Q&A - Ask a question, Get an answer

[BasiliskWrangler]

Yes.

[uglor]

been playing the demo and so far the game looks great. how many towns/cities/villages in the full game? are there any large cities?

[syrio]

Hi
My character has just reached level 4. I have 9 points in meditation and 31 Perception. My mana regenerated 1 point every 4 turns. Now, at levelup I've further increased meditation to 12 and put 3 more points into perception, and my mana still regenerates 1/4 turns. Is it capped at that rate? Or does it take more than those 3 points in each stat points to reach 1mana/3 turns?
thanks :]

[BasiliskWrangler]

Syrio- there may be a bug in the Mediation skill after level 10. Looking into it now. Sorry! We'll get it fixed up very soon.

[BasiliskWrangler]

Hmm, nope. Mediation functions as normal. A small change to version 1.01 is going to be that maximum recovery rate is now 1 per 3 rounds, instead of 1 per 4 rounds.

So to answer your question Syrio, yes- you've hit a cap.

[syrio]

Ok thanks.
I can finally focus on my other skills

[rayres]

Hi all. I hope that you don't mind all these questions, but I am stuck.

I am playing a fighter-like character but chose rogue at the start. I am using a mace. I am almost totally stuck because I can't kill many more monsters; I am running too low on gold to buy better weapons/armour/potions and am thinking of restarting as a magic character. The only gold I spent on training is from cartography 3 to 4, which cost 400 gold.

1) Are there other skill trainers later in the game, other than alchemy, thrown weapons, archery, and cartography? In that case, gold would be much more important!

2) It is almost to the point where I will have to start encamping, hoping for random encounters that drop loot and give exp. if I wish to continue with this character! It seems to me that the random encounters are based on character level?

3) I assume I won't have enough skill points to use both divination and elemental magic effectively. From the spells I've seen available for the divination school, you would still have to fight melee or with a bow, but you would be enhanced by your spells. Is that correct?

4) I noticed the usefulness of gold in my playing so far, with being able to train skills. But I have a question relating to alchemy:
a)where do I find alchemical formulae?
b)How do I use it to enhance weapons and armour?
c)What effect does alchemy have on potion strength? I haven't found any potions by experimentation that require more than 4 skill.

5) With magic, how do I use it to enhance weapons and armour?
a)Is it divination or elemental magic that is used?
b)Can alchemical and magical enhancements to armour stack together, seeing as how it is possible to train alchemy?

6) When do I start finding items I can't identify without skill? So far, at character lvl. 7 I have not found one thing I can't identify, and I have no lore skill at all!

7) I noticed that low levels of the mercantile skill (i.e. 3) has almost no effect on item prices; it reduces the cost by 1 gold, even on expensive items! What level is needed to buy items near cost?

I broke this post into 2 sections.

Rob

[rayres]

9) It seems like it might be more efficient money-wise to use mana potions and heal myself with magic.

10) How high do I need spot hidden to be to find secret areas? I have done extensive exploring and just received a skill of 2 in it, so I might have to go back later into dungeons. (Or is there outdoor stuff that can be found as well?)

11) I assume there is a spell to cure disease, because disease-removing potions are expensive.

12) Does poison wear off over time?

13) How does a shield work differently from armour? I am curious to know why I would put up shield skill instead of armour for the extra damage reduction.
a) Does damage reduction from armour work only against melee/archery attacks, or does it decrease damage from traps/magic?

14) Do you get rich later in the game? Training skills seems especially expensive when I have to buy armour and weapons for my melee character. I read about people with 17 alchemy and wonder how on earth they could possibly train it that high!

15) I met monsters at level 7 where I have a 29% or less hit rate. How on earth do I increase that dramatically, short of a keen eyesight potion, which I can't afford to use every fight??

16) I seem to remember my stats being randomly rolled during character creation. Maybe I could hold out for higher starting stats?

17) What is the best weapon skill to use for a divination-based character, seeing as how the weight penalty could be a factor?

18) The manual says that concentration "augments many different
Skills, stats and abilities, and as such it is a critical Attribute to develop for every character regardless of their specialization." I never worried too much about this as a fighter, but I probably will as a divination mage, which is the character type I am leaning towards.

19) Should I be concerned about the alchemy skill at all as a divination character?

Sorry for all the questions.

Thanks so Much
Rob

[rayres]

It seems that heavy armour for belts, gloves, and cloaks is extremely rare! I haven't found any yet, not even in Bordertown. Do I find them in Blackwater?

Thanks

Rob

[Asharak]

It seems that heavy armour for belts, gloves, and cloaks is extremely rare! I haven't found any yet, not even in Bordertown. Do I find them in Blackwater?

Thanks

Rob

I found a heavy belt and some heavy gloves in Bordertown, but I didn't get a heavy cloak until Blackwater. I think the loot, both in terms of drops and in stores, is somewhat random, so what you encounter and precisely when you encounter it will vary.

- Ash

[Asharak]

1) Are there other skill trainers later in the game, other than alchemy, thrown weapons, archery, and cartography?

Yes.

From the spells I've seen available for the divination school, you would still have to fight melee or with a bow, but you would be enhanced by your spells. Is that correct?

Yes. Divination has some offensive spells - Entangle, Flesh Boil - but the bulk of the spells are heals/buffs.

6) When do I start finding items I can't identify without skill? So far, at character lvl. 7 I have not found one thing I can't identify, and I have no lore skill at all!

I've encountered, I think, three at Level 9.

12) Does poison wear off over time?

Yes. The number of HP you suffer each time varies, but eventually you'll get a message telling your body has purged the poison naturally. If you're already low on HP when you get poisoned, you may need to use a healing spell/potion to avoid dying from the poison.

13) How does a shield work differently from armour?

As far as I can tell, it doesn't. It's just more armor - thus making you harder to hit and hurt.

14) Do you get rich later in the game? Training skills seems especially expensive when I have to buy armour and weapons for my melee character. I read about people with 17 alchemy and wonder how on earth they could possibly train it that high!

I'm certainly finding money gradually becoming easier to come by as I progress. But remember that you get three skill points to spend every time you level up - you don't have to have gold to improve a skill. I'm only Level 9 with my Swords skill is 12.

15) I met monsters at level 7 where I have a 29% or less hit rate. How on earth do I increase that dramatically?

Dexterity and Concentration, plus putting skill points into the style of weapon you're using. The Bless spell also improves ToHit. You mentioned the potion. And while this doesn't strictly-speaking improve your ToHit, fighting in the dark while using a Cats Eye spell/potion can even the playing field between you and a foe a bit.

16) I seem to remember my stats being randomly rolled during character creation. Maybe I could hold out for higher starting stats?

You can and should. You can reroll your stats an infinite number of times, and you absolutely should keep doing so until you get a roll that starts with high numbers in the attributes that are going to be important to you.

17) What is the best weapon skill to use for a divination-based character, seeing as how the weight penalty could be a factor?

I would imagine short-bladed weapons, being smaller, would also be lighter. Bludgeoning weapons - maces, hammers - seem to be the heaviest so far, with Swords in the middle. That said, if you're not using a shield and depending on your strength, it may not be an issue.

- Ash

[Josia]

17) What is the best weapon skill to use for a divination-based character, seeing as how the weight penalty could be a factor?

I would imagine short-bladed weapons, being smaller, would also be lighter. Bludgeoning weapons - maces, hammers - seem to be the heaviest so far, with Swords in the middle. That said, if you're not using a shield and depending on your strength, it may not be an issue.

- Ash

It's worth noting that quarterstaves are not terribly heavy. I recall seeing one that weighed 2 lbs, so you'd still be able to cast spells even with only 6 strength, assuming you had no shield or gloves (the limit is 1/3 of your strength)

[realmzmaster]

Hello,

Is the game completely written in Blitz Basic?
How was the game models and scenery drawn?

[BasiliskWrangler]

BlitzMax actually. It an object-oriented language that is a cross between C++ and a Basic-like syntax.

Models/sprites were rendered.

[Wharyoo]

Hi all!

Just a quick question:
Is there any way to go back to the Underground Repository several times?

First time I found my way down there, as the quest said, but when I tried to go back, there was no way...

Thanks.