Started gothic1, didnt choose a camp yet.

I noticed that the huts in the old camp have a piece of wood that's highlighted, and i can use it and if i have a hammer, i will hammer it - but what is actually happening?

also, same thing with pick-axe and ore in the old mine - looks like im mining, but what am i gaining?

also, boiling using the big pot -what happens when i make it? what ingredients are needed for soup?

also, what does acrobatics do except that silly jump-roll? is there a way to run faster?

and also some locks the picks always break, is that because im unskilled in lockpicks?

nothing it's just for ambiance. nothing. afair no. afair there are locks that can't be picked. if both right and left fail you need the key.

You gain nothing by mining, hammering etc. They are just there for fun. :)

IIRC you can't make a soup either, but you can cook raw meat on most campfires, that is actually useful.

You can craft some weapons at any forge, provided you have the raw iron. It's a small source of income at the start, but not quite as effective as skinning on the long run.

Acrobatic is useful for whenever you need to move fast in a direction, mostly in combat. You can't really run faster, but as the story advances you'll find alternative ways of traveling.

Lockpicks have a chance to break whenever you move them the "wrong" way. The more you are train, the less they are likely to break.

There are positions of speed you can buy in the game that make you run. The other questions are answered.

Thanks for the answers, but if stirring the boiling pot does nothing, why does the avatar sometimes stir, and sometimes shrug their hands?

probably because you need some sort of tool that you don't have, a spoon, a pick... or something like that.

ah yes, there are actually speed potions.

thanks!

also, how does stealth work? i often steal things from chest right behind someone' back, if they dont attack me, i wasnt caught, right?

also what does sneak do? do wild beast get extra "sneak damage" if i attack them while sneaking?


my pickpocket is trained 50%, and i was never able to pickpocket anyone ever.


also i keep faliing when i climb to the top of a ladder, esp in old mine - what gives/

i allways played gothic in my mothertongue so it's hard to say what you mean by "stealth". ;) overall yes it you aren't attacked right away you haven't been cought. the point of sneaking concerning humans/stealing is that if you walk into a building the npcs know it even if they don't see you directly besides you are sneaking.

concerning animals, i don't think theres a bonus damage. it's all about not waking them when they are asleep. maybe you can also sneak up on them awake so you can deliver some strikes before your victim reacts. let's just say it took me now 1h to finaly steal pickpocket something...
you have to sneak near behind someone(it seams they must just stand still, it doesn't work if they're cooking sth or so) focus and forward. the inventar opens and you can take what you want with a certain chance he doesn't notice. than you have to sneak away if you stop sneaking too near he'll attack you.
anyway pickpocketing in g1 is considered rather useless. thats a common issue. if you are on the last rung of a ladder and jump(alt)... yeah it sucks ass and i remember jumping of the last rung isn't too easy but well it gets you to the higher floor.

There aren't any damage bonuses from attacking while undetected. The way sneaking works is that it removes the non-visual component from people being able to detect you. Other NPCs can normally detect you either through line of sight, or through "hearing" you (e.g. if you're in a room you're not supposed to be in and guards are in the room beneath you, they'll "hear" you can come running). When you're sneaking you can only be detected through line of sight, so as long as NPCs aren't looking at you you can move around and take things much more easily.