Slariton

Deep runestones are a different case from regular items, since they are an augment rather than a regular stat effect. IIRC the evasion value for the augment effect is always the same and it shows a static description for each augment, rather than generating text based on the evasion stat strength for the item. Assuming equipment itself (i.e., armor, not augments) shows the same evasion chances as in the FAQ linked above, it's probably a safe bet that the game still applies those chances as stated.

Using different creations, spells, or items is definitely one big chunk of your strategic options. Another big chunk, though, is controlling when and how you're going to be in battle in the first place. Ambushing vlish before they can call for help: that is a strategy! Picking off enemies one at a time: strategy. Positioning your characters so the vulnerable ones don't die immediately: strategy. It sounds like you don't enjoy those, which is fine, but that's a limitation you're placing on the game, not the other way around. (Kind of like how not playing G1 was a limitation you used to place on your ability to discuss Geneforge ) As for the G4 geneforge, this is covered extensively in-game: it's not the same version of a geneforge, and the associated augmenting is different. Also, the fact that a bunch of Augmented Sholai were hard for your low-levelled Shaper trainee (isolated and alone) doesn't really say much about how tough they'd be for experienced Shapers, with newer technology (hi wingbolts) and full support, to take down.

It was only a matter of time until some Barzite started turning vlish into handbags! For shame.

When I said most of the beta testers aren't pros, that's exactly what I meant, too. Most of them do not do solo runs in nightmare difficulty. You seem to be jumping to the conclusion that, if you struggle with an area, it must mean that either you are a terrible player, or the area is poorly balanced. That's ridiculous! There are other possibilities too. For example, maybe you're a perfectly good player who simply hasn't figured out a good strategy for that area. Sometimes, changing up your approach can really help.

Most of the beta testers aren't pros either. I do sometimes wish the feedback Jeff gets from testers was a little more balanced, but c'est la vie.

Hi Splorky, There should be a preferences option somewhere (can't remember if it is a menu item on its own, or just part of a settings window) where you can check a box to save your automaps with your save file. (This was left off by default because it took a lot of disk space by 1994 standards.)

"That can be arranged."

Next to zero chance the third game is set primarily in Haven. It would be hard to portray that effectively, and it's something Jeff avoids. I don't think that's what he'd do for likely his last original game. My money's on Delia in spite of all the observations above.

I haven't looked at this for Mutagen, but in original Geneforge 1 all actual NPC dialogue text is stored in text files, not dat files, and you can do a mass search. I'd also be pretty surprised if such a specific detail of vlish anatomy ever comes up in conversation. I guess it's possible, but I wouldn't expect it. What I might look at are the creation "blueprint" loading screens that showed up in later games from the original Geneforge series. There was one for vlish. Again might not have addressed this, but that seems a better place to look.

I'm not sure what you were expecting here. Notepad literally just reads everything as if it is in plain text format, which doesn't work for things that aren't. .DAT files are not text files, but there also isn't a standard format. .DAT is a generic file extension that just implies "data" -- it's not normally in a human-readable format, but because there's no standard format at all, it's also not in a generic-application-readable format.

Moving to the Avadon forum.

The whole _point_ of BoE, the whole thing that distinguished it from other 90's scenario creation engines, and the reason it drew such a large userbase compared to BoA, is the special nodes system. Special nodes are what really stood out, because they offered a moderate level of power and flexibility at an extreme minimum of a learning curve. I don't mean to be negative about your project. It's certainly interesting! But I do think it's a mistake to prioritize the new format over the old one. All it takes is one edge case error in how you translate between special nodes and your scripting, and _every_ currently existing scenario breaks for you. There's much, much less chance for edge case error if you translate from scripts to nodes, instead. (Also, if somebody creates a scenario with your editor's new format, it won't be playable with any other version of BoE, which is a pretty big restriction.)

For 99% of the graphics you should be able to take the original graphics file and just use that with a more recent version of Exile II, like the one on the SW website. This will change all the terrain and character graphics, and I think item graphics as well. It won't affect certain interface graphics, like the buttons at the bottom of the main view.

These are good questions. We mostly don't have exact answers, because the game just isn't very specific about the timeline prior to your arrival. Presumably Exile did know Valorim was the least-settled continent, already, since most exiles had previously lived on the surface. New exiles had stopped arriving 16 years prior to E3, so they probably at least knew that Kriszan province existed, but possibly not many specifics about it. In E3, it's very clear that you are the first to be officially allowed to emerge: among other things, Anaximander says "Don't forget ... The sooner you go out onto the surface and see what's going on, the better. All Exile waits to see whether it is safe to emerge or not." In A3 this is retconned, and there is a previous party of failed surface explorers. However, even in E3, as Gypsy says: "Volunteered to help build Fort Emergence. Slipped out onto the surface soon as I got the chance and never looked back. And I'm not the only one!" As far as scrying: long-distance scrying was really, really hard in Exile. The only folks who seem to be capable of it are (1) Erika, (2) the dragons, specifically Athron, and (3) a handful of specialist mage-sages like Aimee, Patrick, Thompson, etc. -- and even for them it seems challenging. In E3 you get handed a crude map that's the result of Exile's best scrying operation: it basically amounts to "we think there's some mountains, a river, and a city in the southeast." Teleporation was also really, really hard in Exile. Long-distance teleportation (especially through solid rock) is consistently shown to require (1) a portal or beacon at one or both ends, (2) seriously involved augmenters, like crystals, and (3) laborious research to set up. There was also a serious danger that ambitious teleportation projects could injure the fabric of space (as in E2) or allow demons in (as in all the games, especially E3). It's very plausible that the Vahnatai had more skill here, particularly given the relevance of crystals. But teleporting huge quantities of equipment from their own extra-deep caves, to all corners of Valorim, seems like a stretch. E3 states that the earliest of the plagues appeared a little over a year before the game, while the Tower of Magi was first able to boost their teleporter's power enough to come near the surface about 2 years prior. We don't really know the timeline for Fort Emergence, though. If I had to guess, I'd say they developed the plagues in Egli or other magical laboraties; used Ghikra as a base for scouting other near-surface caves; and then recreated the plagues there.

I agree with CM. Having two separate interpretation engines is asking for trouble. Compiling scripts down into nodes is going to be much more sustainable.

Exile didn't tunnel to the surface, though, nor did they "choose" Valorim. They teleported to another set of caves that already existed. They didn't get to pick a continent -- they didn't even realize just how fortuitously unsettled Fort Emergence's surroundings were until they finally sent explorers to the surface. It does seem plausible that all or most of Exile was (very deeply) below Valorim, specifically, given that that's also where the dragons ended up -- though the dragons do settle on the opposite end of the continent from Upper Exile. I'm not sure if this is ever explicitly confirmed. The fact that the Vahnatai also ended up there (and started the plagues there) might say less, given that they quite openly followed the exiles to Upper Exile and for some time Rentar-Ihrno resided there. Hehehe. Yes, if you haven't played them I suppose they can't really be helpful, can they!

Ok, this is 25 years old, I'm giving up on spoilers. The Vahnatai's desire for revenge is clearly documented in the previous game. Of Rentar-Ihrno: "She is pleased at the revenge on Garzahd, but has not stopped devising ways to avenge us further on the Empire. We expect great things from her." Of the Council: "The Council greets you happily. Already, minor spells and mischief are being worked against the Empire. Soon, they will start wreaking serious revenge." And in the ending text when you win E2: "The Vahnatai are strange and alien, and they still have not taken their revenge on the Empire for the theft of the Crystal Souls. No, all is not settled with them. Yet." In contrast, Erika's had 50 years to stew in Exile and the only revenge she's "devised" during that time has been a targeted assassination of Hawthorne. In E1, as justification for this, she says that he "accelerated the pace at which people were exiled. He poured people down here like water! He is a tyrant, and tyrants must die." She's clearly opposed to people being exiled, and she furnishes vital assistance to adventurers trying to find the surface and leave Exile for good. She talks a lot about freedom. So I do think it would be out of character for her to make the surface uninhabitable for her fellow exiles. The dragons are a little more complicated, because there are three of them. You could definitely see Sulfras wanting to take revenge, but perhaps not being patient enough to follow through. I can't see Khoth (who was perfectly willing to deal with Empire humans prior to E1) keeping up the sustained focus on creating rampaging monsters either; it's just not their interest, and I don't know why they would go after podunk provincial territorities at all. Athron, of course, is right out; they are the most reclusive and self-protective being in the series, and would never risk making themself a target of attention. (Additionally, Athron and Sulfras also both assisted adventurers looking to leave Exile and return to the surface, so it would be an about-face for them, too, to want it uninhabitable.)

Even if you haven't done all the plague quests, the answer is... on the obvious side, IMO. Of the three suspects, it would be incredibly out of character for two of them. And it's revealed in the game... which has been out for 25 years now. So probably most people here who've played the game know and can't really make a guess 🙂

Yeah, it's a bit confusing... there are at least 3 different Nephil forts in the eastern area, which doesn't help... there's the simpler one north of Duvno, the Nepharim fort near Cotra that has all the prisoners, and then the Nephil castle further northwest. It's that last one that's "important" in the sense that you can get a token to get into the Castle by doing it.

Very few "quests" have a specific reward from a "quest-giver" in E1. And for the most part there is no way to "get" a "quest." This was normal in 1994. See also, being expected to piece together what is going on in the world and how you can make things better by talking to many different people, as opposed to having a single Bob who explains everything and tells you exactly what to do.

I know you're playing Exile I. I was responding to your comment, immediately above mine, that it must have been added in Avernum 🙂 The editor should be included in the Exile folder.

No, this was definitely a thing in Exile II. (I even found another reference to it using the forum search command.) It's possible Exile II added this -- or maybe it's a button and not a menu item in E1 -- or maybe it has location requirements. (I have a memory of only being able to do it in Fort Exile, but maybe that's A1.) Or maybe it's called "___ Party" instead? Have you tried looking for it - in Fort Exile - on the world map - in Silvar Another option would be to just use the Editor and change the stats of the old PC to your "new" one.

You can create a brand new one, I'm pretty sure. Use that "X" button in the upper right to delete a party member, and then... there should be a menu item somewhere that reads something like "Create New PC..." -- I don't remember if it had location requirements.

It sounds like you're talking less about combat challenge, and more about complexity of general tasks involved in a quest? Or maybe I'm misunderstanding.

@RedBeard and anyone else listening, Just a quick friendly mod reminder that criticism is 100% OK here, but telling people you hate them is not. Also, the board tries to be "family friendly" and cursing (including "masked cursing" as the board guidelines put it) is on the list of "don'ts" as well. This isn't something we try to be super strict about but if there is a ton of cursing in a single post, even mild cursing... it might be worth taking a deep breath and saying things a little less vehemently. Totally understand how frustrating things can be... just please consider a more peaceful approach. Thanks. Now back to your regularly scheduled exploitative colonialism.