• Wiz 6

    From Jhulian Waldby@wichitajayhawks@msn.com to comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg on Mon Nov 18 19:26:29 2024
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg

    From the guide:

    Casting a spell that requires Oratory is less likely to be effective if
    you switch to a class that does not have Oratory as a native class
    skill. This makes classes that use Alchemy less useful than you may think.

    ----

    Back to the drawing board. At first I thought it was just the low char. levels, but Treon likes to backfire in big matchups where it hurts. He
    easily class changes into an alchemist, but there goes your fireball.
    Had a lvl 11 valkyrie with spear+2 too which will be a shame to put in
    the recycle bin.

    The party that killed 7 Savant Troopers in one go.

    This is all for my wiz 7 game (I've got ongoing games in 6-8).

    The up side is that I've got a promising Wiz 6 party. I made it to the
    Toll Troll a couple days ago which is the furthest I've been since the 90s.

    This is what's important:

    "Party import is most enhanced by advanced items and especially weapons
    in particular."

    It's not about getting all your spells moved across or having your
    experience decimate the landscape - that will all be leveled in time,
    but like, for example, how the spear + 2 shows up in Wiz 8 as "Mystic
    Spear" and is even more splendid and deadly.

    It's probably a good place to stop. I'm up against a brick wall. I've
    got to travel to Munkharama, Orkogre Castle etc. to get anything done.
    Orkogre Castle is in a clearing in the Forest to the ...
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Jhulian Waldby@wichitajayhawks@msn.com to comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg on Mon Nov 18 19:55:32 2024
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg

    Jhulian Waldby wrote:
    From the guide:

    Casting a spell that requires Oratory is less likely to be effective if
    you switch to a class that does not have Oratory as a native class
    skill.  This makes classes that use Alchemy less useful than you may think.

      ----

    Back to the drawing board.  At first I thought it was just the low char. levels, but Treon likes to backfire in big matchups where it hurts.  He easily class changes into an alchemist, but there goes your fireball.
    Had a lvl 11 valkyrie with spear+2 too which will be a shame to put in
    the recycle bin.

    The party that killed 7 Savant Troopers in one go.

    This is all for my wiz 7 game (I've got ongoing games in 6-8).

    The up side is that I've got a promising Wiz 6 party.  I made it to the Toll Troll a couple days ago which is the furthest I've been since the 90s.

    This is what's important:

    "Party import is most enhanced by advanced items and especially weapons
    in particular."

    It's not about getting all your spells moved across or having your experience decimate the landscape - that will all be leveled in time,
    but like, for example, how the spear + 2 shows up in Wiz 8 as "Mystic
    Spear" and is even more splendid and deadly.

    It's probably a good place to stop.  I'm up against a brick wall.  I've got to travel to Munkharama, Orkogre Castle etc. to get anything done. Orkogre Castle is in a clearing in the Forest to the ...

    It turns out I don't have to throw that game away. Treon is a lvl 9
    alchemist and it's reasonable enough to class change him now into a
    psionic, which resumes the Oratory usage. You can't tell what you've
    got until it's in the recycle bin. BTW that seems to be the pattern
    with the pre-generated characters, groomed characters that slide into
    stats for better classes.

    By better - I consider a samurai better than a fighter and so on and so
    forth.
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Mike S.@Mike_S@nowhere.com to comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg on Tue Nov 19 08:56:10 2024
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg

    On Mon, 18 Nov 2024 19:55:32 -0600, Jhulian Waldby
    <wichitajayhawks@msn.com> wrote:

    By better - I consider a samurai better than a fighter and so on and so >forth.

    I have now played Wiz 1,2, 3 and 5. I only played Wiz 4 briefly before
    dumping it. Other then a thief to a ninja (which I ended up
    regretting), I never class changed and I am hoping I won't have to in
    Wiz 6 either. I can't identify with my characters when every character
    in my party can do everything.
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Jhulian Waldby@wichitajayhawks@msn.com to comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg on Tue Nov 19 08:45:51 2024
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg

    Mike S. wrote:
    On Mon, 18 Nov 2024 19:55:32 -0600, Jhulian Waldby
    <wichitajayhawks@msn.com> wrote:

    By better - I consider a samurai better than a fighter and so on and so
    forth.

    I have now played Wiz 1,2, 3 and 5. I only played Wiz 4 briefly before dumping it. Other then a thief to a ninja (which I ended up
    regretting), I never class changed and I am hoping I won't have to in
    Wiz 6 either. I can't identify with my characters when every character
    in my party can do everything.

    One of the things I did this time around in Wiz 6 was to get rid of the dedicated thief. While a thief can produce damage near to a fighter
    type or ranger, they have poor AC and HP. My rolled party included a
    Ninja and a Ranger. The Ranger became the best skullduggery and was sufficient to the task of unlocking castle doors. Trapped chests are
    still a circus, however, but manageable through save/reload.
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Mike S.@Mike_S@nowhere.com to comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg on Tue Nov 19 13:53:33 2024
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg

    On Tue, 19 Nov 2024 08:45:51 -0600, Jhulian Waldby
    <wichitajayhawks@msn.com> wrote:

    One of the things I did this time around in Wiz 6 was to get rid of the >dedicated thief. While a thief can produce damage near to a fighter
    type or ranger, they have poor AC and HP. My rolled party included a
    Ninja and a Ranger. The Ranger became the best skullduggery and was >sufficient to the task of unlocking castle doors. Trapped chests are
    still a circus, however, but manageable through save/reload.

    This is why I regretted getting rid of my thief in the earlier
    Wizardries. They pick locks better then Ninjas. I hated winning a
    battle only to have my party blown to smithereens because of the loot.
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Jhulian Waldby@wichitajayhawks@msn.com to comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg on Tue Nov 19 18:30:05 2024
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg

    Mike S. wrote:
    On Tue, 19 Nov 2024 08:45:51 -0600, Jhulian Waldby
    <wichitajayhawks@msn.com> wrote:

    One of the things I did this time around in Wiz 6 was to get rid of the
    dedicated thief. While a thief can produce damage near to a fighter
    type or ranger, they have poor AC and HP. My rolled party included a
    Ninja and a Ranger. The Ranger became the best skullduggery and was
    sufficient to the task of unlocking castle doors. Trapped chests are
    still a circus, however, but manageable through save/reload.

    This is why I regretted getting rid of my thief in the earlier
    Wizardries. They pick locks better then Ninjas. I hated winning a
    battle only to have my party blown to smithereens because of the loot.

    Oh, I think you will like Wiz 6 then. Chests are separate from
    encounters. When the battle's over, it's over.
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Jhulian Waldby@wichitajayhawks@msn.com to comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg on Tue Nov 19 20:09:42 2024
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg

    Jhulian Waldby wrote:
    Mike S. wrote:
    On Tue, 19 Nov 2024 08:45:51 -0600, Jhulian Waldby
    <wichitajayhawks@msn.com> wrote:

    One of the things I did this time around in Wiz 6 was to get rid of the
    dedicated thief.  While a thief can produce damage near to a fighter
    type or ranger, they have poor AC and HP.  My rolled party included a
    Ninja and a Ranger.  The Ranger became the best skullduggery and was
    sufficient to the task of unlocking castle doors.  Trapped chests are
    still a circus, however, but manageable through save/reload.

    This is why I regretted getting rid of my thief in the earlier
    Wizardries. They pick locks better then Ninjas. I hated winning a
    battle only to have my party blown to smithereens because of the loot.

    Oh, I think you will like Wiz 6 then.  Chests are separate from encounters.  When the battle's over, it's over.

    Additionally, when one class changes in Wiz 6, all the skill points are residual. If you get your thief to 100 skullduggery and then change to
    ninja, the ninja will retain the 100 points in skullduggery. In the
    earlier Wizardries it was all stats that produced a percentage number
    for disarm, so that a ninja who used to be a thief was losing a good
    deal of lockpicking ability due to the percentage formula.

    I'm doing this presently in wiz 7, thief -> bard. Having the
    lockpicking at maximum already when taking on bard means that he can put
    all the points into Music, which usually conflicts by being in the same category as lockpicking.
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Mike S.@Mike_S@nowhere.com to comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg on Wed Nov 20 08:45:48 2024
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg

    On Tue, 19 Nov 2024 18:30:05 -0600, Jhulian Waldby
    <wichitajayhawks@msn.com> wrote:

    Oh, I think you will like Wiz 6 then. Chests are separate from
    encounters. When the battle's over, it's over.

    I did not know that. That is interesting.
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Mike S.@Mike_S@nowhere.com to comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg on Wed Nov 20 08:50:55 2024
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg

    On Tue, 19 Nov 2024 20:09:42 -0600, Jhulian Waldby
    <wichitajayhawks@msn.com> wrote:

    Additionally, when one class changes in Wiz 6, all the skill points are >residual. If you get your thief to 100 skullduggery and then change to >ninja, the ninja will retain the 100 points in skullduggery. In the
    earlier Wizardries it was all stats that produced a percentage number
    for disarm, so that a ninja who used to be a thief was losing a good
    deal of lockpicking ability due to the percentage formula.

    More good info. I did not know this either about Wiz 6. It is actually
    making me rethink my whole thief before ninja idea. Thank you.

    I'm doing this presently in wiz 7, thief -> bard. Having the
    lockpicking at maximum already when taking on bard means that he can put
    all the points into Music, which usually conflicts by being in the same >category as lockpicking.

    I did play Wiz 7 for a bit when I was a kid and I do remember some
    skills conflicting because I wanted both but they were in the same
    category. Your thief to bard idea sounds like a good plan to me.
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From rridge@rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca (Ross Ridge) to comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg on Fri Nov 22 18:12:23 2024
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg

    Mike S. <Mike_S@nowhere.com> wrote:
    I have now played Wiz 1,2, 3 and 5. I only played Wiz 4 briefly before >dumping it. Other then a thief to a ninja (which I ended up
    regretting), I never class changed and I am hoping I won't have to in
    Wiz 6 either. I can't identify with my characters when every character
    in my party can do everything.

    I don't really remember Wizardry 6 that well, but it has a similar if
    not identical system to Wizardry 7. In that game class changing was
    seen as a way of raising a characters skills faster rather than a way
    of creating jack-of-all-trades characters. I believe most strategies
    just bounced between a couple of classes.

    Personally though I didn't like switching classes that much, and would
    only normally only do it once at a point that mimimized the loss caused
    by attributes resetting to their new minimums. Maybe more often then
    that for spell casters in order to get more spells.

    Changing classes too often could actually hurt in the end game where the
    the most powerful skill becomes kirijutsu, which less you instantly kill monsters. The biggest factor determining success of this skill isn't
    wasn't the level of the skill but difference between the character's
    level and monster's level.

    You mentioned in another post about switching from Thief to Bard, but be careful with this. If a character starts off a Bard, then that character
    starts with a musical instrument, but if you switch classes to Bard your character don't automatically get one. (Reading up on it, in Wizardry 6
    Bard's start off with a lyre, which casts Sleep, making it very useful,
    and this may be the only way to acquire one.)
    --
    l/ // Ross Ridge -- The Great HTMU
    [oo][oo] rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
    -()-/()/ http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca:11068/
    db //
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Mike S.@Mike_S@nowhere.com to comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg on Fri Nov 22 14:14:39 2024
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg

    On Fri, 22 Nov 2024 18:12:23 -0000 (UTC), rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
    (Ross Ridge) wrote:

    You mentioned in another post about switching from Thief to Bard, but be >careful with this. If a character starts off a Bard, then that character >starts with a musical instrument, but if you switch classes to Bard your >character don't automatically get one. (Reading up on it, in Wizardry 6 >Bard's start off with a lyre, which casts Sleep, making it very useful,
    and this may be the only way to acquire one.)

    I am glad you mentioned this. I vaguely remember reading awhile back
    that instruments for bards are very rare in Wiz 6 and so you will want
    to start with a Bard rather then switch to one. Thank you.
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Jhulian Waldby@wichitajayhawks@msn.com to comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg on Fri Nov 22 16:03:32 2024
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg

    Ross Ridge wrote:
    Mike S. <Mike_S@nowhere.com> wrote:
    I have now played Wiz 1,2, 3 and 5. I only played Wiz 4 briefly before
    dumping it. Other then a thief to a ninja (which I ended up
    regretting), I never class changed and I am hoping I won't have to in
    Wiz 6 either. I can't identify with my characters when every character
    in my party can do everything.

    I don't really remember Wizardry 6 that well, but it has a similar if
    not identical system to Wizardry 7. In that game class changing was
    seen as a way of raising a characters skills faster rather than a way
    of creating jack-of-all-trades characters. I believe most strategies
    just bounced between a couple of classes.

    Personally though I didn't like switching classes that much, and would
    only normally only do it once at a point that mimimized the loss caused
    by attributes resetting to their new minimums. Maybe more often then
    that for spell casters in order to get more spells.

    Changing classes too often could actually hurt in the end game where the
    the most powerful skill becomes kirijutsu, which less you instantly kill monsters. The biggest factor determining success of this skill isn't
    wasn't the level of the skill but difference between the character's
    level and monster's level.

    Right, the detrimental factor here is that class-changed characters are
    going to be at lower character levels because they've had to gain over
    two or more professions.

    I'm not sure what you said about bouncing, however. Going 1-10 as mage
    and then going 1-10 as mage after an in-between class change will see a character gaining 10 levels in a row without a single stat/skill/spell increase. It could be done to some unforeseen benefit, but time is
    money. Even more so with D'Rang T'Rang still out making trax.
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Jhulian Waldby@wichitajayhawks@msn.com to comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg on Fri Nov 22 16:08:00 2024
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg

    Mike S. wrote:
    On Fri, 22 Nov 2024 18:12:23 -0000 (UTC), rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
    (Ross Ridge) wrote:

    You mentioned in another post about switching from Thief to Bard, but be
    careful with this. If a character starts off a Bard, then that character
    starts with a musical instrument, but if you switch classes to Bard your
    character don't automatically get one. (Reading up on it, in Wizardry 6
    Bard's start off with a lyre, which casts Sleep, making it very useful,
    and this may be the only way to acquire one.)

    I am glad you mentioned this. I vaguely remember reading awhile back
    that instruments for bards are very rare in Wiz 6 and so you will want
    to start with a Bard rather then switch to one. Thank you.

    Bards are enigmatic. I wish I had more documentation on them. They are
    apt at missile weapons, but I don't know how much of this is by design
    or just where the numbers ended up. In Wiz 8 they become more powerful because they can gain spells in the Wizardry skill. Also, there's a
    musical instrument sitting around in the Monastery.

    I think the error here is assuming Sleep is better than some of the
    other flavors. In Wiz 7 I have ample casters of Sleep.
    --- Synchronet 3.20a-Linux NewsLink 1.114
  • From Peter Steele@snakesbloodpussycat@yahoo.com to comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg on Mon Jan 13 18:32:33 2025
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg

    Jhulian Waldby wrote:
    Ross Ridge wrote:
    Mike S.  <Mike_S@nowhere.com> wrote:
    I have now played Wiz 1,2, 3 and 5. I only played Wiz 4 briefly before
    dumping it. Other then a thief to a ninja (which I ended up
    regretting), I never class changed and I am hoping I won't have to in
    Wiz 6 either. I can't identify with my characters when every character
    in my party can do everything.

    I don't really remember Wizardry 6 that well, but it has a similar if
    not identical system to Wizardry 7.  In that game class changing was
    seen as a way of raising a characters skills faster rather than a way
    of creating jack-of-all-trades characters.  I believe most strategies
    just bounced between a couple of classes.

    Personally though I didn't like switching classes that much, and would
    only normally only do it once at a point that mimimized the loss caused
    by attributes resetting to their new minimums.  Maybe more often then
    that for spell casters in order to get more spells.

    Changing classes too often could actually hurt in the end game where the
    the most powerful skill becomes kirijutsu, which less you instantly kill
    monsters.  The biggest factor determining success of this skill isn't
    wasn't the level of the skill but difference between the character's
    level and monster's level.

    Right, the detrimental factor here is that class-changed characters are going to be at lower character levels because they've had to gain over
    two or more professions.

    Class changing has clear benefits. What I'm not clear on, however, is
    at what level to change classes. I heard of people getting up to lvl 27
    in Crusaders of the Dark Savant. Maybe I should wait until lvl 20 or
    so? There are pros and cons. At about lvl 11 most professions open up
    to them. Being patient with it can get me more in the long run. I
    think I'll compromise on lvl 16 for class changing.

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