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Newbie questions:


shadow9d9

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1/ It's actually green and it's your spell energy (as opposed to essence, which is blue). You need both energy and essence in order to cast spells. I suggest you read the online help file which explains the basics of Geneforge.

 

2/ Yes. The formula is given in Schrodinger's FAQ - see here .

 

3/ It is possible, but I wouldn't advise it. Mechanics makes your unlock spells better, and it helps to disarm traps, crystals, mines and machinery. There are lots of crystals, mines and machinery in Geneforge. If you don't have mechanics you will have a lot more fights on your hand.

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Quote:
Originally written by Micawber:
2/ Yes. The formula is given in Schrodinger's FAQ - see here .
Link si brokan.

As I remember it, the example was getting 50 xp with no creations, 28 xp with one, 23 with two, and maybe 20 with three and so on, meaning that with more creations you get more xp overall for each kill, but no one gains levels very quickly.
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OK, since the link seems not to be working (odd since I can still use by bookmark to the site, but there you go): the formula is

 

1=> 15/16 15/20

2=> 14/16 14/20

3=> 13/16 13/20

4=> 12/16 12/20

5=> 11/16 11/20

6=> 10/16 10/20

7=> 9/16 9/20

 

That is, with 1 creation, your PC gets 15/16 of the total experience and your creations get 15/20 of the total experience. And with 2 creations, your PC gets 14/16 of the total experience and your creations get 14/20 of the total experience. So it doesn't taper off quite as fast as all that.

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Oh wait, I was answering the question you just asked before.

 

EDIT: In case that isn't clear, I was saying that you should just absorb your creations and make new ones when you improve your shaping skill or knowledge of a specific creation shaping.

 

The reason you would evolve them over time as opposed to starting them out with high skills is so as you gain levels (and therefore more essence), you can get them more skills. But we basically all agree that fundamentally, quantity is better than quality.

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You have to determine whether the new creation will have higher stats than one that has been around from earlier in the game. Usually if you have raised your shaping level, gotten certain items, and/or more levels with that creation the new creature will be more powerful for the same essence cost. Just save the file before absorbing and see which one is better.

 

Most people seem to be sentimental about older creations.

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Quote:
Originally written by Randomizer:
You have to determine whether the new creation will have higher stats than one that has been around from earlier in the game. Usually if you have raised your shaping level, gotten certain items, and/or more levels with that creation the new creature will be more powerful for the same essence cost.
Note that this advice applies mostly to Geneforge 1; in Geneforge 2 and 3, the way creations gain stats when they level up is slightly different, and it's enough of a difference that keeping old creations around can often make a lot of sense, if you're willing to take the trouble to keep your original creations alive.
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Ok, one last question for now. How worth it is it to increase the shaping skills? It gives an extra level to the appropriate creatures right?

 

Is it that every 3 into the shaping skills gets you a new creature or every 3 canisters that raise like roamer to level 3 gets me a new creature?

 

I have been pretty much just pumping everything into int/healing/leadership/mechanics...

 

Also, how do you determine the category of new creatures such as a battle alpha?

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You get a new creation when you get three levels in a creation - 3 in fyora gets you a cryoa.

 

It's definitely worth it to put points into shaping skills.

 

Your spell/shaping level skill is displayed on a separate screen, which shows you that battle alphas are battle shaping, glaakhs are magic shaping, etc.

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Doesn't it make more sense to go all into intelligence than the shaping skills? That way you could max out new creations' strength, etc? It seems like you get the new creations from exploring, and not levelling.

 

Wouldn't it be better to max strength than to give the creation a few levels?

 

And also, does strength affect everyones' damage, including missile type creations?

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Quote:
Originally written by shadow9d9:
Doesn't it make more sense to go all into intelligence than the shaping skills? That way you could max out new creations' strength, etc? It seems like you get the new creations from exploring, and not levelling. Wouldn't it be better to max strength than to give the creation a few levels?
No. Since creations gain stats as they gain levels, an extra level on every creation you create can often be a lot better than a little more essence to make creations with.

Quote:
And also, does strength affect everyones' damage, including missile type creations?
Yes.
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As a newbie who read that magic creations are the best, I didn't want to level my guy as if I knew this ahead of time.. therefore, I am primarily bumping intelligence since I won't legitimately know which type is the best til the end. So far I have been using battle/magic.. the newer the find, the better.. was using the big battle guys, now just found a drayyk. I guess I could add one level of each magic/battle creations each level.

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Hmm, maybe in relation to their cost, but since eventually you have loads of Essence, I always find Drayks pretty good.

 

In principle the advantage of keeping creations alive so they level up is greater for an Agent or Guardian who never gets very high Shaping skills or Essence. Even if you don't use their acquired skill points to pump their stats, because that costs you more Essence, they get stronger with level. So for the trivial cost of a starting Fyora, by late in the game you can have something comparable to a Drayk. It's a good idea because it lets creations, which are after all the main novelty of these games, play a bigger role for the classes that don't have so much Essence.

 

Trouble is that I've always had real trouble making it work. On Torment, I recently found that a missile Guardian could keep a pair of creations alive and useful in G1 and G2, if the creations also had ranged attacks. Other builds either couldn't keep the creations alive, or were so much better at attacking themselves that the creations became irrelevant. On lower difficulty settings, keeping creations so they gain lots of levels is probably a lot easier.

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Spellcraft improves all spells, including healing spells. In Geneforge 1, it really doesn't matter, because costs don't go up for skills. Geneforge 2 & 3 are a different story.

 

If you use different types of magic, your best bet would be to strike a balance between Healing and Spellcraft. Otherwise, increasing just healing is fine. Don't neglect your other skills in the process, though.

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and I am guessing you find the newer spells?

 

Also, is it just me or is the game horribly unbalanced? Some hard quests give no xp because by the time you can do it, you are too high. Too many areas give little to no xp(5 per enemy)... I know the game is non-linear, but I never had such problems with Fallout... Does it get better balanced in 2 and 3?

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If you crave higher rewards, you can try to push your luck by tackling tougher areas early. This is self-limiting, in the sense that your bigger XP rewards make you gain levels faster, and you can find yourself with half of the endgame still to go, and already invincible. If this is happening, and you've already cranked the difficulty level to Torment, then that's all there is to it, I'm afraid. You can play hopscotch in the Inner Crypt, or just finish the game off, to see how the story ends, and go on to the next in the series.

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