Hatchling Cockatrice Mea Tulpa Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 I tried casting Return Life (cost: 50) at 10, 20, and 30 ME, 20 times each. RL @ 10 ME: Avg Cost 26.1 (52%), Range 19-34 (38-68%) RL @ 20 ME: Avg Cost 13.1 (26%), Range 07-18 (14-36%) RL @ 30 ME: Avg Cost 04.5 (09%), Range 01-08 (02-16%) Conclusion: Magical Efficiency provides worthwhile savings and is a better investment than Intelligence when you first gain access to it. However it isn't drastically better, so after you put some points in it a few points in Int are warranted. Note however that more ME increases your effective mana pool by just as much (or more) at higher ME, whereas Int increases for effective mana pool by smaller fractions once you get higher Int. This is relevant if you expect to end up equipping Int-boosting items, which reduce the value of your purchased Int points. Nothing reduces the value of purchased ME points. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Lilith Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 So basically every 10 points halves the casting cost of all spells? That's a pretty sweet deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Mea Tulpa Posted November 25, 2009 Author Share Posted November 25, 2009 Sweet, but expensive. It costs 50 skill points to buy 10 points of ME; if you have 6 Intelligence, double your SP by buying Int costs about 54 skill points. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Ephesos Posted November 25, 2009 Share Posted November 25, 2009 Even before you get to that point it's a worthwhile investment, in my opinion. Think of how many energy potions you can save. I had something like twenty going into the final fight, and that was without getting any crafted. Ever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Mea Tulpa Posted November 25, 2009 Author Share Posted November 25, 2009 That's a good point. The above math works if you are avoiding using energy potions. If you are going to use a few, ME becomes substantially better than Int. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Mea Tulpa Posted December 5, 2009 Author Share Posted December 5, 2009 Update: At 40 Magical Efficiency, ALL SPELLS COST ZERO SPELL ENERGY. That's right... infinite mana! Who knew you could reach infinity by counting to 40? This is actually be achievable in-game by a PS/NM character, and without using all of their skill points. There are 10 points available from equipment and 1 from a basin, and there is a ME trainer. Actually, forget the PS/NM part, as NM only contributes +4 even at level 30. You can do this with a DT/PS character. At level 30, the character will have 7 free points of ME. Add the other 11, that's 18 points. The trainer gets you to 21. The cost of another 19 points of ME? 166 skill points. Maybe not that practical, but it is doable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Lilith Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 Assuming the skill works as you claim in the skills sticky, it seems like the point at which spells become free should actually be 35, which is a lot more reasonable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Mea Tulpa Posted December 5, 2009 Author Share Posted December 5, 2009 Assuming it works that way, it should be free at 37 or 38 depending on cap implementation. But I still use up SP at 39. Perhaps I'm wrong entirely, or perhaps the cap goes 1, 2, 3, 5 and doesn't give credit for the 29-30 step. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Lilith Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 I was assuming 1, 2, 3, 3, on the basis that Jeff wouldn't have expected anyone to raise a skill above 30 and so wouldn't have made further provisions for it. I suppose 1, 2, 3, 5 is possible. Of course, even at 30 you've already reduced SP costs by 90%, so... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Mea Tulpa Posted December 5, 2009 Author Share Posted December 5, 2009 Well, he did go out of his way to raise the skill cap from 30 to 40. The attractiveness of 1,2,3,5 or something along those lines is that this allows you to max out at an effective level of 20. Alternately -- this is how it's done in the BoE code -- perhaps the game specifies certain sp values to pay attention to. That could even give us ...16, 18, 20, 23, 26, 30, 35, 40. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.