TIPS on SURVIVING Crossfire is populated with a wealth of different monsters. These monsters can have varying immunities and attack types. In addition, some of them can be quite a bit smarter than others. It will be important for new players to learn the abilities of different monsters and learn just how much it will take to kill them. This section discusses how monsters can interact with players. Most monsters in the game are out to mindlessly kill and destroy the players. These monsters will help boost a player's score, after he kills them. When fighting a large amount of monsters in a single room, attempt to find a narrower hallway so that you are not being attacked from all sides. Charging into a room full of Beholders for instance would not be wise, instead, open the door and fight them one at a time. For beginners, there are several maps designed for them. Find these areas and clear them out. All throughout these levels, a player can find signs and books which they can read by stepping onto them and hitting 'A' to apply the book/sign. These messages will help the player to learn the system. One more note, always keep an eye on your food. If your food drops to zero, your character will soon die, so BE CAREFUL! NPCs Non Player Character are special monsters which have "intelligence." Players may be able to interact with these monsters to help solve puzzles and find items of interest. To speak with a monster you suspect to be a NPC, simply move to an adjacent square to them and push the double-quote, ie. ". Enter your message, and press . You can also use 'say if you feel like typing a little extra. Other NPCs may not speak to you, but display intelligence with their movement. Some monsters can be friendly, and may attack the nearest of your enemies. Others can be "pets", in that they follow you around and help you in your quest to kill enemies and find treasure. SPECIAL ITEMS There are many special items which can be found in Crossfire, of these the most important may be the signs. Signs : Signs often have messages that might clue you in on quests and puzzles or even refer you to NPCs. It is your job as a player to make sure you read every sign to make sure you do not miss things. Handles and Buttons : These items can often be manipulated to open up new areas of the map. In the case of handles, all a player must do is apply the handle. In the case of buttons, the player must move items over the button to "hold" it down. Some of the larger buttons may need very large items to be moved onto them, before they can be activated. Gates and locked doors : Gates are often tied to a handle or button and can only be opened by manipulating the the handle/button. Doors that are locked can either be smashed down by attacking the door or by using keys which can be found throughout the game. Pits : Pits can be doorways to new areas of the map too, but be careful, for you could fall down into a pit full of ghosts or dragons and not be able to get back out. Break away walls: Are a common occurrence in Crossfire. These type of walls can be "destroyed" by attacking them. Thus, sometimes it may be worth a player's time to test the walls of a map for "secret doors." Fire walls: Will shoot missiles at players. Some firewalls can be destroyed others cannot. Directors and Spinners: These odd items will change the direction of any item flying over them, such as missile weapons and spells. CAUTION: Some items are perishable. If for instance you shoot a fireball into a room full of scrolls, you will notice them going up in smoke! So be careful not to destroy valuable items. Spellbooks/prayerbooks: This is how players can obtain magical spells, sometimes a player can learn the spell, other times they cannot. There are many, many different types of books and scrolls out there. Improve item scrolls: These are used to turn non magical weapons into magical weapons. These magical weapons can do many things - improve stats, have lower weight, higher damage, etc. The method for creation and further improvement was changed in version 0.91.7. Both methods are listed here, because it is possible to enable the old version on a server by server basis. New Version: Prepare weapons: Diamonds (Gems) are required for the sacrifice. The item can be enchanted the square root of the number of diamonds sacrificed. Thus, if 100 diamonds are sacrificed, the weapon can have 10 other enchant scrolls read. Improve damage: There is no sacrifice. Each scroll read will increase the damage by 5 points, and the weight by 5 kilograms. Lower (Improve) Weight: There is no sacrifice. Each scroll read will reduce the weight by 20%. The minimum weight a weapon can have is 1 gram. Enchant weapon: This does not require any sacrifices, and increases the magic by 1. Improve Stat (ie, Strength, Dexterity, etc): The sacrifice is the potion of the same type as the ability to be increased (ie, Improve Strength requires strength potions). The number of potions needed is the sum of all the abilities the weapon presently gives multipled by 2. The ability will then be increased by 1 point. Thus, if a sword is int+2 str+2, then 8 potions would be needed to raise any stat by one point. But if the sword was int+2 str+2 wis-2, then only 4 potions. A mininum of 2 potions will be needed (such a situation could happen when you are starting with a weapon that gives a penalty to a stat (ie, Con-1)) Old Improvement Methd: For each improve scroll & prepare weapon scroll, at least 5 food and 10 booze must be on the ground. How much the ability is raised depends on the amount of item donated, with each scroll requiring that something be donated. Here is a short list: Prepare weapons: Diamonds (Gems) are required for the sacrifice. The item can be enchanted the square root of the number of diamonds sacrificed. Thus, if 100 diamonds are sacrificed, the weapon can have 10 other enchant scrolls read. Improve damage: The square root of the number of rubies determines how much the damage will go up. Weight is increased 2 kg for each plus the weapon goes up. The maximum damage a weapon can ever do is 70. Improve weight: The square root of the number of pearls determines how much the weight is reduced, .75 kg. Enchant weapon: This does not require any sacrifices, but rather increases the magic by 1, and reduces the weight by 10%. Improve Stat (ie, Strength, Dexterity, etc): The sacrifice is the potion of the same type as the ability to be increased (ie, Improve Strength requires strength potions). The amount increased is the square root of (sacrifice/2). Rings/Amulets: Again many different types, rings can be worn to add/remove different immunities. Wands/Staves/Rods, Scrolls: Not so many types of wands, staves and rods as scrolls. These let you cast spells you don't know. A scroll can be used once, wands and staves have a limited number of charges, and rods let you use a spell every so often. Artifacts: These are the real treasures of the game. There are more than 20 artifacts out there, but they are very hard to come by. Weapons/Armor: Tons of items, it is up to you as the player to figure out which work better then others.