Survival Training

The words "not updating persona" flash before your eyes, and you slump into your seat. Outmatched again, you find yourself back to novice. Sitting in the tearoom, people tell you loudly that PKing (Player-Killing) is part of the game, and you just have to get used to it, and deal with it. Mumbling something that would get you fodded, had you typed it, you head back out to the spring.

Everyone has been there, we've all met the wrong end of the longsword and come to an untimely end, but what can you do about it? It might be part of the game, but how do you deal with it as part of your gaming experience? Well, let's find out!

First things first, to understand and learn the art of surviving, you have to acknowledge that it is very probable that you will die and it's a definite possibility that you will lose points. It's hard to get past the "getting-upset-about-dying-and-losing-points" stage, but once you do, you are on the way to tackling PK's.

Think back to the last time you got PKed and analyse the situation. Why did you lose? What did your opponent have that you didn't? What did they do that you didn't? Did you die on a re-attack? Do you think you could have avoided it? Once you try to answer these questions, you will begin to understand why you lost the fight and yes, it's easy afterwards to think of the ifs, buts and maybes when during the fight you are a bundle of nerves. It's natural to be nervous or get an adrenaline rush during a fight, and both can lead to an inability to play at your best.

Once you have an idea of why you have lost fights, you need to get practice in. I'm not suggesting that you immediately decide to start PKing, running out with your brand new sorcerer and attacking the first magic-user to move past you. Try to view this as a part of the game that can be mastered; it is a main part of the game if you choose to play non-pp, and it is imperative if you want to get far that you must understand what is going on, and how to survive.

Lets look at 3 types of people most likely to attack you:

Three types of PK's

Opportunist

Perhaps the most annoying, they will attack without provocation and will attack with no kit, and even if they are quite a bit lower than you. They are usually quite low levels with nothing to lose if they die, think warriors and heroes. They will hang in until the end, often forcing you to flee. Another annoying thing about them is they will often stand at rapids spamming "K ", and they, therefore, hold you in a most inconvenient spot, a place that is easy to find for anyone else who "wheres" you with intent to attack, and for anyone who happens by. The opportunist will also appear during other fights (whether it be a mobile or versus another player) and attack. They prefer to attack while you are low on stamina and will often bundle.

Point Scorer

I was unsure of how to class this player. They are the high lives. They play what I would call the "big league". They are the ones wanting to make wizard (Achievers, perhaps?). They don't tend to play purely to PK, they will try to get very high scoring resets by doing everything possible, and however, rather unfortunately, your demise also counts as everything possible. They can be opportunistic, but normally, they will call upon you on their terms. They will have kit, and they are unlikely to attack anyone who stands a chance of beating them. However much they claim to enjoy a challenge, they enjoy an easy kill and points even more. These players are most likely to leave you alone during the start of a reset while they get kit and do much-needed things. They are trying to do lots of things during the reset, so you don't have the worry of being constantly hunted (although it may feel like you are!). These are generally good players (with huge egos!), they will often re-attack, and you can learn lots from fighting them.

Murderer

Classed only as a murderer, these are players who play solely for blood. Few and far between now, the most current common ones only carry one item of kit, the two handed sword. These players want the glory and they want to enjoy the hunt. They often don't care if they score low, and although they may not seem like very good players because they are not involved in the initial kit rush at times, they are good players and can be hard to beat in fights, because they really know what they are doing. They will attack at any time during a reset, and while if you are playing against a point scorer and you know they are doing the keep, you know you have maybe some breathing space, against a murderer you have no breathing space, and often they are breathing down your neck all the time. You can learn a lot from these players too, the best are incredibly resourceful; unfortunately, their egos are often similar to the size of point scorers. They are also similar to point scorers in the way that they will only attack if they know they will win; this goes for most PK's (except those opportunists who really only exist to annoy people).

Your Resources!

Now that you have an idea of who and what you are up against, you have to examine your own reset. Do you have a set reset that you play out? Can you deviate easily from your normal plan? If you have magic, where do you site? If you don't, where do you sleep? What kit do you normally carry?

Lets look at your playing style:

Planned reset or random?

This is a debatable point, but the best players play by a set reset (however, you must be able to play without a plan, otherwise you can find yourself getting very easily screwed up). You have to know what you are doing at the start of a reset or you waste valuable time. Most players spend the first 5 minutes rushing about doing things, and they are all doing different things, so what are they doing? Some are setting up the reset ahead and some are just clearing off the surface treasure. Whatever you decide to do, you will need some kit.

Kit

Weapon(s)

Everyone has a favourite weapon, and however you play, it is a good idea to try to always carry some sort of weapon, apart from being highly useful in fighting, you can use them to break down doors etc. But which weapon do you want? Most weapons have a set starting point, and of course, depending on where you spawn, you might be near a good weapon, or you might not. No matter where you spawn, getting a weapon has to be near the top of your priority list. Some weapons have double uses, and some are better for some things than others, so you may find yourself carrying more than one. Get to know your weapons as well, learn how tough they are, because you don't want it to break halfway through a fight! If completely stuck, grab a pebble off the beach or use a stick!

Container(s)

It's extremely aggravating when you come across a lot of things you want to pick up and you can't, so getting a con. or two early on is a good idea. Again, these start at set places throughout the land. Worried about getting your con. stolen? Try examining the statistics of it, and work out which are less likely to get stolen. Get to know your container as well; can you eat directly out of it? Does it have more than one use? Is it possible that it could get destroyed and spoil kit? There are so many different containers in the land, and remember boats count as containers, as do a few strange things ;) There are also tricks you can learn/work out with containers, but although some are fun, they don't always work so well in practice!

Key(s)

"Where does this come into survival?" I hear you cry, well, it does in a way. If you are on the run and happen to get stuck behind a locked door, then it's a hell of a lot easier if you happen to have a key to open it with! Despite the fact its fairly obvious, a lot of players will try to break the door down, wasting time, and letting the person find them again. Of course, really, you will be trying not to get stuck behind a locked door, but having the right key on you can be a lifesaver. Like most of this, learning to survive is learning basic game points; if you know what key opens what, then it could save your life.

Wafer(s)

Scattered about the land, these small food items restore lost stamina. Some wafers can only be used by certain levels (50 series), and most of the "good" wafers are lifted within the first few minutes, wafers don't always have the same location, they have a random element (based around a few set locations) to try and mess up macro-users. If you know the general location of a wafer, and you go for that and only that, then you might be lucky and get one or two! Wafers don't all restore the same amount of stamina, so you might want to take notes on how much they each give. Chances are if someone picks a fight with you, they have wafers.

Other Kit!

Of course, the above is only very basic kit. The land is full of lots of kit, which if you are resourceful, can prove to be highly useful. There are also a few more basic pieces of equipment, such as an item to prevent summoning, and other items, which prevent other magic use. Or items, which help diagnose an opponent, or do other things to an opponent. Most of these things are considered MUD secrets, and can't be written out, but usually the person attacking you will be carrying them, so take a look at them and take note of their kit!

Now, before we get onto the actual fighting, survival/death bit. We need to look at sites and magic use, as a magic user you are a better target than a non-magic user (mainly because you are worth more!) and using magic to your advantage will further your chances of survival.

Sites

The site spell means that wherever you type SITE, you can return to if you type RS or RESITE. The best idea is to make your site somewhere you feel safe, and somewhere where you are not likely to get easily found. But where are these places? Most people tend to have a favourite place for siting in; you need to know your way around your site area to make it most useful to you. But where should you site? And where shouldn't you site?

Your site should be hard or difficult to find, for most new players a Dense Forest is a favourite place to site, because there are quite a few in the land, and it can take players some time to locate you, and when they "where" you, it will often seem like too much work to try and find you (taking into account that you have summon protection, and they can't just lift you from where you stand!). The maze is another good place to site, but if you don't know it, it can work against you, because you can get lost trying to get out and trapped. The Scriptorium is yet another place to site, because every room is named the same, but again, you want to know your area. One thing to note about the Scriptorium & Maze is that OUT command does not work; a fairly adequate PK can use this to his or her advantage if your habit is to flee out!

Places not to site are fairly obvious, one of a kind rooms are generally a big no-no (unless it's a special one of a kind room that is awkward to get too ;) Places that at first seem safe, but are easily accessible by the people most likely to kill you are also not a good idea. The hut is a BAD place to site, and the rapids are worse, so try to avoid those!

Further notes on siting; think of when you get summoned, quite often you are being summoned to someone's site room! So look around, and try to work out where it is, and how they access it (the Sorc room isn't generally an example of this). A final note on siting is that when you re-site, you will more often than not fall asleep, when you are asleep your guard drops and your opponent can get a fairly decent hit on you, which could be the killing blow. So be careful when casting re-site, if you suspect a re-attack, consider your options before using it.

A good site leads to better chances of survival, because you can "F Jump.GA.RS" from a fight, you just need to know when to use it. If someone tracks you down to your site and attacks you there, remember the best idea is to "F O.QQ", unless you have decent kit, you are likely to die. If you are lacking in finding a site, find a one man room and sit there to re-gain stamina.

Magic

A first time magic user is generally very clueless to all these spells at their disposal, and often misses out good chances to help their cause for survival along by failing to use them. We've already examined site, so lets take a look at the rest.

BLIND - fairly obvious, if during a fight (against 1 person!) it's sometimes quicker to type BLIND FOE. If a non-magic user attacks you, blinding them immediately often means an easier win for you. Blinding someone reduces their DEX, which means they can't block as well, and you can get better hits in on them!

UNBLIND - again, obvious, also one of the easiest misspelled words (next to UNCRIPPLE). Be ready to type this while you are blinding your FOE, your spell may backfire meaning you are blinded. Also, most good magic using fighters will keep blinding you.

CRIPPLE - Sticks your foe to the one place, this really isn't useful if you are losing, and there is very little point in casting it, unless you have magic to spare, and want to waste their while they UNCRIPPLE. Cripple is a key part in re-attacking, if you aren't going to do that. Ignore it.

UNCRIPPLE - Highly important, in the heat of battle, you will always misspell it. Really, this should be on or near your flee string, if you want a better chance to escape re-attacks.

CHANCE - Running out of magic? Chance is just what it says, a chance to get more (or less) magic. If the RNG (Random Number Generator) isn't feeling very nice, failed chances can really mess up your fight. However, if it works, it can save your life, do you dare to take the risk of chance ;)?

REPAIR - Repairs your weapon.

DUMB/UNDUMB, DEAF/UNDEAF - These are more useful for annoying your opponent (and can mess up their chances of shouting for help, should they start to lose).

These are SORC level spells, really, once you are NECRO you should have a better idea of what you are doing, if it's your first time at a level, type SPELLS when you reach it, and try to practise them. NECRO brings a few more defensive and offensive spells, such as STR, DEX, RF, DRAIN etc which help fighting a bit more ;)

Now onto the fight!

Now like your family, you can't pick your killer. Well, you could run out and attack them, fair game, nothing to stop you, but the idea is survival, not points on a plate to someone ;) So, you will just have to wait for someone to attack you, usually this won't take long. If you've been summoned you will have lost all your kit, if you haven't, then make use of what you have!

At the start of the fight, the first thing you want to type is "use best wp", then you want to take a look at your foe. What do they have that you might want? Do they have wafers? Look to see what container the wafers are in, you can try and steal it. Stealing is one thing you don't want to overdo, it allows your foe a free hit, too many of them result in a very quick death!

If you have magic, you may want to start using it! Just watch that you don't run out. Typing QS for QUICKSCORE is a good way to keep track of your stamina and magic. The fight will probably go very quickly, and some decisions will have to be made quickly.

It is important that you assess the situation; do you think you are likely to win? If not, when do you want to flee. Yes, fleeing loses points, but not fleeing, or fleeing at the wrong time will cost you ALL your points. When considering fleeing, look at what weapon your foe is using; if the weapon isn't very good you can afford to flee lower sometimes, but if they have a good weapon, you want to get out earlier, because big hits can be unexpected, and often kill you quickly!!

A note on how to flee, there are 3 main types of fleeing, the first is the obvious, "F O.QQ", you flee, you quit the game (if flee is successful), the next is fleeing and staying in the game, where you may hope to salvage your set, this can be done in a number of ways, from F O on its own, to "F J.GA.RS" or "F J.GA.O"... et cetera. The final way of fleeing is one, which isn't widely practised, but if it were would be a lifesaver in many cases, especially for new players is called SUPER FLEEING, and can be accomplished by typing SF or SQQ. When using this type of flee, your opponent cannot re-attack, you are instantly removed from the game. Because of this, you also lose extra points, for example, if you SFed at Necromancer you would lose approx. 800 extra points, but what is 800 extra points compared to losing 4 or 5k against a re-attacking opponent? (Point of interest, I've seen someone lose 17k to a re-attacking foe). Again, on the same theme, what is 800 points compared to death? Super fleeing may not always look attractive, but a lot of times it could save you valuable points and even your persona!

So what stamina to flee on? Generally, if they have a good weapon, between 20 and 30 is OK. If you are feeling brave, then try down to 10-20; the one thing you have to be aware of is possible re-attack, you want to uncripple if you can, and when you type your flee string, you want to enter a lot, until you see the OPTIONS prompt (if you are F O.QQ).

If you survive, then well done, and hopefully you've learned something. Another good hint is to log your fights, and then you can look back at what your opponent did, what kit they had and what they were wearing. Analyse everything, and work on trying to beat them, mimic those who attack you, and get good at fleeing ;)