1. Should I take the Red Book and the CIC papers for their word? Do I need them? The Red Book is mostly helpful, occasionally misleading, and often called The Red Book of Lies. Use it carefully. The CIC, available in the Noblish Isle arena, is a compilation of empirical data by many managers working together. It can be "trusted," but it has a minor error here and there. The best information is available on line. Realize this: there is nothing out there which is perfect. Note: ALL newbies in Noblish Isle should request the CIC package from RSI. It will be invaluable.
2. If you put your fighter's favorite weapon on their side, as a backup weapon, will they still grab it, even though they have a weapon in their hand? Backups are interesting. If you put a backup in the primary hand and the warrior is already holding a primary weapon, he will not try to pull the backup. If you put a backup in the off-hand, and he already is holding an off-hand weapon, he will not try to pull the backup. (E.g., primary backups ONLY go in the primary hand and off-hand backups ONLY go in the off-hand.) Realize, though, that a warrior will not automatically draw a backup when that hand is empty. The draw is dependent on many things like luck rolls, heat of the action status, his deftness and/or coordination etc. He most will likely, but not always, try to draw the backup.
3. When you go to ADM, do you still "burn" skills or is that only during BASIC? Any time, whether basic or ADM, you raise a stat which contains skills, you are burning those skills. Burnt skills are not really a "bad" thing, especially in basic where any skill one can get is a good thing. Burning skills is only a potential bad thing for warriors who plan to or have already, earned all twenty skills of a type.
4. Can I downchallenge? What is downchallenging, anyway? A downchallenge occurs when one challenges a warrior lower in recognition points than oneself. There is nothing in the "rules" which precludes this. In some arenas and some circles (usually those Andorian leaning) downchallenging is considered unsportsmanlike and a "no no." In others, especially Darkholm-leaning, it is considered perfectly appropriate. Note: some believe the recognition ranking system is a farce or near farce. Consortium members feel it is a very appropriate rating system.
5. When should I DA a warrior? That is a very difficult question to answer, because the real answer is that DAing is a very personal decision. The Consortium very, very seldom uses the DA, thinking that any warrior can win; there is much to be learned from running "difficult" warriors; and being unwilling to take that nearly automatic loss to the record. Other managers and groups DA freely. Perhaps these are the most common reasons? "... I do not know how to/cannot make that warrior win. It is an ugly design. I want only godlings in my stables. The warrior is greatly hosed. It is just not a good enough design. It is not a tournament quality warrior. It just will not win. Etc. ..." So, there is no real answer for when you SHOULD DA; rather it is a question of when do you WANT TO DA.
6. What makes a "scum" really a scum? "Scum" tends to apply to a warrior that wins by absorbing hit point damage, wearing an opponent out rather than damaging him, and seldom swinging (and often not even carrying) a real weapon. Shields tend to be a scum's best friend. While the Total Parry style is considered the best scum style, other styles can scum. Very high CN, WL, and ST are common attributes for a scum.
7. Can a high will "15, 17" and a low wit "9" make it to ADM? Most certainly warriors as such can graduate. (Make it to ADM) Almost any design can make it to ADM. The Consortium finds a 3 will warrior to be the most difficult. Here are a few of the most recent of the 1000+ Consortium graduates which fit your question:
11-5-11-11-9-16-21 AB 11-16-14-5-16-9-13 TP 11-16-15-7-16-5-14 BA 10-10-10-4-17-9-14 TPAll graduated with winning records. Of course, it would be "easier" to manage and graduate warriors with better designs than these.
8. What numbers should I watch out for, and where should I place them to make my warriors more lucky? We Consortium Managers do not believe one can make or design luck into a warrior. WE know of no model for such. Luck or blessing or hosing is just that: the luck of the roll.
9. What do I need to do to make my fighter want to wield two weapons, rather than one?All, or virtually all, warriors can wield a weapon in each hand. All it takes is listing a primary and a secondary weapon on the strategy sheet. If the question is how to get a warrior to wield two weapons without a penalty message then you must make sure your warrior has the strength, size, and deftness to do so. A warrior may not wield a two-handed weapon (such as a HL or a GS, etc.) in one hand, hence cannot wield two such weapons together. The real question might be, should a warrior have a weapon in each hand? My answer is usually "no." Having only one weapon can allow a warrior to use certain weapons two-handed (e.g. BS) making it more powerful. Having one weapon means less carry/weight. Having one only means the warrior will not attempt to swing with a "lesser" weapon. (Off-hand is lesser than primary.) BUT, some warriors do better with a shield to parry alongside a true weapon. There are other reasons to wield two, but I rate wielding one best in 80%+ of the circumstances.
10. How can I kill? Killing can be more complicated than it seems. To kill, first, you have to win. A warrior can be killed outright by another warrior. Also a losing warrior can go to the infirmary and randomly die. Approximately 2% of all warriors that lose a battle can die randomly. While that "kill" was somewhat randomly caused, it still goes on the winner's record and the loser is dead. So, DO NOT LOSE. It can be life threatening. Direct killing is highly dependent on the death die roll. High kill desires and aiming for vitals (HE, AB, CH) optimize the warrior's potential to kill. A blow to a vital, whether aimed there or not, may (die roll) cause the hitter to get a death intent statement. A direct kill will not occur without getting this death statement. (Example statement: "wants to be the only one to come out of this fight alive.") Death after the statement is dependent on many things, some, dependent on the loser's makeup. After a death intent, the loser may die, or the loser may give up, or, the seemingly loser can even fight back and possibly win or even kill for a victory.
11. What are Bloodgames and DYOs? Bloodgames are special events that are run periodically. Each team starts with 10 (ten) warriors, one of each style. These warriors are designed from scratch (DYO = design your own) with the normal 84 points and all stats within 3-21. The fights have kill possibilities doubled by RSI. If a warrior dies, there is no replacement. The idea is to kill, as the three best warriors (must be of different styles) as defined by (a) most kills (b) tiebreaker is wins, are then immediately immortalized and moved to the ADM-level games. (Just as though graduated to the Isle) All other still alive warriors are "deleted" and no longer playable. Some interesting points about the Bloodgames are: most warriors are size 3; it is not unusual to have several to many warriors quickly killed/eliminated; the only challenging is bloodfeuding. The cost of bloodgames is $10 to rollup a team (roll as many as you want, but only run one team) and $49 (one time) to play in the arena.
12. What does 0/10/0 mean in defining weapon results? The Consortium family uses this measure to evaluate weapon results for warriors. The first number is the number of Critical attacks, the second the number of swings, the third the number of extra value hits. Examples are (using a scimitar): critical -- "leaps into the air and takes a furious slash with his scimitar"; swing -- any swing, hit or miss; extra value hit -- "what a massive blow"; the idea being, the higher the percentage of criticals and extra values, the better the weapon is for that warrior.
13. What are Political Points? (Pps) Political points are a method of defining how close the warrior is to graduating (becoming a Lord Protector) and moving on to The Isle. A warrior acquires 2 Pps for each time it is listed in Challenger Champs. It acquires 5 Pps for achieving Duelmaster or a Tournament Victor. Typically 17 points are needed for graduation. (Note, usually there are other requirements for Lord Protectorship, such as skill levels, number of fights, and number of wins.)
14. What styles best use two weapons at once? Well, any style can decide to use two weapons. Seldom, if ever, will one see long-time managers use more than one weapon for offensive warriors. (AB, BA, LU, SL, ST) Almost always a scum warrior (usually TPs)will hold two weapons. (Usually 1 or 2 being shields) The finesse style warriors (PL, PR, PS, WS) are the ones likely, but certainly not always, to hold two weapons, with the idea that the off-hand weapon is mostly used for parrying. Combos such as SC/DA, SC/HA, LO/DA, DA/DA, FI/SC, SC/ME, BS/ME are some of the more common.
15. Which styles can work with low strength such as 3-6? Extremely low strength is a bane to all styles, due to lack of damage doing, endurance, and weapon fit. Styles that can either attack first (and keep on attacking) or who can avoid being hit and wear down an opponent (which is difficult due to its own weak endurance) would be the best bet. ABs and possibly STs come to mind.
16. Explain the skill levels. Warriors are born with basic skills because of class, and add skills based on the application of the 84 stat points. They then learn skills in fights or train stats that also provide skills. When the warrior acquires 16 total skills in any area (initiative, riposte, attack, parry, defense, decisiveness) he has reached "expert". 4 skills later at 20 total, he reaches "advanced expert". 6 more skills later at 26 total, he reaches "master, and 8 more skills later he reaches "advanced Master". There are even higher levels, but that is a discussion for later when one reaches the upper stages of the game.
17. What info can one decipher from the fight report? These are some of the things the things that Consortium managers look for in the fight report:
Opponent makeup (recorded): SZ, HN, armor, weapon, unfit weapon info Opponent fight methodology: e.g fast, crits, hits hard/soft, finesses, scums My warrior: Did it fight as I intended via the strategy; what change, if any, in armor, weapon, or strategy might improve him. My warrior: (recorded) crits vs swings vs extra value hits (for best weapon search) My warrior: How did he handle endurance with the armor and weapon weight Opponent warrior: If not recorded in the Terrablood database, do so Skills learned (recorded): Is he learning enough, and earning the right stuff Strategy: Is that the strategy I entered? (or was there an error on my or RSI's part?) Who won? If my warrior, perhaps I want to immediately or soon challenge this opponent? My warrior: How did he react if he went desperation to that desperation strategy.There you have it. Note that several of these 17 questions and/or answers relate to each other. And some beg for more questions. (So ask!)
-Rose of Shanon, Flowers (a Consortium Affiliate)