Profile for Skippy the bush kangaroo

Error message

Deprecated function: implode(): Passing glue string after array is deprecated. Swap the parameters in drupal_get_feeds() (line 394 of /var/www/pied-piper.ermarian.net/includes/common.inc).

Recent posts

Pages

AuthorRecent posts
where is this sleater fellow? in Avernum 4
Warrior
Member # 5268
Profile #10
quote:
Originally written by Cruniac:

—Alorael, who is very proud of his immobile target destruction tactics.
You probably wouldn't fight the Black Knight like a man either.

—Skippy, who knows the unladen flight speed of an African swallow.
Posts: 148 | Registered: Tuesday, December 7 2004 08:00
FIne Slith Spear, not so fine? in Avernum 4
Warrior
Member # 5268
Profile #14
quote:
Originally written by SNM:

quote:
Originally written by Istara:

The exception might be the guy who charges you 1000 to make you a client, who then makes Warrior's Cloaks and Runed Helms and stuff (which you won't find by that stage, nor ever in multiple quantities).
Ugh, no. While I admittedly found him kind of late, I also found Runed Helms within 1.5 hours of buying them. They're available within the Great Cave, and so is the not-so-stellar Warrior's Cloak.

I found the Warrior's Cloak most beneficial, ironically, to my spell-casters and I believe they wore them all the way to the end.
Posts: 148 | Registered: Tuesday, December 7 2004 08:00
FIne Slith Spear, not so fine? in Avernum 4
Warrior
Member # 5268
Profile #13
quote:
Originally written by Slartucker:

2. While I like the new armor system very much, it does mean that the difference between different pieces of armor becomes very small, as far as protection goes. Given how easy it is to heal, an extra 10% protection is never really going to be significant unless you are stretched to your absolute limit fighting some powerful enemy. The protection you get from a Blessed Breastplate over a regular one is significantly less than the bonus from the Protection or Steel Skin spells, too.
The impotant benefit I find from more base protection is the higher elemental resists. Each 10% extra protection also gets you 5% (I think) on all your elemental resists. That's a reason to go for, say, Blessed Breastplate over chain or whatever - not the base armour effect (Parry should be taking care of much of the physical damage anyway).
Posts: 148 | Registered: Tuesday, December 7 2004 08:00
Trait/race bonus effects in Avernum 4
Warrior
Member # 5268
Profile #28
quote:
Originally written by Thuryl:

I remembered there was a trainer somewhere in the early game who taught both Nature Lore and Arcane Lore, and assumed that it was the sage in Formello.

Walner in Duvno if I'm not mistaken

(And if I am mistaken, (not Walner in not Duvno) or (Walner in not Duvno) or (not Walner in Duvno) )
Posts: 148 | Registered: Tuesday, December 7 2004 08:00
Quick Strike & Fast on Feet algorithm - done in Avernum 4
Warrior
Member # 5268
Profile #30
quote:
Originally written by Slartucker:

And you can indeed equip 3 +1 items -- 1 chest armor, 1 footwear, and 1 spear or shield. So you should be able to get a natural 14 AP and a hasted 21 AP. It takes three times the investment of getting to 10/15 AP, but hey...
Does 19.5AP (13AP hasted) round up or down?
Posts: 148 | Registered: Tuesday, December 7 2004 08:00
Feeding the slimes in Avernum 4
Warrior
Member # 5268
Profile #2
Just make sure you haste first and get to that container before the slimes cut you off. After that they all calm down again.

But whatever you do, don't attack them.
Posts: 148 | Registered: Tuesday, December 7 2004 08:00
Trait/race bonus effects in Avernum 4
Warrior
Member # 5268
Profile #2
Looks like people are converging on an ideal party of:
2x Nephil, Divinely Touched, Elite Warrior
1x Nephil, Divinely Touched, Natural Mage
1x Nephil, Divinely Touched, Pure Spirit

or 2 x Nephil, Natural Mage, Pure Spirit

Anyone running a party like this at the moment?
Posts: 148 | Registered: Tuesday, December 7 2004 08:00
Quick Strike & Fast on Feet algorithm - done in Avernum 4
Warrior
Member # 5268
Profile #20
Howabout you guys all work from a common savefile?
Posts: 148 | Registered: Tuesday, December 7 2004 08:00
Quick Strike & Fast on Feet algorithm - done in Avernum 4
Warrior
Member # 5268
Profile #7
Does this mean that you can get to 20AP with haste, FoF, QS and two equipment based +AP or will you require three equipment based AP bonuses?
Posts: 148 | Registered: Tuesday, December 7 2004 08:00
Quick Strike, Quick Action, and traits in Avernum 4
Warrior
Member # 5268
Profile #12
quote:
Originally written by Synergy:

I gave my human melee fighter Strong Will in the first game, and he was definitely charmed and terrified less often than my slith who was without it, but others have claimed it seems to make little difference. Charming and Terror are frequent nuisances in A4, so it might be worth considering. Intelligence seems worthless to give a fighter to combat Charm and Terror.
My take on this is that it doesn't matter once you get the priest spell that counteracts mind control (can't remember its name now). (And you would rarely get charmed before you get it anyway.) While my fighters were charmed it usually happened that my fighters moved before monsters and my spell casters moved after. As a result, my fighters would attack, get charmed, and then my spell caster would uncharm them as required. As I was usually hasted this still left an action free for the casters to do something else and there was no real cost.

consequently, I prefer some other trait than Strong Will... Fast on Feet maybe?
Posts: 148 | Registered: Tuesday, December 7 2004 08:00
Archery; and races in Avernum 4
Warrior
Member # 5268
Profile #19
In my second game I had a deadeye nephil archer and he was great early on but by the time I got to the Great Cave I was switching him to polearms.

Sure he was guaranteed to hit, but the damage he could do was capped at around 30. If you find monsters that are below average in an area he would do more, but by and large his damage maxed out at 30 odd. Melee damage per strike was generally a bit more than that and with Quick Action it wasn't even close.

From then on in I only used archery as a secondary option for monsters I couldn't get at otherwise - there was only one monster that required archery to dispose of and its been toned down in the release version as best I know.

So having some archery skill is useful, but concentrating on archery wasn't very beneficial for me and I wouldn't recommend it.

YMMV.
Posts: 148 | Registered: Tuesday, December 7 2004 08:00
Almaria warning(possible spoilers)... in Avernum 4
Warrior
Member # 5268
Profile #1
Didn't happen to me.

At any rate, compress your savefile and send it to Jeff with a description of the bug and he may be able to fix it.
Posts: 148 | Registered: Tuesday, December 7 2004 08:00
How I rank A4 and why in Avernum 4
Warrior
Member # 5268
Profile #22
quote:
Originally written by Bjorn:

Unlimited arrows; one thing I felt was cool was having to ballance cost and weight of arrows, plus different arrow types, and making sure that the archer could fall back on melle in the event of running out of arrows. Now, it's less of a challenge, 'cause you don'y have to train that archer in anything but archery, dexterity, and maybe a little endurance (more or less).

You will have to - archery isn't a long term strategy. Useful, even necessary, but not sufficient.

As such, you think more of the tactical benefits and costs of archery rather than the annoyance of tracking down ammo. I think the unlimited arrows was great.

More generally, I think the engine developed for A4 is wonderful - it makes it worth playing and fun. The tactical challenges and variety of combat situations keeps you going to the end.

The less said about the plot the better.
Posts: 148 | Registered: Tuesday, December 7 2004 08:00
Report Your Stats Here (Uncle Spam Needs YOU!) in Avernum 4
Warrior
Member # 5268
Profile #3
quote:
Originally written by arghhhhhhhhh:

stats maxed
i (cheated)

Why?
Posts: 148 | Registered: Tuesday, December 7 2004 08:00
So What Makes a Torment Capable Party? in Avernum 4
Warrior
Member # 5268
Profile #24
The archetypes average around 85 points to build yourself. Because there are fewer wasted points I tend to go with them rather than custom.

What I do though is consider whether they have skills I would ever want rather than skills I would give to my ideal starting character. As a result I consider very few skills 'wasted' because it will all wash out by around level 5-10.

Throwing might be one of them though because, after experiencing the joy that is unlimited-arrow archery, I hate to go back to scrounging around for ammunition.

And I tend towards making my casters dual class with around 6 levels in the off class by the end of the game (and close to that early on). Having two casters of haste is really useful -- as is having two healers.

[ Thursday, December 15, 2005 13:30: Message edited by: Skippy the bush kangaroo ]
Posts: 148 | Registered: Tuesday, December 7 2004 08:00
So What Makes a Torment Capable Party? in Avernum 4
Warrior
Member # 5268
Profile #20
quote:
Originally written by arghhhhhhhhh:

personally, i like to have all custom(of course)
I'm not convinced by that in A4.

In particular, a hedge wizard (or was it shaman? I can't remember but it's one of those, and the other is similar anyway) takes over 90 points to build compared to the 75 you get for a custom creation. Except for the rogue, the premade archetypes are significantly better than you can make with the 75 points available through custom creation.
Posts: 148 | Registered: Tuesday, December 7 2004 08:00
First Impressions in Avernum 4
Warrior
Member # 5268
Profile #27
quote:
Originally written by Kelandon:

To start and stop combat, press F. Attacking has never had a shortcut key, has it? You just, um, walk into things or click on them.
There is a very good reason for this - attacking allies or neutral characters is very bad for your health. The attack button is used when you deliberately want to attack a neutral character. That you have to go through a slightly involved process is precisely the point.

I experienced the alternative with spells during beta testing - in a big fight (particularly with tall monsters) clicking on a particular monster can be tricky. If you accidentally attack allies you generally need to reload and start again. Hence, some extra steps to prevent you doing something inadvertent because you don't have pixel perfect control of your mouse are a Good Thing(TM) in my opinion.
Posts: 148 | Registered: Tuesday, December 7 2004 08:00
Some Simple Suggestions for not Sucking at A4 in Avernum 4
Warrior
Member # 5268
Profile #48
:D

And let me add... ROTFL
Posts: 148 | Registered: Tuesday, December 7 2004 08:00
A4 Hidden Skills [SPOILERS] in Avernum 4
Warrior
Member # 5268
Profile #17
I should be more precise: The door above X has (had) an empty room behind it. Its dimensions are roughtly the same as those of the other rooms above X - i.e. quite small and rectangular.
Posts: 148 | Registered: Tuesday, December 7 2004 08:00
A4 Hidden Skills [SPOILERS] in Avernum 4
Warrior
Member # 5268
Profile #15
There is nothing behind the doors above X in the Tower Colony. (Or at least, there was nothing behind them when you could get beyond them in an earlier version.)
Posts: 148 | Registered: Tuesday, December 7 2004 08:00
Just hit the registration barrier. in Avernum 4
Warrior
Member # 5268
Profile #25
Hope you don't mind me stringing this out for a bit, but some teasers first...

1. Luck matters
2. Don't be stingy
Posts: 148 | Registered: Tuesday, December 7 2004 08:00
Just hit the registration barrier. in Avernum 4
Warrior
Member # 5268
Profile #22
There is a crystal cave. I'm not sure if it is 'the' crystal cave.

The wishing well is still there (and thanks to the power of 'grep' I know what it does in this game).
Posts: 148 | Registered: Tuesday, December 7 2004 08:00
So What Makes a Torment Capable Party? in Avernum 4
Warrior
Member # 5268
Profile #4
quote:
Originally written by Delicious Vlish:

A Slith with the Jade Halbred would indeed, make a good front liner, if you can live with out the defensive bonuses of a good shield.

The other option is to go Slithless... (Is that a word) Which somehow seems wrong to me.

Thoughts?

I tried a party with a Slith Fighter and he was inferior to a Human (Sword and shield) with Elite Warrior in the same party. The defensive holes were incredibly annoying - he kept getting taken out of the fight because he took too much damage. I think the Elite Warrior is essential for a front line fighter - I haven't tried a Slith Elite Warrior - but Slith alone can't hack it.

I was much happier with a party with a Nephil Archer/Pole user instead of a Slith (Archery rocks in the intial stages but quickly gets overtaken and is only a secondary attack later in the game).

My current party is all human with two Elite Warriors (and an experiment with the other traits - Tough Skin and Nimble Fingers) and two casters both with Natural Mage and Pure Spirit.
Posts: 148 | Registered: Tuesday, December 7 2004 08:00
Reactions - SPOILERS in Avernum 4
Warrior
Member # 5268
Profile #26
quote:
Originally written by Synergy67:

though you'll be sacrificing a certain amount of better possible armoring of feet and body to do it.
Hence my point about Elite Warrior - if your Parry is high enough it just doesn't matter.
Posts: 148 | Registered: Tuesday, December 7 2004 08:00
Reactions - SPOILERS in Avernum 4
Warrior
Member # 5268
Profile #23
quote:
Originally written by Synergy67:

And don't get me started on the annoying Mercuric garbage which tantalizes at a cost not worthwhile. :mad:
Actually, I found it most useful for my lead fighter. Mercuric Plate and the Mercuric Sandals: two guaranteed attacks per turn, three if hasted (did I ever get four with a Quick Strike bonus? - I can't remember). He had Elite Warrior and around 13 base strength. The minor damage tradeoff from lower strength was more than made up with the guaranteed extra attck.

And, I almost forgot, with over 10 Quick Action he was typically hitting twice per attack.

Trust me, if your character has Elite Warrior (obscene levels of Parry and Blademaster) there is no appreciable cost.

[ Tuesday, December 13, 2005 13:14: Message edited by: Skippy the bush kangaroo ]
Posts: 148 | Registered: Tuesday, December 7 2004 08:00

Pages