alhoon

A LOT of spelling mistakes?

The Mera Aegis is a minor artifact that I put there because, frankly, at about that level I needed more spellcraft so my blessings would hold for some time.

Gazers have... luck bonus? LoL. That's a new saying then. "That guy won the lottery. He has a Gazer's luck!" and then I'll bask on the weird looks of people not understanding what I say.

I think there's a soft cap in Shaping 10, right? I assumed I would get a few points that way. I will buy magic the level after the next but I'm not sure it'll see much use. I already have a full roaster. I'll eventually drop my servile follower to get a Gazer, and perhaps a Vlish if I can afford a 2nd Gazer (or I want a rot). But more or less I expect to keep most of my current creations to the bitter end.

And I mostly did. I have magic at 7 and I have found an item that on top of the artifact that nice lady gave me, another one that gives me a +2 to fire Shaping. So While I have bought 1-2 Fire Shaping (it starts at 2, magic starts at 1), I bought so far 5 points in magic shaping. My Cryoa is from the start of the game.

As for variety... resistances of enemies don't seem to be high in this game. I can deal a lot of magic damage to Vlish (and I haven't managed to land a blow to a gazer to see how magic resistant they are...). Cold affects specters (they were near immune in GF5) very well.

So, I am not sure variety is as important.

Thinking of it, Horrorshiver at level 28 costs me ~40 essence more than my Vlish but they have suprassed him in hit chance, despite being 6 levels lower!

Fire creations: What I mean is that I expected with magic Shaping at 7-8 and Fire at 6 with items, Drakons would be well worth it. Well, Gazers are underwhelming so I am not that hopeful.

Do creations have a level cap? My Vlish are going strong at 23rd level so far.

Boosting creations: I haven't done it at the time, since I'm saving my essence to build the good stuff later. I am just wondering if the "good stuff" is actually good stuff.

I plan to have 70-80 essence "Free" to cast spells at the late game. If I have filled my roaster with my end-game creations, I may start boosting the Vlish since boosts are insanely cheap for them.

What do you think?

Yes... but since Slarty has done tests, charts and all, I prefer to defer to his wisdom on the matter since testing that would be tedious and unless I test the creations against several different enemies, it would be inconclusive. It is possible to do it, but there are veterans here. Threads about balance etc. Other pairs of eyes to tell me I forgot something.

Just a few minutes ago, you stepped in and said "Remember; you need 5AP to attack which means just 3AP to move to the enemy" which I had forgot.

I am not being lazy and difficult here; I am just saying that I play this game to save the awakened relax and enjoy. Running 1h tests that would have be go back and forth in the scripts is not exactly my favorite part. I do it for like an hour per day already for a new GF5 mod that I started working on.

Oh, right... I forgot that as melee they would have to be close to the enemy. I have only ranged attackers in my party.

LEVELING CREATIONS and New Creations:

(Slarty, I could use your experience and insight here buddy. I will write things like "X is like Y" because that's the way I write, but please, see it as the "I think that X is like Y, although I am not sure hence the whole post" that it really is. You have done the math, the tests and all. I hope the way I write won't turn you away here.)

I did the following in Zhass-Uss. There's a door that if you open, a lot of people become angry with you. I Bypassed Syros, letting him deal with my servile friend that follows me (it was a test! I didn't threw his life away in my "main" playthrough. I loaded after it.) and closed the door before Syros pet Gazers started coming through. Then I dealt with two golems (they are very underwhelming compared to GF5 ones) and opened another door. Canister of Gazer! Yaaay!

Made a Gazer. Cost me 125 essence + extra for int.

I remind you all that my Vlish cost 20 essence total.

The Gazer was level 32 or something with 440 hp. Costs more essence as my 3 Vlish and Horrorshiver (terror Vlish) combined. The Gazer's attacks have a better chance to hit, but not that better and although a hit from the gazer hurts, it's as much damage as 3 out of my 4 Vlish pull.  My Vlish combined though have more hp, and having 4 attacks instead of 1 (with the stunning those attacks have) is much better.

At the time of this writing, it would be preferable if I sacrificed Horrorshiver (my terror Vlish which I keep because of his level 28 since he has a better chance to land blows) to get a Gazer. But by the time I will actually get the Gazers probably in like 5+ levels since I will start exploring the rest of the zones now (I had rushed to meet the leaders), Horrorshiver would be at the level the Gazer would be, and while dealing like 1/2 the damage and having 2/3 of the Gazer hp... he would cost like 1/3 of the essence!

From what I see in this game, the "difference" between the various creations seems to be the smaller from the 4 games I've seen (GF5 had the biggest difference).

I made a test and created a Drayk and a Vlish. The vlish costs 20 essence and is level 20, while the Drayk costs 75 essence and is level 25.

Yes, I have "invested" more in Magic Shaping (having 7 instead of 5) and Vlish (3 instead of 2). But two of my Vlish would blow the Drayk out of the water for less essence.

Of course... this may only seem so for Vlish which are not exactly balanced.

To cut to the chase:

Is it even worth to spend 5000+ coins on better creation types? The Drayks have so far been a huge waste of money; huge. Perhaps cryodrayks could redeem that but it remains to be seen.

Should I consider buying 2 levels of Glaahk when I can cough up the huge amount of money? Or by the time I get the money (I have like 500 coins now; I don't pick up a lot of stuff to sell) my Vlish (ranged Glaahks in the game) would be hilariously more powerful, and cheaper?

Battle Alphas were also a waste of money... What about Rots? Drakons? (Gazers I will get anyway cause I like gazers; power is not the only thing that counts)

There was such a severe bug in Bonepeak and I missed it?

Probably slipped in when I corrected a bug theKian found.

Gamerman, thanks man.

EDIT: Ehhh... I don't have that error.  For me, it works like a charm. No missing brackets.

Also, there should not be an extra bracket there.

Could you do me a big favor please? Could you check with the script I will send you for bonepeak? It's the original I have in my computer (and the mod) and works for me.

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EDIT: Alright! I got one of the artifact shields. Gotta say, it's pretty impressive. More armor than a Shaped Shield, bonus to Spellcraft and Parry, Energy and Poison Resistance bonuses... that's pretty good. Here's a hint... if you're a kleptomaniac, the major material you need for this shield is not hard to find.  
 

 

That is not a problem for me.  

Which shield is that? Mera Aegis? That is... the minor artifact shield. The two big ones are "Finality" and "Guardian's Bulwark".

The Mera Aegis is a good example of why this mod is for Guardians\Warriors. An agent\infiltrator\sorceress would not trade that shield for either the Finality or Guardian's Bulwark; this one would feel a major artifact for her.

Frankly, with magic being more useful, most other classes except shocktrooper would find more use out of this early-on shield than the later-on shields.

THE MOD IS OUT The mod is being beta-tested.

TheKian has kindly betatested parts of it, and I have gone through it. I would kindly ask the first persons to download and play this mod to give feedback (but avoid spoilers  ).

Ahhh...  "Step on the mines my Thand\Fyora friend. And remember: You'll be missed" tactic: I have indeed used it. I felt bad about it, but just for a bit. I don't like to use creations as expendable trinkets, like walking crystals. But... I would have to say I have used a similar tactic for another thing:

Sending a creation past some mines or those fields that cause damage to use the "get item" scam that allows me to pick things near my creations. Sure, the good things are usually inside chests or nests. But you could grab a baton or crystal or coins off the floor.

Stealth: in some cases (Gorash Kell among them) I don't think there's another way until the very late-game. It can be frustrating though but you're rewarded for the 10+ loads you may have to do.

Kleptomania: Once a wandering person near stuff I want to steal is away, I use my several creations to block his or her path back. Properly placed 3-4 creations can cut away the person's return route very easily so you can steal. He's not far enough?

Remember fidgeting is like random walk. So when the person of interest takes a few steps away, rush your creations to block his way back. Not far yet? Wait a bit. He moves a few more steps away. Block again.

Just don't let him or her get too far away or the "return to origin" will kick in.

Essence pools and flooding them with enemies: The Shaper way. I regretfully admit I have done that and didn't consider it as bad as setting a fyora to get blown to pieces or a battle alpha to slowly cook so I could creation-steal things from the floor. I call it the "Moseh way" since I first encountered it by Moseh (started GF games from GF4). Hadn't met Monarch yet. He was the ultimate master of "Quantity has a quality of its own" swarmozerg tactics.

Ahh... the warrior mod is being betatested (and swept for spelling mistakes) by TheKian. It should be out soon.

THAT mod... well, I'll visit it in the future, not yet.

I am glad for the enthusiasm but I would like to warn you that since you perhaps finished GF5 recently, another GF5 run would perhaps be tedious even with the grinding-cuts.

Thank you for the kind words and suggestions.

Everything you mention here is easily doable*... at the time of this post. I was not as experienced back then.

*Except the spelling mistakes because I gloss over text I've written. TheKyan is so kind as to sweep my new mod to correct those.

Alas... I am caught up in another project at the time, but I will seriously consider to return to this to put up a v1.2 before I go too far in the other mod. However, having swapped the majority of the code and started working on them, it is not as easy as it sounds.

When I return to it, I'll try to clean up the grammar and use a control panel or something to make it smoother. But I won't edit the actual zones; I prefer this to be a "Script only" change instead of having to alter the core data of the game.

I have some other things to work on (like a "lighter" base for loyalists) and I will also add the "grinding bypass" checks to give XP, money and equipment to people that don't want to go scour challenge areas for XP but dive straight to the story.

Do not use auto-exit console commands as I am not sure they work with the "Exit zone" script! You may break some event chains.

Talking to Greta: You can already talk to her. You can actually "silence her" to make sure your identity doesn't become public since she suspects the truth.

For other NPCs... well, I'll think of it. But I wanted to leave at least some "vagueness" in whether the theory of who you actually are, is true or not. You find enough proof to strongly indicate but you don't find definite proof (because I can't edit the end-text). In fact definite proof would be impossible since your face changed...

Research potential: It is a flag that increases and decreases depending on how much you study and learn and how much of this you use. Consider it like a "currency" of sorts.

You are absolutely right. I will edit the part you quoted Triump and add a "no spoilers please".

18 hours ago, TheKian said:

Sooo... here's my question. Why can't you play the mod as a servile? After all, a servile warrior is likely to be just as competent as a warrior or Guardian PC at fighty stuff, and would benefit especially from being able to get proper help in the form of rebel soldiers.

Because it takes too much extra effort to make the dialogue servile-appropriate.

And since I was initially planning a whole mod based on servile character, which now goes to the back-burner because of the other mod I didn't want to put the effort. It's like asking me why the GF5 Shaper\Lifecrafter mod is not appropriate for Agents\Infiltrators. Weeeeell... it just isn't because it takes too much effort to balance it properly.

If I make a mod for serviles I will make the dialogue appropriate. For serviles. Which means that if you play a mod of mine for serviles with a guardian everyone will assume you're a servile.

You can try to play the mod as a servile, but everyone will react as if you're a human and a Guardian\Warrior at that.

In fact, I think the mod would work nicely* for serviles... except the dialogue.

If there's enough push for serviles, I may do a second pass and make them playable but it's harder than it looks because of specific dialogue based on the assumption you're a human warrior\guardian. And I don't recall every instance of such dialogue. Also, I strongly believe there should be discrimination in Taygen's lands on serviles like every shopkeeper that agrees with Taygen refusing to do business to you, people calling the guards to escort you out of taverns etc. There are a couple of merchants in the Dera Reaches that don't do business with rebels. But they would trade with loyalist geneforged serviles; that's IMO just for the benefit of the player. In the Forts of the Line there's talk of how they shoot serviles first rather than ask questions. A servile with 2 Vlish behind him or her would not be asked for papers realistically there (not, for that matter, someone with 2 drayks behind him or her).

In short... I actually believe serviles should have a very different playthrough in GF5, having to avoid certain shaper Strongholds and many different quests etc.

*however the Servile is a magic-second class, with guides and all on how to play a magician servile and I have not put anything to boost magic skill. I.e. there are no rewards or modifications that will give you more spell energy or boost your magic skills. There is such a baton because the Artifact batons mod is for everyone though. And the recipe to make it is actually... in a book in your base, frankly in your very office.

Gamerman:

I never said the talking NPC is actually a soldier... she is not. Class-wise she is an

The human soldier's bonuses you can't see in the short character sheet. But Human soldier beats the servile soldier in one-to-one fight, because of the physical damage, but the servile does much better against say... Kyshaaks, wingbolts, drakons, etc.

Creation attack groups: It's not an everyday occurrence buddy. They happen -twice- in the mod, and in one case you Shape them and leave them to the Drayk we talked about earlier similar to how the Shapers move around, shape creations, release them and then pass by later to calm them.

Losing cool stuff if you betray the rebellion:

True, which is ... realistic. Why would the soldiers keep following your command if you betray the rebellion? Why would Greta keep sending you orders?

And you can always betray the rebellion after you've seen the cool stuff. You can frankly finish the whole story-line and when you get the orders from Greta "OK, Now you should move to finish the war." you can pull out your commander's baton that she gave to you as a reward and shoot your lieutenant, cleave through your base (although the soldiers would be very tough, they will be on par with Alwan's Stormhold troops) go to that nice Turret guy to Lethia pass ask him nicely to change your reputation to pro-Shaper and then go to Alwan.

Sprites: All servile soldiers have the same sprite and all human soldiers have the same sprite.

Mage soldiers: Not the stock soldiers, but the joinable NPCs are mages. Mages are relatively common, but that doesn't make them common. We see perhaps 1 mage for every 10-20 soldiers in the game. You have a mage in your base, but he's a lieutenant.

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especially since I didn't help with the mod at all
 

 

????  

Buddy, what are you talking about? The three pillars of this mod are: Quests \ Base \ Artifact batons. You made one of the three pillars. I have considered it but I would probably not have done it.

You may say that my part of the mod took me a year to make while your part took less. But you did it. And I got it without any effort and implemented it. And it was a very good idea and the mod is richer because of it.

Servile leaders: There are several, although all I remember lead serviles. "Already powerful enough" is not really a reason to exclude them from a mod that adds content and quests. The player can always put difficulty on hard...

I'll say it again: The only reason I didn't make it servile-appropriate is because... dialogue.

Is this thread spoiler-free \ spoiler-light?

Before reading anything from what I assume would be a nice collection of hints, I would like to know.

11 hours ago, Blind Weakness Services said:

  (And as Triumph established clearly and I thought you agreed, Litalia did not personally cleanse the entire valley nor was she in a position of power such that it is reasonable to assume that anyone "survived" or "did not survive" her in particular.)

 

Yes, I completely agreed but I have mentioned many times over that I do it out of convenience because that apprentice in the large group of Shapers is the only one I know. If Lord Rahul had told me that he was there, I would be blaming him. But I only know Litalia.

Servile developmental process: Igner has spent most her life in Zhass-Uss that didn't exist till 5 years ago and yet her son is 9. They probably mixed up the ages there since her son's life is "mostly" in Zhass-Uss (as in about 1/2 of his life).

GF3+: Yes, I realize that all endings are valid, but the official one is very grim for the Rebellion even if it doesn't correspond perfectly to any of the endings.

I certainly plan to do both Awakened and Takers, and perhaps even find it worth the effort to do Loyalists or unaligned. But as Triumph said earlier those are "alternative history".

Drayks to Drakons: So there is at least a strong possibility that Drayks didn't just evolve further generations into Drakons through Shaping, they actually got in a pool as Drayks and got out of it as Drakons? EDIT: Don't answer that please, it was pointed out to me that talking with the first NPC to mention it is not obviously the whole thing. I prefer to discover more about it.

Here's an endgame servile soldier:

And for comparison, a Wartrall.

I have no equipment worn, so that's their stats (of course the wartrall was made using tons of Shaping artifacts...)

As you can see the servile has the same hp as the 44 lvl war trall, but less armor and deals less damage (also has a 5%-10% less to hit because of bonuses), but poison. So... half war-trall.

I could show you the stats of my servile soldier that I had with me for like 1/3 of the game, who has reached level 40 and gained several levels (I got him when I had soldiers at level 27 or something not 34) so more skill ups, his stats with the artifacts and items I have boosting creations.

But my dog-of-war, my relentless "in-your-face Ghaldring I care not for your attacks with my 1300 hp and 40% resistance to most you throw at me!", that can take an Unbound one on one servile will scare you.

(Poor Nista died in the last battle with Ghaldring though, when I went without any allies or Astoria)

Cannister abuse:

I have taken that into account. There are other things that creep in, not just arrogance, but I won't say more. IIRC the only time GF4 arrogance kicks in is if you face a mutiny in the base where having consumed many cannisters after re-Geneforged locks out the option to negotiate and you just kill them.

But that's in the game too in a way, when Makar tries to goad you to attack him (that you may easily keep control \ barely keep control) and on a bridge (barely keep control \ lose control).

Class choice:

I was actually thinking of locking the other classes out and then said "Nah". Warriors start with less essence and gain more. And since that mod is for Guardians\Warriors this differentiation is IMO, all that needed.

That said... No, the game would be really weird for non-Guardian\Shapers. I mean, what would a lifecrafter do with a perfected baton that would make a Guardian cry from joy? An agent getting tons of free followers on top of insanely superior magic? Imba.

Soldiers in your party: 

One is a joinable NPC, talks a lot. Gives hints for quests if you have her around. Often speaks for flavor.

 One NPC joins for a quest, talks a few times quest related.

The rest are stock NPCs (with names coming from a pool of 24 names though!) that you go to your drill sergeant and tell him "I want soldiers to join me!" and he gives you two for a hit in combat worthiness as you take the best.

Differences: Human soldiers: More damage, significantly better armor quite lower resistances (but not none).

Serviles: poisoned thorns, more hp, better resistances.

Human soldiers just get the bonuses that don't show: better armor and weapons (i.e. attack bonuses; their attack bonus increases faster than the serviles).

Power level: At first, they're worse than clawbugs. Like, quite worse. In the end, they're about as good as half-wartralls. I say that because by the end, the Serviles will have about as many hp as War Tralls but be slightly less accurate and do about half the damage. I.e.... half-Tralls.

NPCs outside your party:

You get NPCs\creations at some quests to follow you, or you give them a target Shaper-like and let them do it. Remember Pinchy, the ridiculously powerful clawbug that the temporary NPC Shapes? that's one that follows you without joining.

Some others are

As for the "Shadow Road Mk II":

It is not as prominent as the actual Shadow Road; it's less used and it's equally focused on putting people IN Dera Reaches to fight the Shapers as it is for getting creations out.  

What Astoria's thoughts would be? Remember, as the game is, she hates Taygen, backstabs Alwan breaking the Line (thus allowing Unbound back in) and shares information with Greta, your superior in the mod, and secretly negotiates with her. The answer from Greta if you work for Astoria in GF5, that I haven't changed, is "You work with Astoria now, you know what she plans". So... I don't have her become involved with my conscience clear.

Alwan, I didn't get involved (directly) cause I figured he's doing damage control in his own land and he takes indirect action against you.

I HAD a plan for Rawal to get involved but alas... I ran out of script space; I could not add the quest.

In the mod, only Taygen gets auto-hostile if you attack Dera Reaches.

And the more important stuff

EDITING THE SCRIPT: You will see many many things that will ruin several surprises if you do that in my opinion...

LOCKED OUT OF FACTIONS: Not necessarily. If you Betray the Rebellion you become redeemable in Shaper eyes. Depending on how low you were, you end up like 2-5 pro-Shaper answers from acceptance.

Frankly, it's easier to get locked out of Ghaldring's faction if you suck up to Greta too much, cause it is evident from GF4-5 that the Drakons consider themselves the bosses of the Rebellion and Greta disagrees.

Betraying the rebellion: You lose the base, the talkable NPC, you're locked of Ghaldring's faction (as in you're attacked if you go Gazaki Uss). The stock soldiers still stay with you.

Attacking the Drayk counts as betraying the Rebellion BTW, the same if you attack your own base.

(Apologies for the bolds and all, I am itchy right now, excited with discovery)

Hmmm... A servile Alchemist told me the disease to cure serviles is in an another (hard to spell) city, where they actually care about serviles. That I can't go or they will kill me.

Syros:
"Everyone calls us mad, maybe they are right" = not good introductory speech. You're not making my choice to join the awakened any harder.

Question: Syros says there were three Drayks that escaped. One is called Rakkus. O_O I've met a Drakon named Rakkus in GF5. He's there in the very last battle with Ghaldring! Do I remember the name wrong? Is it a coincidence? Did Drayks shaped themselves to Drakons changing their actual form?! I mean, that is insanely wonderful!
I may actually join the mad-drayks after all. If they show they usually treat Serviles better and that disgrace here is just their worse side.

OK, his intro is not very impressive but his viewpoint, how the Serviles are treated, how it is absurd and downright hubris to declare the existence of a whole race of sentients that you have designed as "illegal", that the Shapers should be destroyed while humans are fine... this summarizes like 3/4 of my beliefs. I am also interested in seeing knowledge shared, but we can't have everything.

Outside:
I found a Shaper with a good foresight: If  everyone in these mountains isn't killed, Huge monsters (Unbound), diseases (Purity agent) etc would ravage the land. OK, true.

In any case, I cleared out some mad serviles and returned to Medab. After quite a long time, that place really feels like home. The Takers have strong arguments and whatever the rest are saying, they are not the mad ones. The others are mad. But Medab feels like home...

I found some really anti-social cryodrayks locked in their houses outside Zhass-Uss. I have no idea why and when I tried to talk to them they talk me in non polite tones to butt off. If I tried to even step in their room, they attacked me.

In any case, I got to Zhass-Uss and I am very under-whelmed. The place is a slum according to the info while I was expecting some majestic stuff like Drakons so much like to throw around. These are the people promising me more power than Bazrahl. And they actually seem the non-friendly people I may align with because they will survive Litalia so it's not pointless to speak with them and they seem to have, from what others tell me, a fighting chance. From first impression, they don't look impressive, but appearances can be deceiving. They are the ones to survive after all, after tempting Litalia.

NOTE: There are again a couple of rough edges in the writting here.

And there is a line that unless it is a mistake, it does go too far and made me very uncomfortable.

Takers and Drayks:
Drayks ignore the plight of their own serviles letting them starve and ignoring spinecores that were infesting the farms. The few, weak farms. Serviles were starving. Starving!
Not that some of their own serviles don't deserve that by the way. I told Ignia I've killed the spinecores. I did it because I felt very bad for the serviles and the poor girl was malnurished along with the rest of the serviles.
The thank you I got? She will tell everyone, I'm helping the takers... I don't, I don't! Don't spoil my reputation with the Awakened Ignia! I did to help the -serviles-, not the stupid arrogant drayks that lead\boss-them-around.

Graveyard: Interesting headstones in the graveyard.

Infirmary: The Takers according to the text care the most about the rights and care of creations... as long as Drayks don't have to go out of their way to kill spinecores.

Looking for Syros: I found a Shaping vat. But I haven't found any Shapers or Lifecrafters.
I found though a kinda naive Cryodrayk, Dhorass that says she "shepherds" the Drakons Good going buddy, sure. Keep believing that. Cryodrayks will rule and guide the drakons. Hold that thought.
After I told this not-smartest specimen "WHY are you controling the drakons instead of leaving them free?" I got one of the most hillarious line in the series:
"Drakons are headstrong and arrogant, but only for now, I am sure." I laughed out loud at that. As in, I went "hahahaha" not broke a smirk.

TECHNICAL QUESTION:

After the new windows update, Geneforge when I put it at "change resolution" to fill up the screen, stretches too wide, looking quite bad. Before the update, it increased to fill my screen but didn't stretch as badly.

Is it my idea or something happened during the update?

A big thanks to both Gamerman (Artifact Baton mod and enthusiastic supporter of the endeavor) and theKian (betatesting and spelling\grammar corrections)

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Regarding the guns comment: True, haha. Ranged weapons>Melee weapons, every time. But at the same time, reality shouldn't really dictate gameplay itself, IMO. Then again, I could just buff melee weapons myself when the mod comes out. It wouldn't be particularly hard.

 

Soldiers: So treat them as if they're weaker War Tralls until they start getting some of their more potent upgrades. Understood. Should I expect these soldiers to have the health and resistances of a weaker War Trall as well? No answer to the durability question, or at least I didn't see one. I don't want my soldiers to die en masse to everything the late game throws at me... XD

 

A more aggressive Shadow Road. Much more secretive though compared to the Shadow Road; that got discovered real fast. XD

Greedy Drayk asking for money to get to an area despite me being able to get there myself? LOL, no. XD

Going to guess that this secret servile trafficking route is going to have something where you have to defend it every now and then, since it sounds like you've got forces and optional creations there to defend it. Probably by Taygen's forces, or something like that. 

 

Ahhh... so this route is used to help the rebels attack the Dera Reaches. You're essentially helping the rebellion in secret doing this. I can see now why this needs to be kept secret and how disastrous it'd be for you if the Shapers find out about this. But at the same time, I do not like Taygen, and it seems no one in-universe or out of it does either, so... where do I sign up?! XD

 

I've got more questions for you alhoon about your Warrior mod, but I'll save those for when you make your thread about the Warrior mod.  
 

 

Melee weapons: Yeah, it takes like 5 minutes to do it.

Soldiers: As very weak tralls, until they get poison upgrade at which point you can treat them as half-wartralls since they have the exact same functionality... I.e. ranged support.

Ahhh... not sure what the war-trall's resistances are. The Servile soldiers that you get with you are resistant to many things except physical damage (and they are the ones with the venom batons and poisoned blades). The human serviles are less resistant poison, acid etc but have better armor and don't deal poison.

Unless you train and take care of your soldiers they will die en masse to everything from the early game, as they start as like level 12-13. Trained and equipped and having a specific quest they go all the way up to 33-34 or something with better resistances and damage.

I didn't say the Shadow Road Mk II is more secretive, I said it is made in secret...

You can convince the Drayk that you're his boss so no money from you for his hoard.

You are not helping the Rebellion in secret... I just didn't make the changes so that you're automatically attacked by Alwan's forces as well the moment you step in his base. I was thinking since you can do pretty much everything like walk into his forts and wipe them out by late game and nobody bats an eye in Perikalia, I would just not make it a "switch" that marks you automatically as enemy of the Shapers.

However (this is spoily)

The Warrior and Guardians mod:

I made this mod is for Warriors and Guardians and incorporates elements of the "Artifact Batons" mod by Gameman as well as a completely new zone.

Gameman and myself have tested the whole thing and theKian has kindly betatested parts of it.

After certain Rebel missions you can request to be made Captain of the Rebellion and be given a base to command. For Shaper-minded individuals, you'll be given the chance to betray the Rebellion if you so choose.

This mod is designed only for Guardians and Warriors! Using a different class would be problematic since the new quests, rewards and equipment are geared towards those two classes! A Shaper will see little benefit from a recipe that gives a good baton for example, or an agent would become overly powerful if she is given the ability to include in her party a large group of free-from-essence reliable allies (while a lifecrafter\Shaper could make better).
NPCs will regard the player as a Warrior or Guardian which affects some of the dialogue aside of the rewards.

The mod is not save compatible, it requires a new game.

DOWNLOAD LINK 1: https://www.mediafire.com/?5762ayc8efb5t8i

Features of this mod are:

- Artifact Batons and exceptionally powerful shields and weapons. However, unlike the Artifact Baton mod (thanks Gamerman!), in order to make them you have to locate the recipes!
- Multiple new mid-late game quests.
- A completely new zone, West of Dera Bridge. To locate it and the secrets within you need to establish a base and complete certain quests.
- Rebalance the classes. Removed the resistances for Shaper classes to make them compatible with their respective Rebel classes (Guardian still has the starting essence bonus)
- Control of a base gives you several benefits. Some of these include requesting soldiers to join your party, salary and quests with significant rewards.
- New mechanic: Combat Worthiness. Your soldiers start as a ragtag group and can be trained and equipped to become an elite force.
- New characters and NPCs to react with, with their stories, problems, agendas and motivations.
- Experience and Equipment shortcuts. Now, you don't have to complete side quests you've done a dozen times or visit zones that you don't find interesting just to level up or gather a little money. At certain points through the game a level check will be made and you'll be asked whether you want extra XP, coins and equipment.
The checks are made: On a new game. When you enter Mera Tev (if you're below level 14). When you enter the North Plains (if you're below level 24). Outside Ghazaki Uss (if you're below level 30). At the Dera Bridge (if you're below level 35).
- Canister abuse has an impact on some of the new quests.

This mod doesn't alter the existing story of the game or the endings in any way. It adds content to the game, it doesn't change existing content.

For those interested in modding: Since I could do it, so can you.  Not every mod has to be a big multi-month project. Modding is caring.

A LITTLE HELP ABOUT THE MOD:
- To set up the base, you have to do a specific quest for the Rebels. It is in the introduction of several zones.
- After you do that quest, a dialogue option opens up with Greta and Ghaldring in Gazaki-Uss
- You are under the command of General Greta, a moderate. The better your relation with Greta's faction of the Rebels the bigger your salary and rewards.
- You will get options to betray the Rebellion, even very far into the main quest. This will heavily adjust your relations with the Shapers so that it would be possible to join them.
- You don't get -anything- for betraying the Rebellion, other the possibility (with some work) to join the Shapers and the enmity of the Rebels. Don't expect to walk to Alwan or Taygen and tell him "I was a captain of the Rebels, hit the Shapers mightly and then I betrayed the Rebels. What do I get in return?". As such, even if you want to join the Shapers I suggest you progress a lot in the quest before you do it, to get most of the rewards.
- The Rebellion expects their commanders to be close to the ideals of the Rebellion. Your salary (and certain events) are also based on your Rebel\Shaper reputation.
- Doing quests for Greta and improving your relation with her allows you to request more resources and manpower from her for an increase in your troops combat worthiness.

A big thank you to Gamerman for the Artifact Baton mod and betatesting and theKian for betatest.

Update: Without any reported problems from several players that used this mod, I decided to move it out of Beta

What people have said about the mod:

1 hour ago, Gameman112358 said:

I mean, on one hand, you're essentially creating a Shadow Road Mk II, except instead of ferrying serviles from the Shaper coastal provinces through the Mera-Tev, you're ferrying serviles out of the Dera Reaches. I doubt the Shapers would be particularly pleased about that. But on the other hand, none of the Shapers like Sage Taygen, and you're ferrying serviles out of his lands, where he, like you said, locks them up in what is essentially in-universe concentration camps. So... eh? Maybe it doesn't matter? I dunno, alhoon is the one making the quest line, not me, so he'd be the one deciding what would happen.

And troops. You're also ferrying troops that attack the Dera Reaches from the North while Ilya forces attack from the Sea. An NPC even comments on that after a number of Dera Reaches events.