Micawber

The maximum level for each skill and ability is 30. But you won't get any of your abilities above 6 without cheating, I think.

For me, magical creations are my favourite. There are so many situations in geneforge when you need a ranged attack. The only time I make an exception is for rotghroths; they are awesome. As for the essence cost, I'm with those who prefer rotghroths to rothdizons and gazers to eye beasts, because the slightly souped-up creations are not worth the doubled essence cost.

Rip a back-up copy?

Yes: come back later when you're stronger! Your strategy for killing ghosts depends whether you're an agent, guardian or shaper. As an agent, I use strong daze and then pick them off one by one. Searer is good against ghosts, if I remember correctly. As a shaper, artilas are good, but probably anything whose attack is not ice-based will do fine (Rotghroths rock!). As a guardian it's a lot harder - you need quick action, speed pods and a LOT of endurance.

If you registered Exile 3 you get a discount on Avernum 3 (tell Jeff the name and address you registered from the first time). But you don't get a double discount, so if you purchase the whole trilogy you won't get both the trilogy discount and the Exile discount.

Last time I asked this question (2 years ago!) I was told that there is no way in - the room is a teaser. Even if you could get in, there's nothing in there anyway. There are some other places like this - like the room behind Erika in A3 and Sulfras's chambers.

Partly owing to the graphics, partly owing to the engine, the games have a very different feel. I bought both the Exile trilogy and the Avernum trilogy; and I still play both. The challenges are different - in Avernum you are less likely to be swamped by summoned monsters, your weapon skills are somewhat more effective, and you are given more detailed in-game information so there is a reduction in wasted effort. On the other side, in Exile you do have advantages the monsters don't have, the area-effect spells have no Avernum replacements, and there are some useful ways to use end-combat which Avernum doesn't allow. It's perfectly possible to enjoy both games in completely different ways.

Buy the game on CD-ROM, and you'll never have this problem!

Quote: Originally written by Charlie Escoffery: OK...but I need to get him enough armor protection as he is the favorite target (eventhough far back in the grouping) of the enemy archers/spells. There are several magic items which increase your mage's armor without encumbering (ivory charm, ring of protection, mithrail chain mail, runed shield, runed helm) - try shopping in Waldby's bazaar, Brantford's shop and Shaynee's bazaar. I never let my mage get encumbered - action points are more valuable than armor levels.

No, but there will be an Avernum 4. EDIT: You can't be too addicted to E2. In fact you can never be addicted enough.

Yeah, it's not like the game has deteriorated since 1996. If you registered before, you don't have to do so twice - tell Jeff the original name and address you registered from, and he'll update the registration code. I've never put it to the test, mind you.

In my soul crystal I like to have jewelled golems (if I have to suffer their acid attack then so should everyone else); shamblers (quite hard to kill, so they are good for shoring up numbers); eye beasts (to drain enemy spell points); and basilisks (for obvious reasons - sometimes you want to be _certain_ to get a basilisk, so major summoning is no use). However, summoning anything overtly magical in E[1,2,3] is really fairly pointless, as their firestorm, etc spells are just as likely to kill you as your opponents. Yet, woe betide you if you should dare to harm any of your summoned creatures with an area effect spell. I once made that mistake casting shockwave with Erika in the room. Once.

40c No matter how difficult the quest, no one ever doubts you when you claim to have completed it. It's like they have independent confirmation for everything you do...

Nonsense! Joining the Anama is one of the greatest features of E3/A3. It's a useful way to max out your priest skills early in the game. This increases your ability to bless and heal your all-important fighters, which is the only function of magical PCs anyway. The only remotely useful thing you lose by joining the Anama is the haste spell, but (in E3 at least) the Anama rings prevent you from getting slowed too often and hyperactivity does the rest. Thralnai: the fake rings can be bought from the guild in Lorelei.

Quote: Originally written by Soltedas: 2. Did anyone use use potion-making much? I only ever used Health and Energy. Heroic brew is good, because it gives you extra APs. Protection brew is good, when you're fighting creatures that have a chance of killing you. Quote: 3. Did anyone find it easy? Yes. But still fun. If you found A1 too easy, skip A2 and move straight on to A3. The golems in A3 are not so easy. EDIT: but easier than the ones in E3.

Don't neglect Greta's intelligence. As well as increasing her spell energy (very useful later in the game when she learns to cast essence orbs) it will also reduce her chances of being terrified or charmed. It can be pretty nasty to have your creations turn on you, but if you keep their intelligence in line with their other stats, it's not likely to happen.

There IS a statue, at x20,y37. It's underneath some webs, so you might not have spotted it. Near the south of the map, the second building along from the left.

I believe he's in Wainscotting.

What type of damage is a rotghroth attack? I always assumed it was melee damage, but I then encountered some creations (oozing crawlers, IIRC) that were immune to rotghroth attacks. In the end, I had to beat them to death with a vlish. So what attack do rotghroths have - it would be useful to know which resistance to try to pump up for my PC.

All of earth's continents used to be joined together, and only split apart very recently, around 180 million years ago. Those genera, family, and order levels were all developed before the continents split apart. Birds, ants, moths and flies all developed 225m years ago; mammals developed during the triassic period between 248m and 206m years ago. Our continents are hardly isolated (most of them have land contact with the others) and not enough time has passed for significant inconsistencies to develop. Edit: not to mention, it is impossible to go right back to the drawing board once other species are already interfering with your development opportunities. Edit 2: I still don't think I'm being clear enough. I'm saying that earth and a hypothetical planet X might start from similar conditions, but the minute the very first species evolves it will influence all the subsequent ones. The general forms of viable life on earth are not independent of each other, however the forms of life on earth are independent of those on planet X. It is fundamentally unsound to extrapolate from the variety of lifeforms on earth to predict the variety of lifeforms on planet X.

Well the shaper graphic is fairly androgynous. I'd be more impressed if you could name a male agent. I can't remember any female guardians, either.

My suggestion is to run away, leading the golem out into the corridor, where it will be quickly slaughtered by the waiting rotghroths.

Quote: Originally written by Jumpin' Salmon: Seeing as how this planet alone is gifted with millions of species, it isn't unreasonable to expect that [...] pretty much every general form of life has been realized. On the contrary, it is unreasonable. Life forms are in competition with each other, and may inhibit or influence one another's development. For instance, in New Zealand where there used to be no mammals, unique forms of birdlife were developed - as soon as they came into contact with mammals they became extinct (or at least endangered). The existence of one species may prevent another from being viable, and vice versa: it is a matter of luck which one comes first. There are not enough continents on this planet to argue that every possible species has been given the chance to develop on its own without interference. If one accepts that mutations are random, then another planet with the same starting conditions could end up with entirely different forms of life.

You don't say which game in the trilogy you refer to, I assume you're talking about A1. In the Tower of Magi, 'X' will teach anatomy skill, but only after you kill the adze-haakai. [EDIT: it costs 3000 gold per level, gold in the game is capped at 9000 so it takes ages to train everybody up five times.] I don't know how to get pathfinder skill in A1 (apart from a mind crystal in Bargha), but if you have safe travel spell and high resistances then you can get by.

It must be the pinocchio thing, then. Or perhaps Terrestria has a severe shortage of coatpegs.