Mechalibur

Even if you're focused on melee, I think it's still usually a good idea to use any tools at your disposal, including spells (Daze doesn't require any investment in Mental Magic) and ranged weapons (I would usually open with ranged weapons and switch to melee when I got closer to the enemies). Melee focused guardians can output some impressive damage, but there's no reason to make it your only form of attack.

The reward was, in fact, +1 to Quick Action. It displays in the text console if I'm not mistaken.

Nope

Faction choice isn't nearly as important as it was in the other Geneforge games. It's even possible to join all 3 factions without too much difficulty. But in terms of unique bonuses: Awakened: You get training that gives +1 to all combat skills. Obeyers: You get training that gives +1 to Create Fyora Takers: You get an amulet that allows you to bypass some of the most difficult maps. Probably the most useful for a pacifist character. There are some other, minor, bonuses, but for the most part your faction choice isn't a big deal.

You'd think with that many troops, Goettsch wouldn't be a problem!

That would just mean the lock level is 5 or more higher than the player level. That doesn't seem unreasonable, especially if it's using an XP adjustment like some monsters do.

That's not matching my observations. Here are the XP values for monsters relative to player level: 0 - 20xp -1 - 14xp -2 - 10xp -3 - 4xp -4 - 2xp -5 - 1xp -6 - 0xp +1 - 22xp +2 - 24xp +3 - 26xp +4 - 28xp +5 - 30xp I've also seen every single one of these values from opening a lock. For example, there was a lock that gave 22XP when opened - when I reloaded and opened it after gaining a level, it gave 20XP as would be expected from a monster. I've never seen a lock give XP outside this range, and if anyone has seen that, I'd love to see a screenshot. That's why I'm pretty sure there's a connection between these 2 XP formulas, possibly even being the exact same. One other thing to keep in mind is that some monsters give XP higher than their level. For example, a spectral vlish is level 9, but gives bonus XP when killed as if it were level 12 (I think, I might be slightly off on the exact amounts). Some locks may be the same way.

I think we could extrapolate a formula if we could figure out the exact lock levels and find out how many living tools are required at various mechanics levels. That may be easier than it seems: opening a lock appears to give xp at the same rate killing a monster does - in other words, opening a lock with a level equal to your character level grants 20 XP just like how a monster would. Not a safe assumption, but it logically follows observed results and it might be a good starting point.

It's because the game is isometric - everything has to be shifted 45 degrees to avoid a weird diamond-shaped minimap. Queen's Wish, for example, isn't isometric, so in that game the map and directions match up.

Right, that's what I thought you meant. None of what Jeff said really supports that at all.

I don't think that's safe to say at all. In fact, I'd say that's a huge leap in logic. Nothing about what Jeff says indicates the cockatrice would no longer be a magic creation.

I agree with Ess-Eschas' interpretation. Putting those 2 pieces of information together would allow someone to reasonably make the assumption that Trajkov isn't able to use the Geneforge. Although I suppose another logical interpretation would be that Trajkov knows about the Geneforge, but is still looking for it. I took a look at the dialogue scripts and it seems to be set up this way (assuming I'm reading the scripts right, although that's frankly a bad assumption 😛 ) : -If you know about the Geneforge, but not what it does, Clois mentions you should learn more, and the conversation doesn't advance. -If you know about the Geneforge AND what it does, Clois acknowledges this must be the reason the Isle was barred and the next step is to find out who, if anyone, currently controls it. This sets a conversational flag (let's say "Flag 1"). -If you've heard the name Trajkov, but don't know where he is or where he came from, Clois will tell you to learn more about him. -If you know about Trajkov and where he is now (from Mascha or Gnorrel, for example), Clois will acknowledge what you told her and a second conversational flag will be set (I'll call it "Flag 2") Once you have Flag 1 and Flag 2, you get the dialogue option saying you know what's going on now. This all seems reasonable from my end.

I had success doing that at a middle level by siccing as many pyroroamers as I could summon at them 😛

Or the classic, "I should go."

Thorn batons shoot out thorns - they have nothing to do with mines. What you need to detonate mines are spore batons. The NPC servile on Northbridge doesn't give you the baton directly - he said there's one in his closet that you can take if you can repair it (you need a few points in mechanics, otherwise your character won't be able to). If successful, that should put a Gray Spore Baton in your inventory.

It's not even that your overall reputation needs to be pro-servile, but it has to he pro servile by at least 10 points. If you're going back and forth based on who you're talking to, I can see how you wouldn't reach that threshold. As far as I'm aware, your reputation is mostly affected by dialogue. I don't know if any quests affect it at all.

Which Avernum 3? I only played the latest remakes, so if you're referring to the 2002 version, I wouldn't know.

This one is kind of interesting to me. Knockbacks applying on a miss has been pretty common in Spiderweb games (at least back to Avernum EftP where it happened all the time). The only SW game I played where this wasn't the case was Queen's Wish (knockbacks wouldn't take place if the attack missed), so I figured future games would also be the same. Curious why they went back on the mechanics for this.

I'm starting to wonder if the faction guards are more powerful than Spiderweb originally intended. The Hintbook mentions that The Purging quest (which requires you to kill all 3 faction leaders) should be pretty easy by the point in the game you get it, and the xp rewards for killing them are extremely low (the xp for killing Gnorrel is measured at level 8). The high difficulty of those guards is a bit at odds with that.

That's certainly interesting, but I'd definitely say contemporary usage of "box" almost always refers to a rectangular shape. Seems more like a prescriptive definition than a descriptive one, in other words.

The text console will tell you how much xp you get when you kill something, but not the internal calculations for it. The amount of xp you get depends on the level difference between you and the creature you killed: 0 - 20xp -1 - 14xp -2 - 10xp -3 - 4xp -4 - 2xp -5 - 1xp -6 - 0xp +1 - 22xp +2 - 24xp +3 - 26xp +4 - 28xp +5 - 30xp

Enemies stop giving exp when you're 6 levels above them. I believe the pyroroamers in the Tombs are level 2, so that would explain it.

Yeah, I'm not sure where the term "box mine" came from, since they're, well, spheres.

The end of the credits for Mutagen say "1 down, 4 to go" so I think he's planning on remaking all the Geneforge games, if time permits.

Oh the box mines! Duh, sorry.