New Arcanum player, looking for tips

Arcanum had been on my "to play in the near future" for quite a few years yet i somehow managed to put it off time and time again. After following the Project:Eternity kickstarted and seeing Avellone play it (in really bad resolution) i decided to give it a go.
My main problem is that i'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to gaming and i like to min/max and document myself beforehand, mod the game and design a great character beforehand, etc, this probably more so in the last few years when i find myself having less and less time to spend playing games (which made multiple playthroughs easily doable).

Anyway on towards the question.
1. I got the latest official patch, UAP91225 and high res maps. I've also been seeing a lot of talk about a WiP mod but i've not managed to find much info on it, and although there is a thread on these forums in the mod subsection, i'm still not quite clear on what it exactly does, not to mention it doesn't seem to have a working download link available as the download section seems to be not working, so i wondered if anyone had a mirror for it.

2. I've pretty much decided on giving my (first) playthough a go with a sociable fighter-type, probably orc or half-ogre with the "gone with the circus" background. I intend to spend most of my early-game on catching up on social skills (cha and int basically) and was wondering what levels of int/cha should i aim for - i was thinking ~10 int and ~12 cha for dialogues and 3 companions; i understood that you can raise int via potions as well but i'm not really into spamming potions every time i pop a new dialogue with a quest giver or something, though i may use said pots for crafting.
Also what are the penalties for half-ogres in term of armor selection, seeing as how they can only wear large armor? If the penalty is so harsh that the difference between the better/best medium (plate?) armor and the better/best large armor i'd probably go back to playing an orc, though the cha penalty kind of annoys me and i would tend to stay with half-ogres since they seem cooler. Or maybe it's for RP reasons seeing i'm almost as big as one D:
And last i was wondering if there was a specific name/background half-ogre combination that gives you neat starting items; i've read somewhere that said items, found in the first chest near the car-crash are generated based on name and background and tested the orc one with success, wondered if anyone knew a great half-ogre start by any chance.

Any and all other tips are also welcome, particularly with regards to character focus towards magic or technology.

Thanks in advance for your time

 

Hi and welcome!

If you're a min/maxer perfectionist, then I do not recommend an ogre/orc if you intend to be charismatic.

On the other hand, a melee monster can easily solo the game, so you may wish to do that instead.

Technology adds hours and hours to your gameplay, scavenging for items and ammo, and it is vastly underpowered compared to magick, even with the UAP, which evens the field a little bit. Pistols are fun, though, and so are gadgets. If time is at a premium, magick and Conveyance in particular is essential.

As to the WIP, it adds a lot of player-designed content to the game world, including an ogre-armor shop in the main city, Tarant. I prefer it to the UAP, personally. The downside is that the xp table is adjusted so you need to earn a lot more to level up, and, of course, the download links are dead at the moment.

My tips for character race/backgrounds are:-

1. Half-orc bandit, because you get a pistol and half-orcs have more unique dialogue than half-ogres. Not for the sociable.
2. Half-orc female debutante, because you get CH and BE bonuses which make it a well-rounded melee/social choice.
3. Elf only child, because all you need is magick.
4. Half-ogre/educator. If you're collecting followers, it pays to have them trained in melee/dodge.


General social stats:
IN 12 is all you need for most dialogue choices. Really, only one important quest needs this.
IN 20 gives a 5% bonus to all skills. Pretty neat.
CH 12 allows persuasion 3 and expert training => +1 follower = 4 followers.
CH 20 means followers never think less of you no matter what you do. Persuasion 5 + mastery => you can recruit anyone regardless of allignment.

I've never found a consistently winning formula for name/race combinations.

 

Keep in mind that the way stat caps work in Arcanum, you can only invest 12 character points in a stat. That being said, under normal circumstances a half-orc can't max out charisma, a circus runaway can't max out intelligence, etc. Temporary solutions like blessing, potions or items are possible, but it's safer not to rely on them on your first playthrough when you don't know the game that good yet to minmax to the limit.

If you'd be a tech who maxes out smithy, you'd create your own armor, but very high intelligence would be needed for that - not normally possible for a half-ogre without an intelligence boosting background. Large magick armors are rare and their diversity is low. As for large armors found / bought in shops, most medium-sized neutral and tech armors have large equivalents, but they appear in the stores visibly less often. More patience is required when playing a big guy.

First thing that needs to be said - don't install the UAP and WIP at the same time. They are not compatible installations. The latest WIP contains the second-to-latest version of the UAP anyway.

Its changelog might clear things up a bit.

I don't think the two are very comparable, seeing as one is basically a patch and the second one is a mod. The UAP fixes bugs and restores abandoned content while the WIP adds fanmade content and a plethora of rebalacing tweaks.

Personally, I wouldn't recommend rroyo's WIP for first time players. Vanilla Arcanum (or Arcanum with the UAP) is a fairly balanced world. The WIP makes this world larger, but visibly uneven + it gives quite a few features which can make the player and his team vastly overpowered. Potentially fun, potentially gamebreaking.

Still, if you are interested in the WIP, I posted an alternate mirror to it here. Be sure to check the installation order in the first post of that topic.

I find this a perfect occasion to shamelessly recommend xp levelling scheme mark 2 for A:WIP (posting a visualisation, since the one in the old link died). I devised it when I realised the one in A:WIP was neither balanced nor fluent. Subsequent versions of the WIP were meant to come with it but alas, rroyo never released anything after 6.0. If you're interested in running your game with it, download this and place it in Arcanum/data/rules/

Since the UAP doesn't introduce any rebalancing tweaks, little bit = two restored guns, I guess.

It's actually even better, giving a +10% chance of skill success.



@uaciaut
Hint: While there are few situations where maxed out charisma and persuasion are the only way of a diplomatic solution, 12 charisma + 3/5 persuasion is enough to see and use most of the social skill-based dialogues in the game. Anything above that is mostly for follower menagement and those few situations I alluded to.

 

Will i be able to reach 20 int with pots for example if i have the circus runaway trait? I mean do stat increasing pots ignore the max limit stats get from race/background selection or not?

I'd prefer to go ogre first play-through since i can just ignore combat stats for most early game since their str is that high and focus on gaining 10 int and 10 cha + 3 pesuasion, then i can get back to fighting skills and be a killing machine by the end, at least that's what i figured D:

Than you all very much for the detailed responses

 

You're the same guy who messaged me in GoG.com right? My FAQ details exactly how stat caps work.

 

Yes, stat boosts (be it from consumables, items or blessings) can increase stats over a lowered cap caused by background/race modifiers.

 

Greetings all.
I'm new in Arcanum, playing a few days. My story is a little unusual: I just played Battle for Wesnoth so far (playing it now), I use Linux almost exclusively.
A few days ago a friend gave me this game - Arcanum - and told me it was worth playing. I had to install a dual-boot Linux/Windows (XP) to play the game.
Well, this game captivated me. But I have some problems, I've never played a RPG before.
I had to install a patch to play on my screen resolution (1280x800) and then I created a character.
My character is a human without a significant background, but with inclination to magic (I invested character points in Harm spell and Force Field spell).
So far I've managed to get to level 8 on my character and acquire some additional spells. But I lack the coins after I paid bandits from the bridge and I purchased Bessie Toone's mine.
I would appreciate some tips on how to get more coins. On my character, you have ideas for improvement?
Thanks for any advice and I hope I have expressed understandable, I'm not native English (I'm from Romania).

 

Stealing from shops is the easiest way to get filthy rich. You can wait in Ristezze's shop until he goes to sleep, and then quickly enter his bedroom as he opens the door to walk to his bed. Once he is in his bed you have a pretty good chance of pickpocketing his key, which gives access to both his shop inventory chest and the doors. So that's infinite money, and you can sell him anything you want, and he'll identify it automatically, and then you can pick it up from his chest. (Same for every store, but his is the easiest.)

I think the same thing can be done to the mages in the magick shop in Tarant, although I'm not sure if their key works on their shop inventory chests, or if it only works on the doors.

A more tiresome way of making money is to ransack the garbage bins in Tarant, and sell all the stuff to the junk dealer west of Madame Lil's. Or, if you get Expert training in Haggle, you can sell most of the stuff to any of the other stores, and they'll pay more. (Partly due to your Haggle skill, and partly due to junk dealers paying less in the first place.)

If you pick up Magnus you can buy Small Springs (junk dealers) and Metal Casing (junk dealers, inventors, factory foreman in Tarant). Then he can turn that stuff into Trap Springers which sell for a good bit more than the component cost.

Jayna Stiles from Dernholm can also make stuff that you can sell directly to the herbal shops, but she would only join you if you were technologically inclined. You can also learn Herbology yourself to make money that way, and saving money on potions that you otherwise might have to buy.

The first degree in Therapeutics can also be used to make money, but Thermometers are a bit too rare to make that a good option. I'm not sure about the first degree in Chemistry, but it seems likely that would yield a profit as well. I am however sure that picking up that first degree in Chemistry is a decent way to get the necessary expertise to make Fortifiers, which give you +30% damage resistance for a while. (Just don't use them on a follower, since the Fortifier do damage when the effect wears off, and the follower would interpret that as an attack and become hostile.)

Buy a Smoking Jacket to get +20 Reaction and lower the prices you have to pay in shops. Doesn't seem to do much past Reaction 100+, and it doesn't give you more money when selling stuff.

You could learn Purity of Water to boost Beauty to increase Reaction.

You could learn Agility of Fire to run around faster when you're shopping. And even if you don't buy things, you still need to get far enough away from a shop to replenish its inventory when you fast forward time to the next day.

Learning both of those spells would also increase your Magickal Aptitude, which increases the effect of both Harm and Shield of Protection. At MA 100 your Shield of Protection would give you +50% resistance to physical, fire and electrical damage, and Harm would do 40 points of damage.

If you want a ridiculously easy time, I'd recommend learning Stun from the Mental College. Stun is a spell that does not depend on Magickal Aptitude, does not need to be maintained (so no need to boost Intelligence to keep a bunch of enemies stunned), is resisted by very few enemies, and the targets are reduced to standing around doing nothing, and being much easier to hit. Harm is great for direct damage, but Stun is great for avoiding a lot of damage. At least when using it in turn based combat, since otherwise you'd have a lot of trouble casting the spell quickly and on the right opponents.

Once your Magickal Aptitude is high enough, you can use Unlocking Cantrip to permanently open shop inventory chests and doors. Then you can just run inside when the owners are sleeping and take whatever you want. Or you can just walk inside and do it during the day, and use an appropriate spell to disable anyone who takes offence (Stun, Stasis, Entangle, Dominate Will). Just take great care to use F5 to tell your followers not to attack and kill the shop owners, since that would permanently prevent their shops from replenishing their inventories. One handy way to not run out of mana while maintaining a costly Dominate Will on an inventor and a herbalist at the same time is to stay in turn based combat mode when going through their inventory chests.

And watch out if you're using Stun and lack the action points to get things done quickly. If a shop owner shakes off the stun effect they might be able to corner you, and then you may have to kill them to get out. Or you could use a Scroll of Exiting, Spatial Distortion or even Teleportation to get out without violence on your part. Or maybe use Unseen Force to push the shop owner away, assuming no one is standing behind them, and there'd be room to run past them in their new position.

As you can tell, my characters made most of their money by being terrible people. I have since decided to not steal from shop inventories, as it feels too unbalanced, and pretty much makes money useless. Crafting technological items also provides a way to infinite money, but that takes a lot more time. And as a mere mortal, I don't have all the time in the world. Then again, some shop owners refuse to trade with mages, and in that case, theft/robbery is pretty much the only option available.

 

Gillsing, thanks for ideas. I have another question: is it possible to create a 100% magic character? From beginning.
I understand that there are two types of characters, magic and technological.
I'm now focusing on the use of magic. I think this is because I played too much Wesnoth.

 

Not 100%, but if you start as an elf (+15% MA) and Sold Your Soul (+20% MA, -20 reaction, max -20 alignment) and use all your five starting points on spells (5 x +5% MA) you'd get to 60% MA at level 1.

Alternatives to the Sold Your Soul background are the various magick backgrounds that depend on the time or the place: Sky Mage, Nature Mage, Day Mage, and Night Mage. They'll give you +20% MA during the right conditions, and -20% MA during the opposite conditions.

The Day Mage seems like the easiest one, since you can just see to it that you sleep until morning before starting a dungeon crawl or exploring a settlement. Though a lot of random encounters seem to happen during the night, so that can't be helped. Sky Mage would hurt your magickal aptitude in the most dangerous dungeons, which are all inside. And for Nature Mage I'm not sure if dwarven mine tunnels count as natural or not; it's not like the floor tiles are paved stones, which I believe is what the game looks for.

When you enter Shrouded Hills you can hang around there until the gypsy woman offers to sell a Dark Helm that will give you another +20% MA (and -20 alignment). Then you could be at 100% MA at level 5 if you spend points on four more spells.

That is with the UAP. In the 1.0.74 version of the game (the last official patch) the Dark Helm is still bugged, so you'll get the bonus and alignment adjustment every time you put it on. Which makes it easy to bring both your character and any NPC follower to 100% magickal aptitude, no matter your race, background, spells, or tech skills/degrees. Good for making followers take better advantage of magickal equipment, bad for making them able to wear tech equipment without critical failures. And what's a little bug abuse in a game like Arcanum?

 

I wrote a faq for new players which you can find here http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/914155-arcanum-of-steamworks-and-magick-obscura/faqs/63974.

Here is the spells section:

NOTES ON SPELLS:
================



Casting spells reduces fatigue.

If you don't have enough fatigue to cast a spell, but try to anyway, it will
fail and you will fall unconscious.

You must have an INT of 5 to learn any spells.

Spells have a level requirement, listed on the character stats screen spells
section (where you learn them).

The level required for the spells of each school are always: 1,1,5,10,15.
Order is 1st spell to 5th spell, so at 15 you can learn any spell.

Line of sight is required for many targeting spells.

Casting a spell on a technical target will increase your chance of failure.

Fireflash will hurt enemy armor and can break open chests, doors etc.




BEST SPELLS:
==============
Spells have a level requirement, listed on the character stats display spells
section where you learn them.
The level required for the spells of each school are always: 1,1,5,10,15



combat spells:
damage can be reduced by enemy resistances of course


harm - single target, long range dmg. DMG = 5+(MA/3)
fireflash - aoe dmg, doesnt hurt allies, will hurt enemy armor. Also useful
for destroying locked chests and doors. DMG = 12+(MA/5)
disintegrate - extreme damage in the thousands but costs 50 fatigue and
destroys corpses and items! Not always helpful or efficient.
minor healing
stun
congeal time
stasis
you won't need more combat spells than these. Fireflash and minor healing
alone can get you through the game.


sustained spells:

agility of fire - raises agility by 4 (can affect same target multiple
times!)
strength of earth - raises strength by 4 (can affect same target multiple
times!)
shield of protection - raises damage resistance by 25+(MA/5)
hasten - doubles speed (best applied after tempus fugit)
tempus fugit (final time spell) - slows enemies, increases you and allies
speed by 10

useful spells:

unlocking cantrip
conjure spirit (talk to people you've killed)
teleportation
SCROLL OF EXITING - WARPS YOU TO BEGINNING OF DUNGEON OR AREA! WORTH EVERY
PENNY! Only available in scroll form from shops. You should always keep 2 of
these in your inventory once you can afford it.

 

And for easy money here is the good early gold section:

GOOD EARLY GOLD:
----------------
the willoughsby house chest and razor's point chest require zero fighting and
effort.

shrouded hills bank robbery - 500g in vault

chest in willoughsby house, tarant 3600g - you can destroy this without
anyone noticing.

blackroot taxes quest - sell chest of gold instead of returning it 2000-
3000g. Sells for more at herbalists and no one knows why.

razor's point aria corpse and chest - 275+1200g. Amulet sells for about 400g
to gypsies. Razor's point is as far south and west as you can go along the
eastern side of the Stonewall Mountains. The coordinates are 1505 W and 1770
S on the world map, but anywhere near there will snap you right to the
location.

 

Thank you all for your help.
Now I reinstalled Arcanum, after reading some recommendations. I installed this: Arcanum + UAP + High Resolution Patch.
And created a half-elf character with Only Child as background.
All going well, it's interesting. Maybe I'll play a technological character later.
Arcanum game seems complex, given its age (I understand that it was released in 2001).
However, it is exciting.
Another question (and I hope I'm not annoying): there is additional content for Arcanum?
I'm talking about additional quests, new places, new characters, etc.. Wesnoth game has what is called User Made Campaigns.
But maybe I'm exaggerating, because Wesnoth is open source and therefore easily expandable, and Arcanum is closed source.

 

I'm surprised that the wonderful game Wits hasn't been mentioned yet. Simply talk to the various customers in bars and agree to the 500g per question vager. Most of the answers (if not all) are available in the manual. You can collect about 3000g per bar if all your answers are correct

Spoiler

It's more fun not to do this, but if you really need cash you could save before talking with each person. Sometimes they don't want to play wits and sometimes they even get pissed off by your mere presence and decides to break every bone in your body. (Unless you lick their boots)

It's worth mentioning that this method could possibly make it difficult for a low level player to leave Shrouded Hills.

Spoiler

Unless you give half the gold to Jacob Bens in the bar. Otherwise Doc Roberts, a level 30 gunslinger, will be waiting for you at the bridge leaving town (with two fairly high level partners)

I could be wrong, but isn't there a level 40 something ogre guarding Willoughsby's home?

Heh, I wasn't aware of this one. That should fail the quest though.

Spoiler

Is it also possible to sell the taxes to the Thieves Underground representatives? Mr Black or Mynor?

 

It's quite easy to not have to share the money from the bank:

Spoiler

You can just tell Doc Roberts on Jacob Bens before robbing the bank yourself. That'll cost you the quest XP though, so it's not really worth it for only 250 coins. But if the coins is what you're after, that'd be the way to go. And you won't receive the negative alignment either, I think?

As for the half-ogre guarding the Willoughsby house, he doesn't care if a mage stands right in front of him and casts Unlocking Cantrip on that chest. So unless there are sneaky scripts that affect Wiloughsby's disposition towards the PC if the chest is looted and Lorham saw the PC in the house, I'd say that it's quite safe to steal all that gold.

Selling the necklace from Razor's Pointe also seems like it would fail the quest it's associated with. But I'm not sure.

And lately I have abused the game of wits like crazy. Strange that I didn't think of mentioning it. Probably because those funds are limited, and I was only thinking of ways to make money that are unlimited given enough time. And to be fair, the money from the game of wits pales in comparison with stealing from shops, which I consider to be the default way to get money in Arcanum. Not stealing from shops is like a voluntary handicap in my book. It's like seeing an opportunity and deciding that: "Nah, I don't want all that free loot and coin that comes with no repercussions of any kind." (Assuming that shopkeepers don't turn hostile, but even then it's easy enough to avoid the repercussions.)

 

Spoiler

It does fail the quest, when you walk up to praetor after selling the taxes and talk to him about that, you have only on dialogue option, and he and his guards will attack you..oh, and if you have vollinger with you, he'll be pretty hateful..I now have -113 with him...