Skeledoid

This kind of 'intellectual' discussion doesn't do too well to my self esteem I'm afraid. Sad to say that I have never really gotten into philosophy. I read Foucault when I was 18, only thing I understood(and agreed) with was his observation about punishment and prison system. A friend of mine tried(repeatedly) to get me to read Nietzsche, Steppenwolf and such. Not the kind of books I would have a cuppa tea with. Interestingly enough, I have a wide if not, eclectic taste in books. Daniel Defoe would have made a great documentarian in my opinion, based on his account of the Great Plague of London( A journal of the Plague Year). I must have several worn out copies of Robinson Cruosoe. Which brings us to my collection of travel books. Most of them are of course narrated with observational humour, social commentary and such. My favorite would be An Impossible Country:Last days of Yugoslavia by Brian Hall. Anything Bill Bryson makes an interesting evening. I used to like Paul Theroux, but his condescending humor towards anyone non-Caucasian grates on you after a while. There's a fine line between humor and attack on the said person's accent, culture or appearance. His piece in National Geographic are more neutral compared to his books. That, and his French worship gets to me sometimes. Apart from that, mystery novels are my not-so-recent obsession. I own a whole collection of Raymond Chandler's mystery books. The image of Detective Marlowe, cigarette in a hand,.38 on the other, appeals to me up to this day. Nude blond woman has never sound so enticing with Chandler's prose. My favorite would be -The Big Sleep -Lady in The Lake -The Long Goodbye Other equally awesome Detective/mystery novel author. Ross Macdonald, Mickey Spillane(Mike Hammer series),James Lee Burke(Dave Robicheaux), Ed Mcbain, Ken Bruen(Irish).

I have just recently played Geneforge 2 up till Rising land.Been playing couple of times with Shaper class. Compared to say Geneforge 4, the amount of canister intake doesnt effect NPC dialogue or the 'madness' issue much. Your public relation issue really just depends whether you are unaligned/with a faction. Then again, this makes it easier to manage without worrying about canister intake too much. That said, Geneforge 4/5 was fun in the sense that you have to control your intake(no more than 8 if I am not mistaken), to avoid anger problem. I believe that being Altered in the Magus complex has some impact in NPC relation? someone should correct me on this as I have not completed the game. There're several moments where your 'addiction' would be noted by NPCs. As for your 2nd question, I would imagine that a Guardian would need every help from canisters and items he could get his hands on. A no-canister shaper(not sure about agents) is doable. I would sometime impose a limit on canisters on my playthrough(4 or 5). It's plain fun decision making -Should I take the Clawbug can? Wouldn't it be obsolete by time I get drayks/Glaahks? -Create Ornk? Tempting..........

The red head archer art looks hot Chiming in a lil bit here: I am extremely happy for the Avernum remake. Simply can't dig into the graphic and overworld navigation mechanic of the earlier Avernum trilogy(based on the demos played). I am probably in the minority when I say that the no-walking animation bothered me. Took me awhile to get over it while blasting through AV 5 demo. Would be happy to 'plonk' in $20 for this.

It's funny that one should care so much what pixelated NPCs think of you. I too, had problems in choosing good and evil in videogames. Though, most choices in games like KOTOR and Fable aren't too severe. You could practically 'fix' your alignment by doing some quest or killing a major NPC. The choices are more organic in Geneforge IMO. Helping the Shapers for a whole chapter(Moseh/Heart of Kiln) and turning in Mehken was rather hard(for me) in Gene 4. I can't help but feel that the whole Geneforge universe is an alternate version of Yugoslavia's civil war.

Originally Posted By: karry Not if you ignored all other stats and concentrate on mech/leadershp only at beginning levels. I believe the initial points given(18/15?)is enough to boost your leader/mech to 5/4 or 4/5 vice versa. Even then I added 1 point for battle shaping. I am trying to simulate vlish's gameplay with a sorceress as of now in my demo. Might purchase the game after completing my GF4 servile playthrough.

Thanks for the reply, Slarty/Randomizer. I am glad that my that I don't need to restart the game or anything. It seems that helping the rebels doesn't effect the alignment much. I might kill them on my another future playthrough. Based on the answers, I am guessing that my Str and Mental M is ok for now? I would probably concentrate my next points on leadership. Is blessing magic useful and worth investing? I did try the lifecrafter class and I enjoy it well. I plan to finish my servile game first though. EDIT:Is it alright to skip the Dumping Pits for awhile. The enemies don't mix well with my Servile.Is the essence shield worth it?

Hi, a geneforge newbie here. Just purchased Geneforge 4, my first spiderweb software game. I was absolutely clueless on what to do with the experience points at first. Perusing the forum thread and strategy central did help a little. Sadly, there aren't many info on Servile class(Aside from several playrthroughs and builds). Matt P's Geneforge 4 FAQ is somewhat lacking in my opinion(no offense to the author). Classes and character info have yet to be added, I suspect that he didn't have time to try out the other classes/races. His FAQ is more shaper/infiltrator oriented I will say. 2+ hours of gameplay invested and I am loving this long nosed(mouth?) race. Powerful melee and daze spell just 'clicked' with my kind of play style. Personally, I don't care much for the micromanagement aspect of the lifecrafter class. On to my questions 1.I am currently at Sinkhole Bridge, planning to help out the rebels. Saving them nets you 40 XP as I can see. Does killing them for the Shaper gives you more XP?I do plan on going the slightly pro-shaper side later on. 2. This is my current stats Str-7 Int-4 Dex-3 Endu-4 Melee-5 Missile-2 Quick AC-3 Parry-5 Battle M- 2 Mental M- 6 Blessing M- 2 Spellcraft -0 Leadership-6 Mechanic-8 No points are added to the shaping stats. Is this an 'ok' build? Would the leadership be adequate for now? 3.I understand that infiltrator and lifecrafter game pacing gets quicker and easier as they progress. As for Servile, would there be a jump in difficulty at a certain point? Or would it be average all they way? Playing as Servile has been moderately easy for now, I did die couple of times from fighting the battle alphas. A strength of 7 made it easier though.