mikeprichard

EDIT: I hope people don’t mind, but I’ve now summarized/paraphrased other posters’ suggestions and added them to the list below; there are lots of great ideas (some I had thought of and forgot, and some I hadn’t seen before). Thanks! I've been playing Spiderweb games since Exile 2, and so far I’m enjoying Avadon 2 about as much as I've enjoyed most other Spiderweb titles. But in the hopes that Jeff might actually read these boards, I'd like to collect some minor interface/gameplay annoyances into one thread. Here's hoping they might be addressed for Avadon 3 - or even better, find their way into an Avadon 2 update (dare to dream, right?). INTERFACE SUGGESTIONS Make all information screen keyboard shortcuts toggle – i.e. the same key should both open and close the related screen. Being able to open the inventory screen with “i” but needing to close it by hitting “ESC” is a constant minor annoyance. (This should be automatic for the character screen and journal, but for the inventory screen – where the selected screen-closing key would interfere with the corresponding key tagged to an item to pick up from the ground – it should probably be optional.) Add separate equipment stat modifiers to the “Attributes” section of the character statistics screen to clarify base vs. modified attributes. For example, if your character has a “base” strength of 10, and is wearing a Charm of Power for +1 STR, his/her attribute list should show strength as “10 +1” rather than “11”. I’m not sure why this wasn’t implemented for attributes, as such modifiers are provided for abilities – and these exact stat modifiers were included in A:EFTP. Clear/thorough in-game tooltips and instruction manual information regarding the controlling attribute for every skill/ability. I understand the occasional vagueness in this area might be a conscious decision on Jeff’s part. But considering the volume of requests on the forums for clarification of which attribute controls a particular ability (including in this topic, e.g. re: Tinkermage skills and INT, which stats – if any – affect summons, etc.), as well as the fact that skill points are limited due to the level cap and ability planning (despite the optional respec feature) is therefore very important, this would seem a pretty big oversight. The addition of a combat mechanics section to the Avadon 2 manual also indicates Jeff is realizing this himself. The option to include more detailed combat stat info (hit chance, critical hit chance, evasion chance, etc.) to the text console. Enhanced UI scaling. “Jeff already introduced a ‘bigger font’ option and it helps a LOT. But many things are still too small in 1080p and strain my eyes.” The option to use the mouse scroll wheel to scroll through shop and other inventory lists. The ability to directly equip items from the inventory (without needing to drag and drop on the character). Larger character pack. Now that weight only matters for equipped items, despite the extremely handy “junk bag,” some packrats (me included) would like more room to sort/store items. Expandable (view) junk bag. Sortable quest list and inventory. The option to click a location within the “popup map” (accessed by holding the “Tab” key) to move the party to that location - or some other simpler method of quick party movement to a distant point on the area map. The option to view the world map at any point during the game. Make looting less of a pixel-hunt/“g”-key bonanza. “Maybe there could also be an icon that appears on-screen (based on a character's skill or attribute?) that indicates there are items available to be picked up in the vicinity.” “This probably won't happen, but I'd like to see a de-emphasis on the scavenging and looting aspect, and the fact that this is the largest part of the in-game economy... Instead of carrying 20 sets of leather armor plus everything else that wasn't nailed to the floor back to town after every adventure, I'd rather see missions (or even a stipend) be your primary source of gold, and random drops/lootable items be fewer but less trivial.” The current system might be at least partly intentional on Jeff’s part, but constantly needing to hit the “g” key to find useful items lying around among all the junk is (for some) more of an annoyance than a fun challenge. Clicking on a mine/snare with a melee weapon equipped should automatically cause the character to move up to the mine/snare and attack, just as would occur with any other enemy. (This could be made optional for those who appreciate the default in-game warning message “Disarm Mine: Too far away. Move next to it before trying to disarm it.”) The ability to view summoned creatures’ stats. GAMEPLAY SUGGESTIONS Shaman tweaks: 1) “Increase the Creature Summon limit to 2 per shaman, 4 per party. This is in line with Tinkermages being able to have two turrets out at a time.” 2) “Change the physical damage shaman casting skills so that they are controlled by intelligence rather than by dexterity… The split dex/int requirements to get decent damage out of the combat line of skills makes the whole line unattractive.” Other skill tweaks/fixes: 1) Sorcerer's Icy Lance skill should not be keyed to ranged damage. Additional options to restore Vitality other than potions or returning to Avadon – e.g. the ability to restore Vitality similar to Health in certain designated “safe locations” like friendly forts, or the ability to restore Vitality through consuming food. The option to save the game between lengthy dialogues and larger/boss battles. I’m interested to see what others might add to this list. Again, I’m enjoying the game as much as I expected, but feel there’s still room for several simple and much-needed improvements in the interface/gameplay area. Cheers!

Yeah, it took about 4 hours, but like I say - I'm OCD. I guess that's why I like these games so much.

EDIT: Complete town list moved to top of forum topic for easy reference. (2/12/2015)

Thanks, Lilith!

EDIT: Complete town list moved to top of forum topic for easy reference. (2/12/2015) Thanks to qella and alex for additional Slime/Roach plague data below! I've done some extensive (obsessive-compulsive) testing using the Character Editor to edit the in-game day for all friendly towns in Valorim; here are the results. I'm 99% confident in the below information, with two caveats: 1) After you eliminate the monster plague for each town, that town will no longer suffer any further damage (damaged buildings, occupation by monsters, etc.). However, even though I solved all five plagues before any related towns suffered any damage, when I then cheated the day to 500 (the max), there were several NPCs (including "generic" shopkeepers like tailors, fletchers, Merrys, etc., as well as NPCs with specific dialogue and possibly quests like Father Oriathon in Hectar, Spurn in Bavner, Shahpur and others in Angel's Rest, etc.) missing in the smaller towns. Therefore, it's best to clear any quests involving NPCs in the smaller towns (i.e. other than the provincial capitals of Krizsan, Shayder, Sharimik, Lorelei, and Gale, which don't seem to suffer this "disappearing NPC" problem) as soon as possible. 2) I didn't check for any further damage past day 501 (the max in the Character Editor), but I'm pretty sure after around day 250, every town is as busted up as it can ever get. On to the info. Friendly towns that suffer damage due to a related unsolved plague do so in two or more "phases." To take a simple example, from days 0 through 110, Aminro is in its initial "OK" state, but from day 111 onward, it's destroyed and occupied by troglos. However, most damaged towns have three or more such states (with various buildings/NPCs gradually getting damaged/killed/displaced as time goes on, until the related plague is solved). According to the below, if you want to avoid any town being damaged at all, you must solve the slime plague before day 11, the roach plague before day 51, the troglo plague before day 76, the giant plague before day 101, and the golem plague before day 141. The alien beast plague won't spread to any friendly towns if left unsolved - at least as of day 501. TOWNS AFFECTED BY SLIME PLAGUE (once plague is solved, towns suffer no further damage) Krizsan Phase 1: Days 0-10 Phase 2: Days 11-25 Phase 3: Days 26-55 Phase 4: Days 56 and later Delan Phase 1: Days 0-40 Phase 2: Days 41-60 Phase 3: Days 61-65 Phase 4: Days 66-70 Phase 5: Days 71 and later Delis Phase 1: Days 0-60 Phase 2: Days 61 and later (town is destroyed) Silvar Phase 1: Days 0-40 Phase 2: Days 41-60 Phase 3: Days 61-70 Phase 4: Days 71-80 Phase 5: Days 81 and later (town is destroyed) Inn of Blades Phase 1: Days 0-100 Phase 2: Days 101 and later Bolton Phase 1: Days 0-40 Phase 2: Days 41-60 Phase 3: Days 61-75 Phase 4: Days 76-85 Phase 5: Days 86-90 Phase 6: Days 91 and later (town is destroyed) TOWNS AFFECTED BY ROACH PLAGUE (once plague is solved, towns suffer no further damage) Shayder Phase 1: Days 0-50 Phase 2: Days 51-70 Phase 3: Days 71-105 Phase 4: Days 106 and later Hectar Phase 1: Days 0-70 Phase 2: Days 71-85 Phase 3: Days 86-105 Phase 4: Days 106 and later (town is destroyed) Bavner Phase 1: Days 0-75 Phase 2: Days 76 and later Kuper Phase 1: Days 0-90 Phase 2: Days 91-105 Phase 3: Days 106 and later Port Townsend Phase 1: Days 0-75 Phase 2: Days 76-85 Phase 3: Days 86-95 Phase 4: Days 96-105 Phase 5: Days 106 and later TOWNS AFFECTED BY TROGLO PLAGUE (once plague is solved, towns suffer no further damage) Sharimik Phase 1: Days 0-95 Phase 2: Days 96-130 Phase 3: Days 131-170 Phase 4: Days 171 and later (town is partially occupied by troglos) Angel's Rest (yes, there really are 10 phases - the changes are subtle) Phase 1: Days 0-80 Phase 2: Days 81-90 Phase 3: Days 91-100 Phase 4: Days 101-110 Phase 5: Days 111-130 Phase 6: Days 131-140 Phase 7: Days 141-150 Phase 8: Days 151-170 Phase 9: Days 171-190 Phase 10: Days 191 and later (town is occupied only by friendly guards) Aminro Phase 1: Days 0-110 Phase 2: Days 111 and later (town is occupied by troglos) Gidrik Phase 1: Days 0-75 Phase 2: Days 76-100 Phase 3: Days 101-120 Phase 4: Days 121-135 Phase 5: Days 136-160 Phase 6: Days 161-180 Phase 7: Days 181-200 Phase 8: Days 201 and later (town is occupied by troglos) TOWNS AFFECTED BY GIANT PLAGUE (once plague is solved, towns suffer no further damage) Lorelei Phase 1: Days 0-120 Phase 2: Days 121-165 Phase 3: Days 166-210 Phase 4: Days 211 and later (town is partially occupied by giants) Softport Phase 1: Days 0-100 Phase 2: Days 101-120 Phase 3: Days 121-190 Phase 4: Days 191 and later (town is largely destroyed, but not occupied by giants) Malloc Phase 1: Days 0-210 Phase 2: Days 211 and later (town is largely destroyed, but not occupied by giants) Bremerton Phase 1: Days 0-200 Phase 2: Days 201-220 Phase 3: Days 221-245 Phase 4: Days 246 and later (town is occupied by giants) Bengaro Phase 1: Days 0-110 Phase 2: Days 111-120 Phase 3: Days 121-125 Phase 4: Days 126-130 Phase 5: Days 131-185 Phase 6: Days 186 and later (town is occupied by giants) Dellston Phase 1: Days 0-110 Phase 2: Days 111-135 Phase 3: Days 136 and later (town is occupied by giants) Poulsbo Phase 1: Days 0-120 Phase 2: Days 121-150 Phase 3: Days 151-170 Phase 4: Days 171 and later (town is occupied by giants) TOWNS AFFECTED BY GOLEM PLAGUE (once plague is solved, towns suffer no further damage) Gale Phase 1: Days 0-140 Phase 2: Days 141-200 Phase 3: Days 201-250 Phase 4: Days 251 and later (town is partially occupied by golems) Greendale Phase 1: Days 0-165 Phase 2: Days 166 and later (town is occupied by golems) Mernia Phase 1: Days 0-150 Phase 2: Days 151-180 Phase 3: Days 181-210 Phase 4: Days 211 and later (town is occupied by golems) Spineridge Phase 1: Days 0-250 Phase 2: Days 251 and later (town is occupied by golems) TOWNS NEVER ALTERED BY ANY PLAGUE (FROM DAY 0 THROUGH DAY 501), WHETHER OR NOT ANY PLAGUES ARE SOLVED KRIZSAN/KARNOLD PROVINCES Pergies Farport Porter's Retreat Golddale ISLE OF BIGAIL Fenris Port FAR SOUTHEAST VALORIM Libras Lost Isle Storm Port Gebra Squiggus Lennus FAR NORTHWEST VALORIM Wainscotting Calloc Marish Dorngas Moon FAR NORTHEAST VALORIM Tevrono ORIGINAL POST (6/13/2013): I'm replaying A3, and would appreciate some specific info on how the passage of in-game days affects the game world: 1) Do all towns/cities in Valorim become more damaged (dead NPCs, ruined buildings, etc.) with the passage of days, or are only the provincial capitals (Krizsan, Shayder, Shamirik, Lorelei, Gale) affected? 2) Do these affected towns/cities have only two states (undamaged vs. damaged), or are there several phases of damage as time goes on? E.g., is Krizsan "undamaged" until day 10, "somewhat damaged" from days 10 through 20, and "fully damaged" after day 20? Even better, if anyone knows and could post the damage "trigger" day(s) for each affected town (assuming the related plague isn't yet solved), that'd be great. 3) I really don't want to miss out on any NPCs or quests, so I'm tempted to use the character editor to reset the in-game day to a low number (10 or so - I'm already in the 30s and still in Krizsan). What negative in-game side effects might this have? Thanks all!

Thanks for the hint, Randomizer. I guess so far we've determined that Melee Weapons increases to-hit chance overall (but apparently not at a linear rate? - and as for its effect on damage, that's still unclear), Hardiness reduces the to-hit penalty from armor (but apparently only partially?), and Defense reduces the AP penalty from armor. I'll keep testing as I play through A2 and post more on all this if/when I figure it out.

Sorry for the double-post, but I ran some initial play-testing on Melee Weapons vs. Hardiness vs. Defense for to-hit chance by increasing each skill independently in the Character Editor and then attacking the same goblin fighter in the nephil fort. Here are the results for a character attacking with an Iron Longsword and a 12% armor-related to-hit penalty (at least according to the in-game tooltips: 8% penalty for Leather Armor, plus 4% penalty for Steel Small Shield): Increasing Melee Weapons Melee Weapons 8, Hardiness 1, Defense 1 = 78% to-hit Melee Weapons 9, Hardiness 1, Defense 1 = 90% to-hit Melee Weapons 10, Hardiness 1, Defense 1 = 92% to-hit Melee Weapons 11, Hardiness 1, Defense 1 = 94% to-hit Melee Weapons ≥12, Hardiness 1, Defense 1 = 95% to-hit Increasing Hardiness Melee Weapons 8, Hardiness 1, Defense 1 = 78% to-hit Melee Weapons 8, Hardiness 2, Defense 1 = 82% to-hit Melee Weapons 8, Hardiness ≥3, Defense 1 = 86% to-hit Increasing Defense Melee Weapons 8, Hardiness 1, Defense 1 = 78% to-hit Melee Weapons 8, Hardiness 1, Defense ≥2 = 78% to-hit Some conclusions: 1) Melee Weapons, as already known, does affect to-hit chance, but the effect isn't linear (i.e. it's not simply a 5% increase per skill point, despite the in-game tooltip). I assume the non-linear effects I noticed during testing (from 78% to 90% when going from 8 to 9 points, but only 90% to 92% when going from 9 to 10) has something to do with the stats of the Goblin Fighter interacting with my skills. (Also, it was unclear whether or not increasing Melee Weapons - or Strength, for that matter - had a noticeable effect on damage.) 2) Hardiness does affect to-hit chance, but strangely, no matter how high the skill is, my above test wasn't able to reduce all 12% of the armor-related penalty - I could only reduce up to two armor penalty "increments" of 4% (from 78% to 86%) by increasing Hardiness. To reach the 95% cap, I had to pump up Melee Weapons instead. (I still have no data on how Hardiness would affect any armor-related AP penalty, though.) 3) Despite the walkthrough note that it "allows you to wear bulkier armor with out penalty", Defense has no effect whatsoever on to-hit chance - armor-related or otherwise. (Maybe the "penalty" referred to in the walkthrough is just for mage spells, but having one skill - Defense - affect only that armor-related penalty, while another - Hardiness - affects all other armor-related penalties wouldn't make much sense.) Anyway, this was just a quick test that only partially answered my questions, so if anyone already knows and could provide a more comprehensive answer per my earlier post, I'd appreciate it. Cheers!

Apologies if this has been answered elsewhere in the forums, but in Avernum 2 specifically, I'd appreciate a breakdown of what exactly Melee/Pole/Bows/Thrown Weapons, Hardiness, and Defense skills affect. 1) For the weapon skills, the in-game tips only indicate an increase in to-hit chance by 5% per point, but the walkthrough (http://www.harehunter.info/Avernum2/Maps/characters2.html) states damage is increased as well - although the amount of such increase per skill point isn't given. 2) For Hardiness, the in-game tips only indicate a possible reduction in incoming damage by 1, but the walkthrough states any applicable armor AP penalties are reduced as well - although the amount of such reduction per skill point isn't given. 3) For Defense, the in-game tips only indicate a reduction in chance to be hit in melee by 4% per point, but the walkthrough states to-hit chance penalties are reduced as well (if I'm reading it correctly - it's vague here) - although the amount of such reduction per skill point isn't given. Anyway, the "comprehensive skill effects"-type lists Slarty and other veterans assembled in the "Strategy Central" forums for more recent titles had me spoiled when I returned to replay the earlier games - any responses approaching that level of detail for the exact complete effects of these six skills in A2 would be great. Thanks all!

Excellent - I'll try it out; thanks again!

MMXPERT, that'd be hugely helpful - thanks!

Thanks a lot, Master1 - I'll give it a shot!

I haven't seen an answer to this question elsewhere on the boards, but is there any (relatively simple) way to edit the character's canister usage (i.e. set number of canisters used to "0" after 1 or more canisters have been used in-game) via a cheat/hex edit etc. in Geneforge 2? Thanks!

Thanks Randomizer! I did look through the "vakkiridlg" file, but I think this is a little too complex for a computer klutz like me to manage without causing other problems... but again, I appreciate the quick reply all the same!

Hi all, Great forum - long-time reader, first-time poster. So I've decided to revisit the Geneforge series, starting with G1, and have managed to "break" a couple quests in my active quest list. Specifically, I accidentally massacred every Awakened servile on the island, and am now left with the "Find Arth" quest in my journal, which I can no longer complete. I actually talked to Arth about Coale, but then killed Coale. Brilliant, I know. Anyway, since I'm OCD, does anyone know how I can "cheat" to get rid of this quest (and other quests I can't complete) from my list? I've seen codes using the SDF ("stuff done flag") trick elsewhere on the forum, but have no idea whether one of these codes would help here, and wasn't able to dig up more from a forum search. So, any help from you fine folks would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading!