Archaeolagent

Goettsch was not an apprentice! He was a full shaper, on his way to some fledgeling colony to help lead it. Diki's right though, I reread the dialogue and he's clearly not trapped. However, I doubt his serviles could build him a suitable boat. If they could, then surely the PC could just order the serviles in Pentil to build him one. One thing that's unclear is whether Goettsch thinks, as the PC does, that Sucia island is far out in the ocean and isolated, when (as the ending reveals) it's really just a little bit east of Dillame. (Yes, that Dillame.)

Yeah, but you also need a source of puresteel, which is presented as extremely rare, and you need to know how to make the canisters. By the time G4 comes around that's probably known by plenty of people, I suppose. The puresteel is still rare, though.

I must have missed the part where Barzahl didn't get killed. It worked for him in only one of many possible G2 endings, and not in the continuity used for G3 and G4.

Uh... and this is different from what you are suggesting, that he flees when forced to, how? How would the fact that the Shapers are on alert about dangerous things from Sucia going to make him seem less of a freak? Regardless, it's clear that he is trapped on Sucia in G1, isn't it?

Presumably, if he knew how to create a living craft (is that what you mean by water drayk?), he would have done so, left, and perhaps come back with more resources to get rid of Trajkov with.

Shockwave makes me nostalgiac for Tremor.

I'm guessing you could get higher. Lots of friendly characters give experience.

You can actually use the Northforge Citadel geneforge and die from it, having already used the Southforge one. It is worth pointing out, though, that the effects of the Southforge geneforge are significantly less pronounced than those of the original geneforge.

They also appeared in Nethergate, but unless I blocked out the memory, they weren't in Avernum 4.

It became habitual, though, and there were ways to tell where you needed to look and where you didn't. (This was not the case in BoE where designers put secret doors in bizarre places and nonsensical terrain habitually, but through E3 this was true.) You could do it in the course of a modified directional mash, as in 898989898.

And people complain about having to bump into walls in the earlier games. I prefer that to having to mouseover every pillar, by a longshot.

Yes, Drakons and Drayks *both* do physical damage.

That's exaggerating the difference between the classes rather grotesquely. Your Servile build was probably tighter and more focused than your Warrior build.

A couple rounds of Essence Orbs will barely take out a single Fyora unless you also have at least a moderate amount of training in some form of magery, be it battle magic or general spellcraft.

Quote: Originally written by Emperor Tullegolar: ...Diablo, the Master and Rentar-Ihrno... This is not an OK juxtaposition.

It's difficult to make that case when you are being persecuted left and right.

You probably need to be at a higher level. You won't be able to get past the gate until a long time after you get to that zone. A singleton on a low difficulty might be able to do it earlier, but otherwise you'll need to wait.

There is plenty of evidence from previous games that the canisters DO affect you when dealing with a similarly augmented individual. In G1, your interactions with Trajkov come to mind. IIRC, late game dialogue options with Barzahl in G2 and Litalia in G3 are similarly affected.

Quote: Originally written by Elegance: Qwghlmian or Lojban?: —Alorael, who has a new way to phrase the debate. Suppose shaping were replaced with guns. It's still a unique power, but would you argue that guns are inherently evil? How about iron armor? Or aircraft? Escalation of the tools of war is part of how the world works, even Geneforge's world, and at least shaping provides benefits as well. The problem with that analogy is that guns are weapons and only weapons. Shaping provides power much like guns do, but it also creates life forms with needs and the possibility of rights. Guns can escalate conflict, but they don't really create any conflict in and of themselves. Shaping does. The Trakovites don't argue that shaping is inherently evil. They argue that it is inevitably going to lead to destruction. Those are very different things.

Ellhrah's dead.

It's worth pointing out that, despite the absolute hostility of both Shapers and Rebels toward Trakovites, leaders of both sides regretfully acknowledge and sometimes even express Trakovite views over the course of the game. Greta: "It can be victory over the Shapers. At a horrible, horrible cost." ... She is silent, the grim debate raging inside her. Greta: "Are you mad? Of course it bothers me! My sleep is nothing but a constant cesspit of nightmares imagining it." "Then why allow it to exist at all?" Crowley: General Crowley is silent. You aren't sure whether he thinks your question is too foolish to notice or he truly doesn't have a good answer. Litalia: "Our bodies were not meant to be changed so. Not meant to be filled with so much power, without wisdom." Litalia: "The Trakovites may be right. They may be wise, and virtuous, and ahead of their time. But history teaches us that those blessed with that sort of madness tend to end up dead. Proven right, but dead."

Depends on the game. In G1, the cryodrayk is a lot better since it will have earned more levels from being shaped than XP, and those are better in G1. In G2 and G3, the cryoa is probably better, as it will be significantly cheaper and only a little bit worse. You could pump its stats and get something similar or possibly better. In G4, it is the same paradigm as G2/3, except that you are unlikely to get a cryoa to level 35 so easily, so it may lean towards the cryodrayk instead. Note that in G4 both creations are less useful, since ice breath no longer has a 70% chance of stunning.

In G3 (and G4), Essence Orbs has a base damage of 1-20 and does 1-5 damage per level of spell strength. I don't know how blessing affects damage output (I think it just adds some levels) but the setup you described (spell strength of 32) would do an average of 106 damage unblessed, in the range of 33-180. Because there are 33 rolls involved, the lowest and highest parts of that range will occur extremely rarely. That's against an enemy with no magic resistance. I suspect that whoever was talking about 300-400 damage output -- and it was probably Delicious Vlish -- was talking about damage per turn when hasted.

Melee is at times extremely difficult to do without assistance from Daze, or creations. Parry is worthwhile, as it reduces damage greatly. The regeneration enhancement, on a weapon, will be your best friend, draining large numbers of HP per attack. However, if you are making creations that's all out the window. Vlish are so disgustingly overpowered in G3 (if you pump magic shaping, make em early and let em gain levels) that the game becomes a cake walk even on Torment. Artila are also good. And they are cheap enough for Guardian use. Even one or two Vlish companions will be a big help, as you get lots of stunning and slowing action each turn.

Can you be a skilled shaper without knowing anything about magic? I don't think we've seen any examples of this in the game.