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Author Topic: Getting companions  (Read 7721 times)

Noel

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Getting companions
« on: September 20, 2016, 02:34:50 pm »

Damn is adventure mode tough to survive in.

Im a peasant.

First attempt - Wander about. Kill some ravens. Try and butcher them, oh I can't. Licking them doesn't satisfy hunger either.
Oh look, a moose. Chase it. Hit it. Chase it. hit it. Chase it. Hit it. It hits back. I'm falling over. I'm dying. I'm dead.

Second go. - Late night walkabout. I'm surrounded. The bogeyman gets me.

How do I get companions.

Any tips for me in general would be great.  ::)
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Rumrusher

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Re: Getting companions
« Reply #1 on: September 20, 2016, 03:25:08 pm »

put points in bard skills, play a masterpiece song, ask someone if they want to join via entertainer you might get someone to join.
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mikekchar

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Re: Getting companions
« Reply #2 on: September 20, 2016, 08:28:45 pm »

Ha ha ha!  Sorry to laugh, but it brings back (fairly recent) memories for me.  I remember one time following the advice to grind wrestling skills against easy opponents.  I decided to wrestle a duck.  First try it hits me in the head.  I go unconscious.  It kills me.  That was several versions ago and it doesn't seem quite so brutal any more, but it's still easy to die in adventure mode.

My advice for companions is to go to a dwarven drinking hillock and recruit drunks.  They *always* come.  This allows you to avoid the boogyman.  When I started to try to get good at adventure mode (still not there yet!) I got killed by the boogyman every single game.

A couple of generic pieces of advice: always travel with a companion until you get the hang of the game.  If your companion dies or wanders off, absolutely boot it to the nearest *unabandoned* town (if it has abandoned houses, keep going).  Companions are hard to keep alive at first.  Don't sweat it if they die.  Drinking hillocks have a fairly large supply of drunks.

Also, one thing I think is really common is to play the game too fast.  When you first start out, get a hold of your surroundings.  I believe the key is "W" (I don't have an adventure game handy).  From there you can get a lot of information.  There is a map that will show you your surroundings.  Move the cursor around to get an idea of the areas.  Adventure mode has the concept of named regions (usually forests or plains or whatever).  Your adventurer will be familiar with the ones nearest to you.  Move the cursor around to see what they are all called.  Next in the same W screen, you can hit "b" to get a look at the beastiary.  This lists all the animals you might encounter and what region they are in.  Again, your adventurer only knows about the ones near their starting location at first.  Go through each of the animals to see where they are located.  Take note of animals that look like they might be dangerous and consider starting off in calmer areas.  Finally, you can have a look at the people you know (p???  I forget).  My advice is to walk around in your starting area and try to meet those people.  It will give you practice with the game and give you an idea for your layout.

Because of the boogeymen, even if you have companions, it is not a bad idea to base yourself in your starting area.  You can make day trips to the surrounding countryside and do some hunting.  Come back before night fall.  This also lets you walk around and try to find other towns that are nearby.  You may or may not need to hunt to survive.  Often you can find farmers who have bags of food lying around.  You can take that food if you want (as long as it doesn't have a $ in the name).  It depends on how you want to play the game.  I tend to like to buy things, which forces me to hunt and carve bones to pay for my stuff, but that's really up to you.  If you decided to hunt, you need to kill things that are big enough to butcher (unless you are just grinding skills).  Learn when to run away.  Many injuries will heal when you fast travel, but some will not.  Eventually the injuries pile up and you may need to retire.

Finally, to get good at fighting, read the Kisat Dur thread.  It's amazing.  Some very brief advice:  Killing is generally done by decapitation, major trauma to internal organs, bleeding out, or suffocation.  This is listed in reverse order of how easy it is for a peasant to do ;-)  If you can cut a major artery, the thing you are fighting will almost certainly die eventually.  If you manage to bruise both lungs, then the thing will suffocate.  If you get a choke hold on and strangle them (as long as they are not too big for you, or a night creature), they will suffocate.  One of the best strategies for weak players is to disable the opponent and then look for opportunities to suffocate or bleed out the opponent.  The Kisat Dur thread gives lots of advice for disabling opponents.

Last piece of advice is to take it slowly and enjoy the small things of the game.  My first 10 games or so were wandering around randomly until something killed me.  I didn't really find it that fun.  DF adventure mode is more about exploration and experimentation IMHO.  Try to get an internal story going in your head and see if you can advance the plot.  This will make it a lot more fun.  Peasants are fairly hard to get started because you are not strong enough (and don't have enough equipment) to do any quests that people send you on.  If you want to play that side of the game sooner, then start with a demi-god.  When you get better at the game, start downgrading to hero and then peasant.
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Nidilap

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Re: Getting companions
« Reply #3 on: September 21, 2016, 04:43:43 pm »

-snip-

This guy makes some really good points for ya, but he meant "Q" for the w menu. Think "Q"uestlog.

I play adv mode more than I do Fort, and it really is a game of enjoying set pieces.

One thing I suggest is you make several characters in one particular hamlet, and use them as companions. In head canon, you can make them a bunch of friends going on a journey like Frodo, Pippin and Sam, or they can all be knights of the same Lord, brigands, what have you.

Get to know your companions. People always overlook the people they lead to "glory and death", which is a real shame because you grow attached to them and their little quirks.

I remember one time I had a lasher friend whose nose was ripped off by an Ettin, but I had saved. I nicknamed him "Sniff".

Once you have a nice party, go to a MeadHall (the three-by-three yellow spots outside the hamlet) and get yourself a helmet, a shield, and a better weapon, if you find one (read up on what metals are better for certain kinds of weapons). If you are high level in armor, wear all you can. Hold as many shields as you want, because they all are rolled to block an oncoming attack.

You can also give armor and weapons to your companions by speaking to them with K, which makes them more likely to not die.
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Nidilap likes Adamantine, Bituminous Coal, Garnets, Cats for their aloofness, Dwarves for their stupidity, and Swords for their Spikes and edges. When possible, he prefers to eat pizza, ramen noodles, and sushi. He absolutely detests elves and spiders. He needs MTN DEW to get through the working day.

A medium- sized creature prone to great ambition, but only when he feels like it.

Noel

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Re: Getting companions
« Reply #4 on: September 21, 2016, 07:14:58 pm »

Thanks for the tips.

Can't seem to get anyoneone to follow me however. They say, 'Such enthusiasm from one such as yourself'

I've been to a bunch of Inn's asking soldiers inside.

Do I need to kill some stuff or talk to them more or what? :0
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Starver

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Re: Getting companions
« Reply #5 on: September 21, 2016, 07:27:58 pm »

It has been a while, for me, but the operative word above was "drunks" and that tallies with my experiences. Getting actual soldiers requires having actually accumulated a reputation, already, but drunks are far more (100%, regardless?) easily encouraged to join.
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mikekchar

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Re: Getting companions
« Reply #6 on: September 22, 2016, 01:56:53 am »

Yeah, killing things and then spreading rumours of your success will eventually allow you to recruit actual fighters.  It doesn't take *that* long... maybe kill 3-4 decent beasts, but until you get the hang of the combat system, you may not last that long :-)  Being a bard/poet/storyteller/dancer is actually a bit easier in my experience.  If you do even a terrible performance for an entertainer, you can often get them to join you for the purpose of entertaining.  They will fight when pressed, though ;-)  I once got an elf tavern keeper to join me once too because he wanted to see the world.

Just as an aside, Elf taverns are crap... No alcohol.  No rooms.  Boxes of instruments, but if you play them *nobody* pays any attention.  Elves are screwed up...

But definitely agree on trying to keep your companions alive if possible.  The biggest problem I seem to have with them is that in larger fights, they go chasing after retreating enemies.  Then I find that even when I go in travel mode I can't find them.  I don't know if they die or what, but it's annoying.  I've lost one just wandering around (was the cause of a boogeyman death).  In that case I *think* he fell into a water hole and couldn't get out.
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Evans

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Re: Getting companions
« Reply #7 on: September 22, 2016, 07:13:16 am »

Any tips for me in general would be great.  ::)

Generate world without boogeymen.
No I am serious.
For a first play it will be better you will not notice missing content very much.
In advanced worldgen set boogeymen number to 0 and hit create.

They are what seems to be a left-over relic from early days of an adventurer mode, everyone supposed they will be replaced by something at some point.
For me, I turn them off usually. They do not fit the setting - some magical bunnies teleporting to the player after sunset just because.
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getlost.lua # How to get rid of tavern guests
function getlost ()
   local unit = dfhack.gui.getSelectedUnit (true)
   unit.flags1.forest = true
end
getlost ()

Starver

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Re: Getting companions
« Reply #8 on: September 22, 2016, 07:47:41 am »

They are what seems to be a left-over relic from early days of an adventurer mode, everyone supposed they will be replaced by something at some point.
They appeared in an 0.31 release as a new thing, IIRC, but that was before your time. However they are, IIRC, 'on the way' to the eventually desired feature. But they certainly do their job of nerfing the 'just wander round hitting wildlife for years to train up before storming into town/the nearest tower and pwning it' career-path, which should still be an option for those intending to conduct such an ascetic lifestyle, but no longer the easy grinding tool it once was.
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Evans

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Re: Getting companions
« Reply #9 on: September 22, 2016, 08:00:55 am »

I think they just interfere with exploring for no good reason.

If my adventurer is to be eaten at night by some monsters, wolves, hyenas and bears or zombies will do a better job at it.
Teleporting bunnies just make little sense to me.

I am sure we could find excuses for their existence, but as I said above - they interfere with exploring and there are other ways to make travelling at night dangerous.
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getlost.lua # How to get rid of tavern guests
function getlost ()
   local unit = dfhack.gui.getSelectedUnit (true)
   unit.flags1.forest = true
end
getlost ()

Nidilap

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Re: Getting companions
« Reply #10 on: September 22, 2016, 08:49:25 am »

I think they just interfere with exploring for no good reason.

If my adventurer is to be eaten at night by some monsters, wolves, hyenas and bears or zombies will do a better job at it.
Teleporting bunnies just make little sense to me.

I am sure we could find excuses for their existence, but as I said above - they interfere with exploring and there are other ways to make travelling at night dangerous.

Completely agree. Why not just have more prowling creatures in the night, or more active bandits? Bogeymen are really cheap because they are a pain in the ass to fight every night, and if you screw up once, ya dead.
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Nidilap likes Adamantine, Bituminous Coal, Garnets, Cats for their aloofness, Dwarves for their stupidity, and Swords for their Spikes and edges. When possible, he prefers to eat pizza, ramen noodles, and sushi. He absolutely detests elves and spiders. He needs MTN DEW to get through the working day.

A medium- sized creature prone to great ambition, but only when he feels like it.

Evans

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Re: Getting companions
« Reply #11 on: September 22, 2016, 09:17:07 am »

And yes you can achieve that :)

By playing with advanced world generation settings, you can increase number of evil biomes and create a patchwork world of good/evil/savage biomes next to each other.
Of course increasing the number of werecurses, necromancers, vampires and night creatures will make the world much more unwelcoming place for an aspiring adventurer.

I have a world where there is an area with 7 towers in nearby proximity. Travelling there is ought to be full of excitement :)

After years of experimentation I have arrived at combination of settings that does just that - makes such a world, with mountains around the edges and large inland lake with a mix of biomes of different type and savagery.

Let me know people if you are interested and I will post the settings here.
Logged
getlost.lua # How to get rid of tavern guests
function getlost ()
   local unit = dfhack.gui.getSelectedUnit (true)
   unit.flags1.forest = true
end
getlost ()

Rumrusher

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Re: Getting companions
« Reply #12 on: September 22, 2016, 09:24:55 am »

Any tips for me in general would be great.  ::)

Generate world without boogeymen.
No I am serious.
For a first play it will be better you will not notice missing content very much.
In advanced worldgen set boogeymen number to 0 and hit create.

They are what seems to be a left-over relic from early days of an adventurer mode, everyone supposed they will be replaced by something at some point.
For me, I turn them off usually. They do not fit the setting - some magical bunnies teleporting to the player after sunset just because.
spider-people get better use out of bogeymen's company as bogeymen tend to ignore spider-folk or those with no fear in their raws. which basically turns a survival event to a peaceful sit out performing for the small creatures of the night that said punching one will provoke them.
though they aren't really teleporting more so the cackling spawns them and kills them constantly.
also all those poofs will add to "witnessing  death" for your character.
that said bogeymen saved one of my adventurers bacon from a mob of goblins while I was building a hut.
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I thought I would I had never hear my daughter's escapades from some boy...
DAMN YOU RUMRUSHER!!!!!!!!
"body swapping and YOU!"
Adventure in baby making!Adv Homes

peasant cretin

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Re: Getting companions
« Reply #13 on: September 22, 2016, 06:51:55 pm »

While it can be interesting to work around bogeymen when planning overland travel and whatnot, the interest is short-lived. I still have them active in any world I gen, if only because it's part of the DF narrative. Turning bogeymen off pretty much makes the NPC who warns you of their danger, a lunatic. Bogeymen have level 10 stats, so I avoid encountering them until my character is probably at level 11-12 shield user and dodger. That all said, I'll be glad when they've been replaced by something a bit more narratively sound.

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Noel

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Re: Getting companions
« Reply #14 on: September 22, 2016, 09:04:50 pm »

It seems I have to kill a few horses and then tell people about it.

Then I get a couple of soldiers to join me  8)
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