Arcanum Help

Guiltyofbeingtrite

Guiltyofbeingtrite

Vault Dweller
I couldn't find a relevant thread in the search function so I created a new one:

I'm only an hour or so in and I'm a total pack rat and have my entire inventory filled as well as Virgil's. Is it possible to take over a house/store items anywhere? I noticed I left some items on the floor of the Bank and came back and the teller was carrying them (great design) so I'd hate to lose them.

Also, I don't really have much of a direction in leveling up, I'm at level 4 and have pickpocket 1, "sneak" 1, lockpick 1, firearms 2, and 2 of the firearm crafting skills, where should I go from here? Boosting HP?
 
You can store your stuff in places/containers that don't belong to other people (any longer :)). In Shrouded Hills you can store it in the abandonned temple/church where the steam machine is, for instance, there are containers there. Objects dropped on the ground will get picked up by npc's. Don't store stuff in trashcans either or they'll disappear sooner or later.

Don't put points into fire arm crafting. It ain't worth it, IMO, all weapons are in the game world out there, for sale or to nick (with a fatepoint).

Put points in Dodge + weapons skill (like your firearms), lockpick is useful as well, pickpocket not so much (use fatepoints for the rare times you'll need to steal something).
 
alec said:
Don't put points into fire arm crafting. It ain't worth it, IMO, all weapons are in the game world out there, for sale or to nick (with a fatepoint).
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That's pretty wrong, in my view. Yes, firearms is nothing stellar, but it can still produce very useful weapons (like for fighting gollems without breaking your weapon).

That said, the most powerful "basic" weapons in the game:
- Magic. A high level magician/sorcerer/whatever can spam nothing but "Harm" and rule any fight. Things like Disintegrate can also be near cheat-mode (watch out, the loot disintegrates too).
- A specific 2 handed sword, that I won't spoil for you, but it can be stolen with a fate point. If you want to go godmode retarded, get an half-ogre, boost STR & DEX to max possible, get master melee & dodge and add some magic. You are now God.
- FireAxethingy. A pattern can be gained to craft a fire axe. It does not take damage from hitting gollems and does massive damage. Add some Dex rings etc and you're back to near-Godmode.

That's about as much as I can say without spoiling.
 
I always build a character that is strong in lock-picking…once you get to Tarant the city is yours for the picking…especially the magic wares shops…as well I found the Dagger of Speed to be a very effective weapon. Give them to your entire party then sit back and watch them cut everything to pieces. Beware of those Gollems though, they will destroy your weapons very quickly…
 
I'm looking for some general tips to aid in my enjoyment of Arcanum, and I figured posting in this thread would be preferable to starting a new one.

I got the game off GOG because people around here spoke highly of it, and I've sunk a whole heap of hours into it hoping to reap some sort of reward but the game has fallen a little flat for me.

My main issue with it is that the main questline has proven to be frustratingly difficult to continue along. Any time I go to a new area in the next part of the quest I come across enemies that are so far ahead of me in level that I can't kill them without burning through every health restoring item I've brought along. Even if their level is similar to mine, they still seem to kick my arse, in the case of Golems and poisonous Ghouls.

I went for a gunsmithing, firearm wielding half-elf who can have 2 companions (though I had three for a while, which must have been a bug).

So, without spoiling anything for me, what can I do, or how should I play to maximise enjoyment? What am I doing wrong? Is a magic character better for the first playthrough?
I'm up to Level 22, and so far some parts of the game have been fantastic, but the difficulty and frequency of combat makes it feel like a chore.
 
SuAside said:
alec said:
Don't put points into fire arm crafting. It ain't worth it, IMO, all weapons are in the game world out there, for sale or to nick (with a fatepoint).
Click to expand...
That's pretty wrong, in my view. Yes, firearms is nothing stellar, but it can still produce very useful weapons (like for fighting gollems without breaking your weapon).
Click to expand...

Gunsmithy could be good, if its best guns weren't so readily avaliable in the game. Seriously: two Hand Cannons, two Elephant Guns, plentiful Fine Revolvers. If you pour points into Gunsmithy and then stumble upon these free and fine examples in the gameworld, your discipline pretty much feels like a waste.
On top of that comes the sad fact that the best gun in the game, Droch's Warbringer, is a found schematic and can just as easily be manufactured when you buy some tech manuals in Tarant.

Here's another major tip concerning INT:
[spoiler:9fc87c27b8]Though techies seem to need it in order to learn and make the higher schematics, you can suffice with drinking a potion of intellect. This'll last long enough for you to learn the schematic. If you want to make it, just take another potion of intellect and it'll be enough to fabricate your new contraption! Whoa! You just saved maybe up to ten CP's which you can now use for cool stuff![/spoiler:9fc87c27b8]
 
TailSwallower said:
So, without spoiling anything for me, what can I do, or how should I play to maximise enjoyment? What am I doing wrong? Is a magic character better for the first playthrough?
I'm up to Level 22, and so far some parts of the game have been fantastic, but the difficulty and frequency of combat makes it feel like a chore.
Click to expand...
I'd go for a silver-tongued Mage type build for an initial playthrough. Your social skills should open up a lot of dialogues and options, as well as followers. You can amass a pretty large entourage of muscle, and if the combat gets to you, I found that you can go R/T in some of the less engaging combat situations and your followers will pound enemies into the ground, you can fire off some Harm, and most will fall before they even get to you. Switch to TB for hairier fights and when micromanagement is necessary. If the TB combat gets to you, this can alleviate a lot of later game tedium. Magic is very potent, probably the easiest too since no materials are involved like crafting.

As far as playing it right/wrong goes? I don't think there is a wrong way to play, it's a very thorough RPG that accounts for many different playstyles, builds, choices etc.
Wrong to me would mean ineffective - personally I love Arcanum's character system, but you're best off focusing on a couple areas initially and specializing. It's the kind of system that rewards the specialist and punishes the generalist.
If you don't have a coherent build thought-out beforehand, you can end up wasting build points. Early on, decide which areas you want to master and don't worry about being good at everything, your followers can pick up the slack.
 
Cimmerian Nights said:
It's the kind of system that rewards the specialist and punishes the generalist.
If you don't have a coherent build thought-out beforehand, you can end up wasting build points. Early on, decide which areas you want to master and don't worry about being good at everything, your followers can pick up the slack.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tips.

The main problem for me was that it felt like the game was forcing me to become a generalist. You get stuck in the first town and you can't leave without either fighting the 2 thieves (seemed impossible in my attempts) or you Persuade them to let you past. I hadn't planned on putting any points in Persuasion, but I had to scrape together enough XP to get a level, to put points into it just to leave the damn town.

So that's what I mean by playing it 'wrong' - having to change what I had planned for my character because I can't figure out a way to do it with the build I wanted. I also didn't want to ruin the game for myself with any sort of guide.

So yeah, I think the game will be much better on replays, but the first playthrough seems pretty unforgiving.
 
Just one quick tip:
If it's your first playthrough, try to make a melee/charismatic character. You will do lot's of melee damage with swords after a while and you can gather a large group of followers that will help you in combat.

You can build a tech character on your second playthrought.
 
Download the unofficial patch, there it should be includet. The unofficial patch is a must-have anyway.
 
Does anyone know if the experience is divided between party members or allocated equally to all the NPC's. I'm not sure whether to play the game again as a solo character, or just Dog and I.
 
Only the PC gains experience and when the PC levels up all the NPC of lower or equal level do so too.

The thing is you don't only get exp from enemies by killing them. For every blow you do you get exp. However if a NPC does the blow you don't get the exp. So if a NPC does every bit of damage to a enemy you will only get the kill exp. And since the total blow exp for a monster is actually greater than kill exp you do lose quite a bit of exp for have party members do alot of damage.

Endgame it probably doesn't matter with all the quest exp and stuff, but at the start the loss of per blow exp can really hurt a player that has NPCs do most of the damage.
 
^ Considering that you'd usually hit max. level somewhere around mid-game, it's probably a good idea to bring a few strong NPCs to make the experience a bit more balanced.
 
Dog is out - it would take an eternity to level up in later stages of the game. So I will most likely keep Virgil for the healing spells...and master melee/dodge...and maybe an area based magic attack, to clear the enemy, or at least damage them enough so I can pick them off one at a time. What spell would be considered the most effective...fire - ice - lightening - poison?
 
A "cheat" for extremely fast leveling is to leave the portal in the woods open. Let the mobs flow through & kill them. Gets tedious, but you get massive XP for it.

.Pixote. said:
What spell would be considered the most effective...fire - ice - lightening - poison?
Click to expand...
If your magic aptitude is ridiculously high, the basic black necromancy "Harm" spell does stupidly high damage for very little action points. You can spam people to death with it so fast it's practically a cheat.

Stuff like Disintegrate (from the electricity tree thing) is also very handy. A succesfull hit will just disappear whatever you're shooting at in most cases. It also makes the loot disappear though. :)
One of the most useful spells to get rid of golems without breaking your weapons (next to the technologist fireaxe thing that takes no damage from hitting golems).
 
Wow what I coincidence I just restarted Arcanum after a 3 year hiatus this weekend.

I agree with everyone here in that a magic character is simpler (and arguably easier) while a tech character can be more fun (geez finding schematics and building cool things makes my heart flutter)

Word of warning, if your tech or magickal aptitude is too high, you will suffer repercussions (i.e. not being able to take the tube-thingy in Tarant, not being allowed in tech/magick shops, not being able to ride the train, etc.)

however

teleportation...is...amazing
 
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