Birthright FAQ
by TjMaxx
tjmaxx@geocities.com
Updated 9/21/97
The following FAQ list was compiled from message posts from Sierra's
Message board. Some messages have been edited to remove information
not pertaining to the question. If you have a question you would like
to see added or is not covered under this list. Drop me an e-mail at
Tjmaxx@geocities.com or Visit Sierra's Web page at www.sierra.com And
visit the message boards there are many knowlgeable people who are
willing to answer any questions you may have.
***Word to Note***
If this page starts to take too long to load Yell at me via e-mail.
I have a very fast connection to the internet and it makes it
difficult for me to tell.
The Horror Known as GORGON
Q: How do I memorize / learn spells?
A: To memorize spells prior to an adventure, go to the adventure prep
screen and left click on your wizard. A box should come up with the
character's inventory etc. Click on Spells and a whole list of spells
with varying levels should come up. Some will be set at 0 and some
will be memorized already. There should also be a button there. To
memorize the spell, just click on buttons to your liking. There is only a
certain amount of spells you can memorize per level and to see how
many of that level you have left to memorize, just deselect the spell
that is currently selected and down the bottom, you should see a little
status message saying n1/n2/n3/n4/etc where n numbers of spells left
that you can memorize for that level (the n1 n2 etc. denotes level 1,
level 2, etc. etc. etc.).
Harley
Q: I found a Spell book/Tome, how do I use it?
A: To memorize spell books for wizards, just go to the inventory screen
DURING THE ADVENTURE and 'use' the book. Be aware that sometimes books can
only be used by people with a certain alignment.
And some books, esp Priest books, aren't spell books, rather, if the
right character (in terms of alignment) is carrying it in their inventory,
then the bonuses automatically begin working for you.
Harley
Q: How do you equip rings and cloaks?
A: Click on the picture of the item on your inventory screen to Equip
items. If it an equipable item it will get a * next to it. Things like
wands staffs and necklesses are used with the USE buttons and others are
used simply by having them on your person
(mostly tomes and artifacts).
Jim
Q: Help!! I am on a quest and ran into That big ugly Gorgon, I tried
fighting him But he stones half the party and swiftly kills the other
half. How can I defeat him? Also, if he is killed in the adventure,
is he also demised in the rest of the game? Do you get points for
his death?
A: 1)Well, it doesn't do a whole lot of good to fight the Gorgon in
hand to hand combat, because even if you win, he doesn't really die. He
just turns to stone and comes back after the adventure is over. I
reccomend using the Wand of Flesh to Stone on him. One shot, from
a distance, and he's out of action for the rest of the adventure.
D. Pierce Williams
A: 2) If you don't want to just stone the old guy (which seems a
little too easy doesn't it?) you can try this:
1. Send a fighter or two in to do combat with him. Have them use a
potion of Giant Strength. There's a potion of Titan strength right there
in the room where the ogres are before you fight the Gorgon, unless
you come up one of the two back ways, that is. There is also a Potion
of Invulnerability, but you do not need this if you
2. have a ready supply of Confusion or Power Word: Stun spells
available. Use them and his rockyness will just wander about or stand
immobile while your fighter(s) thrash him.
3. It also helps if you use any Oil of Sharpness you have with you. A
Blindness spell will also make him easier to hit.
The Gorgon can't get out of the room he is in, so you need not face
him if you don't feel like it. There are some nice goodies in that room
with him, though. By carefully placing yourself in the doorway and in
the back entrances, however, you can snatch all the treasure up
without having to fight him.
These tactics also work when you go on the Kal-Saitharak adventure
and face him again. (You can kill him during an adventure or on the
battle field, but he just keeps coming back.)
Gary
A:3)You get about 32,000 exp. for killing him.
Porphyrogenetus
______________________________________________________________________
Realm questions
The Broken Empire
Q: The Imperial City of Anuire. I must be blind or something because I
have never seen it. Can someone help me out and let me know where I
should be looking for it?
A: The Imperial City Is the City of Anuire. It is located between The
Diemed realm and Avanil. It is kina (but not really) a part of the province
of Anuire. but It a power in its own right.
It is a neutral City and has its own regents. (that never lasts long)
Jim
Q: Simple question.Vassals, what are they and how do I get some?
A: Vassalage is political agreement between two domains. One regent
agrees to be the "Lord," who's major responsibility is to provide
protection to the other party, the vassal. In return, the vassal must
ai the Lord when called upon, either by providing troops in time of war
or paying tribute.
In Birthright, you create a vassalage agreement by using the
Diplomacy domain action. You must increase another domains
reaction rating (the percentage next to their name) to 150% or more.
You will genrally need to create a Permissive Alliance, followed by a
Full Allaince, and then finally go for the Oath of Fealty which
creates the vassalage agreement.
When you negotiate an Oath of Fealty with a landed domain, that
domain will become a very close ally but you will not get any of their
holdings (of course, you can always demand them throgh Diplomacy).
When you negotiate the Oath with a non-landed regent or domain,
such as the High Mage Aelies or the Swamp Mage, they become your
lieutenant and you gain control of all of their holdings.
D. Pierce Williams
Q: How is it possible that the gorgon takes over a whole realm with
all holdings and units in one round????
A: Gorgon: he takes over an entire realm at once. HEY! That's no fair.
Oh, wait--he did it right after he slapped his incompetent ally asside
and said he was going to take over his armies himself, right?
Porphyrogenetus
Q: How do I prevent my lieutenants or Regent from being assassinated?
A: Always stack your Regent and important lieutenants with other
units. This lowers the chances that they will be the target of an assassin.
D. Pierce Williams
Q: What does a trade rout do?
A: Guilds bring in a certain amount of GB without any trade routes.
In fact, a Guild (5) in a Province (5) has the potential to generate
1d6 GB, the same amount as a Temple (5) in that same province. So, if
making the maximum GB is your goal, Guilds are a better approach
because they bring in a nice income on their own, and their trade
routes can be VERY lucrative. To determine how much a trade route
will bring in, average the levels of the two provinces it connects.
For example, if I create a route between Caercas in Roesone which is a
Province (4) and Calrie in Aerenwe, a Province (6), I will make 5 GB
per turn off of it. Not bad. Guilds will probably be even more
attractive when they do something to make Thieves better lieutenants.
D. Pierce Williams
Q: How can I use blood abilities?
A: As far as I know, all of the blood abilities that should effect
realm actions or battles do work as they should. But, the blood abilities
that should have had an effect in adventures were disabled when the game
shipped. A whole slew of these have been fixed and were listed in the
Birthright Updates Newsletter. 4 more were fixed after the newsletter
went out.
Robert Clardy
Q: I have a Invaded and laid siege to a province and I
accidentally moved my troops into a province I already have.
When I try to move them back I get a message "You cannot
cross that boarded" Why?
A: Once you have declared war, invaded and laid siege to a province.
Your troops may move freely in and out of that province even after the
season you declared war has passed, As long as you have troops in the
province securing your military claim to that province. Once you move your
troops out, you no longer have that claim and must declare war to reenter the
province or enter via some other means like transport or summoning.
Jim
Q: How do I successfully Conquer an enemy's land?
A: The crossed swords (the X) on the province icon means that you have
successfully occupied the province. There is still one more step to take
before you can control it, though. You must destroy all castles and
wizards towers in the province (this happens automatically if you have
troops in the province equal to the castle or tower level) and then use
the Investiture action to take control of the province. You will know
when you have met the requirements for investiture when the crossed
word change to the silhouette of a soldier (looks like a little blob) on
the province icon in the taxation menu. Now that you own the prov.
you can use the agitate option to raise the level of loyalty. Agitate is
a very powerful tool if used properly since you can agitate any
providence you have holdings in.
Q: Whenever I investiture a conquered province, the province has a "X"
over a symbol in the taxation screen. I can tax them but only lightly or
the loyalty will go down. Is there a way to get totally control of a
conquered province and how?
A:(1) Now that you own the prov. you can use the agitate option to raise
the level of loyalty. Agitate is a very powerful tool if used properly
since you can agitate any providence you have holdings in.
Jim
A:(2) The most common cause of deteriorating loyalty in a provence you
have invested (note the word. I know I' m pedantic but: Investiture,
the act of investment, to invest, I invested that provence) is a lack of
lawholdings and taxing the provence above "light".
You need to create and rule law holdings in a provence if you want to
increase the tax rate. It's often easiest to just build trade routes and get
the bulk of your money that way.
Sometimes, though, as a kind of "random event" Provences with
adequate law holdings will flip out, riot, and rebel. This is rare,
though. But it has happened to me.
Porphyrogenetus
Q:What is the purpose of having the War Banner of the Gorgon?
A:(1)When youz gits da War Banner from da Gorgon, it gits you 100
points toward becoming da next Emperor o All Anuire.
Da Ork Guard
Q: I Am having trouble increasing the levels of holdings that I created.
In my capital province, I was unable to raise 0 level temple holding to
a 1st level holding until my province level was 6. Why does that happen?
Am I doing something wrong?
A: Sounds like someone else has their feet in your territory...
Click on the first button on the bottom right (that says units and
holdings). Then select button that allows the comp to show all holdings
and units for all three categories. Then check out the map and see if
people are hogging up your space...
Guilds, temples and Law holdings all rely on the amount of population
space left in the province. Eg. 5/6 means level 5 pop and level 6
magic. Source holdings rely on the magic level. Now if someone has a
holding in your territory, say at a level 4, then in the above example,
your maximum holding can only be a level 1 (4+1=5), until you raise
the level of the population (which is what you have done) in which
case, you can increase by a further level (and so can they, so be
quick!!).
Does that make any sense? If not, I'll amputate my fingers and try
typing it again with my nose.
Harley
Q: What is a Tribute?
A: A tribute it gold given each season to you or from you depending on
who demands the tribute.
Q: I have played the game until the 18th turn and yet to see any sign
of the Regency points. I know that I need at least 300 to win the
game but I can't see my progress! If any of my rivals get 300, will they
win the game? I am scared of that scenario happening as Mur-Kilad has gone
pretty gigantic.
A: Hold on a second there, chummer. Seems to be a bit of confusion:
Regency Points are things you collect every turn based on 1) your
Regency strength and 2) your realm strength. You spend 'em (along
with Gold Bars) on actions to increase your success, etc.
Realm Strength is how you win the game and become Emperor: On
the reports screen, under the Chamberlain, bring up the Realm
Strength chart; it will show your strength as compaired to the top ten
NPC realms.
Porphyrogenetus
Q: Who are these Thieves that keep robing me after I get above 5k and
how can I prevent it?
A: The money disapearing is a preventive to keep your realm from
getting too much money.
Once your treasury gets above a certain level It could start causing
unwanted actions such as negitve numbers and other wierd things.
Q: I have killed all contenders, own all provinces, and have become the
emperor. How do I get rid of these nasty chaos troops and end the
game?
A: When you become emperor, you have "won" the game. This is the
time in the game where you have become pretty much unstoppable,
you have proven you can win, and so we acknowledge the fact and
encourage you to try again with harder settings and a harder realm.
But, many people let us know that they did not necessarily want to
stop that game at that time. They had become attached to the action,
to that realm and those characters and wished to play on. Some had
their own goals (take every province, for instance) that took longer
than another player might wish to invest.
So, it's your choice when you stop and how long you play. Start over
when you get bored. Change realms and strategies. Find other
approaches to the game. It's your game. We're not going to tell you
when to stop playing.
Oh yeah, those irritating monster invasions. Even if you control
every province in Anuire, there are hidy holes and caves, secret
lairs and inaccessible mountains where monsters will breed and prey
upon your peaceful kingdom. They are a part of life, now and forever. You
can never completely eliminate them.
Goblin Bob
Field Battle questions
______________________________________________________________________
The Gods Final Battle
Q: How do I cast in combat?
A: You have to wait until an enemy unit is on its way or is already in a
square North, South, East, or West of you (no diagonals). Then you'll
probably hear something like, "Wizard ready". THEN when you
click on the wizard the spells will come up. A quick way to see how
many battlefield spells you have left is to RIGHT click on your
wizard's unit. (This all applies to Priests as well)
Tanger the Elf
Q: Skeletons are Really tough how can I beat them?
Without the use of magic.
A:(1) Skeletons are as tough as they are in the pen n paper game (which
is TOUGH). They can be (easily) defeated, once you know how,
though (try magic. lots of magic; and let the computer run the bigger
battles involving skeletons vs. knights when you have no mage or
cleric available for that fight).
Porphyrogenetus
A:(2) I found that dwarven inf. does a fairly good job of wailing on those
babies, That and bowmen. As long as you are not too out numbered. Use
bowmen/Archers/Calvery of any other unit with missile weapons (elven
archers are the Best but any can work.). Keep them at a distance and
firing. When the
Skeletons advance on the unit move them. (mounted units move faster and
come to a ready state much quicker then the skeletons) When a unit is
grayed out you can run through them to get behind them and fire from
behind.
Magic is by far the best way to deal with them and in large Numbers.
Jim
Defeating Skeletons using magic
A:(3) Watch where the computer player puts their units. This is the
advantage of having them move onto the battlefield 1st. Put your
priests or mage opposite the skeles. Also, if you have more than one
priest or mage, stagger them like so (where S stands for spellcaster):
S KorA S KorA S
or KorA S KorA S KorA
Move the spellcasters forward a space. Let them destroy the unit
oposite them, and shoot diagonally at the oponent to their flank when
they move forward. Don't hesitate to 'redeploy" your spellcasters by
moving them into the reserves, then bringing them back onto the
battlefield in the critical area. Don't waste spells on lesser units;
that's what the archers and knights are there for. Do not directly engage
the enemy with the wizard or priest; they won't be able to spellcast. Move
'em back, then wipe out the threatening unit and move forward. The
battlefield is like a chessboard; if you control the critical squares, you
will be able to retain manuverability and crush the enemy. Once you
get good, you'll never loose more than two-three units even in the
hardest fight. So keep practicing.
Oh, and you probably were not around for this suggestion; move
wounded units (yellow or red condition bars) into the reserves, and
they will survive the battle a lot more often than if you leave 'em on the
field. Undamaged units tend to be somewhat better for some reasons,
also, so it is a good idea to replace the wounded ones for that reason
as well (but keep using those spellcasters till they run out of spells,
though not at the risk of getting them killed).
Porphyrogenetus
Q: Does Battlewise work? I don't seem to notice any improvement while
fielding a regent with it.
A: It does work, but it is subtle. It increasing the attack and
defense numbers of the unit that that character is attached to. They do
better in battle than they would without his presence. Not real obvious in
its effects, but a reasonable approximation of what it should do.
Goblin Bob
A: It's actually VERY faithful to the pen n paper game(if you've tried any
of the other strategic-type ADnD to computer conversions, I can
understand why you asked; they were NOT very good at adapting the
campaign world).
It is almost exactly like the rules in the game. A few minor things were
left out. Some more important were to (like the Reasurch action), but
are probably going to be added. I could rave some more about it, but
I'll let others do so.
Porphyrogenetus
A:(2) Two thumbs WAY up on this game. (g)
In these threads you might see us debating on rules, or patches, or
whatever. We might disagree or wish some of the finer points were a
little different, but actually this is more of an indication of how cool
(and deep) this game is--I know I wouldn't take the trouble of
raising/responding to issues if I thought BR was just an ok game.
It's a game that's excited us enough to clamor for more. ;)
Finri
Q: How do you win via Magic style?
A:(1) Winning With magic. The subject forced me to try to win Purely by
magical means and Yes It can be done. Quick summery of how I did
it is this. Collect powerful sources, lay lines to other owning in other
lands. Casting raze spells to get rid of castles, mass distruction to
eleminate troops, death spell to get rid of holdings and summoning to
gain lands. I never once delaired war the entire game.
Jim
A:(2) 1) the "rulership styles" (magic, trade, military, temple, etc),
for each realm are just suggested ones (that is, their situation is
conductive to benifiting from a strategy dependant on that style). But you
can use any method you want.
2) Re getting source holdings all over the map. Yep, I get that a lot.
That and guild holdings. Tip, though: Some of em, many of em, are not
worth defending if a foreign regent decides to contest them. Let 'em
fall. Keep only the best ones, and the ones connected to lay lines
(enemy regents tend to get fixated on one holding, and will keep
comming back even if you fight off their attempt. Suddenly you can
realize, turns later, that you've spent over a hundred regency points
protecting a lousy level 3 source that you don't even plan to use).
3) How to win with magic: Usually you need to mix in all the strategies
to some extent (trade to fund your armies and diplomacy, armies to
dispatch to threatened allies, and to invade an area you don't have a
source in, or don't want to spend the RP to summon into, and magic
to ward out enemies and skrew 'em over). A strategy dominated by
magic would consist of getting the aformentioned pages of source
holdings, creating modest sources in provences that you want to
ensourcel [sp=very bad], and connecting them with lay lines to your
best sources. You need to try to get either the level 7 source in
spiderfell or the level 9 one in Rhoubhe if you can, but any of the
numerous potential level 5 sources will do for most of your purposes
(just build castles instead of strongholds. But thouse other sources are
too cool for me, I never pass 'em up, even if they have little game play
benifit).
Adventure primarily for stuff like Feale's and Dierdrien's rings, etc
(that is, if you have a choice between them and, say, the Amulet of
Inspiration), 'cause they're most helpful with this strategy(If they don't
pop up as potential adventures, though, don't worry, and don't
hesitate to adventure for the other atrifacts).
You have to have regency to BURN with this strategy, though; Mass
distruction costs 10 regency points per unit destroyed. Hooking up a
mass of lay lines over long distances can also deplete you (so don't
build 'em just cause you can; build the ones you need. Build more later
if /when you find yourself overflowwing with regency, late in the
game). Summoning troops into provences is probably the best way to
conquer them; you get to invest the provence, and for some reason
the former owner doesn't mind as much.
Porphyrogenetus
______________________________________________________________________
Hardware Issues
also see
The trouble Shooting guide.
Q: I'm using the french version of Win95. The game seem's to
be looking for the french version of the text files on the CD.
But, it doesn't find them since I have the english version of the game.
A: The problem you are describing is because the game was prepared for
multiple languages to be on one CD, then the European office decided
they wanted a separate master. So, installing the English game on a
German or French system (Win95 in that language), confuses the install
and it tries to install the non-existent foreign language text files.
To fix the problem, you should edit the file called BRSETUP.CFG with
any text editor or word processor. The first line should read
[SETUP_TYPE] and the next line has a digit on it. The digit should be
2 for English language game text. Change that and it should work fine.
The other problem mentioned (no text in DOS play) happens if you play
the DOS verison in a Win95 DOS box. Can't do that unless you setup
Win95 memory management correctly. Your best bet is to boot to
native DOS mode and play the DOS version there. Or, stick with Win95.
But, not a DOS box under Win95.
Goblin Bob
Q: I cant seem to get the game to run in DirectX what can I do?
A: The game was designed to be used with DirectX 2.0 The latest versions
of directX are not backward compatable (they are suposed to be) and so the
game does not work properly with never versions of DirectX. You Can
Uninstall your current DirectX (I don't recomend this as alot of new games
you may have will need newer versions of DirectX) and reinstall useing
2.0.
Or if you don't want to use Direct Draw, bring your screen down to
640x480 by right clicking on your desktop, selecting properties and
selecting the settings tab, you will find that it fills the entire screen,
without even using D-Draw.
The last option is that you could run it in dos.
Jim b=[;.
Q: The character editor doesn't seem to work right now that
I have the beta patch installed. What happened?
A: As it currently stands the patch messes with the chargen. You can still
change all the inventory stuff, but it seems to disable the other changes
(level, class, ability scores, etc.) I think (just a theory) that this
is caused by the changes that were made to prevent edited characters from
appearing in multiplayer games (where they can really mess things up).
Hopefully it will be fixed soon.
