Anyone working on an editor?[G5]

[madrigan]

Well, I'm nearly to the endgame as an Astorian, I'm level 35, I've read other posts about the final battle and I don't see how to get this character through. I've played the assault outside Gazaki-Uss at least fifteen times and got all the way across the map once, at which point I was killed without reaching the exit. Actually I'm wondering why the shapers would send like ten creations to assault the fortress of their most powerful enemy instead of, say, 1000 creations. But anyway.

 

This is my second time through the game, both times on the lowest difficulty setting, and the last time I ended up in the same situation, except that in my first try I never made it to Shaper Citadel at all. I could finish up various minor quests, but frankly at this point I would just like to see the end and wait for Avernum 6. So, is anyone working on a PC Steroid Machine like there was for G4?

 

I'd say A4 and A5 are far easier than G4 and G5. On my first run through A4 I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, only had 8 points of Tool Use and still was able to finish. I've never had a character higher than 35th level in Avernum and can still finish and have a ball, I've played both A4 and A5 four or five times each.

 

I think G5 is freaking hard. I never made it through G4 without an editor, either, but in that I case I realized very early what was going to happen instead of spending two weeks on a character only to discover there was no way to win.

 

Sigh, whine, etc.

[Vempele]

Originally Posted By: madrigan

Well, I'm nearly to the endgame as an Astorian, I'm level 35

How do people keep doing this? I _really_ have no idea how you can avoid so much of the XP the game keeps throwing at you. Go clear some zones, maybe the ones that have artifact ingredients.

Quote:

I think G5 is freaking hard.

I think it's ridiculously easy.

[madrigan]

Originally Posted By: Vempele

Originally Posted By: madrigan

Well, I'm nearly to the endgame as an Astorian, I'm level 35

How do people keep doing this? I _really_ have no idea how you can avoid so much of the XP the game throws at you. Go clear some zones, maybe the ones that have artifact ingredients.

Quote:

I think G5 is freaking hard.

I think it's ridiculously easy.

I'm glad you're enjoying it. Three reasons I can think of why people get to the end without being level 52 or whatever.

One, they focus on the main plot and don't do every side quest. I have about ten side quests left and no desire to complete them. This also means I don't go to every area. I approach it this way: If I were the PC, would I spend time trying to end the war, or would I spend my time running errands for jerks?

Two, they don't kill everything they can find.

Three, no canisters.

Also, keep in mind that if a PC is ten levels behind at the end, they've probably been ten levels behind almost the entire game. This means that as they've proceeded there have been areas they had to run through that a more powerful character would have walked through, killing everything. So the problem gets relatively more severe as the game progresses.

I don't think it's very hard to understand, actually.

[Randomizer]

You are about 5 levels below what you need for the end game.

 

Outside Gazaki-Uss and Gazaki-Uss zones don't need to be cleared of all the enemies. Just crossing the zone west to east clears it to turn the zone green. Of course this means that you will probably leave the zone in combat mode and need to save in the next zone.

 

Buff up the friendly creations that you meet in zone and use charm type spells to turn some of your enemies into temporary allies. At this point you don't care about loot or experience so you just want a clear path without taking damage so you can cross the zone.

 

This game has a higher maximum level than the other games. Jeff changed the experience cutoff difference between your level and the monsters so instead of 48 to 50 being maximum it's closer to 58 to 60.

[Øther]

Something else you could do to get exp is if there is a group of friendly anything that you come across, kill them. That is, if it doesn't have any negative reprecussions on your character, and if they don't give any quests, there is no need for them to live and be in your way.

[Blurb]

Okay, this was posted on another thread. Strange....

 

Anyhoo....

 

Doom Warrior, in past games killing friendlies did have a potential impact on the way your sect viewed you. I'm not sure about G5 in this regard, but I would personally be loathe to kill friendlies as I would fear it might impact my standing with the sect and possibly my ending.

 

The problem with trying to go back and clear old zones is that as you've leveled up, the experience surely will go down in the earlier areas. Sometimes you get no experience.

 

I would start over and get a Shaper character. Lifecrafter, Shaper, or Shock Trooper will do. I personally like the Shock Trooper because she has an extra point in strength and more health. If you really pump up the intelligence and a Shaping skill (I recommend Battle), there is no way to lose the game. By the end you can have some rothizons, war tralls, wingbolts, kryshakks, etc. Powerful creations make all the difference.

[Øther]

I know, but there are a few groups of people throughout the game that, if you kill them, no one cares at all. Most of them you will never here about them if you don't explore and find them yourself. There was this one place around the bottom of Mera that had a little place that sold pods, if they let you in. In there was also a nice crafting item, so I stole it, killed all those people, and it had absolutly no effect on the rest of the game.

[Blurb]

Oh, was that the husband/wife with the fyora that sniffed out the control tool? I think I stole some demon's bile or mandrake tincture from them, but that was all. They didn't react. I wondered what would happen if they went hostile. They were pro-Shaper and I think I was playing as a loyalist at the time.

 

Maybe others in remote areas as well could be easy targets. The strange man overcharging for opening those doors with the lame canister and recipes? Or the swamp herbs guy, wife, and soldiers, perhaps?

 

I'm not terribly homicidal, as it turns out. I cringe at having to kill either side in the Free Camp Danir quest. I kind of like killing rogue roaming beasts and then doing sabotage-type stuff for factions. This war-time theme and killing of *nice* people kind of wears on me. I also get a guilty conscience killing for a nice tunic or shield, too (which I did in both cases).

 

Okay, I'm a wimp.

[jlsgaladriel]

Okay, if what you really want is to finish with a too-low character and move on, the easiest/safest way would probably be to edit an item you're wearing to butch you up.

 

In the scripts folder, open the file named gf5itemschars.txt .

 

Search for something you're wearing, preferably something good. Say you've got firesteel gauntlets: you'd see

begindefineitem 485;

it_name = "Firesteel Gauntlets";

it_protection = 12;

it_stats_to_affect 0 = 9;

it_stats_addition 0 = 5;

it_stats_to_affect 1 = 10;

it_stats_addition 1 = 5;

it_stats_to_affect 2 = 11;

it_stats_addition 2 = 5;

 

In the script. it_protection is armour: want more than +12? change the 12 to whatever you'd like. The 9, 10, and 11 refer to battle, mental, and blessing magic -- see Ratt's list to understand this better -- Hike that battle magic "addition" number up from 5 into the stratosphere. Want more critters, need more essence? Add a line to hike your intelligence

it_stats_to_affect 3 = 2;

it_stats_addition 3 = 12;

 

That should get it done for you!

 

 

[Øther]

Quote:

Maybe others in remote areas as well could be easy targets. The strange man overcharging for opening those doors with the lame canister and recipes? Or the swamp herbs guy, wife, and soldiers, perhaps?

Probably, and there are many more of them, all you have to do is make sure you save before the fight, and then go about and see if killing those people has brought about any negative changes.

Quote:

I'm not terribly homicidal, as it turns out. I cringe at having to kill either side in the Free Camp Danir quest. I kind of like killing rogue roaming beasts and then doing sabotage-type stuff for factions. This war-time theme and killing of *nice* people kind of wears on me. I also get a guilty conscience killing for a nice tunic or shield, too (which I did in both cases).

Well, killing is how you get alot of experience and some of the best items in the game. If you kill a lot, it might make it easier for you to kill people who wouldn't normally want to kill you.

Quote:

Okay, if what you really want is to finish with a too-low character and move on, the easiest/safest way would probably be to edit an item you're wearing to butch you up.

As an ultimate scriptor myself, I know how much scripting can help blast through the game. But a lot of other people would rather go through the game without scripting, so not to many will probably listen to that post. But then again, I not sure how many of you out there are scriptors.

[jlsgaladriel]

Originally Posted By: doom

a lot of other people would rather go through the game without scripting, so not to(o) many will probably listen to that post.

Oh, I'm one who is *never* looking for a scripting answer for an in-game problem, because for me the whole fun of the thing is to figure out how to do something given the resources available to me! But madrigan seemed like he was pretty much begging for a cheat, so I figured I'd give him one.

[Dahak]

Use this:

 

award_party_xp(2910,get_level(pc_num()));

 

You'll jump a level each time.

[Dikiyoba]

Originally Posted By: madrigan

If I were the PC, would I spend time trying to end the war, or would I spend my time running errands for jerks?

In a world where fetching important items and killing things increases your power drastically in a very short time, running errands for jerks is how you end the war.

Dikiyoba.

[Blurb]

Originally Posted By: Dikiyoba

In a world where fetching important items and killing things increases your power drastically in a very short time, running errands for jerks is how you end the war.

Dikiyoba.

Yup. The game is designed for you to gain levels gradually and be ready for the challenges that continue to come your way. (Some areas are so tough it's hard to be ready, though.)

Also, it's important to note that the G5 world is more than a battlefield. Even warriors have to take breaks. Plus, you *meet* all kinds of interesting people and find yourself in interesting places on the side quests. It's a refreshing change from perpetual kill-the-enemies mode.

[Øther]

But you can still do both by coming back afterwards and then killing them. Gets you even more experience, if you survive the battle.

[madrigan]

Originally Posted By: jlsgaladriel

Originally Posted By: doom

a lot of other people would rather go through the game without scripting, so not to(o) many will probably listen to that post.

Oh, I'm one who is *never* looking for a scripting answer for an in-game problem, because for me the whole fun of the thing is to figure out how to do something given the resources available to me! But madrigan seemed like he was pretty much begging for a cheat, so I figured I'd give him one.

Yeah, I think changing the scripts is going to work.

[tridash]

Another way you could do it is to make your party indestructible in the scripts (essentially godmode):

set_char_unkillable(1000,1)

[Øther]

Where would you put that? Anyway, if madrigan bumped his stats up enough, he wouldn't need it.