Red Storm Survival Guide

A few random tips.

1. The first room out of the gate is still part of the village and has the village's weather. The next room is part of the land surrounding the village. So you can go out to the first room, then 'weather n' or 'weather s' to see if it's an impenetrable sandstorm out there before actually stepping into it and potentially getting lost.

2. Direction sense is a really handy thing to have around Storm. You can skill up without risk by moving about on dark nights inside the village (unless this has been changed too).

3. I've never had a problem going out of the south gate from hammerheads unless the crew around the silt skiff seller are messed up. You look at them from a distance to check whether this is so.

4. You do need to be alert for drov beetles. They usually don't show up south of the village, but very occasionally they do. Keep a regular eye around you while you greb. You can look while caught in the grebbing time delay. Set yourself to 'run' beforehand so you don't have to type it when one shows up. If you see one two rooms away, go back into the village.

5. The stones around the village are mostly crappy sandstone, but even that can yield some coins with crafting. Yellow sandstone can be made into rolling pins, for one. Also, once in a while, you'll find a 'quarried' stone of some sort. You can actually use shovels to break these down, not just pickaxes. There's obsidian and granite (unless they've changed this) which offer more crafting and selling possibilities. Getting a shovel or pickaxe can be problematic though. Buy one during character creation. If you neglected to do that, check the large tent regularly. Ask PCs if they have one and are willing to sell it.

6. Don't drink spice ale unless you're set for water. It actually dehydrates you. (Or did at one time, at least).

7. You can greb for food and water two rooms from the south gate.

8. Black fungus sold by the dwarf in his tent in the bazaar is fairly filling on a per 'sid basis and it doesn't dehydrate you (unless this has been changed too).

9. Being able to make your own tools is very handy, since Red Storm has no tool shop. Practice on sandstone. Once you're good at toolmaking, you can turn obsidian and bone into profit as well as building your tool chest.

10. Be prepared to log in for short bursts, to conserve your food and water, while initially skilling up. Do your grebbing at dawn, when the weather is coolest and you'll dry out the least.

11. Spice hunting isn't really worth it unless there's a PC Kuraci offering better prices in town.

Training combat there is very difficult without a PC partner. Although at least Salarr sells training weapons there (the only place in the Known that has them without PCs selling them to them, so far as I know).

Almost not worth mentioning, but there are rats in the village which you can attack. You might be able to raise certain skills on them (maybe shield use, kick and such) if you're persistent. They generally are hiding so you'll need to scan to find them. Just don't be like me and attack one of the hidden soldiers by mistake in your haste to kill a rat. They do yield a little meat and a hide when skinned, so you can justify hunting them that way, but I doubt the staff would take a kindly view of anyone who does sparring tricks like defending against them or fighting in the dark.