Tips for newbie trying to play it?

[Hasenklein]

How does the weapon and other skill training actually work?

Do I have to fight high tier enemies to raise to certain skill threshold, or swim in the sewers instead of the high pool pool to get better?

Effectively, a skill can't be risen above a certain cap which is determined by the enemy. In the case for melee, it has to be a melee weapon. An axe or a club will alow rising Brawling, a Pickaxe won't.

For example, the monsters in the temple of Needles (North-West of Needles) allow rising a weapon skill to 3, the Auto Laser Canon in the lower level allows rising a weapon skill to 6. Brother Goliath allows rising a weapon skill to 7.

[Drool]

I'm pretty sure the cap was character level more than foe level.

[Hasenklein]

I'm pretty sure the cap was character level more than foe level.

Let it put me this way: no enemy allows the raising of a combat skill beyond a certain level. You can, for example, slay monsters in the Temple of Blood forever, but the skill level won't raise beyond 3. If you start fighting the Auto Laser Canon in the underground area (island, entered via the chessboard), it will raise to 6 rather quickly, but can't be raised beyond 6. So effectively, these caps are determined by the enemies, not clvl. Clvl may play a role as well, but I've never tested this.

[SDF121]

So I've finally got around to printing out a copy of the manual and paragraph book and plan to begin my serious playthrough of Wasteland. Are there any other tips or advice that I should keep in mind? What is this business of "macro's" that I keep hearing about? I understand the point of programming macro commands, I just don't know how to make them or what commands I should even bother to program a macro for. I've seen other recommend creating a macro for healing, are there any other specific things that I should create a macro for? Also, just how does one go about programming a macro?

Aside from macro's and the already addressed recommendations for character builds, is there anything else that I should know? More importantly, is there anything I should not do to avoid game breaking bugs or game ending mistakes? For example, I remember reading somewhere that you should save the game whenever you leave a store because if you don't and end up dying in a random battle afterwards that the game will reload you from the store but the store will no longer exist. Is this bug still an issue? Is there anything else I should be aware of with regard to the games saving system? Thanks in advance!

[Sxerks]

a couple of macros would be: (with example key stokes to program them)

Use - Char # - Perception
(ctrl-F2,U,1,3,ctrl-F2)

Use - Char # - Picklock
(ctrl-F3,U,2,down_arrow,2,ctrl-F3)

Use - Char # - medic
(ctrl-F4,U,4,down_arrow,down_arrow,1,ctrl-F4)

so then you just hit the "F key" and then a direction(or spacebar for center) for the first two

and "F key" and another char # to heal another character

if you are using dosbox you will need to change the defaults it uses and they conflict with the game see: thread

[SDF121]

a couple of macros would be: (with example key stokes to program them)

Use - Char # - Perception
(ctrl-F2,U,1,3,ctrl-F2)

Use - Char # - Picklock
(ctrl-F3,U,2,down_arrow,2,ctrl-F3)

Use - Char # - medic
(ctrl-F4,U,4,down_arrow,down_arrow,1,ctrl-F4)

so then you just hit the "F key" and then a direction(or spacebar for center) for the first two

and "F key" and another char # to heal another character

if you are using dosbox you will need to change the defaults it uses and they conflict with the game see: thread

Thanks! I'm assuming by 'F key' you mean F1, F2, and F3 (or any Fx that I have programmed) and not the F key itself. It's been a while since I've attempted to play the game but is each ranger assigned to a number key (1-4) so that if I wanted to heal ranger number three I would press F4 (if I programmed the macro for F4) then the number 3? Thanks again!

[Sxerks]

Thanks! I'm assuming by 'F key' you mean F1, F2, and F3 (or any Fx that I have programmed) and not the F key itself. It's been a while since I've attempted to play the game but is each ranger assigned to a number key (1-4) so that if I wanted to heal ranger number three I would press F4 (if I programmed the macro for F4) then the number 3? Thanks again!

Yep, that's how it works. (1-7) thought

[SDF121]

Thanks! I'm assuming by 'F key' you mean F1, F2, and F3 (or any Fx that I have programmed) and not the F key itself. It's been a while since I've attempted to play the game but is each ranger assigned to a number key (1-4) so that if I wanted to heal ranger number three I would press F4 (if I programmed the macro for F4) then the number 3? Thanks again!

Yep, that's how it works. (1-7) thought

Of course (I was just thinking with respect to the four default rangers). Thanks again though, I greatly appreciate the advice on macro's.

Do you know of anything with regard to game breaking glitches/bugs (especially with regard to the save system) that can make Wasteland impossible to complete? Furthermore, is there any way to back up your saves so that you can revert to an earlier save if you so desire? Thanks again!

[Sxerks]

glance in the worst memories forum for and bugs.

the easiest way to back up is to copy the entire directory to another folder, it's only a MB anyway.

every time you select YES to "enter a new location" it saves, also every time you use the Radio.

[Drool]

Clvl may play a role as well, but I've never tested this.

Everything I've seen online says you can't raise a skill (via use) above your current rank. Foes also limiting might explain why Deadmeat never raised his Brawling in the Ag center, though.


For macros, one of the ones I get a lot of mileage out of is:

a1sa2sa3sa4sy

In combat, the first character with do a single shot against foe 1, the second against foe 2, etc. Should there only be 2 or 3 groups, you can just hit the macro again. For a single use, you could always do a more complicated macro (a4sa3sa2sa1sa3sa2sa1sa2sa1sa1s) but that always seemed excessive to me. Obviously, if you want to use bursts or autofire, you'll need to do it manually, but this works for general combats. And, of course, the ever popular "press escape until an hour or two goes by" for resting.