|
Clawbugs seem like one of those things where, when the person who made them made them, they affirmed multiple times 'Yes, these are good ideas that will only lead to prosperity.' because they seem like a monumentally bad idea.
|
#
?
Nov 24, 2016 21:23
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 01:42 |
|
|
They are, you might say, the trickle down theory of infestation.
|
|
#
?
Nov 24, 2016 21:26
|
|
|
"If we let them breed themselves and give them a rudimentary social structure they'll be able to plan dig sites themselves. Think of how efficient our mines and tunnels and other infrastructure projects will be! Release a couple and come back a few weeks later to see the work already done. There's no way this could wrong!"
|
|
#
?
Nov 24, 2016 21:31
|
|
|
Chocolate Chunk posted:"If we let them breed themselves and give them a rudimentary social structure they'll be able to plan dig sites themselves. Think of how efficient our mines and tunnels and other infrastructure projects will be! Release a couple and come back a few weeks later to see the work already done. There's no way this could wrong!" Pretty much. As an engineer with a love of automation, I would probably be that moron that makes something like a clawbug.
|
|
#
?
Nov 24, 2016 21:32
|
|
|
Clawbugs are sort of a gray goo scenario. Except the 'goo' is more Clawbugs.
|
|
#
?
Nov 24, 2016 21:47
|
|
|
Clawbugs: At least they aren't Chryssalids.
|
|
#
?
Nov 24, 2016 21:55
|
|
|
Aw yis, Clawbugs! It's a shame I'm already a roamer, I'd have wanted to be a clawbug. All clickity clack and snap snap. I forget, though, can clawbugs poison with their attacks?
|
|
#
?
Nov 24, 2016 21:56
|
|
|
The sheer stupidity of the act of making Clawbugs affirms that going Magic Shaping this run was a Good Idea  Speaking of which, I am seriously looking forward to us getting whatever comes after Artila.
|
|
#
?
Nov 24, 2016 22:19
|
|
|
Well you see, all we need to do is shape a new creature with a pack predator mentality with the weapons and ability to independently hunt down clawbug nests. Release a few pairs into the wild and the problem solves itself!
|
|
#
?
Nov 24, 2016 23:02
|
|
|
Hey, why don't we just teach the serviles to shape and let them solve the problem for us?
|
|
#
?
Nov 24, 2016 23:08
|
|
|
TooMuchAbstraction posted:Hey, why don't we just teach the serviles to shape and let them solve the problem for us? Release a few pairs into the wild and all our problems solv.... Wa....Wait, where are you going?
|
|
#
?
Nov 24, 2016 23:11
|
|
|
I wonder what the Shaper version of the Great Emu War would be, anyway? Probably won't get that bonus update out tonight, but there'll probably be an update tomorrow! I hope my fellow Americans in the audience had a good Thanksgiving, and that the rest of you had a happy and productive Thursday.
|
|
#
?
Nov 24, 2016 23:13
|
|
|
Well, if they hear about these dang Rogue Serviles they'll probably go full Emu War on them. 
|
|
#
?
Nov 24, 2016 23:24
|
|
|
PurpleXVI posted:Aw yis, Clawbugs! It's a shame I'm already a roamer, I'd have wanted to be a clawbug. All clickity clack and snap snap. Yes they can indeed, and it's stacking poison too I believe. Which is to say, each time you get poisoned it adds yet another tick. That makes getting stung a bunch effectively instant death, similar to the acid splash biz of the artilas. Clawbugs are fast, durable, and hard hitting. Very solid creations, and only outclassed by two others that I can think of. Three, sort of, but when we're talking superbeings the essence cost alone can make clawbugs better to have still. Speaking of essence cost, that's quite a mix of creations. I usually go with maybe 1-2 hard hitters and the rest ranged (artila or fyoras, for instance) since combat tends to get really cluttered anywhere but a wide open plain. How much essence are you left with for blessings and the like, with that particular set?
|
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2016 02:16
|
|
|
Night10194 posted:I'm fairly sure caution is actually a good trait in people who shape life and death and who could easily make a crazy pandemic if they wished. I'm sure that will be a very great comfort to us when they gank us for washing up on Sucia!
|
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2016 04:29
|
|
|
Huh. But they speak a little pidgin. I wonder if these humans are working with the Takers.
|
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2016 08:16
|
|
|
Oh goodness, my name in lights! Artilas are definitely one of the more frumious creations.POOL IS CLOSED posted:I've always seen the fyoras as the puppiest creation. Pupperest? Pupperoni? Definitely "puppiest". Puppy, puppier, puppiest. vdate posted:Every assumption we've made based on whatever association with the Shapers we had prior to our arrival has been proved wrong. The serviles are vastly more than we expected, even the faction that one might have expected to hobble themselves by their slavish devotion to their makers. Fully two-thirds of them intend to break their compact of servitude, and our control over them appears to have been inculcated at a cultural level rather than a genetic one - we cannot compel their servitude, save by force or threat of force. (And come to that, our servitude could be compelled the same way.) The servant minds we've found here have capacities beyond what we expected; the secrets of Shaping appear to have been leaked to those not even worthy of being called 'apprentice' - true outsiders. Put bluntly, how right do we think we are, here? If we have enough vague intimations of the future - that's not really Shaper magic, but you never know - that we've seen our own game over screen, we know that the Shapers made a big mistake when they took whatever went horribly wrong on this island and went "you know what? If we just run away and forget this ever happened, everything will be fine." It won't. I suppose that if it would have been, our ship would not have been sunk. Our best plan for survival now is for our inevitably vast list of crimes to be capped with "... and then saved us all", because then maybe we'll get a pardon. We already possess desperately valuable intelligence - we know for a fact that there are outsiders exploiting this island. Maybe that will save us. But maybe it won't. But if it doesn't, we won't be the first being on Sucia Island to go rogue in an attempt to save everything we've always valued.
|
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2016 10:25
|
|
|
Wish this game had a soundtrack, music-less games tend to feel odd to me. Anyways, been a while since I've played through these games. Maybe I should give it a reinstall and play through again (lord knows I need a break from Overwatch).
|
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2016 12:57
|
|
|
The world "Artila" caught my eye while scrolling through the forum a couple of days ago. Oh cool, a Geneforge LP? And written by a 'domer too! Now I'm all caught up and you've just passed the furthest I've ever got in this game - not for lack of will, but because it mysteriously seems to eat my saves whenever I leave off playing for a few months  So I will be following this keenly.Really enjoying the writing so far, OP. If you get the opportunity to name some tanky creation "Maugrim" I'll be very happy.
|
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2016 13:54
|
|
|
I love Geneforge's setting, story, and concept, but man, is it rough to play. Thanks for doing this one! You've already gotten farther than I did before losing interest in actually playing it, which is a shame, because original settings like this are so rare in games. I'd like to add my name to the list, too.
|
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2016 16:34
|
|
|
On a puppy-related note, since I bought the series and people have recommended Geneforge 2 over the original, I gave it a shot. The Fyora are definitely the puppiest creations; a lot of the loading art shows them doing things like chasing butterflies or being trained by the Shaper-PC with treats or what-have-you. Also, it is shockingly easy to get access to Cryoa within like an hour of starting the game - I managed it more-or-less by accident. While they're expensive, they also don't feel nerfed where Fyora do, so my Shaper and his new best friend LicenseToChill have been having a grand old time. Out of curiosity, are XP rewards calculated based on average party level in Geneforge 2? A lot of things that gave 10-50 XP beforehand ended up giving 1 after making my new Cryoa pal.
|
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2016 17:48
|
|
|
vdate posted:Out of curiosity, are XP rewards calculated based on average party level in Geneforge 2? A lot of things that gave 10-50 XP beforehand ended up giving 1 after making my new Cryoa pal. FFS, is that why I'm not getting any experience anymore? Goddammit Vogel!
|
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2016 17:51
|
|
|
Yes, party size influences XP rewards in the later Geneforge games. The loading screen tips might occasionally mention it; the in-game manual probably can confirm it. (The in-game manuals are usually pretty thorough for everything but telling you the hotkeys, dammit.) I don't know if that's the case for 1, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's not. I'll see if I can dig up some answers about that later, if no one beats me to the punch.OutOfPrint posted:I love Geneforge's setting, story, and concept, but man, is it rough to play. Thanks for doing this one! You've already gotten farther than I did before losing interest in actually playing it, which is a shame, because original settings like this are so rare in games. For some reason, I really enjoy games that know how to turn the screws on the player... If you like Geneforge's setting, try playing one of the later games in the series if you get the chance. I believe there are demos for them available on Spiderweb Software's site. You might find that the more modern sequels are a smoother experience. Maugrim posted:The world "Artila" caught my eye while scrolling through the forum a couple of days ago. Oh cool, a Geneforge LP? And written by a 'domer too! 'Sup Maugrim! It's only by the grace of someone else having a worse entry than I that I don't have a head-chopping avatar. If you like, I can give you one of my save files. I've got some earlier ones too. I've not heard of anyone having their saves vanish. I've got some from 2014... mauman posted:Wish this game had a soundtrack, music-less games tend to feel odd to me. You're not the first person to say that the lack of a soundtrack makes it hard to get into Spiderweb games! I like the ambient sounds, but it really does represent a serious divergence from standard practice. Chronische posted:Yes they can indeed, and it's stacking poison too I believe. Which is to say, each time you get poisoned it adds yet another tick. That makes getting stung a bunch effectively instant death, similar to the acid splash biz of the artilas. Clawbugs are fast, durable, and hard hitting. Very solid creations, and only outclassed by two others that I can think of. Three, sort of, but when we're talking superbeings the essence cost alone can make clawbugs better to have still. The initial clawbug you get in Geneforge 1 doesn't do poison or acid. We'll see bugs like that later on, though. Geneforge 5's default clawbug does, however, receive a poison modifier to attack. I don't think we can make clawbugs at the moment, I'm pretty sure Solution's battle shaping is too low. I may raise it later on so we can see as many of her creations as possible. I'm running at about 45% free essence right now (the two fyoras have never been upgraded), so I think just shy of 70 points. I usually run with 3 types until late game - glass cannons, tanks, and a mid-tier line up in case anything rushes past the tanks. I just enjoy having variety, really.
|
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2016 18:17
|
|
|
Getting access to all creations is gonna be rough! Even just hyper focusing on fire shaping as I did last time, I was having trouble near the end even with the souped up end game duders I had, so spreading more thin is going to be rather nightmarish.
|
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2016 18:48
|
|
|
I usually just put some light techno on in the background when I play, the pure silence is a bit much at times.
|
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2016 23:28
|
|
|
Oh, hey. If you're still taking names, name some fodder after me. I'll take a few hits for ya. Playing agent for the first time. It's surprisingly easy (easier than my Shaper run was). You have use the games equivalent of stealth, but it works pretty well once you get it down. Though geneforge without the creations backing you up does feel kinda odd. Like not using the secret sauce that turns a great dish into an amazing dish. mauman fucked around with this message at 06:36 on Nov 26, 2016 |
|
#
?
Nov 26, 2016 06:32
|
|
|
And if you ever get short on names, I'm sure we can get the names of some illustrious posters in there like Ironic War Criminal, Toblerone Triangular, Qalnor and Rrail.
|
|
#
?
Nov 26, 2016 14:02
|
|
|
SIGSEGV posted:And if you ever get short on names, I'm sure we can get the names of some illustrious posters in there like Ironic War Criminal, Toblerone Triangular, Qalnor and Rrail. I have no idea who any of those are.
|
|
#
?
Nov 26, 2016 16:20
|
|
|
That's because you have made the good decision of, at one point, during a critical time period, not reading and / or posting in D&D.
SIGSEGV fucked around with this message at 21:59 on Nov 26, 2016 |
|
#
?
Nov 26, 2016 16:41
|
|
|
Man, I'd forgotten about those names. Curse you for reminding me. As you probably saw, I got probed last night! Today I'm cooking a belated Thanksgiving dinner, so an update will happen... eventually.
|
|
#
?
Nov 26, 2016 17:01
|
|
|
POOL IS CLOSED posted:I wonder what the Shaper version of the Great Emu War would be, anyway? Once upon a time, that article recorded the losses both sides suffered - the Australian side was listed as 'half a million rounds of ammunition, dignity'.
|
|
#
?
Nov 27, 2016 00:38
|
|
|
King Doom posted:Once upon a time, that article recorded the losses both sides suffered - the Australian side was listed as 'half a million rounds of ammunition, dignity'. It was a splendid article.
|
|
#
?
Nov 27, 2016 03:03
|
|
|
The real problem with the Emus was that they would kick down fences and allow rabbits (a very damaging invasive pest in Australia) to run amok. In an act so out of the Shaper playbook it's frightening, the Australian government released targeted germ warfare controls in the form of the myxoma virus, and later supplemented it with calcivirus, which escaped containment during field trials and is currently ravaging invasive populations in dry areas (a benign variant that exists in Australia's colder climes has resulted in a resistance in the population of those areas.) This is why the Shapers are paranoid. 
|
|
#
?
Nov 27, 2016 04:01
|
|
|
wiegieman posted:The real problem with the Emus was that they would kick down fences and allow rabbits (a very damaging invasive pest in Australia) to run amok. In an act so out of the Shaper playbook it's frightening, the Australian government released targeted germ warfare controls in the form of the myxoma virus, and later supplemented it with calcivirus, which escaped containment during field trials and is currently ravaging invasive populations in dry areas (a benign variant that exists in Australia's colder climes has resulted in a resistance in the population of those areas.) My cousin in Arizona just got stung by a few killer bees. Given that Killer bees are a real-life shaper result..... 
|
|
#
?
Nov 27, 2016 04:55
|
|
|
On the other hand, so is, say, synthetic insulin, which really does sound like a Shaper invention - get this bacterial slime to make the bits, extract the bits, assemble the bits, insulin achieved.
vdate fucked around with this message at 14:25 on Nov 27, 2016 |
|
#
?
Nov 27, 2016 14:15
|
|
|
The Shapers are right to be ultra protective of their powers, to prevent diseases and the events of Jurassic Park(the novel moreso than the film) and so forth. Unfortunately, as we will see, the Shapers are also kind of up themselves and while they wield their power conservatively the only really use it to selfish ends.
|
|
#
?
Nov 27, 2016 18:10
|
|
|
vdate posted:On the other hand, so is, say, synthetic insulin, which really does sound like a Shaper invention - get this bacterial slime to make the bits, extract the bits, assemble the bits, insulin achieved. Keep in mind that Shapers are only opposed to uncontrolled experimentation, not research/experiments in general. In fact, we've already seen signs of that at the Ruined School - the school has its' own reservoir specifically because it's both a school and a laboratory. So the Shapers planned to seal off the entire school in an instant if something goes wrong. Whereas an uncontrolled experiment by some rando Shaping in his basement isn't going to have nearly the same level of protection or concern about safety.
|
|
#
?
Nov 27, 2016 18:56
|
|
|
^ This is correct, but they also have their own internal rules about poo poo you do not do. As someone who's only played this one a bit past the LP and only some of 2, I'm rather curious about certain aspects of the setting. Specifically, some of the things other shapers have said suggests that the Shapers wield the political power they do because they are the only ones who can create or recreate life in previously uninhabitable areas. Am I right in gleaning from that information that this setting is essentiallly post-post-apocalyptic? Like the world got wrecked and the Shapers do what they do because they are trying to put it back together?
|
|
#
?
Nov 27, 2016 19:33
|
|
|
We only see the really lovely parts of the setting. There are developed and peaceful places that are paradise compared to the hellscapes you see in the series.
|
|
#
?
Nov 27, 2016 19:43
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 25, 2024 01:42 |
|
|
Presumably the peaceful parts of the world would not make for good settings for grand pokemon-sculpting adventures.
|
|
#
?
Nov 27, 2016 20:31
|
|