Coming to terms, a few questions. (in General)

Ok, I have been looking for a good strat site that would explain the differences between the many strats I have seen put to use in this game thus far.

But, on top of that want, I am also looking for good equipment guides, as to which weapons seem to work out the best for tanks, the all around gear I should be wanting to get when I have a 'complete' character.

Right now, I simply go "well thats a high number" and I end up with total crap in the end.

Any pointers? And please do not suggest cbstuff, that site is made up of what seems to be out dated material and an eye sore of a design.

And would someone look at ema and tell me if I should drop my second minion and just use the tank?

Thanks

Oh, and one more question.

What the heck is a "farm" and how can I increase My money in/out ratio? Right now I have to stop fighting in order to save money (read : not buying BA).

A farm is simply a team you have in addition to your main focus that sits there and (hopefully) wins when other people fight it. That generates some cash.

I am running dual-minion, and I am saving plenty of money even with buying BA. Bear in mind I rarely miss a BA, so that makes it easier for my net amount of cash to stay above water. Here are things to save cash:

- Never upgrade ammo. Buy x4 and x5 ammo only (yes, this requires extra store visits through the day) and keep them in separate bundles. I never spend a thing on ammo upgrades.
- If you aren't fighting enough throughout the day to turn a profit, then don't buy BA, or buy less. Even four decent farms will not generate THAT much cash (because making really nice farms costs money for equipment too).
- Take a stab at camping. Landing a few nice items can get you a lot of cash. Mind you, this route is time consuming. No more pounding out 100 BA in a couple minutes throughout the day. You need to sit and click, and you will be competing with some very savvy folks.

Weapon choices: stick with halberd, scythe, great axe for melee, and try to snag a compound for ranged (if you are running archery). Do not bother upgrading a melee weapon much unless you have at least a katana. Do not bother upgrading a ranged weapon much unless you have at least a compound box, exbow, or axbow.

Same goes for armor: Don't bother upgrading anything a lot unless it is a "rare" like an adam, MCM, MC, etc. I personally prefer the no-armor route at the moment. It saves money, reduces dexterity/magic penalties, and lets you wait until later to buy gear that will be more maintainable. Yes, I get smacked around not having any armor, but I do all right.

Your team is doing fine. Move enchanter to front to buy your tank one extra round. No need having a non-offensive minion in the back, unless I am missing something there. Keeping score above PR with two minions is pretty darn good for a "from scratch" team.

how do I move the minions order?

More questions,

And Thank You Chet for giving a helping hand!

What is the ideal farm? I always wondered why there was one guy in my list I could never kill no matter what equipment I had.

Is bloodlust worth it at my PR? or should I just keep pumping stats until (what point?). Perhaps archery would be handy? But only after I get a good bow.

You can move minions in the train menu...look for "move left".

The ideal farm can actually take on a couple of different forms, but it should have low expenses and win enough so that you get some cash. Some go all mages, some put on their second-tier gear and go single tank, etc.

Archery is good is you're getting a substantial fraction of your damage from your bow. I lived off of it in cb1, but now I'm not using it at the moment -- melee is more important to me, so I just took the extra STR. And remember, xbows don't count.

I can't speak to BL, as I've never used it.

Hope that helps.

Using CoC? FB? a 4 mage team?


Sorry but I want to understand enough all at once to not have to come back and ask questions over and over again.

Thanks for all the help :)

With regards to mage strategies you need to understand how the different direct damage spells work. My way - and tell me to shut up somebody if it sounds stupid - is to compare the different ones, fb, coc mm, to tank strategies.

Fireball - because of the amount of damage it can do in ranged I compare this to archery. It achieves similar results in as much as you can cut through your opponents quickly in the ranged rounds. And you need to do that due to the 'friendly fire' effect in melee, which can kill your own team if you're not careful.

Magic Missile - this is more like an all round tank armed with a crossbow and a decent melee weapon. It hits in ranged but not as efficiently as fireball and then hits in a similar fashion in melee.

Cone Of Cold - This is a tank with all the emphasis on melee. n It doesn't fire in ranged at all and hits for more damage the longer the fight goes on. Because it doesn't hit in ranged you can equip your mage with a bow/xbow but you will need to put some xp into st/dx. It hits very very hard once it gets going.

Something else you may not have realised is that the order of your minions on the train page dictates the order in which they are attacked. The first on the left is at the 'front' and then the others are lined up behind. The only time this changes is if someone equips seeker ammunition which targets your mage first.

Oh and fb and coc are spread spells - that is if you target a team of multiple minions they hit each minion at the same time. Whereas magic missile only hits one minion at a time.

Thanks a lot everyone, I leave with more knowledge than I came in with.

Not to hijack but just a clarification question. xbow uses st only and no archery?

Thanks in advance

Any weapon (melee and ranged, including crossbows) uses DX to hit and ST to do damage. Archery doesn't help xbows or slings.

mrwuss, I would not use BL until your tank had large armor, maybe even a ToE. That is because a BL-trained minion delivers more damage, but also TAKES more damage. Having a large AC nullifies that latter problem, while you still reap the benefits of the former.