Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

[Myshlaevsky]

I recently picked up a bunch of aging games I'd been perennially missing out on from GOG. It was mainly stuff like Icewind Dale, NWN and Jagged Alliance; games similar to other older games I'd really enjoyed but never got around to playing or finishing completely. Among these was the game mentioned in the title, Arcanum.

I think that I'm going to play this one first but I've heard it has a few traps and pitfalls for the unwary player. I'm not a big fan of playing games completely blind, especially when a bad decision can really screw up your ability to progress or perform in the game. Are there any particularly prominent traps awaiting the inexperienced player in Arcanum? Or character builds that are just not viable?

I had a look at some older threads, and while I found some useful advice I would appreciate more specific wisdom, particularly regarding the skills available.

[Science Officer]

install the latest, greatest unofficial fan-made patch you can find.
you'll miss a whole bunch of bugs and corrupted save files.

[Ozymandias]

The easiest build to start is probably a tech-based fighter. Get enough skills to craft the balanced sword in the first town, grab Sogg from the tavern (if you have 9 Cha or higher) and you're set for most of the game (upgrade to pyro axes when possible, and get charged rings).

Other than that, wizards are supposed to be easy (spam Harm) but I've never really liked them.

Crafting is very strong in Arcanum. The healing salves are easy to make, and the ingredients are dirt cheap, and there are lots of really nice items you can make with electrics.

Diplomacy is a really good skill; it lets you solve a lot of quests, and the second-level bonus (expert? it's been a while) gives you another party member slot.

Dexterity is the most important stat for pretty much anyone; it determines attack speed and therefore number of attacks and therefore damage. There's a large bonus at 20, as there is with Strength, so it's worth getting them up there. You can buy potions that boost your int to 20 temporarily, which lets you craft anything (if you buy enough manuals) except diploma schematics. That's kinda cheesy though so I usually put points in Int anyway.

[skb]

Also don't play in real time for your first time, play in turn-based until you know how the combat system works, and remember its existence for every big fight.

[Valameer]

I think I know where you're coming from. I don't like starting a game several times just to find out I've made a string of dud characters.

I haven't played Arcanum in a few years, but it's still one of my favorite games. Here's some points of advice from me (though do note that this is a game you can play multiple ways, so you might find something else works for you):


Switch the game to turn based combat and leave it there. The real time engine leaves a lot to be desired and, unless you are aiming for specific tactics, you'll be better served by the turn based engine. If you play with real time, fights will be over within a few seconds, and someone in your party will be dead, and you'll probably feel like reloading to figure out what the heck happened.


Guns are horrible weapons in this game. Sure, you can make them work if you really try, but for the most part (especially early in the game) they are a trap.


A bruiser character with high melee, high dodge, strength, and a fast weapon will do very well in Arcanum. My first completed playthrough was with a half-orc swordsman with a dagger of speed. It was easy, but not very satisfying. I didn't put any points into technology or magic.


Don't try to use some magic and some technology on the same character. The effectiveness of your spells/gear is based almost entirely on your magical/technology aptitude meter. If your meter is hovering around 0, you won't be effective. The best way to use either tech or magic is to bury the meter at 100 on whichever side you are using, and leaving it there. Being an elf or a dwarf helps, since they both get an aptitude bonus (depending on which way you want to go).


That being said, magic is better. Some will argue that tech is better, but they are lying. For a beginning player, magic is by far better. It's easier to master, and you don't need to know the in's and out's of the game to do it well. Try tech on a second play-through if it intrigues you (tech is a lot of fun if you know where to get all your materials).


Harm is an awesome spell. Yes, ok, it's actually completely overpowered. If you have magical aptitude 100 and harm, you will be able to handle almost any challenge. If you find that it makes combat boring, you can always keep the spell in your back pocket, while slinging other spells.


I particularly like the schools of white necromancy, black necromancy, conveyance, temporal, and force. But disintegrate isn't as good as you'd think. It doesn't do much more damage than harm - and it destroys the target's gear.


Read the instruction manual if you can find a copy somewhere. It's the best instruction manual ever written. Very immersive.


Don't be afraid to roleplay whatever personality you'd like. Sometimes picking the "polite" or "good" dialogue options can close down as many doors as picking the "rude" or "evil" ones. Also, low intellect can be fun, but it gets old quickly. High intellect and persuasion give you the most enjoyable dialogue options. And that's really one of the best parts of the game.


Surviving when you are low level is more difficult than once you've become established. Which is why a half-orc or half-ogre bruiser or a mage with harm will serve you well.


Beware the pickpocket at the train station.


Don't mess with Madam Tousade.

The most fun I've had is playing a snarky elven mage. Sure, I caused some bar fights with my elitist attitude, but it was a riot.

Hope some of this helps.

[Myshlaevsky]

Thanks for all the tips and advice from everybody. I feel I'll start off with a mage, as a kind of beginner-friendly compromise between the complexity of a primarily technological character and the simplicity of pure melee. Then I'll try to move on to making much greater use of technology.

[MickJay]

Guns tend to work a lot better in real-time than in turn-based, but even then, you will need a decent piece and a LOT of ammo to keep up.

The first spells from each of the elemental spell colleges can stack with each other; Purity of Water is highly useful for any type of social interaction (especially if it means getting the stat to 20 or above), and extra dexterity is invaluable in combat.

Get a "nice" set of clothes (+20 to reaction) as soon as possible.

High Persuasion is good for practically every type of character (except for, perhaps, the crazed axe murderer).

If you decide to play a magic user, remember that you can maintain one spell per 4 points in intelligence (up to 5 at 20); however, you probably won't really need more than 12 int. Force and Conveyance colleges (especially their final powers) are incredibly useful (Force is quite versatile as well); as for damage/cost/availability ratio, Harm is one of the best offensive spells. Then there are all the more subtle colleges (i.e. Mental, Meta), these too can be used to great effect.

Tech characters (often gunslingers) should focus at most on 4 tech trees, and even that will be viable only in the late game; remember that you can get all the craftable items, up to rank 4 from the tech tree, from your followers, once you find them and train them up. Unless your character concept goes along the lines of a self-sufficient Jack of all trades, of course.

Thief or warrior type characters tend to be unaligned, or weakly aligned to either of the sides; you can still gain minor benefits from both tech items and magic, while developing skills and stats.

Getting any stat to 20 gives you an extra bonus (str 20+ doubles damage modifier, dex of 20 gets you additional 5 action points, etc). This is true regardless of whether the stat is high from putting points into it, items, or temporary effects (certain potions and magic).

You won't get enough stat points to buy everything; even with level cap removal mod, you won't manage to level up everything you'd want. Focus on one-two stats at first, get Persuasion to Expert level early on, and train one of the combat skills to a decent level (or get Harm and work on improving your Magick affinity by getting more spells).

There's probably a lot more than can be suggested here. In any case, do not neglect some way of ensuring survival in combat; Persuasion can (and will) help you with many, many things (including bigger companion cap), but you get xp for hitting enemies yourself. Lyceios has got a point about bruiser-type character being highly efficient in combat.

There is a relatively simple way of getting a lot of money if you can gain access to the areas in the shops where all the items are stored. You can loot them repeatedly, as long as you're not caught (the stock refreshes every 24 in-game hours, as long as you're not looking at the chest itself, i.e. it's off screen). You can keep all you need and sell the rest back to the shopkeeper for cash (one shopkeeper keeps money in the chest as well). Of course, doing that requires high thieving skills, and can ruin much of the fun from finding loot later.

Oh, and when you reach Blackroot, quickly go towards the East, and save the dog - it'll join you, and is quite useful. If it gets killed, you can still revive it, but you don't have much time for that.

[Ryuho Tsugu]

Oh, and when you reach Blackroot, quickly go towards the East, and save the dog - it'll join you, and is quite useful. If it gets killed, you can still revive it, but you don't have much time for that.

Ashbury, not Blackroot.

[Cogwheel]

I, uh...


You know what, I'll shut up now, every piece of advice I could give has been given three times over. Have fun :smalltongue:

[MickJay]

Ashbury, not Blackroot.

You're right, of course, thanks for correcting that.

[Lord of the Helms]

I would like to second that guns are severely underpowered compared to melee. Turn based was still better for them than real time for me, because it gives you a chance to pick off you enemies one by one from decent distances. But you need the most powerful weapons around to even come close to competing, and they will burn through your ammo like crazy.
I wonder if there is any fan-patch/mod out there that removes enemies' ability to dodge gunshots? Because great Dio, that's annoying.

That said, Tech characters are fun. I play a suave, charming, always excuisitely dressed gunslinger dwarf mainly for coolness reasons, and it mostly works. When I have trouble, I just release my NPCs who normally just haul around stuff while I do all the fighting :smalltongue:

[Cogwheel]

That said, Tech characters are fun. I play a suave, charming, always excuisitely dressed gunslinger dwarf mainly for coolness reasons, and it mostly works. When I have trouble, I just release my NPCs who normally just haul around stuff while I do all the fighting :smalltongue:

I did that. Only replace "gunslinger" with "wielding a giant flaming axe". Fair bit more amusing, that. Also, utterly broken.

I should get out of this thread before someone reminds me about my LP.

[MickJay]

Cogwheel, haven't you been doing an Arcanum LP a while ago? I used to follow that. :smallbiggrin:

[Cogwheel]

Cogwheel, haven't you been doing an Arcanum LP a while ago? I used to follow that. :smallbiggrin:


Ah yes, 'LPs'. We have dismissed that claim.


No, seriously, I'll get around to it. Done with exams and all, just dealing with a minor apocalypse over here in Japan :smalltongue: Soon enough.

[Nerd-o-rama]

I had a perfectly fun time with a half-elf gentleman gunslinger in this game (after the first area where I had to let Virgil do all the killing because I couldn't hit **** with a flintlock), so don't worry too much about playing inefficient builds.

The trick with gunslingers, really, is to make your own weapons and bullets. The Fine Revolver, Looking-Glass Rifle, Elephant Gun, and crossover weapons derived from them will make the early, mid, and late games respectively far easier. Also Molotov Cocktails, which are almost the tech equivalent of Harm. Extremely cheap to make, extremely cheap to use, just remember to put some ranks in Throwing.

Also, an interesting thing to note is that you can store stuff in pretty much any chest. Clear out a warehouse in Tarrant or, better yet, a thieves' hideout in the sewers with a bed and a chest and turn it into your own personal Bat Cave. Makes inventory management a lot easier if you can leave big weapons or good armor you can't use yet or tech manuals in your "base".

[psilontech]

... How does hitting things with a sword cost mana, and why does it make me pass out?

[Ryuho Tsugu]

... How does hitting things with a sword cost mana, and why does it make me pass out?

The blue bar is fatigue, not mana. If I remember correctly, using weapons you don't meet the ST requirements for and running while over certain levels of encumberance will have adverse effects on your FT.

[Dhavaer]

Using all your action points also costs fatigue. If your action point bar goes red, rethink that last action.

[MickJay]

Casting spells, waving swords and getting hit with sticks until you pass out from sheer exhaustion happens all to often in the early part of the game...

[psilontech]

What I get for basing my assumptions on the game as being a lot of Fallout with a little Diablo thrown into the mix, I suppose.

[The Glyphstone]

It's closer to Baldur's Gate with a little bit of Fallout, I'd say.

[Cespenar]

It's closer to Baldur's Gate with a little bit of Fallout, I'd say.

Actually it's closer to Fallout with a little bit of Baldur's Gate, to be honest. :smalltongue:

[GolemsVoice]

Oh, and remember that the first encounter with the thieves at the bridge is, for many, one of the most difficult fights in the whole game. I myself solved it once through harm-spamming, and once by placing a dynamite on the ground and running around until I managed to get at least some of them caught in the blast while surviving myself. Tricky, but fun!

[Cogwheel]

Oh, and remember that the first encounter with the thieves at the bridge is, for many, one of the most difficult fights in the whole game. I myself solved it once through harm-spamming, and once by placing a dynamite on the ground and running around until I managed to get at least some of them caught in the blast while surviving myself. Tricky, but fun!

Persuasion (one or two ranks, I forget). The best way to do it. The best.

Besides, Lukan is hilarious, so the difficulty is worth it.

[Deth Muncher]

Maaaaan. I want this game, people say such good things about it, but I wish I didn't have at least 60 other games on my to-do list.

I'm not joking. O_o

[Cespenar]

Maaaaan. I want this game, people say such good things about it, but I wish I didn't have at least 60 other games on my to-do list.

I'm not joking. O_o

60? I wonder what they are. My own list can use some help, 'cause I'm going through them like a flaming vorpal sword through butter.

[Deth Muncher]

60? I wonder what they are. My own list can use some help, 'cause I'm going through them like a flaming vorpal sword through butter.

I'll PM you when I get a chance - don't wanna derail the thread any further than I have to. :P

Back to Arcanum though - a friend of mine made the right choice and picked this game as opposed to renewing his WoW subscription and has been loving the crap out of it.

[GolemsVoice]

Do both. Play WoW AND Arcanum.

The pity is, one day my PC decided to, yes, shred the game CD of Arcanum, for no other reason than the inborn malice of all machines. I heard a loud crash, and when I opened the CD drive, the CD was shattered into about 8 pieces. The GOOD thing is, I had it installed, and the latest fan patch made the CD unnecessary. The BAD thing is, I lost it all when my harddrive died. Better see if I still have the installation CD here. I bought it back when it was still new, including manual and all. And yes, it is one of the most impessive manuals I've ever seen, easily 150 pages long, written by an ingame scientist. Beautiful!