DUEL 2 NEWSLETTER
Date : 08/05/2016 Duedate: 08/18/2016
NOBLISH ISLAND ARENA
DM-93 TURN-458
This Weeks Top Honors
THE DUELMASTER IS
TOBINSPORT
RIVER RATS (1699)
(93-9914) [6-1-0,65]
Chartered Recognition Leader Unchartered Recognition Leader
POSITION IS EMPTY TOBINSPORT
RIVER RATS (1699)
(93-9914) [6-1-0,65]
Popularity Leader This Weeks Favorite
COMMERCIALS REPETITIVE
BB TALK RADIO (1700) BB TALK RADIO (1700)
(93-9920) [2-5-0,14] (93-9916) [5-2-1,61]
THE CURRENT TOP TEAM
RIVER RATS (1699)
TEAMS ON THE MOVE TOP CAREER HONORS
Team Name Point Gain Chartered Team
1. NUMBER (1705) 52
2. RIVER RATS (1699) 36 IRON DRAGON (495)
3. COYOTES (1701) 35 Unchartered Team
4. THE MANTICORES (1704) 7
5. THE GALLOWGLASS (1703) 3 RIVER RATS (1699)
The Top Teams
Career Win-Loss Record W L K % Win-Loss Record Last 3 Turns W L K
1/ 1*RIVER RATS (1699) 26 9 0 74.3 1/ 1*RIVER RATS (1699) 13 2 0
2/ 2*BB TALK RADIO (1700) 21 14 1 60.0 2/ 2*BB TALK RADIO (1700) 8 7 0
3/ 0*NUMBER (1705) 3 2 1 60.0 3/ 3*COYOTES (1701) 6 8 0
4/ 3*ROSS' RAIDERS (1689) 8 6 1 57.1 4/ 0*NUMBER (1705) 3 2 1
5/ 4*COYOTES (1701) 14 15 1 48.3 5/ 4*THE GALLOWGLASS (1703) 3 6 0
6/ 5*THE GALLOWGLASS (1703) 3 6 0 33.3 6/ 5*THE MANTICORES (1704) 2 4 1
7/ 6*THE MANTICORES (1704) 2 4 1 33.3 7/ 7*ROSS' RAIDERS (1689) 1 1 0
'*' Unchartered team '-' Team did not fight this turn
(###) Avoid teams by their Team Id ##/## This turn's/Last turn's rank
TEAM SPOTLIGHT
NOBLISH ISLE GRADUATION FINAL EXAM
20 True/False Questions
90% = Passing Grade
Special Assist = All answers Are FALSE
1. D2 is all work and no play.
2. You may bloodfeud only twice.
3. Scum warriors are not allowed.
4. Assur and The Consortium rep are allied.
5. One must challenge warriors by name only on the strategy sheet.
6. There is one best strategy for each style.
7. The WF (war flail aka whiffle) is probably the best weapon available.
8. A warrior must be deemed godling to enter into tournaments.
9. All warriors are born with the same amount of stats and skills.
10. One cannot use a weapon unsuited to the warrior's style.
11. A manager may have only one team in D2.
12. Endurance plays no factor in D2.
13. A warrior's hit points are only determined by CON.
14. There are seven skill and seven stat types.
15. When a warrior dies, your team is reduced by one.
16. All Face-To-Face Tournaments are held at the office in Tempe, AZ.
17. The arena Duelmaster may challenge any other warrior in the arena.
18. A warrior must wear armor.
19. There are no luck factors in the game.
20. The designer of this test has patent rights.
NOTE: Certain of these questions are discussed thoroughly in Noblish Island
Newsletters. So tune in!
-- Brought to you by
Commodore Perry of River Rats
(A Consortium representative)
***---------*---------*---------*---------**---------*---------*---------*---------***
The Importance of Damage
One thing that some articles allude to, but few spell out, is how important your
damage rating is on your warrior. When your warrior is created, he will randomly be
assigned a damage rating based on his strength and size. This damage rating can make
or break a warrior. Realize that this article focuses entirely on your warrior's
basic career (before he graduates to the Advanced arenas). First, I will talk about
the possible damage ratings your warrior can have.
Little Damage -- For the most part, this is crippling to a warrior in basic. A few
types of warriors can run successfully with little damage, but for the most part, this
rating will kill a basic career. Doesn't mean it can't be fun, though.
Normal Damage -- The very least that most managers should consider to be successful.
Still, it is not as much as I'd like most of the time, but I can work with Normal.
But you'll still see often that normal damage warriors have difficulty finishing off
their opponents.
Good Damage -- Here is where we start to see the sweet spot! Good damage is just fine
for most warriors. More is better, but Good works!
Great Damage -- Great Damage can be the difference between fantastic performance and
average performance. Highly recommended.
Tremendous Damage -- Tremendous Damage is nice, but once you have great damage, the
increases in doing damage don't matter as much. More is better, but Tremendous is the
last rating of damage that you'll see dramatic difference in performance with.
Awesome Damage -- Awesome Damage is fun and is the last damage rating where you won't
cripple the rest of your abilities in basic. It is possible to get Awesome Damage
with 21 strength and 11 size, which still leaves a reasonable amount of points for
other more important stats.
Devastating Damage -- In basic, I do not recommend spending the points required to get
Devastating or Super Human. It is a complete waste of points. Unless you're doing it
to have the novelty and have fun with it.
Super Human Damage -- This is the highest possible rating a new warrior can get. It
requires 21 strength and 20 or 21 size (basically half your points).
But what rating does my particular warrior need? Now I will try to give
recommondations for how to identify the needs of your warrior in particular.
First, Pure Defensive warriors don't care all that much about how much damage they do.
If you aren't planning to win by damage, there is no need to do damage. So Little is
fine in this situation.
If you have access to high damage weapons (SC (most common), BS, BA, GS), damage also
isn't as important. I still recommend normal or better, but these weapons do superior
damage and can help overcome a smaller damage rating.
Next, AB's, owing largely to their high attack and low endurance burn, are the most
well suited offensive/hybrid warrior to be able to overcome the curse of little
damage.
Finally, if you have enough endurance, you can simply keep swinging and swinging until
you finally take down a warrior. Most of the time, though, your opponent will try and
swing back, which usually makes this strategy uneffective.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, certain types of warriors are MUCH better with
higher damage ratings.
Parry Ripostes are the first style I will mention. Rippers have a notorious habit of
letting their opponents swing. Because of this, they need to make their own swings
count. I do not intend to ever run another Parry Riposte with less than Good damage.
It is simply too hard to get them to finish fights otherwise.
All offensive warriors, but especially Bashers, also would much prefer Good damage or
better. I single out bashers because their weapons tend to not do as much damage as
other types of warriors have available.
Finally, Lungers need a good combination of endurance and damage. They want to run
with very hot rhythms, so they aren't going to win a lot of longer fights. Normal
damage lungers are fine if you have good or better endurance, but if you have normal
endurance, you almost certainly want good or better damage.
My main intention for writing this article is to help newer managers understand that
damage rating (which is one of the most variable attributes on a new warrior) often
goes hand in hand with success. I cannot stress enough how much little damage will
hurt the vast majority of warriors out there (and how much good or better damage will
tend to help a warrior). The only caveat is that with damage, more is not necessarily
better if it means you're sacrificing in other areas!
And I would be remiss if I didn't tell you that there are exceptions to nearly every
rule. There will always be warriors that break the guidelines I've set out here. It
doesn't mean my guidelines are wrong or bad. It simply means that some warriors
outperform what you would expect (and others don't live up to your expectations).
DUELMASTER'S COLUMN
Notes from the arena champ.
This week we must pause for a word from our advertisers!
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They may be blunt, but they pack a wallop!
Buy ACME weapons now! Call the toll free number at the bottom of this ad
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Before you send another warrior on to the sands, make sure he has an ACME
weapon!
Thank you for listening! Now back to our regular program.
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ACME weapons are great. I can personally attest that their weapons are of superior
quality. Just last week I was comparing their shortspear with a generic. ACME's
shortspear is lighter and faster and equally effective, at least in practice. I don't
know what they do, but I'll be using ACME weapons for my entire career!
-- - Repetitive
SPY REPORT
It's me, The Unknown Spymaster, back to give you this week's Spy Report. Sit
back in your seats and we'll have more fun than a barrel of Zontanis. Most new teams
do poorly at first. NUMBER, however, has gotten off to a reasonable start at 3-2-1.
Nice job! Hey everybody, watch out for FOUR, who flew up 21 points in the rankings
after mashing EMBEZZLING SCRIBE like a melon. Keep your eye on this gal. And
falling like a basher in the top ten was DUMB TOPICS, who dropped 7 points after a
disappointing (to say the least) bout with TOBINSPORT. Our last turn's Duelmaster
has lost, folks, lost to M. CHARDINEE, and REPETITIVE has made the way for a new
Duelmaster! With REPETITIVE clearing the throne, RIVER RATS of TOBINSPORT takes a
proud seat as NOBLISH ISLAND's new Duelmaster, by virtue of recognition points. Can
you believe they are paying me 10 gold to deliver this stuff?
But enough of that bunch, let's get on to the wimps who like to avoid battle!
Did you hear that BB TALK RADIO was most avoided team this week? Well, knowing the
personal hygiene of BB TALK RADIO's warriors, I'm not surprised! Okay, so I may not
be funny, but catch RIVER RATS' act in the arena. Those acrobats seem to be fairly
deft at running from BB TALK RADIO.
Death is kind of like a new puppy: he's always around wanting to play. (Ha
Zontani, how's that for a wise saying?). Ask not the elves for counsel, for they
will say both yes and no. Silly buggers, eh?
Well, there's the manager of the NOBLISH ISLAND giving me the 'cut' sign (or is
that 'They're going to strangle you in the alley?). Well, there goes another Spy
Report. Good luck in next week's fights. See ya next time I'm on this circuit!--
The Unknown Spymaster
DUELMASTER W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
TOBINSPORT 9914 6 1 0 65 RIVER RATS (1699)
CHALLENGER ADEPTS W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
REPETITIVE 9916 5 2 1 61 BB TALK RADIO (1700)
ADEPTS W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
TROY 9911 6 1 0 38 RIVER RATS (1699)
DUMB TOPICS 9918 6 1 0 38 BB TALK RADIO (1700)
TELL CITY 9915 5 2 0 35 RIVER RATS (1699)
ADEPTS W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
ROME 9912 5 2 0 34 RIVER RATS (1699)
CHALLENGER INITIATES W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
DOGMEAT 9924 4 2 0 27 COYOTES (1701)
CANNELTON 9913 4 3 0 25 RIVER RATS (1699)
COURSER 9937 2 3 0 25 COYOTES (1701)
INITIATES W L K POINTS TEAM NAME
IDIOTS 9917 4 3 0 23 BB TALK RADIO (1700)
FOUR 9947 1 0 1 21 NUMBER (1705)
IMMURE 9936 3 2 0 18 COYOTES (1701)
CRESHENDO 9922 3 3 1 17 COYOTES (1701)
-M. ALLEN 9855 3 1 0 17 ROSS' RAIDERS (1689)
BORING HOST 9919 4 3 0 16 BB TALK RADIO (1700)
ONE 9944 1 0 0 16 NUMBER (1705)
RAZURE 9923 2 3 0 15 COYOTES (1701)
SOCK 9933 2 0 0 15 THE GALLOWGLASS (1703)
COMMERCIALS 9920 2 5 0 14 BB TALK RADIO (1700)
-LONGSTER 9856 1 1 0 13 ROSS' RAIDERS (1689)
FIVE 9948 1 0 0 13 NUMBER (1705)
-AUTUMNBE 9643 3 2 0 12 CAVEAT EMPTOR (1657)
MONGOOSE 9940 1 0 0 12 THE MANTICORES (1704)
LOTT R 9852 2 1 1 9 ROSS' RAIDERS (1689)
-STABLER 9854 2 1 0 8 ROSS' RAIDERS (1689)
-DRAXXUS 9644 1 4 0 7 CAVEAT EMPTOR (1657)
GOBLIN BREATH 9939 1 1 1 6 THE MANTICORES (1704)
VENDISS 9935 1 1 0 4 THE GALLOWGLASS (1703)
-SEARRUS 9645 0 4 0 4 CAVEAT EMPTOR (1657)
-PERSEPHONE 9642 0 4 0 4 CAVEAT EMPTOR (1657)
-AGRISEL 9646 0 4 0 4 CAVEAT EMPTOR (1657)
-LIGHTNING 9941 0 2 0 2 THE MANTICORES (1704)
-OX 9942 0 1 0 2 THE MANTICORES (1704)
KRATH 9932 0 2 0 2 THE GALLOWGLASS (1703)
TAKKARI 9934 0 2 0 2 THE GALLOWGLASS (1703)
TWO 9945 0 1 0 1 NUMBER (1705)
-ALZADER 9894 0 1 0 1 ROSS' RAIDERS (1689)
THREE 9946 0 1 0 1 NUMBER (1705)
'-' denotes a warrior who did not fight this turn.
THE DEAD W L K TEAM NAME SLAIN BY TURN Revenge?
EMBEZZLING SCRIB 0 0 0 FOUR 9947 458 NONE
NALFFAR 9931 0 1 0 THE GALLOWGLASS 1703 GOBLIN BREATH 9939 457
PERSONAL ADS
Hey, hey, hey. A lot of fine managers are here on Noblish Isle now. Welcome. We are
glad you are here. Any questions? Anything you don't really understand? Ask either
(or both) Assur or myself and we will try to answer. That is really why we are here.
-- Commodore Perry
Congrats to Assur for the Duelmaster -- although that next-in-line warrior looks best.
-- Commodore Oliver Perry
Health. Humility. Honor. (The Consortium Motto) -- The Commodore, Consortium
affiliated
Assur -- Ox truly appreciates the combat advice. He will contemplate it while his
bones regrow in the infirmary. Thanks -- Ox
LAST WEEK'S FIGHTS
REPETITIVE was devastated by M. CHARDINEE in a 3 minute mismatched fight.
TOBINSPORT demolished DUMB TOPICS in a 1 minute one-sided Title melee.
ROME defeated IDIOTS in a crowd pleasing 1 minute duel.
TELL CITY devastated RAZURE in a 1 minute one-sided fight.
TROY savagely defeated BORING HOST in a crowd pleasing 2 minute gruesome competition.
CRESHENDO was narrowly defeated by CANNELTON in a 2 minute brutal struggle.
DOGMEAT devastated VENDISS in a 1 minute one-sided competition.
IMMURE overcame GOBLIN BREATH in a 4 minute gruesome melee.
COMMERCIALS viciously subdued TAKKARI in a popular 4 minute gruesome duel.
COURSER vanquished CULT MEMBER in a 1 minute one-sided fight.
LOTT R beat THREE in a 3 minute gory novice's melee.
KRATH was demolished by MONGOOSE in a 3 minute bloody mismatched match.
SOCK bested TWO in a 1 minute novice's battle.
ONE slimly won victory over EMBEZZLING SCRIBE in a 2 minute amateur's bout.
FOUR easily killed EMBEZZLING SCRIBE in a 1 minute uneven fight.
FIVE overpowered CONVICTED THIEF in a 2 minute uneven struggle.
BATTLE REPORT
MOST POPULAR RECORD DURING THE LAST 10 TURNS
|FIGHTING STYLE FIGHTS FIGHTING STYLE W - L - K PERCENT|
|BASHING ATTACK 6 TOTAL PARRY 6 - 2 - 0 75 |
|STRIKING ATTACK 5 BASHING ATTACK 32 - 15 - 0 68 |
|SLASHING ATTACK 4 WALL OF STEEL 11 - 6 - 1 65 |
|AIMED BLOW 3 STRIKING ATTACK 16 - 9 - 3 64 |
|WALL OF STEEL 3 SLASHING ATTACK 10 - 9 - 1 53 |
|LUNGING ATTACK 2 LUNGING ATTACK 9 - 10 - 0 47 |
|PARRY-RIPOSTE 1 AIMED BLOW 11 - 15 - 0 42 |
|TOTAL PARRY 1 PARRY-RIPOSTE 5 - 10 - 0 33 |
|PARRY-LUNGE 1 PARRY-STRIKE 1 - 8 - 0 11 |
|PARRY-STRIKE 1 PARRY-LUNGE 0 - 5 - 0 0 |
Turn 458 was great if you Not so great if you used The fighting styles of the
used the fighting styles: the fighting styles: top eleven warriors are:
AIMED BLOW 3 - 0 STRIKING ATTACK 2 - 3 5 BASHING ATTACK
PARRY-RIPOSTE 1 - 0 WALL OF STEEL 1 - 2 3 STRIKING ATTACK
TOTAL PARRY 1 - 0 PARRY-LUNGE 0 - 1 1 SLASHING ATTACK
BASHING ATTACK 4 - 2 PARRY-STRIKE 0 - 1 1 AIMED BLOW
LUNGING ATTACK 1 - 1 1 LUNGING ATTACK
SLASHING ATTACK 2 - 2
TOP WARRIOR OF EACH STYLE
FIGHTING STYLE WARRIOR W L K PNTS TEAM NAME
BASHING ATTACK TOBINSPORT 9914 6 1 0 65 RIVER RATS (1699)
STRIKING ATTACK REPETITIVE 9916 5 2 1 61 BB TALK RADIO (1700)
SLASHING ATTACK TELL CITY 9915 5 2 0 35 RIVER RATS (1699)
Note: Warriors have a winning record and are an Adept or Above.
The overall popularity leader is COMMERCIALS 9920. The most popular warrior this
turn was REPETITIVE 9916. The ten other most popular fighters were TROY 9911,
COMMERCIALS 9920, ROME 9912, MONGOOSE 9940, CANNELTON 9913, ONE 9944, IDIOTS 9917,
TELL CITY 9915, CRESHENDO 9922, and DOGMEAT 9924.
The least popular fighter this week was TAKKARI 9934. The other ten least popular
fighters were THREE 9946, FIVE 9948, KRATH 9932, IMMURE 9936, VENDISS 9935, RAZURE
9923, DUMB TOPICS 9918, TWO 9945, SOCK 9933, and LOTT R 9852.
The Defensive Lunger
Perfect Minimums Actual Characters
ST 13 11 11 13
CN 7 3 3 11
SZ 4 4 10 6
WT 21 17 17 17
WL 17 13 17 19
SP 5 5 9 5
DF 17 13 17 13
The lunger, in my opinion, makes a much better defensive fighter than offensive
fighter. Fighting defensively will compensate for the speed at which lungers burn
endurance. They will still attack whenever possible but their defensive ability will
allow them to dodge most attacks. The most important part is their initiative. When
they do dodge, they'll usually steal the initiative and attack. I haven't been
fighting lungers defensively for long but my record is 14-5-0. Don't fight
defensively against other lungers as they will usually win.
The strategy I use is:
Min 1 2 3 4 5 6 Desp
Off 4 -------------------------> 9 Weapon: Any lunging
Act 6 4 --------------------> 9 No armor if low con
KD 4 -------------------------> 9 APL/H if average con
O.T. ---------------------------> L
D.T. -------------------------------->
You can attack any location you wish but I suggest protecting the body. The
third character listed started with experts in attack, defense and initiative. The
last character had an expert in attack.
The Wild Boar, manager of Things (5) and many inactive teams.
WARRIOR ENDURANCE
Greetings, joy and happiness to everyone! I hope you have had pleasant dueling.
This article is about endurance and some things to think about when you're designing
your warriors. Below is a chart showing the different endurance levels a warrior may
have. This chart may be a little off of due to the fact it isn't possible to have all
the variables as a manager, but it does give you idea of the amount of endurance a
warrior should have.
The formula for endurance is: E = (ST+CN)WL
With the result of that number use the chart below.
000-180 = Very Poor
181-240 = Poor
235-390 = Normal
391-509 = Good
510-639 = Great
640-699 = Tremendous
770+ = Awesome
Here are some examples of warriors with their Endurance ratings:
1) Slasher ST 5 CN 7 WL 15 (5+7)15 = 180 Poor
2) Striker ST 7 CN 13 WL 9 (7+13)9 = 180 Poor
3) Parry-Rip ST 7 CN 10 WL 11 (7+10)11 = 187 Poor
4) Basher ST 13 CN 9 WL 9 (13+9)9 = 198 Very Poor
5) Striker ST 13 CN 9 WL 9 (13+9)9 = 198 Poor
6) Aimed-Blow ST 9 CN 15 WL 9 (9+15)9 = 216 Normal
7) Striker ST 10 CN 5 WL 15 (10+5)15 = 225 Normal
8) Slasher ST 13 CN 10 WL 10 (13+10)10 = 230 Normal
9) Wall/Steel ST 13 CN 12 WL 17 (13+12)17 = 425 Great
There are several factors such as warrior style, RSI random factor, and there is
some evidence that SIZE has some effect on a warrior's endurance. In any case the RSI
LUCK factor can be around 7 to 8% in your favor or 2-3% worse than average. These are
just estimates, but are still factors nevertheless.
Some styles that are HIGH BURN endurance, like lungers, slashers and walls of
steel, are more likely to be UNLUCKY with the endurance rating.
Every action your warrior does consumes endurance. Attacking seems to use more
endurance than any other action. Once a warrior's endurance is used up, he will make
an endurance check against his WILL. If he fails the roll, he will either stop to rest
or collapse to the sand, depending on how badly he failed the roll. When a warrior
stops to rest, he gets back some endurance. When he gets enough endurance back, he
will start attacking again. This is just a theory that I have developed from
observations. It maybe completely off, but it gives one something to ponder.
That's it for now lords and ladies, I must go entertain elsewhere. If you would
like to chat about DM or other things, you can EMAIL me at 103260.3347@compuserve.com
or visit my DM website at
http://ourworld.compuserve.com./homepages/jessisjest/homepage.htm
You can also diplo me at DM 11 "The Lords Of the Abyss (319)" or any of the
Joker's Wilds scattered about.
Cheerio,
Sir Jessie Jest
Member of the Ivory League
Presenting, by Popular Demand (from 1989)...
THE NUMEROLOGY OF DUELMASTERS
by The Ghost of Eldrid
Character Generation
Hello, I am the Ghost of Eldrid, and I have an important message that directly
effects how well your team may do in the future. Some managers will not take this
important article seriously (some people don't believe in ghosts, either), and their
records will suffer for it. I have played Duelmasters for four years and searched
through all of my old turns and painstakingly researched every important fact in this
article, and I have discussed my conclusions with about ten different managers (named
managers such as Phido, Doctor LeGrand, Silk, Russ, and Biff Frothingslosh) who all
agree on the validity of my arguments. The results of my research are both startling
and magnificent. THERE IS NUMEROLOGY IN DUELMASTERS!!! Whether it was programmed in
or it exists on a higher plane, it matters not. IT EXISTS!!! And I plan to share
some of its amazing secrets with you, starting with character creation.
Remember in the realm of character generation the powers favor odd number stats.
NEVER, EVER have an even number on stats, except, of course, for size, which,
obviously should be even since everyone can tell what size your character is by his
description in the fight. Do you want people thinking your warrior is odd? I should
hope not!! But in case you decide to keep your odd warrior, DO NOT MAKE ANY OTHER
STATS EVEN!! Write a letter to the commission stating that you forgo the rights to
the last point and you want it to be sacrificed to the benefit of Alastari.
Always start adding points to wit and will first. Either make them 13, 17, or
21. Why? Under 12 wit is worthless, as any good manager will tell you. A 13
understandably gives your opponent bad luck, a 17 has the ever-lucky "7" in it, and 21
is BLACKJACK, and you get twice the number of winnings you would normally get. Why
not 15 or 19? Is it not obvious to everyone that 15 is unlucky? The only President
of the United States not married was the 15th, James Buchanan (who?). Lincoln was
shot on April 15th, and the clincher... my brother was born on the 15th of May. If
these "coincidences" don't prove to you that 15 is unlucky, I don't know what will.
19 is an evil number. It tries to deceive you into thinking it is better than 17, but
actually, it is an "11" with a small zero placed on the second pole, and we all know
that a zero is nothing. So what do we get for our extra eight points? In effect,
something smaller than nothing.
Next, make every other stat odd. Add the other points to make the style you
want. Deftness is the key to character generation.
Deftness (min)
5 to make a basher (ST 13+)
7 for a lunger
9 for a striker
11 for a wall of steel (ST 11+, WL 17+)
13 for a parry lunge (ST 11+), slasher (SP 11+), parry-strike, and total
parries (these styles depend on the opponent's bad luck.
17 for a parry-riposte (WT 17+)
21 for an aimed blow (this style needs the double winnings)
The last thing to remember is that luck is a big factor in this game and I don't
know if you noticed, but when warriors have even ID numbers they are luckier than odd
ID characters. Look at the best warriors in Primus: Wallbanger, Donatello, Epitaph,
Chaos Knight, Villiage Idiot, Silverflash, Khorga Khan, Jake the Snake, Sly, Max,
Stormbringer, Teetotaler, Raphael, Selleque, Kiri, Constance, Hangover, Eve, and Sam
Spade. All have even-numbered IDs. Now you say, "But Yoda and Necron-99 both have
odd IDs, and they are the best aimed blows of the game!" Yes, but they are AIMED
BLOWS and they are members of an odd style, so of course they do better with odd
numbers. So remember if you want your warriors to be best in all Alastari someday,
Dark Arena all your odd-numbered characters, unless of course they are aimed blows.
Good luck, and may the numbers fall your way.
-- The Ghost of Eldrid,
retired
PARRY-STRIKE, ANOTHER FUN STYLE
There have been several articles about fighting styles, some say theirs is the
best, or ultimate, one said theirs is the most fun style. Well, I feel that parry-
strikers are just as much fun to play as any other style.
First, let's start with the run down of what they say in the "RED BOOK". The
book says that parry-strikers are defensive, using small quick movements in their
actions (sounds like you could say that about some other styles as well.) The book
says that some managers swear that a high wit is critical to the style (only those who
have no brains would disagree with that.)
Let's get to business. First and foremost this style is deceptively aggressive,
making them a very good offensive type of fighter, or deadly type of defensive
fighter. Offensively they tend to get the jump on their opponent. I had a parry-
striker that was only jumped 3 out of 11 fights, before he died. To prepare and run a
parry-striker can be quite confusing, so I will try to help make it as simple as
possible. Here are my feelings on roll-ups for the parry-strike style:
ST: 11-15, I'll explain later.
CN: who cares.
SZ: 10-14, don't go over 14.
WT: 13-17, 17 is the best.
WL: 13-17, to get good endurance.
SP: not important.
DF: 11-15, I'll explain later.
Here are some good roll-ups for a parry-striker: 11,7,10,17,17,7,15;
15,7,11,17,16,7,11; 11,7,14,17,13,7,15; 15,7,14,17,13,7,11. Now, if you have a decent
wit, the way you run this fighting style will depend on strength and deftness. For
example: if your fighter has a high DF and a low ST it would be to his/her advantage
to be defensive, since the speed would benefit the ability to move in reaction to
their opponent. If the ST is high, and DF low, it would be better to fight
offensively like a striker, trying to get the first, and only blow in. If they don't
have a decent wit, you're on your own. I can't help you on that. Remember this style
of fighting is the same as a striker except for added knowledge of parrying, as well
as bein a little more aggressive. I would not suggest a low ST and DF, it will take
away from your WT & WL, and you don't want to do that, but if you do, good luck. You
don't need much CN if you have a good WL, which gives you your endurance. SZ; you
don't want it to be above 14, it would hurt your fighting style more than your
attributes. WT; it is the same as it is with strikers, the higher the WT the faster
and deadlier they become. Raise WT to 17 if you don't have it at the start, then
don't worry about it again until ADM. WL; this is where you get your endurance. 13
is fine to start out, but I would suggest 15, then bump it up to 17 in basic. SP; it
is what you need to riposte, but PSers have this "one strike one kill" attitude.
Meaning that there isn't much time to riposte with a killing attitude, so do whatever.
DF; what is there to say, it helps, but is not crucial to be a great PSer. Now to
running a PSer. If he is an offensive fighter 10-10-10 Dec. all the way through the
fight, even in desperation. If Defensive, 1st 10-10-10 Resp., 2nd 10-7-10 Dec., 3rd
10-10-10, 4th 10-10-10 Dec., 5th 10-10-10 Dec., 6th 10-10-10, Desp. 10-10-10 Resp.
Remember, first you want to assure your defense, and to do that, you should go
defensive the first minute. By the second minute you will be secure enough to go on
the offensive, but experiment. 6th minute on, leave blank, for by that time he/she
will know what to do (if their WT is high that is.) The best thing you could do for
your fighter is watch the fights, if you are getting more defensive skills than
offensive, run the def., or change weapons. That is the best advice I can give you
about PSers. About armor, I like to use ringmail or nothing, but experiment. I know
that there is someone that will disagree with me, but I feel that I have given you
some ideas about this fighting style that can be used, even though I am a new manager,
playing for just over a year. No matter who writes a style article, it is just
advice, not the bible. Just use the articles as a point of reference, not as sworn
law.
This is a very fun fighting style, try it out. I have written this in answer to
Foreign Legion Arena 31, and The Spartans Arena 8. I challenge any Primus Manager to
correct my writing of PSers. It is not my favorite style, but it is as fun as any
other that I have used, including my favorite one (Which is a STRIKER!!) If there are
any comments, please Diplo The Priest, the manager of The Heroes of XIAN DM-10, or The
Crucifiers DM-46.
THE ARMOR PIERCING PARRY-LUNGE
When you think "attack" what style comes to mind? Bashing? Definitely lunging?
Of course. Parry-Lunging? Excuse me? Yes, the parry-lunger! Few people realize the
fact that parry-lungers are attack gods waiting to be born. All it takes is the right
warrior and lots of guts. This warrior is not for the weak of heart. We'll begin
with stats.
Range Perfect
ST 9-11 11
CN 5-9 5
SZ 6-11 8
WT 17or21 21
WL 17or21 17
SP 5-8 5
DF 15-17 17
Why?
ST(11): This is your optimum PL strength. It puts your warrior in the normal to
good damage range. Also, you have the best PL weapon at your disposal--the LO!
CN(5): Yes, his life expectancy is low. What'd I tell you? Guts, right? He
gets his endurance from WL. If you want to make trains, make them here.
SZ(8): Our most flexible stat. A high SZ (i.e.11) allows you to skimp a bit on
Str (9).
WT(21): If it's not a 21 you're not going to get the attack this fellow counts
on. His learns will be awesome and a 21 WT will make him a better warrior out of the
chocks.
WL(17): End/Att are dependent on this one being high. Keeps you on your feet
when you should drop from exhaustion.
SP(5): Not a big requirement. Init and Parry will come from elsewhere (WT/DF).
This is not a lunger mimic.
DF(17): Combine this DF with a 21 WT and you will have a massive attack.
Pinpoint accuracy is the byword. Parry, init, def and riposte will all benefit
immeasurably. At 15 you have access to the EP, a fine lunging weapon this style can
put to devastating use.
Strategy (General, but effective in most cases)
2 9 9 7 6 5 10
6 9 9 7 6 5 10
2 7 7 7 5 5 10
HE ---------------------------->
HE BD ----------------------->
- - - - - - -
P - - - - - -
Minute 1: This fellow won't get the jump on offensives, so we'll just go
defensive and render their "mad minute" fruitless. This PL's counterattack will be
amazing at even 2-6-2 P due to the high AL. Keep the parry tactic until Adv Expert
parry is gained.
Minutes 2 and 3: These two will end most of his fights. When he starts landing
precision blows in his opponent's face it will usually be over quickly. Keep the kill
desire relatively low as to avoid sloppy attacking.
Minutes 4 through 6: If you haven't won by now you've got to depend on your WL
to carry you until you finish the job. He'll probably top out at the five min. mark.
But we want to keep the attacks coming so we do so at his endurance's expense.
Desp: If your opponent is an offensive he's probably blasted through your min. 1
defense. Your best bet is to go spastic and hope to take him out in one shot or so.
If he's some super-defensive (scum) this PL is probably exhausted and you're hoping
the super-offense will put him over the edge. After all, it's better to burn out than
fade away.
Always aim for the head to maximize the impact of your blows. If it tickles your
fancy, aim for your opponent's weapon arm and beat him senseless when he's unarmed.
Protecting the head in min. 1 is strictly odds playing on my part. My offensives aim
head so I assume everyone else's do too. After min. 1, we forget defense.
Weapons and armor are simple. APL/H or ARM/H (if you're challenging a real
heavy-hitter). I prefer swords for armament. My combos are usually LO/SM, LO/SH,
SC/DA etc. Against heavy armor go with LO/SH. Always aim for the head.
Philosophy: This guy clings to life by luck, early on, and will never be free of
the spectre of death. In his first few fights stay away from lungers and bashers.
Both have high attacks and usually do substantial damage. Prey on strikers, PS, PR
and slashers. As he progresses, his attack, parry and defense will equip him with the
tools to handle most everybody but always remain cautious of those bashers and
lungers.
A PL of this calibre should begin with around a 90 att, 70 par/init and 60-70
def. Decise and riposte will be slightly lower. Riposte 50 and decise anywhere from
35-50 depending on how lucky you get. Train skills exclusively from fight one and on.
Use tourneys if you must raise anything at all (including con).
Don't be discouraged if he's around .500 early on. By ten fights he'll be
sporting three Adv Experts at least (att, par and init) and will begin to dismantle
those scum/finesse styles that managed to beat him. Feel free to write or diplo me
with comments/criticisms/or questions.
Fight the Good Fight,
or: Agath
CPL Michael Dockus Lunatic Fringe (23)
H Co BLT 2/8 Circle of Five (51)
24 MEU (Det F) Slaves of Power (52)
FPO NY NY 09502-8531