New Player Startup

Welcome! Hopefully, this will be an easy-to-follow, straightforward guide to getting started with Darkwind. If it isn't...either change it (it's a Wiki after all), or comment on it in the discussion section so somebody else can change it. :-)

Introductions

After you've signed up on the main site and created your gang, you'll end up on the web management interface of Darkwind. Here is where you'll plan your long term stuff, buy and sell things, recruit people and so on, while the client(Game) is more specialized toward participating in events. You can subscribe to events from both, so you can just fire up the client to start playing and getting the feeling of the game. The client interface is pretty straightforward:

There is a big panel showing the global game chat (which is also available in game), there is a panel which show the upcoming event to which you may register and the live events that you may spectate (or play if registered) and there is a panel listing the current players. It would be really unusual to be alone in the Lobby, so the first thing you should do is introduce yourself. A simple, 'Hi. I'm new' should suffice, and lets the veteran players and Marshals (players whose names are bracketed by asterisks (*)) know that you are new, and may need some help getting up and running.

Tutorial

The current tutorial covers the driving and shooting basics in a format that is a bit more ... low-key than the previously used Driving School. There are more prompts, and more direct instructions on what to do next.

Launch your tutorial by clicking the Tutorials button in the game client. (Even though the button says Tutorials, there is only one.) This will take you to the in-game interface, centered on your car. Follow the instructions literally to proceed forward. If you are stuck on a particular tutorial step, repeat what you're tasked to do as zooming but using the keys specified in the tutorial balloon. Here's a hint; you can run the tutorial as often as you like! Run it a second time to just drive around a bit and get used to the controls. You only get the prize money the first time through though.

Notice that the global lobby chat remains available on the top of the screen. This panel content is controlled by the buttons directly under it: "Lobby" shows the global chat, "Events" shows the event log for the current game, while the "Team" button shows the private chat of the game you're in.

Now you've managed the basics of the game, there are still some information that you may find useful for more prolonged combats:

• hovering with the mouse on a car shows is "demoralized" status. Demoralized cars may continue fighting, when all enemy or yours cars are demoralized the combat phase ends.
• during an event, hit F2, F3, and F4 to change what is displayed over vehicles. F2 cycles through several pieces of information on the first line. F3 cycles through those same pieces of information on the second line, and F4 cycles through them on the third line.
• you can resign via the menu available on the top right of the in game screen or you can resign a particular car by right clicking on that car.
• you can reload weapons via right clicking on the car that has a weapon to be reloaded

When you return to the Lobby, look for an event that is starting soon. In-town events are Races, Death Races, and Arena Combats, or their League equivalents.

Driving School

Driving School has been replaced with the Tutorial described above. This section is maintained because it is possible it will return as a secondary training/learning tool.

To learn how to control a car enter the Driving School. Control means more than steering and speed in Darkwind. It also includes changing drivers, assigning gunners to any weapons in the car, and reloading those weapons.

Do not hesitate to ask another player to join you in the Driving School event. This serves a couple of purposes:

1. It gives you a human to drive with/against. Since you are just starting out, it is entirely possible that the NPC drivers in the school will leave you behind, and that's no fun, as there won't be anything to shoot at. ;-)
2. It will get you and your helper out of the general Lobby chat. General Lobby chat can get very hard to follow with a lot of players online. If you and your helper are in Driving School alone it will be easier to ask and answer questions without a lot of extraneous noise.

Characters in Driving School do not come out of your gang; they are random, 'disposable' characters for use only in the school. As such don't be concerned if they get hurt or even die.

The school event is a 4-lap race. The vehicle used is somewhat random, but is usually something small, fast, and lightly armed (a Machine Gun, for example).

It is not necessary to finish the entire event. Because it is a training event, as soon as you feel comfortable controlling your car you can Resign or Exit the event.

After The Tutorial

So you tried out the tutorial. What next? Let's check out your gang! Go to the Dark-wind.com website and log on. You will be presented with several links across the top that you will become very familiar with: "Gangs" "Events" "Squads" "Characters" "Vehicles" and "Places".

Lets start with "Characters". Here you will see your first three gang members! I wouldn't get attached; many people loose them within a couple months. Don't worry; you will recruit more later. This page tells you a lot of stuff about your characters, but all you really want to know right now is driving skill and gunnery skill. Each character starts with one skill around 20, and the rest lower. Hopefully you have someone with good driving, and someone with good gunnery.

The next place to go is "Places". Go down to Somerset and click. You will see a map of Somerset; we are looking for 'Dexter's Tavern'. There you can recruit new characters into your gang. As a starting gang, you can recruit two free characters. After that the cost is the same as for everyone else. Note: The cost drops everyday until you can recruit another free character within a week. My suggestion is to look for drivers and gunners to start with; mostly gunners.

Lets go enter an event! Back to the Dark-Wind game.

It is recommended that you start with the Racing events, then progress to the Death Races, and finally to the Combats. Even in "controlled" town events characters death is very possible. A computer controlled car may continue hitting on you even after you've resigned, or by just one unlucky crash. Still consider resigning just a little before your car armor is worn out. Make sure you know all the key commands for in-town events. Hit [F1] to learn them all.

Pay particular attention when an enemy vehicle 'resigns' and TRY to make sure you do not fire at a resigned enemy. This is because each car in an in-town event belongs to an NPC gang, and that gang will seek revenge against you if you do not respect resigns.

The League events provide League points in addition to prize money for contestants who place (usually 8th or higher).

Also, don't hesitate to ask others to join the event. Often, you will get some veteran players involved, and that will increase the prize money (and League Points for League events) available.

Doing the events in the order above will do a couple of things:

1. Get you used to the various cars, and driving surfaces in Evan (Races)
2. Get you used to managing your car and its weapons at the same time (Death Races)
3. Introduce you to combat tactics (Combats)
4. Teach you patience

The last one is really the most important, as patience is key when you get involved in wilderness scouting (Initial Scout Guide).

After Some More Practicing

After you're confident enough with the driving shooting/part of the game, you may also ask some people to help you out on your first scout. Remember to prepare ahead of this as to be ready when the opportunity to join a scouting squad arises; in order to do so you'll need to return to the web management interface.

First of all, you'll need a car. If you don't feel ready to lose your main characters in this event you may also hire two more recruits for it.

To get the car select vehicles -> my vehicles from the top navigation bar on the web interface. On this page you can see the option for renting various kind of cars; the "antagonist" would be a good for starters. Remember that those car have don't have off road wheels and may suffer from sandy scenarios.

To get some people on your team, if you feel like it, select places -> Somerset from the navigation bar. Clicking on the Dexter's tavern will take you on a page where you can hire some more people. To man your new car, a driver and a heavy gunner will do.

If you're subscribed, you can take the opportunity to go from the Somerset page to the marketplace to buy some more ammo for your guns. (You can see which guns you have mounted on your "Borrowed" car in your vehicle page)

Now go to the vehicle page, select your borrowed car and assign a driver and gunner(s) and ammunition to it from the popup that appears. It's advised to have a driver and a gunner (or more) - at least -. If your car can hold one more than one gunner it will be very handy because the driver suffers a penalty to his gunner skill because he's driving. (Other dedicated gunners do not suffer the this type of penalty), if you survive the encounter and win, you have a few drivers to take looted cars back. More about scouting on the dedicated pages: [Initial Scout Guide]

You're now ready to roll, so go to the client lobby and ask for somebody to help you out on scouting or just ask to join some other player's party, specifying that this is your first scout ever will help because they may steer clear of more dangerous areas. They will provide you with a squad name to join along with the password of the scout, so go again to the web interface and select squad -> search squads from the navigation bar. join the squad, add your car (MAKE SURE you have your driver and gunner in the car along with reloads if possible) and notify in the lobby that you're ready. After some time you'll have the notification that the scouting event is starting and you'll be taken in the game combat view. Be sure to follow the advice of the other players to keep alive, and good luck!

Managing Your Gang

Once you get a few group scouts under your belt and have done a few in-town events, its time to start managing your gang. There are dozens of different philosophies to running a sucessful gang, but there are a few basics that everyone will need.

Begin by training a few of your characters in Scouting. The best way to do this is to recruit characters with the Scouting skill and put them in fast cars with moderately sized fuel tanks, and send them to towns near Sommerset completing small missions. If you are attacked, simply outrun your enemies. You can chose to escape at 350 meters, and automatically escape at 500 meters. Eventually you will get a number of highly skilled scouts, which will reduce the danger of larger convoys of vehicles scouting and running between towns as long as you put a good scout in the convoy.

You will need to gain in-town fame and reputation to qualify for the more profitable missions. Check your gang's fame and reputation regularly to see the effects of your recent decisions. Check the notice board at the various town taverns for a list of missions, or advertise for a mission if you don't have sufficient fame and reputation.

Enjoy Darkwind!