Gun ammunition and grenades which need to be identified
Traps	Traps
Spellcasting	Mutant powers - cost temporary Charisma rather than Pw
Monsters of almost all ASCII letters	Monsters of many letters of alphabet. Some are yet unused
Corpses	Only droids and bots leave disabled versions once dead, unable to be eaten

ZAPM is a refreshing jaunt with plenty of differences to vanilla and is quite enjoyable.

Sample screenshot

                                                 #########     Kevin
       ######                      ##### #########.......#     Odd Ball
       #.....                      #...###...+...'.......#     XL  1:88
       #....                       #...'.+...#####.......#
       #....                       #...###...#   #####'###     Str  7  Int 15
       #...                 ###    #...# #...#       #.#       Con  9  Wis 15
       #...                 #?#    #...# #####       #.#       Agi 12  Cha 16
       #..             ######'######=>.#             #.#       Dex  8
       #w.             #!'.....+...'...#             #.#
       #'#             ###.....#########             #.#       Fast    +5
  ######'#################.....###################+# #$#       Armor   13
  #.....@'...............'.....'......+............# #.#       HitPts   4/  7
  #......#################F....########............# #.#       Energy 175/  0
  #......#               #.....#      #......(.....# #'####    $9
  ########               #+#####      ############## #....#
                                                     #....#
                                                     #....#
                                                     #....#    Space Base 1
                                                     #....#
                                                     ######
You smash the lock as you kick the door open!

Attributes and basic character information

ZAPM has the following attributes as an indication of how developed a character is in certain areas:

• Strength
• Constitution
• Agility
• Dexterity
• Intelligence
• Wisdom
• Charisma

You get an increase to one of these every fourth experience level. In addition, there are properties of Experience (and a corresponding Experience Level and Title) Speed, Hit Points. Related and displayed as appropriate are also Energy, being the number of cells in your inventory, Buckazoids, being the currency of ZAPM, and if using a "traditional" projectile weapon, Ammo, being the number of bullets, shotgun shells or railgun slugs in your inventory.

Your locale and overall level is also displayed.

Skills

ZAPM has skills for a variety of aspects of gameplay. Each time the character gains a level, some skills can be increased. Psions, Janitors and Software Engineers receive three points to distribute while Space Marines and Quarterbacks get only two. Skills can be increased at varying paces, and certain skills are restricted for some classes. Each Skill is governed by a main Ability, determining the overall effectiveness of the Skill.

Skills fall in to three main groups: Combat Skills, Adventuring Skills and Mutant Power Skills.

Group	Skill	Ability	Used by
Combat Skills	Grenades	Dexterity	Thrown weapons (grenades, elven daggers and the football)
	Handguns	Dexterity	Small, single handed projectile weapons (phaser, blaster)
	Light Guns	Dexterity	Projectile weapons that are more advanced than handguns (sniper rifle, laser rifle, shotgun)
	Heavy Guns	Dexterity	Large projectile weapons requiring the most skill to manipulate (pulse rifle, laser cannon, railgun, chaingun)
	Unarmed Combat	Agility	Melee combat without any weapon
	Basic Melee Weapons	Agility	Melee combat with clubs, mops or chainsaws and the like but not improvised weapons; bat'leth belongs here
	Swords	Agility	Melee combat with sword or light saber
Adventuring Skills	Concentration	Constitution	Decreases chance to lose control of ongoing mutant powers when stunned or confused
	Pick Locks	Dexterity	Increases chance of picking locks when equipped with a lock pick kit
	Repair	Dexterity	Increases chance of repair of disabled droids, bots and malfunctioning doors with a roll of duct tape or monkey wrench
	Search	Intelligence	Increases chance of successfully searching around you
	Programming	Intelligence	Determines chance of writing floppy disk programs and chances of cracking a floppy disk
	Spot	Wisdom	Increases chance of spotting a trap, a secret door or a hidden monster from a distance, without searching
Mutant Power Skills	Mutant Power	Level	Effect
	Illumination	1	Lights an area around you
	Digestion	1	Allows you to consume inventory items. Primarily useful for getting rid of buggy items you cannot take off or unwield
	Hypnotize	1	Puts a single adjacent enemy to sleep
	Regeneration	1	Instantly boosts Hit Points
	Optic Blast	2	Sends forth a ray from your eyes
	Haste	2	Increases speed while maintained
	Telepathy	2	Allows to sense creatures with mind from a quite long distance. Unlike NetHack it does not encompass to whole level
	Web	2	Briefly immobilizes a monster hit with this power
	Mental Blast	3	Short range power with targeting similar to stinking cloud. Often confuses monsters and does not require you to see your target
	Restoration	3	Very similar to restore ability spell
	Adrenaline Control	4	Increases Strength by four points if maintained
	X-Ray Vision	4	While on you can see a short distance through any obstacle
	Teleport	5	Allows teleportation

There is no way to improve fighting with improvised weapons but hitting with the butt of your pulse rifle might be beneficial to conserve ammo anyways.

Mutant powers

Mutant powers, accessed through the Z or m keys, allow the player to use mutations that the character has acquired. Psions start with two randomly chosen mutations, but all classes may gain them through drinking from a vat or a canister of mutagen. Mutations come in varying levels, with the chance of success and the magnitude of effect tied to the amount of enhancement each mutation has. Psions can put skill points in individual mutant powers to make them easier to use and more powerful.

The use of a mutation costs the character an equivalent number of Charisma points to its level. Charisma does regenerate slowly up to its unaltered maximum, but temporary boosts may be gained from canisters of nano cola. Nano cola may also boost the characters Charisma above the normal maximum, but the effect does wear off with the temporary Charisma boost slowly decreasing over time. Persistent mutant powers prevent amount of Charisma spent to use it as long as they are active.

Some items have negative impact on chance to use mutant powers when worn. Cranial bionic implants have the most effect but even heavy body armor may reduce the ability to employ powers. An exception is the psionic amplifier which modifies the chance by its plus.