A stimulating way to play the game?

Hi

I just picked this game up. It's patched and UAPatched. Anyway magic is the primary attraction for me in games like these so I tried a solo (yeah, first time and solo) mage. But combat isn't very stimulating, I just spam my damage spell (of which I could find only one?) until I pass out from exhaustion or my target dies. And then came a fight where I couldn't possibly just nuke to victory so I tried kiting, but they matched my speed and running only served to drain me further.

I then made a gunfighter, bought a pistol and 20 bullets, 8 of which were required to kill a measly wolf. I saw no way to replenish ammo so I gave up on that.

So yeah I'm looking for a (solo) way to play that still provides stimulating combat. Not necessarily magic-based. Also how important is race? I prefer to play humans whenever possible but they seem to be the median race as usual.

 

Humans may be median, but the only thing they really lose is the ability to boost Strength to 24 (like half-ogres can), or Dexterity to 22 (like halflings can). Any other primary attribute is pretty pointless to raise above 20, which is the maximum for humans and everyone else (for most attributes).

As for stimulating combat I'm not sure what you're looking for if a mage doesn't cut it. But there are ways to make both mages and gunfighters unstoppable, even early in the game. One such way is to get what you need to reach 95% resistance to normal damage. Put a point in the Chemical discipline and buy the schematic for Fortifier from the herbalist in Shrouded Hills. That's cheap and easy to make, and you can make money by making Strong Poison and selling it to Ristezze or other junk dealers. Then put a point in the Force college. Then buy some cool barbarian clothing/armour from Lloyd. Just hang out in Shrouded Hills, forwarding to next morning when you've checked each store to see if they sell stuff you need to make Strong Poison or Fortifiers. Uh... and don't forward time near any of the stores in question, since they need to be off-screen to replenish their inventories.

Fortifier: +30% DR
Liquid of Skin-Thickening: +20%
Shield of Protection (at 0 MA): +25% DR (and +30 AC?)
Barbarian armour: +20% DR
Total: +95% DR

Combine that with fatigue limiters (halves the fatigue cost of spells, and protects against fatigue damage) and a supply of healing salves and fatigue restorers, and you can take your time doing what you want in a regular fight. To make it stimulating you can experiment with different weapons and tactics, but I wouldn't recommend wasting bullets on the crappy guns they sell at stores. Not unless it's a Quality Revolver, since that is almost as good as the Fine Revolver from the second degree in the Gunsmithy discipline. But if you're going to use that you might as well buy a Hunting Rifle from Lloyd. That's a pretty decent firearm until you can steal a much better one by spending a fate point. (Either in Tarant or Ashbury. Or both!)

Once you're in Tarant you can buy a Pig-faced basinet (+12% DR), Metal Boots (+10% DR) and War Gauntlets (+8% DR) for a total of +30% DR. Now you can skip the Fortifiers, or the Liquids of Skin-thickening. Or the Shield of Protection. Get Magickal Aptitude 100 and the Shield of Protection gives +50% DR, so you'd only need that and the aforementioned armour to reach 95% DR, though you're then going to suffer from increased risk of critical failures due to the technological metal armours. Doesn't affect you if you become Master of Melee, or if you only attack with spells (I think?), or if you use bows, which seem to never suffer critical failures. (Critical failures for bows were probably disabled to prevent the pretty elves from becoming horribly scarred by their own arrows. Become an elf today!)

Another option is to use Charm Beast to protect yourself against random wildlife encounters, and then use summons to attract the attention of the kind of enemies who are standing around and waiting for you to attack them. Use F1 to send your summoned creature toward the enemies, and if that creature is the first target the enemies spot, they'll stay busy killing your creature before they get to you. But I guess 'solo' and 'stimulating' means that you want to be the centre of attention, so no summons, right?

So, was it the thieves at the bridge who chased down your mage? They're a nasty bunch in a stand-up fight, so I use trickery every time. One staple trick I use is to drop a Railroad Spike near one of the half-ogres. If he goes to pick it up I let him, and he'll equip it and do lower damage and no fatigue damage. Then I do the same with the other half-ogre. Watch out for Lukan though - he's a lot more perceptive, and usually tries to fetch the spikes from the ground before the half-ogres know that they're there. I try to place them within three tiles of the intended half-ogre, and as far away from Lukan as possible. Just be ready to pick them up if the wrong thief is heading for it.

Last time I also tried Strong Poison, and it actually kills each one of the thieves. But you should beat a hasty retreat, because they'll kill you before the poison kills them. So buy a Potion of Speed from the gypsy, and drink it before poisoning each thief, and then run away. Doing it in turn-based combat is much easier. You won't receive XP from the damage the poison does, nor XP for creatures that die from your poison. But I've discovered that people don't give a lot of XP in the first place, unlike animals and monsters. So I wouldn't be too concerned. Fighting will be a lot easier once you've gotten enough points from levelling up that you can focus and diversify according to your needs. At the start of the game you have crappy resources, so it's not very representative of the combat in the rest of the game.

EDIT: I should probably mention the bane of fighting alone against a group of melee opponents: Stun. I think one undocumented benefit of Constitution 20+ is that stun effects wear off instantly, because when I tried to use the Stun spell on Garrick Stout he was affected, but it instantly wore off, when it normally would take a round or two of combat for that to happen. And he's one of the rare NPCs who have Constitution 20. So if maxed Constitution protects against being stunned by critical hits or critical failures it might be worth spending a point on Vitality of Air, and drink a Potion of Intellect (+10 IN) to be able to maintain enough Vitality of Air (plus the Shield of Protection) to bump Constitution to 20. Which also increases fatigue by a lot, so that's also a benefit. Another option would be to just raise Constitution, but that takes a lot of points that you'd probably want to spend on other stuff.

 

That was certainly elaborate =) gives me much to play with. Thanks!

 

Okay, a rather hilarious, and to myself impossible problem that I'm sure all of you have encountered and know a solution to...

I was getting my ass kicked, so I wanted to quick load, but instead I quick saved. It's my only save. My character is unconscious so running isn't an option; all I can do is load and watch myself die within 3 seconds.

But instead I should...?

 

Actually, even melee mastery doesn't protect from critical failures caused by wearing tech equipment while having a magickal aptitude.

 

Re:

If it's your only save, not make the same mistake in the future I guess? I always keep a couple of regular saves and then quick save in between those, at least that way I don't find myself in predicaments such as you are in now.

Also, I find the game most stimulating when I play naked - however I find most day-to-day activities more stimulating when naked so it's not just Arcanum that has that effect on me.

 

Yeah, keeping a few regular saves is a good idea. I recommend one save for each major location before you've done anything there. And saving before leaving a place is also a good idea, and another save for random encounters after you've survived them.

I can't think of any way to save a character who's alone and unconscious while being attacked. The only thing that could possibly work would be to have the enemies critically fail and knock themselves unconscious, but that would take an eternity of reloading.

Oh? Good to know!

My very first Arcanum character became a Master of Melee. But he only had a couple of spells I think. And as soon as he got to Tarant he brashly entered the south side of the Boil and got kicked to death by half-ogres. That's when I quit playing the leaked beta and started waiting for the official release. Haven't played much with melee since then. Got scarred for life. :KO:

 

Re:

If you have any fate points, you could spend them on "critical failure on next opponent attack" quickly after reloading and see if it helps.

 

Yeah, or choosing "full heal".

 

Choosing full heal only works on real time combat, giving you a tiny window of opportunity to act.

I suggest starting again. Always.

The hours of wasted gameplay are your lesson in 'never confuse quickload with quicksave' and it's probably a cheap lesson.

 

Sure works for me in TB, don't know if this has been changed in the UAP (wouldn't know why though). I can even go for "full heal" when my character dies and the fate point menu is opened at that point. This however, leads to other oddities. The PC will be flagged as dead by the game, even though he/she actually isn't.

 

It only works for me in TB if the PC is conscious. If he/she is out cold in TB, then the fate point menu doesn't pop up.

 

Oh well I didn't take the unconscious part into consideration. This means that you can't spend a fate point on making the enemy miss critically either though. Bearing in mind of what I wrote in my former reply, his/her character should still be able to cheat death. The minor deficiencies that will follow can be remedied, by letting the PC die again and then have him/her properly resurrected by a follower.

 

Re:

Only if he opens the fate point menu before dying. It doesn't unwind once the player is dead.

I had real time in mind when giving that suggestion.

 

You can try this if you have fate points:
1) Ready, steady, go!
2) Quickload.
3) Tap space to engage real time (if it is not already)
4) Tap 'f' to open fate point menu.
5) Click the top option for fate points (Full Heal Now)
6) Tap the spacebar again to engage turn-based (quick)
7) Wait for the combat round to end.
8) Still alive? Then take your turn, probably still doomed though.
9) Start again with a new character. Starting again is fun!

Btw, a mage with a bag o' fatigue potions can easily solo the game.

Also, since you won't be looking for components and ammo, and you can learn the teleport spell, you can finish the game in 1/10 the time.

Here's a formula for an easy win mage...

Elf, only child, +3 WP (WP=18)
+ up to 61 spells (20 is enough, really)
= all too easy.

 

I love having teleport on tech characters, it's worth it even if most of the other spells in the college are useless because of your aptitude. I've still yet to get round to playing an only child gnome gunslinger with maxed temporal and conveyance.

 

Personally, I never use the teleport spell since I find it pleasant to plan all the little trips to maximize their efficiency. Teleporting almost destroyed the game for me when I tried it out during my first playthrough.

Also I enjoy wasting gold on trains or ships, since RPGs are much more fun when you're poor than when you're rich.

 

It's a useful commodity, but by no means necessary. Though I do prefer it, I don't tend to miss it when I play a more conventional tech character - or just a magickal character who I don't want to invest point into Conveyance because they're needed elsewhere.

 

Learning it shaves a few minutes off the playthrough, by comparison, that's all.