Hi there =D, my first post in the communnity! I started playing Arcanum about a week ago, with a female half-elf diplomat-gunslinger (couldn't find a good baddass gunslinger man pic =\). I haven't got the opportunity to shoot much yet (as my aim is starting to get decent), but my pals do the dirty work for me pretty well xP. On to te topic: I've found about 4 scrolls and I was wondering, how do I make Virgil use them? Is it even possible, or should I transmute them into gold? Cheers! PD: Sorry if my english isn't good, not a native speaker =P
Depending on the scroll utility it is possible. All usable items in Arcanum can be used by followers, though some apperantly require some skill background. For example if you put Fatigue/Health potions(magical or tech versions) into your followers inventory. the moment corresonding stat of ANY party member falls below maximum they will use it. (ex: if you give healing potion, after first damage taken, they will heal the wounded; or after first fatigue loss they will use fatigue potion) But certain items ike bandage require Healing skill, so a follower without healing skill wouldnt attempt to use it.(correct me if I am wrong). This includes explosives, though many followers wouldnt use them, I remember Sebastian from Boil using explosives in his inventory(again correct me if wrong, been a while like 6 years) Venom, Strong Poison are used the moment follower carrying them engages an enemy. And about the scrolls, if you give them resurrection scrolls they will raise the fallen comrades (even you, and mostly you). About other scrolls I believe it depends on the effect on scroll. If the follower bear the activation of the called effect in their AI script (like lets say healing the wounded AI, then a scroll with Major Healing would be used on a wounded follower by the bearer). But for the skills like Detect Invis, there are no possible AI scripts, therefore only YOU can use them. However if you have high tech aptitude it would most likely fail to cast, in this cases it is best to sell them.
In my experience, when I gave 2 bandages (x10 each) to Virgil (Heal 1) he wasted them misteriously. As soon as I left the inventory, he started doing something with his hands, and when i checked, he had wasted 14 "charges" ¬¬... all chars had full hp. About potions, I'm not sure if he had ever used them, but probably he did. I don't remember taking them back.
You are wrong, sadly - a follower will attempt to put bandages to use even if he has no Heal skill at all. I said sadly, because this means that a Healer Living One must carry all of his bandages in his own inventory. If he would decide to use any of his Heal skill-lacking followers as a bandage warehouse, that follower would start using those bangades up with no effect the moment someone in the party would get hurt and - if not stopped - would use up every single one of them. Unfortunately, they do use them, and more often than not unwisely. This means followers make nearly as bad potion/tech med warehouses as they do bandage warehouses.
Sadly, Arcanum followers are the most stupid i've ever seen. Even Fallout 2 companions were smarter. The only good thing about giving pots/healing salves to followers is that you can be sure that until they ran out, they probably aren't going to get killed xD
Still, in Arcanum they are more obedient and easier to control. Introducing the possibility of follower management via F1 - F5 keys was a really good move.
Yep, kind of balanced the problem a little. It's a shame you can't just give them "strategy" orders, like "run if your ass is being handed to you" or "CHARGE! CRUSH! KILL! DESTROY!"... oh, forget that last, it's the standard AI behaviour.
It's not like we had to wait for Dragon Age to introduce that feature, though. It was already present in Fallout 2 eleven years earlier. I never found the need for such an option in Arcanum myself. Telling each follower in each combat round who they should attack or that they should stop fighting and retreat to a place of my choice was always enough for my needs. I can see that it could be helpful for those preferring real time combat and therefore not having the time to manually give commands to each follower, though.
Really? I never played Fallout but isn't it older then Arcanum? Yet you can give "complex" orders to your followers? I was talking about DA because the system is really well designed, the way you can setup a follower to really play on his own the way you want (if mob next to you, do x or do y etc etc.).
You should definitely right this wrong. Indeed it is. Fallout was released in 1997, Fallout 2 in 1998 and Arcanum in 2001. It isn't possible in Fallout, bu such a feature is indeed present in Fallout 2. You can define some aspects of combat behaviour of each follower via dialogue, but once a fight starts, you can change nothing before its end. While the range of possible behaviours for each follower in Fallout 2 does add to their unique feel, personally I think Arcanum's system is more effective and less frustrating - if followers start doing something undesired during combat in Arcanum, you can simply order them to stop, while in the Fallouts you just have to deal with it or force the end of a fight by leaving an area.
