hardest race/class bombo to win the game

[gosos]

so what is the hardest race/class combo that you have won the game with?

[Joe]

Gnome merchant or Hurthling farmer. Not sure what one was harder.

[grobblewobble]

Wolf-born mist elf merchant?

[Stingray1]

All mine were pretty easy, maybe the first, cause I didn't know what was coming next and didn't know about the effects of morgia. The duelist and ranger had tough starts too.

[gosos]

what was your strategy to get started with a merchant or a farmer?

[Stingray1]

In the latest prerelease, pump gardening with the farmer and start planting at 70. I would recommend you play with an easier class though. Drakeling Barbarian?

[JellySlayer]

Hardest for me was probably GE thief. Like walking on eggshells the whole game. ME thief is probably the hardest overall R/C, IMHO.

Farmer isn't so bad. I enjoy them quite a bit. Basic strategy is what Stingray says--Gardening is your lifeline. You need to level up to about 7 or 8 to get a decent chance of planting your seeds, which is easiest done by true berserking. Either hang around on I:1, or dive to VD:4 to take advantage of Jharod's free healings. Once you get enough Gardening skill, you can make a massive herb farm and buff your stats, get a tonne of spenseweed for healing and you're pretty much set for the game. For best results, play on Raven for the early RCT synergy with your polearm skill.

True berserk in early game is probably the best strategy for all of the hard classes.

[theseus12]

wow... I can't even win the game at all...

[gosos]

In 1.2 aren't you capped out with your potentials? So you can't buff your stats that much with a gardener? Or can you still use herbs to raise your stats if your potentials are capped it just takes more?
Where do you start gardens?

When you plant gardens do you make 3 square blocks and then let the 4th one grow? Or do you follow the complex farming stuff I see laid out on some websites (I actually don't quite understand it).

[grobblewobble]

There are caps, but for a farmer those caps will often be so high that they don't really matter. You normally can't raise stats beyond 25-26 with herbs in any case.

There are many places where you can start a garden. My advice would be to choose some easily accessible normal level like D:1 and pacify it. This is far easier than pacifying the big room. Wait for a breeder to spawn (white worms are fairly common), then lure them into a side room and close the door. Maybe lock the door if you happen to have the right key. After a while it will be pacified.

Planting an unfinished square of three bushes and letting the 4th one grow works fine. With the way gardening works in 1.2, this four bush square will eventually let you pick more herb seeds, so once you have one square going you can build as many of them as you like. Just make sure they are at least two spaces away from each other, to make sure no new bushes start growing between them.