Documentation

[Final Master]

What sort of documentation and guides/FAQ do you think should be made available either via a Read Me file or as easily findable information on te4.org [as in links at the top like the news/download/forum/wiki/ect bit]?

I have a bunch started, but I'm curious as to what the community wants and what is necessary.

[Goblinz]

Currently stats/ strategies for bosses/monster would be appreciated by me. When I first started playing a walk through for the first 2-3 dungeons would be nice. Ideally Information on the classes and talent would be nice but given the fact that ToME is still changing that would be unpractical.

Something handy would be more coding tutorials but those may be only used by a small fraction of users

[Postman]

Complete talents descriptions for all classes with all numbers and required resources is the most important thing. Right now you don't know what artifact activation does if you didn't played corresponding class. How should I know what Juggernaut or Tidal Wave are if I never played bereserker or mage?

Saves (physical/mental/spell save etc) explanation

Armor, resistance and to-hit and their interactions with different types of damages and saves explanation.

Different effects description - like what does Freeze, slime hit(how much slowness it does?), Slow, Burning, Speed, Momentum, Movement Speed etc. actually do (numbers) and how they interact. That could be difficult probably with all the different effects.

Resources explanation and how they can(or can not) be replenished (needed for skill acquired from escort, if player didn't played corresponding class)

[Final Master]

Anything else? I've started work on all of these, and some of them might be done before summer arrives. If there is absolutely anything else at all that anyone can think of that needs to be documented for use in or out of the game, please, post it here.

Thank you

[Final Master]

Are there any further suggestions or requests to be made within the next month or so?

Also, any help at all would be very much appreciated.

[bio_hazard]

Equipment explanations- what do all the numbers mean, who can or can't equip what, when do you need to equip prior to use, that things liked ego diggers and lights give you bonuses but (x)change weapons don't (I think).

[madmonk]

Are there any further suggestions or requests to be made within the next month or so?

Also, any help at all would be very much appreciated.

Moving into a slow period...

Feed me some stuff you need doing, or better still, since I have been a copy editor in the past, feed me your current stuff and I will edit and correct. Guaranteed fast turnround on copy editing, slow on content creation.

PM me and I will give you an email addie to use.

[Miruko]

it vould be nice to have a guide recallable from the ESC menu to consult, and even a main menu option to read a bit about the game.

[bricks]

General warnings about zones, bosses, and what order to take them in, for the wiki. Rudimentary example:

Bring some means of teleport or phase door to the Sandworm Lair. Blind resistance or wild infusion w/ remove physical effects are good to have. Dungeon is five levels, all the same style. Tunnels that can collapse are marked in blue on your mini-map. Avoid fighting in tunnels. Boss will likely path to you immediately on entering the last level. The neutral sandworms will not turn hostile if hit. Optimal level range is X to Y.

The thought being that some people like spoilers, some people like being surprised, and some people just want a nudge in the right direction.

For in-game, one thing I would like to see is a detailed explanation of how the major status effects work, and the foremost means of circumventing or removing them. For example: wands of detection can make blindness a little less dangerous. Be careful using beam spells while frozen, as you may hit yourself (I *think* this is true, it's been a while). Being able to access this sort of information by clicking on an effect would be really great.

[Hedrachi]

Also, any help at all would be very much appreciated.

If you've got a to-do list somewhere I'd be happy to help in whatever way I can.

[Final Master]

Things I have done in no particular order -
Artifact List [Separated by slot, type, name] *Note* This is just a list, not what they do
Boss Guides
Western Zone Guides
Overview of the races
Overview of the classes
General game play tips and strategy
Dangerous NPCs and how to combat them
Easy race/class combinations
Discussion on saves vs resists
General game mechanics
General zone order based on class and experience

Things I could use some help on -
Controls list
Possible locations for random/semi random zones
Shops in towns
Which zones each race/class starts at
Story overview
Inscriptions
Difficulty options/what they mean
Details on eastern zones/prides especially
Vaults!!!!!

So far, this is the table of contents of the guide:

Code: Select all

Table of contents
	Introduction to the guide
	Introduction to tome 4
	Features
	Unlocks
	Inscriptions
	Linear Story
	Campaigns
Controls
		Hotkeys
		Movement
		Talents
	Mechanics
		Attacking
			Melee
			Ranged
		Damage
			Armor
			Resistance
				Defense
		Cooldowns
			How to Manage without Managing
		Resources
			Breakdown of each
			How they function
			How to recover
	Strategy and Tactics
		Fighting effectively in Melee
		Fighting effectively at Range
		Controlling the flow of battle
		What NOT to fight
		Special notes for:
			Dreads/Dread Masters
			Wyrms and Dragons in general
			Elite Skeleton Archers
			Corrupters
			High Pyro/Cryomancers
			Eternal Bone Giants
			Liches
			Giants – especially Boulder Throwers and Thunderers
			Adventure Parties
		Exploitations
			Pillar Dancing
			Offensive Retreat
			Edge of LOS/FOV
			Stair Setting
			Enabling Cheat Mode
		When the game drives you nuts
		Additional Assistance
		When you just want a winner
	Races
		Higher
		Cornac
		Shalore
		Thalore
		Dwarf
		Hobbit
		Ghoul
		Skeleton
		Yeek
	Classes
		Fighter
		Berserker
		Arcane Blade
		Brawler
		Archer
		Slinger
		Rogue
		Shadowblade
		Arch Mage
		Alchemist
		Summoner
		Wyrmic
		Sun Paladin
		Anorthil
		Reaver
		Corrupter
		Cursed
		Doomed
		Temporal Warden
		Paradox Mage
		Mindslayer
	Characters
		Easy to Play
			Melee Types
			Ranged Types
			Control Types
		Challenging to Play
			Melee Types
			Ranged Types
			Control Types
	Difficulties
		Tutorial
		Adventure
		Normal
		Roguelike
		Insane
	Towns
		Derth 
Arena [Unlock Arena]
		Last Hope
			Tannen Tower
		Iron Throne [Dwarf Only]
		Angolwen [Initial Mage Only]
		Elvala [Shaloren Only]
		Shatur [Thaloren Only]
		Erberg [Port]
		Sun Wall
		Vargh [Naga Only]
	Zones
		West
Kor’Pul
			Troll Mire
			Daikara 
Temporal Rift [Unlock Temporal Warden/Paradox Mage]
			Sandworm Lair [Unlock Wyrmic]
			Old Forest
				Shertul Fortress
			Maze
Dredfell [Unlock Ghoul/Skeleton]
	Ambush
			Reknor
				Racial Zones
					Scintillating Caves [Elf/Shaloren]
					Rhaloren Camp [Elf/Shaloren]
					Escape from Reknor [Dwarf]
					Deep Bellow [Dwarf]
					Blighted Ruins [Undead]
					Morgal’s Lair [Yeek]
					Ritch Hive [Yeek]
				Side Zones
					Halfling Ruins
					Golem Graveyard	
					Ruined Dungeon [Unlock Infinite Dungeon]
					Ancient Elven Ruins
					Lumberjack Village [Unlock Cursed]
					Tempest Peak [Unlock Storm Tree]
					Assassin Tunnels [Unlock Merchant Shop]
					Ring of Blood [Unlock Brawler]
		East
Gorbat Pride
			Grushnak Pride
			Rak-Shor Pride
			Vor Pride
			
			Slime Tunnels
			High Peak
				Side Zones
					Vor Armory
					Orc Breeding Pits

That is not definitive yet, but is a good outline of what will be included in the final project along with how I will attempt to put it all together. If there is anything missing, incorrect or other inclusions that you may find necessary, please, let me know.

I will try very very very hard to have at least 50% of this typed and available by Wednesday, August 3; and, if help is available, I will attempt to have it in it's entirety by September 5th. These are not hard and fast dates, but it is definitely what I am shooting for with this.

Madmonk - I hope you are still a bit slow because I will be attempting to send you a rough of the first 50% or so by August 3rd. Thank you for your offer!

Hedrachi - If I remember correctly, you're pretty familiar with things like the vaults and how the code kind of coordinates things. Any aid in that in particular would be amazing. Again, any help at all is great. :D Thanks for the offer!

[darkgod]

Woh, this looks awfully impressive!

[madmonk]

Still happy to help!

[Aquillion]

Saves (physical/mental/spell save etc) explanation

Armor, resistance and to-hit and their interactions with different types of damages and saves explanation.

Also, give people a sense of what a good total number is for those at various levels. Resistances you can sort of figure out because they're percentages, but armor and saves are totally opaque -- is the save bonus granted by eg Chant of Fortitude high? Is it low? Will it make a significant difference for my character? How much damage, on average, is an extra point of armor or defense going to protect me from?

[Hedrachi]

Here's two things. Used Notepad++ on em so probably correctly formatted for Linux as well. I used 80-character margins to try and make it a little more readable. The first one is a slightly-spoily guide to the first part of the East; the second is my opinion on vaults. Using Google Docs due to board attachment quota being reached error message and my marvellous satellite connection screwing my dropbox download up. Might be a little wonkily-formatted on google docs.

Intro to the East doc
Vault doc