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couple of questions (demo) in Avernum 4
Mivayan
Warrior
Member # 6632
 written Sunday, March 12 2006 09:28 Profile #6
quote:
Two, where is Harko?
Harko, the dead guy who wont stay dead. Go downstairs in the goblin caves and go south to the next map. Or go downstairs from the map north of grindstone to reach the same map.

The tunnels form a rough circle, on the west part of the circle there's a short tunnel east to a locked door.
Posts: 50 | Registered: Monday, January 2 2006 08:00
2 questions - Camping and quick looting in Avernum 4
Mivayan
Warrior
Member # 6632
 written Saturday, March 4 2006 16:17 Profile #5
Another usefull hint is to click to pick up an item, then press 1-4 on the keyboard to send the item to that character.
Posts: 50 | Registered: Monday, January 2 2006 08:00
Ideas Refreshment in General
Mivayan
Warrior
Member # 6632
 written Wednesday, March 1 2006 05:38 Profile #64
quote:
Originally written by Thuryl:

(Sure, there are all those players who are, er, "not exactly the forumgoing type", but I doubt they care about plot one way or the other anyway.)
Only people who post on the forums care about the plot? That's crazy talk.
Posts: 50 | Registered: Monday, January 2 2006 08:00
A Few Advance Notes On Geneforge 4 in Geneforge Series
Mivayan
Warrior
Member # 6632
 written Monday, February 27 2006 11:14 Profile #102
quote:
Originally written by AxB:

It could be that encounters with a certain set of random(or preset)characters could only end in hostility. That would kill the load_save addiction.
Do you mean random but set at game start/area load? I totally hate that.

Preset encounters, same for everyone, would be neat though.
Posts: 50 | Registered: Monday, January 2 2006 08:00
Avernum 4 For Macintosh v1.0.1 Upgraded Released in Avernum 4
Mivayan
Warrior
Member # 6632
 written Thursday, February 9 2006 12:57 Profile #2
quote:
The full demo can be downloaded at

http://www.avernum.com/avernum4/index.html

There won't be a patch to update v1.0 to v1.0.1, as the changes were too extensive.
LOL! In an age where most games are 1Gig+, this strikes me as totally hilarious. And yeah, I'm happy to find more fun in these games than most big ones.

If this was windows, i'd tell people to not delete that file you need to back up in order to keep your registration data, but I dunno how it works on the mac. If you bought and installed it from a Cd, can you still get 1.0.1?
Posts: 50 | Registered: Monday, January 2 2006 08:00
Helping Jeff advertise in Avernum 4
Mivayan
Warrior
Member # 6632
 written Thursday, February 2 2006 14:58 Profile #98
My prejudices tells me all of Jeff's customers are too smart(1) to be offended.

Logic tells me I'm wrong on this though.

(1)Smart being defined as 'not getting offended by this'
Posts: 50 | Registered: Monday, January 2 2006 08:00
GF2: guardian claymore or puresteel blade in Geneforge Series
Mivayan
Warrior
Member # 6632
 written Wednesday, February 1 2006 09:54 Profile #13
I'll add my vote to the Guardian claymore.

As to why (in Geneforge 2):
Puresteel is 13-104, or 1-8 * (13+strength+melee)
Guardian claymore is 10-80, or 1-8 * (10+strength+melee).
Also +2 strength, +2 quick action, +2 creation strength

In effect the choice is 1-8 more damage versus carry weight, QA, creation str.

Note that +2 creation strength adds +10% to the chance to hit of creations melee and ranged attacks. I doubt dex has an effect of this, despite the in-game documentation.
Posts: 50 | Registered: Monday, January 2 2006 08:00
A3 singleton questions in The Avernum Trilogy
Mivayan
Warrior
Member # 6632
 written Wednesday, February 1 2006 09:30 Profile #9
So I won the game at last, at lvl 71, no brews made. All 5 artifacts collected, almost all quests done except killing the trolo king and returning the metal lumps. I see why people use higher difficulty levels. Physical attacks were stuck at 5% to hit early, then spells were easy to heal up, lately I only worried about dark wyrms or acid. Having all the items on one char made me defensively strong... the downside to rampant powergaming.

Interesting find: Boots of speed, a ring, the artifact plate and crossbow, the mithril sword each give +1 AP. Fast on feet gives one each other turn. But the total is max 4, not 6.

The gold cap annoyed me when I played A3 three years ago, since with my methodical looting I could have had 30k or so by the time I reached the horribly expensive skill trainers. It's not a big problem, but it stuck me as an arbitrary limit set annoyingly low.
Posts: 50 | Registered: Monday, January 2 2006 08:00
A3 singleton questions in The Avernum Trilogy
Mivayan
Warrior
Member # 6632
 written Saturday, January 28 2006 06:10 Profile #2
Thanks for the advice.
Doublecursed? jeez. Did you reach astronomical levels? I think you're right about vahnatai lore adding to rune reading, it exactly explains the difference.

Update:
Fighting trologdytes at l35 with divine fire(3) and 32 total PRI+INT+Magery was fun. Not fair, but fun. I get twice as many targets as with divine retribution, but my manual says it should be one less.

Lvl 49, have explored a lot, will take on the golems now. Bought 8 knowledge brews at both the anama-only salesmen in Lorelei and the anama place west of the trolog palace. Cost 1200 each. Dunno if fake rings would work too to buy them. I raised priest to 18, int to 10 so i've got all spells except cloud of blades.

16 tool use, for hard doors I use magic lockpicks and the +4 gloves.

I have the recipe, but dont even have the herbs for the 14 potions I need to break even. So
I will skip the tedium of collecting herbs. I like your argument about more fun without it.

The few alien beasts I fought were not as hard as golems. But will be managable with some resistance items. Been taking some advice from a faq to get all the stuff without searching every place several times.

Has anyone figured out a good reason for the cap of 15000 gold?
Posts: 50 | Registered: Monday, January 2 2006 08:00
Kill Bill (Spoilers) in Geneforge Series
Mivayan
Warrior
Member # 6632
 written Saturday, January 28 2006 06:05 Profile #13
quote:
Before we kill Ghaldring, we have to find Ghaldring. That will probably harder than anything else. He will most likely never, ever meet with a Shaper, or anything that he doesn't have full controll over.
So he's some sort of clever mastermind, and also among the strongest drakons ever? That's pretty cool.
Posts: 50 | Registered: Monday, January 2 2006 08:00
Spells from Exile in The Avernum Trilogy
Mivayan
Warrior
Member # 6632
 written Wednesday, January 25 2006 12:53 Profile #4
Not exonential as such, but in A3 there was a few time a summoned mage, or simulacrum'ed(?) slith priest, would use wimpy summoning spells. Which I thought was incredibly cool, even if not always usefull.
Posts: 50 | Registered: Monday, January 2 2006 08:00
Spells from Exile in The Avernum Trilogy
Mivayan
Warrior
Member # 6632
 written Wednesday, January 25 2006 10:13 Profile #2
There's the big area spells, identify, food, scry monster, quickfire(never used, but seemed cool) spells that are missed.

But there is also the nonsensical pure glee of looking through a spell list of 140 spells in Exile 3 as opposed to ~40 in Avernum 3. Exile3 had 10 per level, 7 levels, mage and priest. I have a copy of the help file.

Nevermind that I dont use fewer spells in any given fight, and that lvl 1-2-3 serves almost the same purpose. I'm just a sucker for huge oversized spell lists.

I'm happy area spells are back in A4. Question: is it still possible to sometimes summon powerfull mages that in turn summon wimpy wolves?
Posts: 50 | Registered: Monday, January 2 2006 08:00
A3 singleton questions in The Avernum Trilogy
Mivayan
Warrior
Member # 6632
 written Wednesday, January 25 2006 09:56 Profile #0
I'm replaying avernum 3 as a singleton nephil, divinely touched and fast on feet. On normal difficulty. I'm ignoring mage spells, potion making and nature lore. I'm in the filth factory now, killing with my 4-20 damage +6 luck knife and smite. No huge problem so far except that time in upper avernum a lone enemy mage slept me each turn untill I killed the task 5 minutes later.

Does the nephil have useful invisible bonuses to both bow and dex?

The once-a-day ability from divinely touched is awsome in hard fights, and I'm guessing the other bonuses help too but I have no idea how much. The extra attack I get from fast on feet's +1 AP every other round rocks.

Start seems almost easier than with a full team, might be because I used all the 65 bonus points on one char.

At lvl 22, after joining the anama, I have:
str/dex/int/end: 8/6/6/6
weapons 0
hardiness 8
def 3
ass 1
priest spell 14
arcane lore 9
tool use 11
luck 2

Is more priest skill usefull for a singleton? Only 16 for divine retribution, but the lvl 3 book requires 30 rune reading - I have 19. 46 points for 18 priest skill, then 13 for +3 ARC, then 48 for +6 int - would give me the 30 I need. 107 points - I have no idea how many levels that would require. Does divinely touched or +int from items help with Rune reading?

Do I need rune reading for cloud of blades(3)?

How much tool use and luck is usefull? Will I hit the damage cap without any melee skill?

Am I correct in thinking 2x bless is better than one? Is 5x bless even better?

Anything usefull in the chests in SE part of upper and lower Filth factory that requires move mountains(3)? Things I cant get to is like an itch I cant scratch. The stone circles requires flight, and the library of gale is far far away. Now that I found a crystal of recall I could take a short trip to gale though with the teleportation mage.
Edit: new save then cheat to get Move mountains(3) reveals that the total amount of stuff to be had there is potion of healing, curing, energy. wand of firebolts. gold ring.

[ Wednesday, January 25, 2006 13:47: Message edited by: Mivayan ]
Posts: 50 | Registered: Monday, January 2 2006 08:00
GF2 ending / GF3 spoilers requested in Geneforge Series
Mivayan
Warrior
Member # 6632
 written Wednesday, January 25 2006 08:41 Profile #3
Thanks. A drakon is slightly disappointing, but perhaps there's a reason it was locked up.
Posts: 50 | Registered: Monday, January 2 2006 08:00
GF2 ending / GF3 spoilers requested in Geneforge Series
Mivayan
Warrior
Member # 6632
 written Friday, January 20 2006 14:19 Profile #0
I hope the answer I want is a geneforge 3 spoiler.

What was the thing beond the locked warded unnoticed forgotten closed door in G2 taker lands, that is mentioned at the end?

I looked around in the forum, without finding it.
Posts: 50 | Registered: Monday, January 2 2006 08:00
Trainer skill listing in Avernum 4
Mivayan
Warrior
Member # 6632
 written Wednesday, January 18 2006 13:12 Profile #22
Is the restriction from geneforce 2, where you can only train in skills you have not increased with skill points or quest bonuses, still in?

I'm guessing (and hoping) not.
Posts: 50 | Registered: Monday, January 2 2006 08:00
Helping Jeff advertise in Avernum 4
Mivayan
Warrior
Member # 6632
 written Wednesday, January 11 2006 12:15 Profile #28
quote:
If I understand the nature of his life anywhere near as well as I think I do, he will always work alone. Otherwise he wouldn't work alone
As long as he doesn't go out of business at least. Which doesn't seem to be happening.

quote:
In either way, I am now very optimistic about G4.
Yeah, me too. I'm still optimistic about A4 too, mind you (no mac). I now know what to expect.
Posts: 50 | Registered: Monday, January 2 2006 08:00
Quick Note About Graphics in Avernum 4
Mivayan
Warrior
Member # 6632
 written Wednesday, January 11 2006 12:11 Profile #15
quote:
Any future Avernum graphics will have PC designs. PC graphics, however, take up the most time by FAR. A monster takes a day or two. A PC can take two weeks. They take longer to render, and there are more poses to do.

- Jeff Vogel
I sort of liked the old version where there only was one attack and one non-attack image of each character. It felt more abstract.

But would be hard to go back to now that I'm used to seing where the character is looking.
Posts: 50 | Registered: Monday, January 2 2006 08:00
Geneforge 4: "Not a Shaper" in Geneforge Series
Mivayan
Warrior
Member # 6632
 written Wednesday, January 11 2006 11:56 Profile #30
quote:
I doubt you'll be able to choose a Drakon. They are born too powerful. In RPGs, you have to start with a lot of ground to cover in order to reach decent power - and that goes for Geneforge too, even if it's not that much of an RPG.

RAmpaGE.
But a three feet high baby drakon would work! Parents died, or the vat you were growing in got smashed by a passing adventurer. It would be cute, like a kitten.
Posts: 50 | Registered: Monday, January 2 2006 08:00
Nimble Fingers in Avernum 4
Mivayan
Warrior
Member # 6632
 written Sunday, January 8 2006 13:46 Profile #2
quote:
Even though Elite Warrior, Pure Spirit, and Natural Mage all provide very good skill bonuses... Nimble fingers would provide free levels of tool use. Combined with 6 in mage spells, and you would have some chance as a singleton to unlock some doors that have valuable stuff behind them.
Getting 3 such abilities is not possible, I take it?

Once again, sanity gets in the way of creativity.
Posts: 50 | Registered: Monday, January 2 2006 08:00
Avernum:4 vs Blades Of Avernum which is the best? in Avernum 4
Mivayan
Warrior
Member # 6632
 written Sunday, January 8 2006 13:35 Profile #60
quote:
—Alorael, who wasn't sorry not to see a Doomguard. They're more pain than fun.
Aaaaah! A doomguard! Lets everyone attack it and throw spells and arrows and summons! Lets see... one doomguard with 150 hp. Silly little summoned lizard does 1 damage. Now - TWO doomguards with 149 hp.

Whack whack forever..... reload, let the slith with a big spear do it alone with some heals.

At least that's what I remembered from exile. Not sure hp worked like that after dividing. How does dividing work in A4?
Posts: 50 | Registered: Monday, January 2 2006 08:00
'Real' Area spells in Avernum 4? in Avernum 4
Mivayan
Warrior
Member # 6632
 written Wednesday, January 4 2006 13:47 Profile #10
I'm *very* glad to hear this. Maybe two priests in the party would be fun. or Mages.
Posts: 50 | Registered: Monday, January 2 2006 08:00
'Real' Area spells in Avernum 4? in Avernum 4
Mivayan
Warrior
Member # 6632
 written Wednesday, January 4 2006 09:39 Profile #0
I've got the impression that there are area spells in avernum 4, is that true? For some reason I love trying to fit as many foes as I can (without toasting the party) in a 3x3 (or bigger) fireball.

They existed in exile 3, but not in geneforge (1-2) or Avernum 3.
Posts: 50 | Registered: Monday, January 2 2006 08:00
Singleton party in Avernum 4
Mivayan
Warrior
Member # 6632
 written Monday, January 2 2006 13:56 Profile #71
quote:
Originally written by Archmage Alorael:

Does armor always apply the largest percentage first (Take away 40% of damage, then 20% of remainder, then 5% of the remainder of that) or does the order depend on the type of item (first armor, then shield, then boots)?
That shouldn't matter. If I understand it right, the math is 0.60 * 0.80 * 0.95 = 0.456, meaning 54.4% of the damage is stopped, as opposed to 65 which it would be in most systems.

Question: which (if any) is displayed on screen?

/Miv, who probably will play a full pary when the windows version is released.
Posts: 50 | Registered: Monday, January 2 2006 08:00

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