Eschalon challenge games (spoilers)

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Ulf Nordson
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Post by Ulf Nordson »

Shocked Pauper. You may not assign any skill points during the start of the game or during your level-ups.
- it means that you can't put both skillpoints and stats ?
Necromis
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Post by Necromis »

No it says assign skill points, so that means skills. The question I have has been asked but no answer. Do trainers count in the pauper challenge? Let us know...................!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please..........LOL I finished. Didn't figure out how to do destroyer ending. I killed the goblin lord put the gem back and got thanked.
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Ulf Nordson
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Post by Ulf Nordson »

2Necromis
Just load and try to kill chancelor instead of speaking with him...
Necromis
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Post by Necromis »

thanks. I will try that. I still am hoping for an answer regarding Pauper, though. :cry: :?: :?: :?: :?:
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Tinan
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Post by Tinan »

Pauper. You may not assign any skill points during the start of the game or during your level-ups.
Given that going to a trainer does not coincide with the start of the game or during your level-ups, the wording of the challenge implies that it is permitted to use trainers. However, this is the letter of the law, not necessarily the spirit.
Necromis
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Post by Necromis »

True, and Mortifcation8 could do greatly to answer this. Since it is his topic.
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silverkitty
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Post by silverkitty »

my own n00b submission: http://www.silverchat.com/~silver/img/e ... arrett.jpg
SPOILERS wrote:
I wasn't actually going for a speed-run, I was purely going for minimal experience, so I sneaked to Blackwater first so I could grab the burglar's gloves and pick up a copy of poison spray. THEN I got the three eastern keys and the amulet. my quest journal (not shown) is, incidentally, empty - I never read any of the sealed letters, never talked to Maddock, my brother or Erudar or the giant chief (yes, giants were chasing me out of their village, but it was night time when I was there, so I did not have to run far) and never even saw Lilith.

poison spray allowed me to kill the only 4 monsters I killed without gaining experience (two goblin warlords, dimensional eye, and raptor, of course), and the gloves lowered the experience I got from the only place I got experience that wasn't forced: the two unbreakable doors in the crypt leading to my amulet - where I got 8 experience for the crypt front door, and 28 for the crypt security door.

the forced experience was 150 to get into the UR, 250 for opening my vault, 1250 for using the four keys.

I spent 1201 gold: 1000 on poison spray, 100 to get into Blackwater, 70 on a mercury (I boosted the ectoplasm in Shadowmirk, naturally), 6 on three stones, and 25 to ID the copy of Embrace the Night next to the burglar's gloves. Using the gloves I could pick my way into the free potion of ogre strength in Aridell, and into the room with the note about how to get into the UR, both without gaining experience (but ended up bashing the door in Shadowmirk, which took a longish amount of time). the three stones were so I could take the back way into Grimmhold (there's a barrel in the way, in a lit place with archers. but a gunpowder keg next to it), get through the boom room (after carefully leading all the goblins out of it so that they wouldn't die!), and pop the switch over the super-duper fire trap in the citadel.

in the bottom two pictures we see two version of the minimal experience to get the good ending: either stay at level 1 and have a 16% chance of getting 68+2500 experience, or actually take the level up (boo!) and spend 5 points (3 new ones, 2 leftover from initial build) on pick locks and 3 on dexterity to go to a 41% chance of getting 18+2500 experience.

so there are basically two ways (only) to get less experience: get more dexterity and/or intelligence in initial build (do they have an equal effect on lock picking?), and/or luck into a copy of the lock picking book (I tried to get that for a LONG time before deciding stores weren't stocking it and chests weren't holding it while I was level 1. but it might be a fixed loot somewhere not too obnoxious to get to). but, even then, you can only shave up to 36 experience off my score (or 54 for the good ending, or 104 for the good ending while level 1, which has more style points)

from a speed-run perspective, I clearly over-looted by 532 gold, but I thought I would get to buy a copy of the lock picking book, and, in any case, a speed runner would not have spent so much time waiting for nightfall, preferring instead to quaff haste potions and run through places in daylight.

oh, I never quaffed a single potion. I sold them all except one of my initial healing potions (which I had to use to open a door, of course). I never lit any lights (I only have so many torches because I was doing the opposite in places I wanted to sneak about). I only used unarmed combat to bash one barrel (in Vela, to get to the goblin lord) and a door in Shadowmirk (and maybe one other door I forgot). I never wielded a weapon (except the aforementioned stones), or wore any armor (except the aforementioned gloves, which I only put on when I needed to pick a lock). the only spell I knew was poison spray, which I used on only the four forced kills.

it was tricky in a couple places, but fun.
Last edited by silverkitty on March 21st, 2010, 3:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
serenetempest
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Post by serenetempest »

Here's a pretty straight-forward one:

Strict Play: You have to finish the entire game without ever reloading because you died, did something stupid, or a random event didn't turn out the way you wanted.
Starke
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Post by Starke »

Hmm.... Quick question about pauper, what about items that grant +skills, allowed or no?

Can't decide if it's against the "spirit" or not. And no, I'm not going to use skill trainers.

What would you call the "no skills assigned, no stats assigned" challenge? Suicide? How many save/reloads does it take for me to break my keyboard?
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Kreador Freeaxe
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Post by Kreador Freeaxe »

I killed EVERYTHING.

In reference to the earlier comment about timing Darkford, as long as you don't mind waiting for the experience from passing on the note, you can enter and exit at will, and you never really HAVE to go to Darkford to finish the game. Once you're at a point where you can set up a portal to get out after you've killed the guard, you can go to Darkford and wipe them all out. :)
---

Kill 'em all, let the sysadmin sort 'em out.
NinjaGremlin
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Re:

Post by NinjaGremlin »

Kreador Freeaxe wrote:I killed EVERYTHING.

In reference to the earlier comment about timing Darkford, as long as you don't mind waiting for the experience from passing on the note, you can enter and exit at will, and you never really HAVE to go to Darkford to finish the game. Once you're at a point where you can set up a portal to get out after you've killed the guard, you can go to Darkford and wipe them all out. :)

quite right,

just killed nearly everything, only the the inner guard of darkfort survived,
I combined that task with destroyer (isn't that a locical ?)
on my next turn, the guy will be "removed"

besides: the information on the note can be helpfull.....

greets

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Re: Eschalon challenge games (spoilers)

Post by mortification8 »

Sorry for the long delay due to interruptions IRL.

For the pauper game - skill trainers and boost items are OK. The point is to avoid "natural" means of gain (levelling) and use only artificial means (things that cost money or that you find).

The no-reload game suggested is commonly referred to as "Iron Man".
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rocketman28
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Re: Eschalon challenge games (spoilers)

Post by rocketman28 »

there should be one on the most gold I'm at 70000 now
Unclever title
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Re: Eschalon challenge games (spoilers)

Post by Unclever title »

One a little less difficult than Noob, would by something like the opposite of Kill Everything.

:cry: Pacifist: You may not kill, strike, or threaten any creature... unless it is absolutely necessary to complete the game. Destruction of property allowed but HIGHLY discouraged.

Essentially like Noob, but you can get any non combat experience you want... so really not like Noob at all...

Clearly, skills would be best put into things for defense and to avoid trouble.

I'm thinking that in implementation to Book II once the game is completed and meeting particular challenge criteria an appropriate new title could be added similar in the way to how Destroyer appears in Book I. In the case of Pacifist I think the most appropriate title would be, "Pansy."
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Mongolian
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Re: Eschalon challenge games (spoilers)

Post by Mongolian »

not sure if this one was said:

PEON: Beat the game without ever level'ing up.
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