Alternate Reality: The City Competition

[Xebec's Demise]

 

 

Purpose

 

Have fun, share your experiences with others and test your skill at surviving in one of the most challenging, ground-breaking and technically advanced sandbox RPG games of the 1980s. Share your screenshots and videos and have fun participating! See setup, rules, tips, and survival guide below.
 

 

CURRENT PLAYER RANKINGS

 

#1 Jim Norris

 

#2 Dan0

 

#3 Chunder

 

#4 axewater

 

#5 dgiors

 

#6 Xebec's Demise

 

#7 Gunstar

 

#8 WestofHouse

 

#9 SilverAR

 

#10 smartwhois

 

#11 Goochman

 

#12 Chenzy

 

#13 Angry Jedi

 

#14 Bunsen

 

#15 eclecticmonk

 

 

 

Atari 800 emulator

 

The Alternate Reality Wrapper is attached below automating all disk swaps. You may also download it directly from the source.

 

AR Wrapper 1.0_Release.zip

Doing it all manually is more complicated and tedious, but here are some basic instructions for playing Alternate Reality on your Windows PC or MAC with an emulator without the AR Wrapper.

 

 

Rules

For the purposes of the competition, you only have one life, no character editing or backups allowed.

 

Have fun seeing just how far you really can make it in this hostile alien virtual world with one life and no saves. If you make mistakes try to overcome them. If you die and want to try again, start over. This is a challenging game and you will likely have a handful of characters die before surviving past the first few levels, but keep trying! 

Take a screenshot of your initial skills to share here with others. F10 takes a screenshot in Atari800win Plus. Have fun sharing other interesting screenshots and stories too!

 

Most of all, just have fun playing and trying to surviving in one of the most incredible virtual world games of its time!

 

Tips

 

• Here is the original game map if you want to experience the game as designed and a completed map (spoiler). You may also print this 64x64 (City size) blank graph paper to map yourself.

         

Spoiler

 

• Try playing a good aligned character. That way only half the population will be out to kill you and you will be pretty safe during the day. To do this, only attack neutral beings such as thieves, muggers, fighters and warriors if they take a swing at you first. Do not try to Trick them or Charm them; only try these acts on evil beings. If you surprise a neutral being like a mugger or fighter, always Hail them. If they Attack you, then you are free to attack back.

 

• The Following is a list of evil beings. Dragons, Thieves and Warrior classes are not evil. They are neutral, but their intro sounds similar to that of evil beings so be careful. Notice that the only evil human life form is the Assassin!:

Assasin Orc Giant Rat Black Slime Spectre Imp Gnoll Troll Wolf Ghost Zombie Ghoul Goblin Nightstalker Brown Mold Wraith Gremlin Skeleton

 

• The first thing you should do is try to buy a Dagger or Stiletto. Straight from the floating gate go to Occums Weaponsmiths 19E, 32N hours 05:00-21:59 in the NW of town. If he does not have a Dagger or Stiletto then go to Sharp Weaponsmiths 54E, 9N hours 04:00-20:59 in the SE of town. Usually one or the other will have one. Occums is the cheapest by 23%. You can usually make an initial offer of less than half of the asking price. For example, if the Dagger is being sold for 200, then start by offering 90. Keep bargaining by meeting the Smithy a little less than half way of his counter offer i.e. if you Offer 90 and he counters with 130, then Offer 110. You should be able to buy a Dagger or Stiletto for between 100-120 Coppers depending on your CHR and skill at bartering.

 

• The very next thing you must do is head straight to the Tavern in the NW corner of town, 20E, 62N, (See map linked below) whether you were able to buy a Weapon or not. You can find or buy a weapon later, but for now you need to supply with food and water. After entering the City Wall, turn right or East and go through 19 secret doors. To be safe, after 18, you can turn right or south and try to enter. If you have counted correctly you will not be able to. Just turn left or back east and go through one more, turn right or south again and try to enter. You should enter the Tavern. If not, and you have messed up your counting somewhere, continue checking every south section of wall until you find it. If you go further than 19 secret doors you will have to exit the City wall and start over, so if you lose count, then try to error on the low end as you can keep checking until you find it. Once you have located the Tavern, go inside and buy a free Water. This will help save your Water Flasks from being used. Then, if you have any money, buy as many Food Packets and Water Flasks as you can, saving about 10 copper so that you can pay for an Inn. Buy Food Packets/Pemmican and Water Flasks so you always have twice as many Water Flasks as Food Packets. This is because Water Flasks are used up twice as fast. Pemmican = 1 Food Packet and only costs 16 Copper. If you do not have any money, then wait outside the Tavern and try to get some by defeating evil or neutral (if they attack first) beings. You can continue to go into the Tavern to get Free Water ever couple of hours so that your Water Flasks do not get used. You can tell an hour has passed, by the white text on the screen flashing ever 2:50 for NTSC and every 3:50 for PAL displays. Its a good idea to use a stopwatch to keep track of the hours, that way you do not have to watch for the text to flash. If the Tavern does not have Water Flasks or Food Packets/Pemmican, the menu will change every hour, so keep checking. Try to stock up with as much food and water as possible, remembering to keep about 10 coppers to sleep.

 

• If at any time, you are very low in Hit Points or Tired, then turn left or East, go through two secret doors, turn right or South and exit the City Wall. Head SW to the Warriors Retreat Inn 28E, 54N (see map linked below) and Sleep on the Common Area Floor for 12 Hours for 7 Copper. Try to go to sleep before it gets dark, you gain maximum hitpoints if you go to bed before dark and you choose a time to awake that is in the morning daylight. After you awake, you should either try to go buy a Dagger or Stiletto again if you did not get one, or go back to the Tavern and continue drinking free Water and stocking up on Food Packets and Water Flasks while fighting the beings that you encounter while waiting outside the Tavern door. If you get a surplus of money or Gems or Jewelry, vist the bank, Grams Gold Exchange 2E, 61N, which is close by in the NW corner and make a deposit so that you have a reserve of cash.

 

• Original Alternate Reality Homepage FAQ: http://www.eobet.com...reality_FAQ.txt

 

 

How to Survive - Alternate Reality: The City

Make a complete map of The City and list of potions first. Also note what stats each guild on the map raises. You will appreciate and cherish your own handmade map for many years to come, but if you don't enjoy mapping or do not have the time, then print one off from sites such as eobet's The Original Alternate Reality Homepage: http://www.eobet.com...ernate-reality/ or here: http://web.archive.o...s/AltrReal.html

When rolling your stats, focus on STA, WIS and SKL. These three often-overlooked skills do not rise from potions or in-game use. They also happen to be very important for initial survival. SKL determines how easily you can escape an encounter without being stolen from and also how well you dodge blows. If you have a high SKL and average STR, you will be able to punch muggers to death with your Bare Hands, even 1 point at a time without them hitting you! WIS helps you determine what type of potion you have found - a single potion can change the outcome of your game! When you are a poor, weak character, it is very important to know what you are drinking! The right potion could be great, but the wrong one will surely kill you! WIS also helps you determine if a weapon is cursed or not. A Cursed weapon can also result in a bad start for a new character. STA is very important because it determines how many Hit Points you gain when going up a level. Even if you start with low hit points as a result of focusing on STA WIS and SKL, you can gain an additional 20+ Hit Points if your STA is near 20, just from gaining 300 experience, which is quite easy. On this basis, Hit Points are actually the least important in the long run because they can go up so quickly, unfortunately many people focus on them when rolling their characters. STA also affects your resistance to hardships and is likely to affect disease, hunger, thirst and tiredness - I am still confirming this. The best you can possibly roll in these three important skills is a total of 63, three 21s, but I have never seen it. Any combination above 50 is really good. You can pretty much ignore the other skills when rolling, they will go up with use and also gain much easier when leveling.

Play a Good Alignment to begin with! You can always switch later. Never Attack, Trick or Charm Good beings. Only use Trick or Charm on Evil beings. Never Attack Neutral beings first. Neutral beings, such as Fighters and Thieves, have the same intro music as Evil creatures so be careful. Always wait for Neutral beings to take the first swing. Dragons are Neutral also! When you Surprise Neutral beings make sure to Hail them. They will then begin to leave you alone. This is especially important for encounters with the more skilled and powerful Thieves, Knights and Dragons. If you have a good alignment they will normally let you go and most of the time will leave if they surprise you! Otherwise, they will try to steal your vital food, water and coppers and you will find it very hard to survive. If you are Evil, then Guards will constantly be after you also. Basically, by being Good, you cut your enemies in half and avoid being hunted by Guards and stolen from by Neutrals. This is very important for the survival of a new character.

If you have 110 coppers or more, the very first thing you should do within the game is head straight to Occums Weaponsmiths and barter for a Dagger or Stiletto. If he does not have one, go to Sharp Weaponsmiths. Depending upon your CHR they will usually be offered for between 150 to 220 coppers. Start by offering about 80 coppers. The Smithy will then cut his price by about 70%! Then meet him a little bit less than halfway of his counter offers. If you barter well, even with low CHR, you can get a Stiletto or Dagger for 110-120 coppers! Remember to ready it as soon as you leave the Smithy. Practice this with Temporary characters until you are good at it. It takes some skill and knowledge to do it well without being kicked out.

The very next stop should be the Assassin's Guild. A new character starts out with a Surprise modifier of 00. This stat raises slowly per level just like any other stat, but the Assassins Guild will give you +30 to the stat! Yes, that is +30, not +3! This will make a huge difference in your encounters. Also near the Assassins guild is the Sleeping Dragon Inn, the cheapest Inn in town. One of the cheaper taverns, the Flaming Dragon Tavern, is also right across from the Inn. There is no better place to restore your Hit Points if you are low and do not have enough coppers for the Healer. Always consider the healer first though; because sleeping will use up precious Food Packets which cost a minimum of 16 coppers each as Pemmican at The Tavern. Another option is to navigate your way to the Physicians Guild and Star Wizards Guild which will both give you some more Hit Points. These 8 Hit Points from the Guilds may be enough to survive, allowing you to kill that next aggressive mugger in order to gain even more Hit Points from gaining a level.

If you have decent Hit Points, your very next stop should be The Tavern in the City Wall. Your next most important strategy for survival is to spend every copper you can on getting Pemmican/Food Packets. Always save 7 coppers to use for sleeping in the Warriors Retreat Inn close by on the East side of The Arena. Do not buy Water Flasks! They are a waste of your precious coppers. You can get as much water as you want for free at The Tavern. Even being Very Thirsty will not begin to affect you - you actually have to be Parched for a couple of game hours before your stats start dropping. Sit outside The Tavern and every hour the menu will change, hopefully offering Food Packets or even better, Pemmican. Buy as many as you can. You can use a stopwatch 2:50 for NTSC and 3:50 for PAL is a new AR hour; you can also tell by the lower white text portion of the screen flashing once, but you have to pay attention or you will miss it. I use the stopwatch on my watch and just let it run, i.e. 2:50 is the first hour change, 5:40 is the next hour change and so on. Every time you go in The Tavern, get free water. Your thirst does not display "Thirsty" until reaching a level of 04 and each water will reduce thirst by 4. You never know when it might not be available. Never waste any coppers on any food either unless you have not found any Pemmican/Food Packets and are "Famished" AND losing more than a couple of each stat. If this is the case, then try to buy Bowls of Chili, which reduce hunger level by 4 and only costs 8 or Sandwiches, which reduce hunger by 3 and cost about the same. Most other food is much more expensive or only reduces your hunger level by 1. While you are waiting outside The Tavern trying to collect coppers and supply yourself with Food Packets, try killing muggers and fighters that attack first, imps, gremlins, skeletons, zombies, orcs, gnolls and goblins. These are fairly easy to kill. Always try Tricking or Charming Evil creatures first as you may get lucky.

When you become "Tired" AND begin losing stats, head as quickly as you can to the Inn and use the 7 coppers you were saving to sleep on the Common Area floor for 12 hours. Only sleep if it is dark or close to being dark. You will recover much faster if you are sleeping at night and awake in the morning or daylight. The optimum sleep time is from about 1800, when it turns dark, to 0600, when it turns light. If you sleep at that time, you will fully recover just from sleeping in the Common Area floor for 12 hours, even if you are Tired and have lost all your stats and almost all your hit points! A good strategy is to wait safely inside the Inn until about 1800. You will be safe inside the Inn no matter how Tired you are. Check the hour in the Inn and when it becomes dark, then sleep. Otherwise, you will be wasting your Coppers and your Food Packets sleeping and not recovering anything.

Do not attack Giant Rats! Avoid them at all costs. They are easy to kill, but you will be setting yourself up for disaster as they almost always infect you with Rabies! Remember, in the long run, Rabies will cost you at least 200 coppers to cure unless you get lucky and find a Cleanse potion and it may also cost you your stats or life. You will very rarely get more than 200 coppers off a Giant Rat, so fighting them is not worth it. In fact, they rarely have any treasure at all. Do not fight Giant Rats! Also, still in testing, but it seems that you consume water and food faster, get tired more easily and do not gain stats as well when infected with Rabies or any diseases.

As soon as you have a good supply of Food Packets, you can begin making your way to the guilds and raising your stats. Try to raise stats in the most balanced manner that you can. This is because often, the highest stats do not raise when you go up a level. So, if your STA, WIS and SKL are your highest stats, as suggested to begin with, DO NOT go to guilds that will raise these stats higher. Save these Guilds for later, otherwise it will be a waste. Visit these guild when you have gained a STR, CHR and INT that are higher; it will inevitably happen, as STR CHR and INT go up between levels with use.

If you want to gain some STR, Parry Trolls. For every 255 hits, you will gain one point of STR. You can usually gain 2 to 3 points of STR off each Troll before losing stats to Tiredness. By Parrying, if you have a high skill, it will be very difficult for the Troll to hit you and you will not damage him enough to kill him. If you are doing more than 2-3 points of damage per hit, try using your Bare Hands or a worn out Stiletto to Parry the Troll. As long as you are not losing stats to Tiredness, Hunger or Thirst, you can sit there and ramp up your STR. STR determines the amount of damage you do, so eventually you will begin doing more damage than the Troll can Regenerate, but it's a good tactic for mid-level characters.

Once you have a good supply of food and water and can survive well, head to the SE corner of town. Sleep in the Inn there during day, and fight the monsters at night. There is a good chance of running into easy monsters there that have a high percentage of treasure, such as Trolls, Imps, Gremlins and Goblins.

Always get your Gems and Jewelry appraised at all three banks. Many times, one will appraise double that of the other two. It will take you some time, but the difference between a Completely Worthless gem and one that is worth 4 gold could be as big as the difference between life and death.

AR Wrapper 1.0_Release.zip

Edited October 9, 2023 by Xebec's Demise

[Xebec's Demise]

 

In the past, I almost exclusively tried to get a High Strength, Intelligence and Hitpoints as these stats are obviously the most important for your survival to begin with; or are they? For my latest adventures in the city of Xebec's Demise, I have focused on Stamina, Wisdom and Skill instead. My reasoning is that in the long-run, Strength, Intelligence and Hitpoints actually raise much higher and faster than Stamina, Wisdom and Skill. One tidbit of information from The Original Alternate Reality Homepage states that STR, INT and CHR may increase during a fight after 255 successful uses. The first ever, RPG use-based skill improvement! I have also noticed that since I started playing with chars with higher SKL and STA that I block hits from many opponents very often and my survivability has increased dramatically. I did not get as high of a Wisdom as I would have liked, but 21 for STA and 19 for SKL is not bad. Of course, I was going for three 21's but after watching the skill slots at the Floating Gate forever, that seems near impossible!

Some of the more experienced players may know that a character's strength may increase

during a fight. The secret behind this feature has now been revealed and it is startling.

The strength increase is infact a part of what may be the first ever skill based character

improvement system in a computer role playing game!

 

Here is how the system works. Every time you carry out a succesful roll on a "skill"

(attacks, trick or charm) you get an increase of 1/255 of a full stat point. Get 255

more succesful rolls and you get the full one point increase of your stat. This works

for attack, lunge, parry, which increases strength; trick, which increases intelligence;

and charm which increases charisma.

-INFORMATION COURTESY OF MARK WIECZOREK

Edited May 17, 2005 by Xebec's Demise

[Xebec's Demise]

 

I finally survived to level 1! One of the most important things to do is go straight to one of the cheaper Smithy's in town and haggle for a Dagger or Stiletto. They will usually offer a price of 150-210 coppers. Depending upon your CHR, you can usually counter-offer about 90-100 copper to start off with. There is a trick to bartering, but usually I can buy a Stiletto for about 110 copper and a Dagger for about 130 copper. Try not to offend the Smithy by offering too little though or you might as well find somewhere else to shop!

Edited August 31, 2011 by Xebec's Demise

[Xebec's Demise]

 

Level 2! And, I am soaking wet in my Cheap Gray Breechcloth and Simple Gray Cloak! As you can see, after buying a weapon at the Smithy the next most important task is to buy more food and drink. If you can find The Tavern in the NW corner of town, you can get all-you-can-drink free water and focus on buying food first. A bowl of Chili will satisfy you if you are just "Hungry," (possibly depending upon your STA). Pemmican is the cheapest menu item that you can wrap up and save for later as a Food Packet. But, remember to save a few coppers for a place to sleep! You will be Tired soon and will need some rest and recouperation.

Edited May 17, 2005 by Xebec's Demise

[Xebec's Demise]

 

Level 3, but Gee, wiz! It's really not worth the trouble attacking Giant Rats!

 

They are easy to kill, but they have crummy loot and it will cost you, at a minimum, 200 coppers to Cleanse out the Rabbies if they bite you! As you can see, I was hit by two different Giant Rat's Foaming Teeth and I got two seperate cases of Rabies! The only way I was able to see these is by having the healer diagnose them for 10 coppers, otherwise they are hidden and have an incubation period.

 

The reason that you want to get them Cleansed out as soon as possible, is because you become Weary faster, your skills and Hit Points will not raise as well when you gain a level, and you will not recover as fast when you are Sleeping in an Inn. Let it go past the Incubation stage and then you will eventually suffer permanent affects.

 

Now, the reason it really is not worth the troube, is I got zero loot from killing both Giant Rats!

 

Avoid Giant Rats!

Edited May 17, 2005 by Xebec's Demise

[axewater]

nice idea man ... i love this game too (got your link from the mailing list). i'll try and join in but I'm at work so I can't sit here waiting for the gate to give me the ultimate combination ... On my old atari I used to put pieces of paper on my screen , covering the first half of the numbers of the gate, so I could see if everything was above 10 and the important ones hit 20 ... that way i could make awesome character without going into trance from trying to follow all the numbers ...

 

Anyway, I'll give this a shot ... although I must say I think I won't get close to your stats and I'll probably die after 2 encounters ... but at least there will be some competition .. (and I will make a nice 2nd place ))

[Bunsen]

First try not worth to send a screenshot: 198 XP, 2 Mugger killed with bare hands

 

Level 0

[Gunstar]

Well, I know your "rules" stated to start a new character as "today" (May 12th), but hey, I was busy and my little free time was spent with the character i already made, so here is my new character, as of May 16th, if you don't like my late entry, then get bent. If you want to disqualify me, then kiss my *ss! if it's alright, then good. You DO want a comptetition don't you?

 

I didn't feel like sitting there at the gate waiting for half an hour to get all good stats, so i just went with strength and intelligence. We'll see how long this guy lasts.

In traditional AR hospitality, I was greated immediately after leaving the gate by a mugger. Not wanting to lose any money, as I need a weapon, I chose to exchange blows with the scum, my fist for his switchblade, but I did manage to come out of it without a scratch and him laying in a pool of his own blood from my bashing his nose into his brain! So, I already have 80 experience. Bring on the Paine!

Edited May 16, 2005 by Gunstar

[Gunstar]

After ignoring all who would leave me alone, and destroying 3 muggers without a scratch to myself (these guys couldn't stab their way out of a wet paper bag), poor morons obviously think my name is Johnny-come-lately, I've advanced to level 1 and gained 2 more hitpoints.

[Gunstar]

Well, I've made level 2. I managed to defeat a swordsman at his own game, but it cost me dearly as he hacked me down to 4 hitpoints, and unfortunately, he didn't even have a single copper on him (probably why he attacked me in the first place), so I may not live long since I only have 4 coppers myself, which isn't even enough to rest in the common-area-floor (it costs 5 coppers). So, I'll have to get VERY lucky and probably even have to resort to some evil trickery to attempt survival at my next encounter, unless I happen upon another one of those pitiful muggers with a copper or two, I'll be able to beat them at their own game without a hitch I suspect...

 

Update: I'm ALIVE!!! I came across a Merchant, whom I attempted to trick, which failed, I hate diong an evil deed and it's worse when you commit such an act without success, now my moral alignment will surely be affected. But, I did manage to hack him down after he chastened me with his longblade for 2 hitpoints. Luckily, he had 10 silver and 2 copper on him though, and I've made it to an Inn, so now I can rest from my criminal act and have at least survived for another day...

Edited May 16, 2005 by Gunstar

[Gunstar]

Level 3 has been acheived! Something that I had never noticed before; while your hitpoints only go up after every level gained, your stats go up in-between levels as you gain experience...hmm.

[Gunstar]

Yeah baby! Maximus Paine; in your face! I made it to level 4! I was down to about 6 hitpoints, famished and with only my trusty stilletto in my posession when I was suprised by a Knight! He swung and missed, and I said "did you know there's a nasty looking green dragon behind you?" When he turned around I used my prowess with the stilletto and sent it sailing into the back of his neck (the only place that was vunerable due to the Ringmail armour he was wearing)...he fell into a puddle and choked on muddy water with his last breath! I proceeded to relieve him of his Ringmail and Longsword, so now I'm a true force to be reckoned with! level 4 baby! you guys had better catch up fast, i'm in the lead now! (though it is my day off, so I've the opportunity to take the lead)

Edited May 16, 2005 by Gunstar

[Gunstar]

7. Keep in mind this is a VERY challenging game!  Don't give up.  I went through about a dozen characters before I finally got lucky enough to survive and there is not telling what might happen tomorrow.

CURRENT PLAYER RANKINGS:

 

#1 Xebec's Demise:

 

#2 Gunstar:

854194[/snapback]

 

A dozen characters before one survived?!? HAH! I'm still on my first! haven't even saved him yet! Not that that would matter since your character is erased when you load it up again...I'm getting to the point now that I'm starting to think my character will survive, I only have to worry about poisons or running out of money and starving to death, etc...

[Gunstar]

Better check that ranking again...I'm in the lead!

[Xebec's Demise]

That's your first character?!

 

Geez! I rolled some really good characters, but most of them did not make it to level 2. Most of the time I just ran out of coppers and started starving or could not sleep. You appreciate every copper you can get!

 

Ok, ok, I am going to have to boot up and see what I can do now! Hope I don't die! I spent nearly all my copper getting those rabies cleansed out.

[Gunstar]

That's your first character?!

 

Geez!  I rolled some really good characters, but most of them did not make it to level 2.  Most of the time I just ran out of coppers and started starving or could not sleep.  You appreciate every copper you can get!

 

Ok, ok, I am going to have to boot up and see what I can do now!  Hope I don't die!  I spent nearly all my copper getting those rabies cleansed out.

856204[/snapback]

 

I've come close to death and starving on a couple of occasions, but I got lucky. But it is in how you play the game...like poker, you have to know when to hold them and when to fold them...(when to fight and when to run...)

 

though I may have spoken too soon, I'm down to 2 hitpoints after a guard wouldn't leave me alone; a guard with a greatsword! so I took a, quite possibly, final pic of this character to post. though I have managed to slay several other creatures since, only becuase I have Ringmail and a Longsword I'm sure...I did get a potion of protection+2, but that didn't seem to help against the guard...maybe that's only good against spells&magic? Well, we'll see...I've managed to get more experience though, so I'm going to take another picture here, who knows? it might be good enough to win or place if no one else can get to level 4 with 3,795 exp. points and pretty good stats. i'll post it in a minute, if I die.

 

update: well, I've managed to survive for a bit longer possibly, I was out of money, down to 2 hitpoints and famished, but I just killed a Merchant and got 4 silver pieces, enough for some food and a night in the common area floor...if I can make it from the Tavern to the Inn without dieing. I've had to basically become Evil though in order to attempt survival; I can't afford to let them strike first with only 2 hitpoints...

Edited May 16, 2005 by Gunstar

[Gunstar]

I died. I was going to starve to death in about 2 seconds as you can see from the picture, then a guard happened along and in a last desperate act for money, I tried to trick him but he hacked me down. I was encountering creatures&people left and right, but none had enough money on them for me to get any real amount of food, I bought what I could, but it wasn't enough to stave off starvation...apparently most food you eat in the Taverns is very inadequate; you have to get something like roast dragon or food packets to do any good. I got ham, and bread and cheese and a plate of greens and a couple other items, I even ordered roast dragon when i didn't have the money, and it showed it on the screen as if they pitied me and gave it to me anyway, but it did nothing for my stats or my starving condition, so I guess it's just in front of you and you aren't allowed to eat it! OH! Cruel world! Alas! Still...not bad for my first attempt, although I did just waste the last 6 hours, unless my ranking holds...

[Xebec's Demise]

The Cluebook says that a Bowl of Chili works well, I have tried it before and it has worked every time, plus it only costs 8 copper at The Tavern. Any food with dragon in it should satisfy your hunger plus give you a Food Packet.

 

I wonder if having a low stamina caused you to get hungry and thirsty faster?

 

Also, I am playing a good character. If possible, I always Hail, even neutral beings like Swordsmen and Muggers, I never try to Trick or Charm any good or neutral beings and I only Attack neutral beings after they have tried to land the first blow.

 

As a good character, it actually seems easier to survive overall. It might seem easier to kill commoners to try and get some coppers, but then you have stronger types like Knights and Guards trying to kill you all the time and stealing your stuff.

 

Also if you are good, you can regulate your fights. Most neutrals will not attack unless you Engage them. I always thought that Knights and Warriors Attacked no matter what, but now that I am playing a perfectly good character, I can see that is not true. About 70% of the time, these types will leave me alone, even when they surprise me. Where they usually end up hurting me is when I try to Leave(Escape) or Disengage. Ignore seems to work better as a good character. They do still attack at times, but only when you run into a cranky one.

 

You never wasted your time, if you had fun!

Edited May 16, 2005 by Xebec's Demise

[Bunsen]

I decided to become evil

 

to get some coppers from commoners, but it didn't work. He killed me!

[Gunstar]

The Cluebook says that a Bowl of Chili works well, I have tried it before and it has worked every time, plus it only costs 8 copper at The Tavern.  Any food with dragon in it should satisfy your hunger plus give you a Food Packet.

 

I wonder if having a low stamina caused you to get hungry and thirsty faster?

 

Also, I am playing a good character.  If possible, I always Hail, even neutral beings like Swordsmen and Muggers, I never try to Trick or Charm any good or neutral beings and I only Attack neutral beings after they have tried to land the first blow.

 

As a good character, it actually seems easier to survive overall.  It might seem easier to kill commoners to try and get some coppers, but then you have stronger types like Knights and Guards trying to kill you all the time and stealing your stuff.

 

Also if you are good, you can regulate your fights.  Most neutrals will not attack unless you Engage them.  I always thought that Knights and Warriors Attacked no matter what, but now that I am playing a perfectly good character, I can see that is not true.  About 70% of the time, these types will leave me alone, even when they surprise me.  Where they usually end up hurting me is when I try to Leave(Escape) or Disengage.  Ignore seems to work better as a good character.  They do still attack at times, but only when you run into a cranky one.

 

You never wasted your time, if you had fun!

856256[/snapback]

 

Hmm...a bowl of chili was one of the other items I tried, as it was all I could afford at the time, maybe becuase I had to wait until I was famished before I found any money to eat with was the problem? Anyway, I was good up until I had no choice; if I had stayed good, I would not have lived passed level 3, I had bought like 15 food packets and a few more water flasks whenI had the money too, but they seemed to go quite rapidly, they were all but gone in a day. I do beleive that stamina may have a direct impact on all of it and is a FAR more important stat to have than I'd thought (though I knew it was somewhat important, but I felt I could raise it). Anyway, I'll start a new character tonight, and attempt to stay good once again, though until I had too, I always did ignore, hail and wait to be attacked before attacking. The only thing I did that may be questionable, is at times, becuase I wanted an encounter, and hoped they would attack first, was to engage them when it was in a disengaged state upon encounter...No, I know I didn't waste my time, and it may have been enough to stay in the top 3 rankings, assuming we get more than three of us playing.

[Goochman]

If there is enough interest I can add this as a bonus contest and we can run it through the rest of the year - top 2 finishes gain bonus points in the 8bit HSC.

[AtariDude]

I am not planning to be part of this contest but I do like the screenshots and the stories. I forgot how much I use to hate that feature of the classic RPGs where players were always starving due to lack of food. I am glad that modern RPGs have got rid of that aspect and lets me focus on character building.

 

By the way, great idea for a contest

[axewater]

Damn I was playing a reasonable character (still lvl 1 but great stats).... then I was bothered by some visual bugs I was having .. thought I'd change some emulator settings ... and the whole thing reset on me

 

on a sidenote .. i heard from philip price that the longer you sit at the gate, the lower the average scores are for the stats... so better jump through fast !

[axewater]

Ok ... here's the short but active live of 'bonanza'

 

started out with pretty good stats ... i was aiming at 20 skill coz indeed that seems to help a LOT to avoid getting hit ...... (pic 1)

checked at the smithys for a cheap weapon ... could not even afford a dagger or stiletto yet

walked over to the palace as I remembered there being another smithy close to it, got the mugger's welcome on my way there but he was no challenge... no loot though .

I did find the smithy eventually but it only sells expensive stuff (like full knights armor)

on my way back onto main street, I got attacked by a knight (i guess there's a lot of them walking around by the palace), he surprised me and had a go at me with his sword, hitting me for 5 points of damage before I could run !!

I thought it would be wise to find a cheap in to stay the night. I had a vague memory of a cheap inn up north by the arena, so I headed there.

 

It started raining as I just turned of main street (pic 2)

I got to the inn and slept 12 hours in the cheapest shithole room they had to offer (I think it was 3 or 5 coppers ... damn cheap), getting all my hitpoints back (pic 3)

when I got outside it was in the middle of the night... things were looking grim for bonanza....

 

I figured it was best to get my ass over to the main plaza asap, but by the time I got there I had run out of water !! (pic 4)

the tavern at the city square did not have any water flasks so I figured my best chance was to wait outside for a simple encounter or 2.

I slaughtered a simple dude (a commoner I think, I can't remember ... anyway no loot and barely any XP)

Suddenly everything went downhill VERY fast.... I got a visit from a green dragon (!?!?!) who coughed and I dropped dead

(pic 5)

Ah well ... better luck next time (didnt even achieve lvl 1 this time)

[Xebec's Demise]

 

Level 4! I knew with a little luck I could offer some competition for Gunstar! So today during lunch, I stepped into my Alternate Reality and had a very yummy Food Packet and Water Flask meal, but I was constantly interrupted by Dragons, Knights and Thieves! Why does everyone try to bother you when you're eating?

 

My main focus was to supply myself with Food Packets and Water Flasks.

 

Another thing I have tried that is dramatically different from they way I used to play Alternate Reality in the past, is playing a Good Alignment. I always used to kill everything in sight...or at least everything I thought I could destroy; Commoners, Merchants and even poor Paupers were victims of my murders. Of course, as an evil character, everyone in town tries to kill you, especially the Guards and Knights. But as a Good guy, I noticed that even the Warriors and Thief types will not always Attack me when they Surprise me and even Dragons leave me alone. And sometimes when I ignore these neutral types, they go away! (but I only try this on the weaker ones, like Fighters and Muggers) When they Engage me though, they usually Attack. But I have much more control over when and what I want to fight, by choosing to Engage or not and waiting for them to Attack first to remain Good. Plus, half the population of the City, the good half, wont even do anything to me when I Give Up! They just say hi and continue on their way.

 

Today I purposefully Engaged a Fighter and was able to kill him. These must be the lowest level Warrior, because it was not very difficult. He was carrying a Longsword and Chainmail! This is the kind of gear that can mean the difference between death and a long prosperous life!

Edited May 17, 2005 by Xebec's Demise