"I seem to be departing from the usual practice of authors, which has always been to dedicate their works
to some Archmage....So, to avoid that mistake, I have chosen to dedicate my discourses not to those who are
Archmages, but those who, on account of their innumerable good qualities, deserve to be..."
- Ex Liber Beholder
I. How to Start
A. Creating Your Mage
B. Validating Your Mage
C. Navigating through Archmage
II. Interior
A. Exploring
B. Building
1. Farmland and Population
2. Towns and Geld
3. Workshops
4. Barracks
5. Nodes
6. Academies
7. Fortresses
8. Barriers
C. Recruiting troops
D. Gelding
E. Destroying Buildings
F. Disbanding Troops
G. Upkeep: Why Your Units and Spells May Disappear
III. Magic
A. Casting Spells, Armageddon
B. Using items
C. Researching Spells
D. MP Charging
E. Assigning Spells and Items
F. Dispelling Enchantments and Spells
G. Luck
IV. War
A. Attack Limitation, Protection
B. Types of Combat
1. Pillage
2. Regular
3. Siege
C. How Battles are Won and Lost
D. Fine Points of Combat
V. Diplomacy
A. Selecting an Ally
B. Registering an Alliance
C. Breaking an Alliance
D. Why Allies are Useful
E. Exchanging Knowledge With Your Ally
F. Joining a Guild
G. The Difference between Allies and Guildmates
H. NAPs
VI. Soothsayer
A. Chronicle Terra
B. Quest for Glory
C. Arena Archmage
D. Encyclopedia
E. Ranking
F. Black Market
1. Bidding
2. Antique Store, Purchasing Unique Items and Ancient Spells
3. Spawning Hatchery
4. Tavern o' Heroes, General Hero Information
5. Swords for Hire
6. Exotic Mageware
7. Altar of Darkness
8. Apparent Anomalies with Selling Goods
VII. Throne Room
A. Archmail
B. Options
1. Meditation
2. Changing Your Password
3. Deleting Your Mage
4. Your Mage Description
C. Status Report
D. Audience
VIII. Miscellaneous
A. The Decalogue, Punishment, and Reporting Misconduct
B. How to Appeal when You are Punished
C. Trouble Logging In
D. Your Entry Has Expired
E. Fallen Units
F. Logging Out
G. Unique Items, The Holy Grail
H. Bulletin Boards
1. The Banquet Hall
2. The Hall of Sages
3. The Union of Honor
4. The Conservatory
5. The General Assembly
I. Social Norms
1. Multi Attacking
2. Arrow Messages
3. Checking Mage Descriptions
CHAPTER I: HOW TO START
A. Creating Your Mage
To play Archmage you need to choose a server, click on "Create New Mage," enter all the required data, and
then click on the cross symbol with the word "Reincarnation" below it. Doing this should take you to a screen
where your mage name and password appear. From here you must return to the main menu and choose "Play
Archmage." A mage can only be accessed and played on the server on which it is originally created. Next you
must enter your mage name and password EXACTLY as you originally selected them - even the slightest deviation
in spelling or spacing will cause an error message to appear when you try to enter the game.
B. Validating Your Mage
Once you have created your mage a message containing your validation code will be sent to the email
address you supplied when registering your account. The validation code is to be entered when you are logging
in to your account. It only needs to be entered successfully once. This applies to all server except
Apprentice, which does not require a validation code. If your validation code isn't entered by the time you've
taken 99 turns you won't be able to play the game, as you will be blocked by the "Quest for Destiny" page
until you validate your mage. Note that if you supply an invalid email address the message with validation
code is bounced back to us. You can correct this on the "Quest for Destiny" page by reentering your correct
e-mail address. If you do not receive your validation code after one hour please reenter it on the "Quest for
Destiny" page or use a new email address (hotmail addresses work well). If you still do not receive a
validation code after this point please contact us so we can help. If your account has not been validated
within three days our system deletes the mage automatically.
C. Navigating through Archmage
When playing Archmage it is important to use the links to navigate from page to page. Using your browser
buttons will not update your page (unless you click Reload or Refresh), and not having current information has
proven disastrous for more than one mage.
CHAPTER II:
INTERIOR
A.
Exploring
There are three ways to gain wilderness acres in
Archmage: you can win land by defeating another mage in battle; you can
use spells or magical items to gain land; you can explore (only up to 3500
acres on all servers excepting the two Ager servers). You need to have
wilderness acres if you wish to build structures.
B. Building
1. Farmland and
Population
Farmland produces food for your people and thus affects
the max population that can be fed. Generally one farmland unit can
support 500 people. However, some troops may reduce max population space.
Check the "unit" section under the encyclopedia to see how much population
space each creature needs. Note that not all summoned creatures count
toward your max population.
Population growth is a constant 1.5% of
your total population each turn. There are several factors that can alter
your population growth and max population, such as certain enchantments,
unique items, units (mind rippers, vampires, etc.) that have population
upkeep, and (as already discussed) recruiting barracks
troops.
2. Towns and Geld
Towns affect the amount of
geld you gain per turn. If you have less than 10% towns, expect to gain
less than one geld per population. If you have more than 10%, expect to
gain more than one geld per population. You can check your percentage of
towns in the building menu.
3. Workshops
Workshops
function very simply: the more workshops you have, the faster you build
(the fewer turns you will need to build something). The building rate is
linear.
4. Barracks
Barracks only contribute to the
recruit rate of normal units (militia, phalanx, etc.) and special units
(dependant upon a mage's magic type). The more barracks you have the
faster you will be able to recruit normal and special units.
5.
Nodes
Each node generates 10 magic power per turn. This rule only
applies if the number of nodes you have is equal to or less than 10% of
your total land. If you have more than 10% nodes the excessive nodes still
generate magic power, but the rate is decreased. Note that if you build
too many nodes you will exhaust your country's MP and your nodes will
cease generating MP.
Each node can hold 1000 magic power, so expect
the maximum magic power your country can hold to equal 1000 multiplied by
your number of nodes.
6. Academies
The speed with which
you are able to research new spells is dependant upon how many Academies
you have. Also, when you own at least one mage Academy you will have a
small chance of generating lesser artifacts every turn. The chance of
generating an artifact can be quite high if you own many Academies but is
quite low if you own only a few. Note that Academies have a high geld
upkeep, so it can be difficult to keep too many around.
7.
Fortresses
The fortress has two functions. First, it grants
bonuses to you when you are defending from attacks. If 1.25% of your land
is fortresses, expect to have a small bonus when you are defending. Having
fortresses at 2.5 % of your land is the optimum ratio. When at least 2.5%
of your land is covered by fortresses you get a high defense bonus.
The second function of fortresses is that they are comparable to the
"hitpoints" of your country. If you lose your last fortress, your mage
dies. Fortresses have a very high geld upkeep.
8.
Barriers
Barriers count toward the spell resistance (%) of your
country. If you have at least one barrier you will have a very slight
chance of resisting any incoming item, enchantment, or combat spell. If
1.25% of your land is barriers you have a good chance of blocking items
and spells. Having barriers at 2.5% of your land is the optimum ratio. If
2.5% of your land is barriers you have a good chance of blocking items and
spells. Note that barriers have a very high MP upkeep.
C. Recruiting Troops
You need troops to ward off
invasions and to make attacks. There are 3 types of troops: basic normal
units (militia, phalanx, pikemen, archer, cavalry); special units (each
magic specialty has different units, phantasm has none); and summoned
creatures (each magic specialty has different units, and you need to learn
the proper spells before you can summon them).
You can recruit basic
and normal units from your barracks. Though they are generally not as
powerful as the units you can summon, each unit can be useful if
implemented into a strong army properly (note that you can send up to 10
different unit types into any one battle). There are advantages and
disadvantages to recruiting more than one group of units, which you will
discover after a bit of trial and error. If you have no recruited troops
or summoned units you are completely defenseless. Anyone within range can
attack your country, butcher your citizens, and raze your land. You must
always make sure to have some kind of defense.
D. Gelding
Gelding allows you to increase the
amount of money you get from your citizens. Think of it as taxing. If you
are existing on a frail budget, it is a good way to obtain some quick
money. The amount of geld you get per turn of gelding depends on the size
of your population and number of towns in your country.
E. Destroying Buildings
If you need to get rid of
some buildings to avoid breaking your economy or to free up land for
different buildings you must use this feature. Be careful, as once you
destroy them you cannot undo your action.
F.
Disbanding Troops
If you need to get rid of some troops to avoid
breaking your economy or to adjust your stacking you must use this
feature. Note that troops with a population upkeep requirement (liches,
mind rippers, etc.) are not disbandable.
G.
Upkeep: Why Your Units and Spells May Disappear
Buildings,
troops, spells in effect, heroes, etc. all have maintenance, or "upkeep"
costs. There are three types of upkeep: geld, population, and MP. You may
check your Status Report to view your geld, population, and MP budgets.
All resources have two aspects: the total amount you currently have
(listed on your main menu page) and the current amount you gain or lose
per turn (listed on the status report page). If you find you are running a
negative budget you can destroy buildings, dispel enchantments, dismiss
heroes, or disband troops to attempt to stabilize your economic situation.
Not all units/spells/buildings require each manner of upkeep
(Archangels require only geld, e.g.), though some do. You must carefully
monitor your upkeep costs to ensure that they are not excessively greater
than your income. If your upkeep cost is greater than your income you will
lose geld, population, and/or MP each turn until you have no resources to
pay for your buildings/troops/spells, which will cause the
buildings/troops/spells to disappear. Note that it is entirely possible
for you to have a positive geld and MP income but to still be in danger of
running out of population, and vice versa.
CHAPTER III:
MAGIC
A. Casting Spells,
Armageddon
Your mage must be specialized in one sort of magic.
You can still cast spells (provided you have successfully researched them)
from other magic specialties. However, you can never be as adept at
casting spells from a different magic type as the mage specializing in
that magic. There is always a chance of failure when casting average and
complex spells from other magic specialties, and you may only learn and
cast ultimate spells of your own magic specialty. Each magic specialty has
two magic specialties opposing it. The breakdown is as follows:
The
opposing schools for Eradication are Phantasm and Ascendant.
For
Ascendant they are Eradication and Nether.
For Nether they are
Ascendant and Verdant.
For Phantasm they are Eradication and
Verdant.
For Verdant they are Nether and Phantasm.
Also, if you
wish to cast Armageddon you must select the spell and cast it (just like
any other spell). You will be taken to a page with a large graphic. If you
click on the graphic, you will cast Armageddon.
Before casting any
spell be sure that you have sufficient MP or you will break your economy.
If you cast an offensive enchantment on an opponent (Meteor Storm) you
must pay the spell upkeep for each turn the targeted mage takes. If you
cast an enchantment on yourself (Love and Peace) you must pay the spell
upkeep for each turn you take.
Take care when casting spells - be sure
you enter the correct target and the correct number of times you wish to
cast, as mistakes will not be undone by customer support.
B. Using Items
There are three types of items:
unique items, which affect your country as long as you are in possession
of them (with the exception of one-use uniques, such as the Efreeti
Bottle); lesser instant items, which you can use at any time by clicking
on the "Use Item" link; and battle items, which may only be used in
combat. You can determine what type an item is by looking the item up in
the encyclopedia.
C. Researching
Spells
Your mage must be specialized in one sort of magic, but
you can research spells from all magic specialties provided you have
sufficient turns to do so. You can research up to the average spells of
opposing magic specialties, up to the complex spells of close magic
specialties, and up to the ultimate spells of your own magic specialty. It
costs more turns and there is a chance of failure when you research spells
from other magic specialties (these penalties are larger for the opposing
specialties and a bit less for the close specialties).
All ancient
spells, with the exception of Armageddon, may only be researched by a mage
with the same magic specialty as the spell (e.g. only Nether can research
Corruption). Ancient spells can only be obtained from scrolls, which you
must either buy from Exotic Mageware on the Black Market, find by using a
treasure chest or map, or steal from another mage. Armageddon is the
exception to this rule, as it may be researched.
D. M.P. Charging
Magic power charging will give
you magic power if you spend at least one turn on it and if your M.P.
income is not too much in the negative. If you are in magic power trouble
you can choose between magic power charging or managing your resources in
other ways (such as disbanding troops). When casting expensive spells and
enchantments it is good idea to charge magic power first. While magic
power charging it is important to understand that you get all of the turns
worth of charging, and then all of those turns worth of upkeep is
subtracted from the total amount charged. This is important, because if
you max out your magic power while charging, any extra turns spent on
charging will not add to the total, but will add to the upkeep. The only
way you can avoid M.P. charging is to run a positive M.P. budget (so you
gain M.P. every turn you take).
E. Assigning
Spells and Items
When someone attacks your country your units
will automatically fight back. You can't control this, so it is necessary
to set a "defense mode" for your units. You can assign an item and a spell
for defense. You may also set whether or not the item and spell will be
used, based on the size of the invading army vs. your own army size. When
you are attacked you will use the assigned item and cast the assigned
spell (if the attack satisfies the conditions you set and if you still
have the item you originally assigned).
To select your spell and item,
click the "assignment" link in the main menu. There you can pick from your
available spell and item choices. Each time you enter the assignment page
be sure to select a spell and item and their conditions for use so you are
not left defenseless (the assignment resets to nothing if you do not make
set it each time you enter the "assignment page). You can check your
current spell and item assignment on your status report page. Picking the
right spell and item for defense is a complicated matter, but you will be
able to learn what you should assign as you become a more experienced
player.
F. Dispelling Enchantments and
Spells
Very simple - if you or someone else casts an enchantment
or spell on your country you may attempt to dispel it. Some enchantments
require you to use M.P. to dispel, while others do not require M.P. You
will learn how much M.P. to allocate to a dispel attempt as you become a
more experienced player. Be sure to research the Ascendant spell "Dispel
Magic," as it will give you a bonus when attempting to dispel. You do not
need to cast this spell - you only need to research it.
G. Luck
If you click on the ad banners while in
the game you will have a chance to get favor from Lady Luck. You may need
to click on a few different banners to get Her favor. You can always check
the top lines in your status report to find out if you have gained luck.
Having luck gives you bonuses when you are casting spells, attacking,
defending, and exploring. You should try to get Lady Luck's favor before
engaging in combat, exploring, or casting spells.
CHAPTER IV:
WAR
A. Attack Limitation,
Protection
Generally when attacking you may target mages who
have up to twice your power down to mages who have only 80% of your power.
This rule only fails to apply when you have a counter attack. You are
granted a counter attack when another mage successfully attacks you (takes
acres) or when the Goddess of Revenge winks at you after you have been
targeted by spells or items. When this occurs you are allotted a
counterattack. You are allowed to take counterattacks until the 24 hours
expires or until you inflict an amount of damage equal to that which you
originally sustained.
There will be times when you can neither make an
attack nor take a counter attack against a mage. This occurs when a mage
is under protection. There are three types of protection: Newbie, 24 hour,
and Council.
Newbie protection lasts for a new mage's first 120 turns.
Any mage that has not taken 120 turns cannot be targeted for offensive
action.
You will be placed under 24 hour protection when you lose more
than 20% of your net-worth within 24 hours. When this occurs you cannot be
attacked for 24 hours unless you attack someone successfully and they take
a counter against you.
Council Protection occurs when you lose all of
your units and your land is reduced to less than 1500 acres. When under
Council Protection you cannot be attacked until you take a turn, which
removes the protection.
B. Types of
Combat
1. Pillage
When you pillage you send your
troops to the target mage's country and attempt to raid his/her geld and
land. If you are successful in your pillage attempt you will burn
buildings, steal geld, possibly steal an item, and gain a portion of your
target's population. If you are unsuccessful your troops will be detected
and attacked with no chance to defend themselves as they flee like thieves
in the night.
2. Regular
Regular is the most basic form
of attack. You send your troops to engage an enemy mage in the field of
battle. If you win you will get a small portion of the defeated mage's
land, burning several acres to ash in the process.
3.
Siege
If a siege attack is successful, you will gain land and a
possibly a fortress from the defeated mage. The targeted mage is granted
bonuses when defending against a siege attack. You will both gain and
destroy more acres of your opponent's lands if you are victorious in a
siege attack, but a siege attack is significantly more difficult to win
than a regular.
C. How Battles are Won and
Lost
In order to win a battle you must accomplish two things:
first, you must inflict a base amount of damage on the defender; second,
you must cause your opponent to lose a larger percentage of his/her
military power than the percentage of power you lose in the battle. So, to
successfully defend you must either sustain a relatively small amount of
damage or cause your opponent to lose a larger percentage of his/her
military power than you lose.
D. Fine Points of
Combat
1. Gaining Land
The amount of land you
gain in an attack is dependant upon the size of the force you send into
battle. If you send only a few units, those few units will not be able to
occupy a large amount of land. However, if you send several thousand
units, you will gain several acres when you are victorious.
2.
Losing a Battle without Losing Troops
It is possible to lose an
attack without losing any troops. If you attack someone and kill a few
hundred, or even a few thousand troops, lose no troops yourself, and still
lose the battle it is because you did not inflict the required base amount
of damage on your opponent.
3. Your Enemy has
Disappeared
Sometimes you will attempt to attack a mage and
receive a message that the mage no longer exists. There are several
possibilities as to why a mage will turn up as not existing when you are
looking for him/her. The mage may have died in battle, chosen to delete
his/her account, or (most commonly) you may have mistyped the mage's
number.
4. Initiative
A unit's initiative is the speed
with which it attacks. Some units have more than one attack. In these
cases, each attack has an initiative number. Units with a high attack
initiative (maximum of 7) will attack first in battle, while units with
lower initiative will attack later in the battle. If two units have the
same initiative it is randomly determined which will attack first. Note
that there are spells and items that can raise and decrease initiative. A
unit with an initiative of 1 that is affected by a spell or item that
lowers initiative will not be able to attack at all. You can view a unit's
attack initiative(s) in the Encyclopdia.
5. Why Units Don't
Attack
In certain cases you will find that not all of your
different stacks of troops attack. Reasons for this can be paralyzation,
initiative lowered to zero, the stack is annihilated before it has a
chance to attack, or the units' attack type cannot affect the opponent's
units (for example, if you have troops who only have melee attacks and you
attack someone who has only flying troops, your troops will not be able to
attack them unless you have used an item that gives your troops
flight).
6. Extra Attack Capabilities
Units that have
the extra attack ability can attack once, then attack again
immediately.
CHAPTER V:
DIPLOMACY
A. Selecting an
Ally
You are allowed to have two allies on guild servers and one
ally on non-guild servers (with the exception of Blits Solo, which forbids
any alliances).
If you are having trouble finding a mage you perceive
to be worthy of an alliance you may post a message in the Union of Honor
section of the Bulletin Boards. Otherwise you may simply wish to scan the
mages that appear in your ranking list and request an alliance with one of
them. You may under no condition send a mass email to request alliances
(or for any other reason).
B. Registering an
Alliance
Once you have found a mage with whom you would like to
ally you may send him or her an alliance offer by clicking on Diplomacy,
entering the number of the mage, and clicking "Execute." The mage will
receive your offer and either accept it or refuse it. If he/she accepts
it, your alliance is registered. You can have two registered allies at any
given time except on the non-guild servers (Ager Non-Guild, Server
Non-Guild, and Blitz Solo).
C. Breaking an
Alliance
If you wish to end an alliance you may do so by using
the Diplomacy link.
D. Why Allies are
Useful
When you have an ally he/she will send you reinforcements
to attack and defend provided he/she has three or more groups of units.
Also, as is obvious, you may ask your ally for assistance when you are at
war with other mages. Keep in mind that when you are playing non-guild
servers you may only work with your registered ally. If you play a
non-guild server and are found to be working with an unregistered ally you
will be punished by customer support for illegal guild
activity.
E. Exchanging Knowledge with Your
Ally
There are four conditions you must satisfy in order to
successfully exchange knowledge:
1) You and your ally must be
specialized in the same magic type.
2) The spells to be exchanged must
be of your magic type.
3) The spells to be exchanged must be of the
same difficulty (either average, or complex)
4) The spells to be
exchanged must be ones that the other mage does not have yet.
In other
words, you can exchange knowledge with your ally provided you are
specialized in the same magic type, you each know a spell the other does
not, said spells are of the same ranking, and said spells are of the magic
type in which you both specialize. Ultimate and Ancient spells cannot be
exchanged. All of the exchange knowledge transactions take 3 turns. If you
have 2 allies, then the computer will randomly choose which one it thinks
you want to exchange knowledge with. There is a 50/50 chance each time
that it will try to exchange with either one of the allies, so keep
trying.
F. Joining a Guild
If you
play on a server that allows guilds you may find it helpful to join a
guild, which is a group of mages who have decided to work together. The
motivations of the guilds differ - some strive for power, some for
camaraderie, and some simply like to coordinate attacks to pound on other
mages. You may view the registered guilds by clicking on "guild of terra."
If you wish to join one of these guilds you may message the guild leader
and request membership. If he/she accepts, you're in - if not, keep
looking. Occasionally a guild will take interest in you and offer you a
membership. Your best bet to find a guild that's good for you is to check
the Union of Honor on the Universal Bulletin Boards.
G. The Difference Between Allies and
Guildmates
There are few differences between allies and
guildmates. Obviously guildmates will not be able to send you
reinforcements or exchange knowledge with you. Also, you do not need to
register your alliance with guildmates, as the alliance is automatic upon
joining the same guild. Another difference is that it is impossible to
attack a registered ally, while it is possible (although illegal) to
attack a guildmate. Any mage found to be attacking guildmates will be
punished by customer support for illegal guild activity and possibly for
milking.
H. NAPs
A NAP is an acronym
that stands for Non-Aggression Pact. It is an agreement between two mages
to not attack each other. A NAP is not an alliance, meaning that mages who
share a NAP may not share in-game information, may not make attacks or
threaten other mages to not attack their NAP, and may not coordinate
attacks. NAPs are legal on all servers with the exception of the Blitz
Solo server, where past player NAP abuse (treating NAPs as allies) has
caused the customer support team to outlaw NAPs.
CHAPTER VI:
SOOTHSAYER
A. Chronicle
Terra
You may use this feature to check the battle record of a
mage. It is useful to use when choosing a target, because you can select a
mage whose resources may be exhausted from battle. It is also useful in
that you can see who your enemies and friends have been at war
with.
B. Quest for Glory
The Quest
for Glory has not yet been implemented into the game. Customer support
will make a broad post when the feature is ready. Until that time, please
hold all questions regarding Quest.
C. Arena
Archmage
Here you may check the description and stats (total
acres, power, rank, etc.) of a mage by entering his/her mage name or mage
number. When you are playing guild servers it is a good idea to know who
you are attacking, or you may find yourself in the middle of a guild
war.
D. Encyclopedia
The Encyclopedia
contains basic information (descriptions, costs, etc.) regarding units,
spells, items, heroes, and buildings. It is an invaluable asset for
resource management and for planning your army (the unit, hero, and spell
specifics are delineated here).
E.
Ranking
This link will take you to a screen that shows those
mages who are close to you in power (you will see the 30 mages ranked
immediately higher than you and the 30 mages ranked immediately lower than
you). You will also find a listing of the current top ten players, which
are the ten players with the highest amount of power. The ranking screen
can be useful in finding targets or in finding mages with who you think
you may like to ally.
F. Black
Market
1. Bidding
When you place a bid for
something on the Black Market every other mage on the server is given 30
minutes to attempt to outbid you. If you are outbid you will receive a
message via Archmail informing you of the situation and offering you a
quick link back to the Black Market to reestablish a bid. Also, when you
are outbid all the geld you originally paid for the item is returned to
your account.
Take care when buying - be sure you bid on the correct
item and you enter the correct amount you wish to bid, as customer support
will not undo errors you make.
2. Antique Store, Purchasing
Unique Items and Ancient Spells
Here you may buy or sell items. To
sell an item click on the link that reads "sell item," scroll to the
bottom of your item list, select an item to sell with the drag-down menu,
and click "sell." To buy an item click the circle next to the item you
wish to buy, place your bid, and click "order." Unique items and Ancient
spell scrolls occasionally appear in the Antique Store, but remember that
they are very rare and will not appear often - so if you are attempting to
require an Ancient spell or a unique item you must be very vigilant and
very patient. Furthermore, when you acquire an Ancient Spell you have a
CHANCE to research it successfully. Remember you may only research Ancient
spells of your own magic type.
3. Spawning Hatchery
The
Spawning Hatchery is a breeding ground for various creatures of Terra. You
will find creatures up to the Complex level (no Ultimates or Ancients) for
sale here. To purchase these creatures you must place your bid and click
"order."
4. Tavern o' Heroes, General Hero
Information
The great heroes of Terra can often be found cavorting
in this famous ale house. If you wish to hire one of these great leaders
you must make an offer, then click "order." Keep in mind that you may only
have one of each type of hero at any time. For example, if you have a 13th
level Berserker and hire a 14th level Berserker, the 13th level hero will
get jealous and leave your country (the highest level hero will stay).
Once you a hire a hero you cannot try to sell him or her back to the
Tavern - no hero would stand for such indignity as to be bought and sold
like cattle. However, if you wish your hero to leave you may dismiss him
or her by clicking on the "audience" link.
Note that heroes can gain
levels (but we're not telling you how they gain experience or what the
experience tables are - that's up to you to discover).
Note also that
each hero has certain abilities. Each ability has a number in parenthesis
next to it. This number is the level the hero must be to use the ability.
A level 8 Valkyrie does not have a Valor (9) ability until she reaches 9th
level.
Finally, all battle heroes automatically join the fight when you
go to war. Generally your highest level hero will take control of your top
stack of troops, your second highest level hero will take control of your
second stack, etc. If the stack that a hero is commanding is annihilated,
the hero will almost surely be killed.
5. Swords for
Hire
There are always various mercenary groups looking to earn
some money by hiring out their skills. When you click on "Swords for Hire"
you will have the option of hiring small bands of mercenaries, which are
generally barracks troops from the various Magic Specialties. If you wish
to hire them you must make them an offer and click "order."
6.
Exotic Mageware
Here you may purchase books containing Simple,
Average, Complex, and Ancient spells. Do not purchase spells that you have
already researched, as it will simply be a waste of geld. It is rare to
find a spell for sale that you are not able to research, but it can be
very beneficial to acquire such a spell (because each researched spell
increases a mage's spell level).
7. Altar of
Darkness
At the Altar of Darkness you may offer geld to one of the
seven Gods of Terra. If your offering pleases a God you will gain favor,
and the God will do something to benefit your country. If the God is not
swayed to either favor or disfavor by your offering, nothing will happen
(but you still lose the geld).
If your offering displeases one of the
Gods, He or She will do something to harm your country. Gaining favor is a
very tricky matter - if you want advice on how to do so your best bet is
to check the backlogs of the bulletin boards, namely the Union of
Honor.
8. Apparent Anomalies with Selling Goods
When
you put an item up for sale you may notice that you receive less geld for
the item than what was bid on it (e.g. you received 5 million for your
Carpet of Flying, but the last bid on the item was 10 million). This
happens because there are two prices for any item on the Black Market: the
selling price of an item and the return price that the seller actually
receives. The return price is lower than the selling price in order to
prevent abuse of the Black Market (especially by multimages who might use
the Black Market to transfer funds between accounts). The return price
fluctuates depending on the selling price of an item, so don't be
surprised if another mage receives more or less geld for the same item
sold.
At times you will try to sell an item and it won't appear on the
Black Market for a time. This is because all items mages attempt to sell
are placed on the market randomly within 48 hours, so it may take some
time for your item to appear on the market and for you to get your
geld.
CHAPTER VII:
THRONEROOM
A.
Archmail
Archmage provides players with a simple messaging
system to contact one another. If you wish to send another player a
message via Archmail simply click "send message," then enter the mage's
number or aliad, type your message, and click "send." Be warned that using
foul and harassing language and mass messaging are strictly prohibited.
Anyone caught spamming or using inappropriate language will be punished by
customer support.
B.
Options
1. Meditation
If you need to take a
break from Archmage you may place your mage into a meditative state.
Meditation lasts for 3 days, and you may enter mediation once every seven
days. While in this state no other mages will be able to take action
against your mage, nor will you be able to access your mage account. You
may only enter meditation if you have not taken an offensive action
against another mage in the past 24 hours. Also, you may not enter
meditation if the Fifth Seal leading to Armageddon has broken.
To
enter meditation click on "options," on the next page scroll down to the
section on meditation, click both boxes that state you want to meditate,
then click "change."
2. Changing Your Password
If you
wish to change your password you must click on "options," check the
"change password" box, type your new password and your old password into
the appropriate boxes, and click "change." If you suspect someone is
trying to hack your account it is a good idea to change your password to
something only you would know. Be sure to never tell anyone your password.
Keep in mind when selecting your password that it must have at least six
characters and at least one must be a number or a punctuation
mark.
3. Deleting Your Mage
If you wish to delete your
mage you must click on "options," check the "depart from Terra" box, type
your password, and click "change." You may only delete if you have not
taken an offensive action within 24 hours.
4. Your Mage
Description
By clicking on "options" you will be taken to a screen
at which you can enter a short description for your mage. All you must do
is type the description you wish (avoid using foul or harassing language,
as you will be punished by customer support for an inappropriate
description) and then click "change." Other mages will see your
description when they look you up on Arena Archmage.
C. Status
Report
Your Status Report summarizes the most important
information about your country. Here you may monitor your MP, geld, and
population budget. It is important to check your status report frequently
to be sure you are not in danger of running your country to ruin through
poor resource management. By monitoring your Status Report you can
determine how many buildings and troops your economy can support. The most
common problem new players have is improperly managing their resources,
which causes their buildings and troops to disappear.
D. Audience
Here you may view your hero's
statistics and dismiss him/her if you so wish.
CHAPTER VIII:
MISCELLANEOUS
A. The
Decalogue, Punishment, and Reporting Misconduct
The rules of
Archmage are delineated in the Decalogue of Terra, which breaks the
policies into ten sections. Before playing Archmage you must be aware of
these rules, for if you violate any one of them your mage will be punished
by customer support. Ignorance of the rules is not an excuse for
misconduct, as each player is requested to read the policies before
playing.
If you come under investigation by customer support and are
found guilty of violating the Decalogue of Terra your mage will be
punished. Most commonly the Fury of God, an extremely deadly spell will be
placed on your mage. In less extreme circumstances turns will be taken
away from your mage, while in more extreme circumstances your mage will be
deleted, and in some cases an IP address may be banned.
If you wish to
report another mage for violating the Decalogue of Terra click on the
"Contact Us" link that is found at the bottom of almost every
page.
B. How to Appeal when You are
Punished
If you are found guilty of an offence a message stating
why you are being punished and what the punishment is will be sent to your
registered email address. If you feel that you are being reprimanded
unfairly you may respond to the customer support administrator who has
punished you. When doing so be sure to state your mage name, the server
you are playing, and why you believe your appeal should be
accepted.
C. Trouble Logging In
At
times you may experience difficulty logging in to your mage account. Every
day starting at 3 AM Pacific Standard Time our servers are undergoing
standard maintenance checks and hence are unavailable for a short period
of time.
If you have trouble logging in at other hours it is likely
because the server is very busy and is unable to support more players at
the moment. In this case you should continue attempting to log in until
you succeed or you should wait until a later time.
This is an imperfect
world, and from time to time our servers will be down. We are generally
alerted to this almost as soon as it happens, and will work to have the
servers up and running asap when trouble occurs.
D. Your Entry Has Expired
You may receive a
message reading "Your Entry Has Expired" every now and then when you are
playing Archmage. This message indicates that your cookie information has
expired, meaning you need to log back in to refresh the information.
Generally you will only need to do this once, though occasionally you will
receive this message several times, which means the server is too busy for
you to be able to enter. In this case you should try to enter at a later
time.
E. Fallen Units
To obtain
Fallen units you must be playing a Nether mage. Wait for the Nether
Parchment to appear in the Exotic Mageware shop of the Black Market, and
win it in a bidding war. This will give you a CHANCE to learn the ancient
spell called Corruption. This is a battle spell that has a chance to
corrupt Angel type units (Angels, Archangels, Dominions). To make this
work, all of the following must be true if you are attacking:
1) You
are a Nether mage.
2) You have Corruption.
3) You use Corruption as
your spell in battle.
4) You are in battle against an army with
Angels.
5) The Corruption spell does not fizzle when you cast it.
6)
Your spell makes it through the Nether resistance of the kingdom you
attack.
7) You kill Angel types.
8) The dead Angels miss their
Nether resistance.
You can also set Corruption as your defense in
expectation that some Angels will come visiting. In which case:
1) You
are a Nether mage.
2) You have Corruption.
3) You assign Corruption
as your defensive spell.
4) You are in battle against an army with
Angels.
5) You kill Angel types.
6) The dead Angels miss their
Nether resistance.
It is tough to do, but hey - it's an Ancient
spell and the units you can get are pretty amazing.
F. Logging Out
You do not need to log out of your
mage account when you are done playing, as your information will be secure
once you exit the site. However, you should disconnect from the internet
or close your browser so no one using the computer after you can use the
browser button to click back to your mage.
G.
Unique Items, The Holy Grail
Unique items are very difficult to
obtain. You may either attempt to purchase one from the Antique Store, get
lucky with a treasure map/chest or Blood Stained Map, attempt to steal one
from another mage by using spells or items, be granted one by a God, or
wish one into existence (such as the Efreeti Bottle). Each unique item has
powerful effects. We do not reveal what these effects are, because we want
it to remain mysterious. If you are searching for information regarding a
specific Unique Item, your best bet is to check the Bulletin
Boards.
The Holy Grail is a Unique Item that is one of the greatest
mysteries of Archmage. You will find that as soon as you obtain one it may
disappear, and even if you can keep it, you will have trouble discerning
what it does. We think mysteries are fun - if you don't, stay away from
the Grail.
H. Bulletin Boards
The
Universal Bulletin Boards are accessible by all Archmage players. However,
to post to the boards you must create a UBB account.
1. The
Banquet Hall
This board is for general discussion
purposes.
2. The Hall of Sages
This board is for
discussing tactics.
3. The Union of Honor (except on Blitz
Solo)
This Board is for locating potential allies or guildmates
(on servers that allow guilds).
4. The
Conservatory
This is where players may post their own original
poetry and prose.
5. The General Assembly
While each
server has its own Banquet Hall, Hall of Sages, and Union of Honor, the
General Assembly contains these three boards in a non-server-specific
setting. It is a place for everyone who wishes to post to the general
Archmage community.
Note that all boards are moderated by grizzled,
ornery Archmage veterans who will dismember you if you violate any of the
policies delineated in the Decalogue of Terra when posting. You may report
abuse of the bulleting boards by other mages to the Moderators or to the
customer support team.
I. Social Norms
1. Multi Attacking
Multi attacking is engaging
in more than one offensive action against one mage within a 24 hour
period. This is not illegal, though it is widely considered to be
unethical by the Archmage community. If you multi attack a player, he or
she will often receive it as an act of war and retaliate in
kind.
2. Arrow Messages
When you attack another mage
you are given the option to type a message. There are a few common
messages that you will need to know: "random" indicates a attack that is
not an act of war, but rather is a simple attempt at a land grab by a mage
who bears no grudge; "counter" indicates an attack that is a response to
an attack made on you; if someone types something like "need pop" they are
likely pillaging you to get people before their economies break (common
among Nether mages). Most arrow messages are quite self-explanatory, but
it is wise to use them so your opponent is clear as to what your
intentions are.
3. Checking Mage Descriptions
It is
always wise to check a mage's description before attacking. By doing this
you can avoid attacking mages who are warring with other mages or guilds.
It is common practice to avoid attacking mages who are involved in guild
wars (mainly because their guild will take it badly and target you).