Newbie Guide

From Library of Aethora

Note from Lead Developer: This guide was written by players of Pioneers of Aethora, not by the developers. Feel free to add suggestions or adjustments to it as you see fit, but please do not delete anyone else's work.

[edit] New Player Guide

New Players: If you're not sure how to start, check this out. (DeveloperX wrote the original version, I (commandersaavik) just posted it here and tweaked it.)

• Create an account
• Create a party of eight characters - I recommend marking your Primary versus Secondary characters, but you can always change the name of any character later
• Move four characters to the active party list
• Go to the travel screen
• Talk with the guard - This is your first mission, and completing it lets you leave the city
• Head east to the training arena
• (NOTE: at the time of the writing of this guide, all your PCs started in one corner of the arena. This is no longer the case. -- Ranger Sheck )Once in battle, start by ending your turns immediately until your opponent comes to YOU. You should NOT move at all when you begin. Once the enemy is close, start moving your characters to form a CROSS pattern surrounding the enemy from the north, south, east, and west sides. This prevents the enemy from moving. Now, use the HOLD command to grapple your cornered enemy and then pummel him with the rest of your characters using SLUG until the enemy is “dead as dead”; continue this strategy to defeat the remaining enemies. You should not take TOO much damage doing this, but if anyone gets really close to dying, then simply move far away for a few rounds to build your defense back up.
  • I recommend moving all your characters together first, before you wait for the enemy to approach. Because you can flee a battle (useful if your character is down to 25% or less health), I would cluster your characters along the edges of a corner. My preferred corner is the northeast corner. I leave the corner space itself open, and put two characters along the north edge and the other two on the east edge.
• After the battle is won, drag all the items from the left side of the screen into the right hand box to LOOT the enemies. If you do not do this, you will not receive any items from the battle.
• Check your party from the party management screen. If you have any hurt characters, drag them to the inactive characters box, and drag the healed characters to the active side. Return to the travel screen.
  • You may want to equip your characters with your newly acquired items. The first thing you should worry about is armor. If you want to equip weapons, go ahead. Keep in mind that the more you use a weapon type (including bare fists), the higher the associated skills will get. Your fists will do more damage than equipped weapons for your second battle, but don't be discouraged from using weapons. Those skills will improve if you keep using them.
• Rinse and repeat for a while until your skills are higher, then head to the arena (west from the square) and do the same thing for a few battles.
  • You get slightly better equipment from the arena (as opposed to the training arena), so be prepared to trash some of your early equipment rather quickly (otherwise your inventories will fill up and you won't be able to acquire any other items).

One thing I found useful was keeping track of my characters' skills and equipment with pencil and paper. This isn't necessary if your only goal is to have fun, but if you're trying to keep track of which missions you can do and how far you have to go before you get there, it can be helpful. Also, trying to manage all your equipment only through the game interface can get cumbersome if you have a slow computer (or internet connection) and a terrible memory (like me!). It also helps when comparing potential loot with the equipment your inactive characters have.

Bron's Spare Change:
I suggest you find a weapon set you like immediately. Find a few combos, and train in the eastern Hopitan arena (Hopitan Training Arena) until you get the skills for your main weapons get around 15-20. After this you should be ready to move on. When you change weapon types, or find something you enjoy using more than your current sets, train on the gladiators for a low-risk fight. Try to avoid using ineffective combos such as Rusty Dagger/Rough Club that only give basic attacks for those skills. Generaly speaking, skills under the same branch (such as blades or elements) work well together, but don't be afraid to experiment a bit, there are over 200 different combinations of skills, and many weapons use multiple skills. Have fun in Aethora!

Official Help/Manual Pages: Help Me!