ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

Well, I have some questions after finishing EoR with Tinker, which btw seemed overpowered on normal (damage reduce + auto heal + PES meant that after lvl30 everything, and I mean it, died to autoattacks, save for 1 vault and last boss)

1. Is there some strategy to the last boss?

- It looks like I have just brute forced the boss, shooting it over and over until it finally died. I feel like there was more to it?
- It seems that the boss consists of 3 god parts and a priest. Is there a reason to hit the parts?
- Is there a way to prevent the priest from getting massive heals?
- Should you take down adds or ignore them?
- Is there a way to use teleport reliably or will it counter any form of teleportation?

2. What was the added difficulty of doing Fume Palace with valves untouched? I got an achievement (even though i did crush them, but since I didnt do gates, that did not count since I had no quest)

3. Are there any shops besides starting town, emporium and those mole things? Do any of the shops ever restock?

4. Is there any consequence for wiping giants or not?

5. What was the point of planting the ritch eggs? How did that help?

6. I think I did all dungeons in the end, after finishing the game, but I only got 3 yeti tissue? Is that random or did I miss it?

7. Can you find craftable rares as loot? Life support, power armor? I found power boots already, they form set with power armor, but I don't think they're craftable?

8. Is the two handed rare gun Shotgonne any good? How exactly does it work? It says you can use it as main and offhand, and that it shoots adjacent targets, but it seems that it only shoots once for me, both with auto attack and with abilities

9. Why sometimes, when I have mental effect on me and use salve (that counters it, forgot the name), nothing happens without any error message?

10. Damage reduction is supposedly in tiers of 40. First 40 cost 1, then from 41 to 80 its 2 etc. Why is it then that 44 dr shows as 41 in the char sheet and 46 is 42? Bug? (edit: hmm, and then 51 correctly shows as 45?)

11. Automated Cloak Tesselation does not say its affected by anything (steam power or whatever) but still it seems to increase in power over time, why?

12. Not really related, but are damage shields affected by resits and armor? And if not, how are they affected by resist penetration and reduction? I have recently read about it on forums and couldn't really confirm it, but if it is, then why would people ever take Arcane Premonition on Archmage when that class is hardly ever taking damage to his health, instead always using shielding, time shield and disruption shield?

13. Why, when using Glacia, rare gun that freezes on hit, do I see frost animation coming from my character when it's the awesome throw that is actually firing the bullets?

Well... that was long. Thanks for reading, and in advance for answering!

I'm clueless on a couple of these, but here's what I can answer:

2. If you destroy the valves, the gun turrets don't spawn. The quest logic needs some more looking at to keep it from breaking if you do things in a non-standard order...
3. No more shops than those, but they do restock a couple of times throughout the game - the earliest opportunity I can think of being when you kill Outpost Leader John.
4. Just the achievement you get.
5. It affects the Gates of Morning in a way you should probably see for yourself, next time...
6. One of the tissue samples is from an area that only appears after Aeryn's death.
7. Nope. If it's craftable, you can't find it, and vice-versa (afaik, and with the obvious exception of randart steamsaws).
11. It probably does scale with steam power - a few steamtech abilities do that and don't explicitly state it. To test it, try putting points into the last talent of the chemistry tree, then seeing if the tooltip changes.
12. As far as I know, damage shields inherit all of your resistances, armor, and so on - they're exactly like extra HP, assuming your attacker doesn't have equipment with Damage Shield Penetration.

Thank you.

6. I guess I didn't get it since I did things out of order? Or is it GEM that has a yeti?

I actually just came in to ask when shops restock. Not sure if I should be holding off killing the shopowner in the hope he gets more artifacts.

1. the god parts are invulnerable, and he only heals a limited number of times.

3. the shops restock upon clearing the sunwall outpost, gates of morning, and steam quarry.

7. the steam powered armor body piece is a schematic always found in the area that appears after killing aeryn, and there is a big boost for having the whole set (there's also randomly found helmet and gloves). Some other unique craftable schematics are found randomly.

9. not sure what's going on, but bear in mind you can't use salves when asleep.

11. some talent descriptions fail to list what they scale with. For instance, a lot of temporal warden/paradox mage talents scale with your paradox level.

Thanks! By the way, I think you can use instant-use salves while asleep.

Salves count as items. You can't use them while asleep. (ever wonder why inner demons get so many kills in embers?)

Istrebitel wrote: 1. Is there some strategy to the last boss?

- It looks like I have just brute forced the boss, shooting it over and over until it finally died. I feel like there was more to it?
- It seems that the boss consists of 3 god parts and a priest. Is there a reason to hit the parts?
- Is there a way to prevent the priest from getting massive heals?
- Should you take down adds or ignore them?
- Is there a way to use teleport reliably or will it counter any form of teleportation?

Generally for strategy against the EoR Final Boss, you need to be able to handle his nuke (get the appropriate resist or do something to mitigate it), and you need to avoid getting overwhelmed by the god parts (summons and abilities). If you can go toe to toe with him (such as with Sawbutcher), then go for it, and wipe him out; else just keep on your toes and maneuver as needed. Kill any of the ads that may cause you problems, else focus your attention either on killing the boss or staying alive (as needed). In regards to teleport, you just can't leave the general area the boss is in. If you teleport around inside the general area, you are fine (teleporting out will snap you and the boss around within the area).

Istrebitel wrote: 2. What was the added difficulty of doing Fume Palace with valves untouched? I got an achievement (even though i did crush them, but since I didnt do gates, that did not count since I had no quest)

Let me guess, you went to the Steam Quarry before finishing off Aeryn? That's what I did and I don't think it counted me as doing the quest.

Istrebitel wrote: 3. Are there any shops besides starting town, emporium and those mole things? Do any of the shops ever restock?

Starting Town, AAA, the Giant Merchant..... I think that's it for merchants.

Istrebitel wrote: 4. Is there any consequence for wiping giants or not?

Yea, you wipe out a harmless imp instead.

Istrebitel wrote: 5. What was the point of planting the ritch eggs? How did that help?

If you plant the ritch eggs and then go invade the Sunwall, you will notice that Ritches will show up in the subsequent caves on the way towards finishing off Aeryn.

Istrebitel wrote: 6. I think I did all dungeons in the end, after finishing the game, but I only got 3 yeti tissue? Is that random or did I miss it?

The Yeti's appear in specific places. You likely missed the one in G.E.M. after Aeryn spawned - unlike the others he is Neutral until you attack him.

Istrebitel wrote: 7. Can you find craftable rares as loot? Life support, power armor? I found power boots already, they form set with power armor, but I don't think they're craftable?

You might be able to find loot that is a set item with craft able items, but craft said items, no.

Istrebitel wrote: 8. Is the two handed rare gun Shotgonne any good? How exactly does it work? It says you can use it as main and offhand, and that it shoots adjacent targets, but it seems that it only shoots once for me, both with auto attack and with abilities

From my experience, if a Steam Weapon is Two Handed, it isn't really any good.

Istrebitel wrote: 9. Why sometimes, when I have mental effect on me and use salve (that counters it, forgot the name), nothing happens without any error message?

Unfortunately, Medical Injectors work a little differently as inscriptions versus Runes or Infusions. Carry a Wild (mental) Infusion or Biting Gale Rune for those extremely dangerous Nightmare Horrors!

Istrebitel wrote: 10. Damage reduction is supposedly in tiers of 40. First 40 cost 1, then from 41 to 80 its 2 etc. Why is it then that 44 dr shows as 41 in the char sheet and 46 is 42? Bug? (edit: hmm, and then 51 correctly shows as 45?)

Maybe a display bug? Someone will have to look at the code to explain it.

Istrebitel wrote: 11. Automated Cloak Tesselation does not say its affected by anything (steam power or whatever) but still it seems to increase in power over time, why?

Didn't really survive long enough as Gunslinger to really give you much insight here, sorry. Unfortunately I killed myself by shooting myself in the back on my run.

Istrebitel wrote: 12. Not really related, but are damage shields affected by resits and armor? And if not, how are they affected by resist penetration and reduction? I have recently read about it on forums and couldn't really confirm it, but if it is, then why would people ever take Arcane Premonition on Archmage when that class is hardly ever taking damage to his health, instead always using shielding, time shield and disruption shield?

I'm pretty sure Damage Shields reduce a flat amount of damage before anything is applied. As for why people might take Aether Permeation (I assume you meant this), it helps for those times when your damage shield gets stripped off, ends, or gets out-damaged.

Istrebitel wrote: 13. Why, when using Glacia, rare gun that freezes on hit, do I see frost animation coming from my character when it's the awesome throw that is actually firing the bullets?

Graphics glitch? DLC is playable, but not necessarily perfect.

Istrebitel wrote: 8. Is the two handed rare gun Shotgonne any good? How exactly does it work? It says you can use it as main and offhand, and that it shoots adjacent targets, but it seems that it only shoots once for me, both with auto attack and with abilities

11. Automated Cloak Tesselation does not say its affected by anything (steam power or whatever) but still it seems to increase in power over time, why?

12. Not really related, but are damage shields affected by resits and armor? And if not, how are they affected by resist penetration and reduction? I have recently read about it on forums and couldn't really confirm it, but if it is, then why would people ever take Arcane Premonition on Archmage when that class is hardly ever taking damage to his health, instead always using shielding, time shield and disruption shield?

8. IIRC Shotgonne shoots between 2-4 extra bullets alongside the main shot, though I don't know if they're randomly aimed at nearby tiles or if they specifically aim for enemies. If it's the latter (which I presume it is), it should show multiple hits of your shot's damage type against that enemy, or other messages of it hitting adjacent targets that you weren't aiming for. If it's only shooting once even with crowds it might be bugged for you.

As for its effectiveness, I've heard it's incredible when used in AoA on an ogre psyshot or gunslinger, but I'm not sure it would be better than just using two steamguns for any other race.

11. Cloak Tesselation scales off of steampower. I know for a fact this applies to the damage reduction but I'm not 100% sure if it applies to the deflect chance as well.

12. As far as I know damage shields are not affected by either resists or armor. There might be some weird interaction with that and damage shield penetration (which I've heard is a funky stat regardless), but I wouldn't be able to say for sure. Arcane Permeation is also pretty bad from what I've heard since apparently other resistances stop working in conjunction with the all-resist it provides - for example, acid damage would get reduced by a % of your arcane resistance as per the prodigy but any additional acid resistance you also have would NOT apply.

Here is not-so-quick video about damage shields and resists. Sorry, but i can't manage time-stamp works. So if you are impatient, skip preparations to 1m 35sec for teh action! https://www.twitch.tv/kaylanes/v/111841119

The conclusion: resists works before damage shield.

Davion Fuxa wrote:
From my experience, if a Steam Weapon is Two Handed, it isn't really any good.

I see that you have not accepted the glory of the master race into your heart.


e: the saw that hits 3 times like sawrd is good, and so is the minigun IIRC. not sure about the rest

Do EoR classes get a fourth category point? If so, where?

Unfortunately you only get three category points in EoR. At least Tinkers and other escort categories not costing a category point helps make up for it.

They trade the cat point for an extra prodigy, heh. Though it comes later in the campaign, in a relative sense, iirc.

Frumple wrote:They trade the cat point for an extra prodigy, heh. Though it comes later in the campaign, in a relative sense, iirc.

Not later in the campaign, when you've finished the campaign. You have to beat the final boss for it.