The topic I've chosen to address today is The Obvious. There are some obvious mistakes that new players can and sometimes do make. I've seen it happen. I'm sure none of YOU have made these mistakes, but just in case....
Choice of weapon, there's a good area for mistakes. Every style has its preferred weapons, NO weapon can be used by every style, nor can every style use all weapons. At some point in your ten turns here in Arena 93, you will see the chart that separates out weapons by style. Pay attention to that, this is not just whim, opinion, or personal taste. This has been tested, over and over again. The fights are monitored by a computer, and a computer doesn't care about "this should work" or "that should be cool." If your weapon is unsuited to your style, you will be penalized in the fight. This is more than just "doesn't seem to have the strength/ wit/deftness to use his weapon." That handicaps you, but not as badly. In fact, just to confuse people, sometimes a warrior's "favorite" weapon, chosen by the computer at the time the roll-up is first input, will be one for which he lacks the perfect numbers. But it will ALWAYS be one suitable for his style.
Don't trust real-world logic in picking weapons, this is a game with its own rules. My stock example, which is TRUE, is bashers and fists. You'd think many have--that a basher would be a natural going in with his fists. No. Bashers are unsuited to this weapon and will not do their best with it. Do not trust logic, trust the charts.
Also, weapons have weight and bulk. If you go in loaded like an armory cart, as I have seen characters in a role-playing game do, you will be at a disadvantage. The computer is merciless when it comes to encumbrance. Always carry a backup, yes. That's common sense. But do NOT carry a backup that's heavier than your primary weapon, it's for emergencies, and you may not be able to draw it in time anyway. Don't even THINK about carrying a two-handed weapon as a backup, the computer will not allow this. The input program rejects this. Always. Yes, sure, if you go to the Dark Arena, you might see the Shewish Giant with backup mauls. He's a special case, he exists only to kill your warriors, and he is allowed more weapons than any managed warrior will ever be able to carry. When you're looking for a backup, pick something relatively light: dagger, shortsword, scimitar, if you want a sword, hatchet, shortspear, warhammer. Maybe a mace.
Training. This is one of my stock cautionary tales, and it's true. It happened back before Noblish Island was opened. A new manager who had run three turns and pulled 0-15 wrote and asked me what was wrong. Not only were his warriors losing, they hadn't learned a skill in the whole time. He sent me their stats to demonstrate that they SHOULD have learned skills. Five warriors, three fights each, and between them, they had TWELVE stat increases. They hadn't learned skills because they hadn't been training skills. Read the rule book, read ALL of your Noblish Island newsletters, and pay attention! It's depressingly easy to overlook the obvious, and this can mean a disaster.
Armor. The offensive styles, basher, lunger, slasher, striker, are geared to run fast, fight fast, move fast, get in and win and get out before they're hit. If you put them in full plate, yes, you will probably reduce their chance of death. But you will also reduce their chance of winning. They should not need the heavy armor to keep them alive; their offensive capabilities should be doing that, by winning the fight before they're in danger.
Perhaps not so obvious, but...you can often surrender when a fight is going badly. If your desperation strategy is set up for that. Raising any of your fight numbers, much less all of them, in desperation, will often cause your warrior to go berserk, and it increases his chance of doing something stupid and getting killed. Dropping the numbers, on the other hand, makes him feel that he doesn't want to fight so hard, and he might surrender before his hit points drop to zero and he dies. No guarantee, but it's worth a try in many cases.
Jorja
The Middle Way