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Darklands cheats / Darklands hints / Darklands faqs / Darklands solutions Darklands faqs and solutions version 1.0 (October 1995) put together by CMB: C. Michel Boucher (aa699@freenet.carleton.ca) FF: Fred Farzanegan (fredf@bnr.ca) DA: Dennis Ahr (dahr@fred.net) AvL: Alexander von Luenen (luenen@athene.informatik.uni-bonn.de) MEB: Marilyn E. Burford (ad636@ccn.cs.dal.ca) GRL: Garrett R. Le-Page (lepag001@maroon.tc.umn.edu) copyright 1995 (except for quoted material, as indicated) Specifically for version 483.07 of Darklands The HTML version of this file is accessible at uni-bonn by using the following URL: http://ibm.rhrz.uni-bonn.de/~uzs3f8/darkland.html --------------------------------- Table of contents 0. INTRODUCTION 1. BEFORE WE BEGIN What do we know about Arnold Hendrick, the designer of DARKLANDS? What did Microprose say about DARKLANDS? Where do I find DARKLANDS now? What is Jojo's list and why is it important? What's that again about a sequel? 2. TECHNOBABBLE What files are available for DARKLANDS from Microprose and elsewhere? 3. GAME CONSIDERATIONS - Early game (raubritters, thieving, demoniac villagers) Travelling by land - dealing with travellers (bandits, good and bad alchemists, bishops, noblemen, pigs, wolves, etc.) Armour and weapons Stealing armour, buying armour Where to find good armour, weapons Improving skills by seeking out robbers in towns Getting jobs Getting help (extra people, prayers to saints) Fighting tactics Alchemy Money 4. GAME CONSIDERATIONS - Taking on tougher things (knockers, witches and the Wild Hunt) Getting money, alchemical stuff Using your improving reputation to get jobs, instruction Mines Dragons High Sabat Great Monastery Defeating Baphomet Retiring characters, dead characters (quoted from the README.TXT with v7) Continuing after you've completed the objectives of the game. 5. LISTS, TIPS & OTHER PARAPHERNALIA FOR THE DARKLANDS VOYAGER Rare items and places in DARKLANDS (Holy relics, Devil's Bridge, etc.) List of cities with Cathedrals, Universities and neither Strange things in the game Things with no apparent purpose in the game Bits and pieces Stupid things about DARKLANDS List of the first 40 significant events in one game Cities of Germany Enemies Saints Summary of Darklands Hint Book Additional Files --------------------------------- A quick note before beginning. This FAQ reflects the many considerations that could be brought to it by the four authors, as well as input from various sources. As much as possible, authorship of a particular section is indicated. Where there are comments, these are inserted with the preface NOTE and the initials of the note's author in brackets. Quotes are marked by > and, unless a different provenance is given, are to be understood as coming from Microprose literature on DARKLANDS. Also please note that the Introduction and sections 1 and 2 were largely written or put together by CMB as drafts of the FAQ project and have not changed much since. --------------------------------- 0. INTRODUCTION Here is the long awaited DARKLANDS FAQ. It is the product of the labour of the six people mentioned above. It has the distinction of being perhaps the only FAQ ever produced for an out-of-print game. Don't be fooled by cheap imitations. This is the genuine article, a blatant attempt on the part of a few hardcore DARKLANDS players to manipulate Microprose into producing a sequel, as was originally promised. Admittedly, this is a last ditch attempt, as they have stated they will NOT produce a sequel, but as Babe Ruth was fond of saying: "It ain't over till the fat lady sings". Although this FAQ covers a lot of ground, there remains much to be covered. There are gaps here and there which individual players might be able to help us fill. If you can, write to any of us with your comments and suggested additions. Separate files are also welcome to be added to the list of files below. The Management --------------------------------- 1. BEFORE WE BEGIN There are two other mentions made of DARKLANDS on the net search tools. The first is an album and a tour by The Jesus and Mary Chain. The second is a "gothic" recording label in Finland. For those interested in pursuing either line of enquiry, I propose the following sites: The Jesus and Mary Chain Darklands Album http://american.recording.com/American_Artists/Jesus_and_Mary_Chain/jamc_hom The Jesus and Mary Chain Darklands Tour http://adam.com.au/~jonno/list11 Darklands (a gothic Finnish recording label) http://mimas.otol.fi/~matron/rldisco.html http://www.sjoki.uta.fi/~latvis/levyyht/darkland.html Please note that some of these links may be inactive at the time of release. They were all listed at NetSeek during the summer of 1995. Now that we've got these things out of the way, let's talk about the game DARKLANDS from MPS Labs. Back to Table of Contents --------------------------------- What do we know about Arnold Hendrick, the designer of DARKLANDS? Before he designed games for Microprose, Arnold Hendrick designed a few role-playing games. Of note: BARBARIAN PRINCE, a paragraph adventure boardgame from DWARFSTAR (1981) and another game for SPI, DRAGONQUEST (2 editions, 1980, 1981) . Arnold Hendrick has designed a number of games for Microprose. Darklands won the 1992 PC Special Achievement Award from Game Players Magazine. --------------------------------- What did Microprose say about DARKLANDS? Microprose issued the following press release: >********** DARKLANDS ********** > >HUNT VALLEY, MD _ MicroProse Software, Inc., famous worldwide for its >high-quality entertaining simulations of combat and adventure, will release >DARKLANDS, its first true fantasy role-playing game, this fall. > >Set in 15th Century Medieval Germany, DARKLANDS will be as realistic and >challenging a simulation as previous MicroProse releases. "The common thread >of all of our titles, from GUNSHIP to RAILROAD TYCOON, is that they have an >intellectual core," said Arnold Hendrick, DARKLANDS' game designer. >"DARKLANDS will be no different _ the problems and tasks the gamer will face >are straight from the events and attitudes of Medieval Germany." 15th >Century Germany was a time of violence and corruption and was an era with >three Popes simultaneously in charge, powerless emperors, gangster nobles >and venal clergymen. DARKLANDS recreates this period and emphasizes the >beliefs of the time: witches worshipping the devil, people praying to saints >to produce real miracles, alchemists turning lead into gold and dragons >inhabiting caves. > >Players will explore a vast map of Germany with a party of four adventurers >created from the likes of nobles, swordsmen, mercenaries, thieves, alchemists, >monks and several more. Millions of different character types will be >possible by choosing from 26 attributes and skills. The ultimate goal of the >game will be to achieve fame and immortality on multiple quests, many of them >simultaneous. Quests will be created by an "adventure generator" for endless >replayability. > >DARKLANDS will be released for IBM-compatibles and will require 640K of RAM. >The game will support AdLib, Roland, Tandy and IBM sounds, and EGA, MCGA/VGA >and Tandy 16-color graphics. A hard disk will be required and a mouse >recommended. --------------------------------- Where do I find DARKLANDS now? I received this note from Daniel Hall, when I asked him to give me the information on where he had been able to find DARKLANDS on a CD. Please note this has been edited for the purposes of this FAQ. >Date: Tue Aug 1 03:36:26 1995 >From: dhall41@portland.caps.maine.edu (Daniel Hall) >Subject: Re: darklands >To: aa699@freenet.carleton.ca > >Gold Medal 12 CD Pack >Mediaquest >(found at Electronics Boutique at the price of $30 American) > >It includes: Darklands, Blue Force, Jet Fighter 2, Maelstrom, Microcosm, >Shadow President, Dune II, CyberRace, Casino Master Gold Edition, The >Selfish Giant, The Complete House, The Peter Norton Productivity Pak *NOTE (CMB): I also found DARKLANDS available in a CD five-pack with *other games. It was on sale at Electronics Boutique for $24.99 CDN, plus *GST and PST (where applicable): *Action 5 Pak *GT Interactive Software * *It includes: War in the Gulf, Shadowlands, Spectre, Combat II & Darklands Unfortunately for those of you who have bought CD versions of DARKLANDS, you have found out by now that the information that comes with the company's package is not included in the CD's documentation. We have read complaints about this on the net, specifically that the look-up codes, simple as they are, are not included. It is not within the scope of this document to provide you with these codes, as much as we would like to, as we would risk being in breach of copyright laws. -- The Management --------------------------------- What is Jojo's list and why is it important? This is a weekly voting list which produces the top 100 games. Almost 1000 people vote on this list and it is checked by game companies to see how well their product is doing. To check out Jojo's list, find it on comp.sys.ibm.games.announce. Currently, DARKLANDS has been on almost since the beginning and has been climbing from the mid-eighties to the mid-sixties. Any DARKLANDS player is invited to add his vote to Jojo's list by mailing your entry to jojo@xs4all.nl as per the instructions in the report. DARKLANDS's number in Jojo's list is 1008. --------------------------------- What's that again about a sequel? In the manual for DARKLANDS, it says that the designers were planning a number of sequels to expand the game throughout medieval Europe, including Russia and other locations. This never materialized, but gamers are a persistent bunch and every now and then, the questions re-emerge. This is what was said about a sequel (straight from the horse's mouth, as it were): >From: polar@u.washington.edu (B. Power) >Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg >Subject: Darklands: Dead. *sigh* >Date: 3 Sep 1995 17:26:41 GMT > >Several weeks ago, I sent Microprose mail about a possible sequel to >Darklands. Here's what I received: > >From support@microprose.com Sun Sep 3 10:23:49 1995 >Date: Wed, 26 Jul 1995 11:05:12 -0400 >From: MPS/SH On-Line >To: Brendan Power >Subject: Re: Darklands: Dead in the water? > >Hi Brendan, > >There are no plans for a newer version of Darklands, or to license out the >source code. > >Regards, >Tim/Spectrum HoloByte-MicroProse We here at FAQ Central, however, believe in miracles, especially if one attempts to manufacture them. We encourage all and sundry who enjoyed the game DARKLANDS to write to Microprose to suggest they reconsider reopening the DARKLANDS dossier. A letter campaign, along with an increase in DARKLANDS's standing in Jojo's list, should certainly make The Company think twice before refusing flat out. As far as I know, the e-mail address is support@microprose.com. There is also a web page at http://www.microprose.com/. --------------------------------- 2. TECHNOBABBLE What's the latest version of DARKLANDS and what does it do? The current version of DARKLANDS is 483.07. If you don't know what yours is, check out the file BANNER.DAT which should contain the number of the latest version. This is the file that appears as a grey screen when you first boot the game up. In my version 5, the file flashed by so rapidly that I couldn't tell which version it was, so I used a DOS utility like DR.EXE (you could also use WRITE or NOTEPAD from WINDOWS) to open the BANNER.DAT file and read the number. If you use a text editor, don't save afterwards. Just exit. If you don't have ftp, you can reach the people at Microprose and they will send you an upgrade by snail mail. Be sure to tell them which version you currently have. As far as I know, version 7 was never available as a commercial game. It is therefore necessary to upgrade your current version to 7. *NOTE (DA): I bought my Darklands commercially as revision 7, so I believe *that statement is not correct. As stated above, the address is support@microprose.com. Technical and other considerations for version 483.07 (February 26, 1993) as quoted from the README.TXT that accompanies update v7. >This version is a major upgrade. Numerous problems and difficulties have >been solved, thanks both to the many contributions and notes from users, >and our own continuing testing. This version allows save-games during >certain big battles, and makes both loading and saving much more reliable. > >Games saved using earlier versions should still work. However, some fixes >do not take effect unless you start a new game. These fixes are minor; for >example, in one, it's easier to leave Graz. However, for the best possible >version, start a new game. > >HARD DISK SPACE > >DARKLANDS requires about 17,500,000 bytes (17.5 MB) of hard disk space. This >includes about 16 MB of files, plus approximately 1.5 MB of temporary >storage, first for high speed installation, and then reused as temporary >file storage during play, including a reasonable number of saved games. The >exact amount of hard disk space may increase on very large hard disks. On >one 600MB hard disk we've seen the game require 22 MB of space. > >MEMORY (RAM) REQUIREMENTS > >Currently DARKLANDS requires 595,000 bytes (581K) of main memory, plus >180,224 bytes (176K) of EMS memory. If you are uncertain of the memory in >your machine use the DOS 5.0 command "MEM /C" to view the entire memory >configuration of your computer. > >DARKLANDS also requires FILES=20 (or more) in your CONFIG.SYS file. > >FAST LOADING COMMANDS > >The "DARKLAND /Q" command mentioned in the technical supplement disables >ALL animation routines in the game, not just the initial animation. This >command is intended for hardware configurations that have problems with the >animations, but which can run the rest of the game (see Extended Animation >Sequences, below, for details). > >To preserve the animations, but quickly bypass the opening sequence, load >normally with DARKLAND, then immediately tap the space bar. This bypasses >the opening animation, while preserving the later defeat and victory >animations. > >SAVING THE GAME > >The best places to save DARKLANDS are: > >(a) While staying at a city inn; >(b) While camping in the countryside; >(c) While on the travel map of Germany. >(d) On certain battlefields, in certain cases. > >Battlefields that allow save-games are indicated by a message saying >"Battlefield save rules are in effect". The main "save rule" is simple: >there must be no living enemies on the current floor or level. In addition, >you can save any time the game leaves the battlefield for an interaction >(i.e., a full-screen text/picture/menu combination). In general, if you can >use group movement mode, you can save (on appropriate battlefields). > >The only battlefields that allow saves are the largest: the various mines, >the Templar's fortress monastery, and Baphomet's Citadel of the Apocalypse. >In fact, we recommend you save frequently in these battles. This protects >you from unexpected problems. > >You can save the game at other times outside of battle. However, when you >restore, you may sometimes be "set back" a bit in time because a lot of >complex logic has not yet changed all data in the "permanent" areas yet. > >You can have up to 100 saved games. To scroll through the list, use the up >and down arrow keys on the keyboard. > >FRANKFURT, FREIBURG and FREIBERG > >Astute players will realize that some cities have similar names. Within the >game, "Frankfurt am Main" is abbreviated as "Frankfurt M", while "Frankfurt >an der Oder" is "Frankfurt O". Freiburg im Breisgau is misspelled "Freiberg >im Breisgau" on the map. It is spelled correctly in the game, and abbreviated >to "Freiburg B" for greater clarity. The other Freiberg, in the Wettin Lands, >is spelled correctly and is just "Freiberg" in the game. > >CHARACTER COLORS > >We very much regret that an extremely rare problem may cause a battlefield >character to suffer some color changes in battle. However, you as a player >won't notice the change until the next battle. The bad part is that the >change is stored in the saved game file. You can fix up your characters by >returning to an old saved game. For example, in battle #3 you notice Gretch >has green hair (yuck). If you return to a game saved prior to battle #2, >Gretch will be fine again. We apologize for this work-around. We've tried >all sorts of tools and traps for this condition, and spent hundreds of hours >testing for it. We'd be delighted to publicize the name of the first person >who can tell us how to make it occur upon demand. > >SAVES\DEFAULT FILE > >The SAVES subdirectory includes a file titled "DEFAULT." This file must be >present in this subdirectory to permit character generation. If you use DOS >commands to copy, clean out, etc. the SAVES files, be sure to not erase >DEFAULT. > >LOADING SAVED GAMES > >This version supports the ability to load saved games while in the game, as >described on page 18 of the manual. In addition, you can scroll through the >list of saved games using the keyboard arrow keys. Loading is prohibited on >certain information screens. Simply exit the information screen and loading >is re-enabled. > >Beware that once you commit to loading a game while playing, you MUST select >a game to load. You cannot escape back to the game you were playing. We >apologize for this inconvenience. > >HALL OF FAME > >The manual incorrectly states that DARKLANDS has a Hall of Fame. The game >does not. However, for your information, we expect that moderately successful >parties will achieve fame in the low hundreds, while very successful ones >will reach the high hundreds. > >DARKLANDS has no specific ending -- you can play forever. However, if you >have defeated Raubritters, dragons, the three different kinds of problems in >mines, and ultimately Baphomet, you have encountered all the major challenges. >Good luck and good adventuring! > >EXTENDED ANIMATION SEQUENCES > >The opening sequence and two other animations during the game may have >problems with a few hard disk drive controllers. Generally, if the opening >animation runs without problem three or four times, you should not have any >difficulties. > >If, however, you do have difficulties, we suggest you load with DARKLAND /Q. >This will bypass all the animation sequences, thus avoiding any chance of >trouble. > >SIMULTANEOUS ROLAND & SOUND BLASTER SUPPORT > >It is possible to have both Roland MT-32/LAPC-1 sound and digital speech in >DARKLANDS. However, it requires that you rename certain files (described >below) and then use INSTALL to set the game's sound to whatever NON-Roland >board you are using. These boards include: > >Covox Sound Master II, Sound Blaster, Sound Blaster Pro, >Pro Audio Spectrum (including + and 16 versions), >Thunderboard, ATI F/X > >To rename the files to support both boards, go to MPS\DARKLAND (or whatever >subdirectory you installed the game into) and type the following DOS >commands: > >COPY PSOUND.DLC PSOUND.DC >COPY PSOUND.DLB PSOUND.DB >COPY ASOUND.DLC ASOUND.DC >COPY ASOUND.DLB ASOUND.DB > >COPY RSOUND.DLC PSOUND.DLC >COPY RSOUND.DLB PSOUND.DLB >COPY RSOUND.DLC ASOUND.DLC >COPY RSOUND.DLB ASOUND.DLB > >Later, if you wish to restore the game to its normal configuration, type the >following DOS commands: > >COPY PSOUND.DC PSOUND.DLC >COPY PSOUND.DB PSOUND.DLB >COPY ASOUND.DC ASOUND.DLC >COPY ASOUND.DB ASOUND.DLB *NOTE (DA): Use of Gravis Ultrasound Card * *If you have any of the GUS cards, you can use megaem.exe rev. 3.03 beta to *increase the quality of the tunes in Darklands. First copy the sound files *under the paragraph in this FAQ called Simultaneous Roland & Sound Blaster *Support. Then load megaem.exe. Finally, run the install program in your *DARKLAND directory. You should be able to select the Roland choice now. *To do this automatically every time you run Darklands, make a batch file as *follows: * *~path\megaem *cd\~path\darkland *darkland >DARKLANDS CLUE BOOK > >A clue book full of numerical data of all sorts, not to mention outlines of >the quests, hints and answers to puzzles, and much more is available now from >MicroProse. It is available either with or without a special disk. The >special disk contains a music player, a picture viewer, and a character >editor. *NOTE (CMB): See below, for a description of the Hint Book. Also, something *these notes don't mention is that version 7 seems to have a simpler BASIC setting *than the earlier versions (5 in particular), from my experience. DESCRIPTION OF BUGS ENCOUNTERED --Contributed by AvL-- When I saw a couple of postings in the comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg concerning DARKLANDS, one more thing to mention came to my mind. Has anyone noticed that annoying bug in ver7 ? It happens when you're travelling on the map. In the old version, I was able to walk on without getting interrupted (beside game issues of course). Now, in ver7, there's often some strange hard drive activity which results in nothing, in the best case. I travel and the screen freezes as if engaging in some action. But then, the map shows up again, and my 'walker' stands there and waits for new clicks. In the worst case, the screen starts to scroll madly, I mean, my travelling-character stays around and the map scrolls in all directions and ends in the sea eventually. Has anyone encountered that as well ? Seems like a bug to me. Even though I wouldn't call this a major bug, it can cause some mess, if you haven't saved often enough (after landing in the sea, the machine hangs up). --Contributed by DA-- That's a new one to me, but it reminded me of a bug (rev 7) that I encounter every once in a while. Sometimes when a battle in the wilderness is about to begin (doesn't seem to matter with whom), there are no enemies anywhere on the battle map. I have found that the only way to "jump start" the battle is to move my characters around a little; after a bit, the hard drive starts up and the battle begins. NOTE: Anyone with any other strange behaviour by the program is encouraged to describe it in gory detail and e-mail to one of the authors. It stands a chance of being added (with appropriate credit) to this document. Also, feel free to substantiate these two bugs if you can. --------------------------------- What files are available for DARKLANDS from Microprose and elsewhere? There are quite a few kinds of files for DARKLANDS: upgrades, animated unplayable demo, a press release and some save game editors. The section that follows explains where to get the material, or, if you have WWW access, you can just point to the site to receive the file. Please note that I have not been able to find DARKSND.ZIP at the Microprose site although it is listed as being there. UPGRADES You can get the following upgrades of DARKLANDS by ftp to the site below: DARK6-7 ZIP 614K DARKLANDS Version 06 to 07 Update DK4_6 ZIP 812K DARKLANDS Update Version 04 to Version 06 DK5_6 ZIP 831K DARKLANDS Version 05/051 to Version 06 DKV06 ZIP 1214K DARKLANDS Version 06 ftp://ftp.microprose.com/pub/mps-online/new-versions DRKSND ZIP 108K DARKLANDS Sound Drivers for Roland plus SB and Gold NOTE: I could not locate this one ftp://ftp.microprose.com/pub/mps-online/??? ANIMATED DEMO DARK1 ZIP 755K DARKLANDS VGA Animated Demo 1 of 2 DARK2 ZIP 606K DARKLANDS VGA Animated Demo 2 of 2 ftp://ftp.microprose.com/pub/mps-online/demos http://www.microprose.com/demos.html This non-playable demo shows some screens from a game, using the default characters (Gretchen, Gunther, Hans and Ebhard). Never having seen the early versions of the game I cannot say for sure which this one intends to demonstrate. I can say that it is different in some appearance to versions 5 and 7, so I can only surmise it is a view of an earlier version. Given the nature of demos, I would suspect it shows a version somewhere between beta and 483.01. Differences are: characters not as graphically clear, lettering in character screens different as well as the character representations, equipped objects were marked with a + and a different colour (something I feel they should have kept [also an object sorter would be nice]), dead remain on screen as a body (not just a spot of blood). There may be other differences. PRESS RELEASE DARKPR TXT 3K DARKLANDS Press Release ftp://ftp.microprose.com/pub/mps-online/press-releases SAVE GAME EDITORS DLED ZIP 71K DARKLANDS Save Game Editor v1.1 + doc DLEDIT ZIP 60K DARKLANDS Save Game Editor v1.1 DLQUE ZIP 21K Lists all current quests in DARKLANDS DRKLND ZIP 15K UGE module for DARKLANDS. Must have UGE. You may also be able to find most of these files at ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/.2/dresden/games/pc --------------------------------- Here are excerpts from the DOCs from DLED, DKQUE and UGE (DRKLND) DLED.ZIP (71Kb) - a character and party editor for DARKLANDS (excerpt) >**** DLED Version 1.1 New Features **** > >Now you can edit any character in the saved game. In addition to editing >the skills and attributes, you can now edit equipment, and knowledge of >saints and formulas. Edit party wealth, PStone and Fame (although I >haven't found much advantage to increasing party fame this way). > >Print individual characters or the party as a group. Print to printer or >file of your choice. > >Seamless transfer of party between saved games, no hassles. > >DLED is a utility that allows you to display and modify the attributes, >skills, equipment, saints and formulas of all the characters in your >saved game. It will also print a report of attributes, skills, equipment, >saints and formulas each character or all characters in your party. >Output can be directed to the printer or a file. DLED also allows you >to transfer the current party from one saved game to another (different >worlds). DKQUE.ZIP (20Kb) - program that lists pending quests (excerpt) >DKQUE is a utility program that lists all pending quests. Run DKQUE >before starting the game (you may want to redirect output to the printer >lpt1). Tells you where to go, what to get and who to give it >to. Often (for quests not in a city) it will specify a location near a >city different than what you were told in the game, as a rule DKQUE >provides a closer city than the game did. If you took notes when the >quest was given to you, you'll have an excellent set of directions to >triangulate. When questing for a Raubitter, it also tells you the name >of the Keep. > >Questions or comments may be directed to > >Steven J. Cotellesse >71255,1276 DRKLND.ZIP (14Kb) - Universal Game Editor module for DARKLANDS (excerpt) >YOU MUST HAVE UNIVERSAL GAME EDITOR TO USE THIS MODULE. > >This module will allow you to change money, philosopher stone, >attributes, skills and more. You may create ANY item in the game! > >UNIVERSAL GAME EDITOR > >Universal Game Editor is an editor created specifically for editing saved >game files. UGE is available on Compuserve, GEnie and America Online. >The filename is UGExx.ZIP, where xx is the version number. UGE may also >be uploaded to bulletin boards around the country. *NOTE (CMB): UGE comes with save files for Master of Orion, Civilization, *Betrayal at Krondor and Lands of Lore. The save files for DARKLANDS must *be obtained from the Microprose site. A shareware version of UGE can be obtained from Jack Hartman (the author) by contacting http://pages.prodigy.com/TX/jhartman/jhartman.html --------------------------------- 3. GAME CONSIDERATIONS - Early game (raubritters, thieves, demoniac villagers, etc.) --------------------------------- Travelling by land - meeting travellers (bandits, alchemists, bishops, noblemen, pigs, wolves, etc.) --This section contributed by CMB-- In the beginning of the game, you will have to travel by land. Except for a few minor exceptions, this is the cheapest, but most time consuming way of travelling. When travelling across the map, you will encounter all sorts of creatures. The main ones are bandits, boars and wolves, which can all be dispatched. You may also run across tatzelwurms, hellhounds, schrats and the Wild Hunt. If you have a chance to assist a schrat being hunted, do so. He will give you a gift that will be of benefit to you. Any endurance lost during these combats can be recovered in an overnight camp. To recover a fair amount of lost strength, it is best to go to a town and lodge at an inn. The healthy members can earn a little money to help defray the costs while the unhealthy members can recover. Alchemists offer or demand exchanges of potions. If you encounter an aggressive alchemist and defeat him and his retinue in combat, you will be able to keep the potions you find on him. You can freely refuse exchanges with non-aggressive alchemists. *NOTE (AvL): When engaging the agressive alchemist, be sure you can take *on his guards. Neither his guards nor the alchemist himself is a guy *to take a Sunday afternoon walk with, if you know what that means. I *mean, to defeat them in battle, your fighting skills should be on the *same level you would need to wipe out Raubritters and their bandits. Bishops, noblemen and hermits have a right to make demands upon your purse. Refusal to pay the price (or appropriately argue your case) and engaging them in combat results in a loss of Virtue, as a sign that this sort of action is not tolerated in 15th century Germany. Do not try to attack the abode of a legitimate lord. *NOTE (AvL): When encountering noblemen and clergymen on the road, always *try to convince them to leave you alone. Assuming you have Speak Common *skills of 50+, this will work in most cases. If not, pay the tithe. Never *attempt to kill them! Not only will this decrease your virtue level, it *will decrease your local reputation; for example, if near a town it would *make your popularity score go down from about zero (unknown) to approx. -7 down *to -14 (suspected). This would it make nearly impossible to enter this *town by normal ways. Trouble with the town guards would be omnipresent. Travelling pilgrims and displaced villagers can be assisted with gifts of money and clothing or by accompanying the former to their destination. This latter action is not necessary if you donate a few groschen. These actions serve to increase your virtue. Another type of encounter is the virtuous hermit who will give you news and instructions in a saint you wouldn't find in monasteries, and the women with the dogs. This is a special case. You must observe these women to determine who they are. There are two types: a female hermit (or white witch) and a practicioner of the black arts. The first one you must leave alone and any attempt to disrupt her will result in loss of Virtue. The second one, however, must be defeated and she can be asked to reveal information about the witches' gatherings. The next kind is a village. It is in villages that you will find the least expensive housing (but no income) and possibly good blacksmithing. You can sell your acquired weapons and armour. Villages are either good or bad. Generally it is possible to tell simply by speaking to the Schultz but the quickest way is to visit the church and go to confession. If the penance required is the sacrifice of a small animal, or while speaking to the priest he mentions two saints that don't exist in the list, you can then leave the church, speak to the Schultz and accuse his village of witchcraft, defeat the villagers in combat and learn the location and date of the next witches' meeting. Note that you may or may not be able to get there on time. If you can't, don't worry, there are quite a few during the year, as many as you will find villagers to attack. Mines are earthen humps with wooden frames over the doorways on the landscape map. You can enter and purchase things for your alchemist, raw materials and various bases. The best way to get a fair amount of alchemical materials is to defeat Knockers. *NOTE (DA): Something that I don't think has been mentioned is that battles *are easier and the booty is less during the early part of the game. Only 4 *robbers are encountered in the back alleys initially, but later there may be *5 of the brutes, and they will no doubt be wearing more and better armor. *The same thing holds true for battles in the countryside. I have had the *temerity to tackle a renegade alchemist fairly early and just sneak by with *a victory; the same has been true for raubritters. Later in the game, the *raubritters always seem to have more rounds of battles in store before the *big guy comes out to fight. I don't know about High Sabats as I have never *attempted one of these really early in the game. I don't recommend knocking *on the door of the Fortress Monastery early on either. --------------------------------- Armour and weapons --This section contributed by AvL-- Well, concerning armour it's kind of obvious, that your best choice would be Chainmail. It's light and has very good protection capabilities. Plate Armour might be an even better security-thing, but usually only the dumb, strong oaf is endowed with enough strength to wear it without getting overloaded. However, in the beginning you might equip the party-members with a less wealthy family background, who came along with poor armour, with some more affordable stuff. Considering the need of protective clothes, you might use Cuirbouilli or Scale Armour in the beginning. Always keep an eye on the weight according to the strength of the character. A short list of Armour: Padded, Leather, Studded Leather: Worthless, use only if no alternatives. Cuirbouilli, Scale: Good choice in times of scarce wealth. Chainmail, Plate: High-end armour. --------------------------------- Stealing armour, buying armour --This section contributed by AvL-- A real good opportunity to get equipment like armour and weapons is to "steal" them from killed opponents. "Good" means it might be the most affordable way. For example, tracking down a Raubritter doesn't only mean a reward but also one set of plate armour. But beware! Here's the drawback in this cheap method: obtaining armour or other equipment usually provides only a quality-level up to 25q. In case of weapons like swords or so, this might be enough, but a 25q armour isn't meant to be a longlasting joy. Buying armour at an amourers shop in a town usually results in a 35q equipment. This is only exceeded by gifts or similar bounty (e.g.: rescuing merchants on the road, chests in the Great Monastery or in the mines). --------------------------------- Where to find good armour, weapons --This section contributed by AvL-- Well, like I pointed out the paragraph before, high quality equipment can be found in hard-to-access locations. For example, you'll find plate armour in the Great Monastery at 45q! But to get there, your party should be capable of excellent fighting skills and more. There are some towns, in which certain weaponry and armour can be bought in a better condition then in other cities. Yet, I haven't located them all and unfortunately, I forgot to write them down last time I played DARKLANDS. Maybe someone else can contribute that. *NOTE (CMB): It is possible to get six sets of 45Q armour from the Great *Monastery without encountering more than a few bears as opponents. * *The route is simple: enter the cemetery, speak the name that opens the *gate, enter the building, then go to the right-hand door on the "top" wall *(to the far left of where the characters arrive). Inside, there is another *door on the right-hand wall and it is necessary to fight some bears. After *that, enter the room and walk along the closest right-hand wall. * *There is a secret door that leads to a chest (trapped, I believe), that *contains six suits of 45Q plate armour. You need a character with fairly *high artifice, as I recall. You can then leave the Great Monastery without *encountering resistance and go on adventuring for a while with 45Q armour. *NOTE (DA): The best armor outside of the Great Monastery is always in *Nurnburg (quality - 37). The only city with better weapons than Nurnburg *(that I have found) is Paderborn (quality - 38). Best overall town for *both armor & weapons is Nurnburg; both are 37. * *Cities with weapons >30 * *1. Burglitz (32) *2. Freiberg-im-Breisgau (36) *3. Koln (35) *4. Kufstein (31) *5. Magdeburg (34) *6. Marienburg (30) *7. Naskskov (30) *8. Nordlingen (33) *9. Paderborn (38) *10. Trier (33) *11. Wein (35) * *Cities with armour >30 * *1. Basel (31) *2. Dresden (34) *3. Marienburg (33) *4. Nancy (36) *5. Salzburg (32) *6. Soest (35) *7. Speyer (30) *8. Stuttgart (33) *9. Ulm (31) *10. Wurzburg (32) --------------------------------- Improving skills by seeking out robbers in towns --This section contributed by CMB-- Early on, you can't take on dragons and even most raubritters because your skills are not sufficiently developed. Your best bet to increase your skills to a good beginning level for adventuring is to seek out thugs in towns. Since thugs don't come out during the day, you'll have to wander the streets at night. This is dangerous because of the night watches. Always pay the fine. This is the sequence from main street: find a secluded grove; wait for darkness, wait another hour, exit by side street, go to market area. Generally, at this point, you'll run across a band of thugs. They'll be fairly easy to defeat and it will increase your local reputation slightly, as well as improve your skills. Wander around a bit more and you'll meet another group and so on. Should you run into the night watch, pay the fines and return to the gasthaus whenever you feel you've had enough. If you don't pay the fines, you'll have to flee or fight and in either case, you'll be unable to return to that town. In the morning, seek out the weapons makers and sell the night's catch. *NOTE (AvL): The easiest way to run into robbers is cycling between the *docks and the secluded grove at night. You'll normally 'meet' with robbers *each time you change between one of these locations. At minimum, you'll get *in contact every time you return to the grove. *NOTE (DA): My rule of thumb here is not to travel far from the starting *town until everyone in the party has a full set of at least leather armor, *a weapon upgrade, and several javelins. In order to save money after a *night's work dispatching the bad guys, I send my group ouside the city walls *to rest and heal -- it's free. If the group is not fortunate to convince *the guards to let them enter without paying, then they will try to sneak *into the city. Either way, they will gain a modicum of speak common and *sometimes stealth. In other words, never pay to enter unless you have to. *Leaving the city is a different matter -- never sneak out because its *decreases your local reputation. Once you are lightly armored with a decent weapon and javelins, you can start travelling between towns more safely and really start to gain skills, money and experiences. Use those javelins as the first line of offense against robbers. Their use will increase everyone's throwing skills and will immediately weaken any robber struck by one. Try to gang up one one robber if possible and go on to the others (this is not always possible). The maximum number of battles per night seems to be 5. If the group survives the night without much "damage," then they are surely ready to leave town for some serious adventuring. --------------------------------- Getting jobs --This section contributed by CMB-- The best way to get jobs is to visit the various interested parties in a town: Fugger, Medici, Hanseatic League, town leader, leading merchant, pawnshop owner. These will often have tasks to perform, three types in general: dealing with raubritters, recovering stolen articles, recovering lost articles. Each of these has a specific method of dealing with the problem. The amount of money you will be offered won't appear to be much but it's enough, if you keep your expenses down by travelling overland. *NOTE (AvL): Success in getting jobs is only likely with the Fugger, *the Medici and the Hanse in the beginning, which means it is uncertain. *The merchants, the herbalist and the town leader will only offer you *tasks, if your reputation is high enough. Note that town leaders and Dukes *in a city's fortress won't pay for the job; success only increases your *local reputation, which is achieved through other jobs too (but paid *more accurately ;-) ). So you'd better leave the town halls and fortresses *alone and check out the marketplaces. Raubritters: in the easy setting, raubritters can usually be approached in a friendly manner. Once at the table, you should request to stay the night, then sneak out to try to catch the raubritter alone. More often than not, this will work and you will be able to defeat him, being four or five to his one. As this method will sometimes result in having to fight your way through the castle, you should save before entering into contact with the raubritter if you insist on the easy way. *NOTE (AvL) The easy way has been described above. But, assuming your *characters are strong enough (I'd say, having a weapon level above 65) and *owning kinds of missile weapons, the most money-providing way is to lay *siege up on the castle. This lets you engage up to four parties of bandits *and the Raubritter and some companions eventually. Taking all their stuff and selling it in town makes you much wealthier. Recovering stolen articles: You will be asked to recover an item stolen by a business rival in another town. You must travel to the town, seek out a secluded grove, wait for nightfall, then another hour, and exit by a side street. Go to the market area, sneak into the market building and find the appropriate office. The game then lets you decide to use your character most competent in artifice to unlock the door. If you feel this is possible (a Hanse [see C5, below] will always have enough skill), you will likely succeed. Otherwise, you will need to use alchemy and the noise means you stand a good chance of alerting the night watch. Your escape from the town will then be difficult and you will not ikely have the item. Return to this town will be difficult to impossible as the watch will recognize you. *NOTE (DA): Some of you may disagree, but I make it practice never to recover *stolen items. The risk is too great, the rewards are too small, and the *distances involved are sometimes great indeed. Once the group has been given a raubritter to terminate, other towns in the area may also give the group the same job. If the group is lucky, it can pick up a good deal of money by checking around various towns for the same raubritter job. I have always felt that the game had some intelligence about when to first offer the group a raubritter to handle (at least on standard and expert levels); that is, if the group is offered this type job, then in principle, they are ready to do the deed if they are careful. --------------------------------- Getting help (extra people, prayers to saints) --This section contributed by CMB-- One easy way to get help is to keep pumping the Hansards for employment. Eventually, one will offer to send a young knight with you for assistance in dealing with a raubritter. If you accept, which you should, you can perform a number of more difficult tasks with an extra pair of hands. Try to keep these additions until you really need them. If you perform the task as specified right away, the young Hanse will leave you when you next exit the city of his employer, or if you're travelling by river, when you exit a city next (which is to say that he will accompany you until you exit through any city gates). Eventually the young Hanse will leave you, so try to organize your tasks in order to take advantage of his presence right away. This of course also makes it difficult to determine whether you should be spending money to equip the knight or not, or to improve his skills. The conservative approach would be to use his services and part with him. As he is not a permanent member of your party, you need not worry that he will take a share upon leaving. He NEVER offers to stay beyond his "appointed time". *NOTE (DA): In addition to the hanse offered for raubritter quests, the *group may find in one of the small villages a Mayor who will consent to *travel with the group in pursuit of an infamous raubritter. The hanse or *town mayor who comes with the group on a raubritter quest will always stay *one year. Make sure the group gets all the stuff he's carrying before *saying adios. *NOTE (CMB): I've also encountered once the leader of the miners who offers *to join you in defeating the knockers. But I've never been able to repeat *that. Saints can assist you at various times: in dealing with problems during travelling and also during combat. In the first instance, you can invoke the assistance of a saint to modify the outcome of a potential encounter BEFORE it happens, for example with refugees on the road. Prayer can reveal to you whether there is a trap, giving you the option to avoid contact altogether, should you not wish to involve yourself in combat. AUDIENCES: S. Alcuin, S. Raymond Pf, S. Wolfgang, S. Wenceslaus DEALING WITH DOMINICANS: S. Godfrey, S. John Nepl, S. Dominic DEALING WITH HELLSPAWN: S. Anthony, S. Clare, S. Cyprian, S. Peter DEALING WITH LORDS IN TOWERS: S. Gabriel, S. Hildegard, S. Isidore ENTER CITY GATES: S. Lutgardis, S. Milburga ENTERING CITY FM WATER: S. Finnian, S. Florian, S. Pantaleon, S. Raymond Pf EXIT CITY GATES: S. Christina, S. Lutgardis, S. Milburga GREAT MONASTERY (DESK): S. Adrian, S. Lutgardis, S. Milburga, S. Vitus GREAT MONASTERY (FOUNTAIN): S. Boniface, S. Raphael, S. Gabriel, S. Gertrude Ni GREAT MONASTERY (GRAVES): S. Catherine Si, S. Emydius, S. Gabriel, S.Raphael GREAT MONASTERY (MAD MONK): S. Martin Tr, S. Godfrey, S. Paul Smpl, S. Herve GREAT MONASTERY (PASSWORD): S. Paul Smpl, S. Eric, S. Gabriel, S. John Nepl INVESTIGATE DEMONIC SITES: S. Aidan, S. Boniface, S. Emygdius, S. Hildegard PIRATES: S. Genevieve, S. Godfrey, S. Julian PRISON: S. Bathilde, S. Dismas, S. Peter, S. Reinold REFUGEES ON ROADS: S. Roch, S. Sebastian, S. Lazarus ROAD TOLLS FROM NOBLES: S. Alcuin, S. John Nepl SNOWSTORM: S. Christopher, S. Drogo, S. Godehard, S. Wilfrid TRAVELLING MERCHANTS: S. Catherine Si, S. Dorothy Mn, S. Herve, S. Martin Tr UNDEAD: S. Boniface, S. Emydius, S. Raphael VILLAGERS/SOL. WOMEN: S. Dorothy Mn, S. Heribert, S. Herve, S. Martin Tr WILD HUNT: S. Eustace, S. Hubert, S. Gertrude N. WOLVES/BOARS: S. Aidan, S. Hubert, S. Perpetua, S. Tarachus *NOTE (DA): One way to enhance the chances of getting a job is to enhance the *group's local reputation with a saint. My favorite is Cecilia, because *praying to her will increase the local reputation in every city. Her only *requirement is that the person praying must own a musical instrument. --------------------------------- Fighting tactics --This section contributed by AvL-- This depends on your opponent. While town robbers and cutthroat-thieves may be just wiped away like nothing without any particulary strategy, other foes may take a great deal of tactical considerations. First rule is, only hunt what you can kill. Be sure your characters can take care of themselves. If necessary, "train" them by searching out robbers in town. It might be a good idea to put your weaker characters in the first row or even let them fight alone if facing such "training fights". At stronger enemies, even when your party appears strong, you should use all your fighting skills. That means using missile-, bow-, and alchemical-weapons at long-distance and good weapons at melee. Use the full bandwith of your Alchemist. Let him (her) throw potions at longer-distance and use healing potions on your seriously wounded party-members. The Thunderbolt potion is an excellent all-round alchemical piece (see below), a Stone-Tar potion is of use when you are outnumbered by the enemies and you need to slow down their approach. In buildings or dungeons (mines) put your stronger characters in the first row. Enemies often show up after opening a door. While two of your party (of course the strong ones) block the doorway and engage the foe in meele, the rest of your party can shoot at them with their missile weapons. I made a scene: x x x ---------------------x x----------------- o o o o o x = Your party o = Enemies - = Wall = Door With this technique, I managed the Great Monastery quite well, this constellation occurs pretty often there. Another thing of which you should take care, is the "I-haven't-been-harmed-so-I-won't-engage!" attitude of your characters. This means, as long as a party-member hasn't been attacked, he (she) won't attack either. This might not be useful, especially if you're meeting a foe who comes alone, but is hard to fight for one character, like the Wild Hunt or a demon. So make sure, all characters have been assigned to a target. --------------------------------- Alchemy --This section contributed by AvL-- First of all: Get your Alchemist the best training he or she can get. Training is provided by alchemists in town and at universities. Next thing: get formulas and ingredients. Alchemists in town will trade and sometimes sell formulas. Getting ingredients can be a pain, some stuff is rather rare. Be sure to buy a lot of a rare item if you once have found it. You'll need a lot of all the kinds of bases. But Sanguine Base and sometimes Choleric Base are not at hand. Very important are Aqua Regia (for Thunderbolt potions) and Camomile (for Essence o'Grace), both are darn hard to find. Find below a list of potions which are in my opinion very useful: Essence o' Grace: A must ! Assure yourself of having about 20 potions at hand during normal travelling. For special tasks, you have to figure out the number according your characters vunerability at that special time. I took over 80 potions to the Great Monastry with me, and even ran low ! Thunderbolt: Necessary as well. Needed as a Throwing Weapon in combat, useful when cracking locks and to get "access" to a castle. All-round potion. Transformation: Very helpful. Turns an evil altar into white marble, and can get a character out of the quicksand really properly. Needs pure gold to be made. Stone-Tar: Should be in the inventory of every good alchemist. Helps you getting out of a pit, slows your enemies to provide you with accurate time to deal with them. Firewall: Of great use when dealing with dragons and evil alchemists. Everything else is depending on one's preference. Arabian Fire and Breath Of Death might be a good choice in combat, too. Buy ready-made potions only if you haven't got the formula of that potion. Purchased potions have a quality of 25q, while self-made have 35q-45q ! In case of Essence o' Grace, this can make a great difference in restoring strength. A nice occasion of getting new formulas is the witch in the forest. After defeating her, she offers you three formulas for her life (among other options). *NOTE (CMB): Many rare alchemical items can be obtained from pharmacists' *stalls in market squares, universities, and untroubled mines. You also *receive a large amount of alchemical material for defeating the knockers. *Furthermore, there is a large amount of information on Alchemy in the file *DARKLAND.TEX which can be linked to at the end of this file. --------------------------------- Money --This section contributed by AvL-- This is obviously of great concern. It is best solved by killing enemies. Not only by a reward, but by the equipment you can gain and sell. So if you are travelling and some bandits want to provide you company, don't refuse :=) Even if you think you don't need anymore fighting training. Otherwise, be sure to get yourself hired for jobs. You should ignore the small jobs such as retrieving documents, for they usually demand a long-distance travel and are paid lousy. Raubritters are a cool way to make money (by reward and by loot) and they enhance your local reputation by 20. On the other hand, if a "retrieving-job" or something like that is not out of way, why shouldn't you agree ? --------------------------------- 4. Game considerations - Taking on tougher things (knockers, witches and the Wild Hunt) --This section provided by AvL-- Knockers: Can become difficult. See '4D' for details. Witches: Taking a witches High Sabbat is harder than you might think, witches and their companions can provide quite a fight ! Make sure your stealth and fighting skills are not too poor. Don't get engaged in too many combats, for that might reveal your true intentions and would make you banned. You should go to the feast first. There you say you'll help preparing, but then you convince the people to abolish such cruelties. Then go to the altar, perform a little sabotage and get to a secluded spot to wait for the next day until the ceremony begins. Invoke your sabotage and face the demon. The demon should be easy dealt with, but thereafter there are coming two or three waves of witches. And they are quite the kind you should better not fool around with ! After the defeating the witches, you've won. Virtue will be increased by one or two for every character of your party. Wild Hunt: You can defeat him in battle rather easy, but he will show up again, until you haven't found a saint that helps you. On your travel you will meet the Holzfrau, she will tell you the saint. Of course, it's one you won't find in every library. --------------------------------- Travelling by water --This section contributed by CMB-- Once your wealth improves, you can travel by water. This is costly compared to travelling by land (usually 2/6 to 4 groschen), but will get you places much faster (in terms of player time, if not "real" time). For example, you can get from Speyer to Dresden or from Breslau to Flensburg by town hopping. Sometimes, you are lucky and upon arriving at a town, you can just continue on to a further destination. Sometimes you have to wait a few days by taking on odd jobs (and checking the wharves every day for outgoing ships). --------------------------------- Using your improving reputation to get jobs, instruction --This section contributed by AvL-- Well, like I said before: some folk won't give you jobs, until your popularity has grown. While it is easier to get jobs at the Fugger, Medici and Hanse when you have high reputation, it's nearly impossible to get jobs at town halls or fortresses without such (but I pointed out previously that it might not be desirable anyway). Town leaders or fortress chiefs won't give you an audience if you're too low on reputation. Other merchants like the "everyday-items", the "foreign-trader" and the herbalist will offer jobs, too, from time to time, if you're a well-known party. Instructions for this are short: Do everything to increase your reputation, preferably by going after raubritters, in their castles, and knockers in mines. These encounters occur quite often and improve your reputation by an appreciable amount. *NOTE (DA): I don't think that it's mentioned anywhere that the Foreign *Traders will, on occasion, offer much larger rewards than anyone else for *a raubritter. --------------------------------- Mines --This section contributed by AvL-- This is an essential piece of the whole game. There are three different problems in mines. They can all be solved without too much effort and include a reasonable quantity of increased training, money and reputation. The opposition in the mines isn't too hard, but still considerable. i) Problem One: Trouble with raising the dead. Undead folks have taken over the mine, and so the dwarves, who once co-existed in a friendly manner with humans, have driven out the miners so as to have a new home. Help the dwarves and kill the undead. You have to go through a couple of levels, facing skeletons which are serious enemies, perhaps the hardest of all three different tasks in the mines. You have to go deep in the mine; first you will recover a holy relic, captured by the undead people, then you're facing the gateway of the dead, which they're using to get into this world. I managed that by locking the gateway using the artifice skill of the party-member who's best at this. ii) Problem Two: Uprising Dwarven-King. There's a rebellious dwarven- king and he has frightened away the miners. After meeting him, he offers you a reward if you leave him alone. Don't agree and he will flee. Follow his trail into the mine. He has a helmet that makes him invisible. When facing him in his throne room, try to shoot the helmet out of his hand. This could take several attempts and after every failed one you have to fight the dwarven-king's guard, but keep trying. There was that problem reported by russel@redash.qut.edu.au, concerning the strange fact that after you've found the crown jewels of the dwarf you can't go any deeper into the mines. Yet, I haven't figured it out either; any hints are appreciated. Another thing is that you merely 'find' the jewels but you can't take 'em with you. *NOTE (CMB): The same thing will occur in tombs where you retrieve *the ancient crown (or some other thing). If you take it, you will *not escape the tomb with the crown. On the other hand, if you use *a potion of Transformation, you can get the crown and avoid combat. iii) Problem Three: War between Dwarves and Kobolds. A war between Kobolds and Dwarves has forced out the miners. You are asked by the Kobolds to aid them. You can either agree and fight the dwarves or deny and fight the kobolds. Or you can even fight both parties. However, you must defeat at least one of them to accomplish the mission. To be, honest, I always choose the first option and supported the Kobolds. This means a similar gameplay as problem two. Going deep into the mines and finding the leader of the dwarves. Now you have to meet him in battle and kill him. --------------------------------- Dragons --This section contributed by AvL-- Well, if you've read through the DARKLAND.CAP file, you've probably seen my mail about this. I haven't got a clue about these beasts ! I mean, as I mentioned in the mail, I merely ran into some dragons by accident without any plan in particular. I'd be grateful about some knowledge of tracking down dragons methodologically. *NOTE (CMB): The only method I have is to narrow down the geographic *area by checking rumours in various towns. If it says North, go to another *town North of there and see where they suspect it is. If they say West, *then change directions, until you vector in on the area (usually heavily *wooded or hilly areas, free of habitation). Then you have to go in on *foot and trudge through the area for a long time. *NOTE (DA): If music is turned on and you are near a dragon's lair, you will *hear subtle changes in the music. It gets very ominous! It's still hard to *find dragons in the countryside. --------------------------------- High Sabat --This section contributed by DA-- This is almost a walk-through of a High Sabat. I am assuming that players are in the right place at the right time. Otherwise the player encounters nothing but burned trees, bad smells, etc. The first choice to be made is whether or not to announce your presence to a group of partygoers. The answer is yes -- seek an encounter. When the second choice appears, prepare an ambush. Then attack the group and get their clothes. Enter the fair. Don the clothes to fool the wolves. Say that Klaus is ill and couldn't come. Take each of the activities in turn and try to disrupt them and/or try to convince the people to mend their evil ways. Sometimes you convince them; sometimes you don't. Pay attention to names and places when the "Summoning" comes. Then wait for the demon to be called and send him back to never-never land. That's the easy part. The hard part is fighting two or three waves of hooded klansmen and their alchemists. If you succeed, you can look forward to increases in virtue for all party members. --------------------------------- Great Monastery --This section contributed by DA-- The Fortress Monastery or Doin' the Fort 1. PREPARATION Prepare your party for the toughest task they will have yet faced in this game. They should be clothed in plate armor or the heaviest armor they can handle without becoming overloaded. It should be high quality, preferably 37 from Nurnburg. The weapons used should be top notch -- 38 quality battleaxes, greatswords, great hammers. Each member should carry some combination of Essence of Grace, Eater Water, and New Wind potions. Firewall and Hardarmor potions can be taken after entering the fortress to aid in maintaining armor quality. Otherwise, your 37 armor will become 05 armor or less when you're done. I have tried carrying extra armor, but it seems to degrade, too. Stone Tar potions come in handy to keep the party from falling into certain traps. Artifice skill should be as high as possible in one member so that the relics present in the fortress can be regained. Saints can be handy here as well in increasing artifice, armor rating, weapon skills, etc. At this point in the game, my group has relatively high average religion and virtue, and each member has learned at least a few weapons, and that includes the throwing skill. In summary, this task will probably not be possible until at least a few years have passed. The earliest that I have cleaned out the Templars is around 4 years with a group of 25 year-olds on the expert level. My favorite strategy for group battles involves getting everyone into the fray. I try to line up the party a short distance from a door leading to a battle like so: x x x x ------------ ---------- Then I will send one member to open the door while the others fire into the guards on the other side. They use either potions like stone tar or arabian fire or just javelins (love those javelins). I try to get the member who opened the door back to the group as quickly as possible. I do not like one or two members fighting alone, and this is the way I avoid that circumstance. 2. WALKTHROUGH (for your reference) Assuming you have reached Flensburg after opening the seal at a High Sabat, you will find a castle west of this city with a black roof (to distinguish it from a conventional castle). Go to it and enter the Graveyard area. The first room on YOUR right has a bone (for possible use in getting additional information for defeating the great demon) and a high quality Essence of Grace potion. The second room on your right has 2 high quality New Wind potions. After retrieving these items, go to the Graveyard on the left. Say aloud one of the names (you should recall the correct name from a High Sabat). A stairway leading down will open on the far left of the Graveyard. The group will be in a large area with many doors leading to various Nasties. I am going to speak of the nearest two doors on the right of the GROUP as the more important ones. This path will negate the need for the bone. If the group takes the fir Other Darklands cheats hints faqs solutions: 1. Darklands hints 2. Darklands hints 3. Darklands hints |