What are the Battery Packs for?

[Ziggurat]

Um, what was I thinking? Guess I was still thinking bows. Forget the strength.

[TINKER_TINKERMAN]

[quote]Originally posted by Wereboar:

My result: in all battles, the average damage (of the hits) was 14 - 17.5. Whether i used ammo or not didn't matter (in fact, the lowest number was in a battle with ammo, and the highest one without ammo, but it isn't a statistically significant difference). And all damage was in the 5-27 range, no damage beyond 30. Note: Resistances don't affect the damage of missile weapons. Only damage resistance (one fight without ammo was against anthracite golems, which took only half damage)

Whew, Finally finished my Honey dues and am able to return to normal life (at least for the time being).

Wearboar - According to mindflay.com the Frontier Phaser normally does 3-30 damage 5% kill.

However character development is critical for how much damage a weapon actually does.
For example: Bloodlust is rated at damage 5-13, but in the hands of a fighter it may do upwards of 40 pts of damage.

Now let's take a look at the Gadgeteer.
The starting requirements are STR 45, INT 55, DEX 60 & SEN 55.
The Primary Skills are: Modern Weapons(DEX,SPD), ranged combat(SEN,INT), Engineering(INT,DEX), locks & traps(DEX,INT)

Due to the fact that Wiz 8 was designed for you to specialize, (no more "master of all" characters like in Wiz 7) then it would be natural for a character to be developed in different ways with different outcomes.
IMO the gadgeteer is best developed as either primarily a gadget user or a ranged fighter. There just isn't enough points to do both. With this in mind lets look at the skills.

For a gadget user I concentrate on INT up to about 80 (This gives me the ability to use gadgets without having them fissle or backfire all the time), DEX, & SPD. Later on I add some points to STR & VIT(for the C/C & Stamina).

I personally favor the second method, the ranged fighter who occasionally uses gadgets. I use a Hobbit Female.
At level 1 her stats are STR 45, INT 55, PIE 30, VIT 45, DEX 70, SPD 60, SEN 65
AT level 15 which she was when i conducted the Phaser Test she was:
STR 45, INT 60, PIE 30, VIT 45, DEX 80, SPD 92, SEN 100 Eagle Eye 10

We all know that STR is important for additional damage on all weapon skills except for modern weapons, so it stands to reason that to keep the game balanced the designers must have substituted some other attribute for modern weapons. I am convinced that for modern weapons Senses is critical for the amount of Damage acheived.

Below is an interview with the Wiz 8 design team that may shed some light on just how indepth the game development was.
http://www.geocities.com/wizardry8faq/interviews.html

[Wereboar]

Well, my tests were made wit a gadgeteer with 100 in senses. Only 3-30 damage, not more.

Second, in the character sheet, you can see how much damage (per hit) a weapon does in the hands of a given character (depending on strength). Bloodlust doubles the displayed damage, as well any melee weapons in the hand of a berserking figher.

But the stated damage of the frontier phaser is the same, no matter if i use a character with 98 or 10 in modern weapons, with 100 or 55 in senses. The stated damage is also the same with and without ammo.

How did you make your tests? Mine were with a regular found frontier phaser, with the initial ammo, and some ammo i managed to buy. Did you create weapon or ammo with some external tool?
And, was the displayed damage different with and without ammo? And if so, did it depend on the amount of ammo?

We all know that STR is important for additional damage on all weapon skills except for modern weapons, so it stands to reason that to keep the game balanced the designers must have substituted some other attribute for modern weapons

Don't agree. With my rangestrike-only party, one of the character used Blunderbuss (whenever ammo was available), the others bows/xbows. Blunderbuss was better for a long time (since you don't need strentg), but later with high strength the others were better. So it is balanced. If there was a way to increase the damage of Blunderbuss, it wouldn't be balanced anymore.