Newbie guide to starting BvS

BvS, or Billy vs Snakeman is an online text based browser game that I've mentioned before, and am actually still playing. It's a funny time waster that (unlike most time wasters) doesn't actually cost "that" much time. This post is a total and blatantly obvious recruitment post. But seriously, give it a try. The worst that could happen is that you wasted some time reading all this ;) Background The game is loosely based on a large variety of known and vaguely familiar Anime series. Naruto (Check that amv) being one of the primary ones. Bleach, Death Note, .//Hack, Gundam, Code Geass, Lucky Star, and quite a few more. It's a huge anime parody! The game was launched around October, 2007. New features have been added every few months since. Arena, Monochrome academy, The wasteland and more. As of recently .//Hack r00t and Zombies were added as well. You'll see soon enough at any rate. Beginnings Start off by following this link. You should be taken to a page that looks much like below. You can't fail this part really. Just click the giant "click here to sign up" button and you've already completed half the sign up process. Now you'll see a screen where you can select a basic avatar, username, pass, email and security code. As well as yours truly as your benevolent referrer. It says the email is optional, but it's not really. I've never in the many months that I've been signed up received any kind of newsletter of spam, but you can always uses your secondary email if you're feeling twitchy about it. Type in your Ninja's name and hit Make Character and you're ready to go. You'll get a basic info screen informing you of your very first team mate. From here on forth you'll quickly notice the game isn't to be taken too serious, as you'll be kicking others in the junk, eating pie, killing zombie ninjas, sneaking around and all sorts of things. In text form obviously. Preparations You'll quickly arrive at your primary screen. Notice you've got mail! This will direct you to a more expansive explanation of the current game mechanics and details of all stats, leveling, trade, items and pretty much all you need to know for the first season. You start off as level 6! Not level one like most RPGs. Your total "level" is basically a combination of your three primary stats: Gen, Nin, Tai. The game is based on a rolling system for missions. For example a mission could be 7D 2S. This means you need to roll two times 7 or higher to succeed at a mission. Your basic roll has a range of 1-10, and your levels determine how many dice you roll. So initiall, you'd be rolling only two dice. (My own character is rolling 50 dice with a 30 range or so, you'll get stronger quite quickly) There's also another stat called Strength which you'll receive in due time. Strength basically increases the lower roll. So a 1-10 base range +1 strength would result in a 2-10 roll. (It's actually slightly better than that, but I'll not confuse you too much for now) At the bottom of the page you'll see a "BvS Video Challenge" which will provide you with 30 bonus stamina every day, as well as a lottery ticket which can be turned in at the party house (Gambling hall). Secondly, there's the plain "Bonus Stamina Box" which will give you another 40 stamina as well as an extra 100 stamina every 7 consecutive days that you use this. Now, stamina is the primary limiting factor of how many actions your character can do in a single day. You start off with 200 as you just saw, but this number quickly increases trough bonus stamina, village bonuses (We'll get to that in a few), item bonuses, team bonuses and potions. Speaking of potions, check out the "One-Use Items" box on your main screen. Select the Bitter Medicine and select Use Item to get another 40 stamina for today. You have two, so you can use another tomorrow. (Appetite is a limiting factor in food consumption) Now, missions cost 10 stamina, quests cost 10 stamina per step, some village actions cost 10-20 stamina, and there's a lot of other things you can spend stamina on. Don't worry there's plenty to discover. And the main reason for this small guide is the fact that a LOT of people are either overwhelmed by the game, or don't bother trying with it after the first day. But, you have to keep in mind this is something you play for 10-30 or so minutes in a given day. Another preparation, is to join a village. I recommend looking trough the "top villages" list and joining one with a decent number of upgrades in it. 120+ or more. But for now you can always just click the village button at the top of your screen and simply choose to "Jump Into a Village". This means you can skip the village application process, but you'll generally end up in a small village which is poorly developed. For this basic guide I wandered my testing character into Eldarado Village. Sorry guys, you can kick my little nublet later. If you're lucky, your village will have a dumpster in the storehouse filled with crap to help new and aspiring ninjas just like you! Look for an item called Medicinal Herbs, it's a pretty common item which, if not found in the dumpster you should be able to request of your village's storehouse manager. The reason you want to get this item is because it allows you to get an amazingly valuable ally called Stalker girl. Don't bother doing that quest until you're level 4 in Tai though, most likely you'll fail otherwise. Another item to look for is the Shogi Piece, this opens another quest, but you should probably not attempt it until you're level 5-6 in Nin. Starting up Now that you've taken care of the day's preparation, and perhaps read some info in the FAQ page you're ready to actually get started. And we'll start by doing some missions. The first goal is to just get 6000 JXP, which you can then use to buy some skills you'll need to complete the first of a three day quest called Three Day Tour, Tour Day Two and Tour Day Three. As you can expect, it'll take three days to complete all of those. Lets start off by making our life a bit easier, as level 2 is "really" poor. Luckily, as a starting genin you start off with 15000 JXP for free! Click the Jutsu menu in the top and learn the following skills off flipper: Clone jutsu (+1 levels, thats awesome for now) as well as Disguise Jutsu, which you'll need to pass the first quest. Now, click Quests in the top menu and start Three Day Tour. * Pack your bags: Use clone jutsu here, the roll requires 3D3S. If at first you don't succeed just try again. * The next step asks if you're in a village, which you totally should be! * You've completed a village action. /facepalm, totally forgot about that one. Click village in the top menu (Don't worry you can continue your quest without starting over) Then scroll down a little and look for the Patrol option. It costs some stamina, but not that much. Some (big) villages even have special upgrades installed which GIVE you stamina when you patrol. Click quests in the top menu and continue to the next step. * Sneaking Out: Use disguise jutsu to beat this 10D10S challenge. Automatic win! You'll gain your very first permanent item! A banana sticker +1 Gen level. It also informs you to return tomorrow for the next part of the quest. Notice your "Chakra: 140/200" Chakra is your Ninja Mana, it is used whenever you use special skills to aid you in a rolling challenge and can be restored by paying 10 stamina. Or 5 if you have certain items to help you in that. Missions You are still only level 6 at this time, so it's time to put some time into changing that. Once you reach level 12 you can become a Chunin rank ninja, which will provide you with a new mission type, and give you more stamina and appetite on a daily basis. The base ranks are: Genin, Chunin, Sp.Jonin, Jonin, Sannin, r00t. Ranks are obtained trough quests when you are the appropriate level. So anyway, click the missions button in the top menu. The number of options you have right now seems rather small, but as you increase in rank a lot more mission types will open to you. C-Rank, B-Rank, A-Rank, AA-Rank, S-Rank, Burgerninja, Reaper, Wasteland, Outskirts, Monochrome. And you'll be able to pick a specific stat to focus on if you wish. Let's start with D-Rank for now. The first mission my nublet got served was a D6S1 mission, fairly easy and shouldn't require any chakra use to complete. He rolled 8 and 5, meaning the mission was a success! He also found an ally called Lil' Whitey. Missions are fairly random, and you will probably not get the same mission, you will get your extra ally quite rapidly though. Lets start with putting Lil' Whitey into the party. This is easily done by clicking the team menu at the top of the screen, and selecting the ninjas you wish into your party. It guides itself really. Lil' whitey gives +1 tai strength and +1 tai levels! Which so happens to be exactly what I need to have a realistic chance at getting Stalker Girl, as mentioned earlier. Lets not get ahead of ourselves though. The second mission I got was: * Taijutsu - Eat your Ninja Rations : D5S2 Since your Tai skill is likely still only 2, this means you have about a 50% chance of success. You can greatly improve this by using Clone Jutsu to get +1 levels. You see, it's pretty straightforward at this point. Next I got: * Ninjutsu - Tree Climbing Training : D7S1 Totally failed that one. Sadly. Such is the way of things as a low level player. Do a lot of D-Rank missions until you run out of stamina for today. Don't be afraid to charge chakra using stamina. It's often better to spend the little extra and succeed at a mission, rather than fail the next three. Keep an eye out in specific for the following missions, as you'll need these allies during the day two part of the tour quest. Emosuke: * Hidden at Hiding in Smoke. * Hidden at Ninja Leaping Practice. * Hidden at Practice Hand Symbols. Pinky: * Hidden at Babysit the Ninja Academy. * Hidden at Feel The Flow. * Hidden at Hiding! Billy: * Check Out a Ninja Centerfold. * Missing Pet Tora. * Sneak out of Detention. Eventually you'll have enough AP gained to level in one of your three main stats. This will significantly make your D-Rank missions in that stat easier. Tour Day Two The second day. A typical Billy day ends at around 12.15 - 12.20 CET (gmt+1), this is called the Dayroll. After the dayroll you'll be given fresh stamina, appetite and village bonuses. It depends how many upgrades your village has, hence it's a good idea to jump into a large village. (I can't really repeat that enough I guess) The only disadvantage of joining a large village is that you'll have a larger mission-ryo tax rate. In my opinion however, the bonuses and extra features you get are well worth it. To start off, you'll want to get your daily bonus stamina, and do your village patrol task. You get more stamina, thus can do more actions and grow a stronger ninja! Don't forget to eat your second bitter medicine as well, as it's useless later. The first step of tour day two requires you to help your village out again, which you just did, right? * Next, you're asked whether you've obtained Billy, Pinky, and Emosuke. These three important allies, and if you didn't manage to get all three yesterday you'll have to continue doing regular missions until you get them. They don't have to be in your party though. * The third part of the second day quest requires you to gain knowledge of special teams. These give you additional bonuses on top of the stats the allies give on their own. One such team is Billy + Flipper. Go to the teams menu, then select those two to be able to continue the quest. * The final part of day two requires that you've gotten your daily bonus stamina. Easy enough. As a reward, he tears off your banana sticker and replaces it with a rainbow sticker. +1 Gen and Nin Levels. Spend whatever stamina you have left gaining additional levels. You'll also open up a bloodline quest at level 9, this allows you to get special powers relating to that bloodline, and is a requirement to being able to finish the chunin quest which opens up at level 12. You can skip to the bottom and do initiate that quest before day three, but getting the bonus item first really helps. If you didn't manage to get lucky enough to find all the 3 required allies, not to fear (it happens) you can continue the quest the next day. Bloodlines Choosing a bloodline is permanent, but each time you loop into a new season you can pick a different one. So you won't be stuck with it forever. Your choices are: * RedEye: +7% XP bonus per rank. * WhiteEye: +1 levels per rank. * Legacy: +15 bonus stamina per rank. There are more benefits to your bloodlines, but you'll find those out later. As a new season 1 genin, I can highly recommend taking up WhiteEye as this gives you +1 levels each time you increase in ninja rank. Meaning all rolling challenges are immediately a LOT easier. Tour Day Three The third day of the newbie quest, and likely your last day as a lowly Genin. Be sure to get your daily stamina bonus, and help your village by patrolling. This day it's not a requirement of the quest, but it's a good idea to make it into a habit. Subsequently, the third day is also rather short. It introduces you to a rolling challenge of D4S15. Unlike regular mission challenges a pure rolling challenge remembers the number of successes you've had so far, and reduces the S* by your number of previous successes. So, simply roll the dice and beat the mission. As a reward you'll lose your rainbow sticker and it gets replaced by the: Monster Mask (+1 Levels, +10 Stamina per day)! The Chunin Exam All Ninja must eventually prove their worth to their superiors, and so do you. Once you've reached level 12 (which you should have by now) you'll gain access to the quest Chunin Exam. 1. Cost to Attempt Test: 250-500 Ryo. 2. You are given ten multiple-choice questions. 3. You need a score of 3 to pass. 4. If you are caught cheating, you get a two-point penalty. 5. If you are caught cheating five times, you automatically fail. 6. Don't do what that OTHER guy did and just sit through the whole test - that doesn't work anymore. 7. Even if all of the answers look the same, there's still only one correct one. This is quite easy, and you shouldn't need more than two attempts to complete the first part of the exam. Simply guess randomly "but write down the ones you got correctly". If for whatever reason you didn't manage to guess at least 3 answers correctly, you can simply do the test again and guess different ones. Just be sure to re-use the correct ones. In later seasons you'll need more correct answers, and the same technique works to pass the test. A WINNER IS YOU! You and your partner party hard! Congratulations! A new quest will be available once you passed the test. Forest of Death * Get Back a Scroll: A simple D5S2 challenge. * Sneak past an ambush: A D7S2 challenge. * The second scroll: A D6S3 challenge. * Last Dash: A D5S4 challenge. Due to needing 4 successes you'll probably want to use Clone Jutsu here. After that four-part quest another (final) quest opens up. Final Fight This tests: * Whether you have at least 6 allies in total, shouldn't be too hard. * Learned 8 jutsu, simply buy all the remaining ones from flipper and one other for 10.000 xp. I can recommend Emosuke's fireball jutsu as you'll need that one later. * You've beaten 40 or more D-Rank missions. If you haven't done so yet you'll need to go back to completing some more. Don't forget you can get your daily bonus stamina to help in this. * And lastly, whether you've got at least one basic bloodline. Which you did at level 9. You are now Chunin rank. You now get 180 Stamina per day, can get your picture taken in the shop, can have three total teammates, and have tons of other things unlocked! You can also go on C-rank missions, and on top of all that, K-Dog walks up and joins you! The C-rank missions will allow you to level up some of your allies to lvl 2, they give more XP and more Ryo. Keep at it until one of your stats reaches 12 and you'll unlock the next exam. So, get started if you hadn't already.