Some tips for those that are struggling

[randoms2]

> First and foremost. You will die. *You will die a lot*. The early game is absolutely merciless, but the game gets smoother, I promise. But you have to stick with it. Knowledge is power in this game

> For combat, speed is king. If you have a full party of 3 speed heroes, you're going to have a bad time. I highly recommend the assassin for this reason, as he can easily stun 1-2 people before anyone can act with how much damage he can output.

> Combat tip 2, Do not underestimate the value of weakness. Weakness often makes the difference between your heroes being able to block the first wave of attacks, or eating a lot of damage. The botanist's ability that hits the two front-row enemies and applies weakness at the same time is the best. Not to mention, she acts on a speed of 5, so she goes before 90% of the enemies. Same goes for the bard, but his is only single target.

> Spend as much time as you can near the starting area Mka. Go westward first, and grab everything you can along the way as you loop your way back east. Fight every mob nearby and try to get as many random encounters as you can. Getting as much exp as you can within your limited run-time is very important. Especially when it is easy to do without suffering any supply loss as cacti and animal packs are abundant

> Every hero is different. Pay attention to what quirks they have, as some are extremely useful, such as veteran or sly, both of which improve your damage dealt. You might also find some characters who will start their first round of combat with exalted. This is an extremely good trait to have, as the first round of combat is easily the most important, and sets the pace for the rest of the fight

> Avoid using the pyromancer, the snail mage, or the ant hunter. The pyro is easily the worst character right now due to his complete lack of utility, slow initiative, and lackluster ability (It sounds nice on paper, but often times, when you are in danger and need the healing, you are often times in the desert). The snail and the ant aren't really bad per say, they both can have their moments, especially if you pair them with the bard and use his ability that gives haste. But at the end of the day, there are just better people worth bringing. Which brings me to my next point

> In my humble opinion, the botanist, bard, and assassin are all top priority picks when you are picking characters.

> The botanist's ability and starting items both replenish dried crops on the map, which massively impacts your supply of rations. You'll probably notice a night and day difference doing a run without a botanist. As mentioned earlier, try to grab her weakness attack at level 2

> The bard's ability to hit back row with his weakness attack while acting on a speed of 5 pairs insanely well with the botanist. Hitting 3/4 of the enemies with weakness before any of the enemies can act makes fights dramatically more safe for your team. Also his over-world ability is hands down the most useful one in the game.

> The assassin has the best damage in the game, and is the fastest character in the game, which ironically makes him the best crowd controller out of the entire roster. His basic attack is almost guaranteed to break someone's armor in the first round, resulting in a stun. And from level 2 onward, his aoe attack hits everyone for some pretty good damage, often times being enough to outright break a squishy's armor, or set it up so either of the nagas can do it. Never pass up an assassin who has the exalted trait, as an assassin with this trait is probably the strongest character you can get your hands on. Prioritize on leveling the assassin to make sure he stays ahead of the curve in later fights.

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I could go on and on with more, but this is getting long enough as is. I know there is a lot of people making a point about how difficult and unmanageable this game is, but it's I believe it's being blown out of proportion, and hopefully some of these tips help

[Cosmo]

I agree with pretty much everything you said here. I'm curious which unit you like to have as your fourth if you run the top three (which I agree with wholeheartedly). I personally like the snail as I find him a bit more useful than say the elephant. I think his best ability is the one that lets him slow two enemies as it helps you immensely for some of the harder fights and stunning enemies before they get their first attack off.

Also, I'm curious what everyone's take is on the other units. I've ran the pyro a handful of times because of his decent damage and higher hp. He's not optimal by any means but he can be a good source of mental damage if i need it and I do think the self heal can help him pseudo tank if given the opportunity. The ant is pretty underwhelming so I never run him.

The big thing that confuses me are the three terramancers you can unlock (the frogs) as well as the wind unit. I find that their numbers on abilities are really poor compared to the other units and their abilities are middling at best (the ability to clear the sand is decent but the unit is awful). One of the frog units has an ability that gives the whole party healing regen, but that's only 5 per turn which means pretty much nothing the whole game. Especially when choosing the most optimal move each turn is really important.

Right now I just have to collect the wood for the one quest once it is fixed (unless it's hiding somewhere I haven't been to), and go to the mother tree on the east side of the map which I believe leads to a hard fight. I got close to that side of the map but it was surrounded by a lot of harsh terrain, not many supplies, and the enemies were all level 7 while mine were 5/4 so I wiped before I explored much around there. Just trying to use my runs right now to gather more memory points to make things easier.

[randoms2]

The fourth is always a toss-up for me, as it's usually a "pick your poison" sort of situation, where I try to work with the best I got. Ideally, my last slot would be the elephant, just because he can fill a spot on the front line and eat some hits. Also having the option to haste him and protect one of my other characters in-case things get out of control is nice.

Also I didn't mention him because most early players aren't realistically going to have access to him, but I'm digging the hydromancer. To me, he's just a better pyro, where he gets the double attack that can hit the two front or back units, and not having to worry about damaging myself. Not to mention he has some good single target with drain too. If you can get the water vulnerability upgrade, he pairs extremely well with the nagas which I always try to use anyways

Edit: Also I should probably mention I'm working on my way to Umama (sp?). I have a feeling that it unlocks the ability to get wood, as when you look at the memories, there's one that builds a road to a mangrove forest once you find Umama

[Kookyo]

I have to disagree on the pyro because I find him pretty useful in plenty of events where you have a special option just for him

[ELRIX]

There was one run I got hit by the moldy food event that gave me -50 supplies, twice.

At that moment, I felt like the game was just making the game difficult only for the sake of making it difficult and prolonging the gameplay with badly thought design. I appreciate challenges but not "cheap" difficulty wall.

This thread actually made me reconsider my stance and I thought maybe I was just super unlucky with the RNG at that time and I might be too quick to judge.

Any tips about supplies management for newbies? I'm a bit frustrated with starvation.

[SEND 'EM TO THE RANCH]

This might be a little late, but when you are starting your caravan and picking your 4 party members, they can sometimes have a perk that gives them 30% more supplies (which can stack). If you don't get a few members with this just close the game and do it again. I once had everyone have the perk and I was running around with almost 80 supplies and this was only my 4th caravan (18th in game). You can unlock so much more stuff in a run if you reroll the caravan members and get everyone to have the perk or even just 3 of them having it.

[Wlerin]

Originally posted by Cosmo:

I'm curious which unit you like to have as your fourth if you run the top three (which I agree with wholeheartedly).

Probably archeologist once you unlock him. Before that maybe the Protector. Inquisitive Glare is strong, his version of Charge is decent if you need to ping two low health or low shield enemies in a line, he can get an attack with Blind, and his shielding skill can be a lifesaver. And he's just got a ridiculous amount of health. That or Pyro. He has good single target damage--including a powerful attack that's also a self-heal--plus a lot of useful event options (like turning the Cold Nights event into Hope). None of the skills that reduce Hope actually do so at present, so his heal is without cost (and fully upgrading it removes that anyway).

It is really hard to compare to botanist, bard, and assassin. OP didn't even mention the Botanist's Insidious Seed. Most of the time it will wipe out the entire enemy squad when it triggers--just don't cast it more than once in a battle.

Originally posted by ELRIX:

There was one run I got hit by the moldy food event that gave me -50 supplies, twice.

At that moment, I felt like the game was just making the game difficult only for the sake of making it difficult and prolonging the gameplay with badly thought design. I appreciate challenges but not "cheap" difficulty wall.

Yeah, that event really sucks. I usually just take the damage rather than lose food, unless I'm almost out anyway.

Originally posted by Cosmo:

This thread actually made me reconsider my stance and I thought maybe I was just super unlucky with the RNG at that time and I might be too quick to judge.

Any tips about supplies management for newbies? I'm a bit frustrated with starvation.

Prioritize the Mka main quest, up through reseeding Yoz. And also unlock the reputation and road perks on the bottom row of the Crystal Library. Doing both of those will refertilize the central desert, which makes survival massively easier in the early game. The reputation also makes resting in that faction's cities more rewarding (up to 75% healing/31 supplies) and at 5 unlocks access to their Aqueduct, which gives an assortment of supply items (iirc something like 5 cactus fruit, 1-2 dates, 3 water).

[Booingot]

the snail mage does insane damage with mind, almost insta kill for a row

[Kintak ヽ(´ー｀)ﾉ]

Agreed on everything except the Snail Mage. He hits like a truck and has very good survivability plus AoE weakness. His achilles heel is slow speed and low base HP but you can shore him up with fast support that make sure he doesn't get armor broken before he can pop off.

Pyro can also be very useful with his ability to heal using his field skill (which can ALSO be used to drain a river to make a bridge by the way), and he can be a decent tank with his high health pool. He does seem a little weak particularly since he's all fire damage and fetishes are underpowered. That's not to mention he has one mediocre buff that drains hope and a useless one that just gives fire resist.

Ant Hunter is by far the worst. Just as slow as the snail, offers no utility, only has physical attacks, and doesn't even hit all that hard. I feel like he should be a speed 6.

You also forgot to mention the Air Elemental, which I'd actually put on the same level as Ant Hunter. His damage is too low for how flimsy and how little utility he offers. His ability to shift enemy positions isn't useful enough to make up for it (it's honestly not useful at all).

[Mustardoish]

Thanks, I found that very helpful

[DoctorDinosaur]

"And also unlock the reputation and road perks on the bottom row of the Crystal Library. Doing both of those will refertilize the central desert"
It will? I unlocked skills 1 (Guild Services),2 (The Atheist Saga) and 5 (Terracer Way). I believe the latter should do what you described...except it doesn't with me.