After learning that the ability to hit monsters is tied to your characters' Armor Class, I came up with an interesting idea for starting characters. It's the Bard-Skeleton strategy.
Make a Bard-heavy party of level one characters. Buy instruments for each Bard, and enough Armor for at least the front line to get them down to Armor Class -8 after they all sing the Traveler's Tune. Then send them into the Catacombs and find the square with 66 Skeletons. Have enough of the Bards sing the Traveler's Tune that the Skelly's can't hit, and repeatedly beat on them until they die. Then take the loot and resurrect anyone that died, recharge the songs at the Tavern, and try again.
Unfortunately, I didn't start out with enough gold to equip enough Bards with enough armor to get their Armor Class low enough. I wiped two parties until I got enough gold just with the startup gold that I could equip my front line with enough armor. My third party survived easily. However, it took FOREVER for my three front line Bards to kill 66 Skellys. About half way through, I had my Mage cast Vorpal Plating on them and that helped a LOT. Luckily, the Skellys dropped a Lak's Lyre. Bonus! After that, I had my fourth slot Bard repeatedly play Falken's Fury, and the subsequent battles didn't take as long.
I learned that I can get by with one fewer Bard if I jump down into the cats and play the Traveler's Tune, then pop back to the Tavern for a drink, and THEN go back down for the battle. I think I could do it with 3 Bards next time. Or maybe with 4 Bards and less money. Or at least 5 Bards and a Conjuror (need that Trap Zap).
What strategies do you use to get up to level 5?
Beginning Strategies
1. enter the city with my party.
2. press 'z' a few times to get a golem with 30+ hp
3. kill samurai
4. back to guild.
rinse and repeat... 170 exp per kill
You can also do this with only 1 char, if you want to power level a specific new class... just over 1k exp per kill
If you have a caster already leveled, you can also replace the golem by a wind dragon or a demon lord.
2. press 'z' a few times to get a golem with 30+ hp
3. kill samurai
4. back to guild.
rinse and repeat... 170 exp per kill
You can also do this with only 1 char, if you want to power level a specific new class... just over 1k exp per kill
If you have a caster already leveled, you can also replace the golem by a wind dragon or a demon lord.
Somehow I don't feel quite right about using the Stone Golem to twink my characters. Maybe it feels too easy.
But then I have tried various self-imposed restrictions to make playing the game more interesting. For example, emptying out the items file with a hex editor and starting from scratch with only the items I find from battles. Or seeing if I can do it without ever going back to the guild. Or not using any disposable characters, but creating my final party makeup and trying to win the game with only six characters in the total roster. Or trying to win the game with only four characters in my party. Or pretending I don't know anything about the city or the maps and actually exploring every square in every level of every dungeon. With the possible exception of the stasis square in Kylearan's Tower.
But then I've also tried variations to make it easier, like filling up the items file with a hex editor to see what items would make a beginning party more likely to survive through the night. Or, like Caracas, using a high level mage to summon a Wind Dragon or Wind Giant, or at least a Lesser Demon. Or creating lots of disposable characters and stealing their gold.
I'm not sure how I feel about the Party Attack / Badhr Kilnfest exploit. Sometimes I use it, sometimes not.
But then I have tried various self-imposed restrictions to make playing the game more interesting. For example, emptying out the items file with a hex editor and starting from scratch with only the items I find from battles. Or seeing if I can do it without ever going back to the guild. Or not using any disposable characters, but creating my final party makeup and trying to win the game with only six characters in the total roster. Or trying to win the game with only four characters in my party. Or pretending I don't know anything about the city or the maps and actually exploring every square in every level of every dungeon. With the possible exception of the stasis square in Kylearan's Tower.
But then I've also tried variations to make it easier, like filling up the items file with a hex editor to see what items would make a beginning party more likely to survive through the night. Or, like Caracas, using a high level mage to summon a Wind Dragon or Wind Giant, or at least a Lesser Demon. Or creating lots of disposable characters and stealing their gold.
I'm not sure how I feel about the Party Attack / Badhr Kilnfest exploit. Sometimes I use it, sometimes not.
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Desmet Irkm
- Posts: 35
- Joined: Fri Nov 11, 2011 2:50 pm
- Location: .de
- Contact:
Heh. I could easily count the number of times I have actually FINISHED the game. If I could remember that far back. I'm definitely not one of those guys that compulsively has to finish everything I start.
If I get in the middle of a game and I see some way that might possibly make it more efficient, or more powerful, or easier, I might abandon the current game and restart to try it out.
The Bard Skelly strategy actually works sometimes. It depends on how much gold I start out with and how many spell points my conjurer starts out with, and how much gold I get the first time I kill all 66 Skellies. If any of those things go wrong, I have to putter around town and collect gold. Or, if I get unlucky and hit a chance encounter in the cats on my way to the Skellies, I could get a total party wipe.
The Samurai strategy is more reliable, and faster. I find that two Hobbit Monks can kill him pretty consistently without getting hit much. Once I get level 3 Magician spells, I go straight to the Skeletons. There would be a couple of decent places to grind in the Sewers, but you need to be able to cure poison before doing much with the Black Widows. It's way too expensive at the temple. That's a level 4 spell. By the time my Conjurer gets that spell, my Magician will be casting Dragon's Breath, and I can take on the Zombies pretty easily, and even sometimes the Wights. They give a lot more experience for not much more risk, so the Sewers are pretty much useless.
If I get in the middle of a game and I see some way that might possibly make it more efficient, or more powerful, or easier, I might abandon the current game and restart to try it out.
The Bard Skelly strategy actually works sometimes. It depends on how much gold I start out with and how many spell points my conjurer starts out with, and how much gold I get the first time I kill all 66 Skellies. If any of those things go wrong, I have to putter around town and collect gold. Or, if I get unlucky and hit a chance encounter in the cats on my way to the Skellies, I could get a total party wipe.
The Samurai strategy is more reliable, and faster. I find that two Hobbit Monks can kill him pretty consistently without getting hit much. Once I get level 3 Magician spells, I go straight to the Skeletons. There would be a couple of decent places to grind in the Sewers, but you need to be able to cure poison before doing much with the Black Widows. It's way too expensive at the temple. That's a level 4 spell. By the time my Conjurer gets that spell, my Magician will be casting Dragon's Breath, and I can take on the Zombies pretty easily, and even sometimes the Wights. They give a lot more experience for not much more risk, so the Sewers are pretty much useless.
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bytesmythe
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Fri Dec 30, 2011 11:43 am
Leveling strategy
1) Start a dwarf monk. Make sure to have STR 18, CON 17, DEX 14, and HP 29.
2) Go to Garth's and buy the basic armor for him.
3) Wander around town picking up exp from random encounters. Level as soon as you can to keep your AC dropping. The 17 CON will soon get boosted to 18 and you'll rack up extra HP as well.
4) Before long you'll easily be able to handle even night mobs without getting hit. You can wander around the sewers, too.
5) Once you hit level 13 with the monk, go create a conjurer and add him to the party.
6) Wander around town again and level up the mage. When you get to the level 7 conjurer spells, switch to sorcerer, not magician.
7) Your mage can probably hold his own in town, so you can probably leave the monk back at the guild for a while.
Once you hit level 6 conjurer, make sure to cast "Wind Dragon". The breath attack does a lot of great damage. You'll also have "Mind Blade" at this point, which helps a lot.
9) At level 7 conjurer, switch to wizard and start taking on the first couple of levels of the Catacombs. The worst thing I've run into is doppelgangers. Nothing in there lasts through two rounds of "Mind Blade", or one round of dragon fire.
10) The catacombs will get you enough experience to level your wizard quickly. After you hit wizard level 7, switch to magician. Now your exp to level past 13 is only 230K instead of 1.4M. Run through enough to get to magician level 7.
11) Make another monk or two as described above.
12) Make a bard and have them follow around a monk around town and level him up, too.
13) You should have a pretty good party now. I did this, but instead of making a second mage the hard way, I just copied the character file and changed the name.
2) Go to Garth's and buy the basic armor for him.
3) Wander around town picking up exp from random encounters. Level as soon as you can to keep your AC dropping. The 17 CON will soon get boosted to 18 and you'll rack up extra HP as well.
4) Before long you'll easily be able to handle even night mobs without getting hit. You can wander around the sewers, too.
5) Once you hit level 13 with the monk, go create a conjurer and add him to the party.
6) Wander around town again and level up the mage. When you get to the level 7 conjurer spells, switch to sorcerer, not magician.
7) Your mage can probably hold his own in town, so you can probably leave the monk back at the guild for a while.
Once you hit level 6 conjurer, make sure to cast "Wind Dragon". The breath attack does a lot of great damage. You'll also have "Mind Blade" at this point, which helps a lot.9) At level 7 conjurer, switch to wizard and start taking on the first couple of levels of the Catacombs. The worst thing I've run into is doppelgangers. Nothing in there lasts through two rounds of "Mind Blade", or one round of dragon fire.
10) The catacombs will get you enough experience to level your wizard quickly. After you hit wizard level 7, switch to magician. Now your exp to level past 13 is only 230K instead of 1.4M. Run through enough to get to magician level 7.
11) Make another monk or two as described above.
12) Make a bard and have them follow around a monk around town and level him up, too.
13) You should have a pretty good party now. I did this, but instead of making a second mage the hard way, I just copied the character file and changed the name.
Re: Leveling strategy
Bytesmythe, I am trying to get your strategy to work. Here's where I'm getting stuck:
Probably fully one quarter of my Monks didn't last past the first fight. One of them was killed by two Skeletons. One by three Dwarves. I could take out 5 Kobolds or Hobbits. One of my Monks actually got over 1000 experience before getting caught by 4 Nomads. After 14 tries, I thought maybe I should ask for more insight as to how this is done.
After the first two deaths, all my new Monks did have the best equipment money can buy, and plenty of gold for healing whenever I survived a battle. I got so I was trying to run from anything that was more than two unless it was Kobolds or Hobbits. What's the key to surviving past level 1?
Is there a trick to this? My first monk met 7 Barbarians first thing. I tried to run, but Dwarves are not known for their luck, or abilities to run from fights. That Monk lasted three hits. Try again.bytesmythe wrote:3) Wander around town picking up exp from random encounters. Level as soon as you can to keep your AC dropping. The 17 CON will soon get boosted to 18 and you'll rack up extra HP as well.
Probably fully one quarter of my Monks didn't last past the first fight. One of them was killed by two Skeletons. One by three Dwarves. I could take out 5 Kobolds or Hobbits. One of my Monks actually got over 1000 experience before getting caught by 4 Nomads. After 14 tries, I thought maybe I should ask for more insight as to how this is done.
After the first two deaths, all my new Monks did have the best equipment money can buy, and plenty of gold for healing whenever I survived a battle. I got so I was trying to run from anything that was more than two unless it was Kobolds or Hobbits. What's the key to surviving past level 1?
Well, I tried the single Monk strategy again, but with a different twist. Instead of creating with max Strength and Constitution, I created a Hobbit Monk and made sure he had max Dexterity and Luck. My beginning parties only tend to die when I meet a group of baddies too mean and too many for me, and I fail the Run check. Luck makes a huge difference whether I can run or not.
My first Monk failed miserably, but I transferred his gear to the second Monk, who remarkably made it to level 6 without dying. That's a milestone because that's where (if you have 18 luck) you can always run from anything in town during the day.
At level 8, he spent his first night out in the town beating on Wolves and Zombies. He still got hit a few times, and couldn't always resist the Magician's withering spell, but he had enough hit points to survive, and plenty of gold by this time. By level 12, he never got hit by anything in town, even at night, and could even resist the wither spell. Once he got Lo armor class, he could take on the Wights in the top level of the cats. It was expensive if he hit a gas cloud, though.
My first Monk failed miserably, but I transferred his gear to the second Monk, who remarkably made it to level 6 without dying. That's a milestone because that's where (if you have 18 luck) you can always run from anything in town during the day.
At level 8, he spent his first night out in the town beating on Wolves and Zombies. He still got hit a few times, and couldn't always resist the Magician's withering spell, but he had enough hit points to survive, and plenty of gold by this time. By level 12, he never got hit by anything in town, even at night, and could even resist the wither spell. Once he got Lo armor class, he could take on the Wights in the top level of the cats. It was expensive if he hit a gas cloud, though.
I just revisited BT1 for the first time in several years this week. It was a bit of a shock to be reminded of how hard it is to survive the first level in this game.
I've never tried the skeleton trick. But I remembered (and still use) the samurai trick. It will get an entire party from Level 1 to Level 2 in only 12 fights. Of course you need to save your characters to disk and exit the game each time to get the statue to reappear. I use the strategy sparingly as I prefer to play the game straight up as much as possible.
The only way to survive playing straight up is to be extremely patient. You will die very often.
Fight the kobolds and lesser foes as often as possible. After a few successful fights, or a significant gain of GP or a dropped weapon, run like a banshee to the AG and save everything. It's a PITA, but a bigger PITA is getting killed in the next fight and losing all progress.
Use every last GP (after healing costs) to upgrade the EQ for the first 3 slots, with special attention to lowering the AC. You will want at least Scale Armor, plus helms, gloves, and Tower shields for everyone who can wear them. Then get Halbards.
It took me a couple of days but I finally got everyone to L2.
I've never tried the skeleton trick. But I remembered (and still use) the samurai trick. It will get an entire party from Level 1 to Level 2 in only 12 fights. Of course you need to save your characters to disk and exit the game each time to get the statue to reappear. I use the strategy sparingly as I prefer to play the game straight up as much as possible.
The only way to survive playing straight up is to be extremely patient. You will die very often.
Fight the kobolds and lesser foes as often as possible. After a few successful fights, or a significant gain of GP or a dropped weapon, run like a banshee to the AG and save everything. It's a PITA, but a bigger PITA is getting killed in the next fight and losing all progress.
Use every last GP (after healing costs) to upgrade the EQ for the first 3 slots, with special attention to lowering the AC. You will want at least Scale Armor, plus helms, gloves, and Tower shields for everyone who can wear them. Then get Halbards.
It took me a couple of days but I finally got everyone to L2.
Once you crack level 2 and upgrade your armor and weapons things get a lot easier. I do powerlevel my characters by smiting the stone samurai's and later the stone golems, and stone giants.
To get to level 2, it helps to have high dexterity and to hang around near the Adventurers Guild. As soon as you win any significant amount of gold (ah, gnomes!) or xp (a lot less likely, except from the stone samurai), run for it and save right away. The safest strategy I found was kicking in doors across the street from the temple south of The Adventurers Guild.
Another good strategy is to keep replacing 1st level characters as they croak. This is fun, and also builds up you bank account.
To get to level 2, it helps to have high dexterity and to hang around near the Adventurers Guild. As soon as you win any significant amount of gold (ah, gnomes!) or xp (a lot less likely, except from the stone samurai), run for it and save right away. The safest strategy I found was kicking in doors across the street from the temple south of The Adventurers Guild.
Another good strategy is to keep replacing 1st level characters as they croak. This is fun, and also builds up you bank account.
Death and drek? WTF?
I made a heap of blank characters, added to party, traded their gold to the characters I want to keep, then dump the blank characters.
When straight to Garth's and loaded up on the best armour and weapons he has.
Think of it as the adventurers guild folks chipping in to save Scara Brae
When straight to Garth's and loaded up on the best armour and weapons he has.
Think of it as the adventurers guild folks chipping in to save Scara Brae
Vyv... have we got a video?
Re: Beginning Strategies
I like to create 3 hobbit monks with 18 dex each. Then head to the samurai statue repeatedly until they hit level 4 for their 2nd attack. This will also net them enough gold for basic armors they can buy from the default shoppe (leather armor, buckler, gloves, weapon not necessary).
Once they level up enough for ac to reach -3ish, they can survive the night fairly well. At this point, it really depends on what the rest of my party is going to look like. If I intend to use monks as tanks, I'll create new ones with 17-18 con, and let them tag along until their ac is low enough to handle the task at hand. Not to mention, for tanking the catacombs, -8 ac is enough for level 1.
Once they level up enough for ac to reach -3ish, they can survive the night fairly well. At this point, it really depends on what the rest of my party is going to look like. If I intend to use monks as tanks, I'll create new ones with 17-18 con, and let them tag along until their ac is low enough to handle the task at hand. Not to mention, for tanking the catacombs, -8 ac is enough for level 1.