Gameman112358

The mod has been updated to 1.1 everyone! Bug fixes, optimization, and two new batons! Check the original post for the files. Enjoy!

It would be pretty damn funny if Clunky was actually capable of standing up to a horde of Tralls/Gazers/*insert high powered creation here*. Just imagine: a little clawbug facing off against a bunch of massive, super powerful creations... and the claw bug comes out on top. XD Cue trololol song. XD XD XD

A Stinging Clawbug that can poison + fear enemies, alongside having a very high movement speed? That's pretty strong. Something to point out: increasing the walk speed of a creature does affect how much distance it can cover in combat. What that means is that a creature with a higher walk speed can cover much more ground in 8 turns compared to a creature that has standard/slower walk speed. Something to keep in mind. I'm kinda curious where this thing shows up and how much health it will have, since the phrase "thorn to delay enemies and die bravely" for a tactical retreat makes it sound like it can take a lot of hits before going down.

Does Vampiric Touch really do much in the grand scheme of things? I haven't tried modifying the values yet, but Vampiric Touch doesn't seem to be particularly strong. It seems to refill your health each time you hurt an enemy, but the effect isn't exactly noticeable in my experiences...

Yeah, the Ether Onyx Baton isn't really the strongest baton out of the bunch. It's funny because I was struggling to make this baton a very strong option for players, considering the enchantment crystals used (Runed Onyx and Ethereal Bindings) are, from what I remember, seen to be pretty terrible weapon enchantments by most of the player base. Yet when I try to make a strong baton that uses aspects from those crystals... that baton is still not that great. XD Might consider increasing those resistance bonuses if I get enough feedback from people telling me that the baton isn't strong enough. Regarding Channeler Baton: Intentional. Bonus to all three sects of magic is so that combat oriented classes (Warrior, Guardian, Shock Trooper) get some magical capabilities. Battle Magic won't be the most useful thing for them, but Blessing Magic and Mental Magic will come in handy. Also, this weapon is great for Infiltrators and Agents, since they are reliant on magic with some melee/missile attacks on the side. Serviles, obviously, will benefit greatly from the batons (Though I think they're strong enough as it is... Servile class is I think is a contender for best class in the game). Bug: I did make a few silly mistakes here and there. The smith will take your money properly, but I didn't properly make it so that once you're short of cash, you can't purchase any of the batons. That's one of the bugs that I completely missed while making the mod. I'll be bug fixing and updating this mod every now and then whenever I notice something is wrong, or if bug reports are consistently showing a problem with the mod. That will be fixed ASAP (School has started back up, so I'm fortunate to still have time to be able to create and release mods).

Hello Geneforge fans! It is with great pleasure that I present to everyone my first mod for GF5. This mod implements new items into the game, namely, Artifact Batons. These highly modified thorn batons are designed around the idea of implementing artifact weapons into the game alongside the artifact armors that players can get over the course of the game. These batons function like regular batons, but with a few cool twists: - No reloading needed. These batons come with infinite ammo, meaning that players won't have to worry about running out of thorns mid-battle. - Powerful custom attacks. Each of the higher level batons have their own unique attacks, which can be easily modified in the scripts. One baton for example is capable of inflicting the Searing Lightning status effect on enemies. - Stat buffs. Much like artifacts, these batons increase your stats, depending on which baton you choose to craft. In order to make these batons, you need to gather the materials you need to make these batons, which you then have to visit the smithy in Mera in order to get these made for you. You will have to do a little bit of work to obtain these rare batons, but you will find that the reward is worth the effort. The mod is here (Version 1.1): https://www.dropbox.com/s/pesxxvq9t2aeuv8/ArtifactBatons%281.1%29.zip?dl=0 To install this mod: All you have to do is simply replace the appropriate script files with the files found in the zipped folder. Don't forget to backup your original scripts. Why did I make this mod? Well, first, I was having fun modifying the scripts, and I had the idea of adding artifact weapons into the game, especially considering that no game in the entire Geneforge series to my knowledge has any artifact weapons, only artifact armors. This is sorta to show how it can be implemented. Second, I wanted to release a mod that would help players that struggle to use combat oriented classes like Warriors, Guardians, and Shock Troopers. Weapons don't really scale as well as magic or creations in the Geneforge series, and this mod is sorta a way to fix that problem. Feedback and bug reports are welcome. EDIT: CHANGES IN 1.1. - Optimized the Scripts. For modders, that means that the script takes less lines of code, which frees up space if you're one of those people adding custom items or creations to the game. - Bugfix: Properly made it so that you can't obtain these artifact batons unless you have the money to pay for them (previously, you could get away with having no money, but still be able to get the batons as long as you have the materials. This is no longer the case). - Added two new batons: Commander's Baton and Physician's Baton. The readme has the recipes and what they do exactly. - Buffed the Ether Onyx Baton's Stun and Energy Resistance boost from +20% to +30%. Hopefully that makes the baton a little more competitive.

I will admit, I was more focused on having fun and messing around with the idea of an artifact baton; balance was sorta secondary to me. It's funny though; when I look at the Ether Onyx Baton, I realize that I took the two probably worst crystals in the game (Ethereal Bindings and Runed Onyx), and despite my efforts to make that baton strong, while still thematically fitting what the crystals do to the baton exactly... the baton itself isn't THAT great, at least relative to the other batons (which I will admit are straight overpowered. XD). The Channeler Baton was sorta something I came up with on the fly. I remember in GF4 that when you're in the section where you have to fight a certain NPC at a certain point in the game, you got these characters called Channelers, which increase your Spellcraft tremendously when in your party (I wish I knew a way to replicate that... probably hardcoded, but it would certainly be useful to know if it is possible to do something like that for companion NPCs.). Also, the baton itself is actually (in my mind, at least) specifically designed for Shock Troopers, who have some of the worst magic I've ever seen. Really broken baton, admittedly, but at the same time, there are artifacts that give you +5 to all magic stats, so... XD (You do need rare materials to get those, admittedly, whereas the Channeler Baton the only serious component is the Purifying Elixir; Runed Ruby, Charging Stone, and Blessing Crystal aren't difficult to make. Bastion Baton... that was certainly fun to do, to put it lightly. XD Steel Spines = Defensive Mindset, Golden Crystal = Massive Damage Boost. Pretty much a super strong baton that would make the Reaper look like its very little brother. XD As I said, balance wasn't super important as it was seeing what can be done. Permission for the names, recipes, and "spirit" for the batons? I'll give you something better. I'll send you the modified Gf5itemschars.txt, Gf5objsmisc.txt, and the z11Tmeradlg.txt files shortly (You have to go to the Mera Smithy to get the batons. I haven't seen a way to add new recipes, so this is the workaround I had to use. Only the Mera Smithy at the moment has this; none of the other smithies will be able to create these batons). Save you some of the work of making them. Besides, I had a lot of fun making these, and while I'm not ready to release mods quite yet, I'd be more than happy to lend my work to other modders (as long as they ask nicely. ). Especially in this case; Warriors/Guardians are the biggest underdog ever since Geneforge 3, and I would be more than happy to do anything to make them stronger as a class (Same goes for the Shock Trooper, but you aren't making a Shock Trooper mod, you're making a warrior mod, so... yeah. XD) EDIT: Btw, the reason why all of the batons have a dexterity boost is because, I was thinking that, if you're modifying the creature in the baton to be better, one of those modifications might be that, alongside the infinite ammo, perhaps the creature in the baton has better depth perception, allowing it to aim at enemy targets better. To reflect that, I gave them a dexterity boost, since that makes the baton more accurate (Though in hindsight, maybe I should've just given the batons a missile weapons boost, since it does the same thing without making the character overall better at dodging and acting sooner in combat).

I managed to get the artifact batons set up and ready to go. The combination of things you need to make them are... unusual, however. I had to change what you needed to make the batons themselves. Initially I thought I would have them require one of the major components needed for other artifacts (unmelting ice for example), but then I realized that it would make them not worth the opportunity cost whatsoever; the other artifacts IMO are very strong, and having the player be locked out of them for a baton is not worth it. That being said, I would need a little bit of feedback on what I currently have for these batons, see what to improve. They currently use a combination of the enchanting crystals. You have to go to the smithy in Mera at the moment to get these, and you need to bring in the materials and some money to make these. First level of baton costs nothing. Second level of baton costs 100 coins. The batons are: T1 Baton Perfected Thorn Baton (Regular Thorn Baton + Purifying Elixir): +6% Armor +2 Dexterity This is the starting baton that you will need to make the stronger batons. In terms of strength, it is slightly stronger than an acid thorn (without the status effect), and it has infinite ammo. All upgraded batons also have infinite ammo. T2 Batons Bastion Baton (Perfected Thorn Baton + Golden Crystal + Steel Spine): +20% Armor +3 Dexterity +30% to hit +6 levels damage in combat +50 Damage Shield (Enemies take damage if they use melee attacks on you) Strongest thorn attack out of all the batons in terms of raw power, but has no status effects to go with it. Hunter Baton (Perfected Thorn Baton + Tiny Orb of Mist + Ivory Skull): +10% Armor +4 Dexterity +5 to Luck (It apparently gives stat boosts, including dodge, so I added this) +2 Extra AP Thorns cause the Curse status effect if it lands. Ether Onyx Baton (Perfected Thorn Baton + Runed Onyx + Ethereal Bindings): +10% Armor +3 Dexterity +20% to Stun Resistance +20% to Energy Resistance Thorns cause the Slow status effect if it lands. Channeler Baton (Perfected Thorn Baton + Runed Ruby + Charging Stone + Blessing Crystal): +10% Armor +3 Dexterity +4 to Battle Magic +4 to Mental Magic +4 to Blessing Magic Thorns cause the Searing Lightning status effect if it lands. A lot of this stuff is WIP, so don't be surprised if these batons seem either overpowered or really weird in terms of how they're supposed to be used and who gets the most benefits out of them. The second level of batons all have an attack that is stronger than a Reaper Baton, with the Bastion Baton being the strongest in terms of pure damage.

I was thinking more along the lines of a completely new, original class being added alongside what we've got already, but whatever. Honestly, I don't really think these mage/fighter classes would be that good, given that they're overspecializing in one aspect and abandoning the rest, but that's just me. Personally, I prefer using the cr_statistic thing to give additional combat stats (eg. missile weapons) to weapon focused classes (Guardians, Warriors, Shock Troopers), which are considered horribly underpowered and not fun to play. Also helps to sorta differentiate them a tiny bit. At one point, I gave them all a ton of combat stats, with some variations. Guardians get much more Parry than the other two (more focused on soaking up damage and then giving it back), Warriors get somewhat more weapon based stat boosts (missile weapons, melee weapons. More focus on weapon damage). Shock troopers were odd for me. I wasn't really sure what to give the Shock Trooper, given that the character is essentially a Shaper that is supposed to be capable of fighting alongside her creations. The name makes me think this character's combat tactic is to stack up as much damage as possible, so I ended up giving Shock Troopers 3-4 extra action points along with the buffs to combat skills. She also gets a larger bonus to her quick action stat. Not sure how it'll go, need to test to see how much stronger she'd be with extra AP + better weapon capabilities (It would probably help, considering that Shock Troopers seem to be considered horribly underpowered by players, at least based on what I've read on the forums). Also have a few other ideas for the shock trooper that I'll try later.

The infinite ammo baton was more because I was thinking about testing that idea anyway. I wanted to experiment with artifact weapons at one point anyway. May as well see what can be done in this game, right? After all, this thread is supposed to be seeing what can or can't be done in this game, and showing people that this game can be modded pretty well, if you're willing to put the time and effort into it. (For me though, school is coming up soon, so I probably won't be able to spend too much time with mods. Just to let you guys know. I'll probably still post ideas on here relatively frequently, though.) As for new classes, I'm not exactly sure if its possible to add new classes to the game, and even if you could, I think most of the slots for player classes have been filled out already. Like alhoon said, mages and fighters as classes would essentially be gimped versions of existing player classes. Those two are better served as support NPCs than as player classes IMO. Trying to get to Perikalia, which is by my estimates is around the transition from mid to mid-late game, would be very difficult with a mage/fighter character. You can alter the stats of player character classes though. Go to gf5itemschars and simply put cr_statistic i = z; into one of the player classes. Replace the i with the stat that you want to increase, replace the z with how many points that you want to increase on the stat. Refer to the second post of this thread for information on which stat is which: http://spiderwebforums.ipbhost.com/index.php?/topic/9164-scripting-info/

True. XD Plus, Shapers don't seem to give a sh*t if you're wandering around their cities with Barred creations like Drakons, Drayks, and Gazers, so... XD Rapidly growing thorns would work as an in-universe excuse. Batons use the same principle as healing magic to rapidly make thorns inside itself via healing magic principle.. Healing magic is shaping, in a sense. It's shaping new flesh and blood for a person, essentially. I haven't really done anything regarding the infinite ammo baton, but it wouldn't be hard for me to simply whip up something for you to try out. It would take a little bit of time, but it shouldn't be super hard. Actually, thinking about it, is it possible to get artifacts relatively early in the game? Some people say you can get mid-level artifact items when you get to the Mera-Tev, though I think those individuals did have to do some pretty dangerous maneuvers to do so (which may or may not include trying to sneak around Unbound. XD) I think, for crafting batons, there should be three stages. 1. Regular thorn baton (the first and weakest one): Same old baton we know. 2. Mid-level artifact baton (Baton + Purifying Elixir = Perfected Baton): Infinite ammo, better overall, gives extra dexterity or missile weapon bonus. Still using regular thorns, though. No status inducing ones yet. Why just the Purifying Elixir and nothing else? Since a baton is essentially a creation, the Purifying Elixir makes the creation much stronger and allows it to rapidly make thorns. Also, consider opportunity cost; one purifying elixir is difficult to come by for most of the game, and making this baton means you're not going to be making another artifact. It should be a little easier to make this compared to others. 3. High-level artifact baton (Perfected Baton + Unmelting Ice/Pure Quicksilver/etc. = ???? Baton): Again, infinite ammo, gets another overall boost in effectiveness, increase in dexterity/missile weapon boost. Also, it gives you armor now, much like regular armor. Now though, depending on what you put on it, it gains an attribute depending on what you put on it. Pure Quicksilver? You get 3-4 extra action points + more dexterity. Unmelting ice? Slowing effect on a single enemy + AoE Ice damage*. Stuff like that. (*There are impact sfxs that do damage depending on what you put in; refer to post #14 in this thread: http://spiderwebforu...-modding-items/) EDIT: Okay, I made the infinite ammo thorn baton and I'm testing it now. The item graphic itself looks weird, but it is working for the most part. No need for reload, no ammo needed. It's pretty much a beefed up regular thorn baton that has extra stats and gives armor. EDIT 2: I actually found an easier way to make thorn batons have infinite ammo. In gf5itemschars script, set the it_charges to -1 (it_charges = -1). It make the baton have infinite ammo. I think it works for anything that has an "ammo" counter, like wands and stuff like that. Good to know I found something new.

It wouldn't be hard to make an infinite ammo baton in terms of scripting. Just take a melee weapon, replace the icon graphics with baton graphics, give it a thorn attack, done. You've got an infinite ammo thorn baton. I'm just trying to think of a way to bypass the in-universe reasoning that the PC is essentially making a handheld spawner if they make it. XD (Though no one seems to complain if you wander around in Shaper towns with creations like Gazers, Drakons, and Drayks, so... yeah. XD Maybe I'll just use the "war is hell" excuse for this one. XD XD XD) It probably wouldn't be hard to mod in an artifact baton, with stat boosts, custom attacks, etc. I'm trying to think of NPCs that would be feasibly do such as task. Baton breeders would fit, but I didn't see any in GF5. Smithies are out; they don't work with batons as far as I know. Who then? Any ideas?

Guys, please don't get worked up over which playstyle is more fun/better... save it for another thread if you guys want to continue that discussion. Whether or not you prefer to fight your way through or use diplomacy/mechanics/stealth to win the day, that's up to you. Do whatever you think is the most fun. I just personally think that it would be more difficult (not less fun) to try and be a guile hero, using NPCs and other tricks to win the day. More difficult because from my PoV: No killing = way less exp = PC is underleveled = Going to have a bad time when you have no choice but to fight.

Sheesh, everyone calm down please. No need to get so worked up over it. He was stating his opinion, nothing more. Anyways, back on topic... I think I already did something like that, though less extensive than what you've done. I basically made it so that melee weapons scale better over time as you get more levels of melee weapon stats. ("Shortsword" class weapon scaling went from 4 to 6 (ab_effect_per_level = 4 -> 6;), while "Broadsword" class weapon scaling went from 5 to 12 (ab_effect_per_level = 5 -> 12;). Basically, melee weapons got a significant buff to how much they scale. I have no idea if this makes them overpowered or not; they're a heck of a lot stronger, but you're still going to have to get into melee range, which means that you'll be wasting action points moving in, and you're running the risk of charging into an enemy that brought in a ton of their friends to kill you. XD I haven't really touched missile weapons too much aside from the regular Thorn Baton, which I increased the level of the item itself instead of changing the thorn attack in the scripts, which would've buffed the enemy attacks as well. Enemy attacks IMO are already strong enough as it is, so instead I increased the it_level in the gf5itemschars, which increases the damage of missile weapons the PC uses, but doesn't do anything to NPC missile attacks. My reasoning for doing this: Enemies have infinite ammo, high level, and generally come in large groups, meaning that their missile attacks are stronger and are in larger numbers compared to you. You don't have infinite ammo, and missile weapons didn't really cut it IMO in their base form. A lot of your changes sounds pretty cool though. Might actually consider trying them in my experiments. I did find out early on that giving a "melee" based weapon a ranged attack meant that it had infinite ammo. Basically, put a powerful ranged spell on a blade and it will never run out of ammo. Doesn't consume any essence or energy using it either, and it doesn't have any requirements to use it, which meant that characters with terrible magic (Shock Troopers, Warriors, Guardians) could use ridiculously powerful spells for no cost. I was actually considering at one point giving weapon oriented classes unique, infinite ammo wands (using the technique you described) no other character in the game can get that give buffs such as war blessing, protection, etc. when the character uses them, but I found it easier to simply make it so that these characters start out with extra blessing magic stats at the start of the game. Only blessing magic; no mental magic or battle magic. It's magic to boost your character and your creations, nothing else. I seriously think that should've been the case from the start; would've made playing weapon oriented classes a little easier, and it doesn't make sense that weapon oriented characters don't have at least some blessing magic to boost their combat abilities. alhoon, the workaround I had in mind was simple, but somewhat time consuming. Using some of the techniques that your Shaper mod used (the lab and how it called for materials to build stuff), what I could do if I wanted to make an artifact blade is make it so that if you have the materials needed for an artifact blade and you go to certain NPC smithies, in the dialogue box, you can select an option where they can, for a small fee (maybe 100 coins or something like that), make the blade with the materials you gathered. Basically, script wise, you lose the materials and a little bit of money, and then you're given the artifact blade. Why did I make the cost so low? Well, the smithy isn't paying for any of the materials; you got them on your own. I don't really want to work my a** off and run the risk of death to get these materials and worry about a high cost on top of it all. These swords would be incredibly powerful; their attacks come with a status effect, they give a bunch of combat related stats, and they do as much (if not more) raw damage as a puresteel blade. They can be enchanted, of course, on top of everything. As for the idea of an artifact baton, I'm actually tempted to make one. Though I would have to think of a way to make up for the fact that batons can't be enchanted (I actually at one point made batons able to accept enchantments, mostly because I wanted to see if it would do anything. It did absolutely nothing, the last time I checked. Thorns were still regular thorns). Actually, what I had in mind for an artifact baton is that it would be similar in terms of the artifact blade creation; you go to a baton breeder (or whatever NPC that is appropriate in this scenario; I don't know if GF5 has any baton breeders lying around) and give them materials for an extremely rare, one of a kind baton. The materials would be similar to most artifact items, and you would have to pay a little bit of money to do it, but these batons, not only give stats, but also imbue a status effect that most batons don't use (curse, weaken, fear would be interesting, charm would be ridiculous, etc.), and they also... *drumroll* Come with infinite ammo! That's right, they never need to reload. Saves me the effort of making custom ammo for them, plus, you already had to work your a** off getting very expensive materials that you could be using for other artifacts, may as well make the baton worth your while. There's probably also some other ideas on how to make these artifact weapons strong that I missed.

alhoon, Triumph did admit that there are some zones where fighting is unavoidable, regardless of leadership or mechanics stats. Monarch is one of those fights that a leadership/mechanics/sneaky player cannot avoid. He is right though that there are ways to avoid fighting altogether. Though at the same time, you're right that it isn't terribly fun to simply watch a bunch of NPCs go at it with each other without the PC getting in on the action (and exp). Nor is it fun to disarm a bunch of mines/traps/etc. As for characters that revolve around this sorta thing, Serviles, Infiltrators, and Agents all fit the bill for that sorta thing, considering their play style revolves around a (mostly) singleton character that uses trickery, mechanics, magic, and the occasional blade and support creation to win battles. They still have to fight, yes, but they don't have to necessarily fight nearly as much as some other characters, and because they have strong magic, it is easier for them to help friendly NPCs via buffs such as Essence Blade, War Blessing, Protection, etc. Geneforge is definitely not one of those games where you are greatly rewarded for doing essentially a "Pacifist Run"; you lose out on experience for both you and your creations, which means you're screwed the moment anything manages to aggro onto you, simply because you're underleveled and therefore weaker than quite a few mid to late game enemies. At least that's my experience whenever I try to use guile and trickery to win. I usually use leadership and mechanics to help make fights easier/get help/get cool trinkets for myself, but for the most part, my character still plays a main role in the fighting. For Agents and Infiltrators, I actually at one point way way back when I started scripting gave them a bonus to their leadership and mechanics skills. Agents got a little more leadership, while infiltrators got some extra points in mechanics. Isn't there a stealth stat in GF4 and GF5? If there is, I'd add it to both characters too, though I don't think alter_stat will work (You have to put the stealth stat increase on an item for it to work. Not sure, would need testing to confirm). Though I wish I had an idea on what the stealth stat does exactly... Triumph, that G3 NPC that you're mentioning... I know who you're talking about, and I think it has something to do with the fact that said G3 NPC's script is buggy and does not trigger properly to make that NPC use the correct dialogue with your character. I've actually had that happen to me, though in my case, simply walking by that NPC and advancing further into the zone seems to have fixed the problem, and that NPC works as intended when you do. Not sure if it will work for you, but it's worth a try, I think. Btw, is it possible to make new crafting recipes? Or is that hardcoded into the game? If it's hardcoded, I already know of a workaround to use. I'm curious because I want to make a crafting recipe for the Shaped Blade. Basically stuff like Shaped Blade + Purifying Elixir = Perfected Blade, which is stronger and gives a certain stat boost like other Perfected items, and then make it so that the Perfected Blade has its own powerful crafting recipes. This is not only to make the Shaped Blade something worth keeping around (They usually lose out to quite a few endgame blades, Guardian Claymore and possibly Puresteel Blade for example), but also give some variety to the weapons. Most gear has powerful crafting recipes, but most weapons do not, and I want to experiment to see if I can change that.

So you can actually win the game using mostly diplomacy (leadership), disarming mines (mechanics), sneaking around, etc? I haven't really seen a particularly impressive implementation of that in most of the Geneforge series; while diplomacy and mechanics do help a lot, most of the games do require quite a bit of fighting to go with it. I guess I enjoy charging off and killing sh*t too much then... XD If you're going to put those abilities on enemies, probably best then to have said enemies be melee focused. After all, most of the abilities don't really work unless they get into melee range (Strike abilities only work on melee attacks that land on the enemy, Counter abilities only work on enemies that use melee attacks, and both have no effect on ranged attacks). Some enemies in the game already use the Extra Action Points ability, so it wouldn't be hard to replicate. Kinda thought it would be useful for melee focused companions since melee sucks a** most of the time. All NPC Guardians use Acid Thorns, which is a missile weapon, like you said. Increasing the strength of the individual thorns themselves would buff both the player and enemies that use the thorns. I actually bypass that by simply increasing the level of the item itself (in this case, the Acid Baton), which essentially increases the damage done by missile weapons done by your PC without effecting enemies(It seems that effectiveness scaling for NPCs with a built in missile attack vs the PC using an item like a baton to do it is completely separated; it is possible to adjust the level of items, which increases damage, chance to hit, etc, without increasing the strength of NPC missile weapons. Something to keep in mind if you want to buff the PC but not NPCs or enemies (in this case, missile weapons)). Most NPCs that use missile weapons are pretty obvious about it (their graphic will have them holding a baton), but some aren't as obvious. Guardians use acid thorns, some Warrior NPCs (holding swords) use regular thorns, Thornflingers (holds a baton) use venom thorns, quite a few Serviles use either thorns (regular or acid) or javelins, Bennhold uses acid thorns (didn't expect that given that uses the graphics of a mage; died the first time because of it lol XD), and there's probably more that I missed.

Those abilities would probably be useful in your warrior mod, thinking about it. I'm not sure what you have planned, but if you have an NPC companion that has no ranged attacks, putting abilities on that companion might be a good way to help them keep up. Putting a counter ability can be useful for a companion that is designed to go into the thick of enemies and soak up tons of damage, since they'll run up to melee range, attack, then the enemy will retaliate and suffer one of these status effects. The strike abilities would be somewhat similar, but I think they'd be more useful for aggressive, melee focused companions to help kill enemies faster. Actually, speaking of combat, did anyone actually try buffing the stats for melee weapons and missile weapons? It would probably help with some of the woes people on this forum face when they use combat related characters. I've actually buffed regular thorn batons quite a bit (Didn't change the projectile ability in gf5objsmisc script, but I increased the level of the thorn baton item itself(it_level in the gf5itemschars script) greatly. Enemies don't get stronger missile attacks, but the PC does. I think I increased the level from something like 5 to 15. You can probably do the same with other batons. Melee weapons... well, everyone kept saying that they're completely dead in GF5, so I buffed them to be not dead. XD I raised "shortsword" based weapons scaling (ab_effect_per_level in the gf5objsmisc script) from 4 to 6. Not much, but it should help them be more viable early game, and most blades don't use "shortsword" scaling mid to late game. Most melee enemies use "shortsword" scaling, so I did keep the stat increases small so enemy melee attacks don't end up too ridiculous. "Broadsword" based weapon scaling got a much bigger buff; since only the PC has access to "Broadsword" weapons (no enemy in the game uses "Broadsword" type attacks), I was more than happy to buff their damage scaling, from 5 to 12. Essentially "Broadsword" based weapons scale up much faster and better. I doubt this will make melee broken, considering melee got nerfed waaaaaaay too hard over the course of the series, and the fact that you still run the risk of charging off to your death, considering that you could hit an enemy that brought a lot of friends to kill you. XD Also, what I did was make it so that the severely underpowered, weapon focused characters (Guardians, Warriors, Shock Troopers also count) start out with extra combat stats (Parry, Quick Action, Melee Weapons, Missile Weapons) right off the bat. No other class gets to have these extra stats. Because this game has nothing like combat disciplines from Avernum, the only other way I could think of to make weapon oriented characters is to give them a bunch of extra combat stats, and it's really the only thing that IMO prevents these characters from being straight weak. I gave them a bunch, like 5-7 points to each stat (maybe more in some cases; you need a lot of Parry for example to make it work). I did this and everything else above for the sake of making weapon oriented classes more fun to play because they were literally that bad IMO. (Serviles and Infiltrators/Agents don't count, mainly because those characters do have a focus on weapons, but Serviles are considered to be horrendously overpowered by a lot of people I think, simply because they can get everything, from strong creations, decent magic, lots of health, and strong weapons. Infiltrators/Agents use magic to fight their way through, and use melee and missile weapons to support that. They aren't particularly reliant on weapons, and they're considered to be a decent class in GF5.)

So it is possible to make new zones. Huh. Probably a little time consuming to do, but good information for any modders out there. I'm not sure what set_strategy does exactly; I've never really tampered with it. My speculation is that it can change the behavior of creatures that are specified, but I can only guess what it does exactly. Set_new_abil allows creatures to have new perks added to them. I have a list of all of the ones I have found. Counter abilities are ones where if an enemy attacks this creature with a melee attack, the enemy will gain a status effect immediately after doing so. Only works for melee attacks, if it lands. Has no effect on ranged attacks. set_new_abil(1000,1); Curse Counter set_new_abil(1000,2); Slow Counter set_new_abil(1000,3); Acid Counter set_new_abil(1000,4); Poison Counter set_new_abil(1000,5); Charm Counter set_new_abil(1000,6); Terror Counter set_new_abil(1000,8); Spike Counter (Simply damages the enemy) Strike abilities are where the creature's melee attacks are augmented to have a status effect inflicted on an enemy if it lands. You can combine these with status effect attacks in the gf5objsmisc script, where you can have melee attacks be able to cause two status effects at once. Only works with melee attacks, no effect on ranged attacks. set_new_abil(1000,10); Poison Strike set_new_abil(1000,11); Acid Strike set_new_abil(1000,12); Fear Strike set_new_abil(1000,13); Charm Strike set_new_abil(1000,15); Slow Strike This one is special because once you assign a creature with this ability, it gains a bunch of extra action points. I don't remember the exact number, but I think it was 4-5 extra APs. Basically creatures with this ability can still move pretty far and still be able to shoot twice. set_new_abil(1000,20); Extra Action Points To use these abilities, simply replace the 1000 with whatever the creature's zone number is, then put it into the script. That creature should have that ability. Do note that this also works with creatures that are capable of joining you. Companions can gain these abilities if you put it into the script. Also, these abilities also work for the player character itself, by simply putting in pc_num() in place of the 1000. bless_char basically makes it so that the creature it is applied to has all three of the essence enchantments in the game. Essence Armor, Essence Blade, Essence Infusion, all at the same time. Normally you can only get one enchantment at a time, but bless_char allows creatures to have all three at once. bless_char(1000,2); All Essence Enchantments Again, replace the 1000 with the creature's zone number, then put this into the zone script. Do not change the two; it doesn't do anything if you do. Again, you can put this on the player character, putting in pc_num() instead of 1000 and putting this into the zone script. The abilities stay on the creature regardless of what zone you're in. Useful for companions, since they can retain their ability regardless of zone. You can only apply one ability to a creature at a time; if you try to apply two abilities, one of the abilities will override the other, meaning that only one ability is taking effect. bless_char only seem to work in the zone that it was put in; it doesn't stay on the character if it goes to a different zone. At least based on my testing.

I meant like a completely new, original zone being added to the game. You can replace zones, but it doesn't seem like you can create entirely new ones.

Self-shaping? Don't things like canisters and the Geneforge count as self shaping? Because if they do, then self shaping doesn't exactly do wonders for your own mental stability... XD Besides, I don't think there would be any case where self-shaping is capable of making someone be more empathetic and compassionate, considering that self-shaping (If the Geneforge and canisters count) has mostly caused individuals doing so to be: 1. Insane (Monarch(GF4)) 2. Power Hungry (Monarch, Drakons) 3. Arrogant (Litalia, Drakons) 4. Physically Damaged (Shaila(GF4), Hoge(GF3)) Anyway, Gazers as I said can't shape because they're too consumed in their insanity and arrogance to do so properly, and if they were capable of doing so with a high level of proficiency, you'd pretty much have to hope you never face one, simply because they'd become far too annoying to fight against, considering they already have a lot of tools to kill you with. Also, Gazerforge? Now you've got me curious on what the premise of that mod is supposed to be, alhoon. Is it where Gazers can somehow use the Geneforge and become ridiculously overpowered? XD

Meh. I know there are super easy ways to increase stats, but I've done that a lot of times, so I figured I may as well see what the Zone Simulator is capable of (It can do a lot of things to modify the game, short of adding a whole new zone to the game). Adding a ton of canisters is just one of those things I decided to mess around with.

^I can back up that statement. I bought both the GF3 and GF4 discs from Spiderweb Software, thinking that a physical copy of the game would ensure I don't lose it somehow. When I tried to install it on my Mac, it turns out that both discs required PowerPC, which was completely obsolete by the time I tried to install the games. I sent an email to Jeff about the problem, and he sent me a copy of the full versions of GF3 and GF4 that can be properly installed onto a Mac. Needless to say, I was very happy.

There were a lot of creations around that area. Worms are one, but there were things like Battle Alphas and Vlish around the area. Not sure if those were from the rebel attack on the fort or if the Gazer made them. I can definitely tell you though that the Gazer itself was Shaping turrets as you were fighting it (not something to scoff at; the player can't Shape turrets, but they're not what I would call a low creation to create. Especially the turret variants made. I think it was Acid Thorn turrets and Submission Thorn turrets, probably two of the most annoying turrets I've ever faced). As I said, Gazers can probably Shape very strong creations, it's just that in terms of game balance and in-universe logic, there are reasons why to not allow most Gazers you meet to make creations. Game balance, it would make fighting Gazers extremely hard, since they can already kill you with what they've got already, and in-universe, most Gazers are too insane or arrogant to Shape properly in most cases.

I'm afraid that my modifications regarding the implementation of Shaila are for my personal experimentation only at the moment. I might consider releasing mods at some point, but it won't be for a long, long while. Sorry. My modding abilities is not nearly as impressive as alhoon's, but this game isn't too hard to modify once you figure out what to do. For me, I started modding more extensively when I saw alhoon's first mod released, and I was already messing with the scripts before I starting going deeper, much like you are right now. Wouldn't be hard for you to go deeper into modding his game, if you're willing to take the time to do so. Out of curiousity, which upgraded creations did you think weren't so good? There might be a chance I've done similar modifications to upgraded creations forms, and I can give a couple of ideas on how to buff certain creations, if you want.

I think the Gazer at Lerman's Pass was definitely Shaping. I remember that when you fight it, it would Shape turrets to attack you with. Gazers can probably learn how to Shape, it's just a little rare to see one do so (Gameplay wise, it would make fighting Gazers a lot more nightmarish; they've already got strong attacks to kill you with, and giving them the ability to Shape new creations in the middle of battle would be pretty horrific. In-universe wise, I think most don't learn to Shape because they're either too arrogant or too insane to do so. Who knows).