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Credits
This Faq has been created from many posts on the relevant newsgroups,
and from Mail discussions with these posters and others:
N.L.Fradkin R.Cave
B. Vigduris V.Philippe
W. Prasetya
HTML by Mark Asmus
Special thanks must go to Denis Dyack of Silicon
Knights for the
support he gave for this project.
Any comments, criticisms, additions or tips I would appreciate them.
I can be reached at RJAbbott@its.dundee.ac.uk
(Richard Abbott)
What is Fantasy Empires? The first obvious question asked and
undoubtedly the easiest to answer. Fantasy Empires is a computer
game developed by Silicon Knights and published by SSI. The
interface was designed around the use of the 'Dungeon Master'
as an agent, filling roles as both a referee and a consultant.
The actions of the Dungeon Master are dictated by a simulated
neural network, to allow consistency but with some unpredictability.
The DM notes all the actions of the player characters and stores
all the information, some of which is visible on the PC's cumulative
record.
The current version of the game is 1.1, which fixes the severe game
play problem of the multiplying siege engines bug as well as others.
The patch to upgrade from version 1.0 is available from:-
SSI ( address and phone no at the back of the manual)
America online in the SSI section
irz.inf.tu-dresden.de /pub/ms-dos/games/patches fe110.zip
or check out the and look in the patches download section
Contents
Section A Game opponents and Player
Characters
1) When I start a campaign, my opponents seem
to be able to use lots of magic against me and I am rapidly destroyed.
Why?
2) Which are the easiest opponents?
3) Which is the best character class?
4)What are the effects of the alignments?
5) Does the gray always begin the turn first and the
greens ends it, or is it more or less random?
6) Is it cheating to alter all the character attributes
to 18?
7) Why do some opponents always seem to break treaties?
Section B Heros
1) When could you send your heros on a Daring
Quest?
2) What magic items come from what quests?
3) How useful of heros in battle?
4) The Dungeon master gives advice that Elven heros are
the most versatile in battle why is this?
5) What is the best magic item for a hero to have?
Section C Magic
1) How can I tell how much magical power that
I have?
2) Which are the best spells?
3)I have picked up a lightning rod from a quest. What
is the best way of using this?
4)My opponent has a Mirror of Protection and I cannot
use Truesight on him. Is there any way around this?
5)Despite having lots of magic using heros, I don't seem
to get any magic power. Why?
Section D Battles
1) When I simulate a battle defending a castle,
I end up losing everything and the opponent nothing. Why?
2)When I simulate a battle attacking a castle, I end
up losing everything and the opponent nothing. Why?
3) Is simulation or playing battles better?
Section E General Hints and Strategies
1) The Satko Horde
2) The Steady Stream
3) Crystal Ball
4) Close Opponent
5) Undead Rampage
6) Zap Em
7) Remote Island Detection
8) Shorts
Section F General Questions
1) Why can't I get any sound from my PC speaker?
Section G Would Like List
Appendix 1 List of Opponents
Section A Game Opponents and Player Characters 1) When I start a campaign, my opponents seem to be able to use lots of magic against me and I am rapidly destroyed. Why? One useful part of the package once a player has gotten used to it, is the ability to tailor the opponents to your own skill level. It is important to start out against a low level opponent otherwise you will just be zapped off the face of Mystara. 2) Which are the easiest opponents? The low level ones! Within a group of opponents at the same level some are easier than others. The NPC's get the same benefits from being a class that you do, such that the spell using classes will tend to get more spell power and those spells will be more effective, fighters will be better for fighter NPC's etc. Tailor the game for what opponents you wish. 3) Which is the best character class? This is a very difficult question to answer as it does depend on your own style of play. At the current time I prefer to use a fighter PC and use my magic sparingly to disrupt my opponents rear areas. Other contributors have expressed other preferences. Something that can help you chose a class is knowledge of the way that the initial heros levels are calculated. The initial set up in the campaign includes one of each Elf, Dwarf, Magic User, Cleric and Fighter. The hero which matches your PC's class starts at the same level as your PC, the others start at half that level (rounded down). A high level MU or Cleric PC will have a lot of magical power to throw around early on. 4) What are the effects of the alignments? Lawful: +10% bonus on income Treaties come at a lower price since you will probably not break it Summoning undead is more difficult and the numbers created is at -15% compared to a neutral character. If too many undead troops are created the DM will change your alignment. +15% bonus in numbers when turning undead. Neutral: Income as par. Treaties are harder to get and more expensive compared to lawful. Turning and creating undead is at normal power. Chaotic: -10% on income Treaties are expensive and difficult to get Undead are summoned with a 15% bonus in numbers Turning undead suffers -15% in numbers. 5) Does the gray always begin the turn first and the greens ends it, or is it more or less random? The actual answer is neither. The player who begins one turn plays their next turn as the last player and the rest of the players are promoted one in the schedule ie. the third player moves second and the second moves first. 6) Is it cheating to alter all the character attributes to 18? Consider this feature as an additional play balance mechanism. Setting all the attributes to 18 will make the game far easier than using a random setting. For those familiar with the D and D game, one of the ways of rolling from that could be used and the attributes set to match those generated. 7) Why do some opponents always seem to break treaties? The opponents do tend to follow their alignments listed in the view heros option and repeated in appendix 1 below. The chaotic characters will attack if they view a weakness, the lawful ones will tend to honour treaties. Further information can be got from studying the character history and background as well as the alignment. However it is always wise to be ready for an attack on the turn that a treaty ends. It is useful to put yourself in the NPC's position and see if you would break the treaty or honour it and try to get another. The NPC players are not daft and offer a treaty to strengthen their own positions much as any player would. Section B Heros 1) When could you send your heros on a daring quest? The answer to this one is when ever you want to. 1st level heros can go on any level of quest but with, declining chances of success. The Veterans quest will raise a heros level up to level 5, and this pattern follows. Veteran's Quest level 1-5 (VQ) Noble Quest 6-10 (NQ) Daring Quest 11-15 (DrQ) Dangerous Quest 16-20 (DnQ) Forbidding Quest 21+ (FQ) One hint here is that by sending 4th level heros on a NQ, they will return at 6th level, the same as if they had gone on the same quest at 5th level. The best item that a hero can collect from a veterans quest is a Displacer cloak (DC) so if a 4th level hero has one there is no point in going on another VQ. Similarly for a 9th level hero going on a DrQ but as useful items can still be recovered from a NQ this is less clear cut. 2)What items come from what quests? The best way to answer is in a simple list. Item Quests Weapon +1 (Sword, Ax, Bow and Mace) VQ,NQ Weapon +2 NQ Weapon +3 DrQ Arrows of Teleportation DrQ Sword of Extra Damage DrQ Sword of Slowing NQ Boots of Speed NQ Elven Cloak NQ Gauntlets of Ogre Power NQ Girdle of Giant Strength NQ? Ring of Fire Resistance NQ Ring of Protection +1 VQ Medallion of Protection (+2) VQ Displacer Cloak VQ Ring of Teleportation DrQ Ring of Regeneration DrQ Crystal Ball DrQ Lightning Rod NQ,DrQ Mirror of Life Trapping DnQ Mirror of Protection DnQ Rod of Domination FQ Rod of the Earth DnQ Rod of Necromancy DrQ Rod of True Sight NQ Rod of the Winds DrQ Staffs of Holiness, Wizardry and Druids FQ The query with Girdle of Giant Strength is the item recovered from the NQ is called a Girdle of Power, as opposed to the Gauntlets of Ogre Power. Rings of Protection greater than +1 are mentioned in the Manual, but do not appear in the game. 3) How useful of heros in battle? This depends upon the battle and the hero. Fighter and dwarf heros are very useful for doing an 'End Run' to get to the opposition missile troops and/or siege engines, indeed a single high level hero can destroy hundreds of elves in one battle. Elven heros have a very useful role detailed below. Magic users and druids are mobile siege engines, in that they can blow down castle walls to let the hoards over run the defenders, one word of warning in that these battles must be played to a conclusion. Simulating before the last unit has been destroyed can lead to a total destruction of the attacking force. Clerics can hold back and cast bless, or act as second rate fighters, the main use of clerics is to build up spell power for earthquakes and to be turned into druids. 4) The Dungeon master gives advice that Elven heros are the most versatile in battle why is this? Elven heros have the advantage of being slightly quicker than any other heros plus the dual arming of bow and short sword. This means that they can do an 'End Run' and engage with either bow or swords, support the frontline by hanging back a little and adding arrows to the fray but come into their own on a so called 'Recon Raid'. This tactic serves two uses of finding out the enemy dispositions, and reducing the opposing force. It hinges on the twin fact of speed and missile capability. The basic tactic is to move an elven hero into a province alone, and close with the enemy on the battle screen. Once within missile range start firing, until the enemy is close but before contact has been made, then turn and run back a short distance and repeat. Using the faster speed it is even possible to run all over the map and the chasing troops will pursue doggedly and be slowly mown down. It is important not to kill the last unit in a province as then the hero will be lost, but retreating before this happens is possible. The next turn the army can march in with minimal resistance. This tactic can be used with MU with boots of speed who have the additional ability to destroy the keep and force the opponent to pay for a new one or face desertions. Indeed the desertions can cause the province to revert to neutral before the opponent has a chance to rebuild the keep. 5) What is the best magic item for a hero to have? This depends upon the hero and what tactics the player uses. I like boots of speed to make the end run more effective, gauntlets of ogre power, magic bows for elves or any protective item for spellcasters. Section C Magic 1) How can I tell how much magical power that I have? The three globes on the top of the screen show how much magical power the player has. They glimmer with increasing intensity depending upon the power present, they are from left to right Druidic (Blue), Clerical (Green) and Magic User (Red). Experience will allow the judging of exactly how much power is present, but as a rough guide-line, the magic user glow become visible when the power is enough to cast one death spell, the druidic enough for one lightning but the clerical is easily visible long before earthquake is possible. Some players have reported that the glimmer is not visible at all, so there may be a specific hardware problem with some graphic cards. 2) Which are the best spells? The actual damage caused by each spell is documented well in the manual in two separate places. (Pages 27/8 and 55). One inconsistency between these two is that in one creeping doom is said to damage buildings in the other not to. This latter appears to be correct. The best spell to use depends upon the situation, if the attack from the ground forces is going in then an anti personnel type spell that does not damage buildings is best eg. death spell, if attacking the enemy capital at a distance with no immediate plans to take the province then an anti building one is better eg, meteor storm. 3)I have picked up a lightning rod from a quest. What is the best way of using this? If the see all option is on (fog of war off) then absolute havoc can be created by zapping an opponents rear areas, one province at a time. With luck two provinces will lose their keeps and the resulting disorder will cause these to return to neutral. The loss of revenue and the distraction of forces to reconquer the provinces will be a help to your aims. 4)My opponent has a Mirror of Protection and I cannot use Truesight on him. Is there any way around this? Not as such, but there are methods of getting the information that is needed. The elven hero Recon Raid is one. Indeed moving a few troops in and then retreating them will provide the same sort of information as to troop dispositions and buildings present but compared to the Recon raid will not destroy troops. 5)Despite having lots of magic using heros, I don't seem to get any magic power. Why? The problem here is that magic using heros contribute far less,or maybe even nothing to the magic pool when away on quests. A balance has got to be struck between sending them on quests for items, and for the experience and keeping them available to contribute to the magic 'pool' Section D Battles 1) When I simulate a battle defending a castle, I end up losing everything and the opponent nothing. Why? This occurs when the attacker has missile troops and the defender has none. The simulation set up places the defenders inside the castle and they will not move out until too late. The attacking missile troops behave on harass orders and the defenders are cut down. Rule 1 of castle defence is always have some missile troops or ballistas in a castle if it is likely to be attacked. 2)When I simulate a battle attacking a castle, I end up losing everything and the opponent nothing. Why? Did you take a siege engine in? Occasionally the computer appears to destroy the attacking siege engines early in the simulation mechanism then as the attacker has no siege engine all the attacking troops are wiped out. It is a good idea to play out all castle assaults at least until the battering rams have broken all the doors down. With catapults this tends not to happen but it has done on a few rare occasions. 3) Is simulation or playing battles better? Some people do not like any arcade type action and so by simulating always they can have just a plain strategic game, but at the cost of less options available tactically. Simulating never leads to a retreat so this can cause problems if the opponent has built a castle since you last looked. (You DID look didn't you).Also in situlation no results screen appears and so it is impossible to tell if indeed a castle was there or just a superior force. In playing the battles fighters are much more effective than in simulation (or maybe missile troops are less effective). There are no hard and fast rules but if you are playing with lots of elves then simulate more, if not then less. As an experiment try a battle of 200 fighters against 40 elves. In simulation many fighters will be lost, in the arcade system without player interference (ie pressing F5/F6 to get the battle overview) the fighters will often not have any losses. Section E General Hints and Strategies
1)The Satko Horde (by W.Prasetya ) Especially effective against a non spell using opponent. Build 8 armories at your front line. With this you can make 480 fighters in a single round which you can use to sweep through the enemy's ranks. You have a good chance of making around of 200 elite troops this way. Other players comments. The general consensus of these are that such a province is asking to be earthquaked (or other spells) and it is a case of putting all the eggs in one basket. The main use for this tactic, possibly on a smaller scale, is in the mopping up operations at the end of the game. Here money is not a problem and troops at the front line are easier to get into the action. 2) The Steady Stream (by R.J.Abbott) When advancing into the opponents territory, leave a supply route of a trail of provinces with a single armory in each (two if the money is available) there is often one left by computer opponents in most provinces. Train troops each turn at each of these and move them up along the trail. At each step along the way the armory in the province will add another 60 troops (assuming one turn to train ) so that when the army reaches the front it will be sizeable. The constant stream of troops means that the frontline force is free to advance as more troops will be entering the province that they left, hopefully preventing the opponents taking it over. 3) Crystal Balls (by W. Prasetya ) This, although listed lowest in the book, I value these better than even Rod of the Earth. You always have a paranoic feeling that the enemy is much stronger than they actually are. The crystal ball will tell you when it is time to give the killing blow to the enemy's empire. 4) Close Opponent (by N.L.Fradkin ) If in the beginning there is another empire starting close to you, focus on taking its capital. Usually there are not too many troops there as they have all been sent out to oppress local peoples, so a quick coup is possible. If this is accomplished you get the province along with the castles and two armories. Other players comments. A good plan that works more often than not. One cautionary note is that the other player may have his heros in the capital and at higher levels these can destroy many troops. The solution is to send some of your own. 5) Undead Rampage (by R.J.Abbott ) Undead count as elite troops and so are lost when taking over neutral provinces at a much slower rate. Create an undead army of 100 or so and march around the rear areas building keeps and in theory a large empire. Top up the army periodically with a raise undead spell or Rod of Necromancy. Other players comments. Waste of some of the best troops in the game. The Undead are better in the front line taking out the enemy. 6) Zap Em. (My name for a tactic put forward by several people ) The high level heros of your opponents are a problem in battles and allow him to rain spells down on your empire. Find where they are and bring down the death spells on them, or even better use the mirror of life trapping. 7) Remote Island Detection ( by R.J.Abbott ) When playing the 'Fog of War' option on only the enemy's in adjacent provinces will be seen. Islands are not considered to be adjacent to each other, and as such clearing them out can be a bit of a pain. Despite the shield not appearing on the map the `move troops to' order does show if the destination province is neutral or owned by an opponent, this information allows better use of truesight spells to identify what is necessary to take on the enemy. 8) Shorts ( a list of miscellaneous comments) Try to preserve your Druid. On arcade selection place the Hero you wish to control first. Send a MU/Druid to with every attack against a castle. The game is better with multiple players. Don't waste magic on truesight spells, soon enough a hero will find a truesight rod. Magic use doesn't break treaties For chaotic MU's create lots of undead. Turn undead is free so use it. Randomly if necessary. Section F General Questions 1) Why can't I get sound from my PC speaker? Check your sound installation. Have you selected an absent sound card? PC internal speaker is supported and this could be a problem with your specific set-up. Section G Would Like List Some sort of automatic vectoring for production. Have the option to create an order which would cause the facility to constantly produce troops until circumstances change. A similar point about sending heros on quests. How about setting up a capability of sending heros on a type of quest automatically until a chosen end point is reached be it a level and/or a magic item. A system where the computer would cede once the outcome was obvious. Finishing off can take quite some time and is not really challenging from a position where the ceding would come in. A jump to next hero key to prevent cycling through all the troops More maps!! A network or modem play option. Appendix 1 list of Opponents Name Level Alignment Class Nightspawn 1 Chaos MU Arendale 1 Neutral Dwarf Theodosius 1 Chaos Cleric Taz Marzak 1 Neutral Fighter Dwalur 1 Dwarf Dwarf Eol 2 Chaos Elf Brandifirth 2 Neutral Fighter Moloch 2 Neutral MU Shingen 3 Neutral Fighter Samoryx 3 Lawful MU Magdel 4 Lawful Cleric Al Ruladin 5 Chaos Fighter Erdo 5 Neutral Fighter Zindar 6 Lawful Dwarf Flintfoot 6 Neutral Fighter Cor Linton 7 Neutral Fighter Laruna 12 Neutral Cleric Beasthunter 10 Lawful Elf King Telehon H Neutral Elf Rezak Xygar 12 Lawful MU Harek 12 Chaos Fighter Saruna 12 Neutral Fighter M. Edrecort 15 Chaos MU Hanni 16 Chaos MU Hool 18 Chaos Fighter Dimolapietra 17 Chaos MU Porphylriel 21 Lawful MU Hutai-Khan 21 Chaos Fighter Huaji-Khan 21 Neutral Fighter Chibak 24 Chaos Cleric P. Virayana 27 Neutral MU Dark Eye 28 Neutral Fighter P. Woszlany 28 Chaos MU Yavi 32 Chaos Cleric P.McGregor 33 Chaos MU Dambreville 35 Lawful MU Richard Abbott RJAbbott@its.dunde.ac.uk