Hail everyone,

I've been playing on CF for some time now, and rangers are one of my favourite classes so far. However, there are a few questions I'd like to ask you. I did a search on the forums and the helpfiles, but unfortunately didn't find what I was looking for.

1. How much does ranger skills "suffer" from time in civilization?
2. How is wilderness time calculated (ticks or paces)?
3. Do bigger cities count as "more civilized" as small settlements?
4. It seems that bows are pretty rare. Is hunter a better choice than explorer? (for a newbie)

Thank you all for your input.

Rangers in general can make a pretty good class to help newer players along the way, since they tend to have good survivability. But some builds are less forgiving for newer folks.

1. It's been said before. Some time in cities or civilized is okay, but I wouldn't advise spending much time. I'd go through the academy, get the newbie gear and practice weapon at the start and then get out. You don't really need to do quests, because you can tank and quests are for people who can't tank. Lol.

2. It's a ratio, probably measured in ticks, but it is easy to stay ahead of the game. If you go through the academy quickly and get out, you should have fast camo by the time you get the camo skill. I've never had to wait to get it before, at least not for a long time.

3. Nope, they are no more civilized than anywhere else.

4. Bows are rare, and to be honest some of the best ones in the game are good-only or are on good mobs that can be requested from. Sadly, your fashion bow will be pretty much utterly useless to you. I think my last hunter(and only) at near hero my bow damage was still in the mid teens, and only half as much +hit/dam and it doesn't prog with healing like staffs and spears do, which I think is crap.

For a newbie, most people would recommend forester, survivalist, because that is the traditional ranger, but honestly, I like explorers. Group camp is handy if you are taking folks along who are mentally draining like bards or mages, herbs quicker because everywhere is your home terrain once wanderlust is mastered, and other interesting skills.

Caverndweller - been dealing with this forever. Until I started spending time in the underdark thought I just would never recover from that ranking trip in Darsylon. But lo and behold, in caves I camo instantly.

Creep sucks everywhere except caves too. and Ambush. All perfected. This gets a big WTF.

I've only played one caverndweller, and it was actually one of the only hunters that I played. I doubt I'd play one again, because there aren't enough caves, or people playing, to hunt there. It's pretty much the Underdark, really. I did very well, with it and never had much trouble creeping or ambushing when I was not in my home terrain. I generally like to play Explorer/Marshdwellers, because I enjoy the swampmire going off in most any terrain to evade stuff, the poisoning/plaguing weapons and a few other things. But generally, like I said in my post, I grab what newbie gear I need and spend the rest of my time in the wilds as much as possibl. I don't rank in Darsylon, ever. And most of the time won't venture into a civilized place for longer than it takes to get what I need and get out again.

Seriously, there are caves all over the place. Let them beat on you for a bit on the road or something then run to a nearby cave. Have a snare placed there ahead of time or rely on cavernfall or both.

I'm great at doing this part, unfortunately I suck so bad otherwise my baiting rarely managed to wipe anyone out.

Your right, not a lot of areas that are wholly caves and good places to hunt people, but that's a good thing. Caverndweller would be OP if they were everywhere.

Explorere/Caverndweller bonus: You can deafening howl/smoke screen anywhere that is indoor and wilderness. Doesn't have to be a cave. Never got to try cavernfall there, but if that works probably a bug.

1. How much does ranger skills "suffer" from time in civilization?

The only things that really suffer are those that are tagged with dealing with Wilderness Time. EG Camo. The others, while they don't suffer, don't get the boost of being in the wilds. Wilderness Fam will not work in Civilized spaces. There are a lot more things that you can get from this, but best way is to learn a bit on your own. Role a throw away ranger and try it.

2. How is wilderness time calculated (ticks or paces)?

I believe it's Tick based. Typically if I'm playing a ranger(Never to hero mind you, but a few to the mid 30's) if I play it right, I get fast camo by level 9-11. Best way to do this is do a few of the newbie quests, and get out into the woods no later than 4th rank if you can. Fight in the newbie ranger areas until you notice camo not having any lag, then spam it up and go to town.

3. Do bigger cities count as "more civilized" as small settlements?

You can see it in your prompt. If it says civilized(Other than the Arena which is neutral) it's bad for a ranger to hang there for too long till you have built up a bunch of Wilderness time.

4. It seems that bows are pretty rare. Is hunter a better choice than explorer? (for a newbie)

Bows are rare, but so are hunters. If you're looking for a PK ranger, this one can be a tough row to hoe. A few successful ones, but for the most part, not the choice for a bunch of good PK'ing players out there. For your first Ranger, I'd probably go Human(Dex) Forester/Survivalist, it's a really basic ranger, but will let you get a grip on some of the items that you have questions about.

Just did it, fastest I've done it, and I wasn't really trying all that much.... So it can be done pretty early on. But I assume it's probably pretty easy to lose this early too.

ggfej

At least I've almost never been without it when I get the camo skill.

Wilderness time has a much bigger affect than what you are saying. Though insta-camo does tell you that your at the max benefit from wilderness time.

Each area is either wilderness or not. So you could be in a wilderness room in an area that is not classed as wilderness and it is bad for you.

Dunno if this is true, but it is what I was told.

This isn't true, except in the cases of the four protected cities, which are never wilderness no matter what.

1. It's been said that if you can camo instantly then you are at the max of your wilderness vs civilization ratio. So if you camo instantly, you could spend some time in civilization, but if you notice you aren't camo instantly, you should probably spend a while hugging some trees.

2. pretty sure its based on 'time spent' so probably ticks, but stick with the above and you will be fine.

4. Bows do seem a bit rare, but since no one but hunters use them I imagine it shouldn't be too hard to get the good ones.

>Hail everyone,
>
>I've been playing on CF for some time now, and rangers are one
>of my favourite classes so far. However, there are a few
>questions I'd like to ask you. I did a search on the forums
>and the helpfiles, but unfortunately didn't find what I was
>looking for.
>
>1. How much does ranger skills "suffer" from time in
>civilization?

Quite a lot. For example, you can't camouflage without being lagged.


>2. How is wilderness time calculated (ticks or paces)?

That's kind of irrelevant. Ultimately you either spend lots of time in the wilds and not much in the cities, or you don't. Certainly just doing something in a city won't hurt you. But ranking in arial city, say, might.

>3. Do bigger cities count as "more civilized" as small
>settlements?

I believe that each area is either flagged as civilized or not.

>4. It seems that bows are pretty rare. Is hunter a better
>choice than explorer? (for a newbie)
>

Any ranger is probably ok for a newbie, to be honest.

>Thank you all for your input.
>
>