Mechanist

U know there are many options in character creation.
Now me'm playing as a "Mechanist" -
-Baground: Sickly
-Doctorates: smythy und mechanical
-Primary (but not master) skills: melee, persuasion und lockpicking

In the beggining, this character was rather weak. Now it have 2 Automatons and Med Arak. me think, this is very mighty tekno character, what do you think? BUT 2 Automatons are not enought!

Please try to answer my questions:
1)Where I must search for:

a)"minute steamworks" (for mech armor)
b)third mini steam engine (first found in Wheel Clan, second nearby shipwreck south of Caladon)

Can be Heron Device used for this purpose?

 

In Tarant, in the factory near Gilbert Bates manor. Its a random item, but the factory foreman does offer it for sale once in a while.
Also, you can find four mech armor suits in the game- three normal size ones and one small.

Any inventor or the same factory foreman.

 

I know. Last game I stole one from fellow exilled from Tulla. But I want do it myself .

I'm unsure I've tryed ALL inventors, only inventor in WC had one. Foreman? Yes, he had minute steam works but NOT mini steam engine.

 

Unless you use some of the mods to allow you to get more selection from the different vendors, a techie is at a huge disadvantage IMO. Also, if you don't raise your haggle skills to where you can buy and sell things anywhere, you won't be able to sell half the things you find because only the magick shopkeepers will buy them and they won't talk to a techie. This is one more reason that I tend to play balanced characters.

 

Techies are in no waty at a disadvantage. First, they are a lot more fun to play. Second, all the most powerful weapons in the game are tech. Third, they are less dependant on finding or not finding those powerful weapons and armor suits. They also don't depend on fatigue and on aptitude. Grenades make a huge difference in combat and, unlike spells, don't take action points. My tech characters NEVER have problems with money.
In fact, the mage's only real advantages are lesser dependance on money and the dreaded Disintegrate spell, that isn't much of an advantage if you have more than one opponent (costs too much fatigue).

 

What is your haggle usually at, Solaris? If it is at or above Expert, then you are doing what I said was necessary to overcome the obstacle to techies. Otherwise, I have trouble believing your claims about money.

Also, there are many things that don't seem to be readily available in the stores in the stock game, so are you playing it with or without the storekeeper inventory hack? If with, then you are doing the other thing I said is needed to overcome an obstacle to techies. If without, then I guess you are just luckier than I am.

I agree wholeheartedly with you about grenades and other thrown weapons being a major advantage and I generally make throwing a major skill for my characters.

 

My haggle is usually at zero. Money comes and goes, CPs are limited, so why bother investing them into money making? When I play a techie, I usually do a lot of burglary, ecpecially from the smiths and magic smiths, and that magick trader in Black Root. Each Resurrect scroll=1700 gold. Rob a magick trader in Black Root- and you come out with some 10 000 gold in cash and items.
Also, Magnus can make eye gear that sells damn good (800 to 1000 each), explosive and electrical grenades are also a good income source. And, of course, the easiest way to get 20K+: blow up a Wise Woman with dynamite, loot her corpse and resurrect her for further deals. Besides, techies don't need all that expensive magick equipment and scrolls, so I can sell virtually all the most expensive things I find. At the moment, the merchants simply don't have enough money to buy all the stuff I have to offer.
Now when you play a mage, burglary can't be your primary income source. Unlocking Cantrip is a poor substitute for lock picks noise wise. So I am forced to feed on Pick Pocket, stealing mostly scrolls, and blow up Wise women once they accumulate enough cash. For a mage player, Haggle probably makes some kind of sense- but still not much.

Edit-

Oh and about some things "not being readily avaliable. First, the selection of items shopkeepers have at your FIRST visit to them is usually the same- memorize it. If you're a tech archer, there is ALWAYS a Compound bow for sale at Taraantian smith on your first visit- and ONLY on your first. The Factory foreman usually has a Small Steam Engine on your first visit. Besides, you aren't limited by time. You can spend months shopping. Just go far enough from the shops and "wait" till the next day.

 

You can do an Autosave a few screens away from a shopkeeper, wait a day, check, if he doesnt have anything you want, just f8 and wait a day again, go back and check, repeat as necessary. this method just saves on walking time if youre computer is slow with graphics in cities.

 

Now I don't buy that thing about mages needing haggle. Never invested a single point in it, and I usually have about 100k money once I leave Tarant for the mines. The Blackroot is where I get the most of it. You know, it is easy to rob that place with a mage, all you need is 100 magick aptitude and that's it. All mages will anyway have it, so free money and mana potions available.
You can sell about everything you find with a tech?? Well, the only items I carry with my mage are the ones equipped, so I think I get plenty of stuff to sell, eh?
Dreaded Disintegrate? ok, but I prefer Harm plus Hasten. With 55 action points, 4 point per shot with Harm, each doing the 80 damage....I'd say I score big time. And Fireflash is always nice.
I never really gotten these techie chars, too much running after parts for the techiskills..with a mage, I don't need to. Just go and get exp, finish the game. If the PC would have an inventory working the same way as shopkeepers (and followers), with infinite? space, it might be worth my time to try.
Oh and I forgot one very important spell. Teleport. Self explanatory, but indeed one of the most usefull spells in the game.

 

Tech characters are cool because guns, explosives, and other technological items are fun to use, and don't drain Fatigue. There is also a certain sense of accomplishment when one builds something with a schematic. By the way, followers definitely do not have unlimited inventory. Have you played this game very long?

 

"unlimited?" see, I wasn't sure, haven't bothered myself with followers, I like to play loner. And yes, I've played quite a bit of time, though I still haven't finished the game. I tend to start another char..I get bored easily.

 

Two words; Molotov Cocktail. I'm sure there are bigger flaws with mages, but come on, infinite action points is nothing to scoff at.

 

Two words about Molotov Cocktails: No Experience.

Man, I don't know about techies. When I play them, I actually have to let my followers enter combat. That's no good.

No, really, the schematic thing is really satisfying. Sigurd's right on that note.

 

I've noticed that with the 1.0.7.4. they do give experience. Besides, even if they don't, neither does Disintegrate.

Your techies are probably too slow. Use potions of Haste.

 

From what I can tell, Molotovs give kill experience but not damage experience. Actually I've heard two theories on this: One, that they don't give damage xp at all, and Two, that the damage xp is so low it barely registers. Something about the Molotov itself being awarded the xp, whatever. The only time I had Molotovs give damage xp was when I was using the level 127 cheat.

I've had more than one "Yes it does!/No it doesn't!" argument with Shadygrove on this topic, but once I got rid of the cheat I realized that he was right: They don't give damage xp. I believe it was Georgie from the Sierra boards who reported going through Vendigroth early and not gaining even a single level; he relied exclusively on Molotovs to clear a path.

 

I'm using the most recient patch and use molotovs alot in combat. Being a low level techy, a swarm of wolves could give me some trouble if I was only using a gun, however, with the molotovs, one shot and they are all dead. As far as experiance, I've gotten a tenth of a level off one shot.

 

A low level character could get that much experiece just from the kills. There's no damage xp awarded.

 

With molotovs you trade damage xp for a much easier situation, and in some cases, survival. They're powerful and you can get them right away, of course they have a downside.