Exile III Questions (spoilers)

[BainIhrno]

1. Why didn't Rentar-Ihrno just require authorization for all the buttons? (Tower of Shifting Floors). Apparently if she just did this, it would be impossible to defeat her because you couldn't access certain parts of the fortress.

 

2. What's the point of even having a control panel in the first place? If a Crystal Soul is controlling them, the Crystal Soul can have them do whatever he wants, if the Vahnatai wanted to get rid of the Golems, the mind crystal could just order them all to commit suicide or something. Why waste time setting up a system to turn Crystal Souls 'on' and 'off'? The only parts that are plausible to have are the buttons to move the conveyors.

 

3. What does Rentar need a control panel for? What, the greatest wizardess of all time can't move lava with spells. And she isn't going to bother locking her control panel up? Sure, because there's NO chance that a small group of Vahnatai will decide to mutiny, deceive Rentar, and blow the fort up, especially given what EXCELLENT motives they have...

 

Alright, I know I'm just nitpicking at little things, and I do enjoy Exile III, but I do have to wonder about the logic sometimes,.

[Sudanna]

Because it's in the Villain's Handbook.

[Randomizer]

1. Then the adventurers couldn't destroy the place.

 

2. I'm not sure if that is a true Crystal Soul controlling the Tower of Shifting Floors as well as the golem armies. I may be some hybrid creation in between that allows for commands to be made for it to execute.

 

3. See 1

 

This is a CRPG, so it doesn't need to make sense. After all see how much you accomplished from being a much of worthless beginners with cheap daggers.

[Alorael at Large]

1: Rentar-Ihrno doesn't use the control panels herself. She just sets these things up. Then she has underlings who do all the testing, fine tuning, and maintenance before they go into automatic plague mode. So the fault really lies with the workers, who are just lazy. They're supposed to authenticate, but it's much easier to just turn off security measures to save time. And then someone forgot to turn them back on when everyone left.

 

2. I don't think the crystals in the ToSF are Crystal Souls. I think they're just mindless vahnatai crystal magic. All the hands-on equipment was designed to get the factory running, not for intervention once it was abandoned. Again, perhaps all controls are supposed to be disabled and then workers got lazy.

 

3. I'd say that, like 1 and 2, the panel is for underlings. But it's in Rentar-Ihrno's keep, and it's apparently in her main hall. Maybe magically redirecting lava is much more taxing than creating magical machinery to do so? And to be fair, why would she lock it up when she's standing right there? Surely she can halt any threat herself.

 

—Alorael, who wouldn't be surprised if the control panel is accessible in the final battle because Rentar has just been using it herself and forgot to log off before hurling fireballs, summoning allies, and getting into an epic battle with Erika.

[BainIhrno]

Quote:

Rentar-Ihrno doesn't use the control panels herself. She just sets these things up. Then she has underlings who do all the testing, fine tuning, and maintenance before they go into automatic plague mode. So the fault really lies with the workers, who are just lazy. They're supposed to authenticate, but it's much easier to just turn off security measures to save time. And then someone forgot to turn them back on when everyone left.

I never said she did. I suppose I can understand this, EXCEPT that the workers had time to turn on SOME of the protocols, but not others, when they left.

Quote:

I don't think the crystals in the ToSF are Crystal Souls. I think they're just mindless vahnatai crystal magic. All the hands-on equipment was designed to get the factory running, not for intervention once it was abandoned. Again, perhaps all controls are supposed to be disabled and then workers got lazy.

This is probably a plausible explanation, come to think of it, they probably aren't Crystal Souls.

Quote:

3. I'd say that, like 1 and 2, the panel is for underlings. But it's in Rentar-Ihrno's keep, and it's apparently in her main hall. Maybe magically redirecting lava is much more taxing than creating magical machinery to do so? And to be fair, why would she lock it up when she's standing right there? Surely she can halt any threat herself.

Well, she certainly couldn't stop you.

Maybe it is for underlings, but, as I said, they probably have to have authorization too. Well, I could understand the last part EXCEPT that there is absolutely no way of stopping the process once it's started, otherwise she would have done so anyway. With it being designed this way, ANYONE could blow the fort up without Rentar looking.

To come to think of it, why doesn't Rentar just put safety locks on the lava so that all four can't be on at the same time?

Or maybe Rentar isn't a villain, she's a dumbo who does whatever the Villain's HandBook says.

[Sudanna]

So. . . She's a perfect villain?

[Alorael at Large]

Originally Posted By: BainIhrno

I suppose I can understand this, EXCEPT that the workers had time to turn on SOME of the protocols, but not others, when they left.

It's a matter of urgency. The wage slaves in charge of setting things up had too much time and no sense of urgency, so they just did a sloppy job. Probably someone even remembered that things weren't secure, but decided it was too much trouble to go fix it.

—Alorael, who doesn't think the vahnatai have a great work ethic or love of labor. Surely taking centuries-long Rest breaks indicates otherwise?

[Randomizer]

Originally Posted By: I am

?Alorael, who doesn't think the vahnatai have a great work ethic or love of labor. Surely taking centuries-long Rest breaks indicates otherwise?

It's more of I'm going to Rest and the next group can handle the problem. This means the cities are in ruins when they wake up and the bugs have gotten into everything.

Side note - In Exile/Avernum 2 in the Vahnatai mage city they only woke one servant to do everything. Boy was he mad (all officers and one private syndrome).