CF: Newbie hints

[Christian Stieber <stieber@informatik.tu-muenchen.de>]

Hi,

despite the stupid discussions about preventing newbies from gaining
experience, I'll still post this since there seems to be demand.  Of
course this won't be possible for long --- Mark will probably take out
the maps mentioned here since it allows newbies to gain a few levels
and actually get started with the interesting parts of crossfire.

Of course you can always try my server :-) I don't mind newbies
getting exp, so I'll add most of the maps that are currently under
discussion back in if I ever upgrade to 0.95.x :-)

Anyway, this is one of the things I teach newbies on my server. I'm
assuming you
- can handle goblins
- can survive zombies
- can pray
- are follower of Jehova
- can cast holy word

Concerning the praying --- _never_ read a scroll of piety if you can
avoid it, if you plan to become a perfect character in the future :-)
Same for the the scroll of legerdermain, although that's less of a
problem. Always use a holy symbol/talisman instead of learning the
skills. You should learn all the other skills, of course.

First you have to find the dragon transport to Pupland. Don't worry ---
there is only one dragon transport in Scorn that's actually working,
so you can't miss it.

When you reach the "Terminal", go down the stairs. This will take you
into a small map with three buildings --- raffle1, raffle2 and
raffle3. Enter the leftmost building (raffle1) --- forget the other
two for now, they aren't interesting for you.

Go south, go through the door, and go down again. Kill the orc and use
the key to open the door. Be quick --- turn the handle and run right.
Turn the handle and run left again if hordes of goblins are still
dangerous for you. You have to somehow kill the one orc and get the
key (be careful with the orc --- it has more hitpoints than usual
orcs!). Once you have the key you can forget the level, unless you are
interested in goblin equipment. Use the handle again to close the
door, open the northern door and go down again.

Now you are in the map you are interested in. This map gives two sorts
of things: a few wisdom levels, and money. We'll start with the wisdom
exp, since that's more important.

Make a keybinding like this: "invoke holy word;use_skill pr;stay fire;
stay fire;stay fire;stay fire;stay fire". You might need more "stay
fire" later on, so be careful when you gain a level. Unwield you
weapon; you probably won't be able to take off some armor, but if you
can, do it.

Turn the handle, and stand in the spot before the don't stand on the door,
since you can't cast there.

Turn towards the zombies and keep holding down the "holy word" key you
created. This will cast holy word into the room, and kill
zombies. Things will go slowly at first, but you'll be able to gain a
few levels. If you are patient enough do it until you reach level 6
(you might need to add a few more "stay fire" at some point, to make
sure the grace is always restored to max). The reason why you want to
be level 6 is because that's the level required for the "call holy
servant" spell.

The same map can be used to get money --- zombie corpses are valuable,
and the only good way of getting money for a newbie. Be sure to
identify them, of course.

Well, since I almost spoiled all of raffle1 I'll do it completely and
explain the next map, too. Wield your weapon and wear all the armor
you have. When you go down the hole in the zombie map you'll see an
altar with a card on it to the right. Don't step onto that spot
yet!!!!! You'll see a hill giant to the left --- the hill giant is
already hurt, so run towards him and kill him off. This is still
dangerous, though --- if he hurts you too much, retreat to the left of
the map, go down, through the door, push the boulder and use the
ladder.

If you manage to kill the hill giant, prepare for the final retreat:
open the door on the left, push the boulder. Then, go the spot in
front of the altar/card. Now be quick: once you step onto the altar
the doors will open and hordes of hill giants will pour out. So grab
the card quickly, and _run_.

Why do you want the card? The raffle-maps are lotteries. No chance to
get anything useful (well, _very_ small chance), but the first two
possibilities in raffle1 are toilet paper (valuable) or an improvement
potion (useful --- just drink it, until it says "you are already
perfect" --- sell it if that happened).

To use the card, go back up into the first room (the one before the
goblins).  Use the upstairs in the upper right. Turn the handle to
release the boulder.  Go through the hole, read the sign and move the
levers according to the instructions.

The zombie map can also be used for physical exp --- go to the
skeleton generators, destroy them, and use the small corridor to kill
the zombies when they are created. If you dare you can also kill
zombie in the main area, of course --- depends on your armor and
abilities. Just don't destroy the generators!

To be continued, if there is interest.

Christian


-- 
Christian Stieber        http://www.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/~stieber
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