New Players Guide
New Players Guide by Luke Evans
Introduction
Hiya my names Luke and I've been playing Battlemaster now for well over a couple of years, so I guess you could call me one of the resident Battlemaster Addicts. I assume if your reading this you're either a new player looking for help, or someone else just checking in because your bored or simply because you want to edit the page to update it. Either way, Welcome! You'll find all sorts of tips, helpful information, and guides to becoming a successful player on Battlemaster. The best way to learn it all without getting a headache is browse through this guide, or a different one, and then go discover the rest for yourself.
Starting Out
You're sitting there wondering what to name your character, which realm to join, and what character class to play. It may get a little confusing, so let's start with a name. Please remember children play this game, so choose a name that won't be considered offensive, and avoid silly or unrealistic names. Also make sure you choose a good family name as it will stick with you throughout the many wonderful years that you play here.
The next question is, what realm do you join? There are many to choose from. I suggest picking a smaller realm on Dwilight, as the it is the newest continent and there is always a realm in need of more knights. Typically, smaller realms offer more opportunities for advancement. After all, in a realm with 100 people, there are basically 100 people in line ahead of you for positions. In a realm with 10 people, there are 10 people ahead of you, and most of them probably have positions already. If you want to join a large realm, then go to the East Continent, possibly Perdan or Sirion. In any case, if you don't like the realm, find another one!
Now you've got to pick a character class. You automatically start out as a warrior, but you'll get to choose other classes fairly soon. A character class can help define what kind of person you are; I mean if you're an ax-wielding maniac warrior then you'll most certainly want to be a warrior so that you can slay people in battle and so forth. The warrior class is the default class for beginners. All you have to do as a warrior (you'll actually be referred to as a knight or troop leader) is recruit some troops and follow your marshal's orders. When you get your troops make sure you don't spend all of your money, as you will need to pay them gold once a week, otherwise they will abandon you and that can have some negative effects like loss of honour and prestige. There are several other Class. Now I know what you're thinking, some of these classes sound absolutely boring, and I bet you're thinking there's no action... well you're WRONG! You wanna know why? As a Courtier you get to keep the realm's regions in shape so that the peasants don't revolt. Now, the Trader class can be quite challenging, but fun too. It's an important class if your realm doesn't produce enough food to feed itself. It can be very rewarding for you personally as well, since you can easily gather large amounts of wealth. As a trader, you'll need to buy some caravans so that you have somewhere to store your food. I also recommend hiring a few scouts so that you can keep tabs on neighboring region's activities. You can buy food from enemy realms on the black market to starve them, but this is quite dangerous. Be sure to hire some soldiers to guard your caravan--after all, if you walk around with several hundred gold there's a good chance that some bandits will attack you.
Roleplaying
Wow so you're still reading this? Awesome! I guess you either like what your hearing/reading or your really bored, either way its all good (hehe). This is where the art of roleplaying is explained. If you're already experienced in this field, or think that you are, feel free to skip ahead to the next section. Now that you've picked your realm and you're a new troop leader, the best way to make friends or to make yourself known (or just to begin the development of your character) is to introduce yourself to the realm. This may seem hard but give it a go, it'll pay off. Here's something you can use to give you a rough idea on how to roleplay, this is only one style of roleplay, and there are many others out there, this is just one of the easier forms that I prefer to use:
John Doe awoke from his deep slumber... he looked around, his eyes were glazed over and he was not quite sure where he was. Suddenly a blurred figure moved closer to him and begins to speak:
Person: "Ah, so your awake John. You've been out cold for over two days now, the healers were starting to think you wouldn't make it."
John Doe: "My name is John? Who are you? Where Am I?"
Person: "Oh I almost forgot about the blow to the head you suffered... Don't worry your memory will return in a couple of days. The healers warned me about this; I'm your mother dear and your in Realm Name Here Oh I do hope your memory returns soon, son. You have your introduction with the general is tomorrow. You're finally going to join the army and fight the in the great war!"
John Doe: "Ok..."
Mother: "You must still be weak. Why don't you rest a while and I'll go fetch you something to eat."
Then from this point you could either carry on the roleplay or wait a while and do another roleplay where your memory returns and you meet the king, queen, general or whomever. Either way its a pretty simple way of doing things especially if your totally new to the game.
Honour/Prestige
Ok now you're thinking, "I wonder what this is used for?" Well it can actually be used for a lot of things, but first, how to gain honour and what it's used for. For honour, participate in many battle as possible as the more battles you enter the more honor you'll gain (you can also gain prestige in battle). Your honour level can determine many things such as how many troops you can recruit or even open up new classes such as the infiltrator or hero class. Now onto prestige, this is slightly harder to gain but you can gain it through battle and other methods (which I'll let you discover yourself as it'll make the game more fun). Prestige plays a great part in becoming a major title holder of the realm, With enough prestige you can be elected as the Ruler of the realm, but at the moment there's no real point in talking about that as you wont be holding such positions for quite a while. Also if you wish to gain respectable titles you need to earn them and gain other players' trust.
Buying Paraphernalia and Troops
Paraphernalia is quite important. Whoever you are you'll most likely need some sort of paraphernalia. If you're a warrior or enter many battles you'll most certainly need to hire a healer or two so that if you end up getting wounded in battle they can heal your wounds and so forth. Traders will need to buy caravans and scouts. Some things you may buy from the paraphernalia option may require an upkeep fee but that'll be shown/explained in the option. To get to the Buy Paraphernalia option you have to go to the orders link then you'll see it there on the page. As for buying troops, this is a whole new kettle of fish but yet again you have to go to the orders link but this time click Recruit a Unit. As a new player you won't have to worry about all the troop types, just infantry, archers, and mixed infantry. As you click Recruit a Unit you'll notice that under the type section you'll see things like inf Inf stands for Infantry and this is one of the basic units and a unit I recommend you to choose when first starting out. Infantry fight in close combat so be prepared to fight the enemy head on if you choose this class of unit. Another type of unit you'll see is Arch This stands for Archers and they fight the battle from afar wiping out mass units with their arrows; A good unit to get but if the enemy gets too close you could end up doomed. The next time of unit you'll probably want is MI, this stands for Mixed Infantry, this means you'll get both Archers and Infantry, although fairly weak they make a fairly good unit as you get the best of both worlds. REMEMBER When buying a unit don't spend all your gold as you'll need to pay for their upkeep.
Dueling
Ok, so you're minding your own business and someone has slanted your honor and disrespected you. One of the main ways to resolve this is by dueling the person that has done so. There are three types of dueling you can participate in and they are: Duel to Surrender, Duel till First Blood, and Duel till Death. Duel till Surrender is where you and your opponent duels until one of you gives up. Duel till First Blood is where you and your opponent duel until one of you has been cut open by the other. Duel till Death is well... a duel to the death, the winner is the one left alive. Now I'd be careful with using the duel option within the game as some realms dislike you dueling and may consider it to be illegal. Plus there is a slight chance that you could end up wounded from the duel, meaning you will not be able to use your character for a few days. Also Duel to the Death should only be chosen as a last resort to something as it means your character will be deleted if you lose.
Anyway folks, I hope this has helped some of you out in some way. I'll be adding more to this page when I next get some spare time or a day off work. If you're a new player seeking help remember to browse the Wiki, check out some other guides, check out the FAQ on the Battlemaster website or simply ask some of the more experienced members of the realm you're in (aka the realms council or other oldies). I hope you guys have as much fun playing here as I have and perhaps I'll see you around.