Final Fantasy XII Gambit System [beg]

Version <#version> 1.4, © 2007 by Bill Pringle, all rights reserved.


    Table of Contents [toc]

    * Introduction <#intro>
    * Overview <#over>
          o Overview of the Battle System <#over-battle>
          o Overview of the Gambit System <#over-gambit>
          o Overview of License System <#over-lic>
    * Gambit Targets <#target>
          o Ally Targets <#targ-ally>
          o Foe Targets <#targ-foe>
          o Self Targets <#targ-self>
    * Gambit Actions <#actions>
    * When Gambits are Available <#avail>
    * Sample Configurations <#config>
          o Partitioning Gambits <#parts>
          o Using Decoy <#decoy>
          o Making Money <#money>
          o Using Reverse <#reverse>
          o Weakening the Enemy <#weak>
          o Dividing Up Your Party <#divide>
    * Tips, Guidelines, Words of Wisdom, etc. <#tips>
          o Forming Parties <#tip-party>
          o Mixing Weapons <#tip-weapons>
          o Changing Things on the Fly <#tip-changing>
          o Keeping Everyone Alive <#tip-alive>
          o Keeping Things in Order <#tip-order>
          o Control Other Characters <#tip-nonleader>
          o Catch-All <#tip-catchall>


    Introduction [intro]

The Gambit System for Final Fantasy XII allows a player to configure
their characters to behave in a sophisticated manner. Behavior can be
customized to match a player's personal style (mostly fighting, mostly
magic, stealing, etc.) When configured properly, the player can spend
time watching the fight rather than mashing buttons, while the
characters do pretty much the same thing as when the player is
controlling that character. Each character will perform according to
their gambit settings, which can be changed during fights, if necessary.

It is important to realize that the gambit system is optional. You can
play the entire game by controlling each character manually, if you
want. (Of course, if that were the case, you probably wouldn't be
reading this document. ;^) Also, even while using the gambit system, you
can manually control any (or all) character and have them do things
different than what they would have done through the gambit system.

This document describes the Gambit System for Final Fantasy XII. In
addition to how it works, some tips and suggestions are given to help
the reader configure the AI of their parties to match the player's
fighting style.

This page can be found in two forms: an HTML (web) page at
http://BillPringle.com/games/ffxii_gambits.html, and as a text file on
http://www.gamefaqs.com/. The HTML page will probably be updated more
often, and tend to be the latest version. The HTML web page will include
hyperlinks, so you can click on a link to find the appropriate section.
The text file was created by the FireFox browser, which inserts
hyper-links inside angle brackets (<like-this>). To find that location
with a text editor, use the search feature to find the target name in
square brackets ([like-this]). The link inside angle brackets will
always start with a pound sign (#), indicating that the target is on the
current page. The square brackets won't have that pound sign. For
example, to find the target of link <#intro>, search for [intro].

If you find any problems and/or have any questions, you can e-mail me at
wrp103@gmail.com
<mailto:wrp103@gmail.com?Subject=Final_Fantasy_XII_Gambits>. Make sure
you have "Final Fantasy Gambits" in the subject. I get a lot of spam,
and will delete things without looking at them if I don't recognize the
sender and the subject line doesn't stand out as legit (for example, a
message with a subject of "a question" will probably get deleted without
me looking at it.)

Top <#top>


    Overview [over]

    * Overview of the Battle System <#over-battle>
    * Overview of the Gambit System <#over-gambit>
    * Overview of License System <#over-lic>


      Overview of the Battle System [over-battle]

You can have up to three characters in your active party, and possibly a
guest who you can't control. One of the characters must be the party
leader. If you press the /Triangle/ button to bring up the menu, then
select "Party", you can move characters into (left) or out of (right)
the party. If you move the party leader out of the party, then the top
character that is still in the party will be the new leader. You can
also switch party leaders when walking around by pressing up or down on
the D-pad, then moving up or down to select a new leader.

If you press the /X/ button, the battle/field menu for the party leader
appears. By pressing left or right on the D-pad you can select a
different character to control. Your options are:

Attack
    Initiates a physical attack with the current weapon.
Magicks & Techniques
    Initiate a magic spell or a Technique. The magic spells are grouped
    by category (white, black, etc.). Techniques are similar to magic
    except that they don't cost any MP. 
Mist
    This is similar to limit breaks in other Final Fantasy games.
    You must first obtain a license for up to three mist charges.
    Even if you don't plan to use Mist attacks, you should still
    purchase the licenses, since each mist license increments your total
    MP. For example, if a character has 100 MP, then with one mist they
    will have 200, 300 with a second mist, and 400 for the final mist. 
Gambits
    This option merely turns gambits on or off. This can be useful if
    you want to prevent the other characters from fighting while walking
    past enemies. 
    You use the "Gambits" option of the main menu to set up the gambits
    for each character. 
Items
    This option allows the character to use an item

If the character is in the process of performing an operation and you
select a different option for that character, they will either finish
the current operation and queue the action you selected, or will
interrupt the current operation and begin the action you selected
instead. (It depends on how far along in the cycle they are, but if you
select the same operation they are performing, the new action will
always be queued.)

Top <#top>


      Overview of the Gambit System [over-gambit]

Each character has a number of gambit slots that can be programmed as
desired. Each slot has a target (and possibly a condition), and an
action. The target could be an ally or a foe. The condition for a target
can refer various aspects of the target, and the action can be a magic
spell, a technique, or an item. For example, one possible target is:
"Foe: flying", that will only be performed if one of the foes is a
flying enemy. Another target is "Ally: status=slow", which is true only
if one of the characters in the active party have been afflicted with
"slow."

If the target of a gambit exists (including any conditional), and the
action "makes sense", then the gambit can be performed. For example, if
the action heals a condition, then the gambit only makes sense if the
target has the condition.

Each character loops through the gambit steps until it finds one that
can be performed. After the gambit action is performed, the character
begins at the top of the gambit steps again. If no gambit condition is
met, then the character does nothing, and it starts back at the top of
the list again. Each character continues to loop through their gambits
until you enter a town.

Here is a sample gambit setup:

1	Ally: Any	Raise
2	Ally: Any	Phoenix Down
3	Ally: HP < 40%	Curaga
4	Foe: Party leader's target	Attack

And here is an explanation of the setup:

1. Ally: Any / Raise
    If any of your allies are killed, this character will cast a raise
    spell to revive them. 
    If more than one character is dead, the first character will be raised.
2. Ally: Any / Phoenix Down
    This gambit will only be executed if an ally is dead, but the
    character didn't have enough MP to cast Raise. If this happens, then
    the character will use a Phoenix Down to revive the dead ally. 
    This is a good strategy for important curing conditions: first try
    magic, and then try an item. It takes two gambit slots, but at least
    you are sure that your characters will be revived quickly when killed. 
3. Ally: HP < 40% / Curaga
    If anyone is the current party drops below 40% of their max HP, this
    character will cast Curaga to heal them. (Early in the game, you
    will probably want to use "Cure" instead.) 
    If one of your characters is below 40% HP, then there is a good
    chance that the other characters are low as well. You might also
    consider using "Cura" or "Curaja" which heals all nearby allies.
    This will cost more MP, but will tend to keep your party healthier. 
4. Foe: Party Leader's Target / Attack
    If none of the previous conditions are met, and if the party leader
    is attacking an enemy, then this character will attack it. 
    If the party leader isn't targetting a foe, then the character does
    nothing and starts at the top of the gambit slots again. This
    continues until some gambit condition is true. 

No more than one gambit is performed for each cycle, so the order of the
gambits is very important. For example, if the attack gambit was at the
top of the list, then even if the rest of the party was dead, this
character would keep attacking the same enemy. Only after the current
target is dead would the other gambits even get looked at. (If everyone
else is dead, then this character would be the party leader, which means
it would keep attacking the current target. Once that foe was dead, the
party leader wouldn't be targeting any foe, so the other gambits would
be considered.)

Top <#top>


      Overview of License System [over-lic]

The License System is another innovation in FF XII. The Sphere Grid in
FF X allowed characters to learn new skills or enhance their stats, but
it was fairly linear. Except for Khimari, most characters had a specific
set of skills that they would learn in a specific order. It would be
silly to skip activating any node, since it would be hard to come back
later and activate it. Later in the game, you could break some locks and
allow a character to wander into another area, but for the most part,
you simply enabled all the nodes you encountered.

The License Board allows the player to pretty much customize each
character in whatever way they want. Each time you defeat an enemy, you
gain license points. Each square on the license board has a cost; if you
have enough license points, you can purchase that cell, which gives you
to skill, spell, stat enhancement, etc. associated with that square. You
can only purchase squares adjacent to squares you have already
purchased, so there is some amount of control, but since similar skills,
spells, etc. are grouped together, you can progress in a fairly normal
way (e.g., Shields 1, Shields 2, etc.)

Early in the game, you need to be careful and make sure you buy the
licenses that you need the most. All characters have the same license
board, although there are a few cells that, when one character enables
the cell, it is removed from the boards of all the other characters. One
such type of cell are the mist cells, and the other are the espers.

While only the active party gains experience points, all characters earn
license points. The more time you spend wandering around and fighting
enemies, the more experience and license points you gain. The experience
points vary among different types of foes, but the number of license
points for most enemies is about the same, regardless of the enemy.
Early in the game, almost all foes will be one license point, but later
on you will encounter some with two license points. Bosses and espers
are more. So, if you want to gain license points, you can wander around
some easy areas, take out monsters with one or two swings, and rack up
license points fairly quickly.

There are a number of different kinds of license cells. Which ones you
want depend on what kind of strategy you tend to use, and how you plan
on using each character. If you plan to use magic for a character, then
you want to purchase mist charges, even if you never plan on using any
quickenings. Each mist charge allows you to increase your MP by your max
MP. If you have one mist charge, you double your MP; if you have two
charges, you triple your MP. You can have up to three charges, which
means you would quadruple your max MP.

Top <#top>


    Gambit Targets [target]

    * Ally Targets <#targ-ally>
    * Foe Targets <#targ-foe>
    * Self Targets <#targ-self>


      Ally Targets [targ-ally]

Ally gambit targets apply to the current party.

Ally: Any
    This target applies to any character in the active party
    If the action "makes sense", then this gambit will be executed.
    You would use this gambit for certain conditions (e.g., "Ally: Any /
    Raise") 
Ally: HP/MP < X%
    This set of targets apply to any ally whose HP (or MP) is less than
    *X* percent. 
    If you use more than one of these targets, put the lower values
    first. (If you put < 90% before < 10%, the second will never be
    executed, since if the character is 5%, the < 90% will be executed
    instead of the 10%.) 
Ally: Status=/status/
    This gambit tests to see if anyone in your party has a specific
    status effect (good or bad). 
    You can use this gambit to set or reset the status of someone in
    your party (including this character). For example, "Ally:
    Status=slow / Haste" will cancel haste on any character in your
    party that is afflicted with "slow". 
    Remember that you don't always need to specify the status of a
    character. For example, "Ally: Any / Raise" will raise any character
    that has been killed off, so you don't really need to use: "Ally:
    Status=KO / Raise". 
Ally: /name/
    You can specify an individual in your party. 
    For example, if you want Basch to be beserk when fighting, you can
    use the gambit: "Ally: Basch / Beserk". Whenver his beserk spell
    wears off, this character will cast it again. (You probably don't
    want to have Basch cast beserk on himself since the spell misses
    sometimes. By having another character cast beserk, Basch can
    continue to attack enemies, even if he isn't beserk.) 
Ally: lowest HP / Strongest Weapon / Lowest Defense / Lowest Magick Resist
    These are some odd-ball gambits that you can use for special
    occasions. These are most useful if you don't keep the same group
    most of the time. (I had two groups that I switched between, so I
    didn't really see any use for these gambits.) 
    Presumably you could cast bubble (or reverse) on the lowest HP,
    protect on the lowest defense, shell on the lowest magick resist,
    and beserk on strongest weapon. 
Ally: Item >= 10
    This gambit can prevent you from running out of an item
    automatically. For example, suppose you are in a tough fight, with
    people dropping left and right. If you are low on magic, you could
    easily run out of phoenix downs if you aren't careful. 
    By using this gambit, once you have less than ten items, this gambit
    will no longer be used. You can still use the items manually, but at
    least you don't have to worry about some character wiping out your
    inventory when you aren't looking. 

Top <#top>


      Self Targets [targ-self]

These gambits allow a character to perform actions upon him/her self
under certain conditions.

Self
    This gambit will perform the action if it makes sense. For example,
    "Self: Libra" will turn Libra on whenever it wears off. 
Self: HP/MP < X%
    These gambits allow your HP or MP level to trigger a gambit. 
    One gambit you should probably have on each character is: "Self: MP
    < 10% / Charge". This will allow your characters to gain back some
    MP when they are low. This gambit isn't available until you get to
    Balfonheim Port, so until then you want to pay attention and
    manually have the characters charge when appropriate. 
    Another way to gain back MP is to run around between fights. If
    somebody is low on MP, you can have the party run around in a circle
    until their MP is back. Put the character with the lowest MP as the
    party leader, since they will be running more. (If you run around in
    too tight a circle, the other characters will just stand there and
    wait for you to move further away.) 
Self: Status=/status/
    These gambits allow a character to perform an action when the
    character has the given status value. Usually you will want to undo
    any negative status effects. It is less obvious what to do for any
    positive effects. 
    You probably don't want to use one of these gambits if other
    characters have a similar condition for any ally. 

Top <#top>


      Foe Targets [targ-foe]

These gambits can target various foes under certain conditions.

Foe: Party leader's target
    This gambit targets whoever the party leader is attacking. If the
    character is the party leader, this gambit will cause them to keep
    attacking the same enemy until it is killed. 
    If you use this gambit with each character, then the entire party
    will concentrate on one enemy at a time. Once that enemy is
    defeated, the party leader should have a gambit to choose the next
    enemy. 
Foe: Nearest visible
    This gambit causes the character to attack the closest enemy. 
    This is a good gambit to include after the above gambit for the
    party leader. After the current enemy is defeated, this gambit will
    cause the party leader to attack the next closest enemy. 
    If this gambit is used instead of the above gambit, then the
    character will always attack the closest enemy, which might be a
    different enemy each time. This will tend to fragment your attack,
    rather than concentrating on a particular enemy. 
Foe: Any
    This gambit would target any enemy that corresponds to the action.
    For example, "For: Any / Poison" will cast poison on any enemy that
    is not already poisoned. 
Foe: Targeting leader / self / ally
    This gambit will target any foe that is attacking the specified
    character (or, in the case of "ally", any character). 
Foe: nearest / farthest
    These gambits target the enemy that is closest or furthest from the
    character. Notice that "nearest" is slightly different than "nearest
    visible". 
For: Highest / Lowest HP, MP, Max HP, Max MP
    These gambits allow you to target an enemy based on either their
    current or their max HP/MP. 
    You could use one of these gambits to let the party leader pick the
    next target. If you are fighting a boss that has a lot of small
    minions around, this can allow a character to concentrate on either
    the boss or the minions, depending on which gambit you choose. 
For: Highest / Lowest level, strength, magick power, speed
    These gambits allow you to target an enemy based on one of their
    characteristics. 
    There are a number of ways you can use these gambits. If you have
    fighters and magicians, you can start with the lowest / weakest and
    work your way up, or start at the strongest and work yourself down.
    You can cast slow on the fastest enemy, cast wither on the
    strongest, etc. 
Foe: HP>X, HP<X, HP>X%, HP<X%, HP=100%
    These gambits allow you to perform different types of actions
    depending on their current HP. 
    One possible use of these gambits would be: "Foe: HP=100% / Steal"
    If the party leader has this gambit, they would try to steal from an
    enemy until they receive damage. (If the other characters have the
    "Foe: Party Leader's target" gambit, then the enemy would shortly
    receive damage.) This approach would allow you to attempt to steal
    items for each enemy in the attacking party. Once every enemy has
    received damage, then the other gambits would take over. You should
    only use this gambit for weak enemies. Each time you attack a
    different enemy, they will attack your party. If you aren't careful,
    your party could be overwhelmed by too many enemies attacking at the
    same time. See the discussion about making money <#money>. 
Foe: Status=/status/
    These gambits allow you to target enemies based on their status. For
    example: "Foe: Status=Oil / Firaga" is a good combination, since a
    status of oil increases the damage from fire-based attacks. 
For: X-weak, X-vulnerable, undead
    These gambits allow you to target enemies based on their weaknesses
    (Undead are weak against cure spells.) 
    If you are fighting a group of enemies that have different
    weaknesses, you can use these gambits to make the most out of your
    magic spells. 
    If an enemy is weak against an elemental, it will sustain more
    damage than if it is vulnerable against the same elemental.
    Vulnerable merely means you can do damage (i.e., not immune), even
    if the damage is minimum. Weak against an elemental means the enemy
    will receive more damage than most other enemies. 
Foe: flying
    This gambit allows you to do something special for any flying
    enemies. This is very important to characters with short range melee
    weapons. 
    Once you get telekenesis, you should have the "Foe: Flying /
    Telekenesis" gambit for all your melee fighters. 
Foe: character HP=100%, Item>10, HP/MP </> X%, Status=/status/, HP Critical
    These gambits allow a character to change strategy depending on the
    character's status. For example, if their MP is low, a character can
    try to steal magic, or when their HP is low, steal HP. 
    This is similar to the "Self" gambits, except that the target is an
    enemy rather than the character. For example, "Foe: character MP>70%
    / Firaja" will continue to cast a high-powered fire spell against a
    group of enemies as long as you have lots of MP, but then stop when
    your MP drops below 70%. (You could follow this with something like:
    "Foe: character MP>50% / Fira" to switch to a lower fire spell.) 

Top <#top>


    Gambit Actions [actions]

The actions associated with any gambit can be using an item, casting a
spell, or performing a technique. The first time you obtain an item, it
will be added to the list of possible gambit actions. Likewise, once a
character purchases a magic spell, the use of that spell gets added to
the list of possible actions. Finally, once you have a technique
available, it is available as a gambit action.


    When Gambits are Available [avail]

Since I first posted this FAQ, I have been getting a fair amount of
e-mail asking when and where gambits become available. Where is an easy
question to answer - once a gambit is available, it is available at all
shops. When takes a bit more to answer. I didn't keep track of when I
first came across individual gambits the first time I played the game.
In order to answer these questions, I am currently playing the game
again and keeping track of when each gambit becomes available. It is
possible that you can find some gambits earlier than I have listed,
since you can sometimes find gambits inside treasure chests. (What you
find in a chest can be one of several possibilities.)

Initial Gambits
    The gambit system isn't really available until after you get
    Balthier and Fran. You will get a quick tutorial, and an initial set
    of gambit slots and gambits. As mentioned above, the available
    actions depends on the items, magic spells, and techniques you have
    acquired. The action "Attack" is also available initially. 
    You start with the following gambit actions:

        * Ally: any
        * Ally: Vaan
        * Ally: Fran
        * Ally: Baltheir
        * Ally: Penelo
        * Ally: HP < 70%
        * Foe: party leader's target
        * Foe: nearest visible

    I suggest you experiment with the gambits right away, staying close
    to the save crystal. That way, if you mess up, you can simply reload
    the game and try again. 
Find Gambits in Treasure Chests
    You can find some gambit targets in treasure chests. If you don't
    find them, they should be available at stores when you get out of
    the dungeons. 

        * Foe: targeting self ? Garamsythe Underground Waterway after
          Flan Fight
        * Foe: targeting leader ? Nalbina Dungeons after getting your
          equipment back (Be careful, that chest might be one of the
          ones you shouldn't open if you want the best weapon.)

Buy from Burrough in Barheim Passage
    Burrough is the merchant you get the fuse from, and who tells you
    how to get through the passage. The following gambits can be
    purchased from him: 

        * Ally: HP<50%
        * Ally: HP<30%

    At this point, you can have the two backup characters healing at
    different thresholds. For example, in my second party I will set
    Ashe's healing gambit at a higher precentage than Basch, since he is
    the better fighter (I have him using a heavy axe or hammer). For
    example, for Ashe I will set *Ally: HP<70% / Cure*, and for Basch
    *Ally: HP<50%*. This means that Ashe will do most of the healing,
    letting Basch pound the enemies, but if she gets behind on her
    healing (like when she runs out of magic), then Basch will help out. 
Find Gambits in Treasure Chests
    Between the time you meet Burroughs and when you finally get back to
    the world map, the following gambits can be found in treasure
    chests. If you don't find them, they should be available in stores
    once you get out. 

        * Ally: party leader ? Barheim Passage fighting Battery Mimics
        * Foe: character HP >=50% ? Barheim Passage after North-South
          Save Crystal
        * Foe: nearest ? Dalmasca Esterland after leaving Barheim Passage

Buy in Shops after Escaping Barheim Passage
    Once you make it back to the world map, head towards Nalbina
    Fortress or Rabinastre and you can buy the following gambits: 

        * Ally: any (should already have this one)
        * Ally: HP<80%, HP<60%, HP<40%, and HP<20%
        * Ally: MP<80%, MP<70%, MP<60%, MP<50%, MP<40%, MP<30%, and MP<20%
        * Ally: status=sleep, confuse, and HP Critical
        * Foe: any
        * Foe: targetting ally
        * Foe: HP=100%, HP>70%, HP>50%, and HP>30%
        * Foe: status=sleep, oil, disable, immobilize, reflect, and HP
          Critical
        * Foe: flying
        * Self

Find in Treasure Chests
    Between the time the above gambits are for sale and the time you
    complete Raithwall's tomb, you can find the following gambits. If
    you don't find them, they should be for sale at shops after you
    complete Raithwall's tomb. 

        * Several magic spells become available on Leviathan in the Brig
          Shop
        * Ally: item AMT >=10 ? Find in tomb of Raithwall

Buy in Shops after Completing Raithwall's Tomb
    Once you finish Raithwall's Tomb, the following gambits can be
    purchased in shops: 

        * Ally: HP<90%, MP<100%, and MP<10%
        * Ally: status=stop, reverse, slow, lure, reflect, and beserk
        * Foe: furthest
        * Foe: HP>1000 and HP>500
        * Foe: HP<1000 and HP<500
        * Foe: status=blind, silence, reverse, and undead
        * Foe: character HP=100%

Find in Treasure Chests
    After the above gambits are for sale, the following can be found. If
    you don't find them, they should be available once the list of
    gambits for sale has been updated. 

        * Foe: lighting-weak ? Giza Plains (Tracks of the Beast)
        * Foe: character status=HP Critical ? Giza Plains Wet Season

Buy in Shops at Balfonheim Port
    This is where you get most of the "self" gambits. There are still a
    few outstanding, but this should finish out most of the gambits that
    you don't have yet. At this point, you should add a gambit: *Self:
    MP<10% / Charge*. This will help them regain their MP automatically
    during long battles. 

        * Ally: Status = KO, Stone, and Petrify
        * Ally: Status = Doom, Blind, Poison, Silence, Sap, and Oil
        * Ally: Status = Disable, Immobilize, and Disease
        * Ally: Status = Protect, Shell, Haste, Bravery, and Faith
        * Ally: Status = Invisible, Regen, Float, and Bubble
        * Foe: HP >= 10,000 and 5,000
        * Foe: HP < 10,000 and 5,000
        * Foe: Status = Petrify, Stop, Confuse, and Doom
        * Foe: Status = Poison, Sap, Slow, or Disease
        * Foe: Status = Regen and Beserk
        * Foe: Character status = Bravery and Faith
        * Self: HP < 100%, 90%, 80%, 70%, 60%, 50%, 40%, 30%, 20%, and 10%
        * Self: MP < 100%, 90%, 80%, 70%, 60%, 50%, 40%, 30%, 20%, and 10%
        * Self: Status = Petrify, Doom, Blind, Poison, and Silence
        * Self: Status = Sap, Oil, Reverse, Immobolize, Slow, and Disease
        * Self: Status = Lure, Protect, Shell, and Haste
        * Self: Status = Bravery, Faith, Reflect, Invisible, and Regen
        * Self: Status = Float, Bubble, and HP Critical

Buy in Shops after Giruvegan
    These gambits handle foes with higher HP, as well as specific
    weaknesses and vulnerabilities. Remember that vulnerable simply
    means they can receive damage, while weak means that they will
    receive additional damage from the specified elemental. 

        * Foe: HP ? 100K, HP ? 50K
        * Foe: HP < 100K, HP < 50K
        * Foe: Fire, Wind, Holy, and Dark weak
        * Foe: Ice, Earth, Wind, Holy, and Dark Vulnerable

    If you go to the hidden shop in Necrohol of Nabudis at this point,
    you can buy the Maximillian Armor and the Demon Shield, along with
    Telekinesis and a Ring of Renewal. 

Top <#top>


    Sample Configurations [config]

    * Partitioning Gambits <#parts>
    * Using Decoy <#decoy>
    * Using Reverse <#reverse>
    * Making Money <#money>
    * Weakening the Enemy <#weak>
    * Dividing Up Your Party <#divide>

When setting up gambits, try to envision what you want the various
characters to do in given situations, and then set up the gambits to
mimic your strategy. Next, you should get into a number of easy fights
and pay attention to what each character does. Are they doing what you
think they should be doing? If not, then find out why and adjust the
gambits.

Once you think you have your gambits in good shape, you are ready to try
some harder battles. If you are using a good strategy, you should be
able to sit back and watch a boss fight, and only need to pick up the
controller when things get too far out of hand. I was able to beat a
number of bosses without ever touching the controller. Some people might
think that takes all the fun out of the game, but the characters were
doing the same thing I would have commanded them to do if I weren't
using gambits. This way, I'm able to keep an eye out for the big
picture. Often when I'm in the middle of a fight, I'm looking around to
see where I want to go after this fight is over.

Top <#top>


      Partioning Gambits [parts]

When setting up gambits, divide them into the following segments:

High-priority support / recovery actions
    These gambits will be performed before the character attacks any of
    the enemies. This means that only high-priority actions that only
    fire under certain conditions should appear here. 
    Some example gambits for this group would be: "Ally: Any / Raise"
    and "Ally: Any / Esuna", which will make sure that all party members
    are alive and not suffering most status problems. 
Battle actions
    These are the gambits that control the attacking of enemies. 
    All the characters should have: "Foe: Party Leader's target", while
    the leader should then have something like "Foe: Nearest" as a
    second attack gambit. 
Post-battle recovery actions
    These gambits only kick in once there are no enemies in the area.
    These can be used to recover the party. For example: "Ally; HP<100%
    / Cure". Once all the foes have been killed off, this gambit will
    cause the character to cure everyone in the party until they are all
    completely healed. 

Top <#top>


      Using Decoy [decoy]

This approach causes the enemies to concentrate on the party leader,
while the other members provide backup and only attack when the
targetted character is in good condition.

The gambits for the party leader could be:

1	Ally: Any	Raise
2	Self	Decoy
3	Foe: Party Leader's target	Attack
4	Foe: Nearest visible	Attack
5	Ally: HP<100%	Cure

The other characters could have the following gambits:

1	Ally: Any	Raise
2	Ally: HP<40%	Curaga
3	Ally: Any	Esuna
4	Ally: HP<70%	Cure
5	Foe: Party Leader's target	Attack
6	Self	Libra
7	Ally: HP<100%	Cure

Notice that both sets of gambits start the same way: to raise any fallen
allies.

The party leader puts him/herself into decoy status and then attacks the
enemy. If one of the other characters die, then he/she will revive them,
but otherwise he/she will continue to attack.

The back-up characters make sure that everyone (especially the party
leader) is in good health. As long as the party leader is in decent
health, the backup characters will attack. As soon as his/her health
drops to 70%, they will resuming healing.

Notice that both backup characters have the same gambits, which mean
they will often be doing the same thing. You can change this a bit by
reversing gambits #3 and #4 so that if the party leader is both below
70% and has a status anomaly, each character will be working on a
different problem. Another approach is to have each backup character
heal different status ailments, and possibly use different HP levels for
cure spells.

If both characters are casting "curaga" because the party leader is less
than 40%, as soon as the first character casts their spell, the HP of
the party leader will increase. If the new HP is above 40%, the second
character will cancel their spell, since the gambit condition is no
longer true.

After the fight is over, the characters will continue to cure everyone
until everyone is at 100% HP.

This approach works best if you are attacking a single enemey, and the
two backup characters are using long-range weapons. The party leader
should have a melee weapon, and keep up close to the enemy. That way the
backup characters stay out of harm's way.

If the party leader gets killed, you might have to pick a different
leader (depending on how quickly he/she is raised). If that happens, as
soon as the original party leader is revived, make him/her the party
leader again. The party leader will cast Libra (which makes traps and
extra targetting information visible) whenever it times out. If it times
out during a fight, the character will wait until after the fight before
it casts it again.

Top <#top>


      Using Reverse [reverse]

This approach is tricky, but can make difficult battles fairly easy if
you can pull it off. The status of reverse does the opposite of what is
normal: attacks heal the party member, and restorative items/spells give
damage. Part of the problem is that the reverse status doesn't last that
long, and so if you aren't paying attention, those hits can change from
healing to killing the party member off before you notice it.

You probably want to cast both reverse and decoy on the party member.
You also want to make sure that the healing gambits of the other members
are turned off, or changed from *Ally: HP<X%* to *Self: HP<X%*. You can
also try using the Nihopalaoa, which reverses the effects of restorative
items, if you have a guest member who is likely to toss Potions or
Hi-Potions

If done correctly, the enemy will concentrate on the party member who
has decoy and reverse, which means the other party members can attack
without receiving damage. Each attack on the character with Reverse will
actually heal the decoy, which means they will probably be at 100% HP
during the entire battle (or until Reverse wears off.) You want to cast
reverse (and decoy) as soon as they wear off. You can do that with a
gambit for the specific character. For example, if you decide to try
this with Vaan, the other party members can have gambits like: *Ally:
Vaan / Reverse* and *Ally: Vaan / Decoy*.

Top <#top>


      Making Money [money]

The following set of gambits can maximize the amount of money you
accumulate.

The party leader could have the following gambits:

1	Ally: Any	Raise
2	Foe: HP=100%	Steal
3	Foe: HP Critical	Poach
4	Foe: Party Leader's target	Attack
5	Foe: Lowest HP	Attack
6	Ally: HP<100%	Cure

With the above gambits, the party leader will start out by attempting to
steal from each enemy, and then concentrate on one enemy at a time,
starting with the weakest enemy and working their way up. Whenever an
enemy is close to being dead, the party leader will attempt to poach the
enemy instead of attack it. (Make sure that you don't have all
characters with this gambit, since some enemies are immune to poach,
which means they will never kill off the enemy.)

One problem with the above approach is that you won't gain as much
experience or license points. This is because if you poach an enemy, you
don't get any experience or license points. The approach that I normally
use is this:

1	Ally: Any	Raise
2	Foe: Party Leader's target	Steal
3	Foe: Nearest visible	Steal
4	Ally: HP<100%	Cure

Notice that the party leader never actually attacks, but rather tries to
steal each time. For weaker enemies, this doesn't matter much because
you will probably only get one chance to steal, since your other party
members will finish the enemy off before you get a second chance to
steal. If I'm in a hurry, or it is a harder boss, then I will manually
control the party leader by clicking the "X" button to perform attacks
after they have stolen an item from the enemy. This approach has the
advantage of limiting how many enemies your group is fighting at any one
time, since once you attack an enemy, the party will continue to attack
until it is defeated.

Top <#top>


      Weakening the Enemy [weak]

The following gambits can be used by one of the backup characters
(probably your weakest fighter or your best magic caster). Their purpose
will be to lower some stat of an enemy: either the defence, the magic
defence, or the strength of the enemy. Which one you want to use depends
on the nature of the enemy.

You probably want to limit this type of setup to a boss. For normal
types of enemies, you would be better off having everyone participate in
the attack.

1	Ally: Any	Raise
2	Ally: Any	Esuna
3	Ally: HP<40%	Curaja
4	Foe: Party Leader's target	Expose, Shear, or Wither
5	Ally: HP<100%	Cure

With the above gambits, the character will continue to hit the current
enemy with whatever weakening technique was chosen. Remember that you
can change gambits even during a fight, so you can let this character
switch attacks at various times. For example, some bosses have times
when they are impervious to physical or magic attacks. When this
happens, you can switch the weakening attack as well as the actual
attack from the other party members. You can use a "Foe:" gambit to
control when to weaken and when to attack. For examaple:

1	Ally: Any	Raise
2	Ally: Any	Esuna
3	Ally: HP<40%	Curaja
4	Foe: HP>50%	Expose, Shear, or Wither
5	Foe: Party Leader's target	Attack
6	Ally: HP<100%	Cure

The above gambit setup assumes that there is only one enemy during the
fight. If there were more than one enemy, you run the risk of the backup
character weakening one foe, with the rest of the party attacking a
different foe. You could get around this by making the caster your lead
character, so that the others will attack whoever the leader is weakening.

Top <#top>


      Dividing Up Your Party [divide]

There are times when you may want to fight two different sets of enemies
at the same time. This often happens when you are trying to take out a
boss who has a group of minions that keep getting in your face.
Sometimes it is best to simply ignore them and concentrate on the boss,
but if the minions keep being generated, they can eventually overwhelm
your party

In times like this, you might want to divide your forces: two party
members can concentrate on the boss, while the third member is
responsible for the majority of the support (cure, esuna, etc.) and the
minions. There should always be a way to determine within the gambits
which foes a character should attack. Since all party members should
have the first attack gambit defined as: *Foe: Party leader's target*,
as soon as you target the boss with the main character, the second
character will concentrate on the boss.

To have a third party member concentrate on a different foe, determine
how best to distinguish the other foe. If this is a boss fight with
minions, then probably the easiest gambit would be: *Foe: Lowest HP*,
which would almost never be the boss (unless the fight is almost over.)
Notice that if there are no minions around, the third character will
attack the boss, since it would have the lowest HP, but as soon as a new
minion is generated, they would attack the minion.

If you have Libra turned on, you can target the different foes and come
up with distinguishing features, such as flying, weak against some
elemental, lowest Max HP/MP, etc. This can be useful if there are
different types of minions, and you want to take them out in a specific
order. Don't forget to reset your gambits after the battle. If you
notice that the party isn't functioning the same any more, check out the
gambits and see if there are any are left over changes you forgot about.
Also remember that you can change gambits on the fly during a battle.
This means that if one approach isn't working, or if conditions have
changed, you can tweak the settings to have to party perform the way you
intended.

A good example of the advantages of this approach is when you are
hunting Roblon. He is surrounded by a number of Dead Bones that keep
getting regenerated on a regular basis. If you ignore the Dead Bones,
you will quickly get overwhelmed. For this fight, I found that it was
best to have the leader of the party with *Foe: Lowest HP / Attack* and
have the rest of the party with *Foe: Party leader's target*. Although
this means you are often not fighting Roblon, it works out pretty well
since you keep the distractions down, and you will get a pretty good
chain going, and end up healing the party fairly often.

Top <#top>


    Tips, Guidelines, Words of Wisdom, etc. [tips]

    * Forming Parties <#tip-party>
    * Mixing Weapons <#tip-weapons>
    * Changing Things on the Fly <#tip-changing>
    * Keeping Everyone Alive <#tip-alive>
    * Keeping Things in Order <#tip-order>
    * Control Other Characters <#tip-nonleader>
    * Catch-All <#tip-catchall>

This section contains a collection of suggestions on how to get the most
out of your game.


      Forming Parties [tip-party]

Your party consists of three people. While you can combine characters in
any way, and let any character be the party leader, if you keep changing
party configurations you will have to keep switching gambits. Depending
on how long it takes you to configure a new set of gambits, it might be
best to have more stable party configurations.

I had two groups that I pretty much always kept together. The first
party was Vaan, Balthier, and Fran. The second party was Basch, Ashe,
and Penelo. Vaan and Penelo were the two leaders, and both were
configured for stealing instead of attacking:

1	Foe: Party leader's target	Steal
2	Foe: Nearest visible	Steal
3	Ally: HP < 100%	Cure

Vaan and Penelo use a sword and a shield, and once they steal something,
I take over and keep hitting "X" to attack instead of steal. (I only
have to do that for the stronger foes, since the weaker ones are usually
taken out before the leaders can make a second attack.) I also use the
leaders to perform anything out of the ordinary, like casting dispel on
the enemy. Most of the time, I just let the gambits control the actions
of the group. It is only for bosses or if I'm in a hurry that I will
take over the leader. For bosses, I will usually go in and change the
gambit from steal to attack and then let the gambits take over again.

Balthier uses a gun, and Fran uses a bow, and both have a number of
support gambits to heal and cure status problems before actually
fighting. Ashe uses a one-handed weapon and a shield, while Basch uses a
two-handed weapon and is normally in beserk mode.

The advantage of the first party is that Fran and Balthier tend to stay
out of harm's way, even if Vaan doesn't use decoy. This party has taken
out bosses without me needing to even touch the controller (except for
changing steal to attack). The second party, however, tends to clear out
enemies quicker, especially if they are set up to also cast haste on
Basch (or hastega for everyone). I keep switching between the two
parties to make sure they both stay at about the same level. Once the
first party gets two levels ahead of the other, I will switch parties
until they are all the same level, and then switch back to the first
party again. The official strategy advises against this: it claims once
you get to a high level, you should abandon one of the parties and
concentrate on one. I don't care for that approach, but if you are in a
hurry to finish the game, then that might be the way for you.

Top <#top>


      Mixing Weapons [tip-weapons]

You might be tempted to have everyone using the strongest weapons that
are available, but that isn't always the best approach. It is important
to understand how the various weapons behave in order to make an
intelligent decision about what mix to use. For example, some heavy
weapons like axes and hammers have a very high attack power, but they
tend to be slower and tend not to combo very often. A weapon with less
attack power may get multiple hits, which means the total damage per
turn is more than the other weapon. Some weapons have a wide variation
in the amount of damage. For example, hand bombs might do a lot of
damage or almost no damage; you never know for sure. Watch how much
damage each character inflicts and then try changing weapons and see
what changes to the amount of damage appear.

For distance weapons, I tend to have Balthier and Fran use guns and
bows. Guns tend to be weaker than bows, but guns ignore the defense of
the enemy, which means that for enemies with high defense, a gun will do
more damage than a bow. Both weapons keep the character away from the
enemy, so the amount of damage they take tends to be lower.

The other thing you want to pay attention to is the elemental effect of
any weapons. For example, if you have a weapon with a fire elemental,
and if the enemy absorbs fire, you might have one of your characters
actually healing the enemy each time while the others are inflicting
damage. For that reason, I tend to use weapons and ammo that either have
no elemental effect, or inflict things like poison, slow, etc. Pay
attention to how much damage each character is doing. If a character
isn't doing much damage, try changing to another type of weapon, or one
with a different elemental attribute. (Again, this is why the gambit
system is so nice - you have time to watch what is going on instead of
mashing buttons.)

Every character should have licenses for at least one distance weapon.
When you encounter flying foes, short-ranged weapons don't do much good
until you get telekenisis, which is quite late in the game. When you
upgrade Fran or Balthier, don't sell their older weapons, so that they
will be available for the other party members.

Top <#top>


      Changing Things on the Fly [tip-changing]

You can hit the triangle button during a battle and get into the menu
system. At that point, you can change the equipment or the gambits for
any character. You can also go into the License board and purchase any
squares that are needed to equip a particular weapon or accessory.

The gambits system allows you to take more time looking at the battles,
since you aren't mashing buttons all the time. Keep an eye out for signs
of problems. For example, if you notice the enemy gets healed every so
often during a battle, check to make sure that one of your characters
doesn't have a weapon with an elemental that the enemy absorbs. If one
character seems to be doing very little damage, consider changing what
type of weapon they are using, or switch them to casting expose or shear
to help increase the damage caused by the other characters. The weaker
of the two backup characters should have the primary responsibility for
healing, but that might change depending on the foe. For example, I
normally have Ashe doing most of the healing since Basche is such a good
fighter. However, if I am fighting a flying enemy, I give Ashe a bow and
let her fight, and have Bashe doing most of the healing. This is because
Bashe is slow and will often miss a flying foe. (The way you change
healing assignments is to change the healing thresholds. If one
character has *Ally: HP<70% / Cure* and another has *Ally: HP<50% /
Cure*, then the first one will do most of the healing. To switch them,
swap the two thresholds.)

If you have Libra turned on, then take manual control of the party
leader and target the current enemy. See if it has some kind of
weakeness; if so, then change the attack of your high magic characters
to match the weakness.

If you have all characters with the "Foe: Party Leader's target" gambit,
you can easily change the focus of the fight by manually taking control
of the party leader and attacking whatever enemy you want to target
next. As soon as the party leader targets a foe, the rest of the party
will concentrate on that enemy.

Another trick is to change accessories at the last minute. During a hard
battle, you should equip accessories that counter whatever status
effects the enemy casts. Just before you defeat the enemy, switch out
their accessories for either Golden Amulet or Embroidered Tippet, which
doubles the LP or EXP gained.

Top <#top>


      Keeping Everyone Alive [tip-alive]

One of the nice features of this game is that the game isn't over until
all of your characters have been killed. Not just your active party, but
all characters. If your entire active party is killed, you will be asked
to change your party configuration.

If your active party dies, switch to your other party. As soon as the
fight resumes, take control of the party leader and cast "Raise" for
each of the original party. (Press R1 to target the backup party.) Keep
away from the enemies so that your party leader doesn't take damage.
Basically, you want the other characters to keep the enemy busy while
you are reviving the original party.

Once the other party is alive again, you can either continue to attack
with your current party, or switch back to your original party. I tend
to stay with the other party, since the two have different fighting
styles sometimes one group will tend to do better than the other.

Once you get the *arise* spell, things get extremely easy, since your
other party will be totally restored with all their HP and MP.

Top <#top>


      Keep Things in Order [tip-order]

The order in which you arrange the gambits is very important. It is very
easy to arrange gambits so that some of them will never be selected. It
is also possible that you can end up getting killed off because you
arranged the gambits in the wrong order.

For example, suppose you want to keep your party healthy, and decide to
cast "Cure" when a character gets below 90% HP. However, if a character
takes a lot of damage, you might also want to cast "Curaga" if the
character is below 30%. Suppose you set up the following gambits:

The wrong order:

1	Ally: HP < 90%	Cure
2	Ally: HP < 30%	Curaga

There is a serious problem with the above arrangement: the second gambit
will never be selected. Remember that the first gambit with a valid
condition will be executed, and then starts at the top of the list
again. Suppose a character is at 70% HP. Since 70% is less than 90%,
gambit 1 will be executed. However, if the character is at 20% HP, that
is still less than 90%, so gambit 1 will be executed again. Gambit #2
will never be executed, and your character will probably die, since this
character will only cast "Cure" even when you want them to cast "Curaga".

The correct order:

1	Ally: HP < 30%	Curaga
2	Ally: HP < 90%	Cure

Now, if a character is at 70% HP, the condition for gambit #1 is false,
so gambit #2 is executed. Since 70% is less than 90%, gambit #2 is
executed. However, if the character is down to 20% HP, the condition for
gambit 1 is true, so the character will cast "Curaga."

Here is another example:

1	Ally: Any	Vox
2	Ally: Any	Poisona
3	Ally: Any	Esuna

The above arrangement will help you save MP. If another member of the
party is Silenced, this character will cast Vox to cure them. Likewise,
if a character is poisoned, this character will cast Poisona to cure
them. The Esuna spell will cure a wide variety of status ailments,
including silence and poison, but it also costs a lot more than the more
specific spells. This means that you can save MP by casting Vox instead
of Esuna to cure Silence.

Notice, however, if you had the above gambits in a different order,
things wouldn't work quite right. If Vox or Poisona appeared /after/
Esuna, it will never get cast, since the character would cast Esuna
instead. However, if you are fighting a foe that casts something like
bad breath, which has a large variety of status ailments, then you
probably want to move Esuna to the front of the list so that your backup
characters don't spend a lot of time casting individual corrective
spells. Just remember to move Esuna back down to the end of the list
when that fight is over.

A more subtle problem appears below. Suppose you want to make a lot of
money, so you try to poach whenever possible. (You can poach a foe who
is down to critical HP. You finish off the foe and get some loot, even
if you have stolen loot from the enemy earlier.) Before doing this, you
should remember that when you poach a foe, you don't get any experience
or license points.

This gambit setup has problems:

1	Foe: HP Critical	Poach
2	Foe: Party Leader's target	Attack

There are two problems with the above setup: (a) some enemies are immune
to poach, and (b) stronger foes can be in HP Critical, but still have
too much HP to poach.

If either of the above conditions are true, then this character will
never kill such an enemy. They will continue to try to poach the foe,
and continue to fail. My party got killed once while fighting a mark
when I was distracted and doing something else (not related to the
game). I looked up and was surprised to find the entire party dead!
Fortunately, after I swapped in the second party, I realized what was
wrong and corrected it. Make sure that at least one of your characters
keeps attacking.

A similar problem appears in the gambits below:

1	Foe: HP < 10%	Attack
2	Ally: Any	Raise
3	Ally: Any	Esuna
4	Ally: HP < 50%	Curaga
5	Foe: Party Leader's target	Attack

The idea with the above gambit setup is that if a foe is almost dead,
have everyone pile on until it is dead, and then go back to the normal
routine of heal and attack. The reason is that if you hurry up and kill
a weakened enemy, you reduce the amount of damage your party will
receive, since you have one less enemy attacking. (It has never seemed
fair to me that an enemy that is on its last breath will still hit you
with the same damage as when they are at 100%.)

The above gambit works great most of the time. The problem, however,
comes when you are up against a boss, or any other foe with a huge
amount of HP. For normal foes, it doesn't take long to do away with 10%
of their HP. However, you can have the boss below 10% HP, and it could
still be a long time before you defeat it. During that time, other party
members could easily get killed off if you aren't paying attention.

An easy solution to the above situation is that, when facing a boss,
simply go into the Gambit systems for your characters and turn gambit #1
off. After the boss fight is over, go back in and turn it on again.

Top <#top>


      Control Other Characters [tip-nonleader]

While most of the time you will be controling the party leader and the
other party members will follow, there are times when you want to
control a different character other than the party leader. For example,
if your party is working on a given enemy, and a minor foe wanders into
the battle. Many times you can ignore them and concentrate on the main
foe, but sometimes you want to get rid of the distraction. If you attack
the other foe with the party leader, then everyone else will follow
suit, and that might give the boss a chance to regenerate or perform a
strong attack. Instead, you can take control of one of the back-up
characters (press the X button, then move left or right on the D-pad to
select the character.) and have them attack the other enemy. This will
allow the other characters to continue to fight the main enemy.

Another situation when you might want to take control of the other party
members is when you are fighting a boss that does a lot of status
effects. If you aren't careful, your party might spend most (if not all)
of its time healing and curing status ailments, but not spend much (if
at all) time actually attacking the boss. One possibility is to change
the gambits by turning off the status cures, and dropping the HP
thresholds for healing, or you might want to simply control each
character for that fight. This is quite similar to previous FF games
that didn't have the gambit system.

Top <#top>


      Catch-All [tip-catchall]

A catch-all of tips, suggestions, comments, etc.

Golden Amulets
    As soon as you can buy Golden Amulets, equip them on everyone, or at
    least on the inactive members of your party. Characters only gain
    experience if they are in the active party, but they gain license
    points even if they are inactive. 
Embroidered Tippets
    When you get to the Tchita Uplands, keep stealing from the Coeurl
    until you get enough Embroidered Tippets for everyone in your party.
    They double the amount of experience you get, and won't be available
    until you get to Archades, when you can first buy them. 
    Until you have filled out the license board, equip Embrodered
    Tippets on the active members, and Golden Amulets on the inactive
    ones. Once everyone has all the licenses, keep the Embroidered
    Tippets on everyone unless you are fighting a tough boss that
    requires special protection. 
Archadian Match-Making
    When you get to Archadia, you need to earn enough chops to take the
    shuttle to your next location. You only need 9 chops to get to the
    next area, but if you want to get to the upper area, you will need
    all 28 chops. 
    There are other FAQs that tell you what characters you need to match
    up, but not too many tell you where to find them. If you have the
    official guide, you will find that they have some of the pairs
    backwards. The following lists show you who to match and where to
    find them. The city is divided into four regions, and all matches
    are within the same region, and the directions indicate what area of
    that region the character can be found. 
    In the list below, the person you need to talk to first (and
    memorize their story) is followed by the person you need to talk to
    second (and relate the story). If you look at the map for each area,
    you should be able to locate the desired character fairly quickly.
    Some characters walk around more than others, so if you don't find
    someone where I tell you they are, either wait for someone to come
    walking into that area, or scout around the adjacent areas. (If you
    notice any errors, drop me an e-mail, and I will add you to the
    "thanks" section.) If you talk to the people after matching them up,
    they will tell you the results of your efforts. 

    Reinna

            * Tarot Reader (west central) and Happy Novelist (central)
            * Lucky Man (central) and Romantic Lady (central)
            * Tour Leader (eastern) and Bhujerban Lady (central)
            * Greenseller (eastern) and Vegetable Seller (western)
            * Philisopher of Cuisine (western) and Dangerous Chef (central)

    Trent

            * Historian (lower eastern) and Perceptive Man (lower western)
            * Music Appreciator (upper eastern) and Lutenist (lower western)
            * Builder (lower western) and Artisan Architecht (lower western)
            * Smitten Man (lower western) and Smitten Woman (lower eastern)
            * Boutiquer (upper western) and Moneyed Gentleman (lower
              eastern)
            * Farce Goer (upper western) and Girl on an Errand (lower
              eastern)

    Nilbase

            * Determined Researcher (lower eastern) and Ex-Researcher
              (upper eastern)
            * Aspiring Starlet (lower eastern) and Faded Star (lower
              east end - with umbrella)
            * Worried Husband (lower eastern) and Materislistic Woman
              (west end)
            * Athletic Woman (east of weapons / armor shop) and Avid
              Reader (in front of weapons/armor)
            * Gentleman Onlooker (east of weapons/armor) and Eager Crier
              (pathway to Molberry)
            * Senior Researcher (in front of armor/weapons) and Failed
              Researcher (path to Molberry)

    Molberry

            * Poor Husband (lower western) and Poor Wife (lower eastern)
            * Talented Woman (near west stairs) and Akedemician (in
              front of techniques shop)
            * Daughter-in-law (lower western) and Man from Giza (west of
              Techniques)
            * Look Alike (outside tech shop) and Look Alike (in front of
              magics)
            * Reminiscing Lady (west of tech shop) and Family Minded
              Girl (lower level below magic shop)
            * Would be Judge (in front of tech shop) and Judge's Wife
              (top of west stairs)
            * Avid Traveler (in front of eastern stairs) and Traveling
              gentleman (west of tech shop)
            * Proud Mother (upper eastern) and Tutor (eastern stairs)
            * Ardent woman (in front of magic shop) and Ardent Man (west
              of tech shop)

Top <#top>


    Version History [version]

1.4 17 July 2007
    Gambits after Giruvegan 
1.3 30 June 2007
    More cleanup and details. 
    Added "Catch-all" section
1.2 June 2007
    More on when gambits are available. 
    General cleanup and expansion 
1.1 Jan 2007
    Typos, expansion
    Started list of when specific gambits are available 
1.0 13 Jan 2007
    Initial draft

Top <#top>