A4 - Singleton party

[Walter]

You'd probably also want to hang onto any equipment that boosts magery to help unlock doors or dispel more difficult barriers.

[Randomizer]

With 12 tool use boosted to 15 with tinker's gloves and bauble I can get through all the traps now. Pity I only get 1 experience point each for the effort.

 

Add in the incantor's ring and enchanter's robe my mage spell level is then 11 and I get 2 more for spellcraft. I can't use the clarity talisman with the tinker's bauble. This lets me open locked doors up to 35. Doesn't help with the last spellbook in the castle since my arcane lore is only 12. I still need to raise that for the last spellbooks in the game.

 

Having fun blasting pylons. At over 300 spell points, I can get from 2 to 5 pylons a trip depending onn what else is in the area. A few more hours will clear everything up to the Basalt Fortress. I must have missed the post about the eyebeast creature guarding the main bridge up the center. That will probably take a few tries. I really hate when I get terrified. To get demonslayer I had to use items and intelligence to 66% mental resistance and add in mindshield to have a chance.

[Benamas]

My original plan, starting out in A4, was to make a duo. An Elite Warrior/Fast on Feet melee/archer kitty and a divinely touched/natural mage mage/priest.

 

But, smart like I am, I completely neglected tool use, AND my doods didn't have the strength to carry all the loot I wanted.

 

When I got tired of not being able to open locked doors and getting killed by traps, I upped the party to 3. The third, completely useless guy, is a mule, and a walking lockpick. (16 tool use and a couple points of arcane/nature lore ) His weight is something like 230/90, which is okay because he can't do anything useful in combat anyway.

 

So far I have had a lovely time killing things (my warrior used a Stick right up until my first Blessed Shortsword, and even then I couldn't tell much difference >> they're actually quite nice) and hitting space every once in a while to skip Juan Valdez's 2-AP turn. (if I strip off his armor and give him a girdle of strength, he gets 3AP -- enough to use a scroll or wand! Yahoo!)

[Randomizer]

Singleton in Torment

 

Finished the Western Wastes, Basalt Fortress, the 3 shades, and the Gnass quest. I'm at level 40 and 250 experience away from the next level. I can finally open difficulty 40 doors which opens the 3 doors in that area, one of which just saves time in moving. I killed everything that moved and the pylons for fun and money. Although I probably got a third of a level out of the pylons alone.

 

I'll take a break while I figure out what I want to wear for my assault on the Spire Fortress and what to do with my skill points. I thinking of saving them for moving my mage spell level up so I can have Strong Daze and later Arcane Shield.

[Randomizer]

Singleton in Torment

 

I finally finished at level 45 for my nephil pure spirit divine touched archer/fighter/mage/thief/priest. Missed level 46 by a few points.

 

Dorikas and the Darkside Loyalists were a challenge, although for a fight versus party level it was still easier than Nodicuas. The last battle, I was two rounds away from winning and the screen froze. At least I only had to refight that battle. A bit easier than I thought it would be after the fights in Erika's Ruins.

 

I'm taking a break from Avernum to load and run the Geneforge Trilogy before the next chapter is released.

[Seratis]

Torment Singleton

 

Whew! I just finished with a level 46 Nephil - Natural Mage - Divinely Touched. A HOOTnHOLLER yawl! Geektastic bliss for the hardcore gamer.

 

TYVM Randomizer for the actual facts on NL, AL, and TU. But it got to be a frustrating unfun chore to keep track of all the caches and doors i couldnt get into yet, and then hike back to collect the loot later. Like I had pages of notes before said "#&$@% this"! So i ate a lot of traps, reloaded some alarm traps, and did this instead:

 

Use the "edit party" button to add a temporary character with say Tool Use skill, increase that TU till the chest pops, then put the loot into a row of piles by the teleporter. Then when i actually earned the appropriate level TU skill, i could then score the corresponding pile. Substitute some other junk if you pick up gold. I didnt much sweat the spellbooks unless it was the first time i encountered a particular spell - then i just didnt cast that particular spell until i earned it with AL or TU. Randomizer is correct that NL pays off once you reach Stine, and can afford some NL;)

 

I stopped at 15 priest (for Divine Retribution) and 16 Mage (for Arcane Shield), but i could wear some items to cast higher, say when buffing. Early in the game i got Parry, and drove it to about 10 by endgame. Midgame i started working on getting Quick Strike, and finished with QS=11 (including gloves of hammer and lightning belt). QS plus the quicksilver buckler gave me an extra spell or attack at least every other round, and let me drink a pot when very slowed. I had my Natural Mage, Nephil, and Divine Touched skills too, but TU-AL-NL ate almost all the remaining skill points. For example, i finished with intel at a pathetic 3 or 4. I did add a bit of endurance late in the game.

 

Toughest fights were:

1) DeamonSlayer quest beholder. Stay right next to him (so no ranged attack) and keep casting slow. Or cheap him awhile using the "open door, shoot, close door" trick.

2) Dorkkiss. explore and kill everyone else first, so that you can use the terain when he summons. Isolate one, say by standing besideand inside a doorway, and stay next to him so he wont use his owie class ranged attack.

 

Disappointing - too easy fights

1) Shades

2) foosel - last boss. keep hasted, alternate between DaemonSlayer and acid bow attacks on the boss, and with the third attack - Retribution or heal. Wait on the retribution until the magic spheres are nearby - helps thin the summoned creature clutter. Solo him - leave the fragile and useless Vahanati cowering in their camp so you dont waste time healing em.

3) Nodicuas. I "dash and grabbed" the Emerald Chest, then forgot about him for too long, i suppose. He was sure wimp when i got around to him at level 35-39ish something.

 

Suggestions for Jeff:

1) more hotkeys. A lot more hotkeys. ditch the mouse entirely. Laptop friendly please.

2) most combat would be far less tedious with a "same again next round with no combat animations" hotkey.

3) pixel hunting with the mouse for hidden stuff is not fun. Less empty real estate - it's dull. Make loot noticable to the drunk gamer and worth picking up.

4)Less junk treasure - Solo players are allready making way too many boring trips to town cuz we have only 1 backpack. Bag of holding only single players can find?

5) great game. more and better please!

[Xaiya]

I know you are new, but please don't necro. People never like it, I know from expirience.

 

On to undead topic, I probably finished around level 32/33 or something like that.

 

Edit -congrats though, and there is a thread saying how great A5 will be.

[Slawbug]

Seratis, congrats on finishing!

 

Muffin, please stop acting like a mod. You have been asked this already. Although it was a little weird to revive this topic, it makes sense -- the new post is relevant and directly refers to previous posts in this thread.

[Xaiya]

Okay.

Congrats (again).

 

You know, I beat A3 with a sington-torment. Maybe you should try that.

[Fungus Shamegne 26]

What kind of singleton is best? I'm thinking a Slith with Melee, Mage and priest abilities, but what would you use?

 

And, does armour have any encumbering effect in A4?

[Seratis]

Im sorry to offend you Muffin, but IMO my earlier post is exactly where it belongs; This thread is the singleton player's FAQ, and is so content rich that it deserves sticky status.

 

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hahaha. thankx Pilgrim!

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Fungus I think you have a large challenge on your hands with the slith melee character.

 

There are two great bows you find by midgame, one is acid and one stuns. Plus bows have a tactical advantage - you can pull most mobs to you rather than run into the crowd. And bows are not bothered by enemies with Riposte - which are common after midgame. Finally, Dexterity for bows opens up nice hidden skills and combat speed while strength for poles is not so good. Nephils get a bonus to bows.

 

Sliths use pole weapons so you wouldn't have the great shield buffs you get in the endgame, and you would have to eat more damage from the lower AC and AC based resistances (fire, cold, and spark).

 

But you could often dish out some amazing damage with your big stick.

 

Slith poles = glass cannon

archer kitty = faster, durable, but less DPS

[Randomizer]

Armor has some encumbering effects early in the game. Natural mage allows you to have heavier armor , chain mail (20% penalty), without losing mage spell ability. You can offset the encumberance with defense and after a while you won't even notice it.

 

Exceeding your weight allowance drops your action points to a minimum of 2 AP. This means that you waste a round dropping items. So avoid picking up items until after you have cleared an area and are returning to town.

[Shadestorm]

I beat A4 on Hard with a solo Slith Polearms/Priest. The trick is Quick action. I spent most of my early skill points on Quick action, and it made the later game a breeze until about the Spire Fortress.

[Xaiya]

Don't be sorry about offending me, I deserved it (though I wasn't offended in the first place).

 

Also, I used a human on my A3 torrment/singleton so that I wouldn't get attacked by Empire-humans.

 

I haven't tried torment on A4 though.

[Zummi]

Hey..is it still considered a singleton challenge when I have a mule(PC who carries stuff)?

[Randomizer]

Depends how you use the mule PC. It sucks off experience if you keep him/her around all the time. If you wait until the area is totally clear to create and then delete after unloading in town, then it doesn't matter.

 

Some people also create a temporary PC just to unlock doors.

[VCH]

Quote:

Originally written by *i:

Quote:

Originally written by Synergy:
I think Jeff is making a mistake in intentionally crippling singleton play, as if there were something inherently insulting about the very concept. A number of people enjoy the challenge, and why make party size optional at all if one or maybe even two PC's can't really play a game through in any proper way satisfactorily? This only takes away from the variety and challenge of gaming experience—or its replayability.

Jeff does not care what you think.

i care what you think. :0

[Xaiya]

If you think about it, singleton is only a challenge at the beginning. Afterwords, you are bathing in XP, and singleton has many advantages...

[Synergy]

Uhhhhh...did you actually read this thread?

 

-S-

 

ADDIT: Did anyone else notice that "Singleton Party" is something of an oxymoron?

[Randomizer]

Avernum 4 is hard in parts as a singleton in torment. I can think of several places that required several reloads as my character was destroyed by a stun loop or paralyzed by cold where I couldn't act. The fact that experience decreases so quickly as you increase in level really slows down advancement to the point that quests are the only real source of experience.

 

Avernum 5 is supposed to be even harder for singletons in torment in an attempt to finally end this challenge.

[Xaiya]

Ooh, a challenge

[Ichimaru Gin]

A1 Singleton (@Torment)

 

natural mage with good education/priest/fighter

(however, starting from level ~20 I didn't wear any armor )

was everywhere but surface. stopped playing when noticed that i have stuck at level 53.

 

no difficult fights. I dare think that, my char will be able to kill Erika, Garzahd and Rentar-Ihrno at the same time. Not counting lesser creatures, such as Grath-Hoth and Howthorn

Sulfras was most annoying, however. Those pillars can't be killed at all

[Ephesos]

I'm pretty sure that's because they're black shades stuck on pillar squares, making it impossible to melee them. The only way to get rid of them would be Cloud of Blades.