Challenge: spiced ham

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AuthorTopic: Challenge: spiced ham
Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
Profile #0
Take any character you want.
Only equipment: rocks.
Only creations: ornks.
Clear the Monastery Caves using nothing but ornks, rocks, and incredible tactical sophistication.

How else did you think they'd choose the next Ornk Lord? Ballots and white smoke?

[ Tuesday, May 24, 2005 16:33: Message edited by: Student of Trinity ]

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We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty.
Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00
Warrior
Member # 5523
Profile #1
can we use sticks?

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“Medicine, Law, Business, Engineering - These are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But Poetry, Beauty, Romance, Love-These are what we alive stay for.”
Posts: 150 | Registered: Sunday, February 20 2005 08:00
Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
Profile #2
Allowing sticks can be the 'lite' version.

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We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty.
Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00
BANNED
Member # 4
Profile Homepage #3
Ya know, sticks only add 2.5 damage to your average attack...

My question is- is magic allowed? If not, then how the heck is anyone supposed to beat up those magic-vulnerable serviles? This sounds less and less like "tactics" and more and more like "needing a girlfriend and/or blades of exile".

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Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00
His Mighty Tentacle
Member # 627
Profile #4
Rocks are objects, not weapons. They do no damage. So what's the point of rocks?

I am pondering tactical options and I fail to see what purpose the rocks serve.

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If I could make just one wish, I would want a tasty vlish.

Geneforge IV. Still no tasty vlish.
Posts: 1104 | Registered: Tuesday, February 12 2002 08:00
Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
Profile #5
In truth the rocks are there because I felt that 'rocks, ornks, and incredible tactical sophistication' had a nicer ring than the same line without the rocks. It serves to emphasize the ridiculous nature of the task, that the only item you can carry is completely useless.

In case anyone wonders, this challenge is meant half as a joke and half seriously. I sat down to invent a ridiculous task as a parody of iron man challenges, then realized that it might just conceivably be doable, if you were really cunning and persistent. I have no intentions of trying it myself unless someone else reports victory first.
If anyone really manages it, they will be totally frosty.

Does a bare hands attack do any damage at all? When I composed this I thought it did. Using only rocks and ornks was meant to imply that you couldn't use any spells, or at least not any offensive spells, but for some reason I had in mind that bare hands attacks would be okay.

The goal is to do the actual Monastery Caves without cheating, but it doesn't matter how you get your character and your ornks up to that point. I would consider it kosher to use exitzone or dbugkill all the way to Khor's Deep to get the ornk canister, then go back and fight around Greenwood with your ornks in order to evolve them up.

There are no serviles in the Monastery Caves. You don't have to clear the Monastery of Tears the hard way to do the spiced ham challenge.

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We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty.
Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00
His Mighty Tentacle
Member # 627
Profile #6
I am thinking I could do this. Not on Torment. But maybe on normal. Some character, armed with a stick. Mayhap a Guardian.

Then again, an Agent would be able to cast Augment on each one of those Ornks, giving them a lot more life.

Hmm

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If I could make just one wish, I would want a tasty vlish.

Geneforge IV. Still no tasty vlish.
Posts: 1104 | Registered: Tuesday, February 12 2002 08:00
Infiltrator
Member # 5785
Profile #7
What about offencive mental magic? I think it can be done with Daze.

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"..The seventh wave of Thrall stumbled and climbed over the slippery, piled dead and Mazzarin saw The Watcher with them and at last knew the number of his days."
Posts: 522 | Registered: Wednesday, May 4 2005 07:00
Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
Profile #8
Well, I'd be impressed if anyone can do it even with Daze, but I guess I'd also call that a 'lite' version, because my original idea was that the only offense of any kind should be ornk tusks and shaper fists.

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We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty.
Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00
Raven v. Writing Desk
Member # 261
Profile Homepage #9
I suppose exitzone is fair play? Waiting for those ornks to cross zones takes forever...

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Slarty vs. DeskDesk vs. SlartyTimeline of ErmarianG4 Strategy Central
Posts: 3560 | Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Shaper
Member # 247
Profile Homepage #10
A guardian with defensive spells could definitely do it. Fists of fury!

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The Knight Between Posts.
Posts: 2395 | Registered: Friday, November 2 2001 08:00
Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
Profile #11
Pretty much everything is fair play until you actually enter Monastery Caves. At that point, you should not do exitzone, because surviving the spawned rogues on the long way back to the essence pools outside is part of the challenge. (Plus it'd be an extreme drag working your way back from the school to the Monastery Caves.) You could certainly try just leaving your pc at the entrance, though, and sending out waves of ornks.

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We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty.
Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00
Apprentice
Member # 5667
Profile #12
This could be doable, if you were a shaper and built up battle shaping enough. Since a shaper wouldn't be fighting directly, the requirement of only "using" rocks wouldn't be a handicap. Move over, Vlish Lord, Porky's the new mad shaper in town!

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Whatever happens, happens.
Posts: 48 | Registered: Monday, April 4 2005 07:00
Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
Profile #13
Hey, do Ornks really count as battle creations? I wondered about that, but I didn't think any shaping skills would boost their level.

I'm not sure Porky is as mad as the Vlish Lord, since he's only doing this crazy stuff for one zone. Maybe just temporarily incapacitated from eating spawned luncheon meat in the refectory of the Monastery of Tears.

[ Wednesday, May 25, 2005 03:58: Message edited by: Student of Trinity ]

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We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty.
Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00
His Mighty Tentacle
Member # 627
Profile #14
Mad? Mad you say? Why eat lunch meat when you and you pets can eat BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIINS!!!

Vlish would suck the brains right out of those critter's snouts.

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If I could make just one wish, I would want a tasty vlish.

Geneforge IV. Still no tasty vlish.
Posts: 1104 | Registered: Tuesday, February 12 2002 08:00
Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
Profile #15
You really have to watch what you say about Vlish around here, people. Brain-eating tentacled monstrosities have feelings, too.

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We're not doing cool. We're doing pretty.
Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00
His Mighty Tentacle
Member # 627
Profile #16
What's funny is, and makes my handle even sillier is that in G2 we learn that Vlish are engineered to taste bloody awful so other creations don't eat them.

Makes me wonder why Jeff included this one single random factoid.

The Spiced Ham Challenge is doomed to failure. Shapers engineered Ornks to taste delicious.

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If I could make just one wish, I would want a tasty vlish.

Geneforge IV. Still no tasty vlish.
Posts: 1104 | Registered: Tuesday, February 12 2002 08:00
Warrior
Member # 5731
Profile #17
where does one find the ornk canister?
Posts: 107 | Registered: Tuesday, April 19 2005 07:00
Infiltrator
Member # 5566
Profile #18
quote:
Originally written by mok:

where does one find the ornk canister?
quote:
Originally written by Student of Trinity:

I exitzone or dbugkill all the way to Khor's Deep to get the ornk canister,
There
Posts: 507 | Registered: Tuesday, March 1 2005 08:00
Warrior
Member # 3357
Profile Homepage #19
If anything in the Monastery Caves had fire attacks, then the the enhanced rocks from darkstone might be useful. Unfortunately, nothing seems to have a fire attack.
Posts: 76 | Registered: Saturday, August 16 2003 07:00
Warrior
Member # 5731
Profile #20
quote:
Originally written by Hawk King:

quote:
Originally written by mok:

where does one find the ornk canister?
quote:
Originally written by Student of Trinity:

I exitzone or dbugkill all the way to Khor's Deep to get the ornk canister,
There

yeah, i saw that. I was actually hoping for something a little more specific. I've gone through Khor's Deep several times and never seen that particular canister. Is there a hidden room or something that I'm missing?
Posts: 107 | Registered: Tuesday, April 19 2005 07:00
Warrior
Member # 3357
Profile Homepage #21
It's in a secret passageway. Walk around the outside part of Khor's Deep.

[ Wednesday, May 25, 2005 11:19: Message edited by: artificial orange ]
Posts: 76 | Registered: Saturday, August 16 2003 07:00
Warrior
Member # 5731
Profile #22
quote:
Originally written by artificial orange:

It's in a secret passageway. Walk around the outside part of Khor's Deep.
*argh* :mad:
How many secret passages have I missed like this one? I've found a few that were referenced elsewhere in the game: "we saw a secret supply cache" sort of thing. Are there a lot of the easter egg type secret passages?

Having played Avernum I keep looking at the black spots on each area thinking, "I wonder if there's something hidden there?" But there never seems to be anything when I look more in-depth.
Posts: 107 | Registered: Tuesday, April 19 2005 07:00
His Mighty Tentacle
Member # 627
Profile #23
Luck helps for some situations.

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If I could make just one wish, I would want a tasty vlish.

Geneforge IV. Still no tasty vlish.
Posts: 1104 | Registered: Tuesday, February 12 2002 08:00
Apprentice
Member # 5667
Profile #24
quote:
Originally written by Student of Trinity:

Hey, do Ornks really count as battle creations? I wondered about that, but I didn't think any shaping skills would boost their level.

I know you need at least one level of battle shaping skill to make an ornk, and I only assume that more skill would create a better ornk. My agent created an ornk just for the heck of it, using only the various skill boosting items and the chunky creature did about 60 points of damage per attack, not bad for a low-level creation. Of course, my ornk also had almost no endurance, so there are some drawbacks...

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Whatever happens, happens.
Posts: 48 | Registered: Monday, April 4 2005 07:00