guys you have to help me.what am i doing wrong? my group is: knight, archer, sorcerer, druid.
i equipped them with their starting armor and weapons. i also made a few potions for restoring mana, but in the goblincastle (forgot the real name) right in the beginning, i keep getting my ass kicked!
did i miss something crucial in the town, maybe buying healing stuff (which i actually didnt because i couldnt find any except for the herbals) or am i doing something wrong in combat?
thx for answers!

You might want to gain a few more levels first before going into your first dungeon.

Some people recommend handing in the letter you get at the start for 1000 gold and then using the coach to travel to castle Ironfist first. There you can learn the bow skill and buy a few low level bows. With these bows you can gain some relatively easy xp in out door areas by keeping your enemies at a distance while you shoot them. (Some enemies can shoot back, so be careful)

ok, i already did the letter.
but is it possible for every clase to get a certain skill like bow? i thought if you cant pick a skill in the creation, it's impossible for that character to learn it later

Yes, all classes can learn to use bows even if they can't learn it at character creation. You just have to find the right training location. Other skills may be restricted to a limited number of classes. Only Knights and Paladins can learn how to use plate armor for example and only clerics and Sorcerers can learn to Light and Dark Magic.

In MM6, if you can learn the skill, you can also reach expert and master level. (In MM7, your class can limit the level of mastery you can reach but not the amount of total ranks)

the problem with mm6, and even more serious in mm7, is mission balance. it's just not gradual. The thing is, if you found that something is hard - just move on and do other thing first. i don't want to post spoiler here, but i'm sure there are things to be done that can increase your level without going into battle.

another trick is that black potion, and pilgrimage (do the related pilgrimage first, and then drink the related black potion).

i don't mind if in mm7 they force you to learn and gain level to make a black potion, but to limit to a certain character - that's just crime. i ended up reloading and re-portal-ling to shops just to buy black potion. and if it can be bought from shop - it defeat that "must learn to make black potion" in the first place. - since you only need one type just once for each character.

anyway, that's is the tip to your question.

if something is hard
a) move on and do other thing. to gain level
b1) drink for permanent well
b2) do the pilgrimage
c) drink the black potion

the key to easily win mm6 is water magic. combine with merchant it will give you good money, and teleport for easy travelling.

if you have two character that good at water magic - you can clean dungeon easily.

combine teleport and new scorpigal temple, and you're invincible, just remember to finish monster one by one. their health get refilled if you teleport out and then in without killing them first.

Goblinwatch is not the first dungeon you should do. The Abandoned Temple is much easier and the rewards are more pretinent to you at the start of the game.

You should also know that relative to most monsters, your party will be quite weak at the beginning of the game. Don't be surprised or confused if you have to rest a lot; this is normal.

Basically, here's what I did (no Greyface patch):

I had a Knight, Archer, Cleric and Sorcerer. My Knight and Archer both had the bow skill.

My memory's a bit foggy but I'll explain what I did.

In the beginning of the game, I didn't explore any dungeons. I ran around the outskirts of New Sorpigal killing goblins and those guys in the red tunics for experience and items. There are three strategies I employed to do this:

-First strategy was to simply enter turn-based combat mode from a distance and fire arrows at the enemies, weakening them until they came into melee range. I did this when there were fewer, but stronger enemies (like the red/blue goblins, I think).

-Second strategy was to position myself behind a corner or hill or something in real-time mode and attack enemies while using the corner/hill for cover.

-Third strategy is my favorite. Run around frantically and shoot stuff with arrows in real-time mode. Enemy spells in this part of the game are very easy to dodge as long as you keep your distance, so if you keep moving, they aren't likely to hit you, and you can, with some finesse, take out entire hordes of Red Tunic-guys this way in a reasonable amount of time. I also used this strategy to fight the Eyes in Castle Darkmoor (a hard dungeon later on in the game). That place took me about 3 real world days to finish, though.

In dungeons, combat tends to work like this in the beginning:

-Lure enemies down a long hallway.
-Enter turn-based combat.
-Turn around.
-Shoot enemies with arrows or spells to weaken them as they inch their way towards you. When they're close enough, finish them with some melee attacks or a quick spell or two.

In the beginning of the game, you will have to rest a lot (as someone else said)!

In the very beginning of the game, you can also access a shrine that gives +20 to all stats, permanently, for everyone in your party, as well as the secret NWC dungeon which has some good items in it. I feel as though NWC balanced the game around players doing this.

I didn't use this trick - I found this by accident about mid-way into the game when I was just messing around in New Sorpigal.

Directions for the trick can be found in places like GameFAQs.

Ciao. :)

DrSchwengel, are you pressing ENTER to enter turn-based combat?

When I first startign playign this game 13 years ago, I didn't know about turn-based combat. It made the game slightly more... difficult.