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Ornk Playthrough Geneforge 1


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So, I'm going to attempt to play through Geneforge 1 with a fun little twist, and I'd like to use this thread to get advice and support from people. Basically, this will a playthrough in which there will be many, many, many Ornks.

 

Rules for this Playthrough

 

-I must play as a Shaper

-The only creation type I am allowed to make is the Ornk

-I cannot play the character like an Agent--this means I must actually invest in Shaping skills so that I actually use Ornks as my primary means of combat prowess.

-The difficulty will be set to Tricky.

-Because the Ornk canister is difficult to access, as an absolute last resort, the difficulty may be turned down in order to allow access to the Ornk canister. Once the canister has been obtained and I have returned to Vakkiri, however, the difficulty must stay at Tricky.

 

Relevant Ornk facts

-The Ornk canister is located in the Servile Warren at the east end of the island

-Ornks have only a melee attack, which according to the G2 FAQ is slightly stronger than the Fyora's melee attack.

-Ornks have the "ability" to walk very slowly. They still use up action points at the same speed.

-Ornks have the lowest "courage" of any creation the player can make, according to the G2 FAQ. It's not 100% clear what courage does, but it probably has to do with fleeing/going rogue.

-Ornks are considered Battle Shaping creations, though I believe they can be made with 0 Battle Shaping skill regardless. Expect this stat to get whored.

-Ornks are delicious, look like pigs, and moo like cows. The power of these abilities is not to be underestimated.

 

My plan so far is to go through the tutorial areas, then do some minor Vakkiri quests to boost my level a tiny bit(anything combat oriented is out, though). Then, I will attempt to sneak all the way across the island to the Servile Warren in order to get the canister. I aim to avoid combat whenever possible, which hopefully will be most of the time. At that point I'll head back to Vakkiri and play the game as normal.

 

My current planned route has me going along the southern areas to Southbridge, through Kazg Ruins into the Warren. My main concerns at the moment is Southbridge itself--I don't believe that there's any way to not fight those turrets, but I'm hoping that careful positioning can help me fight them 1 at a time. Alternatively, I may try hasting myself and running across the bridge in 1 round, but my guess is that the bridge will be too long for this.

 

According to the FAQ, Kazg Ruins people will not attack me if I don't attack them, though they will be hostile--I hope this is true, but if it's not, Serviles are easy to outrun because they have slow walking. The Warren itself is also a problem--if I remember correctly, the area is designed with Guardian Roamer "patrols" that in theory should be avoidable with stealth, but according to the FAQ there's a Spectral Vlish at the end. So I will have to defeat that somehow, or else avoid it.

 

Any advice is appreciated. Right now I am conflicted as to how to spend the skill points before I get to the Warren--should I not get any Battle Shaping until I get the canister? I should note I may not get to this for a few days regardless.

 

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Better bring a lot of living tools, the lever for that door is heavily locked. If you aren't investing too much into mechanics you may need 20 or more. Joining the Awakened first would be ideal, because you get combat training from Swan. And i recommend pumping points into mental magic, there is a terror canister located at north bridge, which if I remember correctly is guarded by acid turrets. The terror spell may help you get past patrols, and will increase unlock effectiveness allowing you to use less living tools. And the closest speed canister is somewhere in the dry wastes. If you can somehow sneak there (its possible I have done it), that'll make your journey much easier. Just no you will die a LOT trying to get the speed canister. If that doesn't apeal to you, there is another one located in the crystal burrow, which is on route to Kazg. You will need to avoid thahds who hide in their nests.

 

I believe in the very beginning you might put most of you points into missile weapons. With enough levels you have chances of one-shotting the monsters that surround Vakkiri, and the route to Pentil. I don't remember where the nearest acid baton is, but I think it is some distance, perhaps on the way to Kazg. The venom baton is in the Crag Valley I believe.

 

As I see, this is a challenge that would really prove someone's patience. Though not impossible, it'll be extremely difficult. But I wish you good luck in trying.

 

ADD: Okay there is another locations for Speed, and this one is MUCH easier to get. For a cost.. There is the Peaceful Vale north of pentil, which is where learned Dayna is. In that cave where that drayk lives, he'll give you Create Artila, Heal, Searing Orbs, Speed for 5 skill points. I am actually wondering if maybe putting your points into Spellcraft may be beneficial. That would negate the need for missile weapons because your battle magic would be potent. Also, getting searing orbs at such a early point (from Drayk) would just be awesome. I will test this out, and give you some damage results. It would be interesting to see how this goes. Of course, this would break the rule with you playing as an Agent..

 

ADD 2: I would also like to mention its not necessary to invest too much into battle shaping right away. There are a few free points in from items and the tombs near pentil. And its rather cheap. One level from your Shaper and you can get 2 points. Also, the 10-cap exists in g1 for all skills. So keep that in mind when allocating skill points. I've always used that as guide when doing so, by never raising a stat more than 10. And ornks are cheap, so you don't need a large essence pool. That means less points into INtelligence

 

ADD 3: In terms of game mechanics, I don't think stealth actually exists, so keep that in mind. Using stealth in G1 will be more difficult to do compared to later games.

 

~RainbowDashRadical.

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Alright, after looking at a full Geneforge map, and some left over memory in my head. I have a suggested potential route you could take, its not the only route of course, but most certainly the easiest. Assuming you invest a few points into spellcraft (I recommend at least 5, but more is better), you can use the firebolt spell to take you through the zones that surrounds Vakkiri, that would be (in order)

 

Crumbling Docks

Abandoned Vale

Vakkiri

Bandit Woods

Ruined School

Watchill

Ellrah's Keep

Crag Valley (Unlock canister)

Spiral Burrow (this is where you would finish quest to join Awakened, optional of course)

 

Then head to Pentil (if you don't have leadership, you better start investing now. You will need it)

 

Thorny Fen (there is unlock canister hidden behind some underbrush)

Hills of Jars (will be easy to unlock everything, because of potent unlock spell)

Pentil Plains (you can get help from the guards down south to destroy monsters at gates of pentil [requires leadership])

Pentil (get a few quests and grab some loot)

Wooded Valley

Peaceful Vale (make sure you have 5 skill points to spar [NO NEED TO GO HERE, SPEED CANISTER IN BURIED CELLS!!!]

Pentil East

Northbridge (Terror Canister. This area is easier, you just need to destroy some mines)

The Tombs (grab all the goodies you can :) )

Southbride (a free point of leadership! there is no need to get past bridge though)

 

Okay so from here on out, you will rely on stealth to get to the Crystal Warrens for Ornk canister. Recommended order:

 

Buried Cells (there are searing artilias guarding the other side. Using speed you should be able to slip past them)(Also grab your speed canister here)

Quiet Marshes (stay along the edges and you'll be okay)

Kazg plains (you need 8 leadership for area to not go hostile)

Kazg

Kazg Ruins (after entering Kazg, this area is no longer hostile)

Servile Warrens

 

That is about it. I assume you will have it from there. Hope this helps!

 

EDIT: Okay, big mistake on my part. You don't have to get Speed from the Drayk. There is in fact a canister of Speed in the Buried Cells :lol: . How awesome is that! Put those 5 skill points elsewhere

 

~RainbowDashRadical

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Missile weapon skill will make crystals more damaging which will allow you to attack and retreat or get an extra attack without needing speed.

 

Yes, but most of these places have swarms. You can only shoot crystals twice in one round, and the creations near Kazg have oodles of health. And it only takes one hit, and then your Shaper dies...

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Thanks for all the advice guys! When I get to this playthrough I'll let you know how it goes. Also, I don't object to being good at battle magic--what I meant was I'm not allowed to just treat this as a "creation less Shaper" playthrough.

 

And just so I understand, once I have 10 battle shaping they stop getting bonus levels? Hm, I guess that means late game I'll have to make up for it by spending a lot of essence on stat boosts.

 

Thanks for the northbridge tip! I thought both bridges demanded turret fights, that makes things a little easier.

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I should note that I aim to avoid any big "bossy" fights entirely until I get Ornks. I did plan to join the Awakened in the first place but I'm not going to do the Spiral Burrow before I get Ornks, and while I might ENTER the school, I don't intend to beat Rawbone.

 

Regarding living tools--I've been informed by Triumph that there is a bugged "unlimited" living tool in some area near Pentil. If I need to use this bug, I will, but ONLY for the purposes of getting the Ornk canister. And ideally, if I just save the living tools, I should be able to open the door without doing this.

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Right now I am conflicted as to how to spend the skill points before I get to the Warren--should I not get any Battle Shaping until I get the canister?

If you don't increase Battle Shaping first, then you could confirm for me the level needed to make Ornks. :)

 

I've never counted, but Hills of Jars seems to have the highest concentration of Living Tools of any zone in the game (possibly any Geneforge game). You should find more than enough if that zone is on your itinerary.

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So I did manage to get some time in to start this.

 

Apparently I haven't played since the most recent patch, since I don't remember the "Quiet Shade" or "Strange Roamer" from the tutorial areas. The former surprised me and got away, but I made sure to kill the latter for EXP. I also killed all the Ornks, because when I rule the world, ALL the planet's Ornks will be under my control. Any others must be eliminated.

 

Initially spent just on Leadership and Spellcraft. The leadership helps as it increases the number of Vakkiri quests, and thus experience, you can do without fighting anything--getting both the EXP for the bandits and the knife, along with exposing the Taker spy, helped level me up a fair bit. I have not yet increased Battle Shaping, but Shapers actually START with 2 Battle Shaping here. That said, I can guarantee that you don't need more than 1 Battle Shaping to make them, since that's what I get as an Agent and I've always been able to make them. I am also fairly sure that you can make them even with 0 Battle Shaping. I cannot ABSOLUTELY remember doing this, but I'm fairly sure I've done so in the past. That's the best I can do about answering that question.

 

I have decent accuracy and was able to kill everything in the Bandit Woods, minus the bandits, in one hit with Firebolt. I also managed to sneak through Watchill pretty easily--I have noticed that, while the game does not exactly have a "stealth" mechanic, your range of vision is slightly larger than enemy's ranges of vision. This helps even when I'm intending to fight something, as ideally I don't want to fight more than one guy at a time.

 

I've considered making my way into Pentil, but I think I will pop into the Ruined School for some better armor. Either that, or I'll just steal the Chainmail Vest the Vakkiri shopkeep has on display but refuses to sell.

 

 

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The servant mind in Ruined school gives a point in firebolt if you have 4 leadership or more :)

 

Are you SERIOUSLY advocating approaching the giant pig brain without ANY pigs of my own? The very idea!

 

Seriously though, thanks, but I will try and wait on clearing that area until I can get the Ornks. The only reason I'm popping my head in is that I recall being able to get Chitin Armor in there, and it occurs to me that I probably need a better piece of chest armor than a Tunic.

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Update:

 

I have gotten much closer to the canister. I made it to Pentil and have crossed Northbridge successfully, and I made it through the Buried Cells. I didn't get the Speed canister in the cells, so I'm going to double back, but I'm not confident that it is gettable, since the Spectral Vlish in that area is fast and one-shots me. Thankfully, it is NOT necessary for getting past the Searing Artila, since Searer one shots them and they are actually designed to be evadable(since they send out "patrols"). It will be necessary for making Ornks not suck, though, since it will be too easy for missile creations to outrun them without extra AP. (Is Speed a group spell in G1?)

 

Interestingly, it is actually easier to enter Pentil by sneaking through the area to the south and just sticking to the edges. Even with leadership, the assault on the West Gate is actually pretty damn difficult--if you don't have War Blessing, the serviles get massacred by the Artilas, so you'll need to buy the canister from the servile in Vakkiri or else use Leadership to make her give it to you.

 

I have enough Leadership to get into Kazg, but I'm going to try getting some EXP from The Tombs first. I have determined, sadly, that I won't be able to get all the juicy stat boosts that area offers, because the Thahd Shades are too tough to get past (and thus I can't get the amulet). Unstable Roamers, however, are an easy source of cheap experience.

 

I have Terror but have no idea how effective it will be. Currently I can kill anything if I can hit it (and I swear to God it seems like 80% accuracy in this game is treated as 50% accuracy) in one shot, so I have focused on using stealth to make sure that I'm only ever in one on one fights, but I'm going to depend on Terror as soon as I can't do this.

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(Is Speed a group spell in G1?)

 

Yes, Speed is a group spell. Depending on how much you invested in Spellcraft, and if you invested a little bit into Mental Magic it should be effective. Its not really about effectiveness as it is with actually hitting the target. Around spell levels of 10 and higher you will hit often enough though.

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Update:

 

I FINALLY GOT THE CANISTER. But holy hell was it difficult. Servile Warren may be built for sneaking IN THEORY, but in practise, it's like the hardest stealth game you've ever played on crack. They do have patrol patterns, but finding the safe distance to watch from is tricky, and you still do need to kill a few of them silently in order to sneak through. I died a LOT, killed the Spectral Vlish, beat the Burning Turrets, and got to the door...only to find that it required 30 living tools (mechanics is 5) rather than the 20 I assumed I'd need. So I had to sneak back out, bring 10 more tools (which meant carrying nothing but my armor and the tools), come back, THEN get the canister, then sneak out again. Sheesh. Still, I did not have to turn the difficulty down.

 

With the help of Ornks, I cleared the Ruined School, killed the Bandits, cleared Watchill, and cleared Crag Valley, all without too much difficulty. A hasted Ornk took out Rawbone in one hit and they one shot essentially everything in the school, which is surprising given that I still haven't increased Battle Shaping (still waiting for my next level up). All I did was buff their strength and endurance a little bit. They have some difficulty with Artilas in Crag Valley, but otherwise things have been going pretty damn well. My sights are currently set on clearing the Spiral Burrow, and after that doing some of the Pentil quests.

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THUS IT BEGINS! ORNKS FOR THE ORNK LORD!

 

Wait that's not until later... nevermind.

 

That particular fight does promise to be one of the most hilarious things I've ever done in the game.

 

Congratulations, please let us know how the rest of the game goes. I'm curious how those ornks will handle Drayks and Glaaks :-)

 

This is why I'm glad I picked G1 for this. The bridge between Ornks and Drayks is shorter than the bridge between Ornks and Drakons, in terms of power level, and it's not as though Ornks have gotten more powerful in later games. Heck, in G5 they cost 15 essence instead 8 for absolutely no goddamn reason. (Thahds still cost 8)

 

I'm curious, are you assisting the ornks with any of your spells (this is excluding blessing magic)

 

Blessing is essentially mandatory, particularly hasting for big battles with missile creations. But yes, aside from healing them I am still firebolting things here and there--usually things that would take the Ornks a round or two to reach. That said, even without War Blessing, the Ornks are one shotting most of the early game's baddies.

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Keep in mind that G1 is the one game in the series where the optimal strategy for creations is to keep pumping your shaping skill (in this case, Battle), absorbing your creations, and making new, higher-leveled ones (This results in stronger creations than merely by leveling them up through comba).

 

I look forward to hearing more about how uber-ornks conquer Sucia! :D

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There is one thing I want to confirm--when you say that Battle Shaping "caps out" at 10, does this mean that I cannot naturally rise the stat higher than this, or that creations will not get more than 10 bonus levels from the shaping stat? Because if the latter, that doesn't seem accurate...when I use the Geneforge, I've gone over 10 and they got a bonus from it...

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No no no. The "10-cap" doesn't have anything to do with the level you can reach. It simply means you get diminishing returns per point after the tenth point. However, because the cost of skills never rises in G1, and because of way the bonuses to new creations work in G1, it's totally worthwhile to raise your chosen shaping skill as high as you possibly can (understanding that other skills still matter, of course, so you can't just pour every point into shaping).

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Small update. I have cleared The Tombs, the vlish woods near pentil, the cryoa spawners near Pentil, and one of the northern areas with all the searing artilas. Thahd Shades and Searing Artilas are tough but the Ornks so far are suprisingly up to the task.

 

I have yet to raise my Intelligence stat--I am currently seeing it as more efficient to raise battle shaping. 6 Skill points a level means I can get 2 points of it, which translates to 2 points of strength and endurance for each Ornk--a single point of Intelligence would give me more essence, but not enough to do that. I probably will increase it soon though, as the blessing spells have a demanding essence cost and I'd eventually like to be walking around with 7 super buffed Ornks.

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Quick question: I know that there is a Luck trainer in the game (I think Dig is his name?). Will he still train me if I have 0 luck, or will I need to manually increase it once? I only ask because I'm near the Stone Circles and have a stray skill point that I'd rather save, but if I have to use it anyway...

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Update:

 

Ornks are capable of clearing most of the areas surrounding Kazg. They stand a decent chance of taking on Battle Alphas and Glaahks so far--I've only fought a few here and there but I've managed. They do get killed pretty easily because they've got basically no natural armor, but Endurance works decently as a substitute. Starting to feel a lot more confident in general--I can consistently deal with rather large groups of decent creations--the 3 spawners in Tribal Woods, for example, were a breeze. Gonna clear a few more areas and then I will start attempting some northern sections. Not looking forward to dealing with those crazy Augmented Sholai, but ah well.

 

Stat-wise, I've got a rather generous essence pool plus a decent Battle Shaping stat. I can make anywhere between 2 and 4 decently buffed up Ornks. My Shaper is rather squishy, so I really do have to depend on the Ornks for pretty much everything except turret fighting (which Melee creations are terrible at). But yeah, most things one shot me, so my opening turn usually consists of running in order to draw enemies into the Ornks. (G1 is particularly bad about having enemies single out your shaper, even passing up 4 Ornks to waste all their action points just running).

 

Ornk slow walking is SUPER annoying. You cannot just click on a destination and expect your Shaper to stay in the back, and God help you when you want to leave an area. Once I even absorbed the Ornks when I was leaving because they were just taking too damn long to get the area barrier.

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Do note that increasing blessing magic won't increase the effectiveness of the spells, but only the amount of turns they last.

I know this is true in the later games for sure, and I had thought it was true in this one, but I just was glancing at the instructions...and it explicitly states otherwise for War Blessing and Curse. It specifically says that for each 3 levels of War Blessing you have, your attack strength goes up by 1. I had always believed that Stunning was the only status where the level you had it at affected the severity of it, but it's odd...every other status description seems accurate, and except for stunning, they are described as simply having/not having the status, with status levels just affecting duration.

 

Are the instructions just inaccurate? I'd never noticed that I did more damage if I blessed multiple times, but then again I never did try...

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When it comes to describing stat and spell effects, the instructions in Jeff's games are notoriously inaccurate and unreliable. I have no idea about the effect of blessing in this particular case. Probably you just need to experiment with it. Can you tell if the instructions refer to casting the spell three times, or having three levels of "War Blessing" in your character's stats?

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The levels refer to how much you are afflicted with the status. Basically, it says for every status effect you receive there is a numerical value, and at the end of each round the value is reduced by 1. Once it hits 0, it wear off. Most of the stats simply last longer if at higher levels, except stunning which "cures" itself by eating one action point for each level you are stunned.

 

That does seem to be accurate throughout the games. It explains Cure Effects sometimes not curing you, for example--if you have been hit a lot with poison, cure effects will remove a certain number of poison levels based on its spell strength, but it won't always remove all of them. It also seems to explain how "opposite" statuses try to remove each other--if you get cursed while having War Blessing, it will first remove levels of blessing before being able to afflict you with curse--I.e. if you have 11 levels of war blessing and get hit with an attack that inflicts 8 levels of curse, you go down to 3 war blessing, and thus it wears off faster.

 

The question is whether blessing and curse are actually described accurately. If they are, it means that you'll do the most damage right after blessing yourself, and less as the fight wears on. Also, since you need at least 3 levels for either status to actually affect your attack strength, apparently the turn before the status wears off it has already stopped doing anything.

 

I'd have to test it, but I haven't noticed that the statuses work this way in G1. I know for a fact that they don't in later games--even the instructions claim that you just get a fixed bonus/penalty to accuracy and damage.

 

Might be worth making a thread on status effects and trying to fill in all this info...

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Update: This game doesn't really have many big boss fights, so sadly there aren't too many exciting tales to relate(it's still a super fun game, of course, it's just that I don't have much to tell YOU guys). But progress has been made. I have cleared the whole south coast of the island, save for the Guarded Docks at the end of the game. I have also gone as far north as Power Station, the area I'm currently ornking around in.

 

I attempted to go through Patrol Bridge to get to Dig, but failed. Ornks can kick the asses of regular Sholai but the Reaper turrets and the Augmented Sholai are a bit too much. My Shaper gets one-shotted if he gets in range of the turrets, and he's my only character capable of attacking from a distance, and the Ornks die before getting close enough to attack because of the damn slow walking. So I'll have to see how that goes later.

 

What I've been doing most of the time is making 2 super-buffed Ornks, and occasionally making 3 a-little-less-than-super-buffed Ornks. Any melee-based enemy is pretty easy to dispatch--once you remove slow walking from the equation, Ornks are fairly decent. Battle Alphas are fairly easy to deal with. Glaahks are a bit tough because of the stunning, and the lack of any inborn resistances mean Ornks always lose their turns if hit, but I've been able to manage by attacking the distracted Glaahks with my Shaper or having the Ornks pile on one target. It's also easier to deal with missile creations than I thought. Hasting does help but isn't actually MANDATORY--frequently the creations don't use all 3 of their extra action points to move away, so Ornks can still catch up to them and hit them.

 

Incidentally, one thing I have noticed--creation endurance seems to only increase max health for every SECOND point of the stat. For example, there's no difference between the health of an Ornk with 20 endurance and 21 endurance. There is for 20 and 22 though. So when buffing them, make sure to end up with an even Endurance value. This is pretty damn easy for Ornks, thankfully, since they only get 1 stat per level. So a level 11 Ornk(which is what my stats get) will have 11 Endurance if not buffed.

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ornking around

Nice one.

 

Incidentally, one thing I have noticed--creation endurance seems to only increase max health for every SECOND point of the stat. For example, there's no difference between the health of an Ornk with 20 endurance and 21 endurance.

If you noticed this at a high level, maybe it's an effect of the 10-cap?

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Nice one.

 

 

If you noticed this at a high level, maybe it's an effect of the 10-cap?

 

I'll have to check. I'm not sure if the 10-cap applies to a CREATION'S stats. It may just be that creations only gain health for every 2nd point, or even that only Ornks do, regardless of the level of the stat. It won't make a big difference either way--high HP is the only way to make your Ornks not die since they don't have any natural damage resistances or whatever. But if I see diminishing returns I may make more, less powerful Ornks. I wanted to stick with 2 most of the time in order to maximize my EXP gain, but whatever.

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More Ornks has been working better. 3-4 is what I've been going for at the moment with my current essence pool. You do still need them to be pretty buff, but I did notice spending essence on 3-4 Ornks results in Ornks about as strong as 2 Ornks with the same essence pool.

 

Not much else to say. I've been going through the Power Core, and OH MY GOD I HATE IT. You have to go through in combat mode of course, and even when hasted, it takes an ETERNITY to get the Ornks through that stupid area. And then of course you forget to save, and randomly stumble into Reaper Turrets...ugh.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Finally got through that damn Power Core, and the bonus quest EXP was much appreciated. I was also, astonishingly, able to clear the Valley of the Winds, an area I was quite sure would be totally Ornk proof. It took a few tries to clear because the Wind Walking sages are stronger but less numerous than the shades guarding the gate--thus, to go through the area you need less Ornks that are more durable, since even tough Ornks barely manage to not die in one roun, but to beat the gate you need more Ornks cause the shades are weaker but there's a lot and they may swarm your shaper.

 

My current essence pool lets me make 5 reasonably buff ornks or 3 tougher ornks. (Saving enough essence for spells of course) I saved at my last level up to test out this 10-cap, and yeah, 12 battle shaping gives you only 11 bonus levels, so there are some diminishing returns. My Intelligence is nearly 10 so I'm going to increase that for the next few levels, but even with the 10 cap it is probably still worth increasing battle shaping. 1 extra level is 1 extra point in each stat for each Ornk I make, so in a large group it's still a pretty big deal.

 

I've also just got several items that boost creation stats--a ring for their armour, armor for their energy resistance, and a sword for their dexterity--so hopefully these boosts will make them a bit tougher.

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More updating. I reached Goettsch. This required beating some Battle Betas, a Gamma, and Terror Vlish. It was tough but blessing and speed let me pull it off on the second attempt. I tried to tell Goettsch to abandon his Geneforge quest and join me in my Ornk research, but it didn't take. Anyway, after that I went into The Sentinels, which contains the epicly awesome Ornk Temple.

 

I strode into the area near the temple with my four trusty Ornks: Sally, Bessie, Madge, and Moogret. The first two rogue Ornks caught me off guard, but we killed them. I am astonished at how much damage these things do, and how much health they have--they are quite honestly more durable than the Battle Betas guarding Goettsch's temple(though only slightly). Anyway, my Ornks fight fiercely, but slowly get worn down--since Ornks don't have any defenses, high health is the only way to keep them alive, which means I can't heal them to full health even with two healing spells sometimes.

 

This weakness causes tragedy! An Elder Ornk sneaks up on Bessie and deals 150 damage, finishing her off! The rest of us move in and kill it, but not in time to save her. Elder Ornks take an unprecedented THREE hits to kill from my Ornks--this is quite honestly the first time anything has been able to take that much damage. It's not easy, but I manage to kill the remaining Ornks without losing any more. I've got 3 Ornks left, and thanks to all the meat I'm able to heal them up, but I'm low on essence. I debate running back to town but this area is too awesome to be done like that, so I suck it up and drink 3 essence pods(incidentally, why do essence pods suck so much in G1? I get like 7 essence per pod)

 

So we face down the Ornk Lord after blessing and hasting. He moves first, and takes out Sally in one hit, dealing 203 damage. What. The. Heck. Four Ornk bites and two firebolts later, the Ornk Lord is at...half health. Oh boy. Madge falls before the mighty Ornk Lord next. I figure I'm pretty screwed, but we pile on the damage anyway. I expect the Ornk Lord to off poor Moogret, but apparently the Ornk propensity to flee extends to enemy Ornks as well! Despite being able to absord several more hits, the Ornk Lord flees in terror. We finish him off, and I feed my one remaining Ornk some delicious, probably glowing ornk meat.

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Now you must wear the Ornkskin Gauntlets, to truly be your own Lord of the Ornks.

 

ORNKS FOR THE ORNK LORD!!!!

 

I've saved the Gauntlets but...I just can't! I need INT to make the Ornks good. Increasing my own STR and END, even if they weren't mostly useless to a Shaper, would just make my Ornks weaker and myself stronger, which is sort of the opposite of what I'm going for.

 

That said, if anyone ever mods this game or when these games get remade, having the Ornkskin gauntlets provide a boost to Ornks would be kind of epic. (Maybe +5 to Create Ornk?)

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So...Ornks can totally kill augmented sholai. I managed to cross patrol bridge, taking out the turrets and everything, and have now spent most of my money on raising my luck stat.

 

They can also kill cryodrayks with some help. Currently attempting Drayk vale with them, and it has been going well. Plus my intelligence just rose to 10, so I'm gonna see what the new Essence pool does for me.

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Drayk's Vale is done, and I have cleared the Sealed Lab (Ornks ain't 'fraid of no ghosts). The former was pretty easy, the latter pretty tough, particularly with the narrow pathways in some areas combined with diamond spraying Shaper Shades. It was doable, but there are a lot of guys and you get worn down fast, so I had to leave a few times to remake my Ornks, but otherwise they were pretty decent. I did have to fight the ghost Zavor one-on-one, as my Ornks managed to kill his flunkies but he took out the last one in the same round, but hasting, items, and running around corners let me take him out in 2 rounds without dying. The Tek ghost is much easier since it's a melee fighter, thankfully.

 

I now have access to the West Gate but I'm going to check around some of the other areas first. I got Zavor's Band, which gives +1 to Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Endurance, and I am debating whether it is preferable to my Arcane Band, which gives +6 to creation armor, among other things. The extra point of intelligence is a pretty big deal...I can now make 6 pretty buff Ornks, and could probably will be able to make 7 of them soon without any significant stat sacrifice.

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  • 4 months later...

I just joined the forums here a couple of days ago after falling in love with Geneforge over the last couple months or so (finished G1 and am now in the middle of G2). Came across this thread, and its just about the funniest/greatest thing I've ever read that's Geneforge-related.

 

But what happened next? Its been months since you gave your last update! I must know if the Ornk Messiah and his Ornkish Minions made it off Sucia Island!

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  • 3 months later...

Worry not Ornk fans! I have not forgotten this thread, nor this play through!

 

Since the last post, my Ornks have managed to kill Corata's ghost--Corata is kind of arrogant and a bit of a jerk, so I figure it was a suitably humiliating death. Or well, he was already dead, but...well still, his ghost was trampled by pig-cows. And I got a control rod out of the deal.

 

I also managed to get through The West Gate despite Ornks being almost unable to even catch Stealth Sholai. The problem is that I was not able to go through the gate because I forgot to get an Entry Baton. So I'm off to find one of those next.

 

I find myself now making 7 Ornks pretty much every time. They're reasonably durable, but I find that in these last areas it is essentially mandatory to keep them blessed and basted all the time. Going through areas in combat mode helps that last a bit longer.

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