Apple
An apple is a type of veggy comestible that appears in NetHack.
Contents
Generation
Healers and Monks start each game with 5-10 apples.[1][2] Knights start each game with 10-20 apples.[3] Tourists may start with apples among their random food items.[4]
Apples make up 3⁄200 (1.5%) of all randomly-generated comestibles. General stores, delicatessens and health food stores can sell apples.
Kicking a tree has a one-time 14⁄15 chance of dropping (8−rnl(7)) fruits, which may be apples.[5] Cutting down a tree has a 1⁄5 chance of producing a piece of fruit that can be an apple.[6] If a tree is tunneled through, there is a 1⁄3 chance of fruit being left behind, which can be an apple.[7]
Applying a charged horn of plenty has a 1.4% chance of generating an apple or two.[8]
Description
When eaten, an apple provides 50 nutrition and takes 1 turn to consume - eating a cursed apple will also cause the hero to fall asleep for 20-30 turns if they lack sleep resistance, and food appraisal will warn a hero if they are about to eat one.[9][10]
Apples are vegan, and can be used to tame domestic herbivorous monsters and pacify domestic carnivores - herbivorous pets will consider apples to be treats.
Strategy
Apples are best saved for taming or feeding pets, and Knights in particular will want to prioritize keeping their steed fed. However, Healers, Knights, and Monks may consider eating their starting apples if extra permafood proves especially scarce.
History
The apple first appears in Hack 1.21 and Hack for PDP-11, which are based on Jay Fenlason's Hack, and is included in the initial item list for Hack 1.0.
Origin
An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree, which is a plant of the genus Malus and includes the domestic or orchard apple tree (Malus domestica). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in their genus; they originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor Malus sieversii is still found. Apples have been grown for thousands of years in Eurasia and were introduced to North America by European colonists - they have religious, mythological and other significance in many cultures, including Norse, Greek, and European Christian tradition, and some of these are listed below:
- The effect of a cursed apple when eaten is a reference to the fairy tale of Snow White and the poisoned apple.
- The Unix-specific messages appear to be derived from joke Unix documentation within a Usenet post that is not archived by Google Groups.
- Apple Inc. is a multinational technology brand that names their computers after the Macintosh apple, as explained below; their primary operating system, Mac OS X, is similarly named and partially based on Unix.
- The presence of apples in a Healer's starting inventory is likely a reference to the proverb "an apple a day keeps the doctor away".
- The apple was considered sacred to Aphrodite in ancient Greek culture: Eris, the Greek goddess of discord, became disgruntled over being excluded from the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, and in retaliation tossed a golden apple inscribed Καλλίστη (Kalliste, sometimes transliterated Kallisti, "for the most beautiful one") into the wedding party. Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite claimed the apple, with Paris of Troy appointed to select the recipient. After being bribed by both Hera and Athena, Aphrodite tempted him with the most beautiful woman in the world: Helen of Sparta. Paris awarded the apple to Aphrodite, thus indirectly causing the Trojan War.
Messages
- You hear sinister laughter as you fall asleep...
- You ate a cursed apple and fell asleep.
- You fall asleep.
- As above, while deaf.
- Heigh-ho, ho-hum, I think I'll skip work today.
- As above, but you are a dwarf and hallucinating.
Some YAFMs appear if you eat an apple or pear while playing NetHack on a Unix or classic Mac OS system:[11][12]
| Message | Effect |
|---|---|
| "Core dumped." (Unix (including modern macOS), not hallucinating) | No effect
When a Unix program performs an illegal operation, the kernel shuts down the program, and the program often dumps a core file for loading into debuggers; the pun is that apples are usually dumped once the core is the only thing left. |
| "Segmentation fault -- core dumped." (75⁄100 chance) "Bus error -- core dumped." (24⁄100 chance) |
No effect
As above, but these error messages are more 'realistic' - an actual "core dumped" error on Unix comes with the cause of the crash. |
| "Delicious! Must be a Macintosh!" (Classic Mac OS) | No effect
Apple Computer named their Macintosh computers after a real type of apple. |
Variants
UnNetHack
In UnNetHack, the "Pacman" random vault has a guaranteed apple at a random position.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, non-drow Binders start with 2-4 apples. Drow and half-dragon Knights receive tripe rations for their steed instead of apples.
Andromalius is a spirit whose binding ritual can use an apple as one of the two items placed in his seal, and using two non-apple items in the binding ritual may generate an apple as the third item the character receives if they successfully bind him.
xNetHack
In xNetHack, The Apple of Discord is an artifact gold apple that can be invoked for hungerless conflict, and boosts the effects of conflict while carried by a chaotic hero that is crowned.
SpliceHack
In SpliceHack, the defunct Dancer role starts with an apple among their food items.
An apple can be combined with a cream pie at a furnace to create an apple pie.
notdNetHack
In notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, in addition to dNetHack details, Eve and Jack are each generated with 1-2 apples when summoned by an Illithanachronounbinder.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, draugr Knights do not have their starting apples replaced as with other draugr characters, since they are meant for the role's steed.
One of the crystal chests on the last level of the Ice Queen's Realm contains a few apples, and they can also be found within chests spread across the ground floor of the Wizard's Tower.
Encyclopedia entry
NEWTONIAN, adj. Pertaining to a philosophy of the universe invented by Newton, who discovered that an apple will fall to the ground, but was unable to say why. His successors and disciples have advanced so far as to be able to say when.
References
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 70: Healer starting inventory
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 93: Monk starting inventory
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 80: Knight starting inventory
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 144: Tourist starting inventory
- ↑ src/dokick.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1115
- ↑ src/dig.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 398
- ↑ src/dig.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1321
- ↑ src/mkobj.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2219: any comestible that can be randomly generated is eligible
- ↑ src/eat.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2253
- ↑ src/eat.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2375
- ↑ src/eat.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1851
- ↑ src/eat.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1859
