New Player Primer
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Welcome to The Complex New Player Primer

The Clubs/Countries/Island
The Complex (TC) is turning out to be a fairly expansive game, with a lot of areas to explore. It's easy to get lost with all that there is to do out there, so keep in mind that Club Complex is pretty much the main club you start in. This area will give you access to most other areas that you can get to, with a few exceptions (we'll talk about those in a little while). If you ever get lost, or are not sure what's going on, head to Club Complex and regain your bearings.

Your first day
Your first day in the world can be very confusing! You're presented with a lot of information, and you don't need almost any of it! It's true! One thing you should probably keep an eye on though, are your energy. This is found under "Vital Info." No matter what you choose, in the end, you are some kind of dancer, and you need to learn how to battle. The best way to do this is to look for creatures to battle on the dance floor. When you find one, check it out, and make sure that it's not a higher level than you, because if it is, you might not survive through the battle. Keep in mind that you can always try to run away from something that you encountered, but sometimes it might take several tries before you get away. You might want to buy an outfit and learn a move in club complex in order to give yourself a better chance against these creatures out on the dance floor.

Once you have beaten a creature, you'll notice that you're probably a little exhausted. Head on over to the First Aid Booth so you can get rested and well in short order. While you're level 1, healing is free, but as you advance, it becomes more and more expensive. Also keep in mind that it's more expensive to heal 1 point, then later heal 1 point again than it is to heal 2 in one shot. So if you're trying to save up some money, and you're barely exhausted, you might risk a battle or two while you're a little exhausted, and heal the energy loss from several battles in one shot.

After you've battled a few creatures, you should head back to club complex, into the Dance Lessons, and talk to your instructor. Your instructor will tell you when you are ready to challenge him, and when you are ready, you should give him a shot (make sure you're healed up first though!). Your instructor won't exhaust you if you lose, instead he'll give you a complimentary healing potion and send you on your way.

Exhaustion
Exhaustion is a natural part of any game that contains some kind of combat. In The Complex, being exhausted is only a temporary condition. When you exhaust, you'll lose any money that you had on hand (money in the bank is safe!), and some of the experience you've accumulated. While you're exhausted, you can explore the rave and the mosh pit. In the rave, you'll find Ramius the Overlord of Exhaustion. He has certain things that he would like you to do for him, and in return, he may grant you special powers or favors. The rave is one of those areas that you can't get to from Club Complex. In fact, while you're exhausted, you can't go to club complex at all!

Unless you can convince %s
to give you max energy, you'll remain exhausted until the next game day. There are 24 game days each real day. These occur when the clock in club complex reaches midnight.

New Days
As stated just above, there are 24 game days each real day. These occur when the clock in club complex reaches midnight. When you get a new day, you'll be granted new dance floor turns, interest on dollars you have in the bank (if the bankers are pleased with your performance!), and a lot of your other statistics will be refreshed. You'll also be revitalized if you were exhausted, and get another chance to take on the world. If you don't log on over the course of an entire game day, you'll miss your opportunity to partake in that game day (this means that new game days are only assigned when you actually log on, being away from the game for a few days won't grant you a whole bunch of new days). Dance floor fights, Homeless evictions, special power usages and other things that get refreshed on a daily basis do NOT get carried over from one day to the next (you can't build up a whole bunch of them).

Homeless Evictions (Player versus Player)
The Complex contains a PvP element, where players can attack each other. The Complex contains a PvP element, where players can attack each other. As a new player, you are protected from PvP for your first 5 game days or until you accumulate 1500 experience, unless you choose to attack another player. Some servers might have the PvP aspect turned off, in which case there is no chance that you'll be attacked by any other players. You can tell if the server you play on has PvP turned on by looking in club complex for "Occupied Couches." If it's not there, you can't engage (or be engaged) in PvP.

When you are attacked and die in PvP, you only lose dollars you had on hand, and 5% of your experience. You won't lose any turns on the dance floor, or any other stats. If you battle someone else in PvP, you'll get 10% of the experience they had, and any dollars they had on hand. If you battle someone else and lose, however, you'll lose 10% of your experience, and you'll lose any dollars that you had on hand. If someone else battles you and they lose, you'll gain the dollars they had on hand, and 10% of their experience. You can only battle someone who is close to your level, so don't worry that as a level 1, some big level 15 player is going to come along and beat on you.

If you buy a loft when you decide to quit the game, you'll protect yourself somewhat from casual battling. The only way for someone to battle you when you're in the lofts is for them to bribe the bartender, which can be a costly procedure. Logging Out means that someone can battle you without having to pay money or diamonds to the bartender. You cannot be battled while you are online, only while you are offline, so the more you play, the more protected you are ;-). Also, if you are battled and die, no one else can battle you again until you log on again, so don't worry that you'll be battled 30 or 40 times in one night. Logging back into the game will make you a viable PvP target again if you've already been exhausted today.

Ready to take on the world!
You should now have a pretty good idea of how the basics of the game work, how to advance, and how to protect yourself. There's a whole lot more to the world, so explore it! Don't be afraid of getting exhausted, particularly when you're young, as even when you're exhausted, there's yet more stuff to do!
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Game Design and Code: Copyright © 2002-2005, Eric Stevens & JT Traub, © 2006-2007, Dragonprime Development Team
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