cartography skill

dak · Post by **dak** » November 20th, 2007, 10:58 am

I am woundering how many points I can spend in this skill until the map cannot get any better.... maybe it is better to find out by myself. but if I keep adding a lot of points and it'll never get better it just feels like such a waste of skill points!

YouTube · November 20th, 2007, 11:26 am

This probably needs to be documented and/or unified because some skills do stop giving benefits after a certain level.

Cartography no longer improves after Level 17, I believe.

Other skills will continue to give benefits as long as you keep putting points in there (like Lock Picking, or Skulduggery).

syrio · Post by **syrio** » November 20th, 2007, 11:39 am

I'm using the spell "reveal map". I can only check every 1+3rd (1,4,7,10,13,16)levels of cartography with the spell, so I don't know exactly at which level you get the bonuses.
at lvl 4 (cartography skill) it shows open terrain, even water, in green. building floor is gray
at lv7 water is blue and it shows mud, sand and dirtroads in brown
at lv10 and 13, walking around outdoors it's pretty much the same as lv7, can't see any difference
at lv16 - townspeople and monsters are shown on the minimap moving in real time, even outside your visibility range

Did I mention that magic feels a bit overpowered? Um no not yet. Well I'm saying it now.

dak · Post by **dak** » November 20th, 2007, 12:08 pm

oooooops, there is always a spell to ruin all the points I put into a skill in this game

and I was saving up on torches too.... and learned about the cat's eye spell..... lore spell.... spell spell spell.... I guess it is just best to focus on the combat skills or magic skills after all.

jinnes · Post by **jinnes** » November 20th, 2007, 12:22 pm

dak -- Don't feel like the Reveal Map spell negates the need to put points in Cartography. Reveal Map is too costly MP-wise and too short duration to keep it on as a permanent buff (IMO!).

syrio · Post by **syrio** » November 20th, 2007, 12:28 pm

Well you have to keep recasting Reveal Map every 40-50 steps, and it also drains your mana pretty fast, so It's not the same as having the skill itself, which is always turned on.
As for Lore and Melt Lock, though I haven't tried those spells yet, if they can completely replace the skills themselves, then that would be pretty cheap.
And Cat's Eye gives off very little light, so it's only for the sneaky types to negate the darkness hit-penalty. It does not replace the torch for me. Haven't tried the Gravidegger's Fire spell yet though.

Melvil · Post by **Melvil** » November 20th, 2007, 9:35 pm

gravedigger is a beefed up torch, lasts a good while at 6th level too. I figure the lore spell has to be ranked up for harder items, that said i have it and the skill atm. at lore skill 3 there has been no item I couldn't see the stats on, paired with 21 perception.

ecliptic · Post by **ecliptic** » November 20th, 2007, 11:29 pm

Dev: Perhaps making the player not able to put any more points into a skill if it is at its maximum utility would be helpful?

Tiavals · Post by **Tiavals** » November 21st, 2007, 5:16 am

I agree that spells shouldn't be so powerful. Lockmelt totally cancels the need for Lockpicking. Well, even Firedart cancels it, since you can just shoot things broken and loot the remains. Why waste points on lockpicking when you can take Elemental magery instead, gaining Lockmelt and a bunch of other useful spells.

YouTube · November 21st, 2007, 5:51 am

I'm going to try and balance this better for 1.01...

Match the power of Lock Melt with Lock Picking, skill for skill...and reduce the power of damaging spells on objects to require more effort.

Thanks for your input.

bargeral · Post by **bargeral** » November 21st, 2007, 7:33 am

ecliptic wrote:Dev: Perhaps making the player not able to put any more points into a skill if it is at its maximum utility would be helpful?

I second this motion.

screeg · Post by **screeg** » November 21st, 2007, 9:45 am

A simple solution to the haggling over having to buy Cartography in order to use the minimap: how about you only charge 1 skill point for the most basic level of cartography (which after all is very basic), and the usual 1 skill per level of advancement afterward?

This seems more balanced to me. It hurts like having a kidney removed to pay for the minimap, but I have a hopeless sense of direction and can't really play the game without it, unlike every other offered skill.

JOG · Post by **JOG** » November 21st, 2007, 10:22 am

screeg wrote:This seems more balanced to me. It hurts like having a kidney removed to pay for the minimap, but I have a hopeless sense of direction and can't really play the game without it, unlike every other offered skill.

In the good-old-times (TM) the automap was a pen and a sheet of squared paper. So, for all I care, remove the automap and add more quick-item slots

Aganazer · Post by **Aganazer** » November 21st, 2007, 10:28 am

screeg wrote:A simple solution to the haggling over having to buy Cartography in order to use the minimap: how about you only charge 1 skill point for the most basic level of cartography (which after all is very basic), and the usual 1 skill per level of advancement afterward?

This seems more balanced to me. It hurts like having a kidney removed to pay for the minimap, but I have a hopeless sense of direction and can't really play the game without it, unlike every other offered skill.

SPOILER wrote:Completing an early quest lets you learn Cartography for 100g per point invested.

malichai11 · Post by **malichai11** » November 21st, 2007, 9:04 pm

Aganazer wrote:
SPOILER wrote:Completing an early quest lets you learn Cartography for 100g per point invested.

Where?