Hello,
inspired by someone's post on this forum, I decided to try playing Daggerfall in ironman mode (i.e. reloading only after possible bugs, game crashes, and, of course, at the start of a game session).

I quickly found that it is both very addictive and very difficult. It also brings whole new experience to this old but fantastic game.

I failed five times, mostly dying in Privateer's Hold, before I finally figured out how to create character capable of surviving all the perils and with little luck I fought my way out from the starting dungeon.

Anyway, I do not doubt that many of you have tried this, too; I am interested in your experience with Ironman and in strategies you use to keep your characters alive.
V.

starties for staying alive, move slowly and run from weird noices, as weird noises mean new monsters which are higher leveled.

get your endurance up quickly for the health bonus.


thats all i have.

The usual sort of tactics that you'd use when playing a Real Death game like ADOM or Nethack or something.. Always soften them up with ranged weapons. Run from everything. Carry plenty of healing potions or restore power potions if you're a magic type. Be able to teleport.

Boost your endurance early on, but after a few levels put the points into:
speed (equals more hits) for melee characters; but
intelligence for spell casters.

Out of the standard classes I'd try with a Barbarian or Spellsword first... then try something a bit harder like an Assassin later.

I've never had a problem staying alive in Daggerfall, aside from my first week of playing when I was much younger. Most of those deaths were caused by stupidity. I find it very easy to stay alive in the Elder Scrolls games, but that isn't o say that they're too easy or anything.

Heck, the evil guy I created a few weeks ago gets loads of guards after him frequently, and has yet to drop below half health. It's a simple matter of learning the game mechanics. For example, you can outrun almost everything on horseback. There are NPCs on horseback in the BSA files, although these were never implemented to my knowledge. Simply fight what you can and hide or run from the rest. I never back down personally, and if there are three or more attacking me, I simply get them all in the same area in front of me and then back up while swinging my sword, and they start dropping.

About the only real danger in Daggerfall is falling off cliffs by not looking where you're going, and powerful magic spells cast by Daedra and such.

There is a part of the main quest where they force you to fight an Ancient Vampire. Be a very high level when you try that, but even then I don't know how you expect to get him on the first try.

You'll definitely want to get yourself some good Reflection spells for Ancients and Liches. Best way to not get blown up immediately is to send their spells right back at them.

I've never had problems with ancient liches, and on my original guy on the old P2 system, he has probably trapped around a hundred or so ancient liche souls for use in weaponry and/or armor. Some I also just keep in my house in Daggerfall.

I did get whipped the first time I tried that vampire way back in the day. Now I can whip him without a single spell beyond something to heal myself occasionally. By that point in the game, my guy has full daedric armor and can stand that initial barrage of spells, but then he's close to death so I heal him and after that the vampire simply uses melee so it gets MUCH easier. Basically, my guy just lets those spells nail him because he won't quite die, and then it's just a matter of healing and kicking his butt.

Thanks for the input,

as for fights with dangerous spellcasters (ancient liches, vampires), I would say that it was good idea to give my character spell absorption advantage during creation. With very high Will and Int, I can absorb most of the spells easily and I can also pepper enemies with fireballs at close range.

Now, If I could only learn to play more carefully. I killed a mage whom I was to protect during his trance, and now mages guild sent assassins after me. They pop out everywhere I move!
V.

You can always do the old immunity to magic advantage combined with critical weakness to disease and poison. Then you're immune to all three, and your leveling difficulty bar should be down near the bottom of the scale, allowing you to add more advantages or level very easily.

Get a loan from the bank, use all the money on training your major skills to level up, to make sure your character gets more HP. There's a full year to pay it back, and you'll be rich after a month
(yes, *I* pay back my loans)

I've actually never had a loan from the bank so I am curious, what happens when you don't pay a loan back?

Boba Fett uses a tazer on you and imprisons you within a shark cage.

He can't bug me, he's too busy. See url.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2z9XTeeA43o

Seriously though, I assume the guards come after you?

I've actually never had a loan from the bank so I am curious, what happens when you don't pay a loan back?

Bad rep in the province. So...just don't go back to Northmoor.

I thought NOTHING happens. Well, that's a lot better.