Frelo Hints

[Oracle 318]

Frelo aka solo nonpremium playing is a fun way to play, but it also has its own problems that need to be looked at.

This thread is specifically for posting advice on how to survive and prosper as a Frelo.

So post your hints and ideas that will help people to solve the problems involved and have fun with this play style.

Be constructive, this thread is for positive comments only.

Thanks

[Iulianx 90]

The situation i simple, you just need to consider Freedom a PvP server with its own rules. Yes the enemy is out there trying to steal your cattle! Don't have a deed? Don't despair, all you need to do is build a fortress.

Behold my Anti-Freedom Fortress V1. Not guaranteed to keep your cattle safe but certainly a starting point.

Features:

- 15 +4 tiles of farmland

- a 3 layer wall barrage there to deter your average weekend thefts.

[Aeris 3,764]

Compiling (stealing ) some of the tips posted in another thread:

- Don't use gates, they can be lockpicked. Use gatehouses (they require more material to build but protecting offdeed things is not supposed to be easy)

- Put door locks on all house doors! People can't pick up things inside of your house, but without a lock they can still pass through it

- Improve all you structures as far as possible and maintain them regularly (repair and re-improve)

- Everything that can be locked should be locked

- Use as few fence sections as you can

As far as creatures go:

- Don't keep a lot of them penned up. It's teasing hunters since the server is scarce on wildlife.

- Use the same protection for your animals as mentioned above.

Additional notes:

- Don't build too close to villages. Even if you are some tiles outside of their perimeter they might expand further in the future and accidently (or purposely depending on the situation) expand their perimeter over your houses and fences. This will make you unable to repair them.

- Be respectful to your neighbours or you won't last long as an offdeed settler.

[Littlebear 3]

Ok, heres the most simple and the best way:

6 steps to happy wurmin'!

1)Get yourself an acc

2)Become familiar with the game

3)Invite a lot of friends, or advertise on your local forum

4)Start building your village, or hunt together

5).....

6)Have fun! Wurms all about people.

After a month or two you ll get bored and either buy some prem time or leave.

[ninjakiss 1]

A good option would be to lead your animals inside a house when you log off to help protect them more.

[Kediec 280]

As i posted in another thread :-

If you want to play as a Free player indefinately ( even though that isn't what it is intended for ) , then you really need to think outside the box on your design and the way you store things / do things.

As already said , use at least double walls , even triple if you have to . Use Gatehouses instead of gates as these can't be picked or bashed down . 

When you log out , move animals into a house ( removes the temptation to bash down a wall or 2 to get them ) . They won't die overnight , especially if you drop seed on the floor for them to eat .

Log out with your tools in your inventory .

Imp everything to 20 as standard . Ask if anyone that is premium would be willing to improve them higher for you , even if its a trade of labour for labour , it is well worth it .

Remember that even with all these precautions the worst can still happen and it is just a game afterall . If you find yourself getting heated under the collar over things , take a break , or look for somewhere else to move your home to .

[Torluk 21]

When you find an area you think might be nice to build on, start talking to the neighbours before you do/build anything.  If you can find good neighbours and start off on the right foot together then it can be a huge help to you.  Even before you find an area you like, start chatting to folks in local as you are out searching.  Let them know you are looking for a place to settle and some will actually show you suitable spots that are in the area.

Not only will you have someone friendly to chat to and ask questions, but they will more than likely have work you can help them with for free skill and perhaps some food or tools too.  Furthermore, if they like you they will be more inclined to watch out for your stuff if they are online and you are offline.

Wurm is a multiplayer game and established players have to accept that new neighbours will come eventually but this goes both ways.  If you show a little respect to the folk that were in the area before you arrived you will give yourself the best possible start in Wurm.

[PoolsClosed 37]

Planning how to use the first 24 hours of play is of vital importance to the success or failure of a Frelo player.

The importance of cooking is very high as a solo player. You can get to 71% nutrition with a 20.00 QL meal. See my wiki guide for tips on this. You want a sauce pan instead of a pottery bowl. Since you can cook while doing other things that use the action timer you shouldn't really ever need to eat casseroles.

Traders are a huge boon to a Frelo player. Starting out as a solo player in the wilderness you can often scrounge up or make raw materials (like spindles etc) and trade them for something like a longsword, pelt or butchering knife. Generally speaking you want to initially find some materials to trade for a pelt as the most important. All other things can be made with that and your starter tools.

In the first 24 hours you cannot make unfinished items. You either succeed or you don't. Make use of this ability.

Shield skill is naturally a good thing to have and it can get you 20.00 overall body and mind fairly quickly. As you will be limited to 20 in all skills though it's generally better to avoid using the longsword + large metal shield combination preferred by higher level fighters in favor of a Two handed sword. This is because the swing timer at 20 skill is only 1 second more but does a lot more damage.

You should get to 20.00 overall shields as well as overall swords. Even though shields may not be your primary armament they can still be quite useful.

Botanizing and foraging is of peak importance. Do this as much as possible to skill up and acquire resources to plant later to farm.

Get an extra pelt and put it in your bank in case you die.

Although it's possible to botanize cotton and make armour it's probably better to make studded leather armour. Studded leather is the best armour for Frelo players because you can imp it past 20 with leather than is less than 20 QL. This is the only armour/craftable item with this ability.

[maluraq 0]

Make friends with some premium neighbours and ask for help when necessary.  Make yourself a good neighbour, and you'll find that others are willing to help you with those things that are harder to achieve solo, like digging out a mine with only 20 digging or even imping those walls for you.

Remember to maintain your property since you're off deed.  I've walked past numerous tall stone walls that were 5-10 ql and nearing 90 damage.  The owners were active but probably unaware of how quickly low ql items will decay off of a deed.

Hide! ... if you build your new glorious region on the side of a main highway, you're much more likely to be targeted by some random ill-mannered premium.  A farm behind a hill and lots of trees is a much less obvious target for the malfeasant population.

[PWreset 66]

Whats is a gatehouse?

[san_tropez 394]

A 1x1 house, placed instead of a normal gate. Usually only 1 wall is built, a locked door. That way you can add or remove people from it without screwing up deed settings or dispensing 9000 keys

[darthryan 588]

Pick a good location. It doesn't work very well(especially for a free player, with no large carts) to have to travel for miles to get to necessary resources(clay, tar, a mine). Don't do anything to make your neighbors mad, free players are helpless against Spirit Templars if they get KOS'd. Either join a nearby deed for a respawn point, or make sure you have a clear and easy path back from the Howl.

[Anothernoob 102]

It also looks like that there is an item ql cap (I'm not sure if there are any items that are not affected) for non premium characters. I have a 60ql needle and a 30ql needle and it looks like that they both give me the same success chances to make sheets(63% at 20 cloth tailoring). So if someone is not planning to switch to premium it will probably be a better idea to invest in lower ql tools or items that he may need but he can't make (e.g. chain jackets) instead of buying high ql tools.

[Kyrmius 193]

My character Congadistor has been a "Frelo" for months now and I haven't gotten bored yet... no time for that.

My comments in this post are about living as a "Frelo" on Freedom server only. This is not about Wild, that' a somewhat different situation for a hermit.

I can tell you this about being a solo hermit free2play character....

About your "Stuff".... You really have no home, or rather the entire server is your home. Don't let yourself get too attached to anything.... not to the land your currently inhabiting, not to tools, not to seeds or crops, not to pets or livestock. Everyone else has the ability to take everything from you if they know how to do it using the rules, and in some cases it is considered legal. There are ways to deter them, there are NOT ways to completely stop them. Don't get too attached to anything. When you log out for the day remember to put as much of your stuff into your character's inventory as you can.... you never know what you will find when you log back into game in Wurm.

If someone plants a deed near your brand new home (house with a writ) and your house is now in their perimeter, what that means is you will not be able to repair it unless the deed owner gives you permissions to do so, which means you end up joining the village. Can be really good, or meh, or really bad, situation dependent. If it's a bad situation... grab what stuff is yours that the deed will let you grab, and then go to your Writ, to Manage, and Destroy structure. You built it. You have the right to destroy it as you leave. No one can tell you that you cannot choose to destroy your house except maybe the Rolf and the Staff. Of course you can leave your home intact and give the Writ to the new deed owner for them to use, or just keep the Writ in your inventory, your call.

Now as for the potential arguments a situation like this can cause and how it affects Frelo's.....

As a "Frelo" you will be considered a vagrant by some Players (a homeless person that cannot be trusted) and if you end up in an argument between yourself and others Players you will probably lose once the Wurm Staff gets involved. Trust me even though they say it isn't so... it is so.... Premium players have clout that Frelos do not (this is true and I am not going to discuss it, just it is advice for Frelos to be aware of). Point is this: Do NOT get into arguments with other Players or Staff... it's never worth it for us Frelo's. Once you lose the argument see my statements above about Stuff. Move on. Treat it like an adventure and treat yourself to the joy of seeing new areas of Freedom.

If you can get them get these two things.... a rowboat and at least one good "fine fishing pole". You need to be able to travel via water and to eat without much fuss. Don't bother at first with trying to make meals since as Frelo you will cap your skills quickly and then all the nutrition from meals is wasted on you for the most part. A Frelo only really needs to Fish for fish and eat them raw and wiggling like a certain creature you may heard of... in fact we Frelos have a lot in common with him..... It is a good thing once you get used to the idea... Eating raw fish will keep your nutrition between 30% and 33% depending on what fish you catch, the higher QL the better. 30% Nutrition is plenty for a Frelo to be honest, it has never caused me any concern that it was that low and I have not sen any adverse effects since we Frelo's operate at 20 skill or less anyways. High nutrition is needed for them Premium Peeps that have high skills.

Beds. Wish they were more fun for us Frelos. You don't need them since you gain skill so fast from 0 to 20 that sleep bonus is almost meaningless to us Free 2 Plays. Let someone else use the bed. High skilled Premium Peeps need them. Instead of building your personal house over an existing bed out in the woods build a free cost Inn like I am doing and build good will with your Premium neighbors

Now as for the question of what tools to get... don't bother trying to kill yourself over getting high QL tools... as a Frelo (basic acct) your skills are capped at 20 max, and by default so too is how much "useful quality" you can utilize from a tool... max 20ql. How it works is this... Let's say you have a 20ql tool and a 50ql tool... your success rate, the calculations ingame, will be identical as if both tools were 20ql. I has seen this happen so many times I consider it gospel. The game mechanics may be different but that is what I have seen. The only benefit a high quality tool gives a Frelo is that a tool will last longer before you need to get it Improved (imp'd) by a premium player Blacksmith (or yourself once you get BS/WS/Carp/FinCarp to 20).

Failure. Failure Rates to be precise.... get comfortable with them. Frelo's skill use is capped at 20, our resources we gather/harvest are capped at 20, or tool use capped at 20... Failure rates for everything we do is high and that's just the way it is. Get used to it if you can. It can be frustrating I know. Build a BSB and a large padlock and use them to store your resources so they don't rot away. Use the Wurmpedia / Wiki, it is your friend. Asking questions in kchat or CAchat can be deadly.

Last but not least is this one simple truth.... for as many selfish arrogant Players as you meet on Freedom you will meet at least 2 or more really nice, and even helpful, People. DO NOT ASSUME EVERYONE IS OUT TO GET YOU BECAUSE THEY AREN'T......... Some are of course, but many Players just want to play Wurm, build their homes, take care of their land and horses and such.... they are not out to get you. Take a risk with people and they can and will surprise you.... and may even point you to a quiet place where you can live without having your stuff stolen or being harassed. Try to be a good neighbor and most of the time you will be rewarded with good neighbors (and I am one of the most anti-social players you will ever meet in Wurm and I can tell you this has been my personal experience on Freedom).

You don't have to steal, or beg, or act like an , to be a Frelo... just remember that. You can survive and do OK and still treat other Players with respect like you wish to be treated. There ARE a lot of things us Frelos can not do, but there are many things we CAN do... enjoy Wurm with those things. Wurm is also not meant to be played for Free forever... consider getting premium if you can even if you cannot afford a Deed. I am attempting to do same as I write this.

Since being a Frelo has nothing to do with luck, I will just say Happy Journeys and maybe we will bump into each other just to fight over the fishes

[PWreset 66]

One question and maybe an advice.

can startertools be enchanted? So i think it would be great for Frelos to have a woa on its startertools, since they can't lose them it it would make nice addition to their lifestyle. Okay sooner or later you only have a ql1 item, but as you still mentioned, Item QL isn't such an important factor for Frelos. So at least for Pick, Hatchet and Shovel I would recomment that. The money for getting the enchantments might be get by doing some simple jobs ppl ask for or even by the luck of finding some gems by mining.

What do you think if this idea? worthless?

[Aeris 3,764]

Enchantments on starter tools was purposely removed due to it being too overpowered.

[AndreC 48]

Ultimate freedom fort. Depending on if you have help or not, this is meant to be an extremely raid resistant fort, even with 20 ql walls having

You would need 20 carpentry 1120 planks and 56 nails

or

20 carp, 30 masonry skill, 1120 bricks and 1120 mortar. (For if you only got prem through earned IG money and you don't plan on stayin' that way)

Besides the 4 houses, you would need a total of..

31 door locks

7 gate locks (Min 4) (Less if you it down to 1  exterior gate, where the palisades would be.)

470 rock shards (Exterior)

1060 stone brick

30 felled trees

Your choice of floorings.

Are you up to the challenge?

[tintin 12]

Whats Raid resistant about that?

[Aetherion 379]

that seems pretty hard to get into just for some wemp.

[AndreC 48]

Whats Raid resistant about that?

Would you spend a couple hours breaking through 4 walls for probably a couple of cows or horses, maybe a ready crop or 2?

[Chakron 1,025]

Couldn't you simply pick through the four non-house doors to get to the center?

[AndreC 48]

On epic and I think chaos , yes.

On the 3 regular freedom servers, no.

[Chakron 1,025]

Since when? They can pick regular gate locks, just not house locks. Or was that changed?

[ReaverKane 363]

On epic and I think chaos , yes.

On the 3 regular freedom servers, no.

On regular freedom servers, its griefing to bash down fences with gatehouses, unless it was changed recently. SO basically any fence without normal gates is safe-ish. I mean except for pure griefing anything inside those fences would be utterly useless to any premium player with enough skill to get inside.

[Mendeluka 1]

Apologies...Sort function does not show penned topics (view new content tab)

Edited July 4, 2012 by Mendeluka