Untamed Banana Slug

An arbitrary distinction. You might as well argue that a parent has the right to kill their offspring whenever it so suits them.



That's supposition. But for fun, let's assume that there was a drayk rebellion. That doesn't mean that there weren't loyal drayks, in fact, I find it highly unlikely that there weren't. This means that the Shapers targeted all drayks for extermination, irrespective of their loyalty to the Shaper regime. That's no different from what Taygen wants to do. In fact, I'd argue that Taygen has more justification, given that many serviles are engaging in organised resistance! As far as we know, the drayks never rebelled prior to being Barred.



One word. Sucia.



You have my complete agreement there. They are tyrants.



That's one reason they use to justify their hoarding of power, but I find such a justification wholly inadequate.



No, they just create the Purity Agent. As to the Unbound, hey, whatever works, right?



Ahh, but the Shaper world does have Rebellion. Guess all that control was for naught, hmm?

So, just for fun, I played through most of Alwan's main quests, and then switched to Taygen. I completed the Purity Agent, and hey presto, the Shaper Council is whining and crying because Taygen released it.

 

Um, what?

 

Now don't get me wrong, I'm perhaps the most pro-Rebel individual on this board, and find a number of Taygen's beliefs completely off the wall. But if the Shaper Council has a means by which they can decisively end the war while causing minimum loss of human life (which they apparently value far more than creation life) and preserve the integrity of their empire, don't they, as Shapers, have a duty to utilise it? There is very little difference between the Unbound and the Purity Agent, except the intentions of the individuals who made them. The Council doesn't need to agree with Taygen's nutcase beliefs to see the benefits of releasing the Purity Agent, they can simply write off the loyal creation deaths as collateral.

 

The Council's whining about killing the 'loyal' creations is nonsense, because they don't seem to have a problem with their ancestors wiping out an entire species (ie. the drayks) irrelevant of loyalty. They also don't have a problem with forcing their 'children' to work lousy dangerous jobs (ie. mining), and reabsorbing them when they complain.

 

There is also the issue of the many loyal outsider humans who are fighting and dying on the front lines, and who suffer terribly in Alwan's ending in the war of attrition. And there will probably be suffering further down the track, because the Shapers will have to take the Ashen Isles back a generation later, and I doubt the drakons/drayks will hand it over willingly.

 

I guess what I am trying to say is that if the Shapers have the option between slow and halting genocide or fast and thorough genocide (thanks Thuryl), then they owe it to their own sect and citizens to choose the latter.

I tend to horde expendable magic items, and due to the fact that they are expendable, never use them. This results in pile of wands, potions, spores and crystals outside the entrance to every town. Doh.

 

On the bright side, if I want to test the mechanics of the game, I can just load up an old save and find whatever I want outside a town entrance.

I guess you could have your main sword with a golden crystal, and secondary swords with ivory skull/runed onyx/runed amethyst to curse/slow/acidify when desired. It only costs 1 point to switch between them.

 

But on the other hand, why would you just use ensnaring fibres or a slow time wand?

This has been a long time coming!

 

Note that a * means that effect is not added two second attack for quick action (confirmed).

 

 

 

Blessing Crystal

 

Armour: 5% to armour (only armour). NO change to dodge.

 

Weapon: 5% to hit. NO change to damage. Applies to second attack for quick action.

 

 

Runed Ruby

 

Armour: 5% resist fire

 

Weapon: Avg. of 10 fire damage* (range = 5-16)

 

 

Charging stone:

 

Armour: 5% resist cold

 

Weapon: Avg. of 15 cold damage* (range = 4-27)

 

 

Runed Amethyst

 

Armour: 5% resist acid

 

Weapon: 34/68 acid damage per round

 

 

Ivory skull

 

Armour: Increases to hit by 10% to all attacks (spells)

 

Weapon: Curses every hit (ie. reduces attack strength by four)

 

 

Tiny Orb of Mist

 

Armour: 10% to dodge

 

Weapon: No observable effect

 

 

Runed Onyx

 

Armour: 5% resist energy

 

Weapon: 25% chance to bestow slow effect on a successful hit*

 

 

Ethereal bindings

 

Armour: 5% resist stun

 

Weapon: Drain life*, avg 20, range = 12-22

 

 

Steel Spine

 

Armour: Damage attacker, avg. 13, range: 8-19

 

Weapon: 22 physical damage* (8-34)

 

 

Golden Crystal

 

Armour: 5% to armour, fire, cold, energy, stun, mental, poison, acid. NO change to dodge.

 

Weapon: Increases attack strength with weapon by six (+30% to hit, * 6 multiplier, note that this is two more levels than war blessing!). NO change to hit/damage for spells. Applies to second attack from quick action.

 

 

Thoughts:

 

From memory, it has been previously mentioned that the Golden Crystal increases damage by the roughly the same amount as war blessing. As we can see, this isn't exactly true. A golden crystal attached to a weapon increases attack strength by six, which is two more than offered by war blessing (attack strength of four). This increase in attack strength not only means * 6 on multiplier damage, but also a +30% to hit. Wow.

 

I think it's blatantly obvious that the Golden Crystal is the best enhancement you can add to weapons and armour, but we all already knew that, although some posters have mentioned that they add the runed onyx/ivory skull to their weapon.

 

The results I obtained from the Runed Onyx support my own experiences of it being a useless addition to a weapon. The Slow status is only bestowed on one out of four hits, and the Slow effect only kicks in one out of every four turns the round after it has been bestowed. If you do the math, that means that the probability of your opponent being slowed the next round (assuming 100% chance to hit) is 1/16, or 6.25%. That's lousy.

 

You'd be much better off with an Ivory Skull, which not only is guaranteed to curse the enemy, but even better, the curse effect kicks in *that same round*. On torment, a -4 to attack strength is significant, as every die of damage is doubled.

 

Of all the crystals that add elemental damage, Runed amethyst wins out easily. You'd be better off adding Blessing Crystals/Runed Rubies/Charged Stones/Runed Amethysts/Runed Onyxs to your armour early on.

 

Personally, I'd sell steel spines, ethereal bindings, and tiny orbs of mist without a second thought.

Yes, I just tested it as well and can confirm that this is correct.

Maybe there is a difference between the Mac and Windows versions?

Nope, no change to chance to dodge.

It wouldn't fit with the item description for Tiny Orb of Mist, but then since when have the ingame descriptions ever been accurate? I'll test it right now.

I tested after adding each point of dex.

Ambignomoi:

 

No.

 

 

I didn't test for that, but I wouldn't expect a tiny orb of mist to increase dodge rating if forged onto a sword. I'll try testing that anyway.

 

 

Via extensive testing! I equipped my sword with the tiny orb of mist and pumped my dexterity until my character moved before my pet war trall. I then unequipped the sword, and there was no change in move order (my character still moved before my war trall.)

Well, we don't have much else to go on. But even before the Rebellion erupted (GF1 and GF2) the Shapers were a bunch of jerks who exterminated anyone with a shred of independent thought. Let's not forget their purge of Sucia Isle, and how they razed Medab in GF2.



Which explains all the Discipline Wands, whips, and shackles prior to GF5? The destruction of any servile with independent thought? The genocide of an entire species? The shaping of Servant Minds so that they have useless limbs? The Shaper regime has always been terrified of their Creations rebelling against them (ie. going 'rogue'), which is why they resorted to such draconian measures of control.



That would have been nice, but unfortunately most Shapers and ordinary non-Shapers were not willing to stand up and point out the error. Most Shapers and humans explicitly or implicitly support the Shapers reign and oppression, and therefore Rebellion became the only feasible way to change the status quo.



Exactly.



Except the genocide wasn't something which just happened in the past and was forgotten. Drayks are still Barred up to the present, and are marked for extermination.

Why do Jews and Drayks need to be similar? I'm sure you could find many arbitrary differences between the two given that Geneforge is a fantasy game, but so what? Both are sapient, and both were targeted for simply existing.

But you get some good stuff when you kill the four councillors, and if you want to do that, Ghaldring's faction is the only one that will be left to ally with.

I just performed a few simulations, and found the following:

 

- Your quick action is *not* increased when you add a tiny orb of mist to a weapon. I confirmed this via a Z test for proportions, AND by reducing my quick action to zero and striking a war trall with the blade about 50 times. And yeah, I have no life.

 

- Your move order is not affected when the Tiny Orb of Mist is added to a weapon.

 

Conclusion? Sell your Tiny Orbs of Mist!

But it's sort of unpredictable as to when the Slow effect is bestowed. Most of the time, the enemies I attack aren't slowed.

 

Maybe the additional damage that is afforded by the Golden Crystal for *every* strike is better. But Slow is a relatively nice ancillary effect.

At that point in the game, I'm usually too weak to take on Koski and his eight (?) brutal thahds by myself, so I lure them back to the refugees for some assistance. Works like a charm, and I rarely lose any refugees.

Now that I've removed the Thirsting Gloves, I'm not getting any draining effect for the Frozen Blade.

Why didn't you just use curing pods/spores? I horde them for that very reason.

If you aren't a creation and fly under the radar, Shaper rule isn't that bad. If you're a servile, Barred Creation, Outsider who wants to Shape or have any semblance of autonomy (witness the natives who are too frightened to talk about their indigenous heritage), or Trakovite, then the Shapers could be seen as terrible oppressors.



Um, what? Let's look at the four members of the Shaper Council who we have extensive contact with in the game:

- One is an opportunist who implants a living tool in your heart and sends you out to undermine his fellow councillors for no other reason than obtaining power and influence.

- One wants peace at any cost. Astoria seems to be a relatively fair ruler, but clearly her beliefs aren't representative of the Shaper sect, given that she is the target of assassinations by her own kind.

- Alwan wants to wipe out all Barred creations for the mere crime of existing. And he's considered a *moderate* by some. Yeah, right. Astoria is more along the lines of a moderate Shaper IMHO.

- Taygen wants to destroy all creations and start again.

Three out of four of the Council members we meet are what would be considered tyrants in any sane society.



Where rogue creations = any creation which exhibits independent thought, and rogue shaper = Any outsider/Shaper who doesn't kowtow to an autocratic regime with control issues.



And you could argue that Nazi rule wasn't bad... for non-Jewish Germans. And yes, I'd argue that the analogy is highly relevant, given that certain segments of Shaper society (ie. Drayks) were targeted for genocide.



"They are our children"? Surely you didn't buy into that claptrap? Who sends their children to do physically dangerous work (eg. working in the minds) and tortures/kills them when they exhibit independent thought? The "They are our children" excuse is nothing more than an attempt by some Shapers to rationalise what is clearly an inexcusible crime, no different than when the slavers said "Well, where will our slaves go if we free them?!"

It's also blatantly obvious that the serviles are not *children*. They are more than capable of existing independently.



What alternative would you propose? All evidence suggests that reform is only possible when the Shapers are coerced.

Luck gives you a bonus to all resistances, including armour. It also increases your chance to hit (by 2%, from memory), and increases your reaction time in combat.

 

It also turns out that the combined Hostile Resistance and Luck from the Charmed Falchion give you a bigger boost to Cold Resistance than the +10% cold resistance granted by the Frozen Blade. Wow.

 

Charmed Falchion wins hands down.

Runed Onyx gives a slow effect, doesn't it?

So when the government uses guns to dispossess its citizens of firearms, is that self-defeating?

I'm playing as a stoic warrior, and I'm try to decide which melee weapon I should use.

 

Frozen Blade:

13-65 damage

Curses every hit

+15% to hit

+10% cold resistance

 

Charmed Falchion:

11-55 damage

+5 luck

+8 to hostile effect resistance

+2 to creation intelligence

 

 

Frozen Blade curses every hit and does slightly more damage, but the Charmed Falchion has an awesome defense bonus (+5 to luck and +8 to hostile effect resistance!) +2 to creation intelligence isn't that important, since I'm not using any creations whose attacks are a drain on spell energy.

 

I'm also wondering what blessing crystal to add. Golden Crystal for the boost to damage, or Runed Onyx, for the slow effect?

As has already been mentioned, Daze works wonders. Just Daze the worms and target the spawner. If you're playing a warrior character, that might not be a viable option. As a warrior, I waited until I was level 30 before wiping out those spawners. There was no hurry, since it was still pretty easy to access the Trakovite Haven without clearing that particular zone (it takes about 10 seconds to cross).