September 26, 1999

LEADING A TRADE RUN - By Catriona

These are just a few helpful pointers for anyone wishing to lead a trade run. It's not everything you should do, but if you follow these, your trade runs should go slightly smoother than usual, and perhaps people will be more willing to trade with you.

• First of all, never trade with a bad connection. Lagging on a trade run makes it take FOREVER. So only agree to lead the run if you are not experiencing bad lag.
• Make sure that you value the run first. There's nothing worse than getting to the end of the run, only to find that you did *all* that work for *way* too little cash.
• If you and your form are not a particularly powerful form, it's probably best to stay away from posts near the outer edge of the continent. The further away you get from Med City, the more wilderness mobs you'll encounter, so stick to the inland runs.
• Make sure all your form always buys covered wagons, and check that everyone has bought what you told them to buy before you leave the trade post. This can avoid nasty realisations at the end of the run, such as that someone forgot to buy anything, and spent the last hour dragging around an empty wagon.
• Make sure you use the navigators. I know this seems fairly straightforward :p, but I have run into people (very inexperienced traders) who get to an intersection and either ask which way to go, or try to check a map. (For those people, stand at an intersection and 'say where -destination-'. When there isn't a navigator, check both ways, covered wagon will usually only travel on one. If wagon will go both ways, check map on MedWeb, work out where you are, and which way you want to go.
• Use attune. A lot of people think this is a fairly useless spell, and laugh at people who buy earth crystals, but I've found that although it isn't that useful for long distances, it's excellent when you leave your freight behind to deal with a mob faction. Watch out, because earth crystals can blow up.
• If you're solo trading, and you run into a normal wilderness mob which is a bit hard, when you flee, you can just avoid the room the mob is in, since your wagon will follow you, as long as you are only one room away from where you left it. this does, however, mean that the mob will follow you, if you slow down or stop for any reason, it will most probably catch up with you.
• When you do run into mob factions, leave your freight behind as soon as you get the message. Most mob factions are not nearly as bad if you are without freight. Bandits and rogues will not ambush, there will only be a scout if you don't have freight. Kill the scout, attune back to your freight, and the mob faction is gone. The kobolds hiding in the woods will not join the captains if you leave your freight behind. You still have to deal with their arrows as you fight the captains, but if you have a strong form, you should be able to manage them. Occasionally, it is not a good idea to leave your freight behind, especially if someone else's mob faction is around. If this is the case, it's possibly a good idea to leave someone with the freight, either to shield the room they're in (mob factions will eventually enter, though), or for you to phase/be summoned back to in case of emergencies.
• If the captains of a mob faction are a bit much for your form to deal with, killing them individually is a good plan. Have all your spellcasters blind the mobs, then all flee. Cast hands of wind, and pick them off one by one. This is a *very* spammy option, though.
• Make sure that all the mages/clerics you trade with regularly have mass. This spell is invaluable on trade runs. If they don't have it, make sure they realise they should get it next time they level if they want to be helpful on trade runs.
• Have the mages in your form sleep and sunsprites and banelars which you encounter, and fear any other wilderness mobs. You're on the run to get money, not experience.
• Delegate. Put your mages and clerics in charge of refreshing, and tell your thieves and warriors to watch the weather, and keep an eye out for dragons.
• If you encounter a firestorm, and your mounts run out of movement, separate each of your party into a different room and have them tether for a tick. Tethered mounts regain movement *much* faster than untethered mounts. Your mounts will be full in almost no time. Also, it's nice to have a couple of invis wands, and heavy oaks staves on you, just in case of firestorms. Alternatively, cloudy potions from Trellor are useful. You don't have to change equipment, and they include the strength spell - very useful if you encounter mobs like moonserpents, who can plague you.
• If evil dragons do strike your form, have everyone link in and out immediately. If you can't link because you're being hunted, teleport out of the area so your form doesn't get attacked (if you're a mage). If not, run off into the wilderness, look for water if you can, then have your form summon you back. Hopefully, the dragon will give up. While you're running, call a good dragon. Do not call a good dragon while an evil one is only looking for prey, and not hunting, because when the good dragon answers your call, it will be as a mount. A dragon called too early will not attack the evil dragon, and you won't be able to call again until it goes away.
• Make sure all your form realises that they need to make sure they don't whisk. If nothing else, mass reffing and checking the weather should prevent this, but they should make sure they enter a command in every now and then anyway, just to be sure.
• I like to have my form always mounted on warhorses - they have excellent stamina and, more important, do not wander when dismounted. There is no need to tether, which is very useful considering the new one tethered mount per room rule. (read portals article for how to get horses to the post, and always remember - remount your horse if you misport).
• The map radius command is very useful for trading. Having mapradius on a low setting not only cuts down on spam, but, I find, also cuts down on lag a bit. Also, it prevents you from moving too fast if you want to go slower.
• Last but not least, always have brief move on. I have it permanently on. Brief move was written largely for trading. It prevents you from seeing all of your form moving from room to room (this can be achieved by gagging the message as well). More importantly, brief move puts up a HUGE red message when one of your form is left behind. The message is clearly visible, even when you are spamming your screen because of moving so fast.