mikeprichard

Also, following up on an earlier post, the Feisty Slap Glove does in fact accept up to four anvil augmentations, but to amend the info currently in the Atlas (and assuming the in-game tooltips are correct for each version of the glove), the augments do the following: ---first: increases unarmed damage / adds chance to daze ---second: increases chance to daze ---third: adds chance to stun ---fourth: further increases unarmed damage / increases chance to stun

Hmm, that would make sense, but I went back to the mind with Leadership 10 and exhausted all dialogue options (I'd done the same the first time through the Power zone, and didn't notice any new options this time), and these two doors in Shaping remain closed. I haven't yet killed Akkat or Easss, but I doubt that would do it(?). EDIT: OK, it's the two heavily-locked levers (with no key available) in the small room with the Battle Alpha canister in the NW/heating vents part of the Shaping zone. The Atlas indicates these levers instead affect the heating tiles, but they don't seem to - FYI for others who might stumble on this.

Regarding the below notes from the Atlas, as a non-Taker (Awakened), I killed Salgurdar (I never had the option to speak with him as he defaulted to hostile, and am not sure how he would reward Awakened or Barzites since he's similarly hostile in both cases) as well as Rhakkus, but the below two doors still don't open. I'd understood there are no faction-locked Taker rewards, but is it the case that these two canisters are in fact completely unavailable to non-Takers? If not, how can I open the doors? Thanks. Salgurdar - teach for Shaped - can open door by Enchantment Anvil for Awakened (52,35) - Canister - Create Rotghroth - can open door by Enchantment Anvil for Barzite (53,36) - Canister - Create Gazer

I ended up luring the battle gamma back to Sharon to have her successfully assist with the beatdown. It was epic and/or pathetic, lol.

I never used Mental Magic really, and skill points are scarce, but maybe 2 points (boosted to 3 eventually with a canister, if you're into that kind of thing; there are also items you can use for temporary spellcasting ability) through the course of the playthrough might not hurt. But yeah, I suggest you fool around with "retrain" if you're stuck on a particular battle and see what works for you.

I wouldn't bother putting any points into Intellect - the Energy boost is almost useless given how quickly Energy regenerates, and the raw spell power upgrade isn't important. Personally, I'd also completely skip Missile Weapons (and Evasion) to focus on Melee with a little in Quick Action. You are correct that a few enemies (glaahks somewhat early and later gazers come to mind) can potentially be extremely annoying to any solo player (Guardian or Agent) given their potential to stunlock/terrify while they or others acid/poison/burn your health down, but with some blessing and strategic positioning, it's all about prioritizing those enemies and killing them very quickly. Regenerate is also your friend. As to canisters, yep, using fewer is always going to make things relatively more difficult. I do have 3 total points each in Battle and Mental magic (from 1-2 invested skill points and canisters/charms/other boosts), but in the event I've barely used either spell tree. However, if you're having trouble, maybe Daze will help out in a pinch. Not sure how effective it is when it counts at low skill levels/generally, though. If you're too far in your playthrough to restart but still want to respec (and if you don't care about achievements, though I'm not 100% sure all cheat codes disable them), you can use the Shift-D code "retrain" and mess around the same encounters with different builds. GF2 Infestation - Cheat Codes (complete list) - Geneforge Series - Remasters - Spiderweb Software Forums (ipbhost.com)

You're welcome! And the Helix Ring only boosts the different magic schools by 1 point each and when fully upgraded also gives a couple points to creations' Quick Action, so it's not critical for a Shaper; just potentially helpful. More useful for an Agent IMO (though by the time you get it fully upgraded late in the game, probably not), and for a Guardian, you're gonna want that Frosted Annulet.

Guess you sold the residue or mandrake... I think there's just barely enough residue/mandrake throughout the entire game to get all upgrades, but since it looks like you're still fairly early, you should be able to at least collect enough to fully upgrade one of the three artifacts. As I see you're playing as a Shaper, only the Helix Ring is likely to be of use to you anyway IMO.

To charge and thus improve each artifact (Frosted Annulet (takes 1 charge), Feisty Slap Gloves (takes up to 3 or 4 charges), Helix Ring (takes up to 3 charges, with each charge available after you kill certain prominent NPCs with the ring in your inventory)), you need to have one sample each of mandrake and infernal residue when using an anvil.

Solo melee Guardian with healing and blessing magic (healing/curing/Regenerate from Healing Craft, and Speed with occasional War Blessing/Protection/Essence Shield/Mindshield from Blessing Magic). EDIT: Just now realized (as is in fact clear from the tooltip) that Mindshield doesn't affect the PC, but only creations - so scratch that. Not that I was using it much.

FWIW - and again with the caveat I'm only playing on Normal - there's not much anywhere in Taker lands that can last more than one round against my level 18 (just now 19) solo Guardian. Some of the earlier levels were a bit challenging, but toward the mid-/late-game, you should really see the power ramp up if you follow the general tips above.

A couple corrections for the Buck Creek zone valid for the final game (v1.0.1): "NW (28,11) door - lock (highly locked) - opened after Crystal for the Sholai quest completed" This shed in the CN area of the map is only unlocked by Zosima in conversation after you complete his first one or two "trust-building" quests and/or use Leadership to skip them (with the unlocking triggered by "Have I done enough to win your trust?", though you'll need to be careful to choose that option while you have the chance - otherwise, he won't unlock the shed, and you'll need to burn some living tools). "(46,12) door - lock (reward for Sholai Investigation)" Referring to the shed just west of Zosima, this one is opened by Drayk Grimwing for completing his quest.

Solo (98% of the time) guardians are how I've been rolling through both G1 Mutagen and G2 Infestation on Normal difficulty, and I've been having a blast. They're definitely more challenging to play than the vanilla "Shaper with OP minions" (pretty much anything else is, IMO), though I prefer their role-playing and lack of creation micromanagement. Through points and skill-boosting items, I've invested into Melee, some in Endurance and Essence Mastery (for survivability and plenty of healing/blessing spells, especially on boss fights), a couple points each in Strength and Quick Action, and a few points in Blessing Magic/Healing Craft/Leadership/Mechanics; my equipment focuses on boosting Strength/Endurance/Melee/Quick Action, as well as any other temporary gaps in the above few skills on an as-needed basis. Tip I've found extremely useful: once you get Chain Lightning in the Weapon Shaping tree, spam the heck out of it. It's basically my default attack for anything that would survive one melee hit. But yep, looking forward to G4 and G5 - I always played no-creation serviles in those two (as they feature my preferred combat > magic >>> shaping stat spread not available in G1-G3 with those earlier games' three classes), and adding Weapon Shaping to that mix is going to be fun.

Lol! Yep, that's about right.

I'll probably test the glove thing myself, but one more (!) question - who/what in Taker Lands will confirm the origin of the Shandoka spawner? Not Syros, it seems. EDIT: Umm, yeah, it's Syros. smh

Takers (especially the drayk/drakon "leadership") were already behaving like Shapers in G2, let alone G4/G5... too many examples to list.

Re: Tuldaric losing interest in the barrier, that's from Learned Varkan's dialogue. He was the initial driving force behind it, but we see he's now following his own path (as discussed above). I find it difficult to see Pinner as a bigger problem for the long-term goals of the Awakened, though, regardless of how (apparently) naive she may appear.

Agree with Mech's overall take here - Jeff's central theme is the potential for power to corrupt even the best intentions. Even Stanis (see his final dialogue when you best him in the duel) and Zakary (recognizing it's not a canister issue in his case - see his new Emily-related dialogue, Nora's vague mention of her reasons for loyalty to him, etc.) show human/sympathetic dimensions; not that anyone here is claiming this, but they aren't black-and-white evil, full stop. Now that the Taker/Barzite (and even Awakened - see Barrier of the Wind, which incidentally Tuldaric has apparently lost all interest in despite its planned importance to the survival of the Awakened) Shaping/canister doom loops have begun, the player's navigation of the factions (or not) and charting a final path essentially represent a range of bad-to-worse options IMO.

Noted. I know he generally doesn't check this forum, but you do read both here and Steam, so it certainly makes more work for you - I shouldn't have jumped the gun on posting my "conclusions" here, lol. Back to the regularly scheduled Atlas discussion... the Atlas notes up to four augmentations of the Feisty Slap Glove are possible, but only lists the effects of three. Could someone confirm whether there is a fourth augment, and if so, what it adds? (Considering my prioritization of using those rare residues/mandrakes.)

Yes, Jeff does prefer emails, but for some minor things I've been reporting on a Steam topic (seeing for now he seems to be checking the Steam forum daily), I just didn't want to fill up his inbox! And I did see and briefly reply to your response there - it may in fact be a multiplicative issue between stats and items, as you/Jeff noted. I am level 17 with a few skills therefore boosted above the default (Strength and Melee Weapons would be relevant, I suppose, at 6 and 11 without items equipped respectively). Melee damage bonus on Essence Eater w/no other items equipped = (+118%) Melee damage bonus on Essence Eater w/only Chestguard also equipped = (+136%) Melee damage bonus on Essence Eater w/Chestguard and Pure Fanged Bracelet (Strength +1) equipped = (+142%) etc. Most relevant seems to be the first two samples above - i.e. "only" an 18% increase instead of 20%. Maybe if I were able to cheat my Strength and Melee Weapon skill values back down to their level 1 values or something else it would become closer/equal to the stated 10% difference. Kinda complicated, but yeah, I could see this may not be strictly a bug.

Yeah, my guess is it's just the weapon tooltips that are still off, and the damage increase is actually 10% (shown both on the armor and spell tooltips).

Since it's potential late-game equipment, I thought it might be worthwhile to note: it looks like the Slayer's Chestguard (per comparing weapon/spell tooltips when it's equipped/unequipped) may actually boost melee/magic damage by 20%, not 10% - unless the weapon/spell tooltips are the ones that are bugged. I did report on the Steam forum, which Jeff is checking frequently due to the recent release/in preparation for v1.0.2. EDIT: OK, it seems only melee weapon tooltips show a 20% increase; spells show only 10%. Either way, something's probably off here.

Ah - thanks a lot for the info.

I was going to post a new topic about this for GF2 Infestation, but then found this... I don't think I ever got an answer from Jeff, and this item reappears in GF2 Infestation. Has anyone been able to confirm what this does?

Thanks, Mech!