Suspicious Vlish

Hah, I found out the hard way that Searing Artila are immune to Discipline Wands. I was hitting for roughly 170 damage with Discipline Wands with my missile guardian. I blessed myself, the Searing Artila was in sight, but out of range. "I'll enter combat, and strike first. One hit with the Discipline Wand, and game over for the artila!" Enter combat, hit Searing Artila, no damage. WTF? Dead Guardian. *sigh* I wonder exactly what resistances/immunities are detailed in the Searing Artila script? And is the magic damage sustained from disruption/terror/stun different from the magic damage sustained from Vlish bolt/Searing Orbs? For instance, is there "Magic Damage: Type 1", and "Magic Damage: Type 2". It certainly lends some credibility to my belief that the Searing Artila is a good upgrade. It gets a mammoth upgrade to health (roughly twice the essence of a vanilla artila, but 3* the health), nimbleness, and now immunity to poison, terror and some forms of magic damage, as well as high resistance to the magic damage it isn't immune to. That's better than a Thahd Shade!!! And a huge advantage over the piddly roamer.

I've played GF3 for over a year, and I've happened to notice that when I fight Searing Artila, discipline wands have no effect against them. No damage whatsoever. So I've made my own little Searing Artila's. I then went and fought the energized Vlish at the Southern Marsh. I've come to realize that: 1. Poison has NO effect on Searing Artila's whatsoever. Both primary and secondary damage of poison do no damage. 2. The Searing Artila seems to be immune to terror. 3. The Searing Artila appears to be immune to certain types of magical damage, such as the damage from discipline wands, and the damage from the terror spells. Direct damage magic spells such as the Vlish bolt attack and Magic Pylons still do damage, although only a small amount. Stun spells also do a small amount of damage, and successfully stun. Screenshot of my battle with the Energized Vlish can be found here: http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y188/Red_Wizard/searingartila.jpg

Anti-Fairy: Quote: The Terror Vlish's poison attack does poison the victim (both melee like the regular Vlish, and missile). The amount of poison (and hence amount of damage) depends on attack strength. In general it's less immediately damaging than acid is. I wouldn't rely on it, and I'd certainly say it's much less useful than slowing is. Perhaps. But when you look at your tabulated results, you notice that a terror vlish does only slightly more damage than regular vlish. So naturally, we think 'That's crap!'. However, I'm not sure if you factored in the poison damage done afterwards. On a high level vlish, the poison could do up to 50+ extra damage.

Just two quick questions: Quote: 10/21 Vlish 15 32 289 62 72 Slow/Pois Odd. I always thought that the Vlish's missile attack counted as 'magic'. Quote: 10/28 Terror V. 45 39 381 65 75 Pois/Pois The Terror Vlish's poison seems to be only slightly more damaging than the Vlish's slow bolt. However, are we forgetting the poison damage done afterwards? Does a Terror Vlish's missile attack do continuous poison damage to a monster which has been hit? How long for, and for how much damage per round?

Dominate has always been my favourite spell, due to the fact that it has the potential to do the greatest amount of damage to one target. However, I'm curious as to the facts and figures of how 'Dominate' operates. If you add one point into mental magic, spellcraft, or gain a skill point in Dominate, how is: 1. The duration affected? How is the duration in rounds calculated? Is it relevant to the opponent's level, and their mental resistance? How is this calculated? 2. The chance to hit affected? 3. The chance to successfully charm affected? Perhaps these questions are a bit too technical. However, there are some pretty sharp chaps on the forum who have looked at the mechanics of certain skills in the past, and perhaps they know a bit about this.

Delicious: Quote: Once again, diversity and ancillary effects along with a healthy damage spread are key to survival. And yet ironically enough, this is an argument AGAINST investing in fire and battle. What exactly does fire give you? Creations whose main attack is either: Fire Acid Ice Battle gives you: Physical Acid You mentioned: Quote: On higher difficulties, the fire resistant enemies are greatly magnified because of their health... And most end game enemies are fire creations... Dryaks, Drakons, Ur Drakons, etc. So two of the fire creations (fyora and drayk) are redundant. Their upgraded forms employ ice. I'm not sure about the resistances of ice against drakkons, but I know that a lot of nasties in the game can resist ice. Pylons laugh at the frost. Roamers employ acid. Artila employ acid. Searing artila employ acid far better than roamers. Roamers are suddenly redundant. Also, acid seems to eat through almost anything. Drakkons employ magic. Vlish employ magic. Vlish cost a tiny proportion of the essence of Drakkons. Then we are left with battle creations. Thahd, Clawbug and Battle Alpha all do physical. *yawn* Physical is the most commonly resistance in the game, and your creations waste half of their AP running up to the target. And the magic tree has hard hitters if they are really necessary (vlish are adequate, and glaahk are quite tough). Rotgroth does acid damage. Again, a number of creations from the magic tree do acid damage. The Rotgroth slows... so does the Vlish.

Delicious Vlish: Quote: In short, missiles allow your creations to become the star of the show. Perhaps, although mental magic is far more effective, and less likely draw fire to your frail Shaper. Ever since G2, I've stuck by the belief that the most versatile and powerful shaper is the one who supports creations with blessing/healing/mental magic. Added to which, mental magic can do the greatest potential damage to a single target.

IMHO, if you are a Shaper, it seems far wiser to sink points into only one shaping skill. And obviously, that would be magic. Magic shaping gives the greatest variation of damage (acid: artila, magic: vlish, poison: terror vlish, physical: glaahk, magic: eyebeast, fire: gazer). Added to which, the vlish is the most versatile and deadly creation in the game. Why bother investing in battle? For a tank? The extra points not spent on battle could go to magic, which would boost health of the vlish/glaahk. And the glaahk is an acceptable tank. The only slight flaw is that the glaahk seems a little overpriced. However, the stun and tiny damage it sustains when it takes on pylons makes up for this. Oh, and you miss out on Drayks. And I love to shape Drayks, merely to RP. Does anyone know when the bonuses from adding to Magic Shaping plateau out?

Delicious: Quote: Alwan, on Torment? I have news for you friend, and anybody that has played Torment can back me up on this, Alwan dies the moment something even looks at him funny on Torment. He is as useless as lipstick on a hog. He is not a viable part of strategy, except maybe as a decoy so you don't get killed. He can't even do enough damage to deal with the regen rate when he starts out. I disagree. Alwan isn't fantastic, but he can hold his own.

You could have been: Quote: This doesn't make any logical sense, though. Why would an intelligent servile fight for himself to be killed and imprisoned? I'm not the one who proposed the scenario. However, siding with the Rebellion doesn't seem like a fantastic option if you want to be 'free'. Power crazed drakons, and canister abusing humans, who have a habit of oppressing the ordinary serviles/drayks/humans, and sending them out as cannon fodder. In fact, the Drakons and rogue Shapers remind me of the pigs from Animal Farm. Not much of a better alternative than the humans.

Quote: I guess I wasn't very clear in my post. The main idea is that I want a character that knows as much as I do about the world of Geneforge. Some people talked about playing as Shloai, but that has a potential to be as bad as playing a Shaper apprentice: My Character: I wonder what that glowing thing is. Me: It's a skill canister, idiot. * My Character touches the canister. * My Character: Wow, I wonder where that power came from. Me: Genetic engineering. My Character: Wow, these serviles are unusually intelligent. Me: Yes, they are called Taker, they originated in Kazg on Sulica island, etc, etc. My character: I wonder who is behind these monster plagues. Me: Rentar-Ihrno. Sorry, wrong game. I meant to say "a bunch of power-hungry Drakons and/or canister-crazed Shapers". Conversations like the ones above tend to ruin the immersion, What about this one? It's a parody of Futurama... in case anyone is confused. Jeff narrating: "You're entering a realm which is unusual. Maybe it's magic or contains some kind of mutated creation. The second one. Prepare to enter ... The Scary Geneforge. Please send a bunch of meddling imbeciles round back to show an unusual interest in *Char_Name*, a Shaper apprentice with little skill or intelligence who's about to have an unfortunate accident. Char_Name: "Oh no! Disaster just occurred, but I conveniently have remained unharmed. However, I now need to change my underwear *sigh*. Char_Name: What's this? Power word 'Reload' to ensure my success, despite my lack of skill or competence? I must be in Avernum! Huh? I'm an ugly SoB, and am actually longing for the graphics of Exile 1? I must really be ... in hell, erm, I mean, Geneforge! [A drakon appears at his side.] Drakon: No, *Char_Name*. You're not in heaven or hell. You just being approached by a bunch of rebels, who will most likely persuade you to their cause, despite the years of systematic brainwashing and propaganda that you have been subjected to in Shaper society. But don't worry, the outcome of 'Join the Rebels' scenario and 'Join the Shapers' scenario is essentially identical, so you won't miss out on much, no matter your choice. *Charname in hall of Shaper Council * *Char_Name*: There's a drakon building a Geneforge! You've gotta believe me! Shaper council: Why should we believe you? You're Rentar Ihnro! [He holds up a mirror and *Char_name* sees the reflection of Rentar Inhro.] Char_Name: No! My loyal creations, please help me! Drayk: You forgot to give us the minimum requirement of 2 intelligent points, n00b. We're on strike. Avid Spiderweb fan: Saw it comin'!

I'd find the introduction of a 'third party' to the series quite interesting. I seriously doubt that the Sholai are powerful enough to be a threat to Shaper rule. I think that 'Echoes of the Lost Song' by David Gemmel introduces an interesting concept. Perhaps another race from far across the seas who have no knowledge of Shaping or magic, but who are technologically superior to the Shapers (pistols, muskets, cannon, etc.) The Rebellion would then be forced to choose between two evils.

I don't understand why we can't have a prequel. Perhaps a game where you play as the First Expedition. That would certainly make a refreshing change.

*sigh* My 'expectations' for Avernum 4 were fulfilled. Same old trash repackaged, and sold as an 'exciting new sequel to Avernum 3'. Predictable = Organized attacks of monsters attacking Avernum. As soon as I heard this, I knew who was behind it. So much for a plot twist. Because of this, I was tempted to uninstall the game during the first 5 minutes. Empty = No believable decent plot, no characters worth listening to (I just skip the dialogue these days), no atmosphere whatsoever. Repetitive = Wow, goblin slaying and nephil slaying... again (in approximately the same places, to add insult to injury). Visiting Metris, which is plagued by undead... again. Running to the Castle to get major quests... again. Major characters sitting on their rear doing nothing... again. Boring = Cut this, slash that, use your mediocre skills to pwn some silly little monsters. *YAWN*. Awkward = The interface is a pain in the rear. Nuff said. Buggy = It eats up 100% of my CPU (!!!??) and freezes. Sometimes the game won't even start. This stuff should be ironed out in the beta. Linear = There is very little freedom, unlike Exile 1, 2 and 3. You are pushed and thrust about like putty. 'Go here, do this, shoot this clown.' Just leave me alone. Lack of decent character models = Two nephil and slith graphics? Same old cheesy human graphics from past Avernums? I've heard that Jeff is excusing this by claiming that he'll add graphics in Avernum 5. Umm, right. Obviously you should rectify obvious mistakes and gaps in future sequels (which will no doubt be as trashy as Avernum 4), instead of rectifying them before releasing the present sequel. *SIGH*. What's with designers releasing incomplete, buggy sequels? Rating = 2. And I'm being generous.

Mispost.

The terror vlish is dodgy. In GF 1 and 2, it's terror spell was rarely effective when I needed it to be. And in GF 3, it didn't terrify at all. WTF?!

Student of Trinity: Quote: One zone with some experimental creations that closely resembled GIFTs would be a fun easter egg. That's as far as it had better go, though. BOO HISS! Off with ye, fiend! We want to be able to shape GIFTS! *pelts SoT with rotten eggs* Quote: Maybe Call Lightning could be cool, Call Lightning PWNS in Baldur's Gate...

Dikiyoba: Quote: Tier 3: Level 1: Giant spiders-Throws webs, strong melee attack. Occasionally tells you how cute you are. Level 3: Giant tarantulas-Throws webs, strong acid melee attack. Ocasionally tells you how cute you are. I actually like this idea. It sure would be a neat Easter Egg if you could shape the legendary GIFTS. Ooooh, I can see it now. A horde of eight GIFTS following you around, cheeping "You're neat!", "You're cute!", and singing silly poems about flies. It would be like having 8 Xian skulls yammering away at once. Thuryl: Quote: Did you read the topic? You're not a drakon. You expect n00bs to read the topic in depth before hitting the reply button? Wow, your standards are rather high, doncha think?.

Thuryl: Quote: Well, if I may play devil's advocate for a moment, why should they do so? How many sales would it gain hardware and OS developers to make compromises on other aspects of the product (schedule, budget or other features) just so that those few of us still using very old software can continue to do so? And what is the point of getting an 'updated' version of the OS, if you can no longer run programs which worked on the older version of the OS? How can you call that a valid update? I'm not a Mac user, so I can't comment regarding the new Mac OS systems. But let me tell you, Windows XP is buggy and useless as ever before. Sure, it looks pretty, but since when did eye candy = compatability? And to add insult to injury, I can't run kick ass classics like 'Heretic', 'Mortal Kombat' and the Ultima series without an emulator (and even those emulators aren't flawless). And great games which could run in Win 95 and Win 98 can't run in the 'new and improved' WinXP. I'm confused as to what 'compromises' the producers would have to make, given that their previous version of the OS could quite easily run the classics. Why shouldn't their updated OS versions be able to? There's nothing revolutionary involved in making certain programs run on your updated OS, which you were able to run on the older versions. Quite simply, if you're going to make me pay $200+ for a operating system, don't give me buggy trash which can't run diddly squat. Give me something which can do EVERYTHING that the previous versions of that OS can do, and MORE. Jeff should not be expected to alter his games to fit the ever changing OS's. The producers of the OS should ensure that their updated OS should be able to run programs which the previous versions of their OS were able to run. I don't think that's an unrealistic expectation.

I'd have to agree with Jeff. It's not a game developer's responsibility to rewrite and alter their pre-existing games so that they can run on new/improved OS's which come out years later. The ball is in the OS developer's court to update the OS so that it can run all pre-existing programs. Sadly, Microsoft and Macintosh haven't taken this lesson to heart.

It sounds like Geneforge 4 will be a worthy addition to the series. Personally, if new creations are going to be added to the game, I hope that they won't be more powerful that drakons/eyebeasts/rotgroths. The only technical 'error' in Geneforge was that distance did not effect missile accuracy. It would be good to see the mechanics of missile combat tweaked a little in Geneforge 4, so that your accuracy improves the closer you are to a target. I'd also like to see the Glaahk unnerfed. In Geneforge 3, the Glaahk cost way too much essence, with very little payback.

Go to Ghirka... talk to the Vahnatai crystal crafter. It should be pretty clear what you have to do to get a soul crystal...

Quote: But all mage or priest? That's a serious character flaw. Why? Specialization = Power.

Funny, I thought that the librarian in Shayder was an Anama member...

Quote: If they can make Piercing Crystals, I don't see why they couldn't make a Phoenix Egg and rig a trap with it. Because in Anama moron land, Dispel Barrier is magic, whereas Piercing Crystals are not. In fact, it makes me wonder whether the Anama's faith is actually a disguise for money making. Once a mage learns a spell, that's it. However, an Anama member has to keep coming back to buy Piercing Crystals, Potions, Herbs, etc. Something smells fishy...