Re: DuelMasters: Help Wanted With First Turn

From: ccmdenis@fella.ucdavis.edu (Donald Trump)

Date: Sat, 04 Jul 1992 01:36:42 +0000

In article <1992Jul3.141820.16845@jade.tufts.edu> gharris@jade.tufts.edu (George W. Harris) writes:
>
>	Well, I just got my team overview yesterday, and was working on filling
>out the turn sheets, and thought I'd turn to the collective net.wisdom for a
>little guidance.

Looks like the collective net.wisdom has been tapped by summer.  Luckily,
some of us still have net access, even if we're not actually in school.
Whether that's lucky for me or for you is a matter of personal opinion.
:)

>	Of the five warriors, I've got a couple of dixies with a collective
>WT of 12, so I'm not to worried about them, and am willing to make mistakes.
>If they lose, it's the Dark Arena for them.  However, my other three warriors
>have some long-term potential, so I'm less willing to risk getting them
>killed.  I'l go through in increasing order of need of advice.

It's a sad fact, but in Duelmasters people die.  The good side of this
is that it gives you more, and perhaps better, warriors to experiment
with.  The down side is that it's easy to get attached to small PRs
who start with Expert ratings in Riposte.

You may have to take it on the chin for a while, but bear up.  It gets
better!

>	First, there's Jareel Razoress:
>
>	9-12-11-17-17-5-13-Waste
>
>	I thought I'd send her out with scimitar and med. shield, with a
>back-up scimitar, and no armor or helm.  I'm thinking of going 6-6-4 pretty
>much the whole fight, cycling through -S, -x, -R for the tactics, and going
>to 2-8-2-P for desperation.  What d'y'all think?

Jareel looks a lot like a Waste of mine, Hip Hop Doll 9-13-11-17-17-6-11,
who's currently 8-1-0.  Yours is almost certainly better, with the higher
DF, but not by much.  If you want a reasonably effective strategy for her
first few fights, then try this:

Wearing APL/H (you have to wear armor for defensives, even if it's only
ALE/L, because it really helps their ability to take damage.  A naked
fighter will go down after one hit most of the time, whereas any armor
will deflect the force of the blow.  Also, it makes them less likely to
die), and using the Scimitar vs light (0,7), Broadsword vs. Medium
(8,14) and Quarterstaff vs. heavy (15,+) [note: her lack of ST won't hurt
her too much] try this:

Minute		1	2	3	4	5	6+	Desp
Off. Eff.	2	4	5	5	4	3	2
Act. Lev.	4	3	3	4	3	2	4
Kill Des.	2	4	5	5	4	3	2
Att. Loc.	RA 	--->
Def. Loc.	BD	--->

Off. Tactic	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Def. Tactic	P	-	-	-	-	-	P

Train skills every single fight at least until experts in Attack, Init
and Parry (which shouldn't take too long), and then you can try to get
the ST up (w/o skill penalties, as far as I can tell).

>	Then, there's Duke Raus:
>
>	11-9-14-17-17-5-11-WS
>
>	I thought He'd go out with a quarter staff, with scimitar and
>med. shield for backup, and again nor armor or helm.  I was thinking, again,
>6-6-4, this time cycling through -x, -B, -R, and again going to 2-8-2-P in
>desperation.

Looks good, although Wastes always do better with no tactic than they do
with.  Riposte is iffy at best (I never use it), and the Bash is going to
be wasted if you happen to break the QS.  I'd say, open up with either a
slow first minute (2-4-2-Parry, 3-6-3-Parry, 2-2-2-Parry, etc.) or a very
fast first minute (10-4-8-Slash, 10-4-8-Bash), using a moderate (4-5-4-None)
in the second, and then going 6-6-4-? until minute 6, when you should
probably go back to a moderate minute.  Going 2-8-2-Parry in desperation
is a little fast (although I've seen it work with individual warriors,
it's fairly unorthodox), so I'd suggest something like the first minute:
very slow or very fast.

>	Finally, Sir Ethilrist:
>
>	12-8-6-17-13-9-19-PR
>
>	does LITTLE DAMAGE with each blow

Bummer.

>	SIR ETHILRIST has achieved an EXPERT rating in RIPOSTE

Helpful.

>	Now, since this guy looks like he has a lot of long-term potential,
>so my mail concern in his first few fights is keeping him from getting
>killed, rather than his W-L record.  So, my main concern is keeping him
>from gettting hit.  I was thinking of Epee and HA versus (0,7), and then
>longsword & HA versus (8,+), and no armor or helm.  But, as for strategy,
>I'm pretty stumped.  What would be good for this guy?

First of all, MAKE SURE that you put this guy in APL/H.  It will save
his life more often than wearing no armor and being a little faster will
(I've tried both, and dropping armor has sometimes lost me a fight I had
won.  One or two comeback blows and your fighter drops.  Guard against
that).  Your weapon selection looks good.  Try this for strategy:

Minute		1	2	3	4	5	6+	Desp
Off. Eff.	2	3	4	9	3	2	9
Act. Lev.	4	5	5	7	4	3	6
Kill Des.	2	3	4	7	3	2	6
Att. Loc.	RA 	--->
Def. Loc.	BD	--->

Off. Tactic	-	-	-	L	-	-	-
Def. Tactic	P	R	-	-	-	-	-

This is more or less what I use for a first strategy, but I am by
no means an expert in the style.  If someone else comes along with a
better strategy, use it!

>	So, I'm looking forward to hearing what you think, and finding out
>how I do.  If anyone else is in the Vestian (I think that's it, #43) Arena
>look out for the Hero Warriors!

Good luck!  I hope no one in Veastian is reading this, or you might be
getting a lot of challenges real soon now. :(

>	I've gotta get a DM .sig...

Me too...

Trump
dfcleary@ucdavis.edu

References

DuelMasters: Help Wanted With First Turn
gharris@jade.tufts.edu (George W. Harris)
Fri, 03 Jul 1992 14:18:20 +0000