Create ammo

This article is about the artifact invoke effect. For the deferred technique in SlashTHEM, see Deferred and defunct features (SlashTHEM)#Create ammo.

Create ammo is a property that appears in NetHack and only occurs as an item effect of artifacts that can be invoked.

Creating ammo is solely associated with the artifact weapon The Longbow of Diana, and is formally defined by the CREATE_AMMO flag in artifact.h.

Description

When an artifact with the "create ammo" effect is invoked, it will create a set of projectile weapon items that matches the base item of the artifact being invoked. The enchantment range of the items created is inclusive and depends on rne(3) and the current beatitude of the artifact when invoked. A blessed Longbow or other artifact with this effect will only produce arrows (or other appropriate ammo) with an enchantment ranging from +0 to +10; a cursed artifact will only produce ammo with enchantment from -10 to +0; and an uncursed artifact will produce ammo in the range of -10 to 10.

The probability distribution of the enchantments is not uniform: Items generated from a blessed or cursed Longbow of Diana (or other artifact) are more likely to be +0 than randomly generated blessed or cursed arrows. This is because mksobj–which arti_invoke calls to generate the items–can produce items of any beatitude, regardless of the artifact's beatitude, and the items have their beatitude changed to the intended one that mksobj returns, bringing negative enchantments on blessed items and positive enchantments on cursed items to +0 where necessary.

Strategy

While in theory it can be quite useful to have a never-ending supply of ammo on demand with lenient cooldown, in practice this relies entirely on the type of ammo produced: the Longbow of Diana is notoriously much less effective as a quest artifact for Rangers that are not human, since each playable race gains multishot bonuses for using particular types of arrows and bows—non-human Rangers lose out on up to a +2 racial multishot bonus by switching to the Longbow. Gnomish Rangers are especially out of luck since they gain multishot from using crossbows, which requires an entirely different skill than the Longbow. Additionally, arrows themselves are fairly commonplace around the dungeon, and a character with sufficient luck and enchantment will not lack for spare arrows unless they need some in a pinch.

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that the information below is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate it.

Rangers get a +1 multishot bonus when wielding the Longbow of Diana.

Variants

Variants of NetHack may add other artifact weapons with the ability to create ammo and/or alter how it functions.

dNetHack

In dNetHack, several artifacts are capable of creating ammo when invoked, including artifacts with non-launcher base items:

• Fuma-itto no Ken, an artifact broadsword that creates shuriken
• Yoichi no yumi, an artifact yumi that creates ya
• Silver Starlight, an artifact rapier that creates shuriken
• Wrathful Spider, an artifact droven crossbow that creates droven bolts
• Liecleaver, an artifact droven crossbow that creates droven bolts
• Belthronding, an artifact elven bow that creates elven arrows
• The Annulus, an artifact with multiple forms that can create silver bullets or rockets while in the form of a BFG

The Moonbow of Sehanine is an artifact elven bow in the data of dNetHack that creates elven arrows similar to Belthronding, but is not available in regular play.

EvilHack

In EvilHack, The Crossbow of Carl has the same invocation effect as the Longbow, but creates crossbow bolts instead of arrows.

Object materials and forges mean that a variety of arrows and crossbow bolts can be created and used for purposes beyond ammo.

SlashTHEM

In SlashTHEM, the Yoichi no yumi and Fuma-itto no Ken can create ammo as in dNetHack. Fuma-itto no Ken in particular is the quest artifact for the Ninja role, which can reach Expert skill in shuriken.