I've recently purchased Geneforge after noticing that the series was available on Steam, as I remembered having greatly enjoyed the demo for the original when I played it roughly a decade ago.
However, as I have a pronounced tendency to gimp my character on the first run through a game, I wanted to clarify what Shapers should be investing in with regards to their skill points.
In regards to shaping skills: I've heard that Battle Shaping is pretty questionable relative to Magic Shaping and Fire Shaping, but should I actually bother to invest in both Fire and Magic or just focus my points in one of these two areas in order to get very high level creations of that type?
I've heard that healing and buffing spells are pretty useful, but at the stage in the game I'm at I've found that supporting a large number of creations leaves me with relatively little essence to actually cast these spells. Are these worth a significant investment of skill points for a Shaper?
I've been told that Mechanics 5 is roughly sufficient for most of the game. However, even early on most of the locks I'm encountering require several living tools to open even with Mechanics 5? Should I realistically be pumping this a bit more?
Finally, given the considerable expense of attributes in general. what end level of intelligence should a Shaper aim for?