Alrighty, if you're reading this then you've probably got a handful of questions about Adventures Fame and what it's all about. Here's a quick and dirty guide to getting started:
About the Game
- this is a Solo play game. You can't deliberatly fight other players and, apart from Chat, you can't interact with them in any way. It's just you versus whatever critters you stumble across.
- the game is "energy"-based. Each action, like Explore or Rest, will take you 1 Energy - when you run out, you'll need to wait until you get more.
- If you die, you lose all your remaining Energy and wake up again next day ready to adventure again.
Skills
Your stats are based on spending Skill points to improve your skills. In the simple areas, this is done by "Train Self", which uses up skill points. Later, you can pay for training which saves you lots of Skill Points but costs lots of gold. You'll find plenty of gold later, so saving skill points by paying for training is a very good idea.
Offence
Offence + weapon skill determines how often you hit your opponent, the higher the better.
For every 10 points of Offence skill, you add +1 to the damage you do with a successful hit. This includes bonuses from various magical items. At later levels, you'll need a good Offence skill to dish out enough damage to kill your enemies quickly, otherwise you'll suffer. (Take a look at some of the Gladiator Sports at the higher levels to see how much damage they do - based on a random variable of 1-20, I can do over 100 points of damage per hit).
Defence
Your defense is based on the lower of two scores:
- your total Defence stat + Armour, or
your skill in the weapon type.
You'll generally need to make sure you progress these two stats as closely as possible, since there's no point spending Skill points in improving your Defence if everything is rounded down to the weapon skill involved.
Weapons
There are 5 basic weapon skill groups available. Certain areas have preferences for certain weapon types, and making sure you have the right skills to defend against the common attacks helps in maximising good use of your limited Skill Points.
Initially, you'll meet a lot of animals, like dogs and lions, which are "Unarmed", so putting points into Unarmed will cut down on the times you'll be hit. Later, when you start exploring other areas, you'll need to bring up your other weapon skills to protect yourself.
Hit Points
This determines how much damage it takes to kill you. Adding a few Hit Points everytime you increase a level seems a smart move to me, as critters start doing more damage as you get into the nastier areas.
Energy
Energy determines how much you can do each day. In the early stages, training in Energy is relatively expensive, and may not be worth it. However, since this is a long-term game, a few points spent in Energy early on may be very worthwhile... an extra 2-3 energy per day for a year is a lot of extra energy!
It's a balance and one you'll have to juggle yourself. Later, when you have enough gold to stay in good Inns, you'll need to travel about, and that takes Energy away from hunting.
Starting
When you start the game, you have nothing but a pocket of gold. Most players tend to start the same way:
- buy yourself a War Glove. It's the hardest-hitting thing available for a beginner and relatively cheap.
- buy yourself some armour.
- Equip them both.
- Explore. Kill stuff.
Exploring
Hitting the Explore button will cost you one Energy while you wander about looking for stuff. You may find a monster to fight, a bag of gold, or nothing at all. Occasionally, you'll find a Trail to another area. Once found, you'll always be able to find that trail again from the same area, so don't feel the need to take every trail you find straight away.
These things are generally random, so bide your time and things will happen. You may find a new trail after 2-3 days, or maybe after 2-3 weeks. Be patient.
Travel
Travelling between areas takes 5 Energy, so make sure you're either very well prepared for the new area or have enough Energy to get back again if you're not.
Fighting
When you encounter a critter, you'll either surprise it, or it will surpise you. If it surprises you, it will always attack; if you surprise it, you'll get a choice to fight or flee.
Once you press the "fight" button, you're committed and will keep fighting until one of you dies, so make sure you know what you're getting in for. This is something you'll just have to learn for yourself, so keep an eye on what you're doing.
Healing Potions
Potions are bought from Shops in most of those areas that have them, and are well worth getting early and often. Each potion activates immediately your Hit Points drops below zero and restores a random amount of Hit Points to you. The "strength" of the potion is the maximum you can roll, so a light Healing potion (strength 10) heals 1-10.
Potions are expensive, so be wary of using them up to chase extra experience points. Remembering that a basic Healing potion restores about 5-6 Hit Points, and cost 100 gold each, increasing your Hit Points by 5-6 will save you the cost of a potion every time you get into a nasty battle and have to potentially use one.
Game Mechanics
The three most important thing to understand, in my opinion are:
- Attack percentages are calculated on a sliding scale of Offence vs Defence. At the upper levels, it will take a big increase in Defence to reduce your opponent's hit chance by even 1%. At lower levels though, a few points change in Defence will reduce your opponents attack chance considerably.
- The game is long term, not short term. Increasing skills like Energy and Offence won't make a lot of noticeable difference immediately, but after months of play those extra handful of Energy per day make a big difference, and after many levels of regular Offence increase your damage will have increased dramatically.
- You will only ever catch up to the senior players after a hell of a lot of time and effort. There's a level cap in the game which means you can get them eventually, but the extra skill and HP they have makes them extremely hard to beat. Don't think about winning the top group of Gladiator Sports unless the top 10 don't log in for a few days or you're well past Level 170.
Offence Skill
I need to add some stuff about Offence Skill, which in many ways has nerfed my advancement.
Experience is gained from fighting, and one of the main determinants in how much experience you gain is how much damage you take.
One of the best sources of Experiences in the game is Merlin, in the Badlands. I have pushed my Offence skill so high that I can kill him in one blow, which makes it difficult for me to get any real experience from him. Compared to others, who do far less damage, I probably get well less than half the experience they do...when you need 160+ Merlin kills to advance a level, and everyone else needs 70-80, your advancement slows down considerably.
If you want to push your Offence skill high to do better in Gladiator combats, you're far better off saving the skill points (say, only spend half every time you level up) and then boost your Offence skill once you hit level 220+.
Crazy Stuff
Crush - Rare Skill, taught only at the Silver Oasis if the Travelling Swordmaster is in. Increases damage done in Gladiator Combat.
Griffon Lair - Hard-to-find location out past the Gnome Outpost. Hardest critters in the game, and occasionally drop a Griffon Helm.
Silver Gnome Key - Only available from the Gnome Outpost and pretty hard to find. If equipped, you don't need to search to find the exit from The Crypt, it's just there. May work in other locations too.
Enchanted Bottle - Basically, a magical water bottle, which means you can skip all those "dry oasis" etc encounters in the badlands. Equipped instead of an Amulet, it basically increases combat encounters.
Raging Bushfires - Occasionally, the Mountain Summit catches on fire, usually during the Summer. Unless you have the Fire Cloak equipped, every time you adventure you risk getting caught in a fire...damage ranges from slight to virtually instant death, depending on how powerful the fire is.
Camouflage - Another rare skill, this one taught by the Gypsy Merchant who pops up from time-to-time on the Old Trail (past Gnome Outpost that doesn't seem to go anywhere). Each level of Camouflage reduces the chance of a Combat encounter when you Rest, even in those areas where you can't Rest (such as the Griffon Lair).
Anyways, that's the basics of it all. Best of luck!