Good novice hints

fable · Post by **fable** » Wed Oct 03, 2001 6:17 am

Anything you can open can be used as a storage container when your inventory grows too large, though you should avoid putting stuff you want to keep in garbage bins. Understandably, they're emptied regularly.

Work on getting your melee and dodge skills up early, since experience gained by party NPCs for successful hits and kills isn't split with you.

A bit of persuasion might be useful to have early on, when you have to deal with the gang holding the bridge out of the first city.

Nothing prevents you from entering buildings at night, and lockpicking boxes to steal their contents. Watch out for visible guards, though, and avoid bashing chests or zapping them loudly with lockpick spells--the owners usually sleep in the next room.

friend_al_23 · Post by **friend_al_23** » Wed Oct 10, 2001 12:14 pm

Remember to un-summon orcs in your team. If you don't, any NPC (non-playing characters) you talk to won't bother listening to you. This is due to the creature's beauty.

Unless you are an elf, all elves you meet in the game will be a bit un-friendly to you. This can be override by Beauty.

If you have a high magical aptitude, you won't be able to board the steam rail stations in Tarant. Also, you will be banned from entering shops that uses high technology such as armor shops and gun shops.
Stealing special items and such will not decrease your alignment. Stealing money, however, will decrease one's alignment to evil.

When in a combat mode, hold the Alt key to attack non-living things with hit points such as chests and doors.

friend_al_23 · Post by **friend_al_23** » Wed Oct 10, 2001 12:21 pm

I hope you don't mind adding the tip you gave at my site.

fable · Post by **fable** » Wed Oct 10, 2001 12:38 pm

Al, I don't mind your borrowing these tips, but it might be nice if you credit GameBanshee as the source, along with providing a link to this website.

friend_al_23 · Post by **friend_al_23** » Wed Oct 10, 2001 12:52 pm

fable, I always give credit to the person who got the information from, namely you. So I put a credit to your name and hyperlink it to your profile. Visit that certain section of the site how I did credit Jamie's tip.

As for the link, why would I wouldn't want to do that? I'll link the Arcanum forum here.

Amphibius · Post by **Amphibius** » Mon Oct 15, 2001 1:57 am

This is great! I haven't been to Gamebanshee since I retired from playing Baldur's Gate and went on to play Arcanum but I see that there's support for this game here as well!

Hmm... I have yet to really finish the game since I keep restarting (Restart Syndrome, same problem I had with BG) but here are a few tips for people just starting to play this great game:

Gameplay:

- Stores replenish their stock every day. If you're looking for a certain item and you don't find it in any store, go back the next day and check again.

- Followers level up as you level up and will stop leveling up when you do (when you hit lvl 50) so it's a good idea to get followers while you're level is low. (you have to be at least 1 lvl lower than the follower to get him/her to join you though so it's all a balancing act).

- If you're ugly, try to talk to everyone multiple times to get their reaction to increase. This is most useful for trainers since you get to pay less for training if you have good relations with the trainer (like the guards from whom you get dodge and melee apprentice training).

- If you killed a person in a city, it's not enough to drag the body where no one could see it, the blood stain will still get guards angry at you. advance the time 2 days ahead to make the blood disappear and you won't be bothered by guards (well, first you have to kill the person without anyone in the vicinity [I find that walls are not enough, there shouldn't be anyone on the screen at all])

On Combat:

- Turn-based combat is usually best suited for melee while real-time is for ranged.

- When faced with lots of enemies, try to gang up one enemy at a time to lessen their numbers faster.

- If you want maximum experience points, have your followers back off (F5) when faced with enemies. Alternatively, you could give your followers fatigue damaging weapons (i.e. quarterstaves, maces, hammers) so you still get most of the hits while they weaken the enemy to the point of unconsciouness.

- AFAIK, enemies are incapable of climbing through windows (non-humanoid opponents... guards may be able to climb through windows)... use these to your advantage. When faced with a melee type enemy (under turn-based combat), lure the enemy near a window... hit it until you nearly use up your APs... climb through the window and use up the rest of your APs (usually by walking around) until the next round starts (new set of APs)... if you do this correctly, the enemy won't get to act at all.

- related to the above tip, you can use ranged weapons through windows and melee enemies won't get to act as well.

- try to use natural boundaries to limit the amount of enemies that will get to hit you... try to stay near walls and such...

- try to use available light... when in dark places (like dungeons or during the night), lure enemies to well lighted spots to get better hit percentages (of course if you have the Dark Sight background, you should do the reverse... extinguish as much light sources as you can... kill off lamps and fires, etc.)

- Except for guns, using ranged weapons can hurt your followers (and your followers can hurt you with them as well)... try to stay clear of the line of fire.

On Lockpicking (maybe my most favorite skill):

- You'll need at least 3 points on the lockpicking skill to make it worthwhile.

- You need lockpicks to utilize the lockpicking skill. Place the lockpicks on your quick-item slot, click on it and click on the locked item you wish to lockpick.

- When lockpicking in the dark, carry a lantern (the lighting penalty is taken away by Expert training)

- I find that I lockpick better naked (dunno if gloves and the noise penalty of armor really affect successes but they seem to do so with my games)

- Lockpick or pickpocket people behind their backs. Try to talk to people to turn them away from the direction of the chest you're trying to lockpick. (there are some NPCs that this trick won't work on though)

- To break into stores, it's usually easier to lockpick windows rather than doors.

Miscellaneous Skills:

- Don't gamble if you're ugly. Gambling lowers the reaction of people you gamble with . you'll usually end up fighting your 'mark' after winning since he won't have a good reaction to you to start with. (had to learn this the hard way with my Ugly Half-Orc Technologist)

- Persuasion unlocks a whole lot of possible ways to accomplish quests, cheapens prices in stores, enables you to raise reward values, and gives you a bonus follower (at expert training)... great skill to develop if you have extra points.

Technology:

- Try to be mindful of weight and space when carrying around your doodads. When making something, find out how much the ingredients weigh and how much the resulting item will weigh and try to keep the lighter version in your inventory. There is no such thing as "conservation of Mass" in Arcanum, this is most noticeable with Healing Salve (Herbology lvl 1), the ingredients weigh 1 stone each and occupy a total of 4 squares while the resulting healing salves weigh 5 stones each (AFAIR), and occupy 5 squares, hence it's better to just lug around the ingredients until you need to make up a batch for combat.

I'll just keep updating this message as I think up of some other tips and tricks.

[ 10-16-2001: Message edited by: Amphibius ]

[ 10-16-2001: Message edited by: Amphibius ]

friend_al_23 · Post by **friend_al_23** » Mon Oct 15, 2001 7:30 am

Amphibius, can I put this at my site. Don't worry, proper credits will be given.

Amphibius · Post by **Amphibius** » Mon Oct 15, 2001 5:35 pm

@Al: No prob, I actually frequent your site a bit to get info on found schematics and followers. Keep up the good work!

friend_al_23 · Post by **friend_al_23** » Mon Oct 15, 2001 7:53 pm

Okay, thanks. BTW, you forgot to put a backslash at the BBCode Bold.

Erikkson Diablobane · Post by **Erikkson Diablobane** » Tue Oct 16, 2001 6:36 am

Originally posted by fable:
Anything you can open can be used as a storage container when your inventory grows too large, though you should avoid putting stuff you want to keep in garbage bins. Understandably, they're emptied regularly.

Work on getting your melee and dodge skills up early, since experience gained by party NPCs for successful hits and kills isn't split with you.

A bit of persuasion might be useful to have early on, when you have to deal with the gang holding the bridge out of the first city.

Nothing prevents you from entering buildings at night, and lockpicking boxes to steal their contents. Watch out for visible guards, though, and avoid bashing chests or zapping them loudly with lockpick spells--the owners usually sleep in the next room.

Well a if you want to store some items and need a home of your own, Liam's workshop is a good location cos it is away from the hustle and bustle of the city(heh). On top of that you can make full use of the bed there...

Erikkson Diablobane · Post by **Erikkson Diablobane** » Tue Oct 16, 2001 6:40 am

Originally posted by Amphibius:

- AFAIK, enemies are incapable of climbing through windows... use these to your advantage. When faced with a melee type enemy (under turn-based combat), lure the enemy near a window... hit it until you nearly use up your APs... climb through the window and use up the rest of your APs (usually by walking around) until the next round starts (new set of APs)... if you do this correctly, the enemy won't get to act at all.

[ 10-16-2001: Message edited by: Amphibius ]

Enemies can and do climb through windows. For example, if you are attempting to break a chest in a house and a guard spots u or hears the noise, he will sound you a warning first. If you ignore his warning and proceed to break open the chest, he will turn hostile, climbs through the window(assuming the window can be opened) and attack you.

White Rabbit · Post by **White Rabbit** » Tue Oct 16, 2001 5:36 pm

I have never seen a gaurd go through a window, and I usually use a magelock on the front door and kill everybody in the house. I reload after that but it helps me get my aggression out..... and quites the voices for a while.

Amphibius · Post by **Amphibius** » Tue Oct 16, 2001 6:00 pm

Originally posted by Erikkson Diablobane:
Enemies can and do climb through windows. For example, if you are attempting to break a chest in a house and a guard spots u or hears the noise, he will sound you a warning first. If you ignore his warning and proceed to break open the chest, he will turn hostile, climbs through the window(assuming the window can be opened) and attack you.

Hmmm... I haven't really experienced doing combat in a city (I've always been a good boy) so I wouldn't know if this was true... I was thinking more of non-humanoid opponents in non-city setting (like dungeons and such)... I did experience guards climbing through windows though not in any combat scenarios... guess I'll just clarify my point then, thanks!

Corpulent · Post by **Corpulent** » Sat Oct 20, 2001 2:18 am

Alright, because I am suffering from a bad case of WhadaFu! I can't seem to figure out how to post a single thing with out using the reply with quotes button. The Future of America right here, baby! That said I was hoping to staight out make a topic in order to find out if anyone has figured out or has been tipped of by the dev team, a way to gank the sword in its little concrete pin at the Ancient Maze Location? Would some one maybe throw me a bone if you know of a way or if it is emphatically not possible?
P.S. I have tried the obvious, TNT, Spatial Distortion, etc...

[ 10-21-2001: Message edited by: R.I.A. ]

Corpulent · Post by **Corpulent** » Sat Oct 20, 2001 2:33 am

I really just want an answer so I am sucking up mostly b/c it irritated me to see it sitting there and would make me give the game a 9.5 instead of maybe a 9.6.

All times are CT... lets think on that one shall we.

[ 10-20-2001: Message edited by: R.I.A. ]

[ 10-21-2001: Message edited by: R.I.A. ]

fable · Post by **fable** » Sat Oct 20, 2001 8:16 am

@RIA, first off, no flames. Read the forum rules at the top of the page if you have any questions about this. Consider yourself warned.

Secondly, per Buck's rules again, no spamming. Please keep to the topic. If you want to spam, check out the SYM area, below. Thanks.

[ 10-20-2001: Message edited by: fable ]

Corpulent · Post by **Corpulent** » Sat Oct 20, 2001 12:17 pm

(whistles)

[ 10-21-2001: Message edited by: R.I.A. ]

fable · Post by **fable** » Sat Oct 20, 2001 3:08 pm

Originally posted by R.I.A.:
Dude, it was a joke. There was no flame in there. As for spam, consider the second post a post script to the first that has a valid qestion that I would like an anwser for. Or are you even real? Is this a Turing test?

...and seeing that someone named Al has chosen to turn this into an Instant Chat... is a mild flame, I know, but Buck likes to keep all flames off the board. We'd appreciate it if you would comply. As I mentioned earlier, just read the rules.

As to my reality, I've had doubts about that, even years before my old philosophy teacher thirty years ago gave me a flunking grade for challenging Descartes' "thinking" axiom. So the jury is still out, and you'll just have to decide by yourself whether I'm a fig newton of your imagination, or one of my own.

[ 10-20-2001: Message edited by: fable ]

Corpulent · Post by **Corpulent** » Sat Oct 20, 2001 10:31 pm

Ahh, see there you gave yourself away, nobody in there right mind would give there computers fig newtons.

Kowtowing and offers of daughters if this is felt to contain any degree of heat approaching that of hot. Anybody, read my question?

[ 10-21-2001: Message edited by: R.I.A. ]

friend_al_23 · Post by **friend_al_23** » Wed Oct 24, 2001 4:09 pm

To answer your question, as of this time, AFAIK, no one has yet found out about the sword inside the walls of the Ancient Maze. Cain nor McCarthy didn't give any clue AFAIK.

As for your other question, I was merely asking as to why is the previous post (from where I quote fable) called a spam. I think that was you he is talking about.