The West (as of 3/09, Bat Country will be on World 8)

[Ghambit]

Hmmm, would you trust my answer?

no, that'd be rather redundant

[Samwise]

Will my computer blow up if I start cutting and pasting what these sites ask for? 

weststats.com is legit as far as I can tell, and awesome.  I've been using the job calculator to plan my skill progression for a while now.

[Der Helm]

Will my computer blow up if I start cutting and pasting what these sites ask for? 

weststats.com is legit as far as I can tell, and awesome.  I've been using the job calculator to plan my skill progression for a while now.

Same for me. I it.

[LK]

I'm going to have to start using it. I didn't realize Trading for Indians was so way the fuck out there.

[Samwise]

For planning my skill progression I've got a little list of all the jobs I need for upcoming quests (my goal is to finish every quest I can as soon as I can) and the skills needed for each, ordered how many more labor points I need to be able to do for each; the weststats job calculator is VERY handy for that.  Below that I've got a list of skills and stats ordered by the number of jobs they each apply to.  Each time I level I boost the first skill from list 2 that applies to the job at the top of list 1.  Once I qualify for a job, it comes off both lists and I start on the next one.  So far, so good.

[LK]

Yeah I need to pump a bunch of stats into Charisma.

[Righ]

I'm going to have to start using it. I didn't realize Trading for Indians was so way the fuck out there.

Trading with Indians, although its interesting that they missed out Slavery. And Feeding The Pigs.

[Kageru]

Putting most of your points into duelling related stats really simplifies the number of jobs you can do. Even when I had the premium job search as a quest reward it didn't tell me anything terribly interesting.

[Reg]

I've been using weststats for weeks to keep track of my skills and my stuff. It works just fine.

[Nebu]

If you need space in town, feel free to boot me.  I'm getting bored. 

[Kageru]

A poster on the forums talking about duel mechanics

We do know however (it has been confirmed by one of the german developers) that reflex works 50% against melee and toughness 50% against firearms. So the damage formula is something like

Gun * function(Shooting) * Function(1*Reflex+0.5*Toughness) = Dmg
Sword * function(Vigor) * Function(1*Toughness+0.5*Reflex) = Dmg

How those functions look like... no idea - but function*Function < 2, that is you can never do more than double your weapon's damage.

I guess that also helps explain why pi-man hits so hard. Even though his average damage is nothing special his damage cap is going to be monstrous.

Also can confirm you are vulnerable between finishing the job and walking back to the hotel ( just got KO'd).

[Xanthippe]

I'm going to have to start using it. I didn't realize Trading for Indians was so way the fuck out there.

Trading with Indians, although its interesting that they missed out Slavery. And Feeding The Pigs.

You mean slopping the hogs, pardner.

[Righ]

A poster on the forums talking about duel mechanics

Gun * function(Shooting) * Function(1*Reflex+0.5*Toughness) = Dmg
Sword * function(Vigor) * Function(1*Toughness+0.5*Reflex) = Dmg

Gun * function(Shooting) - Function(1*Reflex+0.5*Toughness) = Dmg
Sword * function(Vigor) - Function(1*Toughness+0.5*Reflex) = Dmg

More likely.

[Xanthippe]

My immunity's up in 10 minutes.

Come and get me, Coppers!

(I've longed to say that).

[Hawkbit]

Dont' worry, mine dropped a half hour ago and I've already been hit once.  It's like they spend all weekend F5ing just waiting for us.

[Xanthippe]

I survived with a silver from Manores and Arterio.  11/800.

Pi-man takes me down in one fight.  One!

Pttttttthhhhhhhhhhb!

[Kageru]

Are we going to develop a second town / Trammel for more shopping options? That rusty derringer seems to guarantee many levels of being easily farmed unless I go buy something better elsewhere.

Also with building is it the more labor points you have the more points of construction you advance the building (eg. pure builders are the best value for money) or you just get a number of points of advancement per period worked?

[Samwise]

Also with building is it the more labor points you have the more points of construction you advance the building (eg. pure builders are the best value for money) or you just get a number of points of advancement per period worked?

That first one.

[Kageru]

so basically there's no real space for a non-pure / dueller bait builder.. what a shame.

Applied for the beta just for fun and got in, now I need to decide if there's something entertaining enough to make the grind worth it. Not that it's really a beta since there's not much difference and with 500 people max the world is sparsely populated. Test server (with a really slow rate of change) is more like it.

Trying to build a Q-builder would be fun. Put all stats in strength and points in melee duelling skills and you could give someone looking for a soft target a nasty surprise. Maybe not even bother with dodging and just rely on high vigor and lots of health to make it hard for them. I guess if you're not going to be a pure-builder (or very near) you might as well just play adventurer for the better drops.

Could build my own town, but what a massive resource grind that is.

[Der Helm]

Trying to build a Q-builder would be fun. Put all stats in strength and points in melee duelling skills and you could give someone looking for a soft target a nasty surprise. Maybe not even bother with dodging and just rely on high vigor and lots of health to make it hard for them. I guess if you're not going to be a pure-builder (or very near) you might as well just play adventurer for the better drops.

I'd put a point in aim every level (or every other level), else you won't be able to hit anyone

[Kageru]

yeah, an important point :)

On further thinking might try a kamikaze melee build. Zero points in tactics, appearance, dodge (assume a pure dueller is going to beat you) and pump points into aim, vigor, toughness (which along with health are all being increased by strength as well). Set the duel tactics to don't dodge / headshots and try and make it so that even if you don't win you at least make them hurt. No idea if that would work in practice since the actual mechanics are pretty vague, but it would be an interesting experiment. The main question is how much aim you are down from losing the appearance / tactics competition.

[Righ]

The main question is how much aim you are down from losing the appearance / tactics competition.

Fucktons. There isn't much problem against 90% of equal-level viable (combat) players because most have even worse builds. If you make a pure combat soldier however, you'll be able to beat most people you are allowed to duel, regardless of how many levels they have on you. Tactics and appearance are especially good for pure combat builds because they open up jobs without compromising your fighting.

If you put points in toughness, you might as well put points in reflex. Your opponent gets to choose whether he's melee or ranged, so you're investing in resistances that won't affect a number of your opponents if you only increase one. That's why I consider points in toughness and reflex the worst investments of the nine combat-related skills. However, if you're going to neglect resistances, you need to invest in dodge.

You need aim. It is the most important skill for combat. If you plan to be ranged, stick all your attribute points in dexterity and you'll get decent aim from very few skill points and get a solid start on damage too. If you go melee, you need aim and vigor above all else. It isn't so obvious where to put your attributes in this case. Most will go for strength which increases vigor, toughness and health. It certainly isn't a bad choice, but I think you can do better with a charisma+aim+vigor build.

[Polysorbate80]

Are we going to develop a second town / Trammel for more shopping options?

Trammel general store level 2 complete:  grey & yellow indian necklaces.     Guess green was too much to hope for.

For my own edumacation, does praying before I complete a building make any damn difference to what it's stocked with?

[Xanthippe]

Nobody really knows the answer to that.

I pray every day after sleeping, just in case.

[LK]

I've been a bit out of it boosting my character's stats and funds but I'm ready for an invite back into the town.

[Nebu]

I'm trying to add to the town coffer when I can (as Grayhair), but it seems that as soon as I donate $250, I discover that a quests wants $200.  Bleh... staking claims seems to pay pretty well for its level, so I'll just keep doing that until my motivation goes down. 

Like I said before, if you need space in town boot me.  As an adventurer I can stay in other people's hotels (I think). 

[Samwise]

With people cycling out to shop elsewhere we've actually got a surplus of residence space these days.

[Kageru]

The main question is how much aim you are down from losing the appearance / tactics competition.

If you put points in toughness, you might as well put points in reflex. Your opponent gets to choose whether he's melee or ranged, so you're investing in resistances that won't affect a number of your opponents if you only increase one. That's why I consider points in toughness and reflex the worst investments of the nine combat-related skills. However, if you're going to neglect resistances, you need to invest in dodge.

(snip)

You need aim. It is the most important skill for combat. If you plan to be ranged, stick all your attribute points in dexterity and you'll get decent aim from very few skill points and get a solid start on damage too. If you go melee, you need aim and vigor above all else. It isn't so obvious where to put your attributes in this case. Most will go for strength which increases vigor, toughness and health. It certainly isn't a bad choice, but I think you can do better with a charisma+aim+vigor build.

The link I gave earlier suggested 50% of toughness applies to ranged damage and vice versa. So it's not as bad as it seemed. That build would be more of a defensive build trying to make sure you hurt the attacker enough it is not too rewarding. After all for a builder getting KO'd has the fringe benefit of 48 hours of protection whereas for a dueller being injured cuts into their farming time.

looking at the high level jobs dexterity and shooting open up a lot more options that the strength based skills. Trapping being particularly rewarding. But my main here is shooty and will be fun to try something different.

I don't really understand the point of limiting their test server to 500 people. It's so sparse. And since it's international most of the towns are non-english speaking. The germans especially having the largest towns.

[Righ]

In case anybody is wondering who FOFC are (El Dolado and Troutville are both suffixed FOFC):

http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/showthread.php?t=71756

[sidereal]

Front Office Football is an outstanding game, but it doesn't get updated often enough.

[Nebu]

Front Office Football is an outstanding game, but it doesn't get updated often enough.

It's too easy to game their AI.  It's a game that I really want to like, but it's still a poor man's championship manager.

[Kageru]

From that forum,

REMEMBER ALL WORKERS: when building shops, do two 15 minutes shots of praying before every two hours of building. Doing so will insure a better selection of items in the shop once it's leveled up. It's been tested and proven true by others and I have witnessed it too in another world.

uh, really? I don't really like the worker mechanics too much on reflection. It heavily encourages pure construction builds which at the same time mean you are highly vulnerable to duellists and really limited in the jobs you can do. Construction based jobs run out pretty early. On the positive side it does mean a high level pure builder would be able to upgrade a second town at a horrendous rate.

Adventurer looks pretty fun though, random items and large amounts of cash open a lot of opportunities.

[Xanthippe]

I've read that praying more than once a day does nothing.  I can't find it now, but I think it was a dev who said it.

[Righ]

I suspect that praying does nothing for town construction. My guess is that it is somehow related to the item drop rate on jobs. If the quality of an item dropped by a job of particular luck is dictated by how many labour points you have then perhaps praying gives you a temporary effective boost to that total.

Pure builders aren't bad characters to play. All those red points bring in some great jobs very early on - particularly high XP ones. You can level very fast with a pure construction character, more so if you don't have a town to build. Its also probably only second to pure trading for access to high income jobs too.

[Righ]

Seen on a town flag:

"Welcome to Boot Hill, the place where the West came alive!"