Playing Arcanum. Getting mu butt kicked, need help.

Hey.

I have been getting into Arcanum a bit.

I have been trying out different builds, and they all have one thing in common.

I get my ass handed to me.

Now, the shrouded hills portion is not too diffilcult. If you want to fight the bridge guards you will get slaughtered, so I bribe my way past them, and come back when I am more powerful.

Hitting Tarant becomes interesting.

A lot of the fed-ex quests are easy, but when I hit level 8-9 I am stuck.

Here are the reasons.

I try to do the Schuyler tombs. Sometimes I can do it, other times I die. Its really all about luck.

Now, you think you will pursue the main quest, right?

Wrong. I get to the mines and I am outclassed. I tried going in at level 20 and I STILL had a difficult time. I met a half-ogre who killed myself, Magnus and Virgil in two rounds.

Everywhere I go, it seems quests are too powerful.

Clean out the Ashbury cemetary? Those ghoul guards and pestilince zombies murder me.

Get the suit of armor? You get slaughtered by the arachnid or pounded by the automaton.

Close the portal? Pounced on and slaughtered before you can cast the spell.

Clear the castle? You die. A lot.

It seems the game wants to punish you for being under level 25. If so, it seems like poor design. Or I just suck.

Am I going to have to grind 30 levels JUST to enjoy this game?

 

I play it on turn-base.

I am at normal difficulty.

So what can I do between level 9 to 30? Most of the other quests and locations are to much for me.

Also, wrong forum, could someone move this?

 

Wow... You're getting killed in the P. Schyler and sons tomb?

That's bad, dude. Those guys are unarmed wizards with no combat ability whatsoever.

What's your party like? Arcanum ain't designed for a solo character, it's just not! Who all do you have?

 

Not the wizards, the damn zombies.

One of the frustrations is I cannot control my party or give them healing items during combat.

I usually have magnus and Virgil in my party, and we are around level 9-10.

 

Okay, some pointers.

The zombies in the Schyler tomb are dirt easy. This tells me you suck. No offense.

What is your character, how does he or she fight, or DOES he or she fight?

Why don't you have Sogg Mead Mugg? He's very handy to have around.

Did you actually equip Magnus before you went into P. Schyler and Sons? He dosen't start with anything in the way of armor, and his only weapon are his dwarven gauntlets.

What is Virgil using as far as weapons? Armor?

What about Magnus?

Have you considered taking a trip to Ashbury to get Dog?

Are you a technologist? If so, you should also be a gunner; what gun are you using? (Melee weapons are for brawnier characters, like Magnus.)

Are you a mage? If so, you'll need to find some way of getting Technological stuff for Magnus; I think he can make Balanced Swords for you, but don't quote me on it. (They're handy, and they're not Tech enough to be a big deal for most magical characters, unless you're like, an archmage or something, in which case you should be having zero problems in P. Schyler and Sons.)

Did you take some time out to level? Get Dog, get Jayne Styles in Durnholm, do the Bessie Toon mine quest (give JAYNA the mine, not her useless brother), etcetera?

Don't forget to pass out healing salves and bandages and healing potions to your appropriate party members. (Virgil can both bandage people and cast healing spells, as well as swilling healing potions on his own. Magnus can use salves, though not very well, and Jayna is of course a good healer.)

 

Magnus and Virgil are all equipped with leather armor at least, and have good swords like the Caladon elite blade.

I am playing a melee half elf with some magic, mainly heal.

I can get past the tomb once I hit level 10/11 but after that I become stuck, as every other quest can kill me.

 

Did you rush through the Crash Site? You should only leave it when you hit level 4, unless you're a gunslinger running out of bullets, also, when you leave Crash Site do it manually instead of entering the world map, to fight all the wolves.

Have you completed the ''noob quests''? (Helping Doc Roberts to stop the bank robbery, dealing with Arbalah/Fahrkus/Brehgo, collecting the taxes in Black Root, Jared and Wilhemina...)

Which background are you using? and spells?

 

Level 4 on the crash site? I can maybe get level 3 if I'm lucky after clearing the entire zone. And unless you're playing on Easy, the wolves are no picnic.

I had trouble with zombies first time through, as well. But it shouldn't be that way while armoured and with a decent level. I think your problem may be a general lack of tactics. Don't forget that there isn't (as far as I know) a time limit, so after every battle, going back up top and healing is a great boon. Rushing through the angry zombie horde is pretty stupid.

 

If you fight everything including the packs of wolves outside, you should have no problem reaching level 4, unless you don't have points in any combat skill/spell.

 

I usually hit about 2 and a half without wolves.

 

*sigh* What about all those quests in Tarant as well?

And there's nothing wrong with waiting outside the tomb until your fatigue gains up agian....

--Piper

 

i always explore the world map and get to about lvl 30 before i do p. Schuler and Sons. if i can't beat the boil, i don't go into Tarant. and once you can beat the Boil, nothing is hard anymore.

 

You have to clear all of the ''wolf alley'' if you want to leave the Crash Site at level 4.

 

Those wolves are really hard at that low level, but I guess that an arcane plate in the shaman's chest really helps out. Not that I ever found anything like that!

In one of my discontinued games I have Magnus and Jayna, and they're both using no weapons in order to capitalize on their dwarven gauntlets, which do more damage (1-12?) than even an elite Caladon blade (2-9?). And I don't believe that I've ever had trouble with zombies being too difficult. Gore guards, sure. They're blue and level 22 and damages armours, so those are serious business even with good fighting skills. But zombies? I'd think that with both Magnus and Virgil around, the player wouldn't have to lift a finger to win the fight. Well, Virgil's staff won't do a lot of damage against undead, but he'd still be able to heal himself and anyone else.

Or is Magnus at that point too tech to be healed by Virgil? Bandages wouldn't work very well for Virgil at that point, so it'd be a better idea to buy healing salves from the herbalist.

Also, use Agility of Fire to pump up your DX to 18 so that you can eaily raise your Melee and Dodge to 5 each. That's what I'd do if I played a melee character. Then keep two iterations of that spell going at all times, and boost magickal aptitude to get better damage resistance from the Shield of Protection. Don't know of any other spells that a magick-melee half-elf should focus on, but Jolt might be a good idea when surrounded. And a summoned orc or ogre would probably help a lot if you're really having that much trouble.

And Stun works wonders to render an opponent harmless for a short time, though it seems to be buggy in that the effect sometimes go away during my own round, for example when I try to give orders to my group to Back Off because I want to get as much XP as possible while whacking the stunned target with my axe. By advancing slowly and letting stupid melee monsters run up to me one on one, whereupon turnbased combat is started, with me always getting the initiative (unless I click to move or attack by mistake), I've had a real easy time even when I should've been outclassed. My only troubles come when I get ganged up on by level 20+ monsters, such as gore guards and brute fangs.

But I had a hard time not hitting level 30 by doing the Ashbury graveyard with Dog and Virgil and Geoffrey, and then picking up Torian Kel at 20 after doing both the ancient temple and the dragonpool dungeon. Oh, and the dungeon under the dragon cave. I think we got to at least 29 just doing that, and while burnowars could summon fire elementals that could easily kill Torial Kel, they weren't hard to kill before that happened if I spammed them with Harm. It was only later that I began to use Stun, but that's what I would've used instead if I could've. Very mana-efficient spell for your safe killings. 10 mana and they're as good as dead if they're alone.

 

Klaz

Yeah, I do as much of the N00b quests as I can.

My problem is that "level wall" I hit at around 10. All other quests are too much for me to proceed.

Grakelin

I am finding it hard to actually use tactics.

I mean, in the Baldurs Gate series, hell, even in NWN (which sucked, except for mods) you can order your guys to halt or withdraw. I cannot do that, so I am trapped having my guys charge into battle, when I would rather draw out

Dark Elf

It relates more to getting swamped in an encounter. My level 8 dudes are overwhelmed.

Jazintha Piper

Did the quests. I can get past the Schulyer tomb. I get stuck AFTER that.

Gillsing

Schulyer is not that big a problem long-term. It's afterwards. Getting mobbed by core-guards or getting killed in 2 seconds by a summoned fire elemental makes the game fucking frustrating.

Tried that cave under the dragon skeleton. Fire elementals.

I also do not like to use that much magic, as I find I cannot really get into it.

 

Well, you could always run around in the area between Shrouded Hills and Tarant for a while.

A little boring but it's one way to boost your level.

 

You can right-click on a portrait and order an NPC to Back Off if you want them to not attack anything, or you can do what I do, and just hit F5 to order the entire group to not attack anything. Just remember that you have to do this every time you enter combat mode, and that even if you fall unconscious they'll not help out in any way if you told them not to join in. They'll just snicker at your 'bravery'.

A very good tactic is also to tell them all to keep their distance to you, since that would put you quite a bit ahead of them when you're traveling in tunnels. Then you can attract a few monsters, run back to your peoples and face your foes where it's unlikely that even more monsters will join in. And, like I said, use Stun to take the fight out of the dangerous guys. And the final room in the Ashbury castle is quite dangerous, what with the constantly spawning gore guards.

Sometimes real time combat is a better option, such as when you can't afford to let the enemies get whole rounds of beating you up, but you can't outrun them. Fire elementals and dragons move very slowly in real time, which makes it possible to easily retreat from them in real time, but not so easy in turnbased perhaps. And it's hard to heal someone who dies from several beatings during the enemies turns, while in real time Virgil can often heal as quickly as Dog is being beaten up. Not always though, and fire elementals are nasty when they fight people who are brainless enough to attack them in melee.

 

F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 might be a happy surprise.

And even before I found them, I could still lure the zombies into my dudes.

Also, killing farm animals gives you hella good XP, but you lose an alignment point for each one. Recently used it to buy a persuasion point in Shrouded Hills.

With my Gnomish Gunslinger, I currently have no trouble doing Noob quests, even past level 12. You need to talk to everyone.