Category: Strategies and Tactics
Topic: Monster and creature discussion
Author: AMERLISE
Posted: Mar 19, 1998 11:01:41

A bunch of mixed thoughts and advice for hunting in the Fhorian village, in no particular order.

1. If you aren't hunting devils intentionally, stay east of the footbridge. Preferably indoors (see below).

2. Spikethorn is about 10% as effective indoors as it is outdoors.

3. If you know dispel, use it on the storms. If you don't, you might want to hunt with someone who does. Two ambushers also do well together.

4. If the thorns crit you, give priority to killing shoots as they come in. They have squishy heads.

5. Firethorn shoot's spikethorn (and all spells that critters cast, as far as I know) use the same code as the player spells; i.e., uptweaking rangers' spikethorn will make shoots' more powerful. The only aberration from this that I know of is devils' guards true still adding 56 to their DS/TD. That might've been changed, dunno; it's been bugged enough.

6. There is no 6.

7. If you're an ambusher, unless you're spelled out the wazoo, kill shoots and lizards in advancing stance. Lessens the risk of a stray lizard genning and eviscerating you.

8. Save your firethorns. Remember roughly how many you have on you. It's a pain to get a 50 per poison from a lizard and find out there's no one on to unpoison you.

9. Travel light. Very light. Ask someone's familiar to pick you up in one (paw/claw/talon/etc). If it can't, you're too heavy. In fact, hunt naked. Shield, weapon if needed, armor, and a container for loot. That's all you really need. Leave your 37 scrolls, 14 statues, and matching set of glaes Liabo ale mugs in your locker.

10. Get mobility and resist elements. Learn to love your neighborhood ranger, and make them dread your approach. Which reminds me, off topic, learn mana share if you don't. Wish I had more.

11. As far as I know, each storm is keyed to a particular devil. If that devil is dead (searched or not) or just not in the room, the storm will dissipate on its next cycle. This has been my experience 100% of the time, and always has been, but of course, don't take it as law. If there's a storm going, and a devil comes in, kill it.

12. Don't camp. It invites swarms you probably can't deal with, and builds up junk rapidly. If you must camp, keep your room *clean*. If a devil implodes and you have a clean room, your odds of surviving are quite good. If you have a pile of clamshell shields taller than Berr, you're going to land in the tower with a splat.

13. Don't get greedy. Know when to unload. I can carry about 10K in coins before the spikethorns start to hit me. I leave before then.

14. If you're an ambusher, sneak around, if you're on the east side of the footbridge. I don't recommend this on the west side, because of the storms. Three seconds of sneak time seems like five minutes if you sneak into a room with a storm going.

15. Lizards and shoots are fast, and search..fairly poorly. Devils are fast and blind as can be. I don't think one has ever found me in 40 years of village hunting. Wasps are fast and quite perceptive. If you're hiding and there's a wasp in the room, be careful that it doesn't sniff you out in offensive in front of a lizard.

16. This is getting really long, isn't it?

17. If there are two+ devils in a room, and one starts a storm, kill the very last one in the list; i.e., four devils present, kill fourth devil. 99% of the time, the storm belongs to the last one. This is *not* failsafe, but trustworthy enough to be a good rule of thumb.

18. Devils are 56th level. You'd expect a 56th level spellcaster to have some decent spells, and these things are pure magic.

19. If you're a sorcerer who religiously trains spell aiming, use it on devils. They're a lot more susceptible to bolt spells than warding spells.

20. If the weather is bad, find a barstool or go to kiramon or banshees, unless you just prefer the coziness of body bags.

21. There are a few areas west of the footbridge that tend to swarm. If you're barely holding your own, you might avoid these. Generally, directly across the footbridge (w, nw, sw exits) and by the guild (I think. W, W, S, S from the footbridge, with W, N, E exits) tend to be busy areas. On the other hand, the far northwest corner tends to be rather slow in comparison.

22. If you're new to the village, you might want to stay in the three room NE-SW area southwest from the ford. If you stay in the third room down, or even southwest of there (w, se, nw, ne exits) you'll still see decent action, and still be fairly sure of a safe direction to retreat if it gets too hairy.

If you follow some or all of the above and aren't hunting rediculously over your head, you should be okay. If you follow all of the above, and still die every few minutes, there's always that bunch o' slackers sitting on a node in banshees in Darkstone.

Spells I would recommend for better village hunting (besides the obvious DS spells) include mobility(!), resist elements, strength (whether you swing or not; it'll help keep you unencumbered), purify air (rumoured to help with implosion survival), poison resist (helps with hitting and skinning lizards, and with wasp stings), unpresence (if you hide) and dispel. Obviously, dispel is one you'd need to know personally. I fared 200% better in the village after I learned it. Excellent for storms, and useful for WallofForce'd devils.

Hope someone, somewhere finds all this useful. ;>

~Amerlise Vinsaile
Priestess of Andelas