Need Magick Items / Combat Mechanics Overview

What I need is some kind of guide to the weapons in the game.

What causes me to ask is that I have Magnus and I try to give him the Charmed Axe (1-12 (+5) Dmg, 1-9 (+1) FT) I paid 100 to identify. He doesn't equip it, he prefers to use the ordinary Broadsword (4-16 Dmg, 3-11 FT)... The Charmed Axe currently has 0% magick.

First, what does this all mean? Why does the Broadsword give +2 to hit compared to the Charmed Axe? I looked at the item database and neither appears better to hit.

Second, is there any advantage to using the Axe given that it's magickal? What do the numbers after Dmg/FT mean? That damage is 6-17 and FT 2-10? What happens when magick is down to 0%? You don't get any bonuses? How do I recharge magick?

Basically how can I tell which weapons are best to use?

It seems kind of odd to have a short dwarf using a Broadsword in combat.

What kind of Weapon Progression should I use for my followers (currently Magnus, Virgil, Sogg Mead Mugg - planning to get Raven and/or Gar).

Sorry for the newb questions, the manual is impossible to read because there is no index (I'm playing off a HD image and downloaded the manual as pdf).

 

Which items a character auto-equips is based on the value of the item. Which is why they sometimes make poor choices and equip a weapon that does less damage than the one they already have.

The broadsword does not give +2 to hit in the the DnD sense. A few weapons increase your chance of hitting an opponent (but only a very few).

The magick percentage is based on the tech / magick aptitude of the wielder. Magnus has a tech alignment which weakens the magick of the axe so the magickal bonuses (numbers in brackets) no longer work.
i.e. The axe will do 1-12 damage when equipped by a techie.
The same axe will do 1-12 (+5) damage when equipped by a mage.

Good weapons for your followers are the pyro axe (if they are tech), the barbarian heavy blade (neutral) and arcane sword (magickal).

 

Thanks,

So you get that +5 bonus when? When your tech meter how 100% magickal? So if you're 20% magickal you get +1?

Also I'm playing a gunman, mid-level 17 at the moment. I have some cash, 3 1/2 in firearms, 2 in melee and dodge etc. I have level 3 in Gunsmithing. What kind of weapons should I use?

At the moment I have the Quality Revolver (given to me by Doc Roberts), a self-made Repeater Rifle (only gun I've made), a Magic Rapier/Sword (from the Toone girl) and a Falchion.

I thought the Repeater Rifle would be awesome but I have found it is little better than the Quality Revolver. Worse it uses two bullets a shot and I've run out stuck in the middle of the Tarant Sewers/Dungeon. I have had a lot of trouble finding bullets - don't want to be ripped off buying them and I usually can only find two Salpeter/Charcoal combination per day. When it takes 7 shots to take out a Slitherer Guard it's just uneconomical.

I am having to fall back on using the Falchion and keeping the Rifle for emergencies.

Are there any good guns at my level and progression in the game? Is it a good idea for a gunfighter to invest in Melee as a secondary weapon?

Right now Sogg Mead Mugg has a Magic Great Sword (which totally owns), Virgil a Magic Staff (he can hold his own one-on-one) and Magnus a Broadsword (he is the one really dragging me down, gets one attack a turn and never hits).


[Please move this to the appropriate forum if necessary]

 

Yes and no.
If the weapon displays 20% magickal power available then yes you would only get +1. However this does not mean that you are 20% magickal. It means that the combination of your aptitude (magick/tech alignment) and the item's own aptitude results in 20% of the item's magickal power being available to you.

Personally I'd stick to mastering 1 type of combat instead of being ok in several categories. But that is my personal opinion.

As for what type of gun to use, I have an excel spreadsheet (somewhere) of all the guns and their stats which you may like to look at.

 

I recommend to invest 2 points in melee.
And full to dodge, that's not even a question.

Oh, and I recommend these firearms in these order: revolver, fine revolver, hand cannon, droch's warbringer

 

The looking-glass rifle isn't that bad. But, that depends on whenever you play with a mod or the original game. The repeater rifles sucks, it's not worth creating. The fine revolver on the other hand... But, as Firgos said: The best firearm you can get is Droch's Warbringer. Too bad you find it so late in the game (even thou I once created it before I went to Tarant ).

 

The best firearm of the game is Droch's Warbringer. The second place is more or less shared by the Tesla gun (deals huge electrical damage, but charges are a bit difficult to obtain in needed quantities), the Mechanized Gun (consumes LOTS of bullets but fires at a ridiculously high rate), and the Blade Launcher (my personal favorite, but requires high ST). The Elephant Gun is a bit less powerful but still adequate. Until you get your hands on one of these, I recomment you use a Hand Cannon.

If you playing an unpatched game, stick with the Looking Glass Rifle. With huge range, a high TH bonus and a fixed damage of 40, it is hands down the best choice.

Also, many of the best guns can be obtained (usually stolen) without learning Gunsmithy. For example, two Hand Cannons can be found in Tarant, a Mechanized Gun also appears there later.

The revolver Doc gives is inferior to the ones you can make yourself if you've learned Gunsmithy.

The Filament Sword is a great weapon for magickal characters with low Strength, like Virgil or the dwarf from Quintarra.

A Falchion, unless it is Kryggird's Falchion, is a useless piece of junk.

That's ridiculous. I've never thought twice before buying all the bullets in all the shops of any given city. They don't cost that much, and money is not a problem at all if you learn Lockpicks and develop a habit of burglarizing shops at night.

Some do it. I see it as a waste of character points. You would do better to learn Molotov cocktail, carry a couple dozens of them with you and throw them at point blank range (this way you can hit even with zero points in Throwing). You can throw an almost unlimited number of them per turn because they don't seem to use up action points.

It's not the sword that owns, it's Sogg. Give him a Sword of Baltar or a Barbarian Heavy Blade, and he'll tank more or less anything with ridiculous ease.

Give him the Filament Sword and he'll do more than that.

Throw that junk away, give Magnus a Pyro axe, or at least a Featherweight axe. Or a Balanced Sword.

 

Thanks for that, Solaris. I realized in the meantime that I'm being ridiculously stingy (a bad habit of mine in all RPGs) and started to get better equipment, buying bullets.

Quality Revolver vs Fine Revolver: I looked at the stats and Quality Revolver looks like it gives a +5 TH over any other revolver you can buy or make.

 

This thread is 5 months old by the way.

 

More like three months.