Tips for New Players

Top 10 Things To Know About GoS

from GoS veteran alMordre

A Game of Stones is not the simplest game. It can be played simply, but once you get into it, there is depth here to explore. Here's a list of very basic info that will help you get up to speed, with some digging around and figuring out where things are. After this, the Wiki site, several threads in the Forum, other players, and that most heartless wench, Experience, will fill in most of the blanks.

1. Each character starts with 70 turns (sword-icon counter). 2 turns added to counter on the hour, so 48 per day. Can keep a max of 100 turns (200 max saved, and other very convenient but no-gameplay-advantage bonuses if you donate at least $5 to the game).

2. Allocate your Skill points - You'll be sorely underpowered starting out if you don't do this. Top-row "Passive" skills always in effect, bottom-row "Active" skills have to be activated. Active skills can't be higher level than Passive skills above them. More Skill pts are awarded each level, and the rate increases at lvl 15, 30, etc. New character Class choices are available at lvl 20, 40, etc.

3. More gear can be bought from Shops in Cities, or can be scavenged from NPCs when Exploring. You can't equip a piece of gear with a point cost more than half your total equipment points. Items you can't use appear red in inventory list, and don't appear in equip menus. Some ter'angreal/skills lower equip point costs to get you there quicker.

4. Ter'angreal come in many forms - some used as weapons (hand slots), other as armor (body slots), but all can be combined with gear to tweak gear stats. Visit the Wise Woman in a City to combine ter'angreal with your gear - you'll see the stats of the finished item before finalizing. Be careful of mod'ing a piece beyond the halfway rule (see #3).

5. Stamina (heart icon counter) is lost with travel (1 per stop) or battle (varies based on battle), and lowers your effectiveness in battle. Recuperate with a stay at an Inn in a City, or buy food there to carry with you. If you're broke, stamina recharges on its own (2 per hour in City, doesn't recharge in wilderness until you build an Estate).

6. Gear dropped by NPCs is always "used." Your equipped gear gets damaged and degrades with each use. Condition is shown in % on equipment page/inventory list. Stats of gear changes with degradation - lowers stats, can even result in giving a boost to your opponent (-def%). Repair gear at the Blacksmith in any City.

7. Experience points are earned through battles you initiate (no Experience points awarded for defends, due to ease of abuse). Loss of a battle earns half the Experience that a win would have earned. Dueling other players earns the most Experience, but is hardest to win. Exploring in Wilderness Areas and battling NPCs earns less experience, but you pick up gear to use or sell for coin. Hordes (large groups of a single NPC type) fall in between, appear randomly, and take 3 turns per hit.

8. Ji is the scoring method for clans. Highest Ji score "controls" a City. Ji level determines gear available in a City's Shop. Each battle earns Ji for your clan, if you join one. Duels in a City earn 4 Ji for the clan in that City, Duels or NPC battles in wilderness earn 1 Ji for each connected City. Ji awards are weighted based on lvl diff between opponents, and other factors.

9. Join a clan for help, fun, like-minded characters, etc. Be social (if you want). Separate clan chat for asking questions, etc. Clan vault for gear you can borrow. Support your clan by burning your turns in/near Cities your clan aims to control. Donate spare coin to the Clan to help purchase upgrades that boost stats for entire clan or to add better gear to controlled cities' Shops. Clan battles between rival clans will come into play sooner or later - fight for world domination! Hey, it CAN happen - trust me!

10. GoS uses IP history to monitor/restrict things like your number of characters and trading/selling of items between alts (makes it TOO easy to build up gear sets). If you share a computer/home with another WoT/GoS fan, you may have to contact the Creator to arrange special permission/tweaks to allow both of you to have the full number of alts, etc.

Bonus Tip from Tim:

11. Yellow Items in inventory are "cached", or belong to the clan vault. Cached items cannot be sold, dropped, or traded. The idea behind this is to stop you from accidentally selling something you don't want to. You can cache or uncache items by checking the box next to them in your inventory and clicking the "Cache/Uncache" button at the bottom of the screen.