Help - Introduction
In The Ruins of you play as an adventuring archaeologist, digging up ancient Artifacts, and defeating Monsters that get in your way.
Getting Started
Discover an Excavation
First, you will have to discover a new Excavation. You can do this from the Maps page. Doing so costs some Action Points (AP).
Watch your AP - there's not much you can do without them. Fortunately, you always gain 1 AP per 15 minutes, to a maximum of 100. There are other ways to gain AP in-game, too.
Explore the Excavation
Once you've discovered an Excavation, it will show up in your list of known Excavations. Click on it to view its map (which for now will be blank). From this view, you can also travel to the Excavation site. Notice that doing so costs 5 AP.
At the excavation, you will be presented with a map showing your current location, and a list of options to take.
Most of these options are directional (North, East, South, West, and sometimes Up and Down). Use these to explore the Excavation.
Find Treasures
Some spots in the Site will contain treasures. You may Excavate these for 1 Action Point. If you're lucky, you'll even identify the treasure on the spot, awarding you some extra Experience Points.
Defeat Monsters
Sites - without explanation - contain monsters. You will have to fight these in order to explore the entirety of the Excavation.
In the start, you will only have the option to Punch, Brace, and Run Away from your enemy.
As you Punch, keep an eye on you and your opponent's Fatigue and Hit Points. As the battle wears on, you will notice each of your Fatigues increasing.
The more Fatigue you have, the more likely you are to be hit, and lose Hit Points. Similarly, as your opponent gains Fatigue, your chances of landing a hit will increase.
When you reduce a monster's Hit Points to 0, it is dead, and you will be award some Experience. Be careful: if your Hit Points are reduced to 0, you will die. If you seem to be running low on Hit Points, Run Away and rest.
Rest
After battle, be sure to Rest (which will cost an AP) to recover your Fatigue. Hit Points can only be recovered by resting at Base Camp or a Refreshing Spring (if you are lucky enough to find one).
Starting a battle with over 20% Fatigue will likely end badly for you. Remember that Fatigue is much easier to heal than Hit Points, so it's better to heal Fatigue than actually get hit in combat.
Return Home
When your Backpack is full, return to Base Camp. If there's more to explore, drop the items off and continue exploring; if you're ready to go home, you can head home from Base Camp as well.
Identify, Sell, and/or Donate Items
When you return home with items, you will be taken directly to your Storage so you can take a look at everything you came home with.
You may sell identified items, or equip them if they are weapons or helmets.
You may identify unidentified items for a price of 10ρ per item. You begin the game with 20ρ - enough to identify two items.
You may donate any item (to the Museum), identified or unidentified. Donating items increases your reputation with the Museum, who will offer their services in exchange. Donating unidentified items to the Museum awards you with slightly less Reputation than donating identified items.
Level Up
During your adventures you will gain Experience, and with enough of these, increase in Level.
Every 2 Levels you will gain 1 Hit Point, and be allowed to learn a new Knowledge. Choose a new Knowledge from the Status page.
It is recommended to pick up Primitive Weapons early on, as you will need to equip weapons, such as Swords, which you will find in Excavations.
At 10th and 20th level you will be allowed to choose a speciality, opening the doors to more powerful Knowledges.
For a complete list of Specialities and Knowledges, refer to the Help - Knowledges page.
