Switched from Warrior to Lifecrafter[G5]

[madrigan]

After playing through what I think is about half the game with a Warrior, I got bogged down and frustrated after being killed by the same rotgroth in Okevano like six times. I am actually way past that point, but I discovered that I don't have enough mechanics to beat Traval's Crypt, and I am going back trying to gain skill points, in this case by finding the Ornk Scholar or whatever it is.

 

So, I am putting that game aside for a while and starting over with a Lifecrafter.

 

Strategy Central says that a Lifecrafter should not engage in direct combat and avoid drawing attacks if possible. I'm only up to Minallah, and it seems that my melee attack is more effective than Firebolt, and Rawal just took away my one creation. My question is, at this early stage, should I go stabby-stabby with enemies, or am I supposed to send a fyora up there and heal him or throw fire as necessary?

[Fringy MacGee]

Hmm, interesting. I found the exact same thing. I usually like doing solo games where I just max out QA and Parry and stab everything to death. I found this pretty impossible to do in G5 (on normal!)

 

So I started over with a deadweight lifecrafter. Turns out, my "deadweight" makes a nice punching bag in G5. He can take a LOT of hits before going down. Hell, he's got more base endurance than most of my creations (at least for the first part of the game.)

[Randomizer]

Parry is way weaker than in any of the other games. If you are playing a solo character without creations than you need armor to reduce damage.

 

A creation using character needs to concentrate on building up one shaping skill at the start so the creations will have higher start stats. This means plenty of health and the ability to do damage.

 

It's a matter of how you want to play the game. GF5 is harder than GF4 where you could get through most of the beginning without needing major combat or damaging spells, no need to wear heavy armor, and very few places where you were swarmed. DV's Shaper's Guide is a great example of the power of creations. It's not the only way, but it is effective.

[Rent-an-Ihrno]

Being one of the few true fans of the Lifecrafter around here, I congratulate you to your decision. I've found the Lifecrafter as combatable as you, at least in the beginning. But when you get Searer and your Thahds and Artilas are strong enough, you should think about quitting engaging in battles directly.

Very soon, the risk of dying will outweigh your added damage, and after a while, you will deal more damage with spells than with swords anyway.

 

(Just a little tip: consider getting the Clawbug early before you start getting into trouble.)

 

Edit: Grammar.

[pixelpusher]

Just finished the game playing as a singleton Lifecrafter on Casual. Immunity from mental attacks is good! Which I had that in real life.

[Khoth]

Out of interest, why? Lifecrafter isn't the class I'd pick to play as a singleton.

[Fringy MacGee]

Ah, thanks for the tip Randomizer. In all the Geneforge games, I've never found a reason to pump any shaping skills past 5. Seriously, because I'd rather put it into INT. But I'll give it a try.

[madrigan]

By the way, this seems to be working out pretty well. I'm around 14th level, have a fyora and a clawbug. Fights are ok except for the optional Rotgroth in the Mera fens, I'll go back to that later. Trying to jack up my Intelligence as much as possible based on Strategy Central. Working on Mechanics and Diplomacy, having a little problem getting Battle Magic high enough. I'm trying not to use any canisters, so this might get more challenging.

 

I didn't realize the clawbug was so formidable. For the most part, I am hanging back doing some healing and throwing the occasional fireball while the creations beat people up.

[Delicious Vlish]

Not only are clawbugs formidable in the beginning, I've discovered that you can beat the game with them. Plated bugs are poo for this purpose though.

 

Slarty mentioned something about clawbugs getting a bonus to combat skills.

 

Well, I started off a game with a Shocktrooper and was puttering along, battle shaping kept going up. I would up keeping 4 clawbugs alive from the beginning, raised the stats, (cheap!) and just kept them.

 

At game end, the bugs were doing over 200 damage a strike in physical damage. More with essence blade and blessing. I did hit a midgame hump with them for a while, I wasn't sure how well they'd do, I even saved and then ran with other creations for a while to see how they do, but reloaded the bug save.

 

Ended the game (Taygen) with 4 clawbugs, a war trall, a kyshakk, and a glaahk that I never intended to keep, but had him around for a while because of the bug theme, fully intending to be rid of him when something better came along... The darn thing just wouldn't die. No canisters.

 

The clawbugs fared better than any other melee creation I've had. And by melee, I mean toe to toe melee. War tralls are great, but they tend to missile launchers.

 

Clawbugs are TOO good... The damage multiplier that Slarty mentioned is subtle but powerful. If you start out with battle shaping high enough, and get 4 bugs early enough to train up well, they can carry you through the entire game with no real trouble, just a brief lull in midgame. Once they had a few more levels, they just took off again. Clawbugs finished the game at 50+, all stats maxed out. With maxed out dex, most enemies couldn't hit them, most spells couldn't hit them, they were solid, sturdy, and strong. There is really no reason to upgrade to other battle creations, unless of course you are using canisters. The bugs are even better than betas as far as value and economy goes.

 

The best part is, you can almost start from the beginning with them.

 

Amazingly good creation. To good.

[Rent-an-Ihrno]

How about a clawbug/vlish-combination?

[pixelpusher]

Well, with really strong magic and decent hand-to-hand, the only thing I had to worry about was getting stuck in the stun cycle. Which happened plenty of times. But mostly, I'd walk into a room, spread the bug spray, charm a little, and taze away. Or stealth around.

 

Since I work out of the house, my productivity still took a huge hit. But the game was relatively quick and lots of fun. Having five factions gave the story a lot more drama than the usual for us/against us/Trakovite deal.

 

If time permits, I'll try it again. Which class do you recommend for singleton?

[Vempele]

Originally Posted By: ericdh

Well, with really strong magic and decent hand-to-hand, the only thing I had to worry about was getting stuck in the stun cycle.

Except the Lifecrafter has only decent magic and weak hand-to-hand.

The weak-shaping classes (Infiltrator, Agent and Servile) are the obvious choices for singleton.

[Randomizer]

Warrior also works well because you have high strength to increase stun resistance. Lousy magic, but with artifact items you can get decent magic.

[Vempele]

Quote:

Lousy magic, but with artifact items you can get decent magic.

It'll be lousy for most of the game (if the starting levels are the same as the Shock Trooper's). Mental magic quickly becomes too unreliable, and it takes ages until you can fix it with Strong Daze and Charm. And having to switch to Captain's Shiv every time you need to cast Elemental Aura is annoying.