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dingbat91

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1) I'm not sure why it would be beneficial for me to train my familiar instead of my own character? Since only half of the skills of my familiar are added during adventures, wouldn't it be more effective to only train my character in general? Or am I forgetting/not seeing something?

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Sorceress;

 

(Great name!) One more thing I wanted to add- on the Suggestions thread, another forumite requested an icon which would show the current Day, which might help in marking out what needs to be done first for a new player. We also plan to have a video introduction, possibly as early as this week, to help ease the transition into the game.

 

It is true that some Random Events can come out of left field, but they all should have the necessary context at the beginning to explain why you are there, and how you would meet them. Or so I hope. :lol:

 

OrangeKnickers;

 

(Also a great name!) You are correct- for the most part, it is more beneficial for you to Train your own Skills than those of your Familiar. However, there are two significant exceptions:

 

1) In the later stages of Adventures you will find that without very high Skills (sometimes you to Roll over a 30!), you cannot succeed without almost every combination of buff in the game, including the maximum +5 that Familiars can give you.

 

2) Familiars have their own Stories, and some of them occur from *their* perspective. In Stories such as these, only their Skills matter!

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1. [For the release-date, game manual,] See

http://academagia.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=514

 

3. [Your meeting pirates was] not exactly related [to your choice of a daily action to Explore the Academy]. "Pirates on a ship" is a random event, which might be triggered on any turn, no matter what you were doing. Effects of exploration are not as straightforward as that, exploration usually results in a new location being discovered, which is specified in "Results of the day" screen.

 

1. Thank you, Elwin, for the very fast reply ! On this Sunday morning, I was going to start a new game. I definitely will read the manual first. Your link sent me to a thread where a user had the very same problem : we both purchased the game from Impulse, which did not seem to generate the manual's PDF file when sending the main game-program.

 

3a. OK, I understand. My encounter with the pirates had nothing to do with the Explore actions I had selected for my very first day at school : it was one of those "random events" that can happen during the 3 other phases of a day -- when we cannot order an action. I post what the Legate of Mineta has said on that topic, earlier, on this thread :

 

"The day is divided into 6 segments : Early Morning/Morning/Afternoon/Evening/Night/Midnight. However, you may only take actions in three of these phases : Morning/Afternoon/Evening. Some Adventures take place in the other phases, but you do not have direct control over that. And, of course, the full number of phases in a day must be considered"

 

That's a good example of a basic game-play information that I did not have when I started my first game. I did not know then -- before reading what the Legate said on this thread -- that there were 3 other daily phases, besides the 3 I could perceive & control on the daily schedule, as visible on the weekly game-screen.

 

3b. But your explanation does not resolve the issue I raised :

 

How credible is it for a new student -- on her very 1st day at a new school, when she would not logically wander too far away from the school -- to get around to find a docked ship with pirates ?!! I suppose that this is the price that game designers & coders have to pay when programming random events into a complex & dynamic decision-tree : they risk provoking odd events to chaotically emerge at moments when it is not credible for them to appear. One has to recognize that encountering pirates on the very first day of my new game was too odd to be credible, especially since it confronted the beginner with an event-related text which accentuated the incomprehensible oddity of the very improbable event.

 

This being said, I am extremely impressed & happy with the game's sophisticated Complexity. It would get very boring, very fast, if one could easily understand & manipulate a restricted number of feature-options & action-paths. Too many games I have played offered so limited options & decision-paths that any competent player could rapidly figure out which were the optimal paths & procedures to select in order to win almost all the time. Playing then became a predictable routine, especially when one competed against A.I. players which were constrained by very predictable & limited decision-paths.

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Sorceress;

 

It's not probable at all, I agree. What we can do is have another look at those Pirate Events and possible place a date prerequisite on them- for instance, they can only appear after a certain date has passed by. That might ward off a little of the confusion. What do you think about a week after the first day? That seems like a good amount of time to settle down and wander.

 

Any thoughts?

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[Encountering pirates on the very first day of a new school-year is] not probable at all, I agree. What we can do is have another look at those Pirate Events and possible place a date prerequisite on them - for instance, they can only appear after a certain date has passed by. That might ward off a little of the confusion. What do you think about a week after the first day? That seems like a good amount of time to settle down and wander.

Yes, I agree : a "date prerequisite" is a must to reduce the probability of certain random events occurring at very improbable & not-credible moments in a student's Life.

 

In this case, "a week after the first day" -- as you propose -- would be OK.

 

(I would not want to formulate too specific parameters, on this forum, since I wish to remain a player who will be surprised by the Game -- instead of adopting the more removed position of a self-appointed, amateur mini-designer!) *Off to read the manual & start a new game. Back later.*

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There's lots of mentions about "rolls". What are rolls in this game? Skill plus a die roll, it seems. What kind of electronic die is used? 1-10? 1-20? 1-8? 2d6? Can you roll a 0?

 

Guess this might be one of the things that should really remain a mystery, though.

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Obvious;

 

Details here are fine. A Roll, at heart, is a random value dependent on your Attribute and a known value based on your Skill.

 

The random portion is equal to a number between 1 and 2x your Attribute. So, if the relevant Attribute is 3, the random portion is 1-6.

 

Your Skill is then directly added to that result, meaning that in our example if the relevant Skill is 5, your 'Roll' could be anything between 6 and 11.

 

There are several other factors involved (and those will remain mysterious for a while yet!), but this is the main part.

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1) I just wanted to ask what magnitude and the number behind it signifies under "Spell Types" for different phemes.

 

2) And what really influences whether you cast a spell and/or add phemes successfully?

 

3) I also noticed that only in rare cases the duration of those phemes is added...do they always last as long as the spell they were attached to?

 

Thanks in advance :wub:

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1) Spell Type determines how Phemes interact. When you add additional Phemes to a Spell or an Enchantment, if they are of Opposition Types, they will cancel each other out. The Magnitude shows how powerfully they will do so.

 

2) If you cast a base Spell in the Calendar Phase (which already includes all necessary Phemes), it's either automatic or the Roll specified. If you add extra Phemes to that Spell, each additional Pheme increases the difficulty by a certain mount, given in the Pheme's Description- usually 2 or 3. Casting Spells in a Duel is slightly different- you have to add each Pheme to your Palette as required by the Spell. You can add extra Phemes to it as well, if you wish, with the same result to difficulty.

 

3) Phemes last the same Duration as the Spell it is attached to. :wub:

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I was just thinking about relationships.

There are flirtation, romance and other such skills available. Is it possible to get a boyfriend/girlfriend? (or option for a later patch/expansion).

 

And how does favor with teachers work?

The purple names in the relations-tab are teachers, the number behind them is favor?

And does each teacher have a different list of favors it might give?

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Draigh;

 

No, there are no real romance options in this one- that won't pick up until Year 3 and really gain steam in 4. There is a 'flag' you can acquire, though, which signals interest for the future.

 

Every Instructor has a different list of Favors they can grant, and that list is different for each level of Relationship you have with them, overlapping a little.

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Draigh;

 

No, there are no real romance options in this one- that won't pick up until Year 3 and really gain steam in 4. There is a 'flag' you can acquire, though, which signals interest for the future.

 

Every Instructor has a different list of Favors they can grant, and that list is different for each level of Relationship you have with them, overlapping a little.

 

Outside of doing their personal adventures I refuse to use anything other than Flirt to raise my relationship with female characters, I'm going to pay for this in year 3 aren't I?

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Draigh;

 

Favor is the use of an Instructor, to get them to teach or give you something extra. Their Relationship with you determines what that gift may be. Having a good Relationship with an Instructor can also sometimes avert Detention.

 

 

Ah this is good info! Because I skipped so much always detention if I skip now. Perhaps I should've worked on professor relationships.

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Fairly late in the year I picked up the skill that allows you to research someone's family. I tried it out on a fellow student that I knew well (not in my clique - I confess I never befriended anyone out of paranoia that doing so would mean someone else would never be my friend later). When I read the resulting report, I was surprised to find that their basic traits - fitness, charm, intelligence, etc. - were WAY higher than mine. Is this because I'm not playing the game correctly? I felt really foolish carrying around my 1in strength while he had nothing less than 3 in everything.

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Why do I suddenly get loads of detention and hall sessions?

 

Till now I didn't have a single one and now I suddenly have at least three a week plus the hall sessions.

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I've been playing the game some time now, roughly 4 half-playthroughs(each was botched due to one thing or another, more about that on another thread), and I have a large amount of questions, so here goes:

 

Spellcasting:

 

1. Not all spells say which skills(if any are used). Examples would be "Channel Masters" or "Blotted Forms".

(As a side note, is it possible in a future patch to put the phemes in groups, such as Social, Combat, Statboost, and such. It'd be easier to see what sort of phemes you would like to use. The game has so many of them, you can hardly remember even a third of them.)

 

2. I noticed some spells can't have phemes added to them. Are these the automatically successful spells?

 

3. Suppose you cast a spell on an opponent, and add phemes. Does a stat increase(such as +1fitness) affect you or the target?

 

4. How hard is an "easy" spell-casting check? 3? 5? 7? It's hard to gauge meaningful decisions if you have no idea if you even can succeed.

 

 

 

Student relations:

5. Is there a point in pestering and aggravating another student? Say, Bullying them or Sudden Punching them in the nose?

5.a Or is this something that is more meaningful in the future years?

 

6. Are there plans on a more "goal oriented quest system"? Such as: "Make life miserable for Prudence, so that she's stressed out and her studies suffer", whereupon succeeding you would gain something out of it.

 

 

Questions about the second(and further) years:

7. What will the skill power be in relative to the later years? Will strength 7 still be incredible, and Incantation 10 godlike, or will they simply be average? Such as, each skill and stat has an area of about 10 per year. Meaning it'd be average for a second year student to have an Intelligence of 13 or for a third year to have Running 22?

7.a Any pessimistic approximate on how long till you can make the second-year of the game(s)? A year? Two? Three?

 

 

Questions regarding familiars:

8. As I understand it, familiars give ½ their skill rating to you.

Do their stats only affec their skill learning speed?

And does Bond only limit their skill maximums? Or does it have another use? Say, you have Bond of Stars at 7. Does it have a meaning?

 

 

Artifice:

9. Can you craft items with artifice yet in the game?

Supposing no: 9.b Is this something that will be expanded upon sooner rather than later?

Supposing yes: 9.c How to do it? I have bought some iron bars and coal, and have studied armor design(so I know I can make some breastplates or such). Yet when I visit the forge with the Artifice action, all I get is the "Artifice screen" that has the red gem and all, but none of my recipes or items or such can be seen, so it's impossible to craft anything.

 

Blackmailing:

10. How to do it? I have a skill of 5, yet I don't have an action to blackmail anyone actively. However, I have some information spied from a few students. I do get a "blackmail" option sometimes when I involve a student I have info about in an action, but what does it do? Do I get a bonus to the roll in question of the action, or something else?

 

Exploration:

11. How is exploration handled in the game? Is there an exploration skill check or something else? If there is, what difficulty is it, or does it depend on where you explore, and how many places you have found? Or must you "learn" about a place before you can explore for it? I think I have "learned" about a few locations, yet I can't do the actions involved with them. Must I find them with explore first, or are there some secret skill-prerequistes that I do not have? (For example, I learned of the Circus, yet I cannot use the action that the Circus has)

11.a That student with the exploration power(which tells you about a location) has an action if she's in your clique that allows you to use the power. Yet, I have tried to use it some 10 times, but it always failed. Why is this? Is there a skill-check involved that isn't written in the description(or one that I missed), or are there other prerequistes?(Though this was some time ago in the Release version of the game, perhaps it was a bug that was fixed)

 

 

 

 

Thank you for any and all answers, and for the patience.

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Kipper;

 

No, you aren't doing anything wrong- several of the Students begin the game with better Attributes than you, and there are ways that they (and you) can increase them throughout the school year.

 

Vegejor;

 

There are several possible reasons you have gained Detention:

 

1) You frequently skip class (or Detention itself!)

2) Your Encumbrance or Concealability is very high

3) Your Relationships with the Instructors is negative

4) Another Student is trying to get you into trouble

5) You frequently set Preparation Locations with a high Chance of Discovery

6) You have had certain Random Events which have given it to you.

 

If you are at Hall Sessions, I would avoid skipping class and using preparation Locations until you test out of them.

 

Tiavals;

 

 

Spellcasting:

 

1. Spell Descriptions are already updated in Content Patch 1 (releasing in September.) We are working in stages to get to a method to better sort Phemes, however.

 

2. Correct.

 

3. It depends on the Pheme (and should say in its Description), but usually will affect your Target.

 

4. Numbers will appear in Content Patch 1, in the reviewed Spell Descriptions. Also, we intend to color-code the Spells for you as well.

 

Student relations:

 

5. If that's your kind of Character, definitely. Each of those Actions does something nasty to them, which could further your goals in a variety of ways. Some of them enable to you to steal their Money, or have other beneficial effects for you.

 

6. In Year 2 there are goals for your Clique- but no personal goals apart from the ones you make. We prefer to leave the goal making to you. ;)

 

Questions about the second(and further) years:

 

7. Not quite- as you will see your current Skills will be unchanged, and will provide building blocks for new Skills. The Skills you have now will still exist (and still be usable), but will also determine how quickly you can learn the second year Skills, as well as what those Maximums are. Attribute important generally diminishes (except in physical activities) as the years go along.

 

7.a 1-2. We have already begun work on the design document.

 

Questions regarding familiars:

 

8. Their statistics affect their rate of learning, and Bond's primary function is to determine their Skill Maximums.

 

Artifice:

 

9. Yes, you are able to, but first you have to have a Recipe which can be made. The easiest way to tell if you can or no is to see if there is an Ingredient list. If there is, you'll have to collect the Ingredients (most found in various shops), and then you can make an Item.

 

Blackmailing:

 

10. You gain a Bonus to your Action when you choose to use Blackmail against them.

 

Exploration:

 

11. When you use the Explore Action, there is a check involved, which then Informs you about a Location you've Discovered. Many Locations have Passive Abilities- if you want to benefit from them, you have to set them as your Preparation Location in the Confirmation Window.

 

11.a Can you let me know the Student in question? I would like to look at that Ability.

 

Thanks!

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