Post by Joe East on Feb 27, 2006 14:22:37 GMT
Starter’s Guide
Getting started with BOW
The first thing you should do after joining us, is simply getting to our area in the eastern parts of Earletown. Secondly, introduce yourself and post your profile here (the URL for the page you get to when you click your name in game). What to do next mostly depends on how experienced you are with Urban Dead. If you’ve played for a while and have most of the survivor skills, check out the “Duties” thread, sign up for what you’d want to do the most and get a grip of what we do. This should be covered mostly by the threads “Our Area of Control”, “Barricade Plan” and “Scouting Reports”. Now you should be quite ready to bolster the defense of Earletown.
Learn the game
Otherwise, if you’ve just started the game, the next thing you should focus on is learning the game. The Urban Dead Wikipedia pages ( wiki.urbandead.com/index.php/Main_Page ) is a good source of general information and in addition there are a few guides there too. Check out the links at the bottom of this post. Feel free to ask about anything you wonder about here in this thread, and your more experienced team mates will try to give you an answer. Also, I’ll put up some general guidelines here:
Rule number one: Never sleep outside. Even though this is quite logical, as we’re in a zombie-infested town, it’s not always easily achieved if you’re not familiar with the game. Firstly, survivors can’t enter buildings that are barricaded more than Very Strongly if they don’t have the Free running skill. BOW have an own barricading plan for Earletown ( wiki.urbandead.com/index.php/BOW_Suicide_Prevention_Protocol ). Study the eastern parts of the map and find a yellow-framed building to hide in. We have an “Area of Control” which consists of most of the buildings in eastern Earletown, so these parts are relatively safe to rest in.
To begin with, hiding in a hospital may be a good idea because all members are strongly adviced to carry at least one First-Aid Kit (FAK) at all times in case they get infected (you lose 1 HP per action untill treated with a FAK, caused by a bite of a zombie with the skill Infectious Bite). In addition to the St. Adrian’s Hospital, there are two hospitals just over the border to Rhodenbank to the east. Search the building untill you find a FAK. If you’re injured, speak to the other people, and you should get healed within a few hours. It’s generally better to ask other people to heal you, as survivors gain XP by healing others, but don’t by healing themselves. In addition you save both APs and FAKs yourself.
Spending your APs
AP stands for action point, and this is one of the most important things to keep track on in Urban Dead. Most things you do cost 1 AP, like moving (unless you’re a zombie without the Lurching Gait skill), talking, attacking, healing and searching for equipment. Some cost more, like standing up when you have died or been revived or producing a Revivfication Syringe in a NecroTech building. If you reach 0 or less APs, you will fall asleep and wont be able to do anything. You gain 1 AP per half hour up to a maximum of 50. That means that if you’ve got 0 AP, you’ll reach maximum in a bit over 24 hours.
APs are the most valuable resource in the game. It doesn’t matter how many skills or how much ammo you have if you’re not able to use them. Therefore, spending them efficiently is crucial for success. Here are some hints:
Unless you’re scouting, move as little as practically possible. Use the map so that you don’t have to spend unecessary APs looking for your destination. If you’re searching for ammo or the like, it’s better to find plenty than just enough, so that you don’t have to return the day after to search for more. Usually, you shouldn’t use the “Leave bulding” button if you’re going to move afterwards; just click on the neighbouring block you want to move to while you’re inside.
This is not a game designed to be play often. If you play more than 2 or 3 times per day with one character, you’ll probably waste APs by for instance exiting and entering buildings, return to a safe-house and so on. However, to be efficient, you should play at least once per day because you don’t gain APs if you’re already at maximum.
Gaining XP
When you’ve got a place to sleep, a First-Aid Kit and some clue about how to play the game, you’re ready to start gaining experience. This will be your main task for a while, as you’re of the most help when you have many skills. There are mainly 3 ways to gain XP quickly: hunt for zombies (XP equals damage dealt plus a 10 XP each time you kill a zombie), heal survivors (5 XP per heal) and DNA-scan zombies (4 XP per scan). I suggest choosing method after what skills you already have and what class you are.
If you’re of the military class, usually the best way to gain XP quickly is zombie hunting, because military skills are the cheapest ones for military characters. Go to a police station (the closest one is just across the border to Rhodenbank, 2 blocks northeast of the Wortley Building), find some guns and ammo, or go to a fire station and find yourself a fire axe. Either keep a close eye on our "Scouting Reports" thread or hunt by yourself (please post in the same thread if you find anything).
If you're a scientist, the science skills are the cheapest ones. Healing other survivors is often the quickest way of leveling for scientists. Rest in a hospital, search for a couple of FAKs and heal people who say they’re wounded (don’t just heal on random; it consumes APs). Choose the Diagnosis skill as your first choice skill; it allows you to see for yourself if someone is wounded and you can start looking for wounded instead of waiting for them. Alternatively, if you have the skill NecroTech Employment, you can search a NecroTech building for a DNA extractor and start looking for zombies to scan. This isn’t that effective, but you get to move around a bit and serve as a scout while you gain XP.
If you’re a civilian, it mostly depends on what kind of civilian you are; the cop and firefighter make better hunters than the consumer at the starting stage, but all three equals in healing (and neither can operate a DNA-extractor).
What skills to get
So, when you’ve got yourself a steady flow of XP, you’ll soon be able to start buying skills. The first couple of skills to buy, are those who’ll help you gain XP faster. If you’re a healer, Diagnosis is obligatory. You don’t have to stress with First Aid and Surgery yet, as these actually lower your XP income; you always gain 5 HP per heal, even if you should heal someone for 15 HP. Instead buy Free Running; it will help you move from building to building faster if you’re looking for someone to heal.
Zombie hunters should focus on the combat skills. When it comes to combat, you can choose between fire-arms and the fire axe (knife combat is not really an option as it's too ineffective). I recommend focusing on fire-arms, as it’s more effective despite the need for searching for ammo. When you’ve maxed out those, go for Free Running and when you reach level 10, Head Shot.
Reaching higher levels
When you’ve gained skills enough to do your main duties optimally, get the Barricading skill. Having the barricades of our area according to our barricading plan is crucial. Even though you’re not assigned to a specific area, you should always barricade a building if needed. The members who are assigned to specific areas can’t cover them 24/7, so everyone have to do their part.
What to do if dead
Dying in Urban Dead does not mean the end for your character. You turn into a zombie, but you can be revived, that is turned back into a human, without suffering any too bad effects. If you are dead, simply let us know in the "Revive List" thread and go to Ames Plaza. You'll be revived the next time one of our revivers log on. Then, go to a hospital (St. Helier's is 1 block southeast of Ames Plaza) and ask for healing (when revived you stand up with half health).
Having multiple characters
Playing Urban Dead is limited in the way that you can’t hit the server more than 160 times per 24 hours. You hit the server every time you do something that will refresh the screen, in other words just about anything. This makes it possible to play 3 characters efficiently, but that’s it.
If you have several characters, it’s regarded cheating if you make them co-operate or interact with each other in other ways. Therefore, you shouldn’t even have them in neighbouring suburbs.
Useful links
Our Wiki page: wiki.urbandead.com/index.php/BOW
Map of Earletown: map.aypok.co.uk/index.php?suburb=8
BOW Suicide Prevention Protocol: wiki.urbandead.com/index.php/BOW_Suicide_Prevention_Protocol
Skills: wiki.urbandead.com/index.php/Category:Skills
Items: wiki.urbandead.com/index.php/Category:Items
Building types: wiki.urbandead.com/index.php/Building_Types
Getting started with BOW
The first thing you should do after joining us, is simply getting to our area in the eastern parts of Earletown. Secondly, introduce yourself and post your profile here (the URL for the page you get to when you click your name in game). What to do next mostly depends on how experienced you are with Urban Dead. If you’ve played for a while and have most of the survivor skills, check out the “Duties” thread, sign up for what you’d want to do the most and get a grip of what we do. This should be covered mostly by the threads “Our Area of Control”, “Barricade Plan” and “Scouting Reports”. Now you should be quite ready to bolster the defense of Earletown.
Learn the game
Otherwise, if you’ve just started the game, the next thing you should focus on is learning the game. The Urban Dead Wikipedia pages ( wiki.urbandead.com/index.php/Main_Page ) is a good source of general information and in addition there are a few guides there too. Check out the links at the bottom of this post. Feel free to ask about anything you wonder about here in this thread, and your more experienced team mates will try to give you an answer. Also, I’ll put up some general guidelines here:
Rule number one: Never sleep outside. Even though this is quite logical, as we’re in a zombie-infested town, it’s not always easily achieved if you’re not familiar with the game. Firstly, survivors can’t enter buildings that are barricaded more than Very Strongly if they don’t have the Free running skill. BOW have an own barricading plan for Earletown ( wiki.urbandead.com/index.php/BOW_Suicide_Prevention_Protocol ). Study the eastern parts of the map and find a yellow-framed building to hide in. We have an “Area of Control” which consists of most of the buildings in eastern Earletown, so these parts are relatively safe to rest in.
To begin with, hiding in a hospital may be a good idea because all members are strongly adviced to carry at least one First-Aid Kit (FAK) at all times in case they get infected (you lose 1 HP per action untill treated with a FAK, caused by a bite of a zombie with the skill Infectious Bite). In addition to the St. Adrian’s Hospital, there are two hospitals just over the border to Rhodenbank to the east. Search the building untill you find a FAK. If you’re injured, speak to the other people, and you should get healed within a few hours. It’s generally better to ask other people to heal you, as survivors gain XP by healing others, but don’t by healing themselves. In addition you save both APs and FAKs yourself.
Spending your APs
AP stands for action point, and this is one of the most important things to keep track on in Urban Dead. Most things you do cost 1 AP, like moving (unless you’re a zombie without the Lurching Gait skill), talking, attacking, healing and searching for equipment. Some cost more, like standing up when you have died or been revived or producing a Revivfication Syringe in a NecroTech building. If you reach 0 or less APs, you will fall asleep and wont be able to do anything. You gain 1 AP per half hour up to a maximum of 50. That means that if you’ve got 0 AP, you’ll reach maximum in a bit over 24 hours.
APs are the most valuable resource in the game. It doesn’t matter how many skills or how much ammo you have if you’re not able to use them. Therefore, spending them efficiently is crucial for success. Here are some hints:
Unless you’re scouting, move as little as practically possible. Use the map so that you don’t have to spend unecessary APs looking for your destination. If you’re searching for ammo or the like, it’s better to find plenty than just enough, so that you don’t have to return the day after to search for more. Usually, you shouldn’t use the “Leave bulding” button if you’re going to move afterwards; just click on the neighbouring block you want to move to while you’re inside.
This is not a game designed to be play often. If you play more than 2 or 3 times per day with one character, you’ll probably waste APs by for instance exiting and entering buildings, return to a safe-house and so on. However, to be efficient, you should play at least once per day because you don’t gain APs if you’re already at maximum.
Gaining XP
When you’ve got a place to sleep, a First-Aid Kit and some clue about how to play the game, you’re ready to start gaining experience. This will be your main task for a while, as you’re of the most help when you have many skills. There are mainly 3 ways to gain XP quickly: hunt for zombies (XP equals damage dealt plus a 10 XP each time you kill a zombie), heal survivors (5 XP per heal) and DNA-scan zombies (4 XP per scan). I suggest choosing method after what skills you already have and what class you are.
If you’re of the military class, usually the best way to gain XP quickly is zombie hunting, because military skills are the cheapest ones for military characters. Go to a police station (the closest one is just across the border to Rhodenbank, 2 blocks northeast of the Wortley Building), find some guns and ammo, or go to a fire station and find yourself a fire axe. Either keep a close eye on our "Scouting Reports" thread or hunt by yourself (please post in the same thread if you find anything).
If you're a scientist, the science skills are the cheapest ones. Healing other survivors is often the quickest way of leveling for scientists. Rest in a hospital, search for a couple of FAKs and heal people who say they’re wounded (don’t just heal on random; it consumes APs). Choose the Diagnosis skill as your first choice skill; it allows you to see for yourself if someone is wounded and you can start looking for wounded instead of waiting for them. Alternatively, if you have the skill NecroTech Employment, you can search a NecroTech building for a DNA extractor and start looking for zombies to scan. This isn’t that effective, but you get to move around a bit and serve as a scout while you gain XP.
If you’re a civilian, it mostly depends on what kind of civilian you are; the cop and firefighter make better hunters than the consumer at the starting stage, but all three equals in healing (and neither can operate a DNA-extractor).
What skills to get
So, when you’ve got yourself a steady flow of XP, you’ll soon be able to start buying skills. The first couple of skills to buy, are those who’ll help you gain XP faster. If you’re a healer, Diagnosis is obligatory. You don’t have to stress with First Aid and Surgery yet, as these actually lower your XP income; you always gain 5 HP per heal, even if you should heal someone for 15 HP. Instead buy Free Running; it will help you move from building to building faster if you’re looking for someone to heal.
Zombie hunters should focus on the combat skills. When it comes to combat, you can choose between fire-arms and the fire axe (knife combat is not really an option as it's too ineffective). I recommend focusing on fire-arms, as it’s more effective despite the need for searching for ammo. When you’ve maxed out those, go for Free Running and when you reach level 10, Head Shot.
Reaching higher levels
When you’ve gained skills enough to do your main duties optimally, get the Barricading skill. Having the barricades of our area according to our barricading plan is crucial. Even though you’re not assigned to a specific area, you should always barricade a building if needed. The members who are assigned to specific areas can’t cover them 24/7, so everyone have to do their part.
What to do if dead
Dying in Urban Dead does not mean the end for your character. You turn into a zombie, but you can be revived, that is turned back into a human, without suffering any too bad effects. If you are dead, simply let us know in the "Revive List" thread and go to Ames Plaza. You'll be revived the next time one of our revivers log on. Then, go to a hospital (St. Helier's is 1 block southeast of Ames Plaza) and ask for healing (when revived you stand up with half health).
Having multiple characters
Playing Urban Dead is limited in the way that you can’t hit the server more than 160 times per 24 hours. You hit the server every time you do something that will refresh the screen, in other words just about anything. This makes it possible to play 3 characters efficiently, but that’s it.
If you have several characters, it’s regarded cheating if you make them co-operate or interact with each other in other ways. Therefore, you shouldn’t even have them in neighbouring suburbs.
Useful links
Our Wiki page: wiki.urbandead.com/index.php/BOW
Map of Earletown: map.aypok.co.uk/index.php?suburb=8
BOW Suicide Prevention Protocol: wiki.urbandead.com/index.php/BOW_Suicide_Prevention_Protocol
Skills: wiki.urbandead.com/index.php/Category:Skills
Items: wiki.urbandead.com/index.php/Category:Items
Building types: wiki.urbandead.com/index.php/Building_Types