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|                                                                           |
|          A L B A T R O S S  1 8 - R E A L M S  O F  P A N G Y A           |
|                        http://www.albatross18.com                         |
|                          FAQ by Crovax - v2.15                            |
|                    l e c r o v a x @ g m a i l . c o m                    |
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--------------------------------------------
------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ------------
--------------------------------------------
1. VERSION HISTORY ------------------[VST]
2. INTRODUCTION TO ALBATROSS 18 -----[ITD]
 3. GAMEPLAY -------------------------[GPY]
4. TIPS AND STRATEGY ----------------[SRT]
 5. REFERENCE ------------------------[RFR]
a. List of Bonuses .............[RFRa] b. Experience points ...........[RFRb] c. Tournaments .................[RFRc] d. Glossary of terms ...........[RFRd]
6. EQUIPMENT CATALOG ----------------[EQP]
      a. Scout .......................[EQPa]
      b. Hana ........................[EQPb]
      c. Uncle Bob ...................[EQPc]
      d. Cecilia .....................[EQPd]
      e. Max .........................[EQPe]
7. WALKTHROUGHS ---------------------[WLK] a. Blue Lagoon & Blue Water ....[WLKa] b. Sepia Wind ..................[WLKb]
      c. North Wiz ...................[WLKc]
8. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS -------[FAQx]
9. CONCLUSION/LEGALESE --------------[CNC]


                      --------------------------------
-- 1. VERSION HISTORY - [VST] --
                      --------------------------------

v2.15 - Jul 05 2006
Updated equipment catalog (No Kooh yet, sorry, that'll come next update)
Added a Frequently Asked Questions section. v2.05 - Apr 06 2006
Updated equipment catalog. v2.00 - Mar 25 2006
Updated equipment catalog as well as some reference stuff. v1.98 - Mar 09 2006
Added Max and baseball bats to Equipment Catalog. v1.93 - Mar 04 2006
Updated Equipment Catalog, added some more info to some walkthroughs. v1.88 - Feb 13 2006
Added formula for Nice Approach bonus. v1.87 - Feb 04 2006
Added walkthrough for North Wiz, corrected putting info. v1.76 - Jan 28 2006
Updated the catalog, some reference information and the Introduction section. v1.68 - Jan 12 2006
Updated the catalog (new character, clubs, and clothes) v1.57 - Jan 04 2006
Various revisions. v1.55 - Jan 03 2006
Completed Equipment Catalog. v1.45 - Dec 28 2005
Completed walkthrough for Blue Lagoon and Blue Water, minor corrections. v1.34 - Dec 26 2005
Completed EXP and Trophy info, added Phoenix Bonus to the Bonuses reference, added a glossary. v1.27 - Dec 11 2005
Added Tournament info to Reference section. v1.22 - Dec 04 2005
Added EXP tables and created the 'Reference' section. v1.12 - Dec 02 2005
Minor corrections. v1.11 - Oct 29 2005
Added a guide for the Sepia Wind course, minor corrections. v1.00 - Oct 23 2005
First version. Created Introduction, Gameplay, List of Bonuses, and Tips section.


                ---------------------------------------------
-- 2. INTRODUCTION TO ALBATROSS 18 - [ITD] --
                ---------------------------------------------

Welcome to Albatross 18! The first time you play, you'll be whisked off to a tutorial that'll give you a pretty good feel for the game. Even though you're free to skip it, I would advise completing it -- doing so will earn you Papel the Shopping Bag (I'm not making this up) as your caddy. Not only is it the cutest shopping bag I've ever seen, Papel also gives you +1 control.

Anyways, after you log on and choose your server (well, right now there's only one) there's four modes:

- Practice (which is the tutorial and you should already have finished it)
- Versus (you can make rooms and play with two to four people, taking turns)
- Tournament (you can play full courses with ten to 30 people, and everyone goes at once rather than take turns. Quickest way to play a full 18 holes.)
- Family (allows up to four people to play with one computer and one account.
No EXP/Pang is earned, but items used in this mode aren't used up so it's a good way to practice)

Tournament mode is great for earning Pang, the currency of Albatross 18
(In versus or tournament mode, if you play the full 18 holes and beat your old course record, you earn 1000 pang. If you've never played the course, you just have to beat par). However, unless you've got several people to have a tournament with AND you finish in the top ten, the EXP is rather low
(You get EXP whenever you finish a round of golf, and it determines your rank. Certain caddies and equipment are restricted to players of a certain rank.)

Versus mode is great for EXP, plus you can play 3, 6, 9, or 18 holes instead of being forced to do at least 9.

Once you're in a lobby, you'll be able to access your closet (where you can change the clothes and equipment you're wearing), as well as the various stores (The item shop sells one-time use items, the character shop sells equipment and clothes for your character, and the caddie shop sells caddies).
You'll notice that you start off with 3,000 pang and a selection of items.
Personally, I would save your pang for now -- the only clothes you can buy with 3,000 don't affect your stats at all. But if you don't care for stats and just want to look stylish, hey, it's your money.

However, if you go into the item shop, and click the Equipment tab, you'll see arrows next to your Control and Accuracy attributes. Well, your ball and clubs have "slots" - they allow each stat to be upgraded once, for a cost.
These are the cheapest upgrades you're going to get, and you'll probably want to upgrade them sooner or later, so why not now?

By the way, if you're wondering about the stats, here's what they all do:
Power - Affects how far you hit with your woods. Your average drive with a
1W is (200y + 2*Power). New players have 15 Power, so, 230y.
Control - Affects the speed of the power bar when you shoot. More control makes it move slower, making it easier to hit more accurately.
Accuracy - Affects the size of the pink zone (see Gameplay). If you have a lot of accuracy, shots whre you miss hitting a pangya (read on) will still go fairly straight. Basically, it gives you a wider margin of error.
Spin - Affects how much you can spin the ball while shooting.
Curve - Affects how much you can curve the ball while shooting.

(!!) New players should not worry about improving Accuracy. You start with a necklace item. As long as you are a Rookie, this item effectively maxes out your accuracy. The effect isn't shown in game lobbies, but believe me, it's doing something. When you hit Beginner and the necklace stops working you'll realize how much of an effect it had :)

Anyways, now that you've got the interface all figured out, and maybe you've upgraded your character just a bit, it's time to play golf! Head into a waiting room, or make your own. If you've been in and out of rooms, you'll have noticed there's six different courses. Blue Water and Sepia Wind, the
"AA" difficulty courses, reward you with much more pang for finishing each hole (and for finishing a round), but Blue Lagoon is a lot easier and has fewer obstacles. (North Wiz is probably between the two in pang earned and difficulty -- don't let its "A" difficulty fool you.) The two AAA courses are great for pang if you're not bogeying every hole, which, unfortunately, tends to happen to new players on these courses. Leave them alone for now.
I recommend newbies stick to Blue Lagoon until they get a feel for the game.


                          -------------------------
-- 3. GAMEPLAY - [GPY] --
                          -------------------------

Shooting the ball in Albatross 18 couldn't be easier. Hit 0 to go into top-down view; this will give you a much better idea of where your ball is going to land. Move your target left and right with... left and right, and remember to compensate for wind. Now hit 0 to return to "normal" view.

(!!) The little triangle in top-down view indicates where your ball will roll to, NOT where it is going to land. Generally, when you're shooting with a 1W, the marker for the 3W is where it will land.

(!!) If you did adjust your target, check to make sure you are not behind an obstacle. There's nothing as bad as winging it off a tree because you forgot to look before you shot.

Once you're ready, simply hit space to make the power bar move. Hit space again to freeze the power, and then hit space again when the meter is close to the white bar in the pink Impact zone. If you land right on the bar, you'll hit a "PangYa" -- the ball will fly perfectly straight (if there's no wind, that is), and it will go slightly farther.

(!!) If you're not satisfied with where you stopped the power bar, or if you decide to change your shot midstroke, then don't stop it a second time and let the bar pass the impact zone. The meter will reset and you can adjust your shot.

(!!) If you don't get pangya, but stop the ball inside the pink zone, the ball will curve a little more: missing to the left makes the ball curve left (Same effect as moving the spin dot to the right of the ball), and vice-versa. If you miss the pink zone altogether, the ball will hook or slice instead of curving, and if you miss the pink zone by too much you'll miss the ball completely and waste a stroke.


POWER SHOT
----------
When you take a stroke, you might notice the bar under your little scorecards in the upper corners of the screen charges up a bit. Except for putts, every shot you take charges that bar by 1/8th of a section. (If you hit a PangYa, it will charge 3/8ths instead!) When a section is filled, it will turn red and you will be able to use a power shot. Just hit Alt to use it -- the power bar will turn red, and you'll get an extra 10 yards of distance. That 10 yards can mean the difference between landing on the green and the fairway, and getting to putt one turn earlier can mean saving a stroke.
So use power shots well!

(!!) When a low-rank player plays against people with a much higher rank, his or her power bar will charge more with each PangYa than usual.


SPIN AND CURVE
--------------
Well, suppose power isn't quite enough for you, and you want to add a little "english" to your shot. No problem! Just drag the blue dot on the ball before you shoot.

UP: Topspin - the ball will fly lower and bounce farther.
DOWN: Backspin - the ball will fly higher and bounce shorter.
LEFT/RIGHT: Curve - the ball will sort of boomerang left or right.

You should be using topspin for almost all your tee shots -- it'll net you a couple extra yards, and the closer you can get to the green, the better. Also, topspin is an excellent choice for harsh winds; the low altitude makes your shot more resistant to the effects of wind. And as if that wasn't enough, if you use topspin and the ball hits the water, it will skip as if the water had turned to ice! (Mind you, it won't bounce forever, and it will sink if it hits anything and lands back in the water.)

Backspin should be used whenever you're shooting onto the green. Otherwise,