Core's Newbie Guide

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Hiyas, I'm Core in batmud.

Just as a idlefodder, I separated few points (from my point of view) 
about playing batmud, that newbies should know.

- The easiest way to start is a fighter race, and nomad background.
Choose Cyclops / Giant / etc similar race that takes hits, and makes
damage.

- Dont start with civilized, magical, or good/evil_religious background,
because it is _VERY_VERY_ hard to start with any other than tank.
You can reincarnate after you've reached lvl 21, and after that you can try
whatever you want, but NOTE THIS: It is still very hard to play with
civilized/religious (unless healer) backgrounds if you dont have atleast 5M
experience points.

- Dont try your luck with monsters you dont know. Use consider first, and
use your brains ->
Dont attack a monster called something like : HUGE Troll is sitting here, or
any other that seems big by just description. Try with pigeons, bunnies,
ducks, small fish (trout/salmon..). Dont go searching for seamonsters or try
to be heroic and kill anything bigger than you can SURELY handle.

- Where to look ?
There are newbie areas near BatCity, (i.e. Newbie Zoo & newberry park etc).
Check the areamaps on these pages, and search for areas that have mostly
monsters on your size, but KEEP AWAY from areas that consist aggressive
monsters. 

- Monsters and how hard can they hit
There is always that chance you flee from unsuccessfull battle straight to
the aggressive monster. It doesnt have to be big to ram you through the
wall. Even a 500 exp monster can hit up to 200 hp with a critical. 500 exp
can hit 300~hp, and 1000~exp monster can slash you unconscious from 600hp
within one round.

- How to fight ?
Start the battle with and offensive skill / spell. Try to kill monsters that
are alone, because if there is another monsie in the room, it can easily get
mad about the battle, and then you have 2 monsters attacking you the same
time. Fighting to monsters is not 2x hard as fighting 1 monster, its 4x as
hard. If you fight against 3 monsters, its 6-8x times harder. So only attack
one at a time, when theyre alone. (NOTE: if the monster you're attacking has
the same name as the other one in the room, they both attack by default if
you attack one of them). Dont stay to wait for skill / spell when you are
running low on HP's. Its better to go regen than trust your luck because
usually the mud wins this draw. Monsters have a feature : they do criticals
/ stuns more easily when theyre in a bad shape (You would also be desperate
and do anything if you're about to die) so DONT stay to wait who wins the
match. When you go out, regen good. Because when you enter the room again,
where the monster is, it hits the first rounds much much more harder than
usually.

- EXP
Dont carry more exp within your hands than is absolutely necessary. Before
you go making exp, first decide wether youre going to head for level, or
just training/studying in the guild. This way you'll be more careful when
making a level (requires huge amount of exp comparing to skill/spell costs)
by default...I know :). Dont be heroic when you have lots of exp in hand.
Dont provoke any players or wizards. You'd be suprised how small the reason
has to be to get you pkilled or zapped by a wizard. So just stay quiet :).
Do not enter unknown areas if you have lots of exp on, and stay FAR away
from blocking monsters. And as strange as it might sound, stay away from the
city when you're carrying exp, because BatCity is the place you'll most
likely get killed without no proper reason. Plan your visit to the town
ahead, and dont stay there any longer than is absolutely necessary.

- Other players and asking help
When youre in the need of help, do _not_ first start to scream and shout to
the wizards or in the channels. And the DO NOT, i repeat, do NOT use CAPS
LOCK WHEN WRITING PUBLIC CHANNELS OR OTHER PLAYERS (doesnt it look
annoying?). It makes your point aggressive, and no-one for sure want to help
you after that. Ask politely, first on newbie channel (there are alot of
players willing to help you there), and then, from your racial / guild
mates. Dont ask from the highest player you can find. Pick a letter... :
a) get pkilled 
b) he seems nice, but in the back they're laughing their asses of with your
cost. 
c) the player doesnt reply
d) some cases the player really helps you

Try to ask your questions players +-10 levels from your own level, they'll
most likely help you, or maybe even party with you!
Finger the player before asking anything! Player being on a druid guild
doesnt mean he/she can reinc you. People in healer guilds dont mean they can
heal you. Healers, monks etc take often one or two levels from another guild
if its suitable to their background.
If you are looking for a player to help you with something, check hes/hers
plan first. If it says : DONT ASK ME ANYTHING or F*CK OFF etc, its probably
clear that that player wont help you. Neutral players, with no plans or plan
saying something stupid, or has a quote from some amusing conversation are
usually too lazy to help you, but players with plans telling about medieval
things, saying some roleplay things, will most likely help you (remember the
'newbie' channel).

- Partying
Choose your partymates carefully. Dont just go run around with someone. If
you're a fighter, the best partymate would be mage or small healer dont try
any peculiar combinations, or dont take too many partymembers. The benefit
will drop considerably -> if you have 6 members, (lets say theyre all the
same level) and you make 4k / min, each will get 666 exp /min. If you have 3
members, and you make 2k min, you'll get the same amount still, and you have
less members to worry about. If you have only you, and some mage, and you
make 3k in a good area, you'll get 1.5k each. So think before inviting
everyone to your party. Tho partying is fun, and if you like to have many
members to chat with, go ahead, knock yourself out :).

- Idle
Do NOT idle in batmud. You'll die. There are events like Clones (every
player is cloned to an aggressive monster, that is much harder than the
host) and even if you're idling in your castle or pcity room, you cant stop
yourself from cloning. If youre idling somewhere else, its a suicide just
waiting to happen. There are hordes of aggressive monsters (wights and
ghosts of dead monsters become aggressive by default) just waiting to kill
you. So whenever youre away from keyboard more than 5 minutes, go ld. (and
dont just type ld and leave, make sure your character logs off). Or if you
MUST stay in the game, type 'wimpy very high' (unless you have the machoism
bane (banes: see below)), this way your character runs to the hills every
time its touched aggressively.

- Banes/Boons
Think VERY carefully before you take banes. The most popular banes are Fast
aging and Acne. Fast aging takes you more towards forced reinc faster when
you die, and Acne gives you a set of scars when you return after dying.
(You'll be force reinced and you'll lose 1/3 of your exp if you die when
you're ben 'ancient' for awhile) If you have lots of scars when you get
ressed, you might lose a level. Consider carefully before taking any other
bane. Drifter is easy to handle if you dont have to stay evil or good, like
Lords of chaos, healers, devils etc. (Drifter makes your alignment change
faster). Check the bane info before taking it, and consider does the bane
affect your playing.

- Use colors
First thing to do when you next time login, type 'term ansic' and 'ansi
aggrmons light red'. This way you'll see if a monster is aggressive when you
enter the room, and you have some time to flee. (aggressive monsters dont
attack at once, they wait few seconds) Put different colors to different
items / monsters, and you'll be able to play more efficiently, and you'll
what is what without more further investigation (and you dont mix players to
monsters :P)

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