A documented Defender of the Crown no loss run. (Goal: level 30)

[axelle]

1, Which class is the best under impossible? Paladin.

because

a, paladin starts with Healer's Jacket which gives +20% Poison Resistance, which makes the first orc boss (choose option two in the initial dialogue) trivial ( most of the time) no matter what race you start with. You can use droid/ent/paladin, if you start with dwarf/elf/human respectively, to win that battle.

b, paladin starts with Inquisitor's Blade, which could be reduced to "suppressible" if you save/load until the second island is human. an extra level 4 suppression is a lot of exp.

c, paladin starts with the most "assets".

Warrior: 18000+battle gloves(5750)+awaken dragon(320)+stoneskin*2(70*2=140)+slow(240)+dispel l*3(80*3=240)=24690
Paladin: 30001+jacket(3500)+blade(8250)+precision*2(100*2=2 00)+peacefulness(560)+divine armor*3(1800*3=5400)=47911
Mage: 24000+hat(4500)+healing(140)+summon phoenix(1400)+blind*2(1800*2=3600)+demon portal*2(2400*2=4800)=38440

2, Which save do i decide to start with?

with the help of KBscanner, i made five filter files:

AK.flt

Scroll Ancient Knowledge

5.flt

Traveler's Staff
Novice's Staff
Officer's Baton
Demetrius. Class I
Magician's Cowl
Pandemonic Mask
Silver Shoes
Bronze Ring
Flame Necklace

4.flt

Self-loading Crossbow
Novice's Dress
Ballroom Dress
Fine Boots
Ring of Youth
Snake Ring
Pendant of Iron Will

3.flt

Simple Sword
Yew Bow
Hiking Dress

2.flt

Steel Band
Steel Boots

then i started the game and made an initial save many many times, note that, when i make the initial save, i put the starting race in the file name.

then i scan these saves with KBscanner.

a, No AK? delete.

note that, the reason I put the starting race in the file name is because if it is a save that starts with human, then even though it would say "Scroll Ancient Knowledge" with a condition "elf 2" or something, then that Scroll of Ancient Knowledge will not spawn because it would only spawn if you started with elf! same goes with other artifacts.

b, the number of items from 5.flt is less than 2 or the number of items from 4.flt is less than 5 or the total number of items from both files is less than 8? delete.

4, Things I have learnt so far

1. Suppression battles don't affect artifact morale. i knew this before but still had to do a test to confirm my memory. what a pity! it would open so many doors.
   
2. The guardian of an artifact is not set in stone (until you buy the item), it seems that, learning a talent or changing the value of your attack/defense/intellect before you purchase the artifact can affect random number generators which are used to decide the artifact's guards.
   
3. Pet dragon doesn't learn Find Treasure 2 until level 20 in DotC.
   
4. These four items in the scanner report are given after the final boss on the first island!
   Quest _729527408_0
   Quest _729527408_1
   Quest _729527408_2
   Quest _729527408_3
   Quest _729527408_4
   
5. Pet dragon can level way faster than hero, some tricks to use when leveling pet dragon: if you have Resurrection, bring four inquisitors, three~four of them combined means a lot of rage for your pet dragon to gain exp with. at the end of the battle, resurrect one inquisitor who can resurrect another inquisitor who can...you get the idea. when you bring inquisitors to generate rage near the end of a fight, you should end every fight with full rage instead of wasting all that rage, because near the end of the battle, dragon won't gain much experience anyway, the reason is the following
   
   • You always get full experience on your first dragon ability, so that rage is better spent next battle.
   • You get less experience after the first, if you have more leadership than the opponent in play.
   • You get full experience so long as your leadership at casting time remains equal to or less than theirs.
   • for a more detailed explanation on pet dragon levelling, visit http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=11467
6. it is possible to get the 3-chest-treasure-find (pet level 24(6266 exp)) within 8~9 battles. but i am not sure if Ancient Knowledge scroll can be dug up. I tried so many times, I have never received that.
   
7. Pendant of Iron Will is so damn good! Gold is really a non-issue when you have it, you can fight it four times, each fight gives 18k + a dragon treasure (4~5k, gold or wanderer scroll that you can sell) + a hypnosis scroll (5k), so you are basically guaranteed 110,000 gold from this one single item.
   
8. You can walk by the first boss on the second island without fighting him, this is helpful in the sense that you can talk to the ghost captain vendor first to get good troops/spells
   
9. Shaman's skull (morale 5) must be bought before the second boss on the first island, if you want to suppress it. because after the final fight, you cannot click it because the dialogue causes the game to end. so the only way to suppress it is to skip the 20k badge boss, fight the first real boss first, then buy Shaman's skull, then fight badge boss, second + third boss on first island, first+second boss on second island, then suppress it.
   
10. You need 120900 exp to hit level 30