Collect florins while you can

[Art Blade]

By the way PZ, your tip about zero notoriety: I think it was when you got your hidden blade, not the poisoned blade. You don't practice poisoning puppets but you do test your skills with the hidden blade. That was when I went on a rampage unpunished (instead of practicing hidden blade kills), and I just received my poisoned blade without any spare time to horse around unpunished :)

However, I found out that in the villa's training ground you can enter the ring without talking to that guy and without notoriety. When you're in the ring with those two fighters, you can beat them up, slash them (but not with the hidden blades) and even steal  a few florins from them ;D

Talking about stealing and collecting florins, this playthrough I am quite harsh with those bandits that steal from me. I've tracked most of them down and got my money back.. sometimes there are thieves running around without having stolen from you; you can tackle them as well and earn a few coins  ;)

If you have other people (especially guards) collect your florins you threw to the ground, you can separate lower ranked guards (who go for coins) from high ranking officers (who stand still) -- like this, you can silently kill the most dangerous guard and then take care of the rest, if you like. That tip is actually from the in-game manual.. lol  :-X

[PZ]

Good tips!

I typically murder those thieves that try to steal my florins.  ;D

[mandru]

Thanks to this tip I spent the time before speaking to my father at the game's start gathering every florin I could as well as take the time to learning the controls.  In all I collected nearly 70k florins before jumping into the story line so that when I hit the villa I was able to max the upgrades all shops and completely restore the villa in one pop right at the start.

Once I'd figured out the controls for fighting somewhat I intentionally picked fights with every guard group that I came across.  Carrying a dead guard over your shoulder will give you attack on sight status long before anonymity became a factor in the game.  I made good use of the time to try to burn in the combat mechanics as well as I could.

Buying every weapon, armor upgrade, art piece is something I've practiced obsessively and always had the cash to do so thanks to the villa generating income at peak by getting the wealth foundation established as soon as possible.  First thing I did in every new city I've traveled to in the game (even before activating view points) is check the maps for the nearest shops

[Art Blade]

 :) :-X

[spaceboy]

another neat aspect to the game (along with the historical nature thread) is buying the art to decorate the villa (Brotherhood also has art merchants).  What a great game that incorporates buying fine art into a game about assassinations!

[mandru]

I get to be a cultured slasher?  What more could I ask for?  >:D

[PZ]

 ^+-+

I'm glad you collected all those florins, although I must admit that I've never accumulated that many so early into the game!  :-X