Okay so in a previous thread I made a briefly described a character based off ytzk's idea: I'm going to make this character now for my next playthrough, his single goal will be to take over the world! The way this will be achieved is by: a) Killing off or enslaving all world leaders or people who might resist my character's total and overt dominion. The list I can think of is: Gilbert Bates, Edward Willoughsby, Donn Throgg, Darian Maug, Pollock, King Praetor, Maximillian, Raven, Loghaire Thunder Stone, Kan Kerai, M'in Gorad, King Farad, Prince Auguste Farad, Mayor of Blackroot, Mayor of Ashbury, Gideon Laeir, Simeon Tor, Doc Roberts and finally Constable Owens. I don't see Randver Thunder Stone as a problem as he's not a strong leader, and I trust that Alexander will kill K'an Hua for me. As for Alexander himself he seems pretty in awe of the player character, and I think having a religous following would suit my character's needs. b) Get a sexy base of operations, I'm thinking Gilbert Bate's pad. c) Don't side with the Spoiler dark elves, as if your character believes Arronax is returning he would be competition in taking rulership of Arcanum. Upon finding Arronax in the void I'd kill him and also all the other people who were banished. So my questions in making this character are: 1) Is there any significant figures I've missed that need to be taken care of in order to crush resistance that would arise when my character tried to take over the world? 2) I want to create a team of hulking retarded followers via the muscle maker so I have a group of slaves who I can depend on to unquestionably do whatever cruel and brutal deed my character wishes. Now who out of all the followers do you think I should turn into a gibbering, drooling mess? I was thinking Geoffrey Tarellond-Ashe would be a prime candidate, he's such a smarmy little weasel who thinks too highly of himself, also it will be highly amusing to see him charging into battle in arcane platemail and chopping people to pieces; as to who else I should do this to though I'm not sure. 3) Is there anything I haven't put down that you think is an important prerequisite for total domination? Any other thoughts? Obviously I realise there is nothing in game that will give my character the satisfaction of being declared Supreme Ruler of All Arcanum (that would be a very cool reputation though wouldn't it?), but I'd like to believe that after the defeat of the final big bad man that my character will return to the world and take over everything. Also if anyone is interested in the specifics of the build I can post it up if you want, but suffice to say it involves judicious use of the Brain Builder. Let me know what you think.
1) How about the Silver Lady? I don't remember if she can be killed or not, but... Also, how about the Caladonian Council? They might be able to rally the citizens against you if you're not careful. And the Black Stone Clan (or whatever they're called) might also have something like a leader. I don't know your feelings about the Isle of Despair, so that's up to you.
I'm reasonably sure the game won't let you attack the Silver Lady unfortnately, otherwise yeah that bitch would be up for the chop! I don't think I've tried magic on her before though so maybe there is a glimmer of hope. Yeah the Caladonian Council and the remnants of the Black Mountain Clan are a good idea, I'll add them to the list. As for the Isle of Despair I don't think they're an issue, I'll just make sure to deal with Maximillian while I'm there. I've also got another question to add to my original 3: Has anyone ever had any success imprisoning people? As in when you cast the Dominate Will spell and then cancel it, is there a way to make the people you cast it on remain in a new location? I have just experimented a bit with it with a different character and it doesn't seem like there's a way, also as far as I can tell there is no permanent way to lock doors either, but if anyone has found a method I'd be curious to hear it. I thought it would be fun to imprison some of the important figures of Arcanum, also I could produce a bank of powerful characters (and maybe animals) who I could enslave whenever I chose; sadly however I don't think it is an option.
You could side with them anyway, treating this move as a ruse to get access to Arronax. This way you would be able to kill K'an Hua yourself. Personally, I don't think Alexander, as powerful and skill as he is, is a match for K'uan Hua. One Disintegrate and it's game over for him. I once tried imprisoning some NPCs in the zoo in Caladon and the prisons on the Half Ogre Island. Unfortunately, NPCs always seem to teleport to their initial location after the game is saved and loaded. That's an easy one: 1. Cast Magelock on door 2. Cast Reflection Shield on same door 3. Cancel Magelock 4. Cancel Reflection Shield Result: Permanently magickally held door.
What Muro said, BUT, if you permanently hypnotise the subject, then command them to wait in the zoo or ogre-cages then, well, they'll wait... for ever. MWAHAHAHA!
Hmmm it is tempting but that way I miss out on Mental Mastery, unless I broke into Tulla by the travelling over the top of it and stopping exploit, but I'm not really too keen to use any exploits really. Yeah I was thinking the zoo, and maybe the basement in Ashbury castle as well as the existing prisons that are already in the game. The thought of having kings imprisoned in the zoo is pretty demeaning! Is there no other way than exploiting meta to have these kind of shenanigans though? Because using meta like that (or to control people permenantly like ytzk said and leave them in the zoo) does feel like an exploit and as I said I'm not really keen on using exploits; I like my characters to achieve what they do legitimately. I guess if there's no other way then I'll probably just go without, killing the world leaders will meet my goal effectively enough. I just thought it would be fun to have all the master mages imprisoned for use anytime I want to do my evil bidding (I should be able to enslave them through use of the mental inhibitor) but I guess it's just not meant to be! I'll just have to put up with the group of 5 or so I can get through conventional means.
Not really. Nothing prevents you from following both the evil and good paths simultaneously. The Silver Lady will no longer speak with you after you join the Dark Elves, but you can still investigate Nasrudin's Tomb in Caladon, acquire a ship, travel to Thanatos, meet the God of Thanatos and end up being welcome in Tulla. There is even a special type of encounter at the Ring of Brodgar for this path. None that I'm aware of, no. I generally agree, though in some of my games I rationalise that it's a legitimate way of making spells permanent, seeing how we can already observe the results of casting permanent spells by other mages in Arcanum. Examples: permanently magickally held containers in T'sen-Ang and Tulla, not to mention all the undead creatures walking around, which - as logic dictates - are the result of a permanent Create Undead.
Well that's something I didn't know! Do you just join the Dark Elves and then not do their missions such as: Spoiler massacring Stillwater, because that bars you entirely from Quintarra if I recall, though I guess that may not be an issue Or are you required to do some of them? I'll probably try this route because yeah I guess that is the best way of dealing with K'uan Hua. Rats! I'd tend to think though that the undead roaming around is a result of cursed ground or something like that, and who knows maybe someone has the duty of regularly using scrolls to keep those containers locked, either way it seems like the meta thing is just an oversight by the developers or else NPCs would also take advantage of it. If they did do so then I'd be okay with it.
Yeah but npcs can't cast spells intelligently anyway. I say let meta-abuse reign, but only because I enjoy it so much. Seriously though, given the investment of time, skill points and fatigue, it seems quite reasonable to suppose meta-abuse is part of the game-world. The process doesn't contradict the intended mechanics of magick, in the world or game of arcanum, it just... oh who am I kidding? It's the best exploit ever!
The second, seeing how the quest in the spoiler tags needs to be fulfilled for your joining to be a fact rather than just an aspiration in the first place. M'in Gorad telling the Living One to go to Caladon and report to K'an Hua is what triggers his appearance in the church and talking with K'an Hua in the church is what probably triggers his appearance at the Ring of Brodgar later on. Getting the Vendigroth mission from both K'an Hua and the God of Thanatos (and fulfilling it, naturally) is what triggers the special encounter at the Ring.
It just seems wrong to me due to things like the Conservation of Energy, and I know that's a physics argument but I still don't think someone should be able to maintain spells with no expenditure. I guess you could suppose the meta thing is a mystical loophole, but nevertheless I think I'll still absolve this character of meta abuse and maybe dedicate a character to its abuse at a later time. That's pretty interesting, I always steered clear of the evil side of things apart from with a couple of characters because I assumed that it would bar you from magical college mastery and I never thought exclusively siding with the dark elves made any sense for a technologist. Thanks very much for bringing this to light for me, it's always interesting to find fresh content in such an old game. As for disintergrating of K'an Hua though, will this result in instant banishment or not? Because I know if you attack the God of Thanatos that's what happens. As an aside obviously I'm new here, is there much point in me using the spoiler tags? Because the game is pretty old now, I was just wondering if anyone cared about spoilers any more or not? Back to my original topic, no ones commented on who they think is best to brain damage yet! What I'm wondering is which followers you find annoying and why to narrow it down a bit? I think surly Virgil and Geoffrey are good picks, Virgil is such a whiner early on, but apart from that I'm unsure as to who would make good Pinkies to my Brain.
It will. The game isn't new, but new players still appear every now and then, thanks to Drog's UAP and the fact that Arcanum got released on GOG.com. Using spoiler tags is a polite move when revealing spoilerous plot details in response to someone's question in the Arcanum Hints & Tips forum, especially if the person asking the question gives the impression of being a first time player. They probably aren't necessary in the Arcanum Discussion forum. A forumer should expect to encounter spoilers here and either avoid the section or browse at his own risk. Who if not Magnus? I mean come on. Franklin can get some too.
Not quite what your after but you may like it. In the game is a recipe that lets you create a device that mimics a create undead spell. These can be made fairly reliably and stock piled. then for the end of the game when you prepare to go into the void u go around and gather up the most powerful batch of zombies u can murder/make. Stay in turn based have your speed jacked up and a teleport ready to get u where u need to go. You cant dally around much in the final parts but with the army of super zombies your bringing you really dont need much else.
