Simulated Knave

I was just disconcerted when I read that requirement on Steam. I can't imagine it doesn't scare some people off.

No, as in the computer literally doesn't have a graphics card. I've only got 32mb of dedicated video RAM. A lot of shared, which I suppose does the job.

'Tis very kind of you. It's actually really ridiculously easy to do the low-level testing - the game loads pretty damn quick. Remembering everything I'm trying to do is actually the biggest obstacle - it's a lot to keep track of! This is a long weekend, so with a bit of luck I'll be able to finish it up and have something releasable shortly.

I just realized this game apparently requires 256MB of video ram... When? I've been playing quite happily without for some time.

Testing's going fairly well. I just need to make all the bits play well together and get colours consistent (the visual adjustments to the different cultures are rather involved - the Ukatish wear a lot of their own leather, for example).

The pods are found by clicking some of the local plants, BTW. That took some doing. As to "sanity"...it makes sense. In that the game tells you what you want to do. So go do it. Roleplay a little.

So I'm modding things a little for a run through the game. There's three basic things - adding some cultural differences between PCs, a few minor adjustments to items (notably armour and broadblades), and some colour adjustments and other visual changes (such as the Ukatish wearing Ukatish leather). I'll make it available in at some point in a fashion that accords with Spiderweb's policies on modding, which I do not currently remember. What I'm thinking for the moment for your PC to have as innate differences between them: Havenite Knowledge: Havenites get +10 to blessings, +5 curse resist, +5 to to-hit, +5 to critical hit above basic humans. Vol Endurance: Vol get +10 physical evasion and +5 magic evasion. Ahriel Blessings: Ahriel get +5 magic evasion, +15 poison resist, and +5 mental resist. Ukatish Rage: +15 bleed resist, +5 speed, +5 critical hit. Mother Knows Best: the Prince gets an additional +5 magic evasion, stun resist, mental resist, and speed above what Havenites already get. These would all be coded in at the start, so you would see the results rather than a new ability or anything like that. Note that basic NPC Ukatish, Vol and Ahriel all get certain abilities already (roughly what is above only moreso), so this is more adding a bit more variety between the characters so they're not just packages of abilities than anything else.

This may not be true. Which is why I said "appears." Look, it's certainly possible that editing the basic stats will lead to horrible calamity. But it does seem a little unlikely, not least because all of those stats are edited in various creature definitions, including many of them being edited in the PC definitions. So long as backups are made, disaster can be avoided.

Guys. Don't fight like this. I'll worry that you're divorcing and I'll have to travel for Christmas. I would point out that now that it is impossible to get the game non-digitally, and that computers have advanced a lot faster than Spiderweb games, fixing your screwed up files is about ten minutes' work. If that. I don't want Jeff getting pointless time-wasting emails that make him worry he coded wrong, but I think the risk is lower than it once was. Anyway, one appears to be able to safely and easily mod the basic twelve stats and health (so long as one remembers to not let them extend into every single unit of that race), suggesting one could make the Vol PCs different from the Ukatish from the Havenites from the Ahriel (and, for that matter, the Prince different from other Havenites), which I will likely do. Fun! Unfortunately I hoped once could edit other statistics the same way, but that seems to not be possible (for example, physical armor is logically stat 22. Doesn't seem to be moddable the same way as the basic twelve, though).

That's what does it, FYI.

Looking at the itemschars file, I have the sneaking suspicion that even UVA (Ukatish/Vol/Ahriel) PCs are defined as species Havenite in the game scripts. Easy way to test it, fortunately. Just change the HP per level. Will do so and be back shortly with results. EDIT: They are very much NOT (or, if they are, they're not defined as such using the Haven PC entry). I successfully gave a Havenite PC a lot more health without it impacting auxiliaries. This could be fun. Now to figure out how to add passive abilities without breaking everything forever. EDIT 2: It occurs to me that there is always an absolutely simple way to make Havenites unique - give them bonus health. THAT won't break. EDIT 3: Update - you can edit many stats by editing creature adjustments. However, the creature adjustments do not correspond to the item stat increases (understandably). Brute forcing what each adjustment is should be possible, but is likely tricky to test for the stats that don't physically display. Still, it seems very likely that Havenites could have their stats edited so they're uniquely better than the auxiliaries, while the auxiliaries have the neat special abilities to balance it out.

Could one not just edit some kind of ability into all Havenite units in the base creature definition? Perhaps a small bonus to damage vs. Ukatish/Ahriel/Vol, or a bonus to blessings. It wouldn't be something one could put skill points in, but it WOULD give a reason to keep using Havenite soldiers rather than immediately replacing them with auxiliaries. EDIT: Or just give every Havenite 1 level of Haven's Command for free, I suppose.

Nope, it does what it's programmed to do -- it does display, just only during certain portions of the primary quest line. I recommend not making bug declarations based on anything you see in the scripts unless you are very familiar with how they're set up. Yeah, I understand that. And what appears to be happening is that line 2 is being limited to the later game, rather than line 3 being limited to the later game. So now when you wander in, fresh from the tutorial, and ask Miranda why Haven had to leave, she says: "It was all going well. The three nations had treaties with us. We kept order. Everyone got rich. It's the sort of thing that is happening again right now." And you ask her "why were we so outnumbered?" Which is a reference to line 2, which doesn't currently appear until later in the game. Maybe that's working as designed, but I doubt it.

This line in Miranda's dialogue: text2 = "_Then, overnight, it all turned. Our crops died. The nations stopped dealing with us. Then they told us to abandon our forts in their lands and leave. We had no choice. They gravely outnumbered us._"; Doesn't display. It makes her response to why the colony fell a little odd. I'd note that "It's the sort of thing that is happening again right now." doesn't really make much sense, even with that line added back in, just because it's not happening again right now. EDIT: To be clear, it's displaying Text 1 and 3. I THINK it's supposed to be displaying Text 1 and 2, and adding 3 in later in the game.

But it ends up encouraging me to immediately ditch my countrymen and fill my personal bodyguard with random locals. Seems a bit odd. LToN: Not easily, no. The skill trees are effectively hardcoded. I weep. On the inside, at least.

Hooray! Time to briefly disappear down a rabbit-hole of modding things. Thank you. :) And I am, unfortunately, too comfortable messing with the scripting. In that I will finickily edit a game for hours trying for the experience I was imagining rather than just playing the damn thing. 😛

I find it odd that Havenites don't have them, and am even considering modding them in (assuming such a thing is possible). Anyone know why they don't have them? And anyone have any ideas for what they should or could be?

Perhaps it's my paranoia or my metagame thinking, but when I hear about a mysterious curse that drove people out, I assume it may come back and try to figure out what happened. Honestly, I immediately assumed that a powerful evil curse would come back if I started having success and considered figuring it out a priority.

Happy to help.

Also, I never got Room 1 in the Ahriel refuge at all on my last playthrough. Is that typical?

Are the Room 3s different from each other?

Re Combat: So walk away and come back later? For Energy (on Normal, at any rate) I find keeping a reserve of about 50% works well. If I start getting to zero, I consider running away. Also, you know if you die you just pop back up at Fort Haven? You will struggle more for energy in the early game. I recommend lots of ranged weapons focus firing. Re Plot: You feel a mysterious curse which drove your forces out of the colony isn't a mystery? What was that Curse and how can you prevent it happening again? Talk to the sage upstairs in Fort Haven and he sends you on quests to figure it out. There's also the issue of "what do I have to do to get these vassals back in line." Re Overall: You're really not very far in, and haven't gotten to appreciate much of the plot or story. The bit of game you're describing is maybe the first 5%? If that? I'd go further and see what you think.

It really, really bothers me (and I appreciate the offer very much). That said, all I have to do is mod the coloradjust to 0 or 2, right? Do other coloradjs work? And will that invalidate achievements? God, now I want to mod this game. I have a problem.

Also, re the Haven Plate boots thing...I looked at some of the other plates. I swear it was using the colors of one of the other plates before. The surcoat on it appears to be brown...is the color coding switched for the boots vs the surcoat? Is that even a thing that can happen? Could 1.01 have fixed or changed that?

On both my GoG and Humble Windows versions, the "Always Use These Settings" button doesn't seem to do a damn thing. It always asks me what resolution I want on startup. On an unrelated note, I keep sitting here with the main menu in the background open because I genuinely enjoy the theme that much. Is that weird?