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Welcome to the Fantasy Empires FAQ
Update information
Version 1.0 Released February 28th 1994
Credits
This Faq has been created from many posts on the relevant newsgroups,
and from Mail discussions with these posters and others:
N.L.Fradkin R.Cave
B. Vigduris V.Philippe
W. Prasetya
Special thanks must go to Denis Dyack of Silicon Knights for the
support he gave for this project.
Any comments, criticisms, additions or tips I would appreciate them.
I can be reached at RJAbbott@its.dundee.ac.uk (Richard Abbott)
What is Fantasy Empires? The first obvious question asked and
undoubtedly the easiest to answer. Fantasy Empires is a computer
game developed by Silicon Knights and published by SSI. The
interface was designed around the use of the 'Dungeon Master'
as an agent, filling roles as both a referee and a consultant.
The actions of the Dungeon Master are dictated by a simulated
neural network, to allow consistency but with some unpredictability.
The DM notes all the actions of the player characters and stores
all the information, some of which is visible on the PC's cumulative
record.
The current version of the game is 1.1, which fixes the severe game
play problem of the multiplying siege engines bug as well as others.
The patch to upgrade from version 1.0 is available from:-
SSI ( address and phone no at the back of the manual)
America online in the SSI section
irz.inf.tu-dresden.de /pub/ms-dos/games/patches fe110.zip
wuarchive
Contents
Section A Game opponents and Player Characters
1) When I start a campaign, my opponents seem to be able to
use lots of magic against me and I am rapidly destroyed. Why?
2) Which are the easiest opponents?
3) Which is the best character class?
4)What are the effects of the alignments?
5) Does the gray always begin the turn first and the greens
ends it, or is it more or less random?
6) Is it cheating to alter all the character attributes to 18?
7) Why do some opponents always seem to break treaties?
Section B Heros
1) When could you send your heros on a Daring Quest?
2) What magic items come from what quests?
3) How useful of heros in battle?
4) The Dungeon master gives advice that Elven heros are the
most versatile in battle why is this?
5) What is the best magic item for a hero to have?
Section C Magic
1) How can I tell how much magical power that I have?
2) Which are the best spells?
3)I have picked up a lightning rod from a quest. What is
the best way of using this?
4)My opponent has a Mirror of Protection and I cannot
use Truesight on him. Is there any way around this?
5) What is the best magic item for a hero to have?
Section D Battles
1) When I simulate a battle defending a castle,
I end up losing everything and the opponent nothing. Why?
2)When I simulate a battle attacking a castle,
I end up losing everything and the opponent nothing. Why?
3) Is simulation or playing battles better?
Section E General Hints and Strategies
1) The Satko Horde
2) The Steady Stream
3) Crystal Ball
4) Close Opponent
5) Undead Rampage
6) Zap Em
7) Remote Island Detection
?) Shorts
Section F General Questions
1) Why can't I get any sound from my PC speaker?
Section G Would Like List
Appendix 1 List of Opponents
Section A Game Opponents and Player Characters
1) When I start a campaign, my opponents seem to be able to
use lots of magic against me and I am rapidly destroyed. Why?
One useful part of the package once a player has gotten used
to it, is the ability to tailor the opponents to your own
skill level. It is important to start out against a low level
opponent otherwise you will just be zapped off the face of Mystara.
2) Which are the easiest opponents?
The low level ones! Within a group of opponents at the same
level some are easier than others. The NPC's get the same
benefits from being a class that you do, such that the spell
using classes will tend to get more spell power and those
spells will be more effective, fighters will be better for
fighter NPC's etc. Tailor the game for what opponents you wish.
3) Which is the best character class?
This is a very difficult question to answer as it does depend
on your own style of play. At the current time I prefer to use
a fighter PC and use my magic sparingly to disrupt my opponents
rear areas. Other contributors have expressed other preferences.
Something that can help you chose a class is knowledge of the way
that the initial heros levels are calculated. The initial set up
in the campaign includes one of each Elf, Dwarf, Magic User,
Cleric and Fighter. The hero which matches your PC's class
starts at the same level as your PC, the others start at half
that level (rounded down). A high level MU or Cleric PC will
have a lot of magical power to throw around early on.
4) What are the effects of the alignments?
Lawful:
+10% bonus on income
Treaties come at a lower price since you will probably not break it
Summoning undead is more difficult and the numbers
created is at -15% compared to a neutral character.
If too many undead troops are created the DM will change your alignment.
+15% bonus in numbers when turning undead.
Neutral:
Income as par.
Treaties are harder to get and more expensive compared to lawful.
Turning and creating undead is at normal power.
Chaotic:
-10% on income
Treaties are expensive and difficult to get
Undead are summoned with a 15% bonus in numbers
Turning undead suffers -15% in numbers.
5) Does the gray always begin the turn first and the greens
ends it, or is it more or less random?
The actual answer is neither. The player who begins one turn
plays their next turn as the last player and the rest of the
players are promoted one in the schedule ie. the third player
moves second and the second moves first.
6) Is it cheating to alter all the character attributes to 18?
Consider this feature as an additional play balance mechanism.
Setting all the attributes to 18 will make the game far easier
than using a random setting. For those familiar with the D and D
game, one of the ways of rolling from that could be used and
the attributes set to match those generated.
7) Why do some opponents always seem to break treaties?
The opponents do tend to follow their alignments listed in
the view heros option and repeated in appendix 1 below. The
chaotic characters will attack if they view a weakness, the
lawful ones will tend to honour treaties. Further information
can be got from studying the character history and background
as well as the alignment. However it is always wise to be ready
for an attack on the turn that a treaty ends. It is useful to
put yourself in the NPC's position and see if you would break
the treaty or honour it and try to get another. The NPC players
are not daft and offer a treaty to strengthen their own
positions much as any player would.
Section B Heros
1) When could you send your heros on a daring quest?
The answer to this one is when ever you want to. 1st level
heros can go on any level of quest but with, declining chances
of success. The Veterans quest will raise a heros level up
to level 5, and this pattern follows.
Veteran's Quest level 1-5 (VQ)
Noble Quest 6-10 (NQ)
Daring Quest 11-15 (DrQ)
Dangerous Quest 16-20 (DnQ)
Forbidding Quest 21+ (FQ)
One hint here is that by sending 4th level heros on a NQ, they
will return at 6th level, the same as if they had gone on the
same quest at 5th level. The best item that a hero can collect
from a veterans quest is a Displacer cloak (DC) so if a 4th
level hero has one there is no point in going on another VQ.
Similarly for a 9th level hero going on a DrQ but as useful
items can still be recovered from a NQ this is less clear cut.
2)What items come from what quests?
The best way to answer is in a simple list.
Item Quests
Weapon +1 (Sword, Ax, Bow and Mace) VQ,NQ
Weapon +2 NQ
Weapon +3 DrQ

Arrows of Teleportation DrQ
Sword of Extra Damage DrQ
Sword of Slowing NQ
Boots of Speed NQ
Elven Cloak NQ
Gauntlets of Ogre Power NQ
Girdle of Giant Strength NQ?
Ring of Fire Resistance NQ
Ring of Protection +1 VQ
Medallion of Protection (+2) VQ
Displacer Cloak VQ
Ring of Teleportation DrQ
Ring of Regeneration DrQ
Crystal Ball DrQ
Lightning Rod NQ,DrQ
Mirror of Life Trapping DnQ
Mirror of Protection DnQ
Rod of Domination FQ
Rod of the Earth DnQ
Rod of Necromancy DrQ
Rod of True Sight NQ
Rod of the Winds DrQ
Staffs of Holiness, Wizardry and Druids FQ
The query with Girdle of Giant Strength is the item recovered
from the NQ is called a Girdle of Power, as opposed to the
Gauntlets of Ogre Power.
Rings of Protection greater than +1 are mentioned in the Manual,
but do not appear in the game.
This list is a provisional one derived from game playing
experiences of myself and others. The official list has
been promised to me and I will incorporate that into V1.1.
3) How useful of heros in battle?
This depends upon the battle and the hero. Fighter and dwarf
heros are very useful for doing an 'End Run' to get to the
opposition missile troops and/or siege engines, indeed a
single high level hero can destroy hundreds of elves in one
battle. Elven heros have a very useful role detailed below.
Magic users and druids are mobile siege engines, in that
they can blow down castle walls to let the hoards over
run the defenders, one word of warning in that these
battles must be played to a conclusion. Simulating before
the last unit has been destroyed can lead to a total
destruction of the attacking force. Clerics can hold back
and cast bless, or act as second rate fighters, the main
use of clerics is to build up spell power for earthquakes
and to be turned into druids.
4) The Dungeon master gives advice that Elven heros
are the most versatile in battle why is this?
Elven heros have the advantage of being slightly quicker
than any other heros plus the dual arming of bow and short
sword. This means that they can do an 'End Run' and engage
with either bow or swords, support the frontline by hanging
back a little and adding arrows to the fray but come into
their own on a so called 'Recon Raid'. This tactic serves
two uses of finding out the enemy dispositions, and reducing
the opposing force. It hinges on the twin fact of speed and
missile capability. The basic tactic is to move an elven
hero into a province alone, and close with the enemy on
the battle screen. Once within missile range start firing,
until the enemy is close but before contact has been made,
then turn and run back a short distance and repeat. Using
the faster speed it is even possible to run all over the
map and the chasing troops will pursue doggedly and be
slowly mown down. It is important not to kill the last
unit in a province as then the hero will be lost, but
retreating before this happens is possible. The next
turn the army can march in with minimal resistance.
This tactic can be used with MU with boots of speed
who have the additional ability to destroy the keep and
force the opponent to pay for a new one or face desertions.
Indeed the desertions can cause the province to revert
to neutral before the opponent has a chance to rebuild
the keep.
5) What is the best magic item for a hero to have?
This depends upon the hero and what tactics the player
uses. I like boots of speed to make the end run more
effective, gauntlets of ogre power, magic bows for elves
or any protective item for spellcasters.
Section C Magic
1) How can I tell how much magical power that I have?
The three globes on the top of the screen show how much
magical power the player has. They glimmer with increasing
intensity depending upon the power present, they are from