.Falcon's Eye Strategy Guide By Justin Verduyn

Just what exactly is Falcon's Eye?

Set in a medieval world, Falcon's Eye gives you extensive control over a feudal state. You must learn to balance the various needs of your empire, while competing with other states to acheive greatness. The game is designed around one basic premise. It is that an online game must emphasize interaction between the players. The opportunity that online games offer of competing with other, human opponents must be utilized. Because of that, Falcon's Eye offers interaction in every possible way, including warfare, trade, magic, and diplomacy, and communication. This tends to bring out the most competitive spirit and a strong dedication from the you, immensely adding to its entertainment value.

Falcon's Eye takes this interaction to an even higher level. Through InterBBS warfare, Falcon's Eye allows you to interact with people throughout the world.

Choosing a Race

A very important decision indeed. This will greaty affect the rest of your game. If you would like to experiment for awhile, then download a copy of Falcon's Eye and set it up on your computer, and play every race. Then see which race does the best for your particular strategy. Here is a description of each race, and then a comment on each:

Humans

Humans - Humans are often described as the jacks-of-all-trades. While they are not particularly inefficient in any area, they are not noticably skilled either. Humans are used as the standard by which all other races are measured. Diplomatically skilled, people of other counties tend to approve of the human race. The Paladin provides pride and honor to the human race, symbolizing the good in the world, through virtues such as honesty and honor. The Cleric gives the human army the benefit of healing wounds in war. Clerics, while not particularly effective fighters, are able to revive many other fighters which normally would have been lost in combat.

Adjustments:
Popular amongst all other empires

Adjustments prior to .910:
None

My personal opinion of the humans is that they aren't too good. Unless you like the Falcon's Eye (see The Falcon's Eye) I wouldn't use them. They would be a good race if you were playing in InterBBS mode and were the nation's coordinator, since having most people naturally like you is good.

Barbarians

Barbarians - Exceptionally strong and stupid, barbarians are a race of raw power. Their size and strength gives them additionally combat power, but their lack of wisdom causes their productivity to drop in all areas. The barbarian social upbringing also does not stress magic as highly as other races. The Monster provides a strong offensive unit with the ability to break down opposing defenses. The Mammoth serves as a complement with strong defensive capabilities and the ability to force attackers into confusion.

Adjustments:
115% Combat effectiveness
Armoureres work at 80% efficiency
Druids work at 70% efficiency
Builders work at 75% efficiency
Scientists work at 75% efficiency
Wages 80% of normal
-1 Total Spell Books

Adjustments prior to .910:
150% Combat effectiveness

I like the Barbarians since their Combat effectiveness is high. Merchants are the definate choice for money makers on this one, since the Armourers are already at a disadvantage. Recommended action for magic would be making friends with someone who is either an Elf or a Solarian. This race should definately be used as one of the primary attack counties in InterBBS mode.

Halflings

Halfings - The Halfling is a small, but noble race. Their small size gives them the ability to create smaller structures and be more efficient in construction. However, naturally, it also reduces their combat abilities. In the Halfling education system, Magic is considered a powerful tool, and stressed highly. The Dragon provides the Halflings with a strong offensive and defense military force. It also has a special attack capable of breaking down enemy defenses. The Magician provides a worthy offensive unit whose magic can also confuse the opposing attackers.

Adjustments:
85% Combat effectiveness
Builders work at 140% efficiency
Druids work at 125% efficiency

Adjustments prior to .910:
75% Combat effectiveness

These guys don't really have anything wrong with them, except they aren't the best in combat. However, the Druids work at a slightly higher rate than normal, so that is good. This is the race that I chose when I was first introduced to the game. Finding that I was falling behind others, I have not chosen this race again. The 140% efficiency of Builders doesn't mean a lot, since not many Builders are required in the first place except in the beginning.

Dwarves

Dwarves - Mountain dwellers at heart, dwarves are extremely talented constructors. Their size provides a natural disadvantage in combat, though, and their education system leaves more to be desired. The practices of alchemy and magic are lacking, while construction is stressed as the heritage of the Dwarf race. The powerful Golem, a creature of solid rock, provides the dwarves with a solid defensive and offensive unit. The rock attack is able to effectively penetrate through defenses. The Centaur also provides a solid defensive unit for a low price.

Adjustments:
90% Combat effectiveness
Builders work at 250% efficiency
Druids work at 80% efficiency
Alchemists work at 75% efficiency
Blacksmiths work at 110% efficiency

Adjustments prior to .910:
85% Combat effectiveness

I think that I might have chosen this race once, when I was experimenting. Nothing is really fantastic about this race, except for their extremely high efficiency in their Builders. This race may be a significant help in InterBBS mode since many an opportunity is lost by not having the right building at the right time. A lot of money could be made by this race if you played the market right, and always had a large quantity of blocks for sale at a low rate.

Elves

Elves - A powerful race, elves are known for their impressive abilities in many aspects. Strong magic traditions, efficient Silver production techniques, and natural combat ability make the elves a dangerous race to compete against. However, elves have a natural tendency to overwork themselves, insuring every detail to be perfect. Because of this, everything they do is noticably more expensive as well. The Wizard, while not extremely powerful, has the magic ability to negate special powers of opposing units. The Griffin provides the elves with an additional offensive unit.

Adjustments:
110% Combat effectiveness
Builders work at 50% efficiency
Armourers work at 50% efficiency
Druids work at 150% efficiency
Alchemists work at 120% efficiency
Wages 175% of normal
+1 Spell book

Adjustments prior to .910:
125% Combat effectiveness

One of my favorites, the Elves have the ability to possess the knowledge of every Spell book. This can be done by building the Cathedral, and then destroying it and building the Temple and subsequent buildings. This race has both good Combat and Druids effectiveness. However, they require more money than normal, simply because they are performing better. This race also has a large advantage in local mode, but in InterBBS mode the advantage is not as great for Mehul Patel (author of FE) has restricted the number of InterBBS Spells that can be cast.

Trolls

Trolls - A race of travellers, Trolls have become excellent at warfare, but have never successfully mastered the art of advanced civilization. Silver production, and Magic ability are both lacking, but strength and size make them talented Builders. The Hammerhead gives the Trolls a strong defensive force to protect their cities. The War Troll, while not quite as strong, has the unique capability of combatting Knights extremely effectively.

Adjustments: 110% Combat effectiveness
Druids work at 80% efficiency
Alchemists work at 70% efficiency
Builders work at 130% efficiency

Adjustments prior to .910:
125% Combat effectiveness

The Trolls are a slightly higher than mediocare race. I wouldn't necessarily pick them, except for their Builder's and Combat effectiveness is somewhat high. They have no real outstanding attibutes that I would consider important in the overall scheme when compared to other races.

Orcs

Orcs - The most evil of all races, Orcs have no honor whatsoever. This however, gives the Orc race extra military might, by improving their internal morale as well as through using unorthodox fighting methods. The lack of honor, however, causes Silver production to drop as Orcs steal from their own for personal gains. In addition, people from other counties, including other Orc counties, tend to dislike and distrust the Orcs. The Minotaur provides an adequate offensive unit with the additional ability to penetrate enemy defenses more effectively. The Orc Lord, while not very powerful, is capable of cutting through Foot Soldier forces extremely effectively.

Adjustments: 125% Combat effectiveness
Alchemists work at 85% efficiency
Unpopular amongst all other empires
Cannot have Non-Intervention Pacts
-1 Spell book
Cannot research Life Spells

Adjustments prior to .910:
160% Combat effectiveness

Some people will swear by this race, myself, I don't. While their combat effectiveness is really good, their inability concerning their Spells probably offsets their Combat effectiveness. This decision is something that you will have to make.

Solarians

Solarians - The race of the unknown. No one really knows too much about the history of Solarian people; they are perhaps the most unique of all the races. Strong fighters, the Solarian military structure not only develops combat skills, but also provides a sense of honor which creates strong internal morale. Magic is regarded as one of the greatest powers a Solarian can achieve, and every Solarian Druid strives to be the greatest in the land. Their one flaw is money. While not as efficient in Silver production, the Solarian people demand extremely high wages, causing problems to every Solarian government. The Champion provides a worthy multipurpose fighting unit, while the Unicorn provides a magic attack capable of weakening opposing defenses and serves as a healer to revive otherwise lost units.

Adjustments: 125% Combat effectiveness
Builders work at 125% efficiency
Alchemists work at 80% efficiency
Druids work at 130% efficiency
Wages at 300% of normal

Adjustments prior to .910:
160% Combat effectiveness

When the above says their wages cause problems to Solarian governments, it's not kidding. Immediately after registering FE I created a County of Solarians thinking that their wages wouldn't really matter much. I was wrong, it matters a lot more than one thinks. It is really crippling in the beginning, especially if your SysOp or League Coordinator has set the wages to high. Other than that, they are a really good race. Think of them like you would a jumbo jet, slow to start but when it gets moving, it gets moving.

Overall, I chose the Barbarians or the Elves as my race depending on which strategy I would like to play for the game. Though strongly discouraged by SysOps, a duplicate account could be setup with the other race being played. The only way this might slide is if the FE game is in InterBBS mode and the SysOp is active. I don't encourage this, but it a possible solution to your problem of which race to pick.

The Main Menu

(-) Take Turn?
Take Turn - Falcon's Eye is a turn-based game. Each turn is the equivalent of one month, while the entire day is a year (there are not necessarily 12 months a year). Each month, you will produce goods and incur various new expenses. You are required to immediately pay 25% of your total expenses; if you cannot afford this, your County may go through some turbulence. You will then be offered the opportunity to pay the remaining costs for your County. Each month, unpaid expenses cost you in interest added to your total remaining expenses, so it is highly recommended you pay immediately. However, by not paying, you are essentially taking out a loan.
NOTE: You may automatically pay all maintenance costs each month through a Toggle Option in the Private Chambers menu.
That really takes care of everything that there is to say about taking a turn. Just make sure to know what turn you are on at all times, as this will affect some of your decisions. Some things should be done every turn, others only at the beginning or end of the year. They will be covered later in the guide.

(.) Pay Maintenance
Pay Maintenance - Should you not pay off all maintenance expenses during the take turn option, you may cover those expenses here. It is most useful if you do not have enough Silver or food at the beginning of the turn but are able to acquire them before the turn is over.
This is really useful for if you do not pay your expenses eventually your people will move out causing an upset in your labor distribution, but also by taking land with them they will reduce the chance of you gaining the lost people back. Where they go or where they come from is unknown, but people are good and to lose them for simply not paying your mainetance is bad FE etiquette and a poor gaming habit.

(1) Labor
Labor - Labor serves as the production capability for your County. At this menu, you may assign your workers to different occupations (more information is available on each when selected) to produce food, Silver, Weapons, Stone Blocks, or Runes, or to conduct scientific research. When a worker is placed in an occupation, they start at a 5.0 skill level. (Except on your first turn in the game - all initial workers start at 7.0 skill) Each month, the skill level of all of your workers will rise, until they reach the maximum of 10.0. A 5.0 skill worker can only produce 1/2 of a 10.0 skill worker; when you fire a worker to place him/her in another occupation, that worker will start again at a 5.0 skill level, so it is in your best interests to keep people mostly in their own occupations. Your people also demand monthly wages, an expense you will have to deal with each turn.
NOTE: You should never leave people unemployed - they still consume food, although they do not require wages.
The distribution of your people is also very important. However, this is a topic within itself, and will be discussed later. Right now, just remember that you should never allow a month to go by without employing all of your people. Your people are the core of your County, if they are happy you're happy, if they aren't then you aren't.

(2) Defense
Defense - The defense menu is where you train your military units for battle. To train a unit, you must supply a certain number of Weapons, as listed in the menu. You may get information on the defense and offense capability of a unit by selecting the Unit Information option from the menu. If a unit has a special ability, you can get more information on his abilities in the Race Help for your race.
NOTE: Military units require both food and Silver to maintain, so be careful when buying a military. All units require the same amount of food, but Silver is based on their strength.
A controversial question on the defense is this: At the beginning of the game, you have x number of Weapons. Without the Barracks to halt their decay, you will lose approximately 3% of your current Weapon supply. It will take about 20 months for you to lose half of your Weapon supply, and another 16 to be down to a mere 1/4 of your original starting supply. On the other hand, there is the maintenance fee of whatever unit you would decide to train. So the question is this, is it better to train your units, or to let your Weapons dwindle... A chart will be provided later to show the maintenance costs of each unit.

(3)City Improvements
City Improvements - As your County grows, you will want to build new improvements to strengthen your empire. Several of the buildings have prerequisites so that you will only be able to build them after you have built others. Each improvement consumes some acreage of your lands; as soon as construction is started, these lands "disappear" from your scores, as they cannot be captured by opponents. The only way to destroy another player's improvement is through an Earthquake Spell. Also, you can only build one improvement at a time, so pick carefully. Additionally, at this menu you can buy new lands. Your land serves as a location for people to live, so obtaining land is in your best interests, as it directly expands your population.
NOTE: Buying improvements shrinks your available land supply for people to live on, so when building improvements, you may lose people if you do not buy new lands as well.
Another important menu to go to on your first turn, the City Improvements' menu allows you to purchase more land. More land means a lower population density; a lower population density means more people will immigrate; the immigrants mean more labor. And labor is always good, until your density is too high, then you have to buy more land since then your people will emigrate and that's not too good. Another thing that can be done here is telling your people to build improvements. Another section will deal with which improvement to build first, but be sure that you start something on your first turn.

(4)Mystic Circle
Mystic Circle - The Mystic Circle is where your Druids cast their Spells. Most races can learn up to 3 Spell books without any difficulties. You should choose these books wisely, as you can't change later on. Some races' special benefits or disadvantages and building certain improvements can change the exact number of books your race may learn. Each Spell cast requires a certan amount of Runes, whether successful or not. In addition, some Spells are much easier to cast than others. The number of Druids per acre of land in your County (as of the end of the last month) is the main factor in determining whether a Spell is successful or not; the larger the ratio, the more effective casting for your County. In Spells against opponents, their ratio also determines the amount of success your Druids will have.
NOTE: Each time a Spell is cast, the cost to cast it again in the same year triples as accessing those same powers becomes more difficult, except for the Wizards' Eye whose cost is constant. Therefore, you should consider carefully whom you wish to cast Spells upon.
Unfortunately, the Circle is basically useless until you are out of protection. Your Runes will decay with time, and I usually put all of my Runes on the market to be sold so that none deplete, and a financial gain is possible. Since your Druids cannot cast Spells until you are in your freedom, I would recommend not choosing any Spell books since you won't be able to use them. The Circle is where Spells are cast either on your own County, and the counties of others in your nation. It is very important that you keep a high ratio of Druids/acre as that will determine the success of Spells that you cast, plus the more Druids that you have the more Runes you will produce. Spells require a certain amount of Runes before they can be cast, so it is important to figure out before hand which Spells you want to cast, and which you would rather leave until later.

(5)Commerce
Commerce - The commerce menu is an area from which you can trade goods with other players. Through trade, you can make deals to get things you need or just send out assistance to other counties. You can also buy and sell on a common market, where your Merchants will try to find the best available price out there. If no other player has goods for sale, you always have the option of buying from a general market, but the price may be very high.
NOTE: If you have a lot of excess of any good, you may wish to attempt to sell it on the market. However, once your goods have been placed for sale, you cannot recover them, so it might help to advertise that things are for sale in messages to other players.
NOTE: When trading military forces, the quality of those forces drops to 50% of their initial value. Also, while food, Weapons, and Runes are in private trade deals, they tend to slowly decay with time. Should a trade deal not be answered within 72 hours of the time you sent it, it will be returned to you, unable to complete its mission.
A good menu to use when you are more powerful than your ally for you will be able to send parts of your resources to aid his/her County. If you don't want to give your resources away, you can sell them to anyone in the general market. One feature about FE's market is that it will automatically sell your goods when someone wants to buy goods from the market. For instance, if County A were to put 100,000 Weapons for sale at 100 Silver/Weapon, County B could go to the Market, and purchase the 100,000 Weapons for 10,000,000 Silver. Then, if County B wanted more Weapons, it would be given the option of purchasing the total amount of Weapons at the next lowest price. So if County C has 50,000 Weapons for sale at 125 Silver/Weapon, County B could buy those 50,000 Weapons for 6,250,000 Silver. It is easy to tell if you are buying goods from another County, for FE puts an asterick "*" in front of the price. Since County A's Weapons were sold, the player for County A would receive this message: "100000 Weapons were sold for 10000000 Silver" While mastering the Commerce Market is not essential to a successful County, it will surely benefit it.

(6)Foreign Affairs
Foreign Affairs - Maintain relations with other counties is vital to building a strong empire. While your County can propose various pacts to others, your people also maintain their own feelings toward different players. By going to war with a friend of the people, you will anger them; however, over time, they will learn to dislike your enemies and like your friends. In the meantime, though, plan carefully as when your people are unhappy, your approval tends to drop.
Another place that is good to visit in your first month, Foreign Affairs is where you can propose pacts to other counties. Different pacts do different things, and if you accidently propose the wrong pact don't worry about it since you can cancel your proposal to that County. Only one pact at a time per County is effective, so sending every pact to your ally will only result in one being accepted. If someone declines your proposal, then your approval will drop, the same is true on the flip side of the coin so be sure to propose pacts that the proposee will accept. If your people do not like your allies, then you can not send anything to them, in order to improve your standing with them propose cultural alliances.

(7)Communications
Communications - This menu allows you to talk with other players about anything you would like. We ask that, because this game has all sorts of players and messages can be sent to other BBSes, you keep foul language out of the game at all times. Beyond that, enjoy communicating!
Not to be underestimated by the limit of choices, this aspect is important too. Good communication is important to success with any team. If you are not able to talk amongst yourselves, then you are already at a disadvantage. Remember, a cord of three strands is not easily broken...

(8)War Room
War Room - The war room is the center from which you conduct your attacks. You have several options of what to target, and you may attack any County whom you have declared war on.
NOTE: In your attacks, you may set different attack strategies and attack objectives. It is recommended that you hit ? to learn more about the different options at their respective menus.
NOTE: Each time an attack is made, the forces return with a lower quality rating than when sent. This means that it is better not to send too large excess of forces in attacks, as you only will hurt the quality of your military.
This is a really good menu, but like the mystic circle is useless until you are out of protection. This is where you are able to use the military that you have been creating in order to benefit your empire. There are three different attack types, and those will be discussed later. About the only thing that I'll mention now is to make sure not to send too much. For instance, if you are attacking a County with only 1 Peasant, then sending 1000 Peasants would be a big mistake. Be sure to send the appropriate amount.

(C)Council Room
Council Room - The Council Room is a central area from which you can monitor all aspects of your County. You can get information on your agricultural and budget situations to see where how your expenses are distributed. Also, you can learn how productive your people are and get a general status of your County. It is recommended you visit here often to make sure everything in your empire is functioning properly.
This room will tell you many interesting things that are important to both you and to your County, such as informing you of problems that might arise before they actually do. Be sure to visit here frequently so that your County will remain healthy.

(I)International Room
International Room - This is the menu from which you can interact with all the other BBSes (nations) in the game. The Magic and Trade menus will function just as from the main menu. The War and Message menus have additional options which are self explanatory.
NOTE: At the magic menu, you will not be able to cast Spells affecting only yourself from this menu, so the number of Spells available here will be lower than those at the regular Mystic Circle menu.
This Room is a reflection of the Main Menu, and is available only in InterBBS Mode. Some things are different with these selections than with the others, the main difference being the time it takes before you know what effects occured due to your actions.

(P)Presidential Court
Presidential Court - Having been elected President for your nation, you have additional abilities and responsibilities on your BBS. You are in charge of setting relations standards with other nations. In addition, you set the defensive strategy for your nation against group attacks from opposing nations to your entire country.
This is available to only one County per nation. I would recommend browsing through here if you happen to be the president. Being the president should be given to the most level-headed person, and also the best FE player in your nation. If you know of a player who is good but isn't the president then write messages to the other players asking them to vote for him/her. To vote for your president go to your private chambers and hit (-) then proceed with the instructions.

(T)Technology
Technology - The technology menu allows you to change the concentrations of your Scientists. Initially, they work solely on decreasing maintenance costs for the County. Here, you are allowed to change their work to specialize in any of the many areas available.
Here you can set what area your Scientists will concentrate on. By either lowering or raising the level of the chosen area, your Scientists will either lower costs, or raise the effectiveness of the area whichever is appropriate. So if you had a lot of Scientists concentrating in maintenance, eventually your maintenance costs would go down. The areas raise and lower on a curve that can never reach 0.

(*)Private Chambers
Private Chambers - This is the miscellaneous menu, where you can set different preferences for the game and view news and scores. In InterBBS games, you also can vote for your nation's President here.
Your Chambers is a good place to go when you are planning attacks against a local County, or to read the news file to see whom to attack or send aid to. The Chambers should be visited on your first turn, not only to turn Auto-Pay Maintenance to a Yes, but to check the options and remember them for future use.

(0)Quit
Quit - Quits the game until you want to play later.