Yea Twin, Stealth is nowhere near as black and white as Thief, but it isn't bad after I learned a couple of things that made a difference. Oh, and consider that in Thief you play a
master thief...Garret isn't a noob like we all are. So I suppose we could reserve final judgment on the effectiveness of stealth until one of us makes it to master (apples to apples). It won't be the hightly effective shadow-meter, but it could make a huge difference.
First off, I'm at 60% stealth. I'm a Journeyman and take no penalty for the weight of my boots.
DO NOT wear anything but light armor. I had no clue for quite some time. (yea I know, RTFM
). Anyway, I was wearing a couple of heavy pieces mixed in with light, and it did seem strange how easily things noticed me. Switched to all chainmail (light), and now I feel like I'm invisible to everyone all the time.
If you're an archer, shoot from as far away as you can, out from behind something. Right as you left fly, before the arrow hits, duck back behind cover. So far, 8 out of 10 times, I went back to being 'undetected'. If that doesn't work (eye still bright), run back a bit until it darkens and stay in a shadow until the calamity dies down, or, if you're born under the Shadow, use you freebie once a day invisibility (last resort).
Now the game does use LOS(line of sight), but once you peg someone, I suppose the idea is that they've been alerted to
where the shot came from, and try to go to that position, effectively appearing to know where you are(ulitmately I think Oarfish was right in assessing that they do radius checks when alerted unless you move far enough away, so I'll chalk that up to game balance and move on.You would be one powerful mother if you could keep pinging dudes all night long completely hidden, so it sucks but I understand why its done this way) . So, as they tell you in sniper school, never stay in one position...keep moving. So as long as you mix it up and retreat from an alert enemy, they should relax in a bit and you can go back to it. Those 3x damage hits really take a nice chunk out, so its worth it.
Now just to tangent slightly, I noticed something about lockpicking that isn't even mentioned in the strategy guide.
When you flick a tumbler, the common practice is to watch how fast it moves initially. There's the quick flick which means the tumbler will fall right away, making it almost impossible to lock it. So, you wait for the slow flicks, as the tumbler will stay in the upright position much longer, time enough to lock it in.
Well, if you look very closely at the top of the tumbler as it stikes the top of the lock, it vibrates if its going to fall right back down. Again, the absolute moment you flip the tumbler, watch it hit the top of the lock...if it IMMEDIATELY vibrates, dont attempt to lock it in. If it doesn't vibrate, odds are you can lock it in without issue. I've increased my effectiveness 10 fold with this little secret.
Robbed the Red Diamond Jeweler last night, and aside from selling a few high grade, slightly magical items (I killed a few side-quest specific baddies with some neat loot), I ganked a shit load of necklaces and gems, a lot I 200 gold for from my fence. Went from having a meager 600 gold to 3000. Bought myself 100 lockpicks now that I'm a pimp. :D
