Introduction and all melee party (your comments)

[farl]

Hello to everyone,

This is my first post in this great forum, although I've already read quite a bit here. I am a part-time Wizardry player since number 6 (bane of the cosmic forge) which I completed together with my wife. Even my eight year old son is an enthusiastic fan of Wizardry 8.

After messing around with some parties I recently decided to start an all melee party just to get another taste of the game. It consists of a human lord, a human valkyrie, a dwarf monk, a felpurr samurai, a hobbit thief and a lizardman fighter. They run around leaving the front open and occupying the centre and both flanks, thus all being ready for close combat. Yesterday they reached the upper monastery at level five. Although the party makes fun and growing them up is quite exciting, there are some flaws, where I'd like to receive your suggestions/comments.

1. no cash cow:
There is no one with access to alchemy in my group, thus mixing and selling potion is not possible. I have to live with what I've got, but sometimes I'll want to purchase that fine but expensive piece of armour/weapon. The only other way to get a little something I can imagine is raising the thief's pickpocket skill. Burz comes to my mind, because he just goes yellow (neutral) if my thief is not successful. By this I could also raise the diplomacy skill I assigned to my valkyrie in order to make Burz happy again. I hope continuous tries will not influence my faction rating with the trynnies.

2. no possibility to identify items in the early game:
My group has a bag full of items with a big question mark on each of them. Identify (the spell) will be available at lord/valkyrie/monk level 7 earliest, and with the pathetic number of spell points and mental skill it will take ages to identify my inventory: cast identify - spell fizzles - rest to recharge spell points - cast again ... (ad nauseam). The artefact skill of all party members is very low, thus it is of no help either. I am reluctant to assign any skill points of any of my characters to the artefact skill, because there are so many other skills to raise. Instead I hope to raise it by using bombs frequently later on. With low cash, there is also limited access to identify scrolls.

3. vulnerable to status ailments:
Ok, I have a couple of potions "cure lesser conditions", I just purchased from Burz three "cure paralysis" powders, but the spells will be available at character level seven earliest. Is it correct, that the likeliness of being nauseated/slept/paralysed/blinded... is based on piety and/or vitality? If yes, I have another problem with this party, because I am not raising these attributes on level-ups for any of my characters beside vitality for the dwarf monk (iron skin for even more damage absorption). At the moment, a bunch of little spiders is able to paralyse 5/6 of my groups!

I am trying to co-evolve the magic abilities of my hybrid spell casters right from the beginning, but this is quite hard, because I cannot solely focus on raising intelligence/piety as controlling attributes; STR/DEX/SPD/SEN also require attention. I am aiming for protection/cure/buff spells (damage is dealt by melee, of course) and especially spells which can be casted outside a battle for training purposes. Magic screen, soul shield and elemental shield will be first priority when available, because of the low magic resistance of my group.

Which RPC should I recruit for my group? Madras comes to my mind, firstly to make use of all the gadgets I will have found when I meet him and secondly to increase the ranged firepower of my group (double/triple crossbow). With that group the usual choice Vi/Myles/RFS-81 doesn't make sense to me, I have tanks/meat shields enough myself. Maybe it is in the spirit of my party to not include Madras or anyone else, otherwise it isn't a pure melee group any longer.

Thank you for your patience to read this lengthy post.

Ralf

[xfactor]

Interesting party. It should be pretty good once it has developed towards the middle-end game.

Cash shouldn't be a problem. I have never used Alchemy to generate cash in Wiz8 and I haven't had any problems despite the fact that I always buy spellbooks when they're available. As long as you only buy what you need and don't just start buying for the sake of it you'll be OK. For example, I rarely buy the mid-range armours and weapons that are available. I save money so I can get the decent stuff from Antone, Sadok or Kunar.

Identification problems are annoying, I agree. Regular use of Identify, particularly from the Monk will increase Mental realm skills and therefore reduce fizzles. I don't think this will be ahuge problem after about level 10-12 since you'll probaly have at least 2, maybe even 3, Identify spells by then. The biggest problem is waiting to get it and then identifying all the random stuff you've picked up in the first part of the game. Once you identify the backlog of equipment you'll be fine.

Yep, status ailments suck. Most low level parties have problems in this area, not just all melee ones. Again, this won't be a problem after about level 10 when you have the shield/screen spells to protect against magic and fairly effective cure spells too.

xfactor

[Klutz]

Tip for improving the Artifacts skill: Don't use the identify spell on large bundles of unidentified arrows, bolts, or even potions. For those types of items, split them up to individual items and have a character attempt to identify them one at a time. This gives you lots more chances to improve the artifact skill.

[babar]

Originally posted by Klutz: For those types of items, split them up to individual items and have a character attempt to identify them one at a time. This gives you lots more chances to improve the artifact skill.

I have to admit, I've been insane and done this. Too bad there isn't a keyboard shortcut. Seems if you use the '?' button it is the same as if you drop the item and pick it up again (everyone gets a chance to raise the artifacts skill) but not entirely sure.

[TinyMage]

Unless your purposefuly going without a potion mixer, private sparkle ( lvl 6 ranger ) at the umpani base camp has alchemy. With a few levels and / or a little training im sure you could get it to the level you need to mix the potions you want.

I dont know about private sparkle for a rpc, I would choose someone that will stay with you through ascension peak, which would be RFS, Vi, or Sax. With a little trickery you can also use glumph or drazic and rodan, but not untill a lot later in the game ( probably best to take the early RPC's ).

A RPC commonly overlooked is myles. He is amazing in the early game with bloodlust. He will outfight your best fighter untill a while later. Problem is he can't go to many of the later areas, but he is good for early help.

Sax is a great choice, since the bard instruments come in handy early and just when you need them ( freeze all, heal all ), and before your other guys will have access to the same spells. You can also get him Pucks cap which will boost his music skill by 10, with 100 in music and pucks cap he can use all his items even in an area which he hates.

Unless you want to have to move every round I recommend you give just 3 of your fighters close range weapons and put them up front, then give the rest of your fighters extended range weapons ( like the staff of doom ) and have them in the middle or on the flanks.

The way you have it set up you will have to reposition all the time so everyone can reach the enemy, which can be a pain.

[ 06-16-2005, 02:20 AM: Message edited by: TinyMage ]

[TinyMage]

I just had to point out, I think it is downright criminal that your all-melee party does not include a fairy ninja.

There is a close range 1 handed weapon available early on that outshines any weapon in the game, but can only be used by a fairy ninja.

[Klutz]

Originally posted by TinyMage: Unless you want to have to move every round I recommend you give just 3 of your fighters close range weapons and put them up front, then give the rest of your fighters extended range weapons ( like the staff of doom ) and have them in the middle or on the flanks. The way you have it set up you will have to reposition all the time so everyone can reach the enemy, which can be a pain.

That brings up a good point, which is formation, and that makes a big difference in weapon choice. I actually usually do the front empty myself, with 3 center, 1 on each flank, and 1 rear, which allows 5 characters to engage in close-combat melee with enemies in front. That's usually not too bad on the repositioning, and in this party the Valkyrie with a spear/polearm would make the natural 6th member for the rear. I've also heard of people putting 3 center and 3 on one flank, which supposedly allows everyone to attack in close combat without much repositioning, but never tried it myself.