Basic advices for the enemies

Servants and Noblefolk

In no difficulty setting it is allowed to kill non-armed Humans. That means: Either avoiding them, knocking them out, or just having some (sadistical) fun with them after the Guards are knocked out or killed.

The only challenge in regards of the Noblefolk is to get everything pickpocket that is possible. This is especially tricky in the Ballroom, and even more especially on the Noblewoman that stands in plain light. Whenever I tried to sneak to her, she or the Nobleman infront of her saw me, and then the panic began. Luckily, it is sometimes possible to snatch a purse from a belt, even though the NPC is already alerted. Try not to get seen by mantling yourself, i.e. on one of the sofas, and the panic will quiet down after a more or less long while.

Mechservants

There are two of these somehow very creepy creatures in the level, both in the Mechanist Tower itself, where they are busy in the kitchen. They are not armed, and killing them will result in a "mission failed" - so don't throw them down into the chimneys. Whenever they see the player, they will fall into panic, and run either into the Ballroom, or to the Guard infront of the Office.

The creepyness of them results from the fact that they have - so far (?) - no voice and no sounds at all. That means, you just hear their footsteps, but will never get a "Did that shadow move" or a simple"beep" from them. and they are also creepy, because I am not sure if they are fully metal, or some cyborg-thingies. The thought of mechanised humans in Thief is very creepy in my opinion, with all these rumors about slavery and whatnot.

They can be blackjacked, or avoided. Shooting water at them (they are Mechservants) did not have any effect at all.

Swordguards

There are three kinds of normal Swordguards in the demo. All share one thing: They can be killed with one badly aimed broadhead arrow (when they are not alerted, of course), they can be killed with one badly aimed slash with the sword, and they can be knocked out.

The normal Swordguards can be found in many places inside of the City (outside of the Tower, that is). I am not yet sure if their different outfit has any meaning, or is just a nice changing in the graphics.

While they can indeed easily be killed, their vision and hearing has been improved. It is now not recommendable to sneak directly behind someone for a long time, because he will hear the player, even if he himself hears no loud footsteps.

Archers

As many different kinds of Swordguards we have now, there are as many different kinds of Archers. All of them can be knocked out, avoided, and easily be killed. They can, just as the Swordguards, be found as good as everywhere outside of the Mechanist Tower.

The absolute advantage of the new Archers is that Garrett is now able to steal some arrows from their quivers. So it is as good as impossible to run out of ammo for the bow.

Some Archers are in different teams, so it is not to recommend to shoot everyone at sight - it might be that there will be less Archers, after they've finished their dialogue with the Archers at the other side of the street.

Thieves

Two Thieves are currently commiting a burglary in the house with the Apartements. They are of the kind with swords, with skills as Quince or Jacow in Assassins, and with the voices of the Thieves in the Thieves' Guild.

I recommend to enter the house with the Apartements from the balconies in the W. It is as good as sure that the Guard and the Thief inside will hear the player, and start a search - and woopsa: Either only a Guard or only a Thief left. I really don't understand why the Thief inside of the house is so scared by the fact that there is a Guard in the Building - so far, he has won every swordfight with this Guard.

Mechanist

The Mechanist is indeed a Hammerite with more polygons and a different outfit. And he is wielding a sword - and is able to chop Garrett's head off with one single hit. So, caution is recommended.

There are 5-6 Mechanists in the Tower. 3 will be encountered in all difficulties, 1 more in Expert, and 2 more if the player is a sick roof-climbing freak.

I recommend to sit in a shadow, and to study the patrol patterns of the 2 patrolling ones. One can be knocked out in the area around the Hammerite-Statue (with the strangely red eye, by the way - *hint, hint*), the other can at best be zapped in the library. (All this is only IMHO, there may exist far better ways and locations!)

The one infront of the office is a pain, and also the additional stationary one in the library in Expert. I recommend in both cases: Find a perfect shadow (i.e. a doorframe), get their attention by hopping up and down for a good while, lean forward, and give them a good whack onto the nose as soon as they've come into your reach.

Since the 2 additional ones are only relevant for the sickest of the roof-climbers, I skip to describe my strategy for them. When I encountered them in the first time, in Hard difficulty, I learned though, that they are incapable to evolve the ability to fly. *very very evil grin* But they can also be dealt with by other, not so evil means.

Mechanist Priests

Mechanists are basically Hammerites in blue, so it is quite normal that they have also some ranged-combat guys. These guys are of course the Mechanist Priests. They look quite similar to the Airmages in Thief Gold, but they attack only with the typical Hammerite-spell: A burning hammer. It seemed to me, though, that the Mechanist-hammers dealt more damages than a Hammerite-hammer, and that the firing speed was quite faster.

There is only one Mechanist Priest in the entire mission. He can, IMHO, also be zapped at best in the library, or when he finishes his conversation with that Swordguard in the Ballroom. Hurrying to the entrance of the Ballroom, and zapping him in the perfect shadows there, worked nicely for me.

If he is not stopped before he starts his patrol, he will patrol in the floor around the Office. He will idle on several patrol points, so there is patience needed, if you want to wait that he returns to your position in the library, if you should've missed him in the first attempt.

Zombies

There are only 2 Zombies in the mission, and they pose absolutely no harm. They are, of course, in the Necromancer's Tower, and they appear only if you are reading the book of Ash. What else do you expect when you're reading the Necronomicon withouth having said the "Clatu verata nect-... uhm... nect- ..." ;-)

Well, they will just appear, and try to whack the life out of you. But luckily, there is a window right at this floor of the Necromancer's Tower, and the jump out of it onto the small ledge infront of you is easily done. And then you can turn back to them, and blow them up with fire arrows, if you really want to splatter them.

Tiny Spider

Humans are scary individuals - some of them even keep tiny Spiders as pets. The one that you will encounter, serves the purpose to eat all the nasty insects -as the gardener explains in her diary.

If you want to kill the tiny Spider, then just mantle on the ledge infront of the door of the Greenhouse, open the door, and shoot it. If you remember that someone loves this tiny Spider as a pet, then be nice and avoid it. I have had no problems at all, when I just opened the door, hurried in, grabbed the 3 arrows, left, and slapped the door shut. Tiny Spiders can't open doors.

Huge Spider

And here we can see what will become of the cute tiny Spider in a few years, when it is fully grown up. The Huge Spider is in a room with a broken ceiling, just N of the streetfight, and E of the Fieldstone Estate. It has an excellent hearing, and also a good vision, so be careful not to stumble into its hole.

I recommend to crouch onto the beam, shoot a rope arrow into the side of the broken hole in the ceiling of the Spider's hole, and to hop onto the rope arrow. Climb not too deeply down, because you don't want the Spider eating your feet. Climb only so much down that you're in complete darkness. After some minutes, the Huge Spider will forget about you, and return to its original position. Then climb down the rope, grab it (the most silent way to leave the rope, is to grab the arrow, when one is already as good as on the ground), grab the ring and the 3 arrows, shoot another rope arrow into the beam, and leave the hole.

Or just shoot it into its eyes, no matter if it had seen you or not.