RaustBlackDragon

"I intend to find out who has the most treasure, kill them, take it, and repeat the process."

I friggin' love that line, and when I play geneforge 4, I want to play a character who could say it with a straight face.

so, I'm gonna play a sociopath, most likely guzzling down every canister I find, and I have a few questions:

1: Since I'll be violently insane to the point where I resort to violence needlessly, is there any point to investing in leadership?

2: Bearing in mind that my goal is to eventually slaughter as many characters as humanly possible,Who should I ally myself with? I do need to ally with SOMEBODY, right?

That level 38 in G2 seems low ? Shaper with 7 creations ? Or did you skip straight to the end at some point ?

Shaper with 4 creations, took the awakened path, returned when the awakened goals were completed.

Just asking around, thought this thread would be useful for newcomers to plan their endgame builds around, by demonstrating what levels they can reasonably expect to be by the end. I'll go first:

I beat Geneforge 1 at level 25, and Geneforge 2 at level 38, both times on torment.

In fact, if you're not playing on torment you can get by with severely sub-optimal builds.

Even then, actually, depending on how sub-optimal you consider the builds in my sig to be

Beta testing starts whenever Jeff decides he's completed enough of the game to test it. The first month or two is done by previous beta testers that are insane enough to do it again. Jeff posts in What's New when he wants more beta testers. Then he takes up to a few weeks to decide who he wants. About half the testers drop out.

Half of them quit, or half of them are removed? I can't fathom how it could possibly be as painful as you're implying

So when will beta testing start? Any news? I want in!

I know this is a really old thread, but I think it's important to add that later investigations found that Geneforge 1-4 have a bug where items that should provide a bonus to creation strength actually don't. This tilts the argument in favour of the puresteel blade.

Seriously? As in the bonus doesn't actually apply? Because it the stats do visibly increase...

I could have sworn I got the radiant soulblade without getting my stats drained. Maybe I got it when I slaughtered the entire taker town?

Again, I should stress that one of your spellcasters should try to get lethal blow, it's a VERY rare opportunity for mages that you should seize and test out now that the opportunity has presented itself

Lucille was the one who had high gymnastics (via bows) to go with her mage spells, which allowed her to sometimes cast as many as 5 spells in a round (with haste, battle frenzy, and adrenaline rush)?

Yep, that's the one

Awesome! I'll be looking forward to more!

Personally, I got along just fine without the chainmail. There are other pieces of armor that grant that bonus, and I got by with those just fine

Uh, in most situations, yes, we would say that chimps and humans are very similar. Humans and chimps share so much DNA because it wasn't all that long ago (in evolutionary terms) that they were a single ancestral species.

 

Anyway, there's no good evidence for serviles being humans beyond being able to use the same Geneforge, but Shapers do have more of a record of modifying or mixing-in existing creatures (lizards, dogs, bats, already existing creations) than of shaping creations from scratch.

 

Dikiyoba.

It's also a point of great pride for shapers that they never shape or experiment with their own kind, which also suggests the serviles don't have such a history.

This sounds awesome! I can't wait to see how this turns out

Also, may I recommend a spellslinger like my Lucille? She was utterly DEADLY, one of my favorite characters I've ever made And see if you can get Lethal Blow for a magic user or two

I've heard a lot about blades of exile and blades of avernum, and they sound absolutely awesome, but apparently my computer can't run them

Has Jeff said anything about whether or not Blades of Exile/Avernum will be remade along with the main trilogy eventually? That would be AWESOME.

Yeah, one of the biggest issues I had with the idea of going shaper was having to deal with Greta (my favorite of the two partners) abandoning me and calling me out on a bunch of atrocious deeds. Thankfully, now I honestly can't imagine how she could possibly be justified in being mad at me.

Yeah, I've noticed what people have been saying about Rebels talking a good game, but I've looked at Greta quite differently since giving the game another shot. She's clearly quite compassionate, but she's also incredibly naive and vindictive, ready to blame the shapers for anything bad involving shaping, even stuff that can't sanely be attributed to the shapers after a little thought (spawners, Torsten's sickness). I still think that Alwan is a zealous tool and not somebody you would ever invite to, well, anything, but I agree that, at least in G3, the shapers are the way to go. I'm not so sure about G4 (haven't gotten too far in it, and the rebels seem a bit more ethical in that one), but at least for G3 it seems pretty clear-cut now. It's a shame that Greta will leave, but I suspect I'll find the moment amusing rather than actually guilt-tripping.

Is it actually true that Shapers designed serviles to enjoy the work they do, or is it just a PR excuse lie? And if it's true, what's up with the intelligent serviles? Was that eventually eroded out of their genetics, or is it some kind of addiction they've had to rise above?

RaustBlackDragon, please keep your insults to Alwan family-friendly. Thanks!

Sorry, that's so rarely used I sometimes forget it's a swear word. "Jerk" doesn't quite convey the same meaning though... time to get creative!

Edit: Mission Accomplished!

You can keep both till the end of third island if you play your cards right though you might have to forego some experience,, after that at least one will abandon you on the basis of your views, being a shaper doesn't affect them, only the faction you choose.

So it's possible for both to abandon me if I go one way and then the other? Damn.

If you alienate one, that one is gone for good. MSlayer is correct: a choice you make on the third island WILL alienate one of them (that choice does NOT lock into a faction yet, by the way). It's possible to alienate one of them even earlier, on the second island.

Darn, for a second I was hoping to have Greta on the shaper path, Alwan is just a zealous tool.

If I alienate Alwan on the first islands, but then decide to go shaper, does Greta abandon me too, or does she stick with me? Is it possible to go rebel with Alwan, or Shaper with Greta? Does the other rejoin you?

Since when are resistance fighters under the thumb of a genocidal regime obliged to play fair?

It's not about playing fair, it's about actually bringing about improvement. The Drayks and drakons are pretty much all-around even more monstrous than the human shapers.

Icy End is quite late in the game.

Ah. I guess I'll look for it myself when I get there.

I just wandered around Icy End and saw no Drakon canister.

Odd. Maybe it's hidden like that one in the first geneforge? How late into the game is the Icy End?

Oh, you're right! I just double-checked and I misread the hint book...

Darn it... And I just barely got a taste of those things in G2... Screw it, I'll just go on to G4.

The guide doesn't mention one in Icy End, thougn?

Yeah, it doesn't. Is there one?

The hint book claims there are drakon canisters in Icy End, Benerii-Eo Labs, and Stonespire. I don't know whether this is so.

The guide I read says they're in Benerii-Eo Labs and the Geneforge. Odd...