Just started a new game and wanted to try something a little different. I went with a balance character who will be a master in throwing. Level 17 now, it happens so fast, and have 4 levels in throw and got the master quest. I have unlocking cantrip, strength of earth, and a couple other spells, as well as molitove cocktail, healing salve, charged ring. With the charged ring I can get 4 points to dex and I started at 10 so to master at throwing I only need 4 more points in dex. I am going for azras star. Right now I have 5 attacks with the serated chalkra. I gather all the baddies in a group, toss a molitove to disperse and then pick away at em. Outside of a pure magic guy this guy has been the best. I'm getting ready to go to Black mountain after 1 level in repair.

Anyone else playing?

Used to. Nice game, but not quite finished. [img]smile.gif[/img]

It's one of those games that is so big it is hard to finish.

I usually also play with throwing experts using chakrams (think Xena) as they are appearantly indestructible. Most melee weapons take heavy damage when you hit something hard, like metal doors and some enemies, but not chakrams. They're also quick and doesn't require any ammo as they're bomerang-type weapons.

I was going to pick up some extra ones before the black mountain mines because the ore golems damage weapons pretty good. Sounds like I don't have to.

I had an amazing single class mage going before the main plotline bugged up on me. Soloed it with only the dog (so I guess not really a solo.) I never really got the hang of using a techie, or balancing out a neutral character. I always wanted to make a character like in the opening movie, using magical swords and guns.

Techs are cool but you really have to work to find the right scematics. Thier weapons are not as good until the Telsa gun, Pyrotechnic bow is pretty sweet if you go the bow route. If you do use guns you can find an Elephant Gun pretty early so you don't have to build up Gun Smithy that fast. I just buy a bounch of manuals from the university to raise my tech skills high enough for the scematics I need.
I know as a magic user I used the spell "Harm" a lot.

Well, first off, the Dog should be nerfed to hell and back. He becomes a dodge and melee master at level 45, and nothing can harm him from then onward.
Secondly, the game is very easy if you go the harm-athon route. Harm is madly effective. Madly. No other single skill does has as much bang for buck as Harm. But, when you need to take care of loads of enemies, using combinations pays out a whole lot more. For example, set up a wall of force behind some enemies, wall of fire infront of that, use the push spell to bang the enemies into the wall of force, make them burn in the fire, and then close the wall from the front with a wall of stone. This sequence can get rid of several strong monsters, monsters that would require 15+ Harms to kill, and it does them all at once, if you position yourself good. I recommend you download any of the latest official or unofficial patches there are, to balance the game a bit. Also, once you beat the game, feel free to download the 128 patch, which will allow your character to reach level 128 instead of 50. Maxed out mages at level 128 are... Let's put it this way: if all the monsters in the world spawned in your room, you could kill them before falling below 50% hp.
That's why I prefer to play with techies. The game is much harder when you play with a technologist character. Even their uber weapons(machine gun) require you to have 6 companions just to haul the damned bullets. It's just much more fun to play with a techie than a mage...
Now that you've got me thinking about he game, I might go through it one more time...

Yes, the dog is overpowered. I wonder what the developer thought when they made him.

I loved that game. Great story, amazing visuals (relatively speaking), EXCELLENT voice acting, and the ambiance... Tarant>Amn. That being said, my ending kinda sucked: I ran out of bullets and went at 'im with a dagger while the rest of my party got slashed to hell lol.

Hmm... just snooped around after installing Arcanum, and found an interesting magic mod. First thing I notice: no more Harm spell. Me likes. I'll talk about it later, when I've had more time with the new toys. There's new spells, redone spells, redone and renamed schools. Looks really nice!

Question: would it be possible to power a character focused only on stats and skills? I suppose what I'm asking, is would it be possible to stay neutral, and win using only found and purchased swords and guns? Swords obviously, but are all the best guns from schematics (I seem to think they are.) I'm thinking of starting it up again, and running through a character like that. Ultimate warrior type thing - give him something to kill people with and he'll do it.

@Stratos--seeing as Arcanum was developed by the same crew that made Fallout, it was probably an homage to their earlier game.

Tesla Guns rock!

All the best guns are Scematics so yes it would be possible and if dex is 20 and strength is 20 you will have an awsome character anyway.

Need help! I am trying to become a master thrower and got the Azrams star quest. I have a walkthru that seems probable but the problem is I need to target the middle torch with a thrown weapon but nothing targets it. I tried a boomerang, chakram, and the aerial decapitator but nothing targets it. Has anyone done this and had the same issue?

Try dynamite, for the AoE. Just a suggestion btw, I haven't done throwing.

I really enjoyed this game, but I never did the story. I'd make a tech guy that's a thief and go around the world stealing everything. Then I'd make a Female Dark elf mage and go around assasinating tech people and sheeping the random innocent, things like that.

It was lots of fun. This game give you lots of freedom. I think the farthest I got in the real storyline is up to the elf town.

Time for my regular newb question:

I started a new game, and somehow I have disabled almost the entire GUI. My Quickslots are still there, as are my health and mana bars, but they are just rectangular. None of the stuff at the top is there, but when I press the hotkeys (like "S" for the rest menu) the appropriate menu comes up. I'm really not familiar enough to be able to cope with this. Can anyone help me out?

I'm not sure what is going on with that Moose. I wonder if it is a resolution issue with the monitor.

Explosive won't work for the Azrams Star quest so I started a new game and this time pure tech and will max explosives and mechanical first. I will still have 5 ranks in throwing but I guess I won't be a master. Now that I know where to find the Aerial decapitator I don't need Azrams star anyway.

Going solo, no dog, but will hame my little spiders around me for company. I will become a dodge master.

You have to force-fire on the fires. Use either ctrl, alt(can't remember which) or the called target buttons to do that. Hope you didn't delete your character [img]tongue.gif[/img]
I gotta say, that magic mod is really fun! It removed or balanced all the massively overpowered spell(agility/vitality/strength of element, harm etc.), aded some new spells(shock nova, a buffed up Shock; Hex, a very nice spell to use) and completely remade some of the schools(Necromantic Black is now Diabolical, and has spells like Hex and Decrepify, both new; Necromantic White is now Celestial, and is mostly unchanged, added Abjuration and more stuff like that). Once you go through the game the normal way, give that mod a try, and get the level cap patch to experience all the spells.

Is there a link to those mods? Is there a mod that balances tech items as well? It would be really nice if they would have included an option to add fire damage or elec, or acid, to thrown weapons for the tech scools.
I did delete my character. When you say force fire you are not talking about preeing the shield button to iniciate combat right?
This does give me hope though for my new guy.

Whenever I get around to play this game again, I'll play a solo thief character. Tech/magic neutral.

my character is almost identical to yours, nightwing... i had a mage which had great skills in (don`t remember what it was called..) weapon making and smith`ing...( damn i suck in english...hehe..)

but the thing is that too get around easy you should learn teleportation. when i got that spell i went from LvL 29 to 50 by the next day..

why?
because i used the spell to get over the mountain, and there was a lot of monsters and excellent weapons that i got to LvL 50 too fast. after that i quit playing cause it`s no fun when you have reached the final level.

( and i still don`t know how to pass the mountain without it.. think there is a passage to the north of the black mountain mines.. but haven`t checked it out..)

have someone ever finished this game ?

cause i got tired when i was LvL 50 at the time i found out that the gnome from the blimp crash really was a dwarf... (well almost...)
but think i shall try to finish it now=)

What a drag, I was running a new guy pure tech because I couldn't figure out the trowing quest. My new guy was level 17 and I went to try the forced attack on the torch with the balanced thrower and it worked. I accidently saved over my tech guy however so I am starting all over again.

There are two passes through the mountains one south and one north. If you want I can give you the coordinates. I can't remember who tells you about the pass however.

I am going to load the level cap fix so I can go beyound 50. I am only able to max two tech skills by the time I'm 50 and I would like a third.
The game is so vast that you can get to 50 without even following the main quest.

You guys sure play differently than I do, then. I completed the game several times and I think I only got to level 45 tops...

yup.. so we can`t find all the places by just go there... thats probably why i haven`t found the mountain pass then...

There are five passes through the mountains, although I personally have never found the fifth pass. I won't tell them to ya here, it would be a spoiler.
Oh and Nightwing, I trust you found the mods by yourself. If not, pay a visit to Terra Arcanum. And the level 127 patch, it brins out the level requirements to the data folder, so you can modify them. If you ever want to reach anything above level 85 and not kill your social life because of it, it is needed to modify the tables. And the magic mod brings out all the magic, character creation, special, item and tech statistics to the data folder as well. Go crazy on modding those babies. Currently, I'm busying myself with trying to make shock a 5 energy 5/1 maintainable skill. I don't think it's possible, but I still try. I'll make it happen, even if my Shock Aura has more than 40 lines of code(the original has 5)!
P.S. to force attack, hold alt. And a friendly advice I got reminded of just yesterday: do not summon a familiar before you talk to the ... errm... well, she who talks in a voice that resounds from your speakers most interestingly. [img]tongue.gif[/img] You'll understand with time.

Cool thanks Bones. I downloaded the mod for levels.

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http://arcanum.rpgplanet.gamespy.com/tinkerer/mods.php

http://arcanum.sierra.com/us/news/news-archive.html