Frequently Asked Questions

There are several questions that new players commonly have, here is a short list with answers.

See also the Beginner's Guide and the other documents and resources available in this GUIDE section.

What's the idea of the game?

The basic idea of the game is to amass enough experience points and credits to become an Apprentice Untouchable. You can gain experience and credits from completing quests or killing mobiles. Obviously more experience is gained from completing quests and this is what a player should concentrate on.

How come I'm always starting in a different place?

When you first log on you will start in the introduction area. After you get your first levels you will start at random from one of the four airlock towers or the Turfe Tavern. This random start is to encourage people to explore the various areas of the world.

What is a mobile?

Mobiles are non-playing characters, or computer controlled characters. All have varying degrees of intelligence and are capable of doing different things. Some will simply ignore you, others may be friendly, and some will attack you.

How do I do a quest?

The basic descriptions of the quests can be found under QINFO on the game, or at the Guide/Quests page. This will give you brief clues as to what is involved in each quest and the amount of points each quest is worth. There are certain characters around the Dome that can give you hints to quests in exchange for credits, these are the Bards (see INFO HINTS).

What is a reset?

A reset is a rejuvenation of an area of TerraFirmA, so all mobiles and objects are put back to their original positions and quests linked to that area can be done again.

How do I get my strength back?

There are three main ways of getting strength back. The easiest and slowest way is to sit in a location. Eating food will give you strength back depending on the type of food, some are better than others. The third method of regaining strength is to sleep. This will heal you faster than sitting but whilst you are asleep you can not see what is going on around you, and you can not type commands without waking up. It is possible to eat food whilst fighting.

Why do I lose so much when I die?

Getting killed by a mobile in a fight means losing the most possible experience and credits. If you die in a deathroom, you do not lose any of your experience. Whenever you die, whether through a fight or a deathroom you will drop all that you were carrying. To avoid being killed and losing experience, a system called wimpy has been invented. Wimpy is an automatic flee device. In any fight it is possible to flee in a direction if things are looking bad, you lose only a smaller percentage of your experience when you flee. To set your wimpy type: change wimpy me 25 This means that when your strength drops below 25 you will flee, choose whatever value you prefer instead of 25.

Read the file INFO FIGHTING for an explanation of the percentage amounts you lose for deaths.

What are the roguesuit and the rogueblade?

For their first few levels, players are entitled to equipment called the roguesuit and rogueblade, these are good armour and a good weapon respectively. An Untouchable is able to equip players with these items. The idea behind these items is to allow low level players to explore without dying too often. Once you get above the lower levels you are on your own so it is a very good idea to explore whilst you do have them and locate other weapons and armour for later. These two items are special in that they decrease in power with your level, so that to a level 1 beginner they are very good, but to a level 3 player they are probably better off finding other more powerful equipment.

How do I use the stores?

The stores allow you to buy some of the items that have been pitted during the course of the game. Not all pitted items will appear in the stores. The Storekeeper also charges more for items than their original value--call it taxes. All items in the game have a value, it is this value that is used to buy items. The value command allows you to see what things are worth. You can either value an object you are carrying or value all that you are carrying. It is also possible to buy expensive items by trading multiple objects. To do this put your items in the trolley in the store. Then buy <item> with trolley.

How do I change my attitude?

In the game there are both good and evil mobiles. Kill a good mobile and your attitude will drop, kill an evil mobile and your attitude will rise. The only way of finding out who is good and evil is trial and error, though most should be obvious!

Who are these Untouchables then?

The people who play a role in running the game are called the Untouchables, anyone above Apprentice is classed as an Untouchable. There various Untouchables are grouped into three descending lists:

The Court: These are the very top Untouchables, mainly the people who actually work with the technical and code side of the game.
The Clave: The people on this list are those Untouchables who you will most commonly see on the game. These are the people who are there to try and ensure the smooth running of the game. Any problems should usually be addressed to one of these people if they are on at the time.
The Conclave: This list contains the other Untouchables; the Apprentices, the retired higher powers and others who have helped with the game in the past.

To see these lists of people, simply type court, clave or conclave.

What is a tournament?

From time to time an Untouchable from the Court will organise a tournament. At a reset, all players who wish to join in the tournament are asked to log on as a temporary character with a four letter name. The winner of a tournament is the player with the most points at the end and they will receive a prize. usually it will last about 30 minutes. The special thing about tournaments is that player killing is allowed and encouraged. You will get points for every player kill and less for killing mobiles. The winner and usually two runners up will be awarded with points for their real characters depending on the amount of people in the tournament.

Pets, what are they?

Some of the mobiles in the game are capable of becoming your pets. If they choose to do this you will be informed that they have joined your party. Type party score to get details of the party you are in. If you are lucky enough to have a pet you can give it instructions. Simply tell it what to do, for example if the Phoenix was your pet you could type:
tell phoenix drop all
This would cause the Phoenix to drop all that he was carrying whereever he was. Note, pets are not that common.

For more about PETS read the INFO file.

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