Gregar's Guide to staying alive on TFC
There are many guides out there to staying alive on TFC, this one shall
include of course the basics, plus some additional information as it applies
to being in a passive following (read: fate)
There are several parts of a general guide to staying alive.
Telnet client (the program you use to get in) the items you carry, and combat
tactics that you should expect from your opponent, plus the counter tactics to
either safely stay in battle, or flee from the combat with your life.
The telnet Client is extremely important. With a good telnet
client you can react to situations much faster than you can by hand. I
personally recommend ZMud if you are running windows, it is one of the most
commonly used and has some of the best online help files for making triggers
macros etc. For the rest of this guide I will assume that you are using a mud
client as even leaving the guild hall without using one is begging for death
IMHO
The first thing is items that are needed. Most people recommend
having at least 6 recalls on hand at all times. I recommend more, at least 10,
3 in hand at all times plus seven more in a bag with a unique key word. The
reason for this is that the first tactic of most pk'ers is to try and blynd
you so you not only don't know where you are going (to die) but that you
cannot get any items out of bags while blind. As with most characters, item
space is at a premium so it is understandable that you will want to put as
many things into bags as possible, but you should have at least 3 recalls in
hand in case the first two fail while blynded.
Be sure to set up a hot key in your telnet/mud client for quaff
recall, and be sure to use a quaff recall. It is not uncommon for a pk'er to
hand you an item with red as a keyword to prevent you from using your recalls
during the attack. Also be sure to add a get recall command to the same hot
key as the quaff recall so that after quaffing, you try and grab a new recall
to keep your on hand supply fresh. The reason for a bag with a unique name, is
so that you don't accidentally mix up bags. If you go out random hunting or
even just xp in zones that get a decent number of randoms, chances are that
you are going to have several containers of the same name that are larger than
a regular bag (i.e. egg casings). With 4 or 5 egg casings, you might juggle
one to the front to look in it, then forget to move them back. This will
prevent you from getting a fresh recall when you try next time(since you will
be looking in the wrong container) and possibly run you quickly out of recalls
on hand creating a dangerous situation. If you can get a level 30 shaman you
should be able to have him/her make a bag with a very unique key word based on
the mob it was made from. A 30th shaman bag should be enough to hold 6 or more
recalls.
When to recall is also a very important thing to remember. When
recalling from combat, you only have a 25% chance of doing so successfully. If
you are cursed, this drops to a 0% chance. Before recalling, always be sure to
flee the combat as this will greatly increase your chances of success (not to
mention reduce the amount of xp you can expect to lose). Watch the combat
carefully to see if your opponent has cursed you, if so, teleport instead. If
you see "Maurice snickers and blocks transport!" then you are in a no recall
zone or cursed, try teleporting instead.
Teleports are also a very useful potion to have and can be made by
shamans. True anyone can fill vials, but even a mage with portal needs a
shaman to take a wizmarked item into the dwarvenhold shamans guild or the
shamanic caverns(shaman only area). Teleports have an advantage over recalls
in that you can teleport while cursed, or from no-recall zones. There are also
no penalties to saving rols when teleporting from combat, and you lose no xp
for teleporting from combat. Why not teleport all the time? Teleporting is
random, kinda like taking a bad recall to get yer butt to safety. Most of the
time you end up in a zone fairly close to where you started, but you can end
up anywhere, the guild, the same zone, the room next to you, or maybe even
scairz or the demon realm. In general if you can recall, do that first,
teleport is a last ditch effort.
Holding teleports is also somewhat dangerous. On occasion I have
gone to quaff glass, dr red (not for a recall but some random potion I have)
get black etc etc, and instead I quaff my teleport when I am perfectly safe.
Try to make your teleports out of something you won't forget or mix up. I
personally for the ease use red vials which I have already mentioned have
gotten me into trouble, but personally I feel big enough to handle a blunder
like that. There are many different kinds of vials, try picking a single color
that you will always use for that purpose. You may also wish to try another
container for the teleports instead, you don't have to use vials. Any water
container can be filled with magical liquids and turned into a teleport
potion, this includes water skins, water gourds etc. just be sure you remember
what the item is. Teleports should always be kept in hand and not pulled from
bags as it is hard to get anything from a bag while blynded.
A hot key for teleporting is also a good idea, but it should be
something that you don't accidentally hit. Mine personally is the same as the
recall button, but I have to hold the control key to use it. I like to think
of the control key as the red safety switch on a fighter jet missile launch
button. In order to hit it, you gotta be sure that's really what you want to
do.
These items are going to be the mot important to escaping
combat/bad situations. I will discuss personal equipment more a little later.