Not paying for magic license

Remove all ads!

IOTW is in my spams usually called IOW.
Ant it means "Idiot of the week".

You see, there is a special plaque with that sign on it - and from time to time Tal replaces certain person's avatar with that plaque, for a week.

Guess why does that plaque exist and who deserves it...LOL

Anyway, Tal is not so generous with giving it away... Not even to me...

 

Aaaaaahhhhhhhh. Then I'll try not to brag about my innovative Firkraag 'wizard eye' technique. Or my fog-of-war cloudkill. Or this nifty little trick I learned with the spell 'magic resistance.'

 

Just razzin ya there fella. If i were to disclose the monstrous abuses of the game i've discovered herein, i don't think i'd ever hear the end of it from that extremist fellow. I think your plan is great. I paid, but as i've mentioned in a couple other posts, when i beat up that old cowly in his home (the harper's nextdoor neighbour) i moved in. I rationalize that the paltry sum of 5 g's was nothing to pay for free room and board + storage space, not to mention the rampant use of magic within city limits. Since Viconia paid for the house with her life (burned to a cinder when the fight took to the streets.... tsk), we call it the Viconia Manor, or some such thing. Oddly enough, the game designers inserted exactly six beds on the second floor. Coincidence? I think not.

 

Never fought the Cowled Wizards before...I've always paid the measley $5k, but I have a couple of questions for the experts here:

1) Do all 5 waves come in one right after the other? I.E. Do you have time to rest?

2) Can you run from them into a building to avoid them?

3) If you have already paid them off, is there still a way to attract them to a fight?

Thanks.

 

Auger,

1) No, when you cast a spell the first time, a mage shows up and says, "you've been warned, cast magic again and you'll pay with your life." or some rubbish like that.

After that, there's a certain amount of time, where you can continue casting spells with no repercussion, I don't know how long that is unfortunately.

If you do manage to get their attentin again, the first wave comes to kill you, and you can use spells against them without more wizards showing up. Again its an unspecified amount of time...

I once had a fight with them go on for so long, that when I cast a spell, a NEW wave of them beamed in... complete havoc, I tell you!

2) If you run into a building before the first guy speaks, they won't follow you in, and (I think) they're gone when you come back out again. However, subsequent spell casting will still attrack more wizards.

If the guy gets a chance to give his schpeil, the pissed off wizards will follow you into a house, if you retreat into one.

3) Once paid off, I've never been able to get them to show up again.

Slightly off the subject, in one run-in with them, I retreated out of their site range after they cast a bunch of ugly area affect spells (maybe Abi Dalzim's Horrid Wilting or somthing) and after a time, in the battle report, I saw that they had started to attack and kill each other... strange.

 

Ragusa how dare you flame a cheese tactic poster when your post is as full as cheese as I've ever seen...traps and glyphs and preparing protections inside then drawing them out...little bitty ones I'd say.

Maertyn is either a cheater or is killing them at a level high enough that it just doesn't matter...witness support by use of Staff of Magi...you don't get those off of Orogs.

ArtEChoke that is just too cheesy. Hehe, well I guess its your game.

My staunch opinion of those wimpy cowled wizards is that when you have a party strong enough to take them out without cheese or cheats you don't care about the experience or the loot. The only time it matters that you would like to kill them, you can't do it..so pay the fine or hide from them until you are high enough to kill them straight. You don't really NEED to use magic in the city...don't forget Keldorn's sword can cast a spell that will incite them too, as Ragusa pointed out.



[This message has been edited by Subra (edited September 05, 2001).]

 

Subra, Following your rant the cleric-, mage- and thief-classes should be banned altogether ... when used properly, their spells and backstabbing & traps offer them too many unfair advantages compared to fighters ... And as for "you don't really NEED magic in Atkathla" ... allow me the question: You have never played a mage as a main char ???

-As for protections: a mage's int usually is about 18 .... so if a mage, pissed off by the cowled wizards magic ban, is going to provoke their appearance to kill them - why shouldn't he use his brains for purposes other than reading scrolls and lore? Wouldn't it be likely that he *thinks* "Oh, there will be a fight soon ... how about my daily stoneskin or protection from magical energy ...". To cast cloudkill in the spawning area is just a consequent next step.
-As for traps: a thief knows, that there will most likely, as he observed, cowled woizardss appear where the mage casts his spell. Having learned to avoid engaging strong enemies straight, he thinks "How about using my special abilities if they could grant me survival ..."
-Casting glyphs of warding is just like placing traps. Clerics, not the worlds strongest mele fighters should avoid direct combat and rely on their spells instead. And I didn't even went so far to cast santuary and blade barrier while just standing in the spawning area.

Note: THIS IS AN AMBUSH TACTIC! Ambushs are not meant to be fair! To the contrary, they are meant to KILL enemies quick, unfair and with low risc for you.
And Subra: I *dare* to say that there is a big difference between so called fake-talk shit and a cleverly laid ambush

[This message has been edited by Ragusa (edited September 05, 2001).]

 

Okay, I'll take up the anti-fake talk standard today... Here goes.

I challenge you to try the followng in real life... Walk up to your parents, friends, or employer sitting with his/her back to you in a chair. Throw a glass of cold ice water (urine, beer, whatever) on them while they aren't looking (say they are engrossed in the TV, work, reading - whatever.

Now, do you seriously believe that they are just going to sit there and wait for you to do it again? Most likley not...

So, the game has a bug that can be exploited totally unrealistically.

Taking advantage of it is cheating.

 

Ragusa, seriously, there seems to be a lack of understanding on these boards as to what an ambush is. Anyone who doesn't think of it calls it 'cheese.'

Subra, what does "killing them straight" mean? Is it what I refered to as "SMASH!SMASH!SMASH?"

Why do you want to "kill them straight?"
Do you kill everything "straight?"

If they are "whimpy cowled wizards" then why do you have to wait to a point where "you don't care about the experience or the loot?"

It sounds to me like you wait until late in the game, so you're party is fully pumped up, and can basically wreck anything they want without any planning, forethought or strategy.

Now thats cheese.

 

I went to the Council Bldg in the govt district (i think...going from memory here) and talked to everyone inside but I couldn't find out who I was supposed to bribe. Does anyone know who it is and where they are located (in the event I went to the wrong place)? Thanks.

 

As you first walk in, it's the yellow-green robed wizard standing just off to the side. You have to talk to him.

 

Laying traps before any enemys come in is considered cheating? If so, it's very unfair to thief class. I think you aren't telling me to set a thief in melee? What is a trap for? How to employ it? Surely, an experienced thief should know there are foes coming up before trapping, he don't want to waste his traps, he must foresee that and then hide in shadows. So I say taking advantage of a specific class is reasonable and sane.


Just my two cents.

 

I agree with Laksol thats why you pick your character, so you can exploit them as best you can.

 

Besides, I don't think you *CAN* lay traps when enemies are around.... So not to lay them before they come would, uh, kinda make them useless....

 

Ragusa and others who are jumping on defensively: Understand that I barely begin to rant. If you think its not cheesy to set up your "ambush" before your character even knows what is going to transpire, then I have no hope of convincing you of my point of view. Play how you like, but lay the hell off the sanctimonious assault of the "fake talk" kid.
A "straight up" fight, my dear ArtEChoke is one where you act with the knowledge and skills of your chosen character. When you lay traps in the middle of a city because you somehow divine that you will be attacked there is cheese pure and simple. It is taking advantage of the pathetic AI. Do you think you possess so much more intelligence than the cowled wizards? Do you think they will not learn from their mistakes? If you want to exploit a faulty AI for your game, go for it. I won't say its wrong....I'll say its lame and not much above cheating, but its your game and I say go for it, but don't be talking any shit saying how someone else's cheese or cheat tactic is lame and yours isn't....get the picture?
Now we're getting close to a rant.

 

The only thing we are getting close to is a closed topic Subra. You can disagree with the others, everyone gets an opinion, but you could ease up on the cussing.

 

Ok if you are the leader of those high level magea and you sent out a party to bag a renegade mage and your party didn't come back, you'd send another one, then another, and another and still another? No, its bad AI and easily exploited. Its fine and I'm not saying otherwise...I'm just saying its not right to bang on one guy for posting a cheat when posting your own cheats...thats all and I'll say no more in this thread.

/em bows and backs away from this one

 

quite off the ranting side of the topic but i've heard (erm.. read) somewhere that if you're going for the wizard stronghold and fight the cowled wizards then in the end...

SPOILER for the stronghold -->
.
.
...your apprentice won't show up to make you potions. Not that it's important or anything

 

Actually what BTA was saying is that in the case of the ambush scenario, or the "straight up" fight, the outgoing wizard team didn't return. They don't return back and say, a) we got killed by a bunch of snares (how embarrasing), or b) we got get killed by some really tough yet mentally limited bruisers (how embarrasing!).

Either way, they're going to send that next wave out, indicating the "bad and easily exploited AI." So neither method is taking any more or less advantage of the faulty AI.

One other thing regarding the rather, heh, heated post above: I usually have a Tasloi take me out to dinner before calling me 'dear' ok?

You sassy little Tasloi you!