Playing for the first time does it matter where I go first?

Discussion in 'Arcanum Hints & Tips' started by scotty, Sep 16, 2010.

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  1. scotty

    scotty New Member

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    hi all just got the game but just wondering should I go to Dernholm or Tarrent first or doesnt it make any difference really where I go to in what order?

    oh yeah one other thing is there any downsides for my mage character to wearing chainmail instead of robes? I dont seem to notice anything like getting fatigued quicker or anything...whats the advantage of robes.

    Finally...I get a glitch where my interface usually completely dissappears, I think it happens when I hold ctrl to run but not certain. The only way I can get it back is if I press "m". It sometimes has dissappeared when I load a game as well. Anyone else get this? Its really annoying.
     
  2. Dark Elf

    Dark Elf Administrator Staff Member

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    Re: Playing for the first time does it matter where I go fir

    Random encounters on the way to Dernholm can rape low level characters, so I would recommend that you go to Tarant and progress your character first.

    The advantage of robes is that they are lightweight and thus need minimal strength to be worn. Chainmail can slow weak characters down. When looking for that fine balance between speed and defense, pure mages often find robes superior.
     
  3. scotty

    scotty New Member

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    yeah I guess but armor doesnt show the min strength required to wear it does it. my chainmail and studded leather doesnt seem to slow me down.

    btw this is what I get all the time..alot of the time if I simply go into my inventory or whatever and then exit..

    [​IMG]
     
  4. Arkain

    Arkain New Member

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    Mhm, where have I seen that before?

    Anyway. Did you patch your game first? If not I'd recommend you do that (and maybe start anew, it doesn't seem as if you've progressed far). You might also want to install the unofficial patch for some more fixes. Or maybe not.
     
  5. scotty

    scotty New Member

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    the first thing i did was patch it and install that big unofficial patch before i even started. thats it. I am playing on a netbook but that shouldnt matter I get no problems whatsoever playing the Fallouts, planescape torment or BG II..which btw I think are all much better games but I wanna stick with this see if it gets better because it looks like it could.

    BUT anyway I have fixed it :thumbup: I just installed that high resolution patch and changed the res to 1024x600 and its all back to normal! for now anyway hopefully it stays that way.
     
  6. Zanza

    Zanza Well-Known Member

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    Armor doesn't require strength to wear it, but you'll notice the weight of the object severely hinders the rest of what you can carry unless you are a physically strong mage.
     
  7. Leviathan

    Leviathan New Member

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    The Armor setup takes a little while to get used to :), you just slow down from carrying capacity rather than the armor itself.

    Whatever you do while wandering around, don't try and follow Leonardo's quest (it'll make sense) or go near the Ancient Maze when you first encounter them.

    Nothing like having something 16 levels higher than most of your party pop out of the ground and one-shot people ><

    Also, when you get random encounters on the way to Tarant, if you get "Ailing Wolves", you should be fine, if you get "Wolves", be careful because they're damned dangerous. At lvl 8 I still sometimes need to reload because four of them will spawn, charge one of my guys and kill him/her well before my guys can down more than one of them.
     
  8. Muro

    Muro Well-Known Member

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    Say what?
     
  9. magikot

    magikot Well-Known Member

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    Good, I'm not the only one that's lost :p
     
  10. Leviathan

    Leviathan New Member

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    Blah, that's what happens when I let my brain do the remembering!

    Liam's quest is the one to watch out for at low levels.
     
  11. scotty

    scotty New Member

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    well that resolution patch didnt help much either I still get that glitch and I have to press m or F10 to get it back to normal. actually its made it worse I cant even create a new character because it has kinda messed up the button placement so I cant type in a name.. :/

    does anyone know if this version...

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Empire-Arcanum/ ... 523&sr=8-3

    is the big box version? because I want the manual and will just buy the game if this is the big boxed version. I hate reading stuff like that online. This is a legit version I have installed right now I just borrowed it instead of buying it cos I thought it might be crap. And it has got some really annoying things I dont like ie. the maps (local and world) which are the worst I have ever seen but I think I might actually really like it..Im starting to enjoy it and I have only just got to Deunhern or whatever.

    and yeah Im level 5 and 3 or 4 of those wolfs (non ailing) tear me and my buddys a knew one unless i pummel em with harm and i still end up wasting a resurrection spell doing that usually.

    few little things..

    1. how do I set it up to automatically enter combat as turn based? I go through the options and set it but it still stays real time until I switch it using space. which isnt exactly usefull when the combat is light speed.

    2. whats better for mage sold your soul or sheltered childhood? Im not bothered about ppls reaction i will probably end up killing everyone in the first town again anyway they are so anoying. I guess for a melee mage you would need the str but if just a pure mage then sheltered is better?

    3. I understand for whatever reason you get experience based on the amount of hits your own character does? Is that also the same with whoever gets the final kill gets the most experience? what if I just use spells will that mean its much harder to level up.

    yeah I think i need to read the manual..
     
  12. Muro

    Muro Well-Known Member

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    Aye.

    You get some XP (as well as all of the credit, for better or worse) when someone from your party kills an enemy, no matter who exactly delivered the final blow.

    Also, to be precise, your followers don't receive any experience points on their own, no matter how much damage they deal. They simply gain a level whenever you do. Therefore one could say that any experience you didn't gain because a follower hit an enemy - when you could do it instead - is wasted experience.

    You get the XP as long as the game recognises that it was you who dealt the damage. Whether you used a sword, a rifle or a fireball is of no importance.
     
  13. Frigo

    Frigo Active Member

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    Definitely Tarant. There's no Madame Lil's in Dernholm.
     
  14. scotty

    scotty New Member

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    that kinda...really sucks doesnt it? what if you play as a mage who just concentrates only on defensive magic? I guess only through quest completion you can get experience that way and thats hardly gonna be any at all..
     
  15. Frigo

    Frigo Active Member

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    Are you sure about this? Damn, this could be the reason playing a healer (non-combat) paladin was so fucking difficult.
     
  16. Zanza

    Zanza Well-Known Member

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    Lots of random encounters sorted the experience issue out for me.
     
  17. Muro

    Muro Well-Known Member

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    Yes, I'm sure and yes, it sucks. Makes the game quite unfair for non-combatant characters such as diplomats, healers or summoners.

    This is why it took me years to finally create a Living One which will not engage in battle directly, leaving the combat to followers, but I finally started it. Just killed everything at the Crash Site and completed Arbalah's quest and still level 1? Seems like it will be a rather slow game.
     
  18. Dark Elf

    Dark Elf Administrator Staff Member

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    For all the love I have for Arcanum, if anything ought to be called a critical design flaw, this would have to be it.
     
  19. Frigo

    Frigo Active Member

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    Would it be possible to create a hack that gives all XP to the player character?
     
  20. scotty

    scotty New Member

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    yeah anyway what about this interface why do i have to press f10 to get it back to normal? and how do i stop it going in retarded real time combat every time?
     
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