First of all new MUD players should know what most common words mean:

MOB = creatures controled by game

TANK = character in group that takes damage from mobs

IMM = Immortals....pople that run it all. Don't mess with em if u don't know em.

AC = Armor class (lower= better)

Fallout is mud where u can have max 3 chars online in the same time. It's easyest way to level and get eq with group of 3. Having more than 3 characters online in same time is illegal!

So what should your group look like? Like most combinations that players use, you should have:
- Tank
- Hitter
- Healer

In this mud like in many other, mobs hit only character that hit them first, or one they attack so you will need only one character that will "tank" and rest of chars will do the damage and heal tank.
Good tanking characters can be: Marines, Biodroids, Monks, Edgerunners, Mercenarys...
When you'r choosing your tank you should have on your mind is how much and what kind of backup does he need.
For example:
-Marine - Good hitter, has alot of HP, can use all kind of weapons, can use all kind of protective gear (isnt piccky about it like some other classes). What is he missing is "sanctuary" or in monk's version "guiding spirit" spell (spell that cuts dmg recived by 50%). So Every Marine has to have Psineticist in his group (only class that can cast Sanctuary on others).
With Psineticist in group, Marine get's good companion. Psi can cast Sanctuary on him, which enables him to live much longer in tough battles, cure his would on few levels (light wounds, serous wounds, big wounds), psi can even cast some protective and blessing spells, creatw water when needed, even some food. Psi is good all around backup character that can help you on many fields.
What Psi really doesnt have, is damage. So, if you'r planning to kill anything tough and big, you have to get your 3rd and laste character.
Let's see what you have by now. Good tanker/dmg dealer and Healer and backup character that makes tanker even better. At this point many will choose different 3rd character. It really depends on what kind of game you like to play. Somewhere in the middle of all choices is Combat Medic.
He is, as his name says, good all around combat/backup character. He doesnt have tanking ability or damage of Marine, neather wide range of spellcasting abilitys of Psineticist, but he can deal some good dmg, and still has alot of mana and range of spells that can heal up good and give decent backup.
And there you have it. Good team that could go into many of wastelands of Fallout and survive much more that some other teams could.
As i said in the beggingng....this was an example. You can mix classes as you like and wish. There are no restrictions in that part.

Now let's check few usefull commands that you will need:

- help - if your not expirienced MUD player, this command will be very HELPful. You can use it to get general help like listings of some commands or to get specific help about specifitc command (like: help look).
- autoexit - This command will automaticly show you exits out of the room you are in. It will speed up your moving around the world alot.
- autoloot - This command will help you by looting everything from the corpe of the target you just killed. It will not loot corpes that someone else killed. Be avare! It is agains the rules to loot players corpse (if it's not your corpse, of course)! Imms punish this kind of actions really harsh. So if your up for some TK-in turn autoloot off. Dont wanna piss off Imms if you by any chance kill anyone.
Wont help you with rest of commands. Use "help" as much as possible and you wont have any problems.

Ok. Now you have group and know some commadns, u can start playing. Area (zone) where you will start is called junkyard. All mobs in there are really easy. Before start i suggest u turn on autoexit and autoloot mode (with "autoexit" and "autoloot" commands) and wear all eq u can wear, with "wear all" command and wield weapon (switchblade) with "wield (weapon name)" command. When you kill mobs your chars will loot eq and money from they corpses. Equipt your chars with all eq they can wear down there and sell rest in Sanfors's shop.
If you cant find shop, there is small map of junkyard in Maps section of this page that will help you out. Don't sell MRE's couse they are food and u will need em (of course there is more food down there so you wont starve).
Most people stay in there untill they all chars are level 5. But be carefull....after level 2 most classes can't get back to junkyard when they get out so after u gain level don't go back to room where guard is (one where you started) or don't go up to town.
Now when all chars from our squad are level 5 and equipted with equipment from junkyard u are ready to exit junkyard and explore the town (San Francisco). Go to northwest corner or northeast corner of junkyard and than 2w or 2e to get to room from where u can enter to town. Don't forget u can't get back down again. If u are ready go up and u will enter to San Francisco Bay. You can drink in SF Bay from pump. Food store is "e4seen" from Bay. There u can buy MRE's for 1$ per piece. After that type help sfmap and learn your way around the city. If u wanna exit game don't do it with "quitn" command couse u will loose all your eq. If u wanna quit u have to rent your eq. Hotel is es5esu from SF Bay.

You are lvl 5 and yout of Junkyard. It's time for you to find training halls for all your chars and practice skills you need (like cure light, infravision etc.). If you have problem with finding training halls, use: "help map" command which will show you map of the city.

After youtrain skills you need, you are ready to explore town and surrounding forrest. Start with exploring town. There are few nice areas in town where you can gain even more exp and get some better eq.
After u explore town i suggest you go to north forest and kill campers. They have red gas cans that are the best cans for water in game.
Before going out of town buy yourself MRE's and barres or any other containers for watter so u can stay out longer time. You will have to kill alot of campers becouse not every camper has gas can. If u loose yourself in forest don't panick. Go to north west corner of it and that all u have to do is go south untill u hit town walls. Once you hit the town walls, just follow them to nearest town enterance.
Best way not to get lost is to stay on path that leads trough forest. Path goes north of town and than it will turn east. In forest you could kill hunters and even wolfs if u can. Hunters have eq that will help you out with ac and money, becouse u can sell it for nice money in town and wolfs are good exp for leveling and if you get lucky, you'll get wolf's tooth that will help you out with Htiroll (which determains will you hit or miss your target). When u get gas cans for all chars and get few more levels you are ready for tougher mobs and better eq.

It would be stupid from me to tell you now go here go there, do this, do that. All i can tell you where are some zones where you can get money, exp and eq. You can go to south part of town and kill Maurice (elevator guy) for rings that are good +hr eq.You can go to north forest where u can kill wolfs for exp. and wolf's tooths which are +hr eq and hunters for lil exp and eq with better ac that u got in junkyard.You can go east from town to forest and kill Soliders. They pop good ac eq which can be sold for good money.If u follow path in east forest u will get to cave where bandits are. That place is good for fast exp couse there are alot of em in there. But be aware. They will attack you. If u wanna good starting weapon go east from town untill u hit dry fields. Go few more rooms east and to north u will see farm house. Kill dog and all mobs in there and pop pitchfork from farmer.I think this will be enough for start. I know it would help me alot in times when i was starting. If u have any more questions u can get help from Mud's help or mail me with em and i will do my best to answer em. More zones u can get from players and from MUD's help.

Have alot of fun!

Razor.