July 8 & 9, 2005…
I officially know everything you can possibly know about the Soldiers Quarters (SQ)! After about 5 hours of stumbling around and noting everything, I completely “mapped” the whole level. After the 2nd hour I honed my “mapping” method and stopped stumbling around.
Definition of ”Mapped”: A map of a level has been drawn, complete with a legend showing the locations of:
:/ NPC landmarks (Labeled by alpha’s on the map) - A permanent location on the map where NPC’s (Non-player character encountered in the volcano) give you information. Screen shots of these locations will be provided. That way you’ll have a picture of the “gremlin wizard” and the info he has to tell. The screen shot file name will include the map location, “SQ NPC A.png”.
FTP folder: SQ Pics
:/ Permanent battle area’s (Labeled by numbers on the map) - These battles ya just have to fight to get past. My notes include: mob type, exp given, drops, fighting style. Screen shots will be provided so you’ll have a nice picture of the scorpion and the pre-fight text… “You hear the angry snapping of pinchers”. The screen shot file name will include the map location, “SQ BATTLE 1.png”.
FTP folder: SQ Pics
:/ Locked & Special doors – Locked doors are marked “L” followed by the first letter of the minimum key it takes to open it. Keys in order; Green, Yellow, Orange, Red, Purple and Blue. So “L-Y” is a locked door requiring at least a Yellow key to open.
Any special door requiring a special key, pass, character level, etc will be noted on the map.
Teleports are labeled “TP” followed by a number. It takes two doors to create a teleport so both doors will be assigned the same number. This’ll help with TP doors on different levels.
FTP folder: SQ Pics
:/ Random Encounters or Mobs – These are the random creatures that pop up while adventuring. You sometimes can flee from mobs (you may need a higher Dex then the mob to flee?). I kept detailed notes on mobs I encountered while mapping. These notes include: mob type, # of encounters, exp given, drops, fighting style.
FTP: Random Mob list.xls
:/ Items – Any specific item found or dropped by creatures are noted by item name only. This info is on the Battle list & Random Mob list.
:/ Special art – Screen shots of tapestries, etc and the location will be provided.
FTP folder: SQ Pics
While mapping the SQ’s I leveled a Knight to 10th level. To double check my notes and see if I forgot stuff (which I’m sure I did) I leveled a Wizard to 7th level. Notes on these two classes will be added the Character Class/Race Info topic. As I map out different levels I’ll use different classes so the info on each will be up to par.
I’m using the macro just to equip my characters to allow them to roam about easily. They are also equipped with the different keys which aids in “min. key to open” for locked doors. Since my characters are walking around with bazookas and full body armor, some information can’t be determined. I’m not keeping track of the following information, yet… (Also refer to The To Do List topic)
*Item properties.
*Mob “to hit %” and damage.
*Mob health points.
The Soldiers Quarters has been uploaded to the FTP site. This is one hell of a project we’ve undertaken hehe :/
