Portals

[judee]

Well, I finally got my Portal (one player, so I can't set two at onec) and am wondering where the best place to set it is in the first half of the game. I'm just getting into the "double agent" quests and haven't yet found the teleporters in the two areas.

Is Arnika the best bet for now?

Where do you put your teleports?

judee

[vesselle]

~~judee~~

i set mine up inside antone's bedroom in arnika. that way i could portal directly to sell off my gear and rest in safety (his bedroom door closes, so no wandering savant drones, etc)

it worked just fine for the first part of the game.

however, when i got the *xxxx* (spoiler info encrypted for your protection, LOL) in marten's bluff, i discovered a beamer thingie pointed to one of the abandoned houses on the arnika/trynton road. THAT was totally cool.

so then, i could set up my portal there in marten's bluff.  after a quick repair job allowed me to hop to the little arnika/trynton roadhouse and a few other places scattered around dominus, i was very pleased with myself!!

with one set/return portal and the use of that nice little machine i was able to get to a LOT of places. using the hoppy thing i even found myself in places i had NEVER even dreamed of yet. beleive me, after slogging back and forth over every single inch of land from the bluff/mines/swamp to the monastery, it was a real blessing!

V***V

[judee]

Well, I've got mine set in Umpani right now, because I have to go back there, but if I find that hopper thingy you and fix it (pretty sure I know what it needs) I'll just reset my portal there. Lol, to think I forgot to look for it when I was there before. Once I got a certain item I hitailed it back to Trynton.

Sigh, that's what this explorer group is like though. They just push on through and sometimes get caught up in the ride.

My two followers (Might group and Magic group  ) are being more careful. They're using my explorers info and putting it to good use.

judee

[vesselle]

~~judee~~

not to really change the subject, only bend it slightly in another direction, how are you liking your 2 groups? Might & Magic?

the first Blonde Brigade was more magic heavy than the current (even tho it was pretty much half and half), and it's still very early (just walked out of the monastery doors) but i feel like the might emphasis alone is not enough.

using incidental magic from lvl 5 ranger & lvl 5 valk and a bard is making it a much harder game, in my totally extremely humble opinion.

i know you're much further along, do you mind letting me know how you're doing with them and if you have any regrets or stuff like that, y'know.

obtw, if you posted stuff in another area, you can just point me to it. i find myself wandering Merkin's Halls and enjoy it a LOT, but lose my way at times.


V***V

[judee]

I don't mind at all. I love to talk about my groups!  ;D

Actually, I'm not that far along though. Just completed the quests in Arnika with each. From there I'm heading out in two directions. Might will go to Trynton, complete the quests, then straight on to pick up the Mechanical Monk and meet the T'rangs.

My Magic group intend to swing up to the Umpani base and recruit Saxx and Sparkle (is that the right name?) Maybe do a quest or two, then head for Trynton. Once they get to trynton and complete those quests, they will leave the sweet Sparkle with her people and take Madras.

As for their performance... all I can say is so far so GOOD!

Bear in mind, neither group is completely pure. My Might brigade does have an Elf Bishop and a Dwarf Priest. But they are both working on their hand to hand skills, doing some protective spells but mostly fighting during fight time.  <br>
And my Magic group has both a Ranger and a Ninja. There too, I am going to develop the magic capacities of both, to keep everything as magically "ranged" as possible.

I would say, interestingly enough, that the two groups are about equal in their squashing power. Both much more powerful in a much shorter time than the mixed group I'm exploring with. (Of course, part of that may be that I'm learning from the mixed group and not making the same mistakes.)

My mages have already gotten some pretty good spells blasting away. They blast and blast and after a couple of rounds, poof 5 enemies bite the dust at once! My brutes, on the other hand, rush right in up close, they don't hold back, and they bash away. The enemies drop one by one, but they sure do drop allright!

What's fun is the difference in playing style. And the sound effects. My fighters are all grunts, clashes, bangs. Ha, they're great to use when I'm feeling out of sorts and want to hit something. Great relief!!  

The mages on the other hand, are planning, strategy. They don't grunt, oh no, they whoosh their spells off with myriad sound effects dancing through the air.

I would be hard put to say which one I like best. What's nice is, I can play according to my mood.

I'll keep you posted on how they do later in the game.

And I see you got your Blonde Brigade up and running! Yaaay!  ;D

Your turn, now, tell me about your blondies. Did you recreate some of the previous ones, or start from scratch?

judee

[vesselle]

~~judee~~

that sounds like so much fun! it's really great when you put together a group that just clicks and can work thru anything the game throws at them. and your idea of using your priest and bishop with their HTH skills is inspired! when i read that, i thot it sounded so natural, why hadn't i thot of that? ::sigh:: i think my monk is the one i miss the most from my first Blonde Brigade.

the next Blonde Brigade will be along, don't worry about that. that group is my therapy! they are all different sides of me, so i couldn't NOT make them. LOL. they just take longer to cajole to come out and play.

anyway, i have been going thru tryouts a LOT since the first group went *poof* and i found a group that has earned my respect.  they aren't a Blonde Brigade, but because i was so busy trying to make a new BB, i almost tossed this group into the junkpile. and that woulda been a tragic loss.

these misfits finished up the monastery, notably younger than my previous groups (but that's due to my eagerness to get out of the danged place!). they are all Lvl 6 & 7. we don't usually see the light of day until Lvl 9 or 10, so this is the youngest group to leave the monastery so far.

i call them the Stepkids. they bicker a lot. 2 girls and 4 guys. (its like a doubled version of me and my twin bros) on the surface, at first, i was extremely reserved with them, but there's something there. their sheer tenacity is amazing.  <br>
i decided to keep them when we stepped out of the monastery. we ran for a hidey hole along the southern wall, and were attempting to cajole some spells out of our mage, and he was flubbing them left and right. so the priestess decides to see what she could do and she wiped out all of her mana.

OK. no prob. we huddle to rest, and, of course, we're jumped ~~ by 11 piercer modais and their sige, topped off by 7 hardshell crabs and 9 venom crabs. (greedy me, i saw those critters solely as providers of modai tusks and venom plates!)

i thot to myself, oh noooo! might as well just reload now and spare all of us the heartache, but i wanted to see if maybe....

so after every potion we carried had been drunk, and when everything that could be tossed was, mostly back onto ourselves, we were still standing. LOL ... at one point we had irritated, nauseated, slept, blinded, paralyzed AND frightened OURSELVES!! the fight was literally a struggle that lasted 30 minutes real time.

we all made it! barely alive, but with gold, tusks and plates in our pockets! as we walked away, i felt a lot of respect. boy, are they ever a bedraggled, un-hero like lot. but this lot are keepers!

V***V

[judee]

¨-vesselle-

Ah Glory!!  ;D ;D ;D

I love it when that happens! How many times have I run into a mob of monsters where I've said "No way I'm getting out of here alive! Best stop and reload right away." But the, I shrug and say, "Let's just see what happens..." And lo and behold - VICTORY!!.

What a rush!  ;D Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!

judee