GF Mutagen Speed Run Setting?

[nick777]

I'm wondering if there is a way to speed up my walk speed. I like that there's auto pathing so I can click and the shaper will move, but all the waiting is tiresome. Can I tweak a setting to make my shaper run all the time instead? I'm thinking it's probably in the settings somewhere. And if I don't have to create a new character, that's even better. And if there's a setting to apply it to my creations as well, even better.

Thanks!

[TriRodent]

I don't believe so.  You can change how fast you can scroll around the screen view, but I don't think that impacts the speed at which your character travels.

[nick777]

I saw in an older forum for the original game that you could edit parameters in the GFitemschars.txt file, but the parameter they mentioned doesn't seem to be in this file, just ones for the creations. Maybe the PC parameter has been moved. It has to be in there somewhere though.

[TriRodent]

Possibly/probably, however that's way beyond anything I can or want to do.

 

Someone will probably be along fairly soon with a much more geeky answer

[alhoon]

Changing the walking speed has huge impact on encounters as you can move further for the same AP. You're effectively giving yourself Action Points.  It can be modded in the previous games and I bet it can modded in this one too although I haven't tried. 

[nick777]

I'm not looking to change the outcome of the game, just to reduce the downtime. Could the mob speed also be increased so it stays relatively the same? Travel is tedious. I don't recall it being this slow in the other Spiderweb games.

[Personal Injury Doily]

This isn't the first time this has come up.  Unfortunately, I'm guessing this also means testers have raised it with Jeff, and for one reason or anyone he found it unfeasible.

 

The real issue is the travel time when walking across a zone, not speed during combat, at least IMO.

[alhoon]

At least when playing the demo, I enjoyed the stroll, but I understand what you mean. Regardless, increasing the walking speed would (if the game works like the previous ones) increase movement-during-combat speed. Which could be dealt with by increasing other creatures speed too... which means that effectively you reduce the range of ranged weapons and the "sense radius" of creatures as everyone can move further in a round. 

 

In the Warrior-Captain mod, the increase to the walking speed of the Warrior and/or some troops and allies proved to be a good boost for melee combatants (getting into combat faster) and ranged combatants (moving away from combat, or moving past obstacles / doors). 

Walking speed (if it is still tied to combat speed) should not be underestimated. 

Edited February 22 by alhoon

[nick777]

Yes, I should have clarified. Combat walk speed is fine. With combat on, I move much faster. I think if I were playing without creations, it would be faster for me to leave combat on all the time, and that could be a work around. The only thing is, its turn-based.

[The Almighty Doer of Stuff]

Are you saying you want to basically increase the animation speed, so moving takes the same in-game time and/or AP for all mobile characters, but it takes less real-world time for you?

[TriRodent]

That's my take on it, and honestly, it's not an unreasonable complaint.  I wouldn't say that there's a lot of backtracking needed in cleared zones, but there are times you need to go back to 'x' to talk to a mind or read 'y' or report in on a quest ... etc.  Generally when that's needed I'll start my character walking (cleared zone) to where he/she needs to go and then grab my phone & check email or something else that's mildly short term & somewhat productive (maybe read a page or four of my latest book).  And if you happen to bump into a hostile being, the game will immediately go into combat & freeze the action so you (probably) aren't getting wiped out in one turn if you don't have the initiative (and worst case you go back to the auto save that happened when you left the last zone).  Eventually your character will arrive & you can go back to what you wanted to do in game.

 

So, somewhat annoying but probably not worth the brain sweat to change & then track down all the unintended consequences/rebalancing needed to keep the game working as intended.  Especially when you realize that what's being asked for is instead of say, 90 seconds to walk across the zone, it will take 60(?) or roughly a 30 second savings in real time.  Multiplied out over the whole game (60-100 hours of real time) ... it's still probably less time than you spend wandering down the hall to the reading room once or twice a day.

[nick777]

Yes, that is what I'm saying. I want to maximize the proportion of the game that is engaging and reduce the wasted waiting time. It will make the game more immersive to do this.

It depends on how you play the game. On lower difficulties, you can just breeze through and ignore half of the stuff. But on higher difficulties, I have to go back and forth more, chip away at a few different zones at the same time, run away to reload essence, go back to pick that lock, go back to loot stuff you didn't have room for in your inventory the first time, etc. So all that walking really adds up then. If you are hitting a zone for the first time, it's a minor factor. Many games have speed controls. I'd like Jeff to build this in. Why not check to see if its in combat and if not, and only then apply it? Combat animations are far faster anyway, so it does appear there is at least some disconnection in the code.

[Personal Injury Doily]

The time does add up.  Whether or not it's viable, it's a worthy idea.

[The Almighty Doer of Stuff]

Every moment spent being bored is an unfulfilled moment closer to death.

[othersean]

This was the main reason I gave up on Avadon -- too much time spent walking within cleared zones. It felt like I spent the majority of my time reading something in another window while my character moseyed to the spot I had clicked. I didn't notice it much in the original G1, and G1:M feels far better than Avadon, but it's still a noticeable annoyance.  Too bad the "exitzone" cheat no longer works, so I could at least use that to save half the walking time.

 

Queen's Wish seems to do better, with smaller towns, fewer sub-dungeons, and a quick-travel system in a continuous world map.  I don't think that would work for Geneforge's disconnected zones, though.