Welcome to the Fantasy Empires FAQ
Update information
Version 1.0 Released February 28th 1994
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
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
wuarchive
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) What is the best magic item for a hero to have?
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
?) 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.
This list is a provisional one derived from game playing
experiences of myself and others. The official list has
been promised to me and I will incorporate that into V1.1.
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.
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
I hope that you find this FAQ useful. Version 1.1 will be
released fairly soon, but I'm not falling into the trap of
setting a date. What it should include is the official
list of the magic items, more information on simulated
combat and any further questions or comments that are sent
to me. I would particularly welcome comments for the tactics
section, be they new tactics or commenting on ones
already present.
28th February
Richard Abbott
