Newbie Article - Self Improvement
One of the main features of the game is improving your character. This article explains how to handle this.
Summary of Improvement Methods
Here are the main ways to improve your character:
The Score Command
In order to improve it is useful to first know how good you are currently. You can use the score command to see all your important score information.
From here you can check the following:
Note also that the score command accepts parameters so that you can list other aspects of your score. This is just the main score summary obtained by typing score on its own.
Gaining XP
Here is a list of the main ways to gain XP:
Spending XP
Got some XP? Good. Now go to your guild to spend it. Somewhere in the guild will be an advancement area. Wander around until you think you are in it. An undergraduate Assassin, for example, would go to the study area of the dormitory of his own house within the guild building, or just a general dormitory in smaller branches. To check if you are in the right place, type help here. The commands needed to spend XP wisely are as follows (these are taken from the room help file):-
Learning New Commands
Very important this one. There is no point having nice shiny skills if you have no commands to employ them with. The backstab command for Assassins and Thieves is a good example of a command that can be learned, or behead for warriors. You want these commands.
In order to learn a command you must meet the requirements to learn it. Some commands can only be learned by specific guilds. You must also have high enough skills to be able to learn the command (the requirements vary depending on the skill).
To learn a new command you can either learn from a guild NPC who knows the command and is willing to teach it or learn from another player. Assassins in the Ankh-Morpork guild for example can learn commands from NPC teachers. Just find a teacher and say teach me please. This will trigger them into telling you what skills they have that you are able to learn and they will also tell you the syntax for learning them.
The commands command will list the commands you know already.
TMs Explained
A TM is an advance to a skill earned through the Task Master system. These are one of the most entertaining features of the game.
Basically, any time you perform a command that uses a skill, that skill might improve.
The chance of an improvement is based partly on your current ability. A rank amateur at a particular skill can improve the skill fairly often by this method, while a seasoned veteran can only rarely expect to see any improvement. A TM is an improvement through practice rather than through study or training.
Should you ever achieve a TM while in company, enter the tm command for an appropriate celebration of your achievement.
Learning Spells and Rituals
I know very little about spells as yet but I do have two rituals.
For non-Priest characters you may only have two rituals (excluding any granted by items). These can be gained by first getting yourself a god(ess) to follow and then improving your faith skills to a high enough level. Once done, find the religious instructor in your god's temple and they will automatically teach you the rituals. There is no choice as to what you get and no need to enter a command, you are just taught them as soon as you enter the location.
Rituals need to be learned again if you die.
Money, Equipment and Early Kills
Money is hard to come by for the unassisted newbie. It would be more accurate perhaps to say that it is hard to come by in any large quantity. Small amounts are easy to get.
A basic method for newbies is to stand in a street and search. It has to be a street by the way, not an inside or terrain location. You may find nothing, you may start to smell (this wears off) or you may find something. If the thing you find is a rat, cockroach or other small creature then you can always kill and bury it for XP. It is worth using the consider command first to make sure you are up to the task of felling a mighty cockroach. If you find an item then you can sell it in a general store. Street locations never seem to run out of random junk to find, just don't expect anything too impressive.
Once you are harder, killing and looting people is a good next step. I'm talking about NPCs here and not players! Children and small dogs are a good next step up from street vermin. Large dogs may be next (although they won't have much to sell) and before long you can move on to adult human kills. Some sailors are quite weak and also some NPC thieves. Let the consider command guide you here.
Once at this stage there are various tactical choices to make. Do you loot every possession and sell the lot or do you take only valuable items and money to reduce the number of trips to the shop once you reach your carrying limit? Do you try to get items repaired before selling them to make an overall gain despite the cost of the repair? Do you go through fences at the thieves guild rather than general stores? After all, they may give you better prices if your negotiation and valuing skills are high enough. These choices are best left to you to make. Experiment and find what works for you.
An early investment should be some kind of bag or backpack to hold your gear. Once money and equipment are coming along nicely it is time to consider renting a vault for your spare equipment and getting a bank account for your surplus money. Carrying too many items or too much money around is just asking for a mugger or pickpocket to take an interest.