I think you can one-shot the aparitions/ghosts (skull-thrower?) by sneaking up behind them and using a backstab, and lucky. Super powered overhead shot. Otherwise followup with a couple of lesser slashes should be enough, I think.

http://thief.wikia.com/wiki/Apparition

That might be true but they're quick little devils, I might not be fast enough and they will likely hear me if I run.

Playing on expert is the only way I reckon. Makes me feel like a real thief not killing anyone (well except those supernatural creatures etc).

And yep those skull throwers hurt if they land a hit. Thankfully the projectile is slow so I just avoid them and besides, I cannot recall many of them.

And about not killing any guards etc, they too are pretty easy, even on hard floors. As long you got some room to move in 'deep shadows', when the guards go on 'search mode', just walk behind them and blackjack them but keep a little distance though before doing that - but you need to be right behind them. A good time to do that is when they standing still 'scanning' the area or kite them around a vase / table etc.

I'm at the Opera House - great mission and if you haven't done so yet, get the latest exe as it incorporates high textures etc. Very nice.

Yeah, no killing is fun but ghosting the first time is what really ticked me off at first, especially on Thieves' Guild.

I haven't used walk that much, I think I'll try it the next non-supernatural mission to see how effecient it is on hard floors as I've been having issues with that when I need to be quick due to amount of guards on patrol.

Yep - the Thieves Guild I knocked out everyone - that was pretty hard as you had sometimes two guards side by side. And man that mission was long as.

You know those civilians - those people run away yelling 'there's a thief around' (or whatever they say) - just hit them with the blackjack - in front of them if you have to - chase them down a corridor etc however don't let them alert any guards. What I do is once I see them (in packs it doesn't matter) and I know there's no guards about, I just barge in blackjack ablazing - they all get knocked down then pile them in a corner. If one happens to escape, it doesn't matter as he / she will eventually come back...to be clobbered.

Dealing with standard zombies is easier than you'd imagine, but it takes a little intuition. You have to hack them to bits if you want them to leave you alone. Aim with your sword and cut off both of their arms and their head. Swift blows work just fine, and it's sometimes easier to do this when you've knocked them down.

2/3 isn't good enough, as they'll still swing at you with their stubs or whatever they have, but 3/3 and they immediately become docile. You can then knock them down again and they usually won't get up unless you touch them. Even then, they'll just walk around.

Haunts can just be outright killed though.

That's only in T2X : Shadows of the Metal Age.

Looks like I'll have to fire up Thief GOLD again and confirm/deny this statement.

Yup, explosives work pretty fine. Flashbombs too, and of course holy water enchanted arrows.

Well then, I'm incredibly spoiled! That was honestly a really great mechanic that I wish could be imported into the earlier games! I remember spending at least an hour coaxing zombies into the fireball trap in the mausoleum.