Starting Arcanum - What to Install and How to Play?

[galraen]

Ah yes, where there be spiders, and the wreck of a submarine, I do believe you're right TwoHandedSword.

[Crenshinibon]

Just curious, is there a hotkey to toggle combat mode on and off?

Also, what do you recommend: Stun Grenades or Paralyzers?

[TwoHandedSword]

Just curious, is there a hotkey to toggle combat mode on and off?

The R key toggles combat mode. And if you go into combat mode, and hold down the Alt key, you can target inanimate objects such as locked chests and doors.

It's not quiet, though, so don't do it if getting caught is a factor. And if using a melee weapon, make sure it's an axe or hammer; other weapons will likely take damage from striking something harder than flesh.

[galraen]

There's also a hot key to tell your followers to back off, F4 or F5, I think but memory ain't what it used to be, but my auto response when bogies came in sight was R then F5 or whatever.

My preference was for paralyzers, stun grenades seemed to be unreliable, never had problems paralyzing a Barbarian, stunning them on the other hand didn't always work.

[Crenshinibon]

Thanks for replying.

I figured out the force attack before, but was able to have my character attack an object with guns, though the rest of my group would help as well, with my automatons damaging themselves in the process. Next time I'll have to try attacking a chest and having my followers back off. I tried the hotkeys and they are indeed correct - F3 is to Stay Close, F4 is to Spread out, F5 is to Back Off and R is to enter combat. I wish I knew this sooner! Apparently, the only way to have an automaton rejoin after having them wait it to collapse them and set them up again from your inventory. What a hassle! :laugh:

I was able to defeat Stringy Pete with the help of a single Paralyzer (mainly because Potassium Chloride is really difficult to find!) and two Necromizers. After Stringy Pete died, I was able to revive him and having fight the rest of his crew, where I enlisted another one of his buddies to my cause. I have to say, that was a rather lengthy fight.

I was reading old threads on the Arcanum forum, House of Lords and a few people mentioned that technically, the most powerful throwing weapon (though unconventional) is a huge boulder, weighing some 5000 stone. Unless I'm thinking of the wrong items, only two come to mind - the stone from Theo's (one of the Throwing Experts) garden or the stone slab that you need to retrieve for the House of Halcyon. Any comments on using this huge boulder as a weapon?

[galraen]

Any comments on using this huge boulder as a weapon?

Never thought of it, just stuck with explosives or the Decapitator.

You shouldn't have to collapse the Automatons after telling them to back off, try another F key, but I don't recall that ever being an issue. You do realise you can scroll up and down through your follower's portraits don't you, using the triangle at the bottom or top?

[Crenshinibon]

I know I can do that, but when I tell any of my followers to wait, their portrait is removed from the party. With say Virgil and Raven I could talk to them and invite them back, but the automatons never had any dialog options.

Having them wait or back off by hotkeys keeps them in my party however, unless I'm thinking of something else.

[galraen]

Sorry. I misunderstood, I thought you were saying you had to collapse them when telling them to back off, not wait.

[Crenshinibon]

Not a problem.

I now wonder how I ever lived without those shortcuts. They make life so much easier!

[Crenshinibon]

I would really appreciate if someone could explain some of the abbreviations to me:

FT (I assume this is fatigue, but would like to be sure)
A (Ammunition?)
WE (Weight?)
QU (Quality?)
ED
AM
SP (Speed? The higher the better?)
PR (Poison Resistance?)
FR (Fire Resistance?)
NP

How is damage calculated?

For example, I use Droch's Warbringer. The damage is is 20-40 HD (I assume hit-die?). However, my attack, in my inventory is shown to be 27. What exactly is this number?

I know that Technologists are unaffected by potions (but can still use scrolls for some reason). Can Mages use Healing Salves and Fortifiers?

When an item or a blessing gives you a bonus to one of your skills, what does it mean? For example, the final blessing gives you +12 to firearms, among other things and I know that firearms doesn't use that many character points, so what exactly is this number?

Thanks in advance for your replies!

[GawainBS]

FT (I assume this is fatigue, but would like to be sure)
Correct.
A (Ammunition?)
Yes.
WE (Weight?)
Yes.
QU (Quality?)
I think it's Quantity.
ED
IIRC, Endurance, the HP of the item.
AM
SP (Speed? The higher the better?)
Yes and yes.
PR (Poison Resistance?)
Yes.
FR (Fire Resistance?)
Yes.
NP
Noise Penalty.

"Attack" is actually an overall score of ability to hit and damage. Might be hure accuracy.

Mages can use the techno potions just fine.

The bonus from backgrounds and such to skills work in quarters: 4 points make for a full rank.

[Crenshinibon]

Do you know what AM is?

The reason I thought QU was quality, was because weapons like guns had that attribute. However, they seem to be missing the ED attribute.

I still don't understand why my character has 27 attack with a higher damage weapon while having Mastery in it and about 16 or 17 Perception. What is reducing the damage on the character sheet? Because in a fight, I see that he does around 36 - 48 damage. Where is this discrepancy coming from?

Thanks for explaining all this.

[GawainBS]

AM doesn't ring a bell. Maybe a screenshot can help?

Attack might also include speed. Maybe that is low? I do remember that attack was a basic guideline to your offense capabilities. But you figured that out yourself. :laugh:

[Crenshinibon]

"AM" appears on the Charged Accelerator Gun, which you can see in GB equipment section.

I suppose it could be speed. My current gun only has eight I think. Maybe thirteen.

What type of ammunition do the Grenade Launcher, Acid Gun and Tranquilizer Gun use? Does the Grenade launcher actually use grenades? If so, how can I control what type of grenades it fires?

[GawainBS]

No idea what AM is, but QU is indeed Quality, while ED is Electrical Damage.

[galraen]

I think in GB equipment section descriptions AM and A stand for ammunition, which I think in this case means bullets, but damned if I can remember.

[TwoHandedSword]

When an item or a blessing gives you a bonus to one of your skills, what does it mean? For example, the final blessing gives you +12 to firearms, among other things and I know that firearms doesn't use that many character points, so what exactly is this number?

From what I understand, each 1/4 of a rank was originally supposed to cost an entire point; a later tweak reduced the 20 ranks per skill to 5, but kept the fractions for such purposes as item bonuses and character backgrounds.

So +12 to Firearms (or any other skill) translates as potentially 3 additional ranks in that skill. I say potentially, because this is affected by whether you have sufficient stats to make use of it (i.e. 3 ranks of Firearms is pretty much useless as long as your PE is still at 7 or 8) or if the extra ranks would take you beyond maximum (if you already have 3 ranks, adding three more would still only take you to 5, or possibly 5 and 3/4; I'm not sure which).

But this is one reason why (when I'm going for that same ultimate blessing you mention) I limit my Melee and Dodge to at most two ranks each; then, immediately upon receiving that three-rank bonus, I go out and get both expertise and mastery for both of those skills. (Which, since the quests are interrelated, is worth it from a role-playing perspective alone, irrespective of the other bonuses.)

[Crenshinibon]

Thanks for your responses! How early can you actually do all of these quests (the Ancient Gods set) without getting butchered? I noticed that some offering are also quite difficult to come by.

I was reading about the master mage quests on a different forum, and saw that the spell costs are halfed upon achieving mastery. So, say for Summoning, having an Ogre out drains three fatigue per ten seconds. Would mastery in summoning drain one and a half points of fatigue? Can I further reduce the cost of my spells by using a Fortifier or a Fatigue Slower?

Also, according to GB's [url="http://www.gamebanshee.com/arcanum/spellcolleges/temporal.php"]Spell College Section[/url], Hasten and temporal drain three and five fatigue per ten seconds, respectively, however in my game it's written as six and ten. I didn't see anything in the unofficial patch notes either. Any ideas?

[TwoHandedSword]

Thanks for your responses! How early can you actually do all of these quests (the Ancient Gods set) without getting butchered? I noticed that some offering are also quite difficult to come by.

I'm not sure. I tend to do all of these quests in one large rush, closer to the end of the game. At the very minimum, you're going to need a decent amount of HPs, good fighting skills, and the Teleport spell to get you everywhere you need to go.

I was reading about the master mage quests on a different forum, and saw that the spell costs are halfed upon achieving mastery. So, say for Summoning, having an Ogre out drains three fatigue per ten seconds. Would mastery in summoning drain one and a half points of fatigue? Can I further reduce the cost of my spells by using a Fortifier or a Fatigue Slower?

I can't speak to the chemical concoctions, having never used them myself. (My characters travel light.) But unfortunately, mastery of a college cuts only the initial cost of a spell in half, and not the ongoing fatigue costs.

For that reason (and this is IMHO) it's only worthwhile to pursue it in one of three areas: Conveyance (for Teleport), White Necro (for Major Healing) or Black Necro (for Harm). I tend to choose Conveyance myself, but YMMV.

Also, according to GB's [url="http://www.gamebanshee.com/arcanum/spellcolleges/temporal.php"]Spell College Section[/url], Hasten and temporal drain three and five fatigue per ten seconds, respectively, however in my game it's written as six and ten. I didn't see anything in the unofficial patch notes either. Any ideas?

My game and the official strategy guide agree that the first, lower set of numbers is correct. If your game is using the higher numbers, I'm not sure what may have happened... especially since both the official and unofficial patches should've taken care of that for you.

[galraen]

How early can you actually do all of these quests (the Ancient Gods set) without getting butchered?

Not too early, maybe 15th to 20th level, and of course you can only do it if you know where everything is. So without a walk through, or being lucky, I imagine it's tough not to break the quest without even realising it exists. I did the first time I played by placing everything in my pack, one by one, in Torg's alter on my first trip to Tarrant.

You also have to be able to get to the other side of the mountain, so if you aren't a mage that means the legit way, or pickpocketing two teleport scrolls. To do that of courser you have to be either damned good at pickpocketing or use fate points.

Also of course you have to be albe to find the places you need to go to, even if you have a walk through you have to walk to them firt time you go, so I doubt it's possible to even start the questline below 15th level at the very least.

Most of the Arcane Warriors I've played haven't bothered with teleportation, it's not exactly necessary, and actually deprives you of experience points. Using teleport when you first play the game (without a walk through) is actually a mistake IMHO. There are a lot of places to discover that you'll never find if you teleport everywhere. I've only once even bothered with the colleges, and on that occasion I selected Force, as I was using it the most, totally wasted on conveyance IMHO.