I've registered four separate players now and tried a small assortment of different strategies. I'm using this thread to talk about some observations, assumptions and guesses on how to build an effective fighting team.

** ATTACKS AND DAMAGE **

It appears that if a monster's Attack score beats the target's Defense score, the hit automatically succeeds and deals damage equal to the difference in points between the Attack and Defense scores. So a monster with a 14 Attack will always hit a target with an 11 Defense, and each hit will deal 3 points of damage (14-11).

If a monster's Attack score is less than the target's Defense score, there is still a chance of a hit (I'd like to know how that chance is determined), and the hit will do only one point of damage.

I haven't determined what happens when the Attack and Defense scores are equal, but I suspect it's an automatic hit that does one point of damage.


** AGILITY **

I greatly overvalued Agility as a stat for a beginning team. I reasoned that it was easier and cheaper to boost Attack and Defense scores than Agility scores, so I tried using monsters with high natural Agility and boosting it even higher with the extra stat points.

Those monsters got their butts handed back to them on a platter. The problem was that their Attack scores weren't high enough to make use of their higher attack rate. So for every two attacks, they might hit once and do one point of damage. Meanwhile, the enemy was attacking only half as fast but dealing three or four damage points every time.

My most successful team sacrificed Agility entirely in order to beef up Attack and Defense scores, and absolutely wiped the floor with the opposition. The moral: forget about how many times you can attack; instead, focus on making every attack really *count*.

I suspect Agility will become more useful as the game progresses, but at the outset it's relatively unimportant to your team's survival.


** UPGRADES **

I had stars in my eyes over the cheap availability of Enchantment bonuses, and spent money on them profligately the first couple of times around. After that, I started to work out the math in my head and determined that I was losing close to a hundred dollars a round from evaporating enchantment bonuses.

Now my thinking is that it's better to invest most of your money in ability score enhancements and limit enchantment bonuses to +1 or +2. This is especially true when you consider that the first qualifying round is not that hard and is therefore not an appropriate time to spend big on temporary bonuses.

I've only purchased one elemental attack bonus so far, as an extra edge to get my team through the second round against what looks like an enemy with formidable defenses. I think I'll only end up buying elemental bonuses when it looks like I'll need them to take on a specific opponent. Otherwise, I'd rather spend money on universal bonuses that apply against every foe.


** QUESTIONS **

1) I'd like to know how attacks are resolved when the Attack score is less than the Defense score. If the scores are close, is there a better chance you'll hit than when the scores are widely disparate? Against a well-defended opponent, are you better off making more attacks (with a high Agility), or pushing your Attack score as close to the opponent's Defense score as you can get? Either way, you'll only deal one damage point per hit, so the question is which method helps you hit more often.

2) As the tournament progresses, will there be opportunities to improve Hit Points? A monster that can take more punishment could afford to skimp a bit on Defense and improve other areas.

3) Will monetary awards ever exceed (or diminish from) five hundred dollars minus expenses for the match? I'd like to plan ahead how much saving-up I should be doing for bigger and badder equipment.

Iss "Rhizome the gnome ... I choose YOU!" achar