Acidic Helixbolt

Just to add to the matter of creatures death: I prefer runnign a small party of "serious" guys, e.g. leveled with essence. it takes almost the same ... "qualification" to get any1 of'em killed as to die yourself then. BTW I do prefer solo strats too. The problem is a common "munchkin's" FunVsEfficency thing imho.

Won't be possible to do. Solo'er will always act first (well, unless he's real idiot) and focus lifecrafter's own body. then it gonan be a matter of pure balance: can Infi finish Shaper first move first round? can then all shaper's creations finish Infi in one collective strike? (I am 100% confident that second turn's Agent attacks WILL kill shaper)

Omitting the "laziness on Jeff's part" and "techical problems of fitting a mount in one title" (When there is none, abovementioned Glaahks happily take up one square, and drawing a Shaper figure atop of it will cause little more then a minor increase to our beloved "skip turn instead of attacking someone atop of you" interface problem) explanations, I can suggest the strange, but possible case of Geneforgians not inventing/accepting the concept of "riding a mount" altogether. Given there are no horses, Glaahks are pain in the... errrm... well, uncomfortable to ride (You try to make yourself comfortable on a trembling chitin plate:-P), and new creature designs being directed elsewhere, it's just possible that geneforgians view riding a mount much in the same way first cars were taken by men. "Quite a useless circus". As for "cavalry", once again, that role is perfectly filled with fast-moving creatures already. Obviously Shapers will rather risk clawbug/glaahk/wingbolt then their own bodies atop of anything like that. Plus, unlike our world, where there were no tamed mounts with strong own offencive capabilities (Even war elephants were greately improved by archers tower on), in Geneforge, if I come to the idea of Shaping a horse for, say, non-shaping mercenaries to go to battle, I will very soon follow with the idea of a Centaur or whatever. And since I can not improve the "design" of mercenaries, but can make "Battle Centaur Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Horseshakk, Rothgrhorse etc", the "cavalry" as we understand it will most likely be outclassed. P.S. A good Firebolt friend of mine pointed out WE are the "cavalry". Quite a cunning devil, he was, unlike that mage who tried to make him last with underlveveled and badly timed Regeneration:( P.P.S. With hit last breaths he still tried to enlighten us about what a bane were shrapnel charges to cavalry, and that Essence Orbs are functionally the same thing.

Could we also add point 5: Hassle of playing. Like, easier levels, it may appear little annoying to carry and control an assortment of creatures. And going harder, it becomes worse to keep loading, and you finally decide you NEED those wingbolt or two:-))))

Cant see me having much choice:-) We are cool. Come to think about it, we are not some stupid pop idol. We are original! And we do actually fly...

To sum it up, the only reason we appear over-rated is the fact we are pretty. And pretty imba too. We are definitely more pretty then funky-colored barking dogs with Kentukki Fried Chiken's wings attached. With good leveling we are not "fragile" at all, and even mana depletion is hardly an issue, because it seems to outlast practically any opposition anyways.

Cryptozoology and Delicious Vlish pretty much made the whole point. It is true you CAN do almost anything in Geneforge and yet somehow manage to get away with it, it’s really hard to get an absolutely unplayable build. However, Battle creations are utterly inferior to mostly everything else for the same buck. Speaking of Rotghroth, basically the only battle creation worth a mention, isnt he happens to be the same tier as Wingbolt anyways? What we expect and what we get: - “Meat Shields”. Och yes, really, we’d like a meaty bulldog Battle dud to be able to withstand noticeably more love then, say, some worm, or same worm with wings, or even hollow-boned reptile (speaking of drayks)… but he isnt. - “Meat Shields” take two. Worse then that, there is a major “special”-typed damage coming your way through the game, e.g. non-physical. Among Fire and Magic guys there’s a plenty of resistance, but Battle? Well, Clawbugs and Rots got some, but that’s it. - “Meat Shield” take three, aka HoMM4 Tactics. Due to Geneforge’s engine, every ranged guy can shoot right through a living/walking/even attacking obstacle. Plus, the same guy can almost always move out of melee contact and use his powerful ranged attack on would-be skirmisher… Resume: why would anyone want a meat shield that got no meat and shields noone? - “Heavy Hitters”. OK Huston, we got an improvement there tnx to new AP system. Still, in terms of raw damage melee attack is often weak. Reason: Hasted ranged is guaranteed to deliver 2 blows. Hasted melee – not so much. Taking an average of 1.5 blows (sometimes opponents will not move out too far and sometimes they will) I’d like to see melee hitter to deliver 1,33 times the damage. Well, they don’t. Och, and it’s sometimes plainly impossible to focus critical target with melee creatures, you know, terrain, obstacles, other opponents. - “Heavy Hitters” take two. Resistance, shmesistance, and Cryoa biting the shades. Melee dmg resistance is quite plain throughout creeps. There will be no wonders. Good thing, there will be no “takes no damage” embarassment aswell. However, quite an every opponent got, like, no resistance to some “special” damage whatsoever, so your cryodrayks/wingbolts WILL sometimes do the abovementioned miracles, and it’s not a Binomial theorem to actually manage that. - “Heavy Hitters” take three, aka “Wow, I was sure Glaahks were battle”. Ok, guess what, I will be willing to soak ALL other problems if this one is adressed. Well, we are at a huge disadvantage of melee, we can not even deliver a heavy blow, but at least can we deliver a blow that counts nontheless? Rotghroth again being an acceptable exception, no. We will have to take classes from said Glaahks, Ur-Drakons (well THOSE pack a punch, never prevents them from adding insult to the injury), you guess – Wingbolts (Roth’s are graduated there), oldschool Vlish, etc. Battle duds used to “stun”, but that is quite a useless thing on new AP system… Resume: why would anyone want a heavy hitter that hits soft? Nail into a coffin, skill points: You can easily go mono-Fire. Imba tech, fire got quite everythign you might need. You can go mono-Magic, aside from having to avoid truly massive, energy-depleting battles you’ll do fine. Mono-Battle basically gets you nowhere, there is nothing to go to Roths and nothing to do when those are getting obsolete. Battle creatures can be fun, as pretty much anything you fancy. But looking for the least saveloads on high difficility, you will always find better options. In case *someone* wonders there for my opinion on possible solutions, I’d really like it to be Battle guys to deliver the strongest debuffs upon connecting. THAT will make my picture of a Guardian (errm… how they’re called now;-)) leading a patrol of Battle Alphas. P.S. Also the “glass cannon strategy” refers to the idea of putting down the whole opposition before they actually have a chance to deal that damage we can’t stand. P.P.S. And yes, I was just about to start the topic on "why couldnt Battle be better" myself

This might belong to "suggestions for G5", but actually, I'd like to point out I prefer playing RPG to some oldschool quest pixel-hunting...

Actually, my Ur-Dragon, Eyebeast, Wingbolt and Cryoa can not see problems;-) I just have to stay at entrance myself;-D Mostly anything there kills me in 1-2 hits;-D Edit- ADVICE: Fighting titan, kill all other creeps first while he is in golem form. As he svitches to ur-dragon and later to the worm, try ignoring summons instead, those are realtively harmless. P.s. Eyebeasts do miracles.

Behind a column... good God!

Hlup... I'm feeling the official dumbass of the planet... Could you please give me some better directions to "obsure svitch", explored all the Northforge I was able to get to - found none...

Same question different angle: why Shapers does not use Ur-Drakons created and controlled the way PC do against rebels? They try to abide by their ban list. Wich quite definitely includes canisters, provided Shapers have an idea how to make'em at all in the first place.

...especially considering the fact that you DO NOT need perfected items on it's own, aside from artifact construction.

I am quite a pacifist mutant wingbolt Since you can imagine what wingbolt's amounts of damage but of acid type can do to people, I try to use blasting as a very, very last argument Edit: Jiraffas, definitely!

anti-canister rebel = war for peace = sex for virginity. You gotta make your choice conciously.