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[Zyro_Falcon]

Using Lazy Newb Pack.

I've read the quickstart guide, the DF2014 Adventurer wiki article proper, and slain 1 giant jaguar (Xungu Bravetires) and 1 night horror (Anaya Deathurns) on order of the Lady Enthep. So far, so good, I think; but my experience thus far hasn't answered these gaps of my budding knowledge:
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- Is there anything / anyone that can go as fast as a Peregrine Falcon Man at top speed? I hope to find a sidekick who can keep up with me... I can't travel at night at all for fear of the bogeymen.
- How many 'turns' does it take to fire a crossbow? Can I speed that up by training?
- Where can I view the racial averages of attributes? (strength, agility, creativity, etc) By the wiki's guidance, I've only thus far known the numbers for humans (1000 for all stats) and dwarves.
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Also I think I'm losing my mind ~(Ovo)~

[peasant cretin]

- Is there anything / anyone that can go as fast as a Peregrine Falcon Man at top speed? I hope to find a sidekick who can keep up with me... I can't travel at night at all for fear of the bogeymen.
- How many 'turns' does it take to fire a crossbow? Can I speed that up by training?

Also I think I'm losing my mind ~(Ovo)~

Not sure who would be as fast. You can night travel along mountain ranges via slow travel mode. You can sleep in the mountain ranges and along the coasts. You can also build 2 tile structures (1 wall, 1 roof) as shelter against bogeymen.

Training the bow/crossbow can lower that tick count.
1 tick is when you press comma (,)
10 ticks pass when you press period (.)
Just for reference, a dwarf moves 1 tile at 1.000 walking speed at 9-10 ticks.
The cost of firing one shot as a legendary bowman/crossbowman is roughly around 40-50 ticks (an attacker will get to attack you 8 times: 32-80 ticks). A dabbler will take about twice the time, which is an eternity.

Most people, however, would probably advise you to just throw those arrows/bolts as throwing is pretty awesome. You can be attacked up to 16 times as a dabbling bowman/crossbowman during the delay after attack, where as you'll just get attacked 3 times as dabbling archer/thrower during the delay after.

Also losing your mind is fun. Going off to look for it? That's the good stuff.

[Zyro_Falcon]

Also losing your mind is fun. Going off to look for it? That's the good stuff.

D: I should think this reaction image isn't new to you! D:

[peasant cretin]

Being a zombie isn't new, but fish zombie definitely is.

[Zyro_Falcon]

(Ongoing conversation)

Oh hey, I see you edited your first reply; thanks, things are a little more clearer.
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- I understand a single thrown bolt does less damage than a single shot from a crossbow? (I still appreciate the higher throw rate)

- Can I 'express my values' - all of them - to an NPC to thoroughly know what they value? Might anyone with a low 'truth' value lie about their mindsets?

- How do I increase my 'Dodger' skill fast?

- How do I increase my 'Endurance' attribute fast? Swimming as a Peregrine Falcon man doesn't seem to change anything in the z screen.

- I want a better pair of underpants; preferably briefs or boxers. I've only ever found large clothes (i.e. 'sized for humans'); the clothes I'm wearing now do not have any 'large' or 'small' (sized for dwarves) prefix.
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[peasant cretin]

(Ongoing conversation)

Oh hey, I see you edited your first reply; thanks, things are a little more clearer.
____________________________________________________________

- I understand a single thrown bolt does less damage than a single shot from a crossbow? (I still appreciate the higher throw rate)

Yeah, I re-read what I wrote and it didn't seem all that clear or fleshed out. Glad it's now more helpful.

There doesn't appear to be any appreciable difference in damage. The difference between thrown and archery is rate of fire (throwing is better) and range (archery is better).

- Can I 'express my values' - all of them - to an NPC to thoroughly know what they value? Might anyone with a low 'truth' value lie about their mindsets?

Yes, you can use express values to determine their values. NPC's don't lie yet.

- How do I increase my 'Dodger' skill fast?

- How do I increase my 'Endurance' attribute fast? Swimming as a Peregrine Falcon man doesn't seem to change anything in the z screen.

The fastest way to level skills (to legendary) is to grind them using what is often considered to be an exploit. There's nothing illegitimate about the use of "grinding," but the downside due to your character being much stronger than everything is that you never learn the smaller things that actually keep you alive. If you can one shot everything, you end up knowing nothing. So, I'd discourage grinding.

If you use a skill consistently, you train the skill. The best way to increase Dodger skill is to solely use the multi-attack combo (quick attack + dodge away) when in combat. (One minor thing to add is instead of pressing period to launch the multi-attack, you'll press comma).

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The way it's structured is as if your character is kiting or stringing out the enemy (or enemies) in a line, simultaneously attacking with the fastest attack possible and always dodging away so that you end up with one tile between yourself and the enemy, then waiting for the enemy to move to the tile next to you before repeating the cycle again until the enemy is dead. Besides the simultaneous action, and the common result of a tile in-between after dodge away, quick attack + dodge (away) also offers two additional benefits: almost always grip-breaking any successful grab attacks made and automatically dislodging a weapon that has become stuck, allowing you to maintain possession, without requiring additional action in order to reclaim. This is the economy of ticks. If you were to quick attack + block, perhaps the result is an embedded weapon and an unbroken enemy grip. Blocks are best used as single action moves versus strikes, drawing out an enemy (into recovery) to make a your follow up attack easier, thus controlling the next turn so that there are no additional unforeseen attacks that often occur after multi-attacks, particularly quick attack + block combinations.

Also here's a quick combat tick primer:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Attack speed is about time. Time is measured in ticks.

The raws tell us most weapons and natural attacks (punches, bites, gores, etc.) are ATTACK_PREPARE_AND_RECOVER:3:3 which is to say 6 ticks long in terms of time. Two exceptions to this, kicks and whip attacks, are ATTACK_PREPARE_AND_RECOVER:4:4.

Aimed attacks will add or subtract from the PREPARE_AND_RECOVER.

The types of aimed weapon/natural attacks are:
Quick Attack  subtracts 1 tick from both the PREPARE_AND_RECOVER
Standard Attack  does not add or subtract anything from PREPARE_AND_RECOVER
Heavy Attack  will add 1 tick to both the PREPARE_AND_RECOVER
Precise Attack  will add *2* ticks to the PREPARE and 0 ticks to RECOVER
Wild Attack  subtracts 1 tick from the PREPARE, but adds *2* ticks to RECOVER

The fastest offensive maneuver (whether Quick Attack or Grab) will have a PREPARE_AND_RECOVER of 2:2, while the slowest will be some type of modified kick/whip attack.

The best/most natural way to increase endurance is to jog. To do that you'll need to do a bit of slow travel. Instead of say fast traveling between two hamlets, use slow travel and set your speed to jog. A more bizarre way to improve endurance (and also toughness) is to swim under a bridge repeatedly. You'll drown temporarily and this will boost both attributes. You will want to have adequate swimmer before you attempt this.

- I want a better pair of underpants; preferably briefs or boxers. I've only ever found large clothes (i.e. 'sized for humans'); the clothes I'm wearing now do not have any 'large' or 'small' (sized for dwarves) prefix.
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For better clothes when using an animal person, you can try retiring your character. Prior to retiring, you'll need to remove all of your character's clothing. This way the game will often reclothe your character once you unretire him/her.

[Zyro_Falcon]

What thrown projectile gives the best damage-to-weight ratio? (i.e. light but deadly)

[peasant cretin]

Nice thread about throwing: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=155103.msg6698610#msg6698610

[Zyro_Falcon]

Awesome!
- Also I just found out that throwing can be tiring (got the 'tired' status effect after lots of training). Please confirm?

- Lastly for now, can I fly at night high in the mountains (like, near the altitude cap / edge of outer space, maybe?) and not have to deal with Bogeymen?

[Nahere]

Awesome!
- Also I just found out that throwing can be tiring (got the 'tired' status effect after lots of training). Please confirm?

- Lastly for now, can I fly at night high in the mountains (like, near the altitude cap / edge of outer space, maybe?) and not have to deal with Bogeymen?

I would guess that most actions are tiring if performed long enough.
Some boogeymen can also fly.

[Zyro_Falcon]

Got it
(There's so many more things I have to know...!)

- I want to copy my save data. What files must I look out for?

[Nahere]

In data/save/ there will be a region# folder for each world you have. Copy the whole region folder.

[Zyro_Falcon]

...Any other files to not forget about? The gamelog.txt, detailing the announcements that had happened so far, is next to Dwarf Fortress.exe instead.

[Nahere]

If you consider that important you can grab it, but that file would only contain the output from the announcements, the announcements themselves should be in the save. Given that you're using a pack, you should know that any options you've changed will most likely be in data/init/init.txt and data/init/d_init.txt, and tilesets are stored in the data/art folder.

[Zyro_Falcon]

-How can I tell if a skill/attribute has been maxed out?
-Can you quit without saving?