OK so my general approach is a sneaky marksdwarf. I've had some fairly successful runs with 4-5 companions and killed vampires, ogres, cheiftains etc..
Above Average Strength: | 10, makes it easier to finish off people quickly once they gave in to pain (without wasting any bolts) |
High Agility: | 20, it makes surviving much easier |
Above Average Thoughness: | 10, you don't give in to pain as easily |
Average Endurance: | 5 |
Average Recuperation: | 5 |
Very Low Disease Resistance: | 1, I have never gotten any disease and quite frankly I'd love to become a nightly creature |
Average Analytical Ability: | 5 |
Average Focus: | 5 |
Average Willpower: | 5 |
Very Low Creativity: | 1, skill not in use in adventurer. Worthless. |
Average Intuition: | 5 |
Very Low Patience: | 1, skill not in use in adventurer. Worthless. |
Average Memory: | 5 |
Very Low Linguistic Ability: | 1, skill not in use in adventurer. Worthless. |
Average Spatial Sense: | 5 |
Very Low Musicality: | 1, skill not in use in adventurer. Worthless. |
Average Kinesthetic Sense: | 5 |
Average Empathy: | 5 |
Above Average Social Awareness: | 10, makes it easier to recruit companions |
Novice Marksdwarf - You can injure enemies way tougher than yourself with a good shot.
Novice Fighter - You will get in melee, but cannot spend any points on weapon skills because you'll lose your crossbow. Fighter makes it easier to land good strikes with any weapon.
Novice Observer - I have never had any use of it, but I heard it is good in some situations where traps may be present.
Novice Swimmer - You need it.
Novice Ambusher - For sneaking upon those pesky cheiftains.
Novice Dodger - Might save your life.
Novice Reader - Just incase.
I usually ask for all quests first, and complete the easiest one (killing some famous dingo is usually easier than venturing into chieftain camp). Never venture to far away into the forest, you'll only get caught by bogeymen during night. Always make sure you have some roof over your head when you sleep. Killing dingo should be fairly trivial - just find it and shoot it. Chieftain as first quest is doable but trickier. Make sure you approach the camp by sneaking. Try to locate all ranged enemies. Get fairly close to one of the ranged enemies (6 tiles away is to close, 9-11 is usually nice with novice ambush) and fire your crossbow. Cripple him with some bolts. Don't finish him off with the bolts, just make sure he is crippled. Find the next guy, cripple him too. Rinse repeat. If you're running out of bolts, get back to one of the crippled archers and finish him off with a kick in the head or some last bolts if you still got any. Always make sure you have sufficient ammo to kill them. Keep locating enemies in camp and once you cripple them all, either let them bleed to death or engage in melee / shoot your last bolts. You don't need to kill them all if you're running out of bolts, only the bandit leader - but he is usually surrounded by some guards so you must make sure you have some ammo to cripple them too before finishing off chieftain with a kick in his head.
This approach usually works for camps, and it works for most quests that I've stumbled upon. What usually gets me dead is any ambush when travelling, getting spotted by enemy or opening a door in capital only to spot a villain (who apparently resides there) who kills me. Crossing rivers is usually a big no-no, but I like shortcuts...
Also, seas are an easy way to find food. Many crabs there (easy fight and easy food). Bogeymen can't catch you at shores either, so they make good for travelling.