Acidic Helixbolt

Just to add to the matter of creatures death:

I prefer runnign a small party of "serious" guys, e.g. leveled with essence.

it takes almost the same ... "qualification" to get any1 of'em killed as to die yourself then.

BTW I do prefer solo strats too. The problem is a common "munchkin's" FunVsEfficency thing imho.

Won't be possible to do.

Solo'er will always act first (well, unless he's real idiot) and focus lifecrafter's own body.

then it gonan be a matter of pure balance:

can Infi finish Shaper first move first round?

can then all shaper's creations finish Infi in one collective strike?

(I am 100% confident that second turn's Agent attacks WILL kill shaper)

Omitting the "laziness on Jeff's part" and "techical problems of fitting a mount in one title" (When there is none, abovementioned Glaahks happily take up one square, and drawing a Shaper figure atop of it will cause little more then a minor increase to our beloved "skip turn instead of attacking someone atop of you" interface problem) explanations, I can suggest the strange, but possible case of Geneforgians not inventing/accepting the concept of "riding a mount" altogether.

Given there are no horses, Glaahks are pain in the... errrm... well, uncomfortable to ride (You try to make yourself comfortable on a trembling chitin plate:-P), and new creature designs being directed elsewhere, it's just possible that geneforgians view riding a mount much in the same way first cars were taken by men. "Quite a useless circus".

As for "cavalry", once again, that role is perfectly filled with fast-moving creatures already. Obviously Shapers will rather risk clawbug/glaahk/wingbolt then their own bodies atop of anything like that. Plus, unlike our world, where there were no tamed mounts with strong own offencive capabilities (Even war elephants were greately improved by archers tower on), in Geneforge, if I come to the idea of Shaping a horse for, say, non-shaping mercenaries to go to battle, I will very soon follow with the idea of a Centaur or whatever. And since I can not improve the "design" of mercenaries, but can make "Battle Centaur Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Horseshakk, Rothgrhorse etc", the "cavalry" as we understand it will most likely be outclassed.

P.S. A good Firebolt friend of mine pointed out WE are the "cavalry". Quite a cunning devil, he was, unlike that mage who tried to make him last with underlveveled and badly timed Regeneration:(

P.P.S. With hit last breaths he still tried to enlighten us about what a bane were shrapnel charges to cavalry, and that Essence Orbs are functionally the same thing.

Could we also add point 5:

Hassle of playing.

Like, easier levels, it may appear little annoying to carry and control an assortment of creatures.

And going harder, it becomes worse to keep loading, and you finally decide you NEED those wingbolt or two:-))))

Cant see me having much choice:-)

We are cool. Come to think about it, we are not some stupid pop idol. We are original! And we do actually fly...

To sum it up, the only reason we appear over-rated is the fact we are pretty.

And pretty imba too.

We are definitely more pretty then funky-colored barking dogs with Kentukki Fried Chiken's wings attached.

With good leveling we are not "fragile" at all, and even mana depletion is hardly an issue, because it seems to outlast practically any opposition anyways.

Cryptozoology and Delicious Vlish pretty much made the whole point.

It is true you CAN do almost anything in Geneforge and yet somehow manage to get away with it, it’s really hard to get an absolutely unplayable build.

However, Battle creations are utterly inferior to mostly everything else for the same buck. Speaking of Rotghroth, basically the only battle creation worth a mention, isnt he happens to be the same tier as Wingbolt anyways?

What we expect and what we get:

- “Meat Shields”. Och yes, really, we’d like a meaty bulldog Battle dud to be able to withstand noticeably more love then, say, some worm, or same worm with wings, or even hollow-boned reptile (speaking of drayks)… but he isnt.

- “Meat Shields” take two. Worse then that, there is a major “special”-typed damage coming your way through the game, e.g. non-physical. Among Fire and Magic guys there’s a plenty of resistance, but Battle? Well, Clawbugs and Rots got some, but that’s it.

- “Meat Shield” take three, aka HoMM4 Tactics. Due to Geneforge’s engine, every ranged guy can shoot right through a living/walking/even attacking obstacle. Plus, the same guy can almost always move out of melee contact and use his powerful ranged attack on would-be skirmisher…

Resume: why would anyone want a meat shield that got no meat and shields noone?

- “Heavy Hitters”. OK Huston, we got an improvement there tnx to new AP system. Still, in terms of raw damage melee attack is often weak. Reason: Hasted ranged is guaranteed to deliver 2 blows. Hasted melee – not so much. Taking an average of 1.5 blows (sometimes opponents will not move out too far and sometimes they will) I’d like to see melee hitter to deliver 1,33 times the damage. Well, they don’t. Och, and it’s sometimes plainly impossible to focus critical target with melee creatures, you know, terrain, obstacles, other opponents.

- “Heavy Hitters” take two. Resistance, shmesistance, and Cryoa biting the shades. Melee dmg resistance is quite plain throughout creeps. There will be no wonders. Good thing, there will be no “takes no damage” embarassment aswell. However, quite an every opponent got, like, no resistance to some “special” damage whatsoever, so your cryodrayks/wingbolts WILL sometimes do the abovementioned miracles, and it’s not a Binomial theorem to actually manage that.

- “Heavy Hitters” take three, aka “Wow, I was sure Glaahks were battle”. Ok, guess what, I will be willing to soak ALL other problems if this one is adressed. Well, we are at a huge disadvantage of melee, we can not even deliver a heavy blow, but at least can we deliver a blow that counts nontheless? Rotghroth again being an acceptable exception, no. We will have to take classes from said Glaahks, Ur-Drakons (well THOSE pack a punch, never prevents them from adding insult to the injury), you guess – Wingbolts (Roth’s are graduated there), oldschool Vlish, etc. Battle duds used to “stun”, but that is quite a useless thing on new AP system…

Resume: why would anyone want a heavy hitter that hits soft?

Nail into a coffin, skill points:

You can easily go mono-Fire. Imba tech, fire got quite everythign you might need.

You can go mono-Magic, aside from having to avoid truly massive, energy-depleting battles you’ll do fine.

Mono-Battle basically gets you nowhere, there is nothing to go to Roths and nothing to do when those are getting obsolete.

Battle creatures can be fun, as pretty much anything you fancy. But looking for the least saveloads on high difficility, you will always find better options.

In case *someone* wonders there for my opinion on possible solutions, I’d really like it to be Battle guys to deliver the strongest debuffs upon connecting. THAT will make my picture of a Guardian (errm… how they’re called now;-)) leading a patrol of Battle Alphas.

P.S. Also the “glass cannon strategy” refers to the idea of putting down the whole opposition before they actually have a chance to deal that damage we can’t stand.

P.P.S. And yes, I was just about to start the topic on "why couldnt Battle be better" myself

This might belong to "suggestions for G5", but actually, I'd like to point out I prefer playing RPG to some oldschool quest pixel-hunting...

Actually, my Ur-Dragon, Eyebeast, Wingbolt and Cryoa can not see problems;-)

I just have to stay at entrance myself;-D Mostly anything there kills me in 1-2 hits;-D

Edit- ADVICE:

Fighting titan, kill all other creeps first while he is in golem form.

As he svitches to ur-dragon and later to the worm, try ignoring summons instead, those are realtively harmless.

P.s. Eyebeasts do miracles.

Behind a column... good God!

Hlup... I'm feeling the official dumbass of the planet...

Could you please give me some better directions to "obsure svitch", explored all the Northforge I was able to get to - found none...

Same question different angle: why Shapers does not use Ur-Drakons created and controlled the way PC do against rebels?

They try to abide by their ban list. Wich quite definitely includes canisters, provided Shapers have an idea how to make'em at all in the first place.

...especially considering the fact that you DO NOT need perfected items on it's own, aside from artifact construction.

I am quite a pacifist mutant wingbolt

Since you can imagine what wingbolt's amounts of damage but of acid type can do to people, I try to use blasting as a very, very last argument

Edit: Jiraffas, definitely!

anti-canister rebel = war for peace = sex for virginity.

You gotta make your choice conciously.

Well, you can still make use of the “baton knowledge” without sneaking inside.

When Monarch goes below 1/3 HPs (or like) the dialog window appears. You might want to smash his baton, since you wont be able to grab it afaik. Then… you know, he’s a troubled individual… give him a rest, simple as that. His creatures will start attack randomly, however, you will still get some love so be ready.

I have came to Monarch with 2 freshly created Wingbolts and one friend-for-life Cryoa (not gonna dissolve her until the end. My love, for sure. Maxed all her stats but endurance with essence, and she almost competes wingbolts for damage!)… Well, 2 hasted Wingbolts >>> 10 Monarchs. Of 100, for that matter.

If you or your creatures can do REAL fast job on Monarch (I’ve tried magic-Infi and pure shaping lifecrafter, both setups have enough in’em) his creatures but Glaahks are to be ignored. Soaked hard, they don’t give EXP anyways, and as soon as Suicia Island Munchkin – I advocate the point of view that Monarch is PC from G1 – goes down, his creatures disappear.

P.S. Offtopic question. After I finish the game as a lifecrafter, whoever answers it the reasonable way will get my beloved pet Cryoa. Her name is Ivy, her level is 37 (will be more), and she’s unusually hot for an ice creature.

Why Speed spell is made so incredibly off-balance????

Since we are at it already, can we please pool pylon's patterns there?

I hve found it to be left-middle-left-middle-right-middle-right-middle-random both the times I walked the game.

Any other options/observations?

P.S. SHAPERS! Leave your permanent creations behind the room before doing this quest;-) Annoying to have to walk around with'em.

Heh, I am sure Dikiyoba is smart enough to assume others, like me, being smart enough too. Thanks for the advice nonetheless, however, Dikiyoba might find it annoying to write each an every post in Word for the inconvenience of the process.

As for Firefox, I’ve got an old, but VERY good Logitech mouse with feedback function (iFeel if anyone's interested in details). A shame they don’t make use of that technology anymore. I have found it incredibly useful to be able to blindly, tactile understand when my pointer is over some interactive element, be it hypertext or program’s own menus. Well, the point it – Firefox does not work with it to date. And until my mouse dies naturally (pre-2000 year of manufacture, afaik) I’m not giving up on it, so no Firefox there.

I believe updating IE itself might help, however, it seems I got to deinstall it completely and start from a scratch… You know, the question is, is it worth the hassle…?

The only good side I find in it is that it really saves me MUCH spamming on boards/blogs/etc. Quite a natural restraint to the waste of time, if you wish;-)))

P.S. About lame excuses etc. You might find Word’s grammar checker to be lame enough. However, in my best effort to use English properly, I’d be happy to see a little understanding in regard of non native-speaker. Thank You in advance.

P.P.S. Managed to find other way to circumvent the abovementioned glitch. Multiple edits. So do not wonder why almost every my post got edits;-)))

Yep. First, i am from Russia.

But most importantly, second, my IE got some awfully weird glitch - it fatalcrashes when i try to write something in online form for longer then like a minute. Prevents editing grammar. ;-)

If you'd accept a Trakovite point of view from a heavily mutated creation, I'd appreciate it.

Shaping is doing harm, to some merely by the fact of it's existence. Like those farmers hateful for not being given new corn species...

We definitely have to petition for more various bolts in the future, yes. I'd like a company.

Actually, I currently have 3 wingbolts with somewhat upped ST, and even those they cant, well, bolt - they bite to death fast enough.

Some arrogant dragons from Quessa went down in four and six rounds, respectively for doorkeeper and some nonsence politician wannabe inside.

Much thanks!

Sounds quite longer a trip then any oozebeast eggs;-)))

Well, the actual question is little bit deeper then that.

I believe this math applies only to "physical" type damage, does it? Because I remember back some time reading about G3 that "armor provide half it's value to effect resistances, therefore "20% armor" and "10% armor 5% HER" are quite the same thing in regard to magic/fire/etc..."

is this true (omitting the multiplicative math should be like 7% HER to make up for it I guess), or close to?

Really having troble finding that one. Scouted the map on rebellious trakovite infiltrator once, no luck.

Now on a second pro-shaper lifecrafter walkthrough (almost finished, gotta note I found it much easier then the former) - errrmmm... can someone local direct me to this mysterious place?

edit - add spolier warning.