Factions

[Craig234]

Is it recommended to join each faction to get the bonuses and leave it (until the last one); or is there a reason it's better not to join one or more?

[Randomizer]

Joining a faction and staying will change the ending. There was some discussion on which is the best ending.

 

Some factions won't trade with you if you are currently in another faction.

 

Some factions require you to kill off another faction's leader and that will make areas hostile. Enough leadership will avoid the quest needed to kill them.

[Aoslare]

On 11/5/2023 at 12:42 PM, Craig234 said:

Is it recommended to join each faction to get the bonuses and leave it (until the last one); or is there a reason it's better not to join one or more?

 

Yes, it is 100% possible to do this.  Simply leaving a faction won't actually alienate them and they'll always let you switch back, if you still meet the criteria.

 

The meaningful bonuses for joining are pretty much limited to:

Awakened - Combat skills +1

Obeyers - Create Fyora +1

Takers - Speed and Create Vlish canisters without angering Kazg; Kyazo and Kaxen quests; much easier access to Trajkov amulet

 

Each faction offers a level of training in the Sholai language, but these are trivial to acquire anyway.  Also, the Obeyers and Takers both remove "NY" from all items in their respective main zones on joining.

 

There is mostly no downside at all to having the Trajkov amulet (from any source).  Note however:

- Halm won't offer Leadership training if you have it

- Gavrila will attack you if you have it, which doesn't matter unless, for some reason, you want to collect the maximum number of Sholai language trainings.  This has no impact on the game itself

 

On 11/5/2023 at 2:12 PM, Randomizer said:

Joining a faction and staying will change the ending.

Unless something has changed from OG1 (the ending text chunks don't appear to have, but feel free to correct me here), this is wrong.  What changes the ending is what you do with the Geneforge (and with Trajkov and Goettsch).  Each of the servile sects pushes you towards a different Geneforge resolution, but sect membership itself doesn't actually affect anything.

[Mechalibur]

22 hours ago, tout en cherchant said:

There is mostly no downside at all to having the Trajkov amulet (from any source), and one reward that 100% requires it, Gayev's Create Drayk canister.  Note however:

- Halm won't offer Leadership training if you have it

- Gavrila will attack you if you have it, which doesn't matter unless, for some reason, you want to collect the maximum number of Sholai language trainings.  This has no impact on the game itself

 

You don't need the taker amulet for that canister. I killed Gayev in my latest run and that unlocked the door.

[Aoslare]

Oop.  Thanks, corrected!

[Craig234]

Thanks. It sounds like the answer is ;yes', good idea to join each. At level 4 I had 5 leadership and met the Obeyers. I just got level 5, I could pump leadership I guess to 8 later and come back to join? Or is that too much in leadership early.

[alhoon]

5 hours ago, Craig234 said:

Thanks. It sounds like the answer is ;yes', good idea to join each. At level 4 I had 5 leadership and met the Obeyers. I just got level 5, I could pump leadership I guess to 8 later and come back to join? Or is that too much in leadership early.

considering you can finish the game without landing a single hit, you can do it. Also, I think you need more than 8 leadership to join a faction without significant sabotage of another faction. All the leaders are fanatical about their views. It is the reason there is war on Sucia when you arrive. They want you to poison the well. 

[Aoslare]

It's 8 leadership for the Awakened and Obeyers, and 10 leadership for the Takers.  This is surprisingly affordable skill points wise and you do get other useful benefits out of it.  The Takers are arguably the most important one to use leadership on since the alternatives involve permanently closing off either the Obeyers or the Sholai rebels.

 

If you want to powergame it I'd suggest the following:

 

1) Answer just a few questions pro-servile, kill Control Four, and join the Awakened.  (Consider raiding the tombs before getting the free combat training, if you have any zeroes in those skills.)  You can join very early in the game, and the experience for a lot of the associated quests, like Control Four, has a very low level for scaling, so you may as well take advantage of that.

 

2) Answer a bunch of questions anti-servile, get Leadership to 8, and join the Obeyers.  (Probably do Demel's quest in the Thorny Woods at this point so you can finish Mickall Blade's quests; you can't do it as a Taker.  Also, if possible, make your way to Drayk's Vale and purchase Leadership training from Halm, since you can't do that once you have the Trajkov amulet.  If you put that off, you could use Gavrila, who temporarily steals the amulet, as a chance to get it later.)

 

3) Use Learned Darian to go back to pro-servile opinion, get Leadership to 10, and join the Takers.

 

The main incentive for doing the Awakened first is that you save a set of Mind Nutrients.  There are enough sets of it to feed every servant mind that can only be awoken with nutrients, but having an extra set of hand can be very convenient depending on what order you do the zones in.  You can technically feed Control Four and then (without talking to Rydell) kill it for an extra set of experience, but I'd rather save time and hold onto the nutrients; ymmv.  And if you want to simplify answering opinion questions (or just want that Create Fyora +1 ASAP), you could certainly join the Obeyers first.  (This would also allow you to put off Leadership till you want the Takers, as you can go back and kill Control Four even after joining the Obeyers.)

[Mechalibur]

I usually do the reverse to make managing reputation easier. Start with anti-servile opinions, feed Control Four, then join the Obeyers. Get all the stuff you want from them, then go to Learned Darian to make your opinion pro-Servile (and going forward just say pro-servile stuff). Then tell Ellhrah you want to join, kill Control Four (he doesn't care that you fed him earlier), and get all the training from the Awakened. After that join the Takers using either leadership or killing Ellhrah if you really want.

 

I've never really found mind nutrients to be an issue. With leadership there's enough for everything, and even without leadership, one of the uses for them is almost pointless (the Guarded Docks servant mind)

Edited November 7, 2023 by Mechalibur