Slawbug

I don't think I've seen a single RPG that's handled this sort of thing well -- aside from the bulk of them, that don't let you attack friendly characters in the first place.

 

In theory, it's nice to be able to role play a character with few morals, and kill and loot whatever you like. But given a game engine that is really designed for at least moderately amicable characters, I don't see the point in even having the option.

That would be wonderful. Man -- that would increase the design space of Geneforge about a zillion times. Here's to dreaming.

No, it's not. Being able to attack from a distance is a huge advantage for any attack type. HUGE. MONUMENTAL. That's why melee weapons had better dice than spells and missile weapons in G1 and G2.

 

What was perhaps unfair is that battle magic had two pumpable stats to missile weapons' one. Given the other advantages of battle magic (unlimited supply, lack of encumbrance, lack of hassle) that was a pretty unfair comparison.

On the one hand, that sounds like a cool system.

 

On the other hand, as things stand now, it would be a purely cosmetic change. The only difference between a Fyora and a Charged Fyora is base level. The only difference between Battle Alphas, Betas, and Gammas is base level. So the creations would still need to be differentiated.

No, it's not. Strength has always added to melee damage.

Just because hand gestures are involved doesn't mean understanding isn't.

Also, it will become very hard to hit, but it will still get hit at least once in a while; if enemies hit for a lot, creations with stronger offenses might be more practical. That said, Thahd Shades do have a very nice base level (= endurance and total HP) and decent base HP bonuses.

Random results on that kind of scale = really, really bad. It would be one thing, though, to have a really complex algorithm that seemed sort of random, but where the same input always gave you the same output. That would encourage empirical experimentation, rather than just magic 8 ball save-reloads.

Good luck.

A1/2: Remote, isolated area (caves, exiled), recently settled
A3: Relatively remote, isolated area (quarantine), relatively recently settled
VODT: Remote, isolated area (valley, quarantine)
ASR: Remote, isolated area (island, quarantine), relatively recently settled
ZKR: Remote, isolated area (caves, warzone), never settled
DWTD: Remote, isolated area, recently settled
Nethergate: Remote, isolated area (valley)
G1: Remote, super isolated area (island, quarantine), deserted
G2: Remote, isolated area (valley, quarantine), recently settled
G3: Remote, isolated area (islands, quarantine)

Did I mention that if I never see the word "quarantine" in a Spidweb game or scenario again, I will be very happy?

What about the two new classes, then?

Lots, if you count the number of times people playing Agents save and reload

 

Seriously though, how many agents do you see at all? Very few. G1 has none, G2 and G3 definitely have more shapers and I think more guardians. Shanti, the only agent who is ever significant to the plot, dies. Macwhatserface in G3 dies in the Rebel storyline. How many agents do you see who prosper?

No, not like when you can report a servile. My point is that a true hardcore loyalist -- as you describe her -- would be stubborn to the point of suicide. If I were a hardcore loyalist, I would want to be sure of my survival and my eventual ability to deal with the most egregious violations of Shaper rule -- like Litalia and Akhari Blaze -- rather than throwing hissy fits and possibly getting killed over a couple of reclusive, paranoid humans. Diwaniya might require punishment, but he can be dealt with after the more immediate problems. There is no risk involving in killing or reporting traitorous serviles, on the other hand.

Quote:

Failure is met with termination, probably in the form of an Agent coming for you in the night. The Shapers are a results oriented society... Not uncommon in total totalitarian rule.

While there are people who say this, there is also evidence to the contrary. Greta was allowed to live, despite her magical skills and her quite obviously traitorous leanings -- and that was when the Shapers still held absolute power and would not have been troubled to execute her, or simply to punish her with more than just an expulsion. Failure is often but not always met with termination.

The point is that when you have absolute power, as the Shapers previously did, it's easy to enforce "any contrary opinion will be met with death." When your factional power base is fragmented, injured, and mostly inaccessible to you, and when you personally are just a lone apprentice, it's not the same story. Litalia forcibly demonstrates that you can't enforce those kinds of absolute rules, when the game begins. The absurd but unavoidable power escalation your PC experiences aside, Lord Rahul, the most powerful Shaper in the area, is also unable to enforce such rules, even when he has a decent number of other Shapers, and armies of warriors and of creations to back him up.

I have to imagine that many hardline loyalist Shapers, after witnessing firsthand the destruction of their school, after being easily incapacitated by a foe (Litalia), and after hearing rumours about the other islands -- not to mention Terrestria -- being overwhelmed by rogues, would decide that the times called for a less unilateral path.

 

IIRC, Alwan doesn't even comment on the Sea Caves people, and he's pretty much the Geneforge equivalent of Karl Rove.

 

-- Also, if a hardcore loyalist would take down Lankan at first sight, why does Diwaniya become so horrified if you kill him? Diwaniya seems pretty straight-edge when you talk to him.

They're criminals? *scratches head*

Didn't Exile have a Fear spell? And some kind of Morale stat?

The AI is annoying enough without giving it the ability to *directly* kill you by accident

I *think* stun resistance for creations is covered by the same stat as energy resistance. Glaahks, Ur-Glaahks, and Vlish all have a base of 80% for that resistance. If it's not covered by that stat, there doesn't seem to be a stat for it.

 

Increasing Strength (manually, and possibly by levelling) may also increase stun resistance.

Yeah, but the thing is, people mention lots of random human deaths, too -- and the gatherer camp is a case in point. People dying was one of the reasons Lankan rebelled, no?

 

We do hear about some dead serviles, but it seemed like we heard about more dead humans. IMH memory.

Something DeVlish alludes to that would also help balance the creations would be to make the cost to improve creation statistics not be creation-dependent... or at least to make it less creation-dependent. The fact that it costs so much less to upgrade a Vlish than a third-tier creation is one of the reasons Vlish are better even at equal levels. Similarly, it costs something like 6, 7, 8... to upgrade a Battle Alpha's scores. It costs 14, 15, 16... to upgrade a Rot's.

 

Or, better yet, it could be related to creation type. Make it cheaper to upgrade Battle creation Strength or Endurance. Make it cheaper to upgrade Fire creation Dexterity. And so on.

Hmm. On second thought, it is a great idea, but it still needs to be accompanied by battle creations having better attacks than other creations. A vlish's melee attack is close to as good as a clawbug's, arguably better because it poisons; unless something makes clawbug attacks better or vlish attacks worse, slowing won't make me use clawbugs, it will just make me change how I use vlish, who are still superior.

ALL CREATURES STUN.

 

ALL ATTACKS STUN.

 

Higher level attacks might have a higher chance to stun, or might stun for more, though if there's a difference it's pretty small. Ice Bolt and I think also Icy Touch have a special chance to stun, 70% if the documentation is to be believed; they also stun heavily. The stun wand, whatever it's called, presumably has a 100% chance of stun though to be honest I don't think I've ever used one. Levels of stun delivered may be dependent on damage type.

 

Stunning is completely separate from slowing, which is caused only by Vlish missile attacks, Glaahk melee attacks, Gazer/Eyebeast melee attacks, and the Icy Touch attack used by ghosts, as far as I know.

 

Slow seems to have the same effect no matter how much of it you have, which is to reduce your AP by 50% every other round only. Stunning, in contrast, definitely does more when you're hit with more of it. Stunning reduces your AP by some proportion based on how many levels of stun you have. In practice, you have to be stunned many times, or be hit by several ice attacks to get below 5 AP -- unless you are also slowed that round, because the AP reductions are cumulative.

Rotghroths are certainly good and don't deserve to get trashed with the rest of battle shaping. I'm hard pressed to see how they're the best creation, though. There are situations in which they're extremely useful, but their QA is low enough that Gazers will do as much damage on the whole (and more consistently), and the lack of a missile attack makes Rots less flexible. Eyebeasts and Vlish would certainly have to be in the running, too.

Implementing the 'slowing' move away feature of A4 would be a great way to restore the value of battle creations. I'll second that.

Actually, that's not true. Quest XP rewards are scaled according to your level. If you look at the scripts, there are actually two numbers given: a base XP amount and a level at which the base amount is awarded. You get more or less XP depending on what your actual level is when you complete the quest.

This may scale differently from enemy XP awards, but it definitely is lowered with level.