Talk:Tips and tricks

No offense to whomever submitted it, but I really don't agree that the "Gaining more XP in dense jungle" tip is advisable. Perhaps in the past, when this was added, chopping plants consistantly provided XP, or didn't expend AP, but as it stands, its a very inefficient way of gaining XP. Anyone opposed to removing it? Would its author like to respond? --Jackel 18:53, 27 February 2006 (GMT)

That was me.. at the time that I added it, there were lots of areas of dense jungle and not a lot of animals to be found. Things seem to have changed since then so feel free to remove it if you want. --Snarf 22:04, 27 February 2006 (GMT)

Luring animals

My native made the mistake of standing near an elephant a bit too long, and it started attacking him. I didn't have nearly enough AP to take it down, but I wasn't ready to let it off the hook, either, so I smacked it a few times, and moved a few sqares from it. Hours later, it had moved toward me, but not close enough to strike. I smacked at it some more, and moved away again, nearing a beach area. The elephant has walked right up to the edge of the beach, but doesn't seem willing to step onto it. I've been having some fun with it over the last several hours, smacking it, then jumping back onto the sand. Don't know if this is a bug, or if any other animals won't chase you onto the sand. I'll update later if I'm wrong, and if the elephant has gotten up the nerve to attack me on the sand. --Jackel 17:20, 3 March 2006 (GMT)

The poor elephant sat on the square where the jungle met the beach, but did not cross it to attack me, and I thus I easily slew it. I'm going to consider this a bug until Simon confirms. If he intends certain animals to avoid the beach, I'll add it as a "Tip".--Jackel 00:39, 4 March 2006 (GMT)

Simon has confirmed this as a bug, that he has fixed.

Efficient mapping

Please, someone make my ugly ASCII art into images! I don't have a suitable image editor to make something pretty. Thanks. --VTBassMatt 18:59, 22 March 2006 (GMT)

Advice

Do you think it would be appropriate to add a sort of general advice section to this page which outlines the general, for lack of a better word, "feel" of the game. What I mean is general attitudes such as the commonality of outsiders killing natives and visa versa. I'm new to Shartak and I know I'd appreciate knowing whether or not moving my native to a settlement will result in his immediate death or only occasional death by some git with a gun and a vendetta. Kripcat 09:25, 26 May 2006 (BST)

Yes. --Tycho44 23:06, 16 June 2006 (BST)

Rifles

Someone should explain the virtues of rifles, since the page currently reads "the rifle has advantages over a machete that offset the opportunity cost of searching for bullets." I don't know what those advantages are. The maxed-out rifle hits 60% for 5 damage or an average of 3 damage per AP. Having to reload after every shot knocks this down to 1.5 dam/AP. Although I haven't yet searched in the armory huts, I assume bullets are at least rare enough to lower the average XP/AP to below 1.35, that of the maxed-out machete. This means that the rifle's sole advantage is the fact that the first barrage (before reloading) deals a much higher damage/AP than a machete, allowing one to PK efficiently or perform hit-and-run attacks against enemy camps. --LouisB3 05:49, 28 May 2006 (BST)

For a careful player, the XP gain of using a rifle is surprisingly good. Suppose that you are a typical animal hunter: sometimes, you finish the animal off, sometimes you don't. The high variance on random number generation means that even a parrot or monkey sometimes resists your machete. When you're trying to finish the animal off you'll find yourself dragging on into the 20-minute reloads, at which point someone else steals your kill or you have to go back to real life and the animal wanders off. If you always carry a stack of loaded rifles, and you are very conservative about when you use them (only using them at the very end of your AP when you're below a machete-kill), the rifle's massive 3.0 dmg/AP will secure you some kill bonuses that would otherwise have been missed. To be clear, the entire XP advantage of the rifle comes from achieving more XP kill bonuses (offsetting its lower XP per AP ratio for rifle+searches). Using machete but carrying loaded rifles yields a higher kill rate per total damage inflicted -- you steal other people's kills and you keep your own from being stolen, by holding a reserve barrage. ... As you noted, a rifle has other advantages as well -- for example, being able to escape well clear of hostile territory saves APs by avoiding death. ... In my opinion, a rifle at 20% or 40% is completely useless, but the 60% rifle has a variety of advantages (and disadvantages) that are exploited by skilled players. --Tycho44 06:58, 28 May 2006 (BST)

Beginner's Guide

The Hospitallers are creating a more detailed [beginner's guide] at our forums. Would it be acceptable to link to it on the Tips and Tricks page? Black Joe 1:09AM, 19 Oct 2006 (EST)

'Using Multiple characters easily'

I'm not very good with html and can't get it to work... Could someone clarify it a little?

An example would help, could you please submit the values for a character named 'Google' with a password of 'Yahoo', so I can what goes where?

--Aco 13:38, 15 January 2007 (GMT)