Ale193

If the resistance to the mental effects of canisters is a genetic trait then hypothetically their would be canisters that counteract canister madness, thus allowing the good shapers and good rebels to gain the power necessary to overthrow the radicals without going insane. People who are just naturally power mad would still become addicted but it would be possible to avoid the physical deadening of the emotional centers of the brain. perhaps such a formula could also be used to cure people already canister mad. I find it odd that there are no children in geneforge or that there are so few couples . if canister abilities were heredity and the dehumanizing effect was not that could mean that within a few generations everyone would go back to normal even if the glow-in-the-dark freaks win.

Perhaps the powers would be hereditary but the insanity would not, or would you just get exponentially more canister mad from generation to generation. Actually I think canister abilities wouldn't become hereditary unless they directly affected the reproductive organs. If we could figure out how canister work their might be a way to hypothetically figure out a way to make canister without the mental side effects. In G2 there were a few people in rising who seemed resistant to canister madness and retained politeness and compassion whereas others quickly became deranged. possibly the genes from the canister madness resistant people could be used to make canister that cured canister madness or make Anti- canisters that undid the effect of the canisters as a whole. if this were made possible the good guys like the awakened and moderate shapers could gain enough power to overcome the radicals without loosing their more benevolent ideals. then only the ones who were just innately greedy and power-mad people would go loopy.

There should be a split in the rebellion where the human/servile part breaks off to form a neo-awakened faction. they would form a moderate semi-democratic regime that would maintain a healthy balance of control and freedom. If such a faction doesn't exist the shapers should when because the rebellion as a whole is crazy due to the drakons. I disagree with many shaper views including the genocide of the drayks, but I believe tight controls on shaping should exist or you end up with shaper monarchs and unbound and al sorts of other crap the world would be better off without. the shapers are the best bet for bringing peace and security back to the world. I'm like Khyryk in G3 I don't like the shapers too much but the rebels are crazy. I haven't played through G4 yet but in G3 I detested the power crazed taker style rebellion and wholeheartedly supported the relatively moderate shapers. in G3 the shapers were nicer to the servile than they used to be and didn't punish the intelligent serviles as long as they were loyal. the rebels just killed random people and disrupted a system that was slowly reforming itself anyway.

Rothgroth is the only battle creation that I'v ever used or found hard to kill when they're my enemies. their acidy-ness made them almost invulnerable to my oozing blade. Even they pale when you can get drakons and gazers. My late game gazer in G3 killed the things in one hit half the time. war tralls chucking rocks is an interesting idea, but it would be better if it chucked some huge boulders instead of ones the size of tennis balls. If they chucked big boulders that smashed stuff they'd actually be cool!

I would like a crap-load of new creations; I want to be able to shape all (within reason) the varieties that show up throughout the older games. stick another tier of creations on and ditch the war tralls. I just wonder how he'll surpass Gazers/Eyebeasts and Drakons. Personally for the battle creation I'd like would either be the spider concept or a golem type thing. (not just a golem, but a golem type thing; the golems look like they're mad of oatmeal. a new battle spell might be in order since the late game bosses resist fire, perhaps an aura of kill (like arcane blow in A3) MWAHAHAHA!!!!

I think there will bee some sort of Neo-Awakened, probably from an the rebellion splitting. the Drakons and canister mad rebels will be another faction. Moderate GF3 style shapers would be one faction and barzite-ish extremist shapers. the fifth would be the trajkovites. Either the awakened or the trajkovites would yield a happy ending.

The April one was an April fools joke.

I usually play as a melee warrior/guardian with a decent investment in missiles. I generally have one or two good creations for my magic & missiles (cryoas, artillas, and vlish, which I usually ditch for a Gazer in the late game). I never used magic very much. Melee never runs out of ammo and is usually lest resisted by foes. (most things resist it a little, but few have significant resistance) the last game I played I had 14 points in melee, 11 in missiles,with 9 in magic shaping and 7 in fire shaping. I had to use canisters though. I didn't use any magic at all.

I think that the shapers should be able to make gazers/drakons, as far as I can tell the only problem they have with these creations are their intelligence & independence. if they had ones that were as dumb as posts, but just as powerful they might be able to win. the Brahzites had them and they were basically just powermad shapers, the rebels bases always end up harder to beat because they have Uber creations, why cant the shapers have them too?

I meant light armor, such as chitin armor, not guardian style plate-mail. also, I would think that simply a tunic would be just plain stupid to wear into battle. modern soldiers don't wear plate armor, but they wear kevlar vests. shapers can get away with it because they don't usually go to the front lines and they have magic. some one that focuses on conventional combat can't wear a blouse into a warzone.

I also like to play the character as my self, so It's always bothered me that you each class had a set gender, that's why I've never played as an agent/infiltrator, or shock trooper. Avernum has always had a variety of male and female sprites and its always bothered me that geneforge dosen't. I hope that this issue is fixed in G5. On another note, Why are NPC shapers always blue? and agents brown? just wondering. on another another note, the sprite for shock troopers doesn't seem to mach its name. they don't look at all shocky or troopery to me. shock/storm troopers were first used in modern warfare during WWI by the germans, generally each squad would have several flametroopers (flamethrowers were deadly in the trenches) they would charge in small groups into the enmy trenches and cause as much damage as possible while completely exposed to enemy fire. the current sprite doesn't look very suited to heavy combat. it should have armor or something, it just doesn't look at all cool to me.

I can give the trakovites victory with one word: GUNPOWDER!!! the only way to combat shaping is with high yeild explosives, firearms & massive armies of highly disciplined unshaped humans fanatically loyal to their cause, equipped with machine guns and rocket launchers. of course this cant really happen in geneforge as it would defeat the whole story. It is possible to integrate gunpowder into a medieval setting because the chinese had invented it while Europe was in the dark ages, they even had dragon headed ballistic missiles that shot rocket propelled arrows as they flew!!! (Hooray for the history channel )

I'd love to have the awakened back, they were always my favorite too. how did the Trajkovites end up anti-shaping? in GF1 Trajkov used the geneforge and took over the world with an army augmented minions and rebellious creations. and did I miss something, or didn't the Brazites disappear after GF2? I thought there were only really 2 factions left; the Rebels and the Shapers. did some of these factions reappear in GF4?

I'd love to have a base, but the tricky bit would be customizing the layout and style of the base. I've always wanted to have a servant mind, serviles and ornks. in my opinion even rebels should be able to make serviles, because its only Immoral if your mean to them. ornks would be mostly useless, but they're cool any way. Rebels should be able to construct canister making facilities. I'd also like to get my own set of shaper/lifecrafter minions to make creations for me without depleting my own essence. The one thing that bugs me most about the Geneforge games are that you're always a pawn, a very important and powerful one, but still a pawn. Bases would give you at least a small chance to be in control, to command instead of follow.

Normally, the upgraded version would be a big purple lizard, just like the normal drayk, only purple. if it looks like a shaper, then its probably because of an editor. ( I just stated the obvious didn't I.)

Its possible to play through the whole game on easy or normal with a Cryoa wit max stats, at least in the older games. I didn't ditch mine until I could make a Gazer (attacking with kill is fun!) as far as battle creations, the only one really worth getting are thads in the early game, and Rotgroths towds the end. if you can get enough essence for Drakons they're awesome too. my favorite party is a Gazer/eyebeast, wit a drakon and a Rotgroth (though I had to cheat for the essence) artillas and vlish retain their usefulness for most of the game too, but eventually its best to replace them for heavier artillery (acid/poison is useles against rotgroths) You shouldn't have to worry about absorbing creations, even with the noblest intent the weak ones will get slaughtered and make way for better ones.

Actually, the roots on the coffee mug style spawners could easily be converted into legs, thus allowing the spawner to at least drag itself along. these would be slow and vulnerable, but would provide an interesting gameplay element. they'd also be great as comedic relief, like Monty python mixed with Geneforge. (which is a rather scary concept really)

It would be nice if there were male and female sprites for each class, other than that it would be nice if there was more variety in what you could shape; I'd like to be able to make all the varieties of vlish, charged creations, and more of the stuff you see but couldn't make in the other games. it would also be cool if you could make simple, but trivial changes to your creations, such as what color they are. The one thing I really, really want in G5 is a happy ending, where everything is truly resolved in a way that makes everyone (or anyone sane and non-evil) happy, a drakon-free human rebellion, awakened-style idealistic, almost impossible fairy tale-ish happily ever after. I'm not saying it should be the only ending, but it be nice if there was the possibility for one, something all the previous games have lacked.

The character editor makes me very happy!!! now I can become ridiculously uber powerful without having to resort to canisters and ending up as a power mad light-bulb! YAY!!!!!!

To me the shapers are the lesser of the two evils, they're oppressive and i don't think anyone doesn't at least sympathize with the original rebel goals, but if the Shapers are Hitler, than the Rebels are Atila the Hun on crack with a nuclear arsenal.

This is really random, but I think it would be really cool to have ornks with turrets grafted onto their backs (so they're less likely to get eaten by rouges)

Perhaps I should clarify that Shapers are not technically a race; they are a Nation and thus share a common political opinion. I would think that most off my enemies would share at least political opinion, if not Nationality; thats generally why their my enemies in the first place. I would have to have a lot of enemies for them to include a variety off opinions and nationalities. THIS DOES NOT HOWEVER, mean that I condone the rebels actions, whether or not it's considered genocide they're still massacring largely innocent civilians. Really, the fact that they are being so indiscriminate about who they kill is proof that it's not genocide. Whatever happened to the awakened? they were the only faction I could play without feeling guilty, the only ones with any commons sense. their beliefs were just the way I felt about the issue. have they all died and left the game without any truly enlightened faction. the rebels started out like them, but now they've started to go insane. I don't like the shapers either, but they're the best of a bad lot.

I wasn't asking for major musical involvement, just some background music along with the normal ambience. when I said music I didn't by any means mean death metal, just some more melodic ambience along with the churny vat noises. beside it was just a suggestion, as for some people not wanting music and/or finding it distracting, there is the rather simple solution of simply putting a music on/of function on the menu. the cost issue is understandable, but not all good music is expensive; I'm sure there are some perfectly good (even if they aren't exactly John Williams) composers who would be happy simply to have their music used in a video game.

One thing that has always bugged me about spiderweb's games is the total lack of in-game music. So far all they've got is creepy background/eviromental noise. it would be really nice if there was actually a musical accompaniment to the game, not something major, just some background music for most of the game and some more epic stuff for the major parts. you don't even have to get rid of the old sound effects, you can just add music over them.

To me its obvious that the shapers are bad, however the rebellion has effectively become twice as bad. what Lepus doesn't seem to understand is that this is not a war against some random race of aliens; its a Rebellion, the point of a rebellion is to overthrow a corrupt government and/or gain independence, to reform not to destroy a attacking force, but to reform and make things better. they're just killing everybody. if this were a war where two countries were fighting, with an obvious good and evil side or even the gorg scenario; I would adopt Lepus's policies of mass destruction and just leveling the enemy territory and killing everyone in it. but this isn't you're effectively firebombing yourself. if your fighting for morals, you can't fight without them. its become a senseless ware of mutual vengeance instead of a glorious revolution for the common good. the rebels have switched from the enlightened beliefs of the awakened (what happened to them anyway) to the crazed ideology of the takers. Lepus's analogies are all void because they are reflecting the wrong type of war. this is nothing like WWII, its more like a wildly out of control cross between the American Civil War and the French revolution with a side of Nuclear Armageddon. I agree with Lepus on the Genocide thing. its not genocide to kill your enemies, even if they are all the same race, its only genocide if you're killing them because of their race, not because they dissagree with you. this does not however, justify the slaughtering of hapless civilians, even if it's not genocide it's still mass murder. Really both sides are equally at fault, but the shapers are less likely to trigger an apocalypse, so a no truly enlightened factions remain, I'd have to side with them. Basically, everyone involved is majorly and unavoidably screwed.