Mantraps

well, i'm new to the board here, and not all that good at this game (yet), but what i did with those things is change the game options to easy and seldom respwn whenever i saw one (immediatelly after running as far as possible from it), then go back kill it, make it thru that area(to castle) at this point, then turn settings back. Just anytime I was going thru that area, I'd fix the settings, havent had any problems so far...
Just a note, thanx to everybody and anybody here, this game is more than i imagined, thanx for the help

[andora20]

I think the best way to ge tru' the game is 2 pick a discipline and stich 2 it, I was one of those rookie players who only considered 1 mage in my party, and on my second playthru' nothing is different. I did however used the "Rumpy cheat" to gain experiance for my warlock to be able to channel the Meteorstorm
(thanks Ziroc for showing me the error of my ways, I managed to get Rumpy to respawn!!), but even after that I managed to hold back all 6 ratlings plus the 2 mantraps with nothing except Flamedrop spell, all it is a matter of getting everything lined up just so. All u need is a little strategy, this I feel is what balances the game overall, sound tactics, make u think.

------------------
Carpe Diem, Carpe Jugulem

[Radek]

Fighting mantraps is a typical example of the "Expert Effect". A "Beginner" will pacefuly improve abilities of his party and then he dies on meeting these plants. An "Expert" knows that he must be able to do something with mantraps near the Shurugeon Ruins and he will improve his Sun, Stone or Moon magic as fast as possible so that he can cast Firestorm (Meterostorm, Icestorm) spell after reaching Ishad N'ha. Sure, the Expert does not need any guild hopping or gold giving bugs for it. Sure, no training in Valeia is necessary. Only a bit of information...
I think the Expert Effect is unwelcome in a CRPG. Well, we cannot eradicate the effect completely (otherwise, your first game strategy would be the best one) but we should confine the effect in reasonable bounds. The mantraps exceed any reasonable bounds. You haven't known? You are dead! Reload? Heh, where do you want to get all necessary abilities so fast now?

[RostamTheGrey]

Not to flame anyone but... Expert effect? This is my first time through. I had no clue those plants would be there. If you read my post it says that until now I haven't cheated at all. If you mean gaming expert, what's wrong with that? A lot of people play lots of games that are similar. To me all RPGs are similar in one way or another. I use strategies that I have developed over the years playing games like FF and D&D. Not to be mean or anything, but probably everyone on this board considers him/her self an expert and have all probably played many many games. On the other hand, if you're just refering to W&W, I haven't got a clue what's coming next cause even when I cheat it's usually only to solve a puzzle that I can't figure out and have spent too much time trying.

[TimusHack]

I made the mistake of leveling my spell disciplines equally. It was a good strategy back in Wizardry 7 to maximize mana. Anyway, the mantraps proved to a tough encounter since my best spells were level 4 at the time. I found that both the Flamestrike and Iceball spell had a longer ranger than the mantraps. The Iceball spell seems harder for the mantraps to dodge than the flamestrike is. At any rate I had a pair of them camped right outside the city waiting for me before I figured out how to kill them.

I exited the city and ran full speed past them and about half way to the castle. This way I could beef my chars up with armor, bless, etc, since spells don't stick in city. I then headed back to the mantraps untill the first one just came in view. I used the hairpin turn in the path near the city to seperate the two mantraps so I could take one at a time. With my lone wizard's iceball up. I pelted the mantrap while keeping out of it's range until I ran out of mana. I then ran back a little ways so I had time to get the flamestrike spell up before the mantrap caught me. I then repeated the same strategy with flamestrike and got the mantraps health bar red. I then bum rushed it to finish it off. It only managed to cast on me once.

I repeated this strategy for the second mantrap. I hope this helps all the other people who didn't know to max out Sun and Stone.

[Tenatse]

I have not notice anyone mention the incinerate spell (sun level 6) I stand way back and my mage hits them twice and 1 of them dies then hit the second twice to kill it, have not had a problem with them since. Sorry if i'm repeating someone.


------------------
The only thing that compares to gameing is catching up on my sleep while waiting for the next.

[Radek]

Rostam,
perhaps I didn't express myself well. The Expert Effect is not about cheating or cheddar-like practices. It is not about novices or professionals in CRPGs. It's about knowledge.
You happened to have the right spells ready in the right moment. Therefore, you cast Meteorstorm, got rid of Mantraps, and wondered why there were so much posts about Mantraps on the forum and why were people whinning about them. But not everybody had the Meteorstorm spell ready when he met the plants...
Here is the problem. Either you have a super devastating tool, like Meteorstorm, ready on the encounter or you will solve almost unsolvable problem. Either the Mantraps are no threat to you or you will run like hell back to the town, revive dead members of your party and then jump around like a monkey and improvise with unsufficient equipment to get rid of the Mantraps. You should get some hint about the threat near the ruins somewhere. Also, the shops in Ishad N'ha should sell some anti-mantrap equipment that should allow you to survive the encounter with honor.
The Expert Effect here is the piece of knowledge: I need a strong tool like a Firestorm near the Shurugeon Ruins. Therefore, I must develop my guys such a way that they gain such tool before reaching Ishad N'ha.

[Rolp]

To add to the list... I got a fairly weak party past 6 of the nasties by using a nsty little trick.. near the burned out hose where you meet the Ratling gang... proceed west on the north side of the path awy from the burned out house.. look for a narrow passge to the lake to the north (this may not work if your party has led them on a merry chase already). This passage is too narrow for the Mantraps! Get as far away as possible (out of range of thier attack) but have them still in gunsite .. I like to have just a tad of the nasty showing above the horizon.. now you can kill them with Flamedrop, Zap, & Elemental Blast & lots of patience! Spells like Meteorstorm or Firestorm make it easy. Also at the castle .. if they have followed you... climb up the broken wall to the top and blast the from a the wall or a tower.

Rolp

[RostamTheGrey]

I didn't know, I just happened to have Meteorstorm... (Which I had used to devestate the Serpent Queen [Whatever her name was...]) The last one I fought (Which didn't die when I killed it's brother, still had about 1/2 hp) I ran up to a started pounding away on it and proceeded to have my a$$ kicked again... (My fighters were a little tipsy off of boogre brew) But I didn't die, came very close, but I lived. (Even though the mantrap ate Vargas's ear)