Delicious Vlish

I want to know how this ends.

I did finish the game. However, it reached a point where I could no longer do the full clears as I had intended. I ended up avoiding some of the end game areas. I did not fight the Titan. I probably could have... But I didn't. As it was, the final battle took a long time. I finished, extremely loyal to the shapers. In the end, I had Coldclaw, Vlindaloo, and Dingbat. I became, more or less, a walking healing battery for my pets and others around me. Much to my amazement, I managed to keep Alwan and Miranda alive right up to the end. In the end, the warrior falls flat. Sorry, but he does. Sure, you can do 200 or 300 damage with a reaper baton, but you can only do it to one creature at a time, and ammo is limited. Swords fail miserably. Regeneration is an extremely powerful, if somewhat subtle spell. Most classes will never realise this, because they don't need it. Mage types blow stuff up way to quick, and shaper types pound their enemies with swarms of monsters, never taking damage. Warriors, take note. When you are hacking away with a sword against a swarm of melee enemies, you probably don't have the time to down a healing pod, and they don't do much good anyway. Every turn spent downing a healing pod is a turn where the enemy is not taking damage, BUT YOU ARE. Regeneration, paired with life steal type items, like life drain from a sword, and various vampire items, while it might not seem like much at first, it adds up considerably, but you must be devoted to it. I would get back considerable hit points from regen, and top off a little more from life steal. It was worth it. I still had to cast heal, but if I took 200 damage in a round and gained back 100ish or so hit points, I was ok enough to keep fighting a while longer. It really slowed down how much time I had to waste healing. I did manage to get my self the shaper trueweave. Yeah, I took down the soul taker twins and the old golem. Yes, it was hard. Yes, it took some reloads. I didn't wear it, but I managed to get it. Mostly, I needed the ring you get in there to boost blessing magic. The oozing blade is a really good sword. I had lots of good swords. But the oozer is the one I kept at the ready most of the time. If you are going to go down fighting, this is the blade to do it with. It will last you through to the endgame.

I don't mean ALL rogue creations... Just some. Have, say, one of each creation type, hidden through different areas of the game. A fyora. An artilla. A roamer, etc. They would start out with a blue ring. With the right leadership and the right kind of food, they could be lured in to your care. Failure to tame them would make them hostile. You could even make them special types... In this manner, the player could have submission vlish, burnout fyoras, icingdeath roamers, the different sorts of unique creature types. In battle, special care of these creatures would be needed. Instead of being filled with terror and running away, said creature would return to a rogue state, maybe even turning on you.

How about the ability to lure rogue creations in to your care with food? Seriously. Why not? I mean, you can adopt creatures like Greenfang and all the others in previous geneforges...

Quote: Originally written by Thuryl: Quote: Originally written by Lord Safey: Some where it said that they where either asrobed or conquered. "We shapers think you shouldn't be going around with your ass uncovered like that. It's indecent. Here, wear these ass robes." AHA! The shapers evolved in to hospital administration staff...

If you slammed a gazer with an anvil and smooshed it, would it make a whoopie cushion noise?

You know what? War trall attacks should be painfully obvious. They should throw big black anvils! And it should even have a comical cartoony anvil sound.

Quote: Originally written by DevilinDupriest: I would also, if Blades of Geneforge ends up happening, like to stake claim to writing a scenario that revolves around Vlish secretly becoming more intelligent over the years and telepathically plotting to escape Shaper control ala the Drakon. We are already using the Drakons to engineer our plot to eleminate the shapers. Now. Be quiet. And our plans quiet. Or else I will alter your mind and make you believe you are a chicken decended from a T Rex.

Thorny Artilla is on a different map. Keeper Tycho.

Of course, the best way to make a trall more effective would be the ability to 'sacrifice' a baton by dropping it on to the character icon, allowing said creation to be 'armed' with it. It would make fetching the reaper baton down where the Titan is both worthwhile and reasonable.

I have ideas how battle creations could be vastly improved but it would make battle creations that you encounter much harder. Very simple ideas. Hominoid battle creations, such as thahds and the whole alphabet gang, should all be two fisted fighters. In one round, two attacks, one from each fist. Bugs should cause paralysis. A very small chance for clawbugs. And they should deal extreme poison damage. The plated bugs should have a higher chance of paralysis, and deal acid damage with their sting. Paralysis wouldn't just be a stun effect, it would be stripping enemy action points down to zero. Rotters should have an acidic vomit ability. The ability to projectile vomit blobs of acid at range. (Spray acid attack) The upgraded form should have burning flatulence. Hey, it is a corpse, remember? A cloud of acid effect. Also, they should have a revenge effect. Attacker takes acid damage on striking. To simulate the spattering that would happen when struck. Tralls should have a spine effect... Natural spikes, and lots of them. Attacker takes heavy physical damage in return, and the damage would continue for several rounds to simulate the spines being lodged in their body. (think porcupine) Instead of rocks, tralls should be able to launch spines out of their body. These spines would do massive physical damage on the first round, and would continue to do damage over several rounds. Shock tralls would be much the same, only higher damage on the thorns return. Instead of a single spine, they would launch a nova of spines in all directions, striking everything around them with spines that would continue to do damage over several rounds.

Shotwell was somewhat sturdy, she is a missile character after all. She didn't do a whole lot of damage, but she did help. Mostly she was nice for roleplay and background.

That last line should read "We are Legion. We are many. EAT ROCKS!" Goon Squads are all about the toods.

No, this only proves just one thing. T Rexes taste just like chicken.

I dunno. I have walked through the game using nothing but battle creations, as a recreation of my infamous Goon Squad™. I've done it in each and every Geneforge game so far. They have some shortcomings, but are perfectly workable. Even Tralls can be quite good, provided that you know what you are doing. Single most important aspect in a Goon Squad™, numbers. If you have an open roster slot, you are doing something wrong. Enemies should be swarmed and pounded under a flurry of punches, pinches, stings, and or hurled rocks. Never underestimate the tender loving care that 4 or so battle betas are capable of, even on torment. Plated bugs are excellent shock troops, especially when hasted. Disposable Thahds are actually good for a Goon Squad™. Especially fun if you give your pc and all your pets Mafioso names. "Vinnie... Guido... Go break this bum's legs and teach him some manners." "Alwan, tonight, you sleep with the genetically modified fishes."

Some days, you just get stabby. When I walked out of town, nothing lived. It was as quiet and still as a tomb. There was a lot of chopping that took place. Coldclaw, Vlindaloo, and Dingbat all survived the melee, and so did Shotwell. I didn't even have spine shield. Or mass energise. All I had was speed, war blessing, and protection. All in all, there was a lot of chunking going down. I credit my survival to hoarding all the life steal items I could and regeneration. Oh.And submission batons. GLORIOUS submission batons. These are fairly average damages. Most shots did about 150 damage. Some shots cleared over 200 damage. Against foes with little or no armor, these are fatal. Ratchet up the damage high enough, and you get a double stun effect... One from damage, the other from the thorn. And I am not sure, but I think the strength of the stun from the thorn is effected by your missile skill... Monsters were absolutely immobile after I plugged them once or twice. What truly amazes me is my little blue buddy Coldclaw. He has been with me since the begining. He mows down Drakkons, eyebeasts, gazers, wingbolts, anything. He has been heavily upgraded by now. He can easily do over a hundred damage to the right target, and typically stuns his foes. He has finally become hard to kill. He has stood toe to toe in melee with, well, pretty much the whole town when I went to killing. He is darn sure stronger than any cryodryak I have ever had. For whatever it is worth to the reader, it is more than worth it to keep one cryoa from the very begining and upgrade it constantly. He is one bad little lizard. Vlindaloo consistantly does over 100 damage a shot now as well. He shrugs off most everything, seems to be very difficult to hit, and his melee damage is absolutely frightning... More so than my own. Keep in mind, he has been heavily upgraded. He can slap down battle gammas with relative ease. He chunks golems. He can slap a dryak silly. Dingbat was the last to join the party, but was worth the wait. He too, was heavily upgraded, even though it was costly. Playing a warrior on torment, I went for qaulity over quanity as a gamble, and it paid off. Wingbolts can achieve over 200 damage a shot on average if you upgrade their strength a good bit. They also become excedingly dangerous in melee if you do this. I could not have destroyed the rebel stronghold with out Dingbat and his furious magical blasts that did sizable chunks of damage to the many, many war tralls I encountered. The endgame awaits.

Quote: Originally written by Synergy: Why is your mechanics so high? -S- Servile technicians!

More baton goodness. I remembered to take a screenie while I assaulted the servile cultist stronghold. This is a non blessed shot. Clearing that area was a nightmare. It took me forever to take out the center area. I broke down and added precious skill points to int. I was able to create a wingbolt named Dingbat and upgraded Coldclaw and Vlindaloo a bit more. Monsters seem to find Vlish Vlindaloo delicious, so I upgraded his endurance a good bit actually. I fought the Uberoozebeast. Ugh. Almost died. I put the gloves on though and it was worth it. Was sorely tempted to use the Ornk canister. I have aided three of the infiltrators so far. I battled the weird trall for the anvil. That was unpleasant. I'd highly recommend anybody trying what I am doing right now to just skip this. Must have reloaded over a dozen times. Already I am forming a plan to attempt to destroy the rebel camp. There are bottlenecks there, and I can lure monsters back a few at a time. I am going to wait till I have a reaper baton to try this. I do realise that assaulting the rebel stronghold and killing whatshername with a melee oriented warrior on torment will probably be my undoing. I never thought I'd get as far as I did. This is worse than pulling teeth. I probably need my head examined. I realise that I have no way to cast mass energise. Not sure what I will do to try and fix this.

I hope this is finished soon. I am curious as to how it will end.

An acid baton does 6 to 36 damage base as listed. The ammo does 1 to 6 damage base as listed. Somehow, the damage comes out much, much higher. I suspect that somewhere a multiplier my be boosting a cumulative result rather than base. Maybe. I mean, I've seen it happen in other games. My missile skill has since gone up, as I have traveled through Burwood, helping the infiltrators. Horis survived somehow. The damage I can do with a a baton is absolutely staggering compared to what I can do with a sword. I have a submission baton and that has made a huge difference in my survival. Damage is even higher than the acid baton, provided I am not battling magic resistant creatures. If so, I whip out another baton and have at them. Vlindaloo and Coldclaw are still holding on somehow. Vlindaloo misses a lot now. I've raised his dex a bit, but it didn't make much difference. his cursing isn't as pronounced now. Cursed monsters are still whacking me for 60% to 80% chance to hit, which is pretty bad. It means that no matter how much armor I am packing, stuff is going to hit me. Which is making me rethink my armor strat a bit. No sense being encumbered in heavy armor if it isn't doing much good. Coldclaw dies in one hit if a wingbolt blasts him. This... This is not good for me. I have had to do a lot of reloads, not because I was in danger, but because my pets die. I have a new companion named Shotwell.

Look at the picture of me blasting that rat for all that damage. Thorns do a die of damage, batons add another, then you have dex and missile weapons skill affecting those somehow. I don't know how it works... But I know I have taken screenshots of it working. Right there. This was while retrieving the Gruesome Charm. I plugged a rat with the acid baton. My damage has since gone up, as my dex is now higher, my missile skill has gone up, etc. I keep telling people that missiles ramp up differently than everything else. It is possible to clear 200 damage with an icy crystal. I've said it time and time again and I guess nobody was paying attention. Even on a much weaker lifecrafter with only a meagre dex investment and a few in missile weapons say, from items and training, it is easy to get just enough damage from batons to really layeth the smacketh down.

He isn't much, is he? Yes, he really is as weak as he looks. Yet, he is resourceful and survives. I couldn't imagine the game with out mechanics and leadership. This shot was not to long after creaming Monarch. Monarch was killed by pumping him full of acid and venom thorns. Acid shots were doing around 100 to 150 damage. Venom shots a little less. Getting in to Monarch's melee range is suicidal. Yet, there was a few times I closed the distance and poked him with the oozing blade, mostly to get him good and angry and leave my creations alone. My baton shots did just enough damage to stun Monarch. Just a little. Which helped I am sure. Monarch's big spawning creator was a terrible fight in its own right, worse than the battle with Monarch. I got swarmed with Ghlaaks that I just couldn't keep up with. Usually, I just dominate the Ghlaaks and spine shield them, which ends the fight all to quickly. Not the case here. It took me almost an hour or so to take down that freak and it was at this point I started realising, from here on out, it is all about time investment and wearing stuff down. Which sort of took the fun out of the game. I'm not quitting, not just yet, but I am thinking about it. Either that, or I start using magical items, and break the theme of my character. Although, I fear, at this point, a couple of icy crystals and a few wands wouldn't help me much. From this point on, I will be dealing with things that are going to take me a significant investment of time to hack down, and I will be facing them by the swarm. My damage can barely keep up with monster regen. Where a servile or an infiltrator would barely even pause while they waved their hands and blow stuff up, I will be inflicting the death of a thousand tiny paper cuts. Things I have noticed. So far, my batons have done far more damage than my melee weapons. Even with quick strike getting some double hits, the batons are a more consistant damage dealer. Acid and poison does damage over time, wearing a target down. Sticking something with a sword places you in melee range. In my battle with the golem, I lost a lot of turns because of stun. Being in melee range means you get hit, which means if something slaps you silly, you lose a round of attack recovering. Which means no damage that round. As far as actual damage numbers go, with, say, the oozing blade, I do about 60 to 80 damage with an attack, a little more if blessed, and on a lucky hit, a double strike. Compare that to doing 100 to 150ish damage straight up with the venom baton. No chance of a double strike with missile weapons, but damage delivery is consistant. Damage is also high enough (usually) to cause a bit of stun. Missiles have some funky damage numbers. I don't know how they work. The baton it self has one damage multiplier, the thorns another, then there is the missile skill, and dexterity. Melee weapons have the weapon, your strength, and your melee skill. Somehow, the missiles come up with consistantly higher damage rolls. Why is this? Are the multipliers really making that much of a difference? I don't understand nearly enough about math to be able to figure this out, but this was true in G3, and is especially so in G4. Burwood awaits, and I do not currently have the means to create a Wingbolt. Not enough essence. Need to figure out what I am going to do.

The golem battle was pure luck. All there is to it really. I kept the golem cursed... As best I could. Even blessed, Vlindaloo and Coldclaw had a tough time connecting their attacks. The spawner was hard to kill and kept spitting out creations while the golem pounded us. Even with protection, and the golem being cursed, the golem would hit me for about 150 damage... I was chunked many, many times. I finally got my self to the point where the spawner was gone and I was forced to cut down the mightiest tree in the forest with a herring. I'd switch between the oozing blade and the captian's shiv, which had the skull in it. And I fought the golem to a stalemate. I could not apply enough damage in a turn to out do his regen. Reloaded, fled the grove. Returned with soldiers from the rebel camp. The stabby kind and the thorn shooting kind. Assault began anew. Speed pods, blessing, protection, the slow process of chopping down the spawner, removing the distractions, all the while dealing with a golem hell bent on smooshing somebody. There was much stabbing, and shooting, and missed attacks, and a great deal of furious angry cursing, so much so that it scared my dog. With the servile, it is so easy... Dominate stuff as the spawner creates it, cast kill, dominate, cast spine shield, blast with magic, collect phat lewt. Not the case here. Nope. I had to take down the old box of rocks the hard way. He chunked a couple of my soldiers. The thorn shooters were barely even scratching him. But he was slowly going down. I began to wonder, who would wear out first? I was losing troops... I was losing my healing supplies. My essence reserves were limited, and keeping bless and protection up was a difficult task. No blessing and everything game to a grinding halt. It took forever, but I wore him down. That golem crumbling sound was never more welcome. I made the legs of the tyrant, which turned out to be a really good move for me.

The warrior, does indeed, suck. The Servile has him beat in every way.

I am guessing that interest in this game has slumped. Nobody comments on the insidious infiltrator, and not many folks are commenting here. So I guess I am going to save the effort and hang this up. For the record, I mooshed the golem in the fen, and I went toe to toe with Monarch and survived.