Newbie Guide 4

Adventuring
Adventuring is one of the primary activities on Aywas - here you can gain items, BP, Level up your Pets and capture new ones. Access it under (World > Adventure), but before you strike out for the wilderness, there are some very important things to know. The information below is geared towards those just starting out - for a more comprehensive guide, see the main Adventure page.

Explore was retired in July of 2012, and replaced with Adventure. It has the same areas, pets and monsters, but with additional features such as a variety of Quests, the ability to capture Monsters for your Training Hall, and a more flexible battle system. There are over a dozen different areas available, plus two seasonal areas (Holiday Forest and Haunted Forest, which open only at certain times of year). The easiest area is the Bridge which is the recommended place to start; the areas increase in difficulty from there on up. Some pets are exclusive to one area, while others are found in multiple areas. Besides pets, you will also encounter monsters (which are fought just like pets, but cannot be added to your Lair), Merchants and random events. The goal of Adventure is to Master each area, unlocking more advanced areas and the Fauna Safari.

Stats

For the complete article, see Statistics

If you are not planning to battle capture pets, Stats don't matter. Any pet at all works for item captures (see Pet Capture, below.) If you are going to fight, you'll need to consider where to put your pool points. Your pet has many statistics; the key ones are HP, Speed, Power, Toughness and Energy. Health Points can only be raised by going up in Level. Energy goes up with level and can also be raised with Energy Stones. Speed affects how many Tiers your pet can use and what Skills it can learn. Power is raw damage, Toughness reduces the effects of opponent attacks. Speed is the most critical of these since it affects who hits first and how many Skills you can use in a turn.

Skills

For the complete article, see Skill

Depending on where you got your first pet, you may have one or more skills already. These represent the attack techniques your pet can perform in battle. Each Skill has a value called Ability Uses, or AU - the number of items you can use that Skill. Each time you attack in battle, your AU will go down by one. As your pet gains more Tiers, you'll be able to buy additional Skills at (World > Battledome > Skill Shop). Pets can learn a variety of moves by changing their Type.

Things that restore AU
 * Break Event while Exploring - "(Pet Name) decides to take a break. Some energy and health is restored."
 * AU Potion (In Battle Only)
 * Kiddie Pool

Equipment

For the complete article, see Equipment

You should have received some Equipment in your Newbie Package - a Strange Mask and Diamond Sword. These two items, when equipped, will give you +15% Attack and +15% Toughness, respectively. Toughness reduces the amount of damage you take, Attack increases the amount of damage you deal to opponents. Focusing on items that increase Attack is recommended, because if you finish the fight quickly your need for Health/Toughness is minimal. You can equip up to five pieces of Battle Equipment; once you've gotten a supply of BP it's worth investing in an Angelic Bow or two, as they give +20% Attack each. Always put on the maximum five pieces of Battle Equipment - even if it's just +1 point junk you got from Throwing Bones or the Donation Box. You can swap out for better stuff as you find it.

Energy & Hunger

Hunger is simple to take care of - simply feed your pet some Hunger replenishing food (you wouldn't starve your pet anyways, would you?) Pets at 0 Hunger cannot Explore. Energy is your biggest obstacle while exploring, if you are starting with a pet below level 10. Lv. 1-3 pets especially have it hard as they will have very tiny energy reserves. While you can continually buy energy boosting items, it's more profitable and efficient to train a pet for the first few levels with Throwing Bones. Though it will take longer, you'll earn a good chunk of BP from selling the items you get at the same time. Max Energy can be permanently boosted by using Energy Stones.

Things that restore Energy
 * Reading a Book of Forsaken Energy, using a Cornucopia - usable once per day, regenerates
 * Using Energy replenishing Food
 * Break Event while Adventuring - "(Pet Name) Starfire looks a bit tired, so you decide to take a small break."
 * Visit the Energy Fountain - Available once every 30 minutes.

Quests and Area Mastery

For the complete article, see Quests

To master each area, you must accept quests. Enter the Bridge and click on Quest button on the right. Accept the NPC's request for aid, and you'll be given a task to complete, such as taking a certain number of steps or finding certain items. When you have completed your task (or wish to give up) hit the Quest button again. Your area level will advance by one (Lv. 1 Bridge becomes Lv. 2 Bridge, etc.) if you were successful and you can start on your next quest. Levelling up the area will make all the enemies slightly tougher each time, though not greatly so.

Merchants & Treasure Chests

Merchants are NPCs which pop up occasionally while you are exploring. They will offer to sell you a random item for a price between 2-8k BP... but won't tell you what it is until you buy it! Buying from Merchants is a gamble - you can prevent them from coming anywhere near you by equipping a Money Lighter to your active pet. You can get good items from the Merchants, but it's all down to luck.

You will also come across Treasure Chests during your explorations - unfortunately, they're always locked, and each requires a special Treasure Chest Key item to open. You can also try picking the lock, which usually doesn't work but will sometimes get you a free item. The keys are far rarer than the chests, so it's advised to save any keys you may get. You may want to sell the keys instead of opening the chests, as they are often worth more than the item inside. Each key is one use only - after you open a chest with it, the key disappears. To use the keys, simply leave them in your inventory. Though they can be equipped to pets, you won't be able to use them while equipped.

Choose your Battles

Which opponents you fight, and which you run away from, is an important strategic decision. More common monsters tend to be easier to defeat. The number of experience you get for your battles is tied to the area you are fighting in and how strong the opponent is that you defeat. If you successfully defeat a monster or pet, you will get EXP and a small amount of BP.

If you become paralyzed, poisoned or frozen while fighting with a low level pet, it's often more economical to Retreat from the fight than tough it out - each turn you have to spend one of your precious AU's to potentially do nothing, and may well exhaust your whole supply before the status effect wears off.

Pet Capture 101
For the complete article, see Pet Capture

You will need:
 * An Active Pet
 * A Capture License (Buy Here)
 * A Net (or a pet capable of weakening others)

One of the best ways to add to your pet collection is to go hunting! You'll need a good stock of funds to begin your career as a pet hunter, for the equipment and Licenses are not cheap. If you can hold off, it's most economical to collect 100,000 BP for the Silver License rather than buy the cheaper ones and upgrade later. Each License has a set number of pets it allows you to capture, and there are also limits on the number of R70 or higher pets that can be captured. Poaching is punished with extreme fines, so make sure you're capturing pets legally. Your BP funds can even go into the negative if you poach, so don't think you'll get off by simply not having the money to pay the fine.

Licenses sometimes glitch out - if you get a message asking if you are sure you want to poach, it's best to stop capturing pets for the day even if you think you have space left on your license.

Capture Methods

There are two basic ways to capture pets; before battle with an item, or by weakening it in battle with a pet of your own.

You can use items such as Vial of Sleepiness, Net, or Cage, but these must be used before you actually enter battle. Nets are the most cost effective. You cannot use them once you have clicked on the "Fight " button, despite the fact that there is a Use Item button during fights (it is used for other items, such as healing). When an item capture works, that pet is automatically added to your Lair, assuming you have space for it. If you fail to catch the pet, you can keep trying until it works. All items have either limited uses or a chance of breaking, so budget for multiple Nets. Tranqs are currently uncoded for Adventure - they will be used for pet capture in the future. (Blue Tranq, Gold Tranq, Silver Tranq).

The other method of capturing pets is to weaken them in battle, and then press the Attempt Capture button. The lower its health, the better your odds are of succeeding. Fainted pets cannot be captured, so be careful. A variety of moves from the Ability Shop are useful when trying to capture pets in this manner, as they have varying power levels. Battle captures are less expensive since they require no items, but riskier since KO'ing either your foe or your own pet will end in failure.

Most of the pets available for capture are not terribly valuable, so you may be better off picking up more pets at Auction, with Terrariums, or for sale in User Shops.