Thief - The Dark Project
   See also the first part of the solution in this issue

GENERAL STRATEGY

Stealth
The best way to avoid combat is to use stealth, period.  If your
enemies never hear you coming, they won't know to turn around and
look for you. This is especially true if your enemy currently has
his back turned. Sound carries, and walking on a tile or metal
surface makes considerable noise. Your moss arrows will come in
very handy for helping you stay quiet on otherwise noisy surfaces.

Surprise
The natural accompaniment to stealth is surprise.  Attacking from
surprise is a tremendous benefit to you.  If your enemies don't
know you're in the area and their guard is down, they will often
fall to a single strike of your sword, a well-placed arrow, or one
shot with your blackjack.

Height
Rope arrows are more than simply a method of climbing up to
hard-to-reach places. One of the real benefits of these arrows is
that they allow you to get above your enemies.  Whenever you can,
attack your enemies from above. Most of the time, enemies alerted
to your presence by an attack or noise will look on the same level
that they're on.  They don't tend to look up. Because of this,
even alerted enemies are easy to kill by sniping.

Darkness
Like stealth, you can use darkness in several important ways.
Staying in the shadows and using your ability to hide will keep
you out of almost as many fights as moving quietly. If an enemy
hears you but can't see you, there is no way he can attack. Unless
an area is brightly lit, try to stick to the shadows as much as
possible, even when there are no apparent enemies around. One of
the more useful items you carry on virtually every mission is your
water arrows. Using them to douse torches allows you to set up
ambushes in areas that would otherwise be bright, making you easy
to spot.

Thieving Strategies
Skilful theft, and not combat, is the main goal of Thief.  In many
of your missions, you'll be required not only to achieve a major
goal but also to steal other items of worth.  Even when you've met
your goals in terms of your objectives of stealing, grabbing
additional loot is always worthwhile.  The more money you can
collect, the more you can equip yourself for subsequent missions.
Often, all that stands between having an extra healing potion in
the next mission and having to go without that backup is 50 gold
in treasure.

Equipping Strategies
If you start with a couple of healing potions, you probably don't
need to buy additional ones. Try to carry at least two on every
mission. You shouldn't need more than a couple of rope arrows on
any mission, especially since you can re-use them.


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