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Archaeolagent

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Posts posted by Archaeolagent

  1. Hold those horses.  That's not really true.  There are some ways in which the Agent is numerically superior, and other ways in which she is not; but there are some frankly silly comparisons being made here.

     

    8 hours ago, Displayed Name said:

    Yes, leveling Shaping skills is costly. But it isn't forbidden. It is possible to have end game viable shaping skills and much better spell scaling than Shaper as Agent.

     

    Shaping skills are the main thing a creation-centric build wants to pump.  An Agent who goes seriously for a shaping build will spend more extra points in shaping skills than they save in spells.  But even in the text above, look at the false equivalency: "viable shaping skills" versus "much better spell scaling."  This is pretty silly, considering that extra levels on creations have a more than linear impact on their effectiveness, whereas support spells have zero meaningful scaling to begin with.  Yes, you could scale damage spells more effectively, but if you're fielding an entire team of creations, any extra points going towards your personal DPS are going to be a weaker contribution than boosting creation DPS.

     

    If you want to run a creation-centric team, Shapers are the best class.  Full stop.  You could do it with an Agent and it wouldn't be crazy, but the Agent won't be better.

     

    Also, the game has been out over a month, and it had many months of beta testing.  It's been analyzed upwards and downwards.  Everything isn't perfectly balanced, of course not.  But one forum post is not a reason to jump to extreme conclusions like this.

  2. There are a decent number of quests (and a lot of conversations) that can be resolved in more than one way.  If you resolve them one way... you generally can't resolve them the other way.  You can always save and reload to see multiple resolutions, but generally you just have to pick one to move forward with, regardless of whether Leadership (or anything else) is a requirement.

  3. The Purifying Blade is really strong, and it is available extremely early.  However, its strength lies entirely in its bonus quantity of damage dice being high (it reaches up to +27). You also get a base of 2 dice plus 1 die per XP level.  The attack uses d5s.

     

    Reaper Batons get a base of +14 damage dice.  Same base dice.  And the attack uses d6s.

     

    So if we compare possible damage (before other bonuses):

    Very early - level 7, 1 canister: Blade = 18 x 3 + 2 = 56

    Very early - level 7, 1 canister: Baton = 23 x 3.5 + 8= 88

    Rushing canisters - level 11, 10 canisters: Blade = 40 x 3 + 2 = 122

    Rushing canisters - level 11, 10 canisters: Baton = 27 x 3.5 + 8 = 102

    Higher level - level 20, 10 canisters: Blade = 49 x 3 + 2 = 149

    Higher level - level 20, 10 canisters: Baton = 36 x 3.5 + 8 = 134

     

    The Purifying Blade does more damage for most of the game, but by endgame this probably isn't enough to justify a lost early attack due to having to close to melee.  If Reapers were plentiful, melee might look bad.

     

    This does, however, point to Randomizer's observation about the missile issue being not having enough ammo.  Every other missile weapon uses d4s (or worse), at which point you're doing roughly 2/3 the damage of the Purifying Blade.

     

    However -- there are certainly enough reaper batons and thorns to use as much as needed on all the bosses and minibosses.  You'll often be happier with the AoE from spray anyway.  So as long as the Vampiric Lance is enough for generic mobs, there's no real missile issue... possibly an annoyance, but against generic mobs with shorter fights, losing an attack due to needing to close to melee is also kinda worse.

  4. Damage dice were also different in OG.  OG1 and OG2 had much larger melee damage dice.  From OG3 on they were brought down from mostly d8 to d4 and d5.

     

    26 minutes ago, Displayed Name said:

    "My melee guardian rolled over Torment."

    Yes, focusing melee on PC is viable. Torment is lenient enough as is. It is just worse than other options.

     

    This, this, this.  Except replace "melee guardian" with all the other things people say this about.

  5. Shaping a creation into existence from scratch is not the same thing as shaping an existing creation to augment or alter or heal it.

     

    Also... humans aren't creations.

     

    There is zero in the games to suggest they could do this, and it would be a gaping plot hole if they could.  Every other shaper rule gets broken over the course of the series.  This is just not a thing.

  6.  

    4 hours ago, earanhart said:

    Push has a really good stun rate on it.

    No, it doesn't.  Push has exactly the same stun rate as Airshock or any other attack.

     

    Abilities do not have different rates of landing status effects.  If the attack hits, and the status isn't resisted (which is just a resistance % check), it lands.  (This is why Delirium applies Daze twice -- this effectively gives you 2 chances to land it, because this is the only way the engine actually has to make an ability more likely to land a status.)  (Well, I guess there are also abilities which have a chance of not even attempting to land the status, as happens with e.g. the Cockatrice AoE statuses, but I don't think this applies to any of the PC's stunning abilities.)

     

    And late game bosses... heck, even most early game bosses basically all have very high Stun resist.  They also take multiple turns per round so applying 1 turn of Stun is only a fraction as effective as it sounds like.

  7. It's not 1:1.  As the in-game text says, and as stated above in this thread, it's -1 Health (not Endurance) for the first canister, -2 for the second, etc., capping at -6 for canisters 6 and beyond.

     

    Endurance:

    Increases Health by (5 + Level/2) per pt

    Before class multiplier: 1.5 (Guardian) or 1.3 (Agent) or 1.0 (Shaper)

     

    This means that at endgame, let's say level 20, one point of Endurance is worth 2.5 canisters for a Shaper, 3 for an Agent, or nearly 4 for a Guardian.  (And that's after the first 5 canisters, which are even cheaper.)

  8. Update on Randomizer's bug report: apparently, the Mac version of Infestation uses smaller string variables than the PC version, for some reason.  This is unfortunate.  What this means:

     

    - PC users - there is no issue for you.

    - Mac users - for now, just don't pick up the book in the Magus Complex library that is called "Wild Adventure" in the base game.  It's not a quest item, all it does it get sold for 17 coins, so you can just ignore it.  I've checked and this issue should not affect anything else in the game.  I will adjust the text in v1.02 when that comes out.

  9. 3 hours ago, Hyperion703 said:

    Both Daze and Wrack lasted one or two turns before it wore off regardless of my MM skill level.

     

    Mental Magic only raises their durations by 8% (on average), which you're not going to notice when the base duration is a small number like 2 or 3.  Raising your skill level in that specific spell raises their durations by 25% (on average).

     

    However, you complained right after this that fights only lasted a couple turns, so one or two turns of the effect should be plenty?

     

    3 hours ago, Hyperion703 said:

    It felt unnecessary; spending one turn’s actions so I could roll the debuff dice each turn did not seem particularly worthwhile if the fight only lasted a couple turns.

     

    Some fights definitely last longer on higher difficulty, so this may be where not every spell is going to be relevant to every play experience.

     

    3 hours ago, Hyperion703 said:

    No cure for burning love? Really? Essence Shield was crucial here, as I never found another way to avoid the life loss. Maybe the Healing skills suite could include a solution when someone tries to turn you into a walking campfire.

     

    Why does there have to be a solution that involves curing it?  If every debuff is just something you remove by using ability X, that reduces the variety in the game.  It reduces the variety of strategies you might use in response to different enemies and what they throw at you.  Having debuffs that can't be cured and where you instead have to mitigate the effects is a great thing, IMO.

     

    3 hours ago, Hyperion703 said:

    The missed opportunity to include a robust system for item crafting is truly perplexing. All these unusable Fine Mined Crystals and gemstones. All these unused Enchanted Anvils. It’s so clear and obvious that I’m half wondering if this element of the game was originally intended, but left out for time or budgetary reasons.

     

    No.  The gemstones are a major cash source, and the fine mined crystals do in fact have multiple crafting applications.  (They aren't exciting ones, but they exist.)

     

    This is one of those RPG elements that some people really love and a lot of other people don't care about.  There's a long list of elements like that.  Not every game is going to have all of them, and the fewer people involved in a game's creation, the fewer are going to be there, because they take some time to create.

     

    3 hours ago, Hyperion703 said:

    Haste does not stack with Quick Action. Sadness. Even though some enemies get three actions per turn, your flexes will rarely be as hard. I *think* I recall haste stacking with Spell Mastery, like once or twice. Not sure.

     

    This is incorrect.  But, there is a nuance that the tooltips don't explain, which is relevant here.

     

    Haste and Quick Action (and other skills with that effect) do stack.  They increase the chance that you get the reduced AP consumption effect.

     

    However, the "Hasted!" or "Quick Action!" effect that reduces your AP consumption can only trigger once per turn, no matter how many possible sources of it you have, or how many actions you take.

     

    Also, the "Quick Action" skill itself doesn't trigger off spells.  Spellcraft does that.  (This bit is in the tooltips.)

     

    The Gloves of Spell Mastery effect is unique (it's actually hardcoded) and seems to have no effect on Haste/QA whatsoever.  It can also apparently trigger multiple times per turn.

     

    3 hours ago, Hyperion703 said:

    Otherwise, Quicklash is six essence worth of pointless if you have high enough Haste or QA. I’m sure this can be explained.

     

    Quicklash is overpriced in essence IMO, but it is not "pointless" just because you have some Haste/QA.  Quicklash guarantees you get a second cast.  Haste/Spellcraft cannot be raised high enough to actually guarantee that.  So if it's crucial, the spell can really make a difference.

     

     

    3 hours ago, Hyperion703 said:

    Lastly, it’s kind of rough that there are so many duplicated “unique” magic items

     

    Actually, I feel like there are fewer duplications than we often see in games (especially compared to games with random magic item drops).  Per nlambert's index, I count 88 magic items that are completely unique, and 46 that are duplicated.  (This excludes listed items which are obviously generic, like Shaped Boots, but it does include items whose status as magical is ambiguous, like Swamp Boots.)

  10. @Randomizer

     

    I downloaded your save, plugged it in, and loaded it up.  I don't get crashes hitting get item, hovering over the book, or picking up the book.  Or doing anything else.

     

    Whatever is going on is specific to your installation, somehow.  My only other thought is to reinstall G2 entirely -- if you had file corruption on the mod previously, maybe you have file corruption in some other component of G2 unrelated to the mod?

  11. @Randomizer

    I can't duplicate this, and double-checking the relevant files, I can't find anything wrong.  Is there any message in the console before it crashes?  If not, can you send me the save where this happens?

     

    Also, is this a fresh game begun with the mod installed, or is this an old save loaded with the mod?

     

    EDIT: Also, if you're actually seeing "Wild Adventures" with that text then let me know -- if so, something has gone wrong with your files, because that's not possible with the mod installed.

  12. Sorkin isn't in Pentil, he's in Pentil East.

    For Jaffee, I think you might need to learn the Sholai language exists first.

    See below for Masha's location.

     

    From the Mutagen index linked in Strategy Central:

     

    Sholai language lessons:
    From Learned Jaffee in Pentil. Obeyers only.
    From Sorkin in Pentil East. Awakened only.
    A tome above the Stairs in Kazg. Included if you learn it from Toivo. 2,54.
    From Toivo in Kazg. Counts double, but contains the information in the tower. Takers only.
    From Masha in the Refugee Cave, or a case to the west. Complete "Recover Sea Chest Key" first. Counts double.
    A tome in the northwest building of the Patrolled Dell. Get one from another source first. 15,5.
    From Znaf in the Winding Road for 500/1000 coins. Leadership 1, and cheaper with 3.
    From Gavrila in Crossroads. Not available if you have the Trajkov Amulet.
    In a tome south of the center of the Research Quarters. 21,22 and 32,35.

  13. 3 hours ago, Lorn said:

    You do not have a pre-determined route to follow, but if you don't follow what's intended by the dev, you are simply
    a) wasting your time
    b) going to explore low level places only for a completionist thing, because being higher level you don’t get any xp, only lore related things and you still waste time killing the creatures (well you are indeed faster given that you are higher level).

     

    If you consider combat to be a waste of time rather than something that is at least slightly fun in and of itself, I think you will find a large part of the RPG genre -- and especially the classic RPG genre -- to be annoying.

     

    This is kind of just how the genre works.  It's like playing a platformer and saying that you need to receive a quantifiable reward of some sort every time you jump.

  14. I don't know why you're so focused on forcing a modern-education-system structure onto shaper training, but that's really not going to help anyone figure out what zone this is.  (And if we're gonna nitpick, "artillae" is not the plural, no matter how much you want to force Latin into things.)

  15. I agree about Essence Lash.  (And Chain Lightning I don't think holds up as well as the others, mainly because you'd usually rather just Essence Lash.)

     

    Guardian's Roar is situational, and it's worse than what you can do with Mental Magic or Magic Creations.  But if you're running a Fire or (especially) Battle shaping guardian who avoids magic, it's your crowd control option.  I might call it underwhelming compared to other abilities in the game, but I'm not sure I would in this context, as it fills a completely different niche from the other weapon shaping skills.  The important thing isn't that it makes them run away, it's that it stops them from attacking you while they're terrified.

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