TheKian

The Okavano Sea Caves are through a trap door on the northern edge of the Western Okavano zone - if you have the area revealed on your map, there will be a map note on top of it. Randomizer seems to be referring to the Trakovite Haven, which is technically also sea caves in Okavano.

The Geneforge save file format (unlike the scenario data) is not publicly known (at least to my knowledge). Editing it would require a hex editor (for example, Hexplorer), but I checked the files in a save game folder and there's not really anything that would be reasonably possible to edit without knowing the exact format of the files.

Nobody seems to have addressed the single most important component of the Trakovite ending.

When you change the power settings (to get the ending), you can set it to a strong power flow or a weak power flow. A strong power flow will result in strong Unbound and destroyed machinery, while a weak power flow will result in low quality Unbound. The strong Unbound will (all other things being equal) cause you to be exiled, because they force a stalemate. Weak Unbound will result in the rebellion losing and you'll be executed.

Aiding the Shapers when they attack Northforge will always result in your execution (I believe), and giving Alwan the Unbound specifications will result in the Unbound being destroyed regardless of which of the two options you chose and you'll be executed.

Also, I just tested with the maximum pro-shaper reputation after a game that was pro-rebel with some amount of fence sitting with the cheat SDF 100 0 200. Being pro-Shaper does not cause you to be executed when you complete the Unbound.

Could you upload some images to Imgur and link them here so we can see exactly what the problem is?

2 hours ago, Ganduv said:

If anyone knows about forum rules regarding links to download shared zip files from a google drive, let me know. If it's allowed then I could just upload the editor to my drive and post a link to it, so the link won't go down like on my last thread. I'm open to other ideas as well, if anyone has any. 

Nobody's complained about my Google Drive download links.

Personally, I'm waiting for a Farmville/Tower Defense combo Geneforge remake.

There is also a cheat to directly change SDFs. In Shift+D, I believe it would be

SDF 100 0 <reputation value>

I believe the values vary from 0 to 200, with 0 totally pro-rebel and 200 totally pro-Shaper.

You know, you don't HAVE to join a sect to win the game. If you just murder literally everything that moves, you'll get a pretty decent (pro-Shaper) ending.

Also, you should totally do Gazak-Uss. In addition to having canisters of all the top-tier creations, you can get the omnicharm. Of course, putting it off until you've finished the rest of the game makes it a little pointless.

On 11/2/2018 at 3:31 AM, Chopkinsca said:

Maybe I'll add a small question here. What do I do when there are two disarm-able mines close to each other? I can disarm one, but I'm close enough to trigger the other one. Is that just more for a character who can take one blast?

Spam the escape button. Opening and closing the menu resets whatever timer is used to make mines explode. You can literally walk past a field of mines (SOMETIMES even spore mines) without one exploding by doing this.

On the topic of creations, anyhow...

Basically, the stats of your creations are their level divided by 2. You can improve these quite considerably, considering, with creation stat boost items or investing essence into them (except for strength boost items, which don't work). An increase in Shaping skill increases their starting level by one. As a result, absorbing a creation to make a new one is only viable if you increase your Shaping skill right after creating it, so it hasn't leveled up yet. Otherwise, you should only replace creations with better types.

Going slightly more back on topic, as Randomizer said,

On 3/15/2018 at 12:38 AM, Randomizer said:

From Jeff back in February:

 

"We will remaster the Geneforge games, starting in 18 months or so. The story and gameplay will be mostly the same, but I have a lot of cool ideas for the creation system.

 

I will be giving the Geneforge engine a lot of tweaks to make gameplay more varied and interesting. I was never happy with how leveling up and training creations worked. I want players to feel free to change their creations around to match given situations and not be stuck with a few fixed creations the whole game.

 

I want you to be able to customize your creations in more satisfying and significant ways.

 

The base storyline and the main elements of the game that people loves will stay the same."

So you can expect the (first of the) Geneforge remakes to (release? begin creation?) around Summer/Autumn 2019.

For those particular doors, you need to go around the western edge of the map, south, and then to the southeastern corner. Behind the door is only a vat with a thahd. You can use leadership to control the thahd and then kill it for a good amount of XP, though.

2 hours ago, alhoon said:

Well, someone tried to put a better brain in an ornk and in 2 full playthroughs of GF5 I have not managed to find that ornk after it left!

It starts in the northwestern area of the Okavano Swamp, to the south of all those obnoxious acid worm spawners. After it runs away, if you don't kill it before it escapes, it ends up in the southwestern corner of the Okavano Barrier (the area which connects to the Trakovite Haven) and you can use leadership to convince it to return to the Shapers instead of fighting a bunch of cows again.

1 hour ago, Vinlie said:

That reminds me then, where does the ingredients for the Artifacts come from lol. The ur-drakon scale you obtain from killing a powerful ur-drakon, but what about those more obscure ingredients, like blood poison or solidified flame?

Things like solidified flame/ice, purified essence, essence-infused iron etc. are produced by (apparently quite difficult) magical processes, from what I've gleaned of the lore.

28 minutes ago, alhoon said:

Another thing that supports that Shapers can and do Shape parts of creatures: Living tools, Batons, machinery and Golems all have living stuff and mechanical stuff. In GF3 the lore says that the living components of a Golem are Shaped first, left in a vat for months to grow under careful watch and them bound to the inorganic material. In various other parts it mentions how Batons are a creature that is merged later with iron and stone to make a baton.

 

All in all, I think that based on the above we can surmise that Shapers through trial and error and lots of work could make directly Glaahk eyes and the like but since creating a Glaahk is easier and faster they opt to go for that route usually. I would also dare to assume that since Drakons are such a pain to be Shaped, Shapers probably Shape Drakon scales (or things with similar properties for wands and rings) directly without creating a Drakon first but that's just what I think would make sense.

In the lore of the game, Shapers sometimes have problems with crafting powerful items because they need the scales (or skin, or whatever) of barred creations in order to make those items. Some of the recipe books even mention them looking for alternatives because it is so difficult to obtain the items. This implies that they cannot, in fact, create those individual pieces of creations.

15 minutes ago, Vinlie said:

You'd think Alwan could be healed to a point where he could actually move and function like a normal human after the events of G4. In G5 you can get a huge hole in your heart when you get the control rod taken out of you and have said hole sealed instantly but Alwan can't get the proper care he needs? His wounds were mortal, yeah, but you'd think there's something that could've been done besides being contained to a machine for the rest of his life,

The members of the Shaper council seem to like having control over other members, especially councilors who would be extremely popular with the people after, say, holding back the rebel advance. I'm just saying that they kinda do have the off button (presumably), if you will, to his life support.

Breaking news! General Alwan dies after teenage Shaper unplugs his life support to charge his wand!

5 hours ago, googoogjoob said:

I doubt also that they'd be able, even if they wanted, to shape away problems like dementia

Yeah, I mean, we've never seen something like that in a *cough* Geneforge 5 *cough* game...

1 hour ago, alhoon said:

For some weird magical diseases like the one in GF3 that may be resistant to their cure affliction spells, they create magic potions (or it was just a healing remedy that works?).

Actually, it was a salve created from wiry moss and/or saltweed using (possibly non-magical) alchemy that works by killing the fungus growing under the skin.

Shapers are able to fix severe medical problems by using Shaping, for example sealing the hole in your character's heart caused by the control tool. However, you may recall, doing so results (in the game) in permanently losing a point of endurance. So while it could be possible to, say, create a thahd or servile arm that the body would not reject (while you can perform Shaping on a human, it doesn't seem from the game that it is possible to shape a new (non-servile) human), the process of attaching it to the body could cause severe strain and additional long-term health problems.

The final demo version (Trakovite edition) of the Geneforge Modding Suite has been released. Whenever the full version is completed, it will be on a new thread.

You can download Trakovite Edition v1.1c in this post or in the OP.

3 hours ago, Vinlie said:

Geneforge 3 tho 

Geneforge 3 is usually considered to be the worst of the series, though.

Geneforge 4, now...

1 hour ago, Chopkinsca said:

The game started out slow for me, then it quickly picked up and I was hooked on it. I am sure I'm getting close to the end and it's seeming to drag on. Combat doesn't get too engaging. I'm level 21 and most things don't give experience, so character growth has slowed down a lot. I miss having to gear up four different party members and deal with assigning their stats with may options. I feel I've been stuck with my creation configuration because it works, but at the same time gets a bit boring. 

 

I thought after this I'd go straight to Geneforge 2, but now thinking I might do Avernum 5. I'm not sure yet. Geneforge 1 is still a fun game and I'm glad I bought and starting playing the series.

If you're finding that the enemies are getting kinda boring, you'll want to do the end dungeon. You need to find a stone crescent from a crescent thahd somewhere in the western deserty area. The final dungeon is in the very middle of the desert, pretty much. You have a bunch of high-tier enemies constantly spawning (in the first section of the dungeon, you can turn off the spawning equipment, if I recall correctly) and a bunch of cool bosses, including one that drops a belt which gives you +3(!) to your primary stats (int, str, etc.)

They also give you consistent XP if you just want to level up a bit. Although I've never had the patience to bother hitting the level cap in Geneforge (max level in the first game is 30), I believe they'll still get you enough experience that you actually can do it.

On an aside, while I've never played Avernum, I can tell that you may find the non-linear gameplay of Geneforge 2 to be... a little boring.

2 minutes ago, alhoon said:

It affects everyone though; as a Shaper I found GF5 speed to my liking and was casting it often. It is certainly not garbage.

A. The 'system' to which I was referring was the bonus AP from items system.

B. Speed in Geneforge 5 was calculated to give, I believe, something along the lines of a 30% damage bonus. Geneforge 1-4 speed basically doubled your damage, and also let you move farther, which was important for combat stealth.

C. Mass energize, which is a relatively lower level blessing magic spell, gives speed to everyone in the party in addition to war blessing and regeneration, which is less essence-intensive than getting all those buffs in Geneforge 5. It's not a late-game spell, either, and you'll almost definitely have it for chapters 3-5 (in Geneforge 4).

In all Geneforge games except for Geneforge 5, speed gives you 50% more action points.

In Geneforge 5, the only way to get extra AP is by having an artifact to increase your AP. Unfortunately, however, the system in Geneforge 5 is complete garbage, and you only have a chance to actually get your bonus AP from items each turn.

1 hour ago, Randomizer said:

Plus just because you join a faction doesn't mean you can't leave and join another. However unless you have enough leadership you may not like what you have to do and it may make a faction go hostile. There are also merchant discounts for joining the faction.

If you have (I think) 12 leadership, you can join the Obeyers, use that one servile to reset your reputation to pro-servile, join the Takers (using leadership to avoid killing Ellhrah) and then leave them and join the Awakened.

If, you know, you want to powergame everything.

Joining a faction is fairly helpful. If you want to join up with the Sholai, go with the Takers. Meanwhile, the Obeyers and Awakened each can give you ability bonuses. Joining the Obeyers will get you a bonus to fire Shaping, while joining the Awakened will get you some like, totally sick, dude combat skill bonuses.

Mind, joining a faction is not necessary, and killing literally everything* on the island is also an option.

*that can be actually attacked

In regards to creation building, I'm going to have to go with Slarty on this. While, yes, there are plenty of builds that can FINISH torment, it isn't unreasonable to take creation analysis into account when trying to make a torment build warrior (widely regarded as a suboptimal class).

The number one reason that you should go with battle/magic instead of fire/battle is that fire Shaping is a more expensive skill. While all the fire creations are fine (except for roamers), you can get the enemy damage resistance penetration with either fire OR battle Shaping, and having both is unnecessary. Since battle creations are cheaper than fire creations and wingbolts are seriously OP, it's most logical to go with battle and magic creations and put the extra skill points you'll get into something else.

TL;DR while you CAN make most any build work (just look at some of the ridiculous challenges we have around the forums), going battle/magic instead of fire/battle will generally help everything.

6 hours ago, Lord Backael said:

 

Can others confirm this?

http://spiderwebforums.ipbhost.com/topic/17985-creation-str-boosting-items-in-gf3/

http://spiderwebforums.ipbhost.com/topic/9791-best-weapon-for-a-shaper-focusing-on-creations/

http://spiderwebforums.ipbhost.com/topic/9639-a-problem-with-creature-str-and-hit/

And by word of Jeff himself,

On 2/27/2007 at 10:17 AM, Spidweb said:

This is a bug, and it will be fixed in a future update. Until then, I'd avoid relying on items that give strength to creations. (Items that improve other pet stats appear to work.)

 

No time frame available on a patch, I'm afraid. So far, this is the only known bug of note, and I'm pretty swamped.

 

- Jeff Vogel

14 hours ago, Vinlie said:

G1 takes place on Sucia island, G3 takes place on the Ashen Isles, G4 & 5 takes place on Terrestia. Where does G2 take place? I feel like I should remember because I played through G2 a few months ago, but I don't

Geneforge 2 is set in the Drypeak Mountains, an area of Terrestia believed to be located between the Turabi Gate in the southwest of the Geneforge 4 map and Gazakii-Uss in the southeastern area of Geneforge 5. The area is most likely fairly close to Gazakii-Uss in Geneforge 5, due to the existence of the original Gazak-Uss in Taker lands there.