Arcanum biased towards mages?

Bullets are cheap. Available everywhere. Stackable. No weight (spelling?). And if you have 100% tech at the tech-magic meter spells will sometimes just fizzle on you. And specialising in 2 schools aint that hard. I have a level 50 demo character that knows all of explosives, mechanics and both the smithing schools. And if you have 5 points and master in firearms you will NOT miss.

 

You don't have to spend a character point on Explosives to make bullets. You can simply buy an Explosives Tech Manual, which raises your ability in that area.

Bullets are dirt cheap to make. You can make twenty bullets for the cost of a Saltpeter, because charcoal can be found in just about any litter bin in the game.

Also, once you get the Eye Gear schematic, you can make LOADS of cash off it. Glasses are around 19 gold for my character. Pocket Watch Parts are 47 gold. Combine those to make Eye Gear, and sell it for 1079 gold. That's a hefty profit, so you can easily afford to buy hundreds of bullets at a time.

About the only problem I have with Tech is that it requires so much inventory space. While mages can simply use healing spells and a few healing pots for when fatigue gets low, techies need herbal cures.

In addition to that, I hate scrounging the countryside looking for components for those herbal cures. It'd be nice if you could go out in the middle of no where, make a farm on the world map, and seed a farm for the components you need.

 

The farm thing would be neat. :smile:

 

It is. I love the firearms skill. However, a firearms inventor with more than one discipline needs maxed INT, PER, DEX, and some STR(for the big boys)...the extra points in STR mean you lose out on a few schematics. I don't see why you should be a tech gunsmithy inventor if you can't use the guns you make.

Smithy, Gunsmithy, Electrical, Herbology...these are good. Mechanical has a few duds, but is also a good choice. Go to the character planner in this site and see how far you can and want to go...3 disciplines is a good limit for a pure, but not too helpless inventor.

Heh. The library in tarant sells tech manuals. For some cash (which you should have NO problem parting with), you can make all the bullets you want without spending points in those disciplines. Sure, you can buy magic scrolls...which are horribly expensive and usable only once. :razz:

Your party members...do they have firearms skill? Are they favoring another gun in their inventory? Adequate str? Check all these out and come back.

...Like the others have said, bullets are cheap as hell(Do I have to remind you of the LACK of monetary problems inventors have?) and are no problem to carry. Now that that's settled...magic DOES fizzle out. You saw a bullet miss once? Oooer. Howabout I just shoot again? Why not say melee is broken because swords can miss? My ogre who does 40+ damage disagrees. My elephant gun disagrees, too.

You're paying fatigue for your spells, and if you pass out before you HURT something...then magery is broken, and there would not be an argument.

But TECH, on the other hand...with a bit of inventory juggling I got enough manuals to make something that demanded a doctorate in smithy, which I didn't have at all. Hell, I had 9 int as a speech gunfighter. Yowza.

Anything else?

 

I think that pretty much covers it

 

Many thanks to the help from Diemon and meltdown... both great advice. I think once i finish this mage game, i'll restart as a gunsmithy guy.. anyone suggest any NPCs i should get?

 

AHEM!

I wrote more than Diemon!

If you're going techie though, I'd suggest melee/tech. There's some really nice stuff you can make as a melee techie. Considering you can get Machined Gauntlets, which up melee damage, and Machined Plate, which ups strength..

There are some really nice things you can make for gunslingers, like EyeGear, some really advanced guns, Goggled Helmet, and so on, though.

 

Spoilers on npcs.....but since ya asked...

Sogg, Gar, Magus, Thorvald, Sebastian, Dog...basically melee/gun guys. Vollinger might be worthwhile, I'm not too sure. Take Jayna if you don't have healing salve learned(and why not?) There's one or two others, but I don't want to spoil TOO badly...you might like finding out who you can and cannot recruit. Don't take mage boys with you...the poor buggers will wear themselves out trying to heal you.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: sgc_meltdown on 2001-08-29 06:11 ]</font>

 

Hey guys, just a hint if your a techie - buy a lot of intellect potions (from identifiers). That way you never really have to put any points into INT to level up your disciplines. The downside is, you can't invent anything unless you are using an int potion. But I have electricity and gunsmithy & half of smithy with only 13 int. I went for electricity because the tesla gun is pretty powerful. The looking glass rifle is INSANELY powerful (just takes so much time!). I'd also suggest one point in explosives so you can make molotov cocktails, they're lifesavers. I only got smithy because Magnus was a dork and wouldn't ever learn helmet of vision, so I had to learn it for myself and then I could make the goggled helmet, +3 PE.

As far as what stats to level, I'd say PE, DE, Firearms (master), dodge, throwing, melee (as backup). It's also good to have a decent amount of strength later on in the game, so if you're like me, you can carry 5 different guns w/o too much of a speed penalty :smile:

 

gunsgunsguns

Man, I know alot of people already said this, but you're smoking crack if you think the game is biased towards mages. Ask the elven shopkeeper on the docks at Ashbury (level 35, who didn't want to talk to me because *he* didn't like tech either) which is faster, two bullets from a looking glass rifle on a level 16, or a pansy in a robe trying to summon golems to save him.

And now I have to say.. WoW! The looking glass rifle is absurd. I've gone from level 16 to level 22 so far just popping off level 3 zombie hoards in Ashbury, plinkity plink. As for strenght problems, I've been running around half blind and too weak to carry my lantern and revolver together, and still getting %60-%80 on things, with level 3 firearms and expert. By day with a looking glass though, I'm getting 120% on these lil' zombies though.

One little tip.. I've been playing in turn-based combat mode the whole time.. but if you've got one or two things that outclass you and you need them dead, just switch to real time from a distance, and start shooting. Slow monsters die fast, but in turn based, they get next to you in one move. I had no problem with 2 fire elementals (lvl 35) at level 18.

moo,
-=rev=-

 

Magic is good if you want some of the best weapons and armor in game to work correctly (love those filament swords)

 

Umm...I could say the same for tech. :razz:

Tried a balanced sword or machined plate? Ever had six automatons march behind you? (I could add now that you can create WAY more creatures than a mage can ever hope to maintain, but I'm pretty sure this argument is won)

 

Well in single player, there is no real bias, but i brought this up as well as sp in multiplayer, the game is heavily biased against the ones who use range and are tech. Melee/magick is favoured extremely

Hell I was wipping through the dwarven caves with an elephant gun with my char, unfortunetly he died due to a lag spike and some stupid creatures being able to run up on him so quickly

 

I dont summon followers :smile: i melee. And if you magical aptitude is high enough, alot of guns wont work :smile:

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Dromar on 2001-09-03 01:08 ]</font>

 

Being a tech I think is alot more interesting since the whole magic thing is a little old. Tech is a whole new field in a fantasy Rpg. But I did see and orc dodge my bullets, pissed me off, What is this the Matrix? Anyway, There are some really cool schematic you can buy and it gives so much joy reading them and going wow that rules!
I think that some spheres are not necessery 'cause the schematics you can invent are not so hot. But some of the ones you can buy Just utterly rule. and if you don't have enough expertise? buy a manual simple. When you are a mage your followers tend to use really mundane weapons but equiping them lets say with the pyrotechnic axe early in the game makes things a cakewalk. 3 followers with crafted weapons and you with a good gun means pure technological joy.

 

About the only real advantage magick has over tech is that magick characters really don't need a lot of inventory storage space. I don't know about you guys, but all my techie characters are constantly running around with a full inventory. Parts, healing salves, plants, and so on. That's my only gripe.

 

[rant] Personally I see the opposite of the title, but the game is very well balanced. Basicly most of the dungons in the game don't hold amazing tech wonders, they ,for the most part, hold magical items. Tech items are almost always around the cities, where you can heal, resupply, and rest. Mages have to travel over half of Arcanum to find a boot, and don't even ask what they do for the over one :wink: . Much of the items held in magic shops are utter crap, so mages are forced, if they want quality items, to lurk in the darkest of dungons and fight the foulest of beasts. Almost all of the good tech schms I saw/used were tucked safly in a store inv where about 200$-600$ will free them, but techs do need money. If they arn't in the habit of selling their tech items, do a billion sidequests, or kill people, they too are forced to lurk the dungons and fight the foulest of beast for a modest coin or equipment.


Personally I like my mage better then my tech. Everyone of my items tells a story. My armor? Wresled of some dark elven guards. My rings? Both were found in two dark swamps which were being guarded by beasts and demons. My boots? Ahhh...ok i bought them. They are the best I can find for now, and I was toating around alot of coins. Yet, there is no feeling like when your traveling on the world map and you see a new location pop up. Both my tech and mage will turn around and find out what it holds. [/rant]


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: ArchAngel on 2001-09-03 04:00 ]</font>

 

I played a tech dwarf and had almost no problems. Right off the bat, in Shrouded Hills, I made the fine revolver and bam everything died. Only thing I needed to worry about was ammo but at lvl 15 or so, money wasnt really a concern for me. Bashing open chests/doors saves cps on lockpicking. After the LGR was nerfed, the pistol 20-40 in vendigroth was good with my disruptor shield. Couple that with a medical arach and automation, and ur set. The game was too easy for me. I even took off my iron clan armor for the last boss and he hit me for a total of 7hp...

I also play in RT mode and find it more then easy. Just keep urself on attack mode all the time in dungeons and shoot monsters before they see ya and they can be taken out before they reach ya. Also using some monster's slowness can be a huge advantage. This game is too easy and if anything, they should not be strengthened. The mages should be nerfed.

 

By nerfed do you mean strenthend or weakend?

I'm confused because usally nerf means weakend, but most of your post was about how strong your tech char was.

 

You ARE wrong.

Magic relly rules this game, and i've seen about 75% of all people agree with this. Let's imagine the duel of BEST techie with ALL tech disciplines and tech apt of 100 AND best items(whatever you want: elite plate, electric armor, machined plate, lglass rifle, infinite bullets, anaesthyzer, cure-alls, all stats 20). All blessings of gods(godpuzzle done). And pure archmage: all schools of magic MASTER - Tulla quests done, all stats 20, best equipment: arcane robes, (+50 resist all except damage) best rings, amulets, staves... Lots of morgana's tears potions, all blessings of all gods, magic apt 100. Escaped lunatic background. First thing to do - cast shield of protection - dr, pr, er = 95-Bulletproof. Techie has no magic but dangerous anaesthizer... Cast walls of force around yourself... No more worrying about anaesthyzer... And, as far as i know DISINTEGRATE won't fizzle away no matter the tech aptitude... Only dweomer shield, refl shield, bonds of magic can help... But against you is a pure techie - dead incurably techie... And unlocking cantrip is better than lockpicks in almost all cases except shopkeepers... Lockpicks, even master, often fail, unl cantrip - almost never with mag apt 100. Teleport IS useful - for example, early on you can get the quest to get Azram's star... Techie simply won't be able to get to K'natha until rather late in storyline - mage - easily... And, after completing some long dungeon(like black mountains mines) techie will have to WALK to exit - mage just teleports... And there are VERY few creatures with high tech aptitude, and for them you have followers and more powerful spells... So, magic is best almost everywhere... So, in my opinion, at lest the EASIEST way to go is elf mage educator(to get dodge skill of followers to expert), with either melee, dodge, haggle skills(which benefits your followers more - many of them have melee and dodge), or throwing, dodge, haggle(which benefits you more after you get azram's star - VERY fast, VERY powerful weapon). Also, thievy mage might be possible, for which i'd recomend pickpockets, picklocks, no prowling(take phantasmal college), no other SKILLS. From the colleges of magic absolute musts are black and white necro. White necro to level 5 - to resurrect people, black - to kevel 4 -quench life IS quite useless. Force - 5. And 1 college up to your choice from the following - conveyance for throwing mages(to get azram's star early), summoning for CHEAP mages, temporal for most combat oriented mages, divination for those, who want to conserve 100 gp on identification and avoid vimpy damage from traps, phantasm for thievy mages. The colleges i think are most useless are elemental, natural, mental, morphing. Also, while meta is not completely useless, you'll do fine WITHOUT it, so don't bother. Arcanum is one of the few games where magick IS really more powerful than technology or melee. Though it works fine with melee. Magick RULEZ Arcanum.