The Way of the Thief
Here's some advice for new Groups and how to get the best from your sneaky Thief. In no time at all they'll be bringing in 1000's of gold each Turn with none of the risks of combat. Use this to easily fund 2002 gold recruiting and for equipping everyone.
My preferred setup has 4 Priests (1 of each Race), 1 Elf Mage and 1 Halfblood Thief. Starting characters do vary a lot in terms of stats between poor and slightly above average. Halfbloods get a Racial bonus to thief skill so should at least be ok in this role. The reason for 4 Priests is that I’m hoping for near or above 40 skill on some of them. Their miracles will be essential support for the sneaky Thief who's hopefully got 40+ skill if not 50+. As for the Elf Mage they can start really poor especially in Toughness/Health so may need replacing as soon as golds flowing properly. 2002 gold will yield much better results on all the recruits.
Turn begins with setting standing orders. 2 Investigates (I 0) as Settlements have lots of hidden shops. And 3 Pray orders (P 0's) to start Priests skill improving each Turn eventually to 50+ when the increases become more random.
Thief buys a lockpick 472 to help with shop robbing.
Priests cast some Novala miracles like Luck 702 and Hide 703 depending on what they have access to.
2 fairly easy shops are robbed usually food shops or similar. Though if starting Thief skill is 50+ you could try somewhere slightly more difficult.
Cheapest journey bought to nearest City for more shops to rob from and stat training services.
3 Inn shops talked to generating 1-3 NPC's to rob. Usually shops 22, 24, 26, 28 or something like that. Might need to try this again on other shops if you got no NPC's from Inns but that is extremely rare.
Alignment has started pushing to Novala thanks to Miracles and rob orders.
Next Turn is usual Priests Novala miracles. 2 shop robs W. Rest of Turn Stealing from NPC('s) found last turn.
Whenever the thief has 200 xp buy their skill training 614. Eventually you'll hit max 99 skill this way.
When Priests all have 40+ skill or at least most of them switch to this casting instead:
cast call spirit novala 903
cast hiding 703
W bank 1
W bank 2
cast insanity 603
W bank 3
W bank 4
cast insanity 603
W gem shop 1
W gem shop 2
Steal from NPC's a bit
Train thief with 614
Bank gold as if you've over 5k the settlement auto-thieves will swarm in.
The Insanity miracle 603 is cast to reset difficulty levels and prevent us being booted from the settlement. Though even if we are we can just Locate our way back in without any problems.
Keep moving settlements when gold reward gets too low. This resets after a day or so. This decrease only happens in Quest Unlimited G20/19 not the other game worlds.
Cities always have 4 banks and 2 gem shops. Towns have 3 banks and 1 gem shop. Villages have none.
You can also lock alignment on Novala with SA 7 once it is 13+ strong.
You can also borrow 1k gold from the bank around turn 7 if funds are tight as they often are early game. At some point in the far distant future you may be called upon to pay it back with 10% interest but you'll have plenty of gold by then.
In terms of shop difficulty they go something like this. Also note reward in gold/xp varies with difficulty so don't expect much from the easiest shops.
Unused Shops often found with an I 0 order and having nothing for sale.
Food Shops selling rations/Inns selling Sleep 604.
Temples/Stores/Magic Shop. 40+ skill thief should do fine targeting these.
Weapon/Armour/Powder shops plus you can sometimes get a free item.
Banks/Gem shops. Really need a high skill Thief for these say about 70 skill with proper Novala miracle support for fair success rates. Will often bring in over 1k per shop. Though you will need to move around as gold gets lower each time its hit.
Here's some advice for new Groups and how to get the best from your sneaky Thief. In no time at all they'll be bringing in 1000's of gold each Turn with none of the risks of combat. Use this to easily fund 2002 gold recruiting and for equipping everyone.
My preferred setup has 4 Priests (1 of each Race), 1 Elf Mage and 1 Halfblood Thief. Starting characters do vary a lot in terms of stats between poor and slightly above average. Halfbloods get a Racial bonus to thief skill so should at least be ok in this role. The reason for 4 Priests is that I’m hoping for near or above 40 skill on some of them. Their miracles will be essential support for the sneaky Thief who's hopefully got 40+ skill if not 50+. As for the Elf Mage they can start really poor especially in Toughness/Health so may need replacing as soon as golds flowing properly. 2002 gold will yield much better results on all the recruits.
Turn begins with setting standing orders. 2 Investigates (I 0) as Settlements have lots of hidden shops. And 3 Pray orders (P 0's) to start Priests skill improving each Turn eventually to 50+ when the increases become more random.
Thief buys a lockpick 472 to help with shop robbing.
Priests cast some Novala miracles like Luck 702 and Hide 703 depending on what they have access to.
2 fairly easy shops are robbed usually food shops or similar. Though if starting Thief skill is 50+ you could try somewhere slightly more difficult.
Cheapest journey bought to nearest City for more shops to rob from and stat training services.
3 Inn shops talked to generating 1-3 NPC's to rob. Usually shops 22, 24, 26, 28 or something like that. Might need to try this again on other shops if you got no NPC's from Inns but that is extremely rare.
Alignment has started pushing to Novala thanks to Miracles and rob orders.
Next Turn is usual Priests Novala miracles. 2 shop robs W. Rest of Turn Stealing from NPC('s) found last turn.
Whenever the thief has 200 xp buy their skill training 614. Eventually you'll hit max 99 skill this way.
When Priests all have 40+ skill or at least most of them switch to this casting instead:
cast call spirit novala 903
cast hiding 703
W bank 1
W bank 2
cast insanity 603
W bank 3
W bank 4
cast insanity 603
W gem shop 1
W gem shop 2
Steal from NPC's a bit
Train thief with 614
Bank gold as if you've over 5k the settlement auto-thieves will swarm in.
The Insanity miracle 603 is cast to reset difficulty levels and prevent us being booted from the settlement. Though even if we are we can just Locate our way back in without any problems.
Keep moving settlements when gold reward gets too low. This resets after a day or so. This decrease only happens in Quest Unlimited G20/19 not the other game worlds.
Cities always have 4 banks and 2 gem shops. Towns have 3 banks and 1 gem shop. Villages have none.
You can also lock alignment on Novala with SA 7 once it is 13+ strong.
You can also borrow 1k gold from the bank around turn 7 if funds are tight as they often are early game. At some point in the far distant future you may be called upon to pay it back with 10% interest but you'll have plenty of gold by then.
In terms of shop difficulty they go something like this. Also note reward in gold/xp varies with difficulty so don't expect much from the easiest shops.
Unused Shops often found with an I 0 order and having nothing for sale.
Food Shops selling rations/Inns selling Sleep 604.
Temples/Stores/Magic Shop. 40+ skill thief should do fine targeting these.
Weapon/Armour/Powder shops plus you can sometimes get a free item.
Banks/Gem shops. Really need a high skill Thief for these say about 70 skill with proper Novala miracle support for fair success rates. Will often bring in over 1k per shop. Though you will need to move around as gold gets lower each time its hit.