Alternate Reality: The City Competition

[Dan0]

Thanks RP, Glad to hear you're enjoying it. Hopefully It does inspire to check it out and maybe even throw your hat into the competition!

 

Ahhh, fond memories of the Ultima series back in the day. Definitely a lot of fun. I haven't thought about checking it out again, but maybe it's getting close to time. Alternate Reality though still sits at the top for the old Atari games. As many people have said, there is just something about the game play that keeps drawing me back to it.

 

You can get the downloads for it from the beginning of this thread or the AR thread under Xebec's (original poster) sig. Fair warning though, try this game once... especially if it's your first time ever... and you just might be hooked!

[Dan0]

 

A quick skirmish adds some additional strength and gold.

 

 

Having a nice sum of gold I head to the tavern and load up on pemmican. It takes quite a while as you can see by weary state, but it was well worth it!

 

 

After a good day's sleep I head back out into the night and it's not long before another troll wants to test his mettle.

Level 9! And a whopping 26 new hit points!! WOW!!!

 

 

Morning dawns, and I find myself feeling stronger.

 

 

I head to the inn to rest and realize I have come a long way in several months.

 

 

After a quick inventory check it's time to down some potions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally a potion that has some benefit!

[Dan0]

 

Argghh! I guess I have to take the bad with the good.

 

 

 

After finishing all 20 potions with out much more to report I make it safely to the healer.

 

 

Back to the tavern to add what supplies I can.

 

 

While I can fight dragons and end up pretty much unscathed I have neither the strength or the weapon to do any damage.

After 20 missed swings I decide to quit while I'm ahead but the dragon got my gem and 2 gold pieces as I ran away!

 

 

Another troll, another bare handed beat down!

 

 

And some much needed gold!

 

 

 

After another successful night I am now back in a relatively good position with funds on hand to handle disease or poison.

[Dan0]

 

Another go with a troll and my strength keeps growing. I don't know how I ever had the patience to make it to a strength of 255 on another character, but it definitely is the safest way to gain experience once you have some armor and a shield!

 

 

Treasure!

 

 

What might we have here?

 

 

Nothing that's going to help me out at this point... that's for sure.

 

 

Much better than purple pants! =)

 

 

Daodan is starting to look like a respectable nobleman at this point!

 

 

My jewel nets me 16 gp at this point... not bad.

 

 

Not so lucky with the next one.

 

 

I feel I should have more at this point, but am thankful in every way possible for the good fortune I have had to make it this far!

 

 

Fair amount of pocket change on this chap.

 

 

Fully loaded with snacks and supplies!

 

 

My best bout with a troll yet?

 

 

After a pretty uneventful stretch of xp I decide to change my wardrobe. I would like to end up with some combination of green and silver fine dragon skin clothing.

 

 

Mo money, mo money, mo money!

 

 

All decked out in green and feeling dapper!

 

 

29 pots! Hmmmm... thirsty anyone?

 

 

Monty Python just came to mind... "Run away... Run away!!!"

 

 

 

 

Booya!

 

 

It took me 19 potions to find it, but I come out feeling good about what I quaffed.

 

 

I spoke too soon... the treasure finding potion lasted all of 3 encounters lol.

[Xebec's Demise]

It took me 19 potions to find it, but I come out feeling good about what I quaffed.

 

 

I spoke too soon... the treasure finding potion lasted all of 3 encounters lol.

 

What a jip on that potion!

 

 

Well, this also makes you the #1 champion! Congratulations on the top rank.

 

It looks like you're nearing the point where your chances of dying will start going down, but don't let your guard down, one mistake and it can still be over; disease, poison, exhaustion, thirst, and hunger can take out any character in a matter of days.

Edited November 15, 2012 by Xebec's Demise

[Chenzy]

Having played this game for 20 plus years, I tend to challenge my self.

 

 

Did not expect to last long but made it to Occum's.

 

 

Talked him down from 205 coppers to only 118, not bad with that Charisma.

 

Some times its better to be lucky than good, first Mugger dropped 5 silver but almost took me out.

 

Hit the tavern and stocked up, stayed the night at the Wariors Retreat, wandered down to the SE corner evading every thing but another Mugger.

 

Stopped at the Red Wizard, and Assasin Guilds, then it started to rain.

 

 

That little guy popped out after several other encounters.

 

The potion was Dangerous, but it almost gave me another level.

 

Several encounters after that another appeared.

 

 

Sampling the first potion I hit pay dirt.

 

 

I saved the second one and gained another level.

 

 

Even better I got more experiance from the other thing it dropped.

 

 

Unfortunatly I did not take a shot of the Knight that hit me for 12 hit points and stole every thing on my way to the bank.

 

I headed back to the SE corner looking at that big fat 0 on the screen.

 

 

Standing around with 0 hit points but the Treasure Finding active I was hopping for a Mugger.

 

 

Unfortunatly It was the the one to get a lucky shot.

 

 

That ended a rather great run for a really bad character. Maby I shold try a better roll and see where places me.

[Philip Price]

Beautiful stories I enjoyed all of the ones I read.

 

-Phil

[Xebec's Demise]

Are you the actual Philip Price, author of Alternate Reality The City? Or only someone with the same username?

[Philip Price]

Are you the actual Philip Price, author of Alternate Reality The City? Or only someone with the same username?

 

Yes. No.

[Xebec's Demise]

Fire up a character, see how you do!

 

[SilverAR]

Xebec's Demise - I know you wanted to lure Philip, but can I please join as well? I saw your thread and the idea seems interesting. Besides, I need to refresh my memory for the purpose of producing the AR remake. So... in short... I created a character.

 

 

I was quite pleased with the stats, yet unfortunately there was no Dagger nor Stiletto in any of the Smiths. After desperately whacking some Muggers with bare fists, I gave up and restarted. And guess what... either the City is more difficult than what I remember or I played lousy. The character didn't last long.

 

I did much better with the 3rd char:

 

 

As you can see, I'm still struggling, both short on HP and Coppers.

 

What can I say... the game is still great after all these years. I haven't played the original AR for a good couple of years. You have everything you would want to have: depth, mystery, challange. Capturing the AR atmosphere in a modern remake will be tough.

Edited August 12, 2013 by SilverAR

[WestofHouse]

Lords of Light! This looks fantastic. I've been searching for an original copy of this for my Atari, but the AR Wrapper looks like the next best thing. I'm going to have to give it a shot.

 

Thanks, Xebec's Demise, for pointing out this thread in the Phillip Price thread. I don't know how I missed it before.

 

By the way, I made a blank 64X64 grid for anyone who wants to do their own map. I think I counted those squares right, anyway. I tried to find a good scan of the semi-blank starter map that came with the original game but couldn't.

[Xebec's Demise]

Chenzy and SilverAR are in 10th and 7th place respectively.

 

WestofHouse, I added your blank map for people to use into the first post. Thanks!

[WestofHouse]

I played around a bit with the AR wrapper today. I had to tweak it a bit to run properly on my Win 8 machine, but it's working great now.

 

Would someone kindly refresh me on how to use the compass? I purchased one at the shop but can't figure out how to use it. It's been so long since I've played this game.

[Xebec's Demise]

I think you just use the Select key to select it. I've never really used it much.

[Jim Norris]

After about 10 tries, I finally got a character going. Here are some of the ones that didn't make it:

 

 

Killed by a master thief who didn't like BamBam's name.

 

 

Thumper managed to annoy the smith.

 

And died shortly thereafter.

 

 

Another lost cause. Rest in peace Smackies.

 

 

I knew this Surviver was in trouble coming out of the gate.

But he had enough to gumption to make it to Occums and purchase a dagger.

Amazing what oversized vermin will try to eat. Indigestion made the rat an easy target.

It wasn't long after meeting the giant rat that it was over.

 

 

 

Chicken Feed had enough to buy a stilleto from Best's. I thought for sure he would be the one...

But he wasn't.

 

 

Ooops died outside of the Thieves guild on his very first encounter. A knight showed up, and without giving poor Ooops a chance to do anything, ended it with one mighty swing of a greatsword.

 

 

Then I rolled I wanna live. The smithies didn't have affordable weapons on day one, so he just beat up muggers with his bare hands to make it through day one. Luckily anything harder that showed up, either immediately left (including one knight), or let him leave without incident. On day two he was able to purchase a fine dagger.

 

I wanna live even managed to find the mysterious Star Wizard's guild! The hit point roll for level 1 was a lot... like 17. Only 3 hit points from leveling to 2 though.

 

Another fine hit point roll for level 3! And luckily the small green dragon he encountered outside the Warrior's Retreat was not hungry.

 

And another good roll for level 4!!! Things were looking really good. Somewhere around this point he only had around 2 copper, but had already bought 2 rounds on the house at the Tavern... so food and water would not be a problem. He just needed sleeping money.

 

 

But he managed to find a gold piece and 4 silver on yet another mugger who must have just robbed someone on the Royal Walkway.

 

A few steps later he managed to charm a warrior out of a battle hammer and a magical war net. At this point I accidently saved the game.

 

Time to take that extra gold piece and put it in Grahams for a rainy day.

 

Yay, gold saved. This character now has a safety net for an unrainy day. Unfortunately the joystick was not set up in the emulator yet... and in the process of trying to get it to work so he could leave the bank, I accidently reset all the preferences which, I think, reenabled basic. The game was lost and this technically counts as a death. So this is as far as he got.

 

And this is also the reason why I wrote Resurex. The very first time I played this game at a friend's house, the character managed to get lucky and get chainmail and a weapon early on, but there was a power issue or disk i/o problem and the character was lost. I also lost other characters to thunderstorms, an evil sister who liked to turn off the power in my room, and disk write errors. I was pretty sure they were still on the save disk. So I wrote Resurex in an attempt to get them back. It was too late for that chainmail guy, but not too late for the others.

 

You know what's weird is, when this contest first came out, a random person I was talking to on the street told me about it and suggested I do it. It was very strange. I didn't do the contest because I didn't think anyone would believe I didn't cheat. I have a lot of characters whom have never died. I usually don't get this unlucky.

Edited August 14, 2013 by Jim Norris

[Xebec's Demise]

After about 10 tries, I finally got a character going. Here are some of the ones that didn't make it:

 

And another good roll for level 4!!! Things were looking really good. Somewhere around this point he only had around 2 copper, but had already bought 2 rounds on the house at the Tavern... so food and water would not be a problem. He just needed sleeping money.

 

And this is also the reason why I wrote Resurex. The very first time I played this game at a friend's house, the character managed to get lucky and get chainmail and a weapon early on, but there was a power issue or disk i/o problem and the character was lost. I also lost other characters to thunderstorms, an evil sister who liked to turn off the power in my room, and disk write errors. I was pretty sure they were still on the save disk. So I wrote Resurex in an attempt to get them back. It was too late for that chainmail guy, but not too late for the others.

 

You know what's weird is, when this contest first came out, a random person I was talking to on the street told me about it and suggested I do it. It was very strange. I didn't do the contest because I didn't think anyone would believe I didn't cheat. I have a lot of characters whom have never died. I usually don't get this unlucky.

 

That ranks you at #8 so far. It's interesting to see all the failed characters too. I don't think anyone else posted very many.

 

Buying two rounds for the house sounds like a good tip or strategy if you get free food and water for it. I never thought of it as a survival tactic. Do you only need to buy two rounds to get free food? How long do do you get free food after doing so? What was the cost?

 

Power outage? Disk I/O error? Those sound like alien problems. One of them must have tripped over the power cord or spilled coffee on the drive. At least that's the way I like to imagine such a death.

 

I'm impressed this competition is so popular that a random person on the street told you to play! So, you're so good at playing you thought we would all accuse you of cheating? I'll take that as a joke. LOL. Sure! Seriously, even if you did cheat, the only person it's going to affect is yourself. I'm glad you finally joined us!

 

I sense some competition though, I think I'll try a new character...

Edited August 15, 2013 by Xebec's Demise

[Jim Norris]

Buying two rounds for the house sounds like a good tip or strategy if you get free food and water for it. I never thought of it as a survival tactic. Do you only need to buy two rounds to get free food?

 

I thought it was only 2, but on this last character I just made, it took 3. On the first attempt it said, 'a few take you up on your offer' or something like that.

 

How long do do you get free food after doing so?

 

I think forever, but I'm not sure. It takes away all hunger and gives you a free food packet, which is very very nice.

 

(P.S. Just discovered it doesn't give you an extra food packet, it sets your food packets to 1. Found this out the hard way when I became hungry while inside The Tavern with around 10 food packets. So if you are friends with the house, wait until you really need to buy more food packets before talking to the waitress.)

 

What was the cost?

 

At The Tavern, it's only 64 coppers for a round on the house. So for only 128 coppers, you never have to worry about food again. And since water is free there already, water too. After you do this, all you have worry about is getting enough gold for a night in the inn, which for me is around 15 coppers.

 

Power outage? Disk I/O error? Those sound like alien problems. One of them must have tripped over the power cord or spilled coffee on the drive. At least that's the way I like to imagine such a death.

 

I'm impressed this competition is so popular that a random person on the street told you to play! So, you're so good at playing you thought we would all accuse you of cheating? I'll take that as a joke. LOL. Sure! Seriously, even if you did cheat, the only person it's going to affect is yourself. I'm glad you finally joined us!

 

I sense some competition though, I think I'll try a new character...

 

I tried a new character too, well 3 actually. This one is the third:

 

 

Not the best stats or hit points, but the 20 strength allowed me to get a copper off a mugger at the floating gate, and get some easy experience. Time to guild run. I chose to go to the Physician's guild early to get a few hit points.

 

 

Rain brings out two gremlins for easy xp and valuable potions!

 

 

Sipping the potions on the 2nd gremlin leveled me to level 2. The first was a heal all wounds which was very nice, Unfortunately, the second potion was delusion, and it only took one sip... At least I knew about how many hit points I had to work with.

 

 

Occums had a nice dagger for me at a reasonable price. Except for the delusion, things were looking good.

 

 

I visited a few more guilds, encountered more muggers and swordsmen for more xp, and leveled to 3 on 3 silver I found on a mugger. Although I felt bad for whomever the mugger just robbed.

 

 

I visited a few more guilds and found the elusive Star Wizard's guild on the second try of the maze :-). I'm pretty sure I needed those 5 hit points, although I was doing pretty good against the muggers and wasn't really getting hit. Unfortunately I ran out of gold and ended up famished in front of the Tavern when I ran into a thief. Desperate for cash, I gambled and actually tried to fight instead of run and found this:

 

 

I ran immediately over to Graham's Gold Exchange but they were already closed. The jewel leveled me to 4 I think but I forgot to screen save immediately, but here it is at the bank:

 

 

So I headed back to the Tavern and stood in front hoping some kind person would send a few coppers my way. I thought for sure this was it. I was getting encounters, but no one seemed to have any cash, when I encountered a swordsman who thought all beggars should die. He had this on him:

 

 

Helpful... but not what I needed. I managed to find enough coppers for a bowl of chili which bought me a little more time. And a bargain at only 8 coppers. (Thanks Phil for the tip you gave one of my friends during a customer service call all those years ago that chili was the best thing to eat if you couldn't find something that gave food packets.) I was still famished though.

 

 

A swordsman dropped a few more coppers which gave me enough for even more chili. This dropped me down to only being hungry. It was starting to get late though. If I didn't get to bed soon, I'd miss that all valuable overnight sleeping window between 9pm and 3am.

 

 

Saved! Assuming something doesn't rob me on the way to the inn. I gambled I wouldn't die of hunger during the night.

 

 

I slept well, and ran immediately to Graham's Gold exchange with the jewel safely tucked away where no one could see it. While waiting for Graham's to open, this happened:

 

 

Luckily, they didn't get my jewel and it was worth 30 gold!!!

 

 

I kept around 800 copper for me, and put the rest in the bank. My plan was to buy rounds on the house and go get cured of the delusion. I visited the healer the day before and found out it cost around 400 copper to remove delusions. Soon after I left the bank, a gladiator noticed my bulging coin purse and relieved me of it. ALL of it. So I went back to Graham's and this time only took around 200 copper. Went to the tavern and bought some rounds on the house. It normally only takes two, but it didn't work this time, so I went back to Graham's, got some more gold and finally assured I would never be hungry again.

 

 

Then it was time to cure the delusion. I probably carried more gold than I should have, but it didn't get stolen, and I think the healer cut me a deal. I had plenty left over to have the healer cure my wounds too.

 

 

I was a bit alarmed at the low number of hit points. It looked like this character would be sticking to the low level stuff.

 

A potion on a gremlin leveled me to 5.

 

 

I headed to the SE corner of the city to get the strength guild. I avoided the assassins guild because I fear going there will make everyone avoid me. I'm always very nervous when I head to the SE corner... and with good reason....

 

 

Two dragons??? Or maybe the same one twice... Anyways, I managed to get away with only 2hp worth of damage from tripping over a tail while running away.

 

Cold and shivering wet, I managed to sneak safely back to the normal side of town where a kind troll took pity on me and gave me the skin off his back.

 

 

Things were starting to look really good. During a fight with a thief, I poked him in the eye for two damage and leveled to 6. For some mysterious reason I only got two hit points during this leveling!!!

 

 

Then a wraith tried to scare the Acrinimiril out of me. I deftly backed away from his pummeling blows and with a sweet smile, charmed him into climbing into an empty potion bottle. Quaffing his essence rendered me impervious to all blades.

 

 

At this point I would say this character has made it. Even though he only has 49 hit points at level 6, with over 800g in the bank, a magic sword, studded leather armor, and invulnerability sharp; only a serious mistake would cost him his life.

 

He is a good character and if he sticks to daytime fighting for the most part and avoids trying to charm or lunge, the invulnerability sharp should protect him for the near future.

 

Here's what happened on the way to level 7:

 

 

Now he's fighting with a magic sword, a small shield, and studded leather armor. The renewed invulnerability sharp helps a lot and should help him survive the loss of the 3000 coppers it took to remove the cursed battle hammer. I think he has around 300 coppers left in the bank.

 

I've found that you can examine for curses and magic multiple times and only need to get lucky once. However, this strategy didn't work this time.

 

And the journey to level 8:

 

 

I never had a character with elfin chain before. I think it comes with built in invulnerability sharp. I can't tell yet because the invulnerability sharp from the potion is still going. I think this guy is pretty much set for life now as long as I don't try something stupid like staying up all night, quaffing a potion of deadly poison, or trying to fight a dragon.

 

I'm also getting a lot more treasure. Might have something to do with my wisdom reaching 18 but I'm not sure.

Edited August 17, 2013 by Jim Norris

[Jim Norris]

I made some more characters and leveled this one up to show that if you play a certain way, the odds of survival are much better.

 

First, go for 20 or 21 strength on the roll and pray for either decent stamina or decent dex, and enough copper to buy a dagger. Pray for good speed too.

 

Good wisdom I think helps with finding treasure but this is just a hunch. Wisdom helps with identifying potions and magical armor for sure, but isn't necessary.

 

Good charisma will let you attempt to charm warriors and wraiths when you have some extra hit points and no valuables to lose for faster leveling, but isn't necessary.

 

 

The only thing this character has going for it is strength and dexterity. (Speed too but I didn't know that yet.)

 

Hit points were a bit on the low side, so after checking to see if there were daggers available at the smithy, I went to the dexterity guild near the square, then the physicians guild for the extra 3 hit points.

A dagger at the smithy on the square pretty much means there will be one for sale at Occums. If the smithy on the square does not have a dagger, there is still a small chance that Occums will have one. I think Occums has one more item on the list that the square smithy, or one item of difference. Until I get the dagger I only fight muggers, gremlins, and goblins. If I have a lot of hit points I might fight orcs, skeletons, gnolls, and fighters. If I find a potion I use it right away mainly for the experience. My technique is sip until it says something definitive. If it says 'caution is advised' then I quaff. Otherwise I throw it away. After day one the encounters get harder. In particular it seems some muggers have armor and a lot more hitpoints. If I don't have a dagger and it says 'stopped by armor' fighting a mugger, I break off the fight.

 

 

After getting the dagger, I add swordsmen and cutthroats to the list. If I have a lot of hit points I might try to take on thieves and imps. If I have charisma, have hit points, gold in the bank, and it's early enough to go get more gold, I'll try to charm warriors and wraiths. If I have a LOT of hit points, and it's early, I'll try to take on gladiators. If I'm in a position where I have extra cash in the bank, or I don't want to chance losing my food because I'm not friended at the tavern yet, I'll fight rats.

 

This character was not getting very many encounters which worried me. A low encounter rate coupled with the poor stamina could mean he would starve to death or die of fatigue. It helped in getting the dagger though.

 

After this I headed to the stamina guild then over to the warrior's retreat and waited for evening to come. I leveled to 1 on the treasure from a rat. I did get bit so I knew I'd have to hit the healers in a day or so.

 

 

The next day I hit the speed guild and the star wizards guild. Got level 2 during this run. I forget what did it.

 

 

I leveled to 3 off a jewel while waiting outside of the tavern, but Grahams was already closed for the day. Unfortunately I got a little greedy and decided to wait outside until 7pm instead of waiting it out in the inn. One of the higher end fighting types relieved me of my jewel and my sleeping money.

 

 

This was the dangerous part of the game where I nearly died. I think managed to get to sleep that night at around 11pm, but next day I was out of money and very hungry. I leveled to four, but hunger and fatigue was beginning to take it's toll. I dropped all the way down to 5 hit points. (I think the game takes your hunger and thirst levels into account during fights. It DOES take your tiredness level into account. You fight best right after waking up, which is why it's VERY important to sleep each night at least during the midnight to 3am time period. I usually try to sleep from 8pm to 6am.)

 

 

Then I found a cure wounds potion which gave me a little more room. Then something finally dropped some cash and I was saved. (Got a gem from somewhere too but it ended up being worthless.)

 

Got to level 5 by finding two silvers on a mugger.

 

 

Then this happened... and it lasted 3 days! Which gave me enough cash to visit the healers to preemptively remove any problems those dirty rat teeth leave behind. And enough copper to remove the cursed dagger which I found during this spree. At the end of this run I was level 6 with 1600 coppers in the bank.

 

 

I have this theory that the banks roll the values of gems and jewels each day and there is a table where the value is based on how many you have on you... So maybe if you appraise and it is worthless, all you have to do is wait until the next day to get another opinion... Either that or it remembers the last appraisal and it sticks until you sell it.

 

I'm guessing this post will be moved or deleted since it's not an official contest entry.

Is there a thread for showing non contest characters somewhere?

Edited August 16, 2013 by Jim Norris

[Xebec's Demise]

I played around a bit with the AR wrapper today. I had to tweak it a bit to run properly on my Win 8 machine, but it's working great now.

 

Would someone kindly refresh me on how to use the compass? I purchased one at the shop but can't figure out how to use it. It's been so long since I've played this game.

 

What were the tweaks you used for Win 8? Others might be interested. I'm still running Win 7.

 

As for the compass, I tested that today. You simply buy it, and when you want to use it, cycle through your inventory by pressing F3 [select] if you are using the AR Wrapper.

[WestofHouse]

What were the tweaks you used for Win 8? Others might be interested. I'm still running Win 7.

 

At first I was getting repeated errors about missing files. Then I went into the exe file properties and selected "Run as Administrator" and set the Compatibility Mode to XP. Works like a charm now.

 

Thanks for the tip on the compass!

[Xebec's Demise]

I thought it was only 2, but on this last character I just made, it took 3. On the first attempt it said, 'a few take you up on your offer' or something like that.

 

I think forever, but I'm not sure. It takes away all hunger and gives you a free food packet, which is very very nice.

 

(P.S. Just discovered it doesn't give you an extra food packet, it sets your food packets to 1. Found this out the hard way when I became hungry while inside The Tavern with around 10 food packets. So if you are friends with the house, wait until you really need to buy more food packets before talking to the waitress.)

 

At The Tavern, it's only 64 coppers for a round on the house. So for only 128 coppers, you never have to worry about food again. And since water is free there already, water too. After you do this, all you have worry about is getting enough gold for a night in the inn, which for me is around 15 coppers.

 

Rain brings out two gremlins for easy xp and valuable potions!

 

Luckily, they didn't get my jewel and it was worth 30 gold!!!

 

I headed to the SE corner of the city to get the strength guild. I avoided the assassins guild because I fear going there will make everyone avoid me. I'm always very nervous when I head to the SE corner... and with good reason....

 

I've found that you can examine for curses and magic multiple times and only need to get lucky once. However, this strategy didn't work this time.

 

Congratulations Jim, you're in 5th place now.

 

If it takes a different amount of rounds for the house to get free food sometimes then maybe there is a random factor, or it's based upon a roll against your Charisma? On my new character I just started, I just tried buying one round and got the same message you show above, "You have won yourself some friends, Adventurer." Or is that the initial message and you get a different one once you're set? I only bought one round because I didn't have enough for more at the time.

 

So it sounds like buying rounds for the house might actually be a curse in a way, because once you receive free food packets you can't buy anything else from the tavern without losing all your food packets? But, I wonder if eating other foods has any effect on other game aspects, like encounters or overall health and stat gain. Or can you just eat food packets all the time and be perfectly healthy? I guess that is a question for Phil.

 

I always welcome rain, especially during the daytime. Daytime rain seems like the perfect lure for imps and gremlins.

 

I also got a gem worth 3 gold, and a jewel worth 36 gold. Then I got another gem and jewel and both were completely worthless at all three banks. I sold them for nothing. Maybe I should have kept them to see if later on they would be worth something, like on a different day or mixed with other gems and jewels. Next time I will try that instead of throwing them away for nothing.

 

I actually like to go to the Assassains Guild as one of my first stops, because I think it boosts your chance of surprising encounters, and reduces your chance of getting surprised. This can be very important since surprise encounters can result in death or escape, depending on who does the surprising. But, yes, the SE corner of town sure seems to be the bad part of town! I wonder if different areas of town result in different encounters or if we are both imagining the same thing? I always get the ugliest encoungers in the SE of The City.

 

What do you mean that you can examine for curses and magic multiple times and only need to get lucky once?

 

This last character I tried to record it all on video, but something doesn't work right with the video recording in Atari800Win. Sometimes it records ok, other times the video won't play. And one time when I went over 4GB the video seems to have begun recording over itself. I need help...

 

Edited August 16, 2013 by Xebec's Demise

[Jim Norris]

If it takes a different amount of rounds for the house to get free food sometimes then maybe there is a random factor it's based upon a roll against your Charisma? On my new character I just started, I just tried buying one round and got the same message you show above, "You have won yourself some friends, Adventurer." Or is that the initial message and you get a different one once you're set? I only bought one round because I didn't have enough for more at the time.

 

Could be charisma based. I haven't disassembled the tavern code yet. Maybe Phil remembers. Once you see the 'You have one yourself some friends, Adventurer' message, you are friended. Although one time I got friended without that message.

 

So it sounds like buying rounds for the house might actually be a curse in a way, because once you receive free food packets you can't buy anything else from the tavern without losing all your food packets?

 

Only if you are hungry at the time of purchase... So you have to go into the tavern, have a beginning of hour happen where it does the calculation, lose the roll and go up in hunger, and achieve the level of 'hungry', and then talk to the waitress.

 

I also found out you can get water flasks too, but I think it works off the waitress also. Talking to the barkeep doesn't seem to do it.

 

P. S. It appears there is a time limit on the free food or something. Got 3 free foods and one water flask out of the Tavern but it appears to have ended.

 

But, I wonder if eating other foods has any effect on other game aspects, like encounters or overall health and stat gain. Or can you just eat food packets all the time and be perfectly healthy? I guess that is a question for Phil.

 

Not in the Atari 8 bit version. It's completely random. Actually they randomize a number between 0 and 255 and add it to your fractional stat value. I forget but I think it actually uses the whole range from 0 to 255.

 

P.S. It's probably 128 to 255... so you get at least half a stat point each level.

 

I always welcome rain, especially during the daytime. Daytime rain seems like the perfect lure for imps and gremlins.

 

Those are so nice, unless you get poisoned from the imps tail of course.

 

I also got a gem worth 3 gold, and a jewel worth 36 gold. Then I got another gem and jewel and both were completely worthless at all three banks. I sold them for nothing. Maybe I should have kept them to see if later on they would be worth something, like on a different day or mixed with other gems and jewels. Next time I will try that instead of throwing them away for nothing.

 

Me too.

 

I actually like to go to the Assassains Guild as one of my first stops, because I think it boosts your chance of surprising encounters, and reduces your chance of getting surprised. This can be very important since surprise encounters can result in death or escape, depending on who does the surprising. But, yes, the SE corner of town sure seems to be the bad part of town! I wonder if different areas of town result in different encounters or if we are both imagining the same thing? I always get the ugliest encoungers in the SE of The City.

 

In the Atari 8 bit version there are only 3 encounter tables. One for day, one for night, and one for raining. First, on a timer, it rolls for your chance of having an encounter which is based on which hour it is... and each month has a separate table for this hour probability... which is affected by your characters natural chance of having encounters... a secret stat rolled at startup. This secret stat may also be 'noticeability' but I'm not sure. I'd have to look at the disassembly again.

 

Once the game determines you are having an encounter it determines which of the 3 tables to use and then rolls for your particular encounter.

I think the game does take your location into account in that each square you can stand on has a value of 0-3. This divides the game up into 4 encounter zones. I forget exactly how it uses this value. The main roads are pretty much one zone I think... Been awhile since I looked at it. I disassembled all this and wrote it up for someone making a remake of AR. Acrin1's remake I think, so he could use the actual encounter data and calculations.

 

What do you mean that you can examine for curses and magic multiple times and only need to get lucky once?

 

You can examine the armor multiple times for curse or magic. The chance to detect cursed or magic is based on your wisdom. The game doesn't remember what you figured out I think... so you can keep trying. If you see 'magic' it still might be cursed. If you see cursed then it's definitely cursed. I usually try like 20 times, but lately it hasn't been working out for me and those two characters I posted both got cursed items.

 

This last character I tried to record it all on video, but something doesn't work right with the video recording in Atari800Win. Sometimes it records ok, other times the video won't play. And one time when I went over 4GB the video seems to have begun recording over itself. I need help...

 

That would be one very long video.

Edited August 17, 2013 by Jim Norris

[WestofHouse]

My first venture into the city ended in a tragedy.

 

When I first entered the city I managed to make it to the smithy to pick up a dagger, and I stumbled upon a guild that raised my stamina a bit. After walking around for some time it was not yet late but the journey had exhausted me, so I sought an inn.

 

My uneasiness in the strange city made it difficult to sleep, so I left my bed around midnight and took a walk in the dark streets. I feared that the shadows held dangers uncountable, but I found comfort in the feel of my new dagger at my side.

 

I turned a corner and was assaulted by a gremlin. He lunged and snapped his jaws, but I was able to evade his deadly bit. I swung the dagger and landed a fatal blow. I considered myself very lucky. As the gremlin lay dying I noticed a potion he had dropped, and I picked it up and broke the seal. The solution was foreign to me so I carefully took a taste. The orange liquid tasted odd but harmless, so I downed in one more gulp.

 

Within seconds the streets were a blur. I stumbled blindly, spinning this way and that, barely able to stand.

 

 

I stumbled through the dark streets until I found another inn, where I paid for a night's stay. Unfortunately the sleep did me no good, and I still suffered from the effects of the vile potion I had consumed.

 

Before I knew what was happening I was being robbed. I was in no condition to fight back, and the villain left me with only a handful of coppers -- not nearly enough for another night's stay at an inn.

 

Without the safety of an inn I knew my only choice was to simply try to hide in the shadows until the inebriating poison had worked its way through my body. My head pounded and my limbs cried for rest.

 

A dark figure in armor appeared in front of me. I don't know he was looking for a fight or if he simply mistook my condition for unruliness, because he drew his sword without a word and lashed out at me. Unable to dodge I took the full force of his sword. I tried to reach for my dagger but I knew it would be no match for the knight's steel. I tried to plead for my life -- to explain that I was a stranger and helpless -- but no words came out. The sword raised again, and when it dropped -- blackness.

Edited August 17, 2013 by WestofHouse

[Jim Norris]

My first venture into the city ended in a tragedy.

 

A dark figure in armor appeared in front of me. I don't know he was looking for a fight or if he simply mistook my condition for unruliness, because he drew his sword without a word and lashed out at me. Unable to dodge I took the full force of his sword. I tried to reach for my dagger but I knew it would be no match for the knight's steel. I tried to plead for my life -- to explain that I was a stranger and helpless -- but no words came out. The sword raised again, and when it dropped -- blackness.

 

Nooooo! And a nice roll on the stats too... except for the stamina. Are you going to try again?