Stat distribution[G5]

[estotro]

I am trying to make a character who uses creations to do all the fighting, uses spells to heal/buff and missile weapons possibly. So the obvious choices are Lifecrafter or Shaper.

 

1) Is there any difference between the two in terms of base formulae?

2) How high does my leadership and mechanics have to be by game end to access everything?

3) I am having trouble figuring out how to prioritize the skill points. Should I just pump intelligence up with the occasional point into endurance? Do I really need Strength?

4) It seems like I should pick a type of shaping and pump that up to. If so, I am thinking about a combination of wingbolts and Ur-drakons. Should I be aiming for 10 fire and magic shaping while completely ignoring battle shaping?

 

I am playing on the Hard difficulty and basically want a run thats challenging but not very, more just so I can see every area before trying a torment run.

Thanks a lot for the answers guys, this game rocks!

[A less presumptuous name.]

strategy central has all the base stats and formulas for essence, SE, and life.

leadership and mech: leadership is generally about say 14 and mech about 16

str is only for using items. you really want to pump your shaping skills early so that you can get high level creations and then pump intell, placing into str and life as needed, along with leadership and mech

nooo battle shaping is great! i generally find a few point into either fire or magic great to get kyshakks or wingbolts

[estotro]

Ah thanks, don't know how I missed that article.

So Lifecrafter it is then.

As for STR so I really just put maybe 2-3 points somewhere to not be encumbered and rely on items?

 

And for skills, I should focus Shaping skills (trying to keep all 3 up) > Int > end > str with occasional points into lead and mech?

 

Thanks

[A less presumptuous name.]

not all three

i would focus on battle, with enough into either magic or fire to get a wingbolt kyshakk

[Acky]

I suggest switching over to the Shock Trooper if you intend to have your character. You can get items to boast your magic skills fairly early into the game and training in magic skills from Alwans faction.

 

Edit: But yeah, Master1 is correct. Battle Shaping is awesome. Make that your main weapon, with Fire or Magic creations as supporters

 

The Last Archon

[estotro]

Great, Shock Trooper with a Battle shaping focus.

Ill go try that out now.

Thanks guys

[Lilith]

The reason Battle Shaping is so good is mostly because War Tralls are now the best creations in the game, by the way. They're the cheapest fifth-tier creation, they do decent amounts of ranged physical damage (which few enemies are immune to) and they're quite hard to kill. Lower tiers of battle creations are okay, but they're somewhat hampered by being melee-only, so it's not a bad idea to start with a couple of points in Fire and/or Magic and switch to Battle in the second half of the game.

[Øther]

Yes, battle is deffinatly a lot better in the long run. The war trall might even be the only kind of creation that deals out ranged physical damage. Besides, you can only get eyebeast and ur drakon at endgame only if you are in a pro shaper or trakovite faction.

[estotro]

Battle Shaping is doing ok early on. I did the testing halls for the clawbug reward which is helping a lot. With Battle shaping at 7, I'll probably dump some into INT to support more creations. This run turning out a lot better than my fyora run shaper lol.

[Øther]

You want the plated clawbug a lot. It is the first creation that naturally can have more than one attack per turn.

[DokEnkephalin]

Shock trooper isn't the best if you want all your creations doing the combat. If you're planning to avoid fighting yourself, you're better off picking a class that has the spell support like Shaper or Sorcerer, but if you pick Shock Trooper, the support is going to be so lacking that you don't have much choice than to get personally involved. Shock Troopers are weak on support spells except for healing, but they're personally durable and have the skills to actually do some of the heavy lifting themselves.

[Lilith]

There are enough magic-boosting items in G5 that a shock trooper can easily be a perfectly competent blessing mage, although battle magic isn't really worth it and mental magic requires a significant skill point investment. There's not much point making a shock trooper unless you want them to do a bit of fighting too, though.

[estotro]

I was planning to be a missile fighter (not a great one I am sure) while my creations did the bulk of the damage. I should be able to handle enough blessing magic to get some basic buffs off while keeping the rest high.

 

That seem feasable endgame? I was reading that missile combat becomes weak toward the end.

[Lilith]

Missiles are fine even in the endgame. Reaper batons can do a lot of damage if you pump your missile skills. The only problem is that if you're making an army of war tralls, they already kind of have ranged physical damage covered. So it might be better to mix in a few Cryodrayks, Drakons, Wingbolts or Gazers for different damage types.

[estotro]

Ah, I see your point.

I am putting points into Magic shaping as well, so I should be able to support some wingbolts in my army as well. Between the war tralls and the wingbolts and me flinging reapers, hopefully I'll be fine.

[DokEnkephalin]

Originally Posted By: Thuryl

There are enough magic-boosting items in G5 that a shock trooper can easily be a perfectly competent blessing mage, although battle magic isn't really worth it and mental magic requires a significant skill point investment. There's not much point making a shock trooper unless you want them to do a bit of fighting too, though.

Exactly, why go to great lengths neglecting one of her strengths to overcome one of her weaknesses when you'll never make a build that's as good as one built from a class that already has the strengths you're looking for?

Shaper class is definitely the best for this: making huge armies and keeping them in fighting health. Shapers never need to do direct damage. Sorceresses with fewer creations can lay down lots of direct damage spells and get the meatshields to clean up, so she has a good tactical flexibility, too. Seems like the AI favors these tactics this game, while most of your solo tactics have been broken.

[Archaeolagent]

Direct damage, ranged attacks, whatever else your character does will always pale in comparison with even a handful of your creations. The real use for a sorceress is to pump mental magic but still maintain a number of creations.

[DokEnkephalin]

I agree, mental and blessing magic is more efficient for the cost in every GF so far, but I think I'll put that to the test in this game.

[Archaeolagent]

If you really want to push battle magic, try it in G3. Singleton agent tactics hadn't been weakened yet, but melee attacks were greatly weakened compared with the first two games.

[Blurb]

As a Shaper-type character, I pump intelligence extremely high, usually in the mid/high 20s by the end of the game. This enables me to have seven powerful creations pretty much throughout the game. I don't think leaving Intelligence in the high teens will give your weak PC as much power as you need. Otherwise, I mostly pump Shaping skills, #1 battle, #2 Magic (for wingbolts), #3 fire (enough to get drayks). I think I may have put a point into Endurance. Check out Strategy Central for build ideas by Randomizer and Delicious Vlish, both of whom are excellent strategists. (Randomizer can figure his way around anything in the game, too.)

 

I wasn't doing too well until I started reading up in SC. G5, to me, had too many changes to play the way I had played the previous Geneforge games.

[DokEnkephalin]

If you specialize in one Shaping, then when the more powerful ones become available, they're even more powerful for less essence investment. To get there, you want to keep some of the lower levels that are good through the whole game, like cryoas, plated artilla and plated clawbugs (some swear by vlish.) Leveling them up close to you keeps them effective for very little essence.

[Blurb]

I know that's doable, Dok, because I've seen people post that they have been able to keep leveled up second- and third-tier creations. I tried it. For me, the creations struggled just past mid-game and I started to have trouble, and this was with Shaping skills high so they started out really strong. As soon as I replaced them, it was a 180 for me. Rots, in particular, turned the whole thing around. It must be said that I am very much what folks around here call "a casual player." I play on normal and don't want to fuss around too much heaping on extra challenges. I like the plots and characters and am pretty decent with fighting strategy if I have a good crew.