StarWars KOTOR

[Commander Marklar]

heh - I can create that situation above easy from opening the box...

...even more bizarre is the galaxy droid sitting in the cockpit of the Ebon Hawk, with a FULL planet list available... ???

When I speak to this droid, it asks me where I want to go, which is where the full list of planets comes in. It also includes the Endar Spire and the Leviathan, except it crashes when I leave the Hawk. But, it doesn't crash when I leave on Tatooine, as this is where I was originally going.

Best of all, there are two Zalbaars in the party selection, one where T3 should be. So, I added them both to my team... and it works! Woo! Two Zalbaars totally rule, although it did crash at random points after that

[Kirby]

Well, i switched to Canderous for a bit and he is so much better than Carth, but i dont know why. Both are using decent weapons for their best weapon class, but Canderous actually hits things. His Ordo heavy blaster thing is pretty good. I cant understand why Carth is so crap.

Anyway, so far i have a few niggles:

1) Dunce party AI Part 1 - Ok, you're all set to use Jedi Support Script but you'd rather die than use Heal or Cure. In 24 hours of playtime i haven't seen any of my Jedi's use heal or cure. I dont know, maybe it's a pride thing. Also another thing thats pissing me off. You have Destroy Droid, you are fighting some badass droids, do you a) use you pwn Destroy Droid attack or do you b) use something pants like Force Push. Baziiiiiiing, yep let's use choice b. Fair enough i can pause and do it myself, but it would be nice if my party members had a modicum of intelligence.

2) Dunce party AI Part 2 - STOP RUNNING AWAY. I wish there was an option called "Back me up and stay the f**k behind me". Most recent example, went to that tomb on Korriban that had a corridor filled to the brim with attack droids. I attack each one in turn, and do my party members stay with me? Noooooooooooo, then run all the way to the end of the corridor, on their own and try and kill them all (not using Destroy Droid). So i switch to them, bring them back and target what i'm attacking, and when that dies do they attack the nearest next target, nooooooooooooooo then run away again. Twats.

3) As above except in normal mode they seem to get lost. I tried to go in a door and it said i must gather my party, i switch to Juhrni and she's still in the last tomb i was in??

4) When the party leader see's an enemy he goes into attack mode, but the other party members never do. So i have to attack with the main, pause, see if the other members are in attack mode, wait, pause again etc until they are in attack mode. By which time they've probably run a mile and drawn out 2000000000000000 more enemies onto us.

Seriously though, i am loving this game although i'm not looking forward to having to attack those Tenetek things by myself again. One on its own seems to bring down my Echani dueling shield in one hit. Force Speed and Hyper Battle Stimulant doesn't seem to do much. Maybe i'll head back and by 10000 credits worth of Advanced Life Support packs.

[Durham Red]

I've always done Korriban last so I tended to be tooled up with badass powers which let me kill them easily but that said, can't you sneak past them? If you had the Genoharadan stealth unit or something, perhaps you could creep around them - I do something similar with Mission when trying to get the Rakghoul serum from the soldier's corpse and though it's tense being surrounded by the ****ers, I usually get away with it.

Either that or use a shield, activate knight speed and leg it to the lever to open the door before they realise what's happening...

[Commander Marklar]

i'm not looking forward to having to attack those Tenetek things by myself again

First time I had that, I stood the other side of the room using lightsabre throw, legged it around, rinse and repeat.

Now, plague, kill and... the other one (d'oh) work wonders on the feckers

[Kirby]

hehe, that's what i did this time. I managed to walk slowly in and lure one of them onto me, and knocked some health off first with throw lightsaber and a grenade. I also used a melle shield instead of an energy shield which helped.

One question, my main is using 1 lightsaber, if i stick a 2nd in his other hand, will he do more damage even though he doesn't have any skill in 2 handed weapons? I got a pretty sweet crystal which does Stun 25%. Not bad, and it's come in quite useful.

Wasn't expecting Uthar to turn on me after i kill Yuthura though, still he went down easy. And i must say going through the academy Force Waving all the minions was most satisfying I've just been captured by a battleship and i feel a showdown with Malak must be on the cards, but there's still a fair way of the game to go i think.

[nips]

MWAH HA HA HA HA. It's mine!!! ALL MINE!!!

I HAVE IT... FINALLY. My Very Own Light-Saber! It's YELLOW and I called it Jeremy...

So this means that I am slightly tactical and less brutal... I kinda went with the suggestion the guy game me after the questions... I'm gonna kill some of those wolf things next...

Now all I need is those crystals to make my saber better than YOURS.


LOVE IT.

[Magnakai]

MWAH HA HA HA HA. It's mine!!! ALL MINE!!!

I HAVE IT... FINALLY. My Very Own Light-Saber! It's YELLOW and I called it Jeremy...

So this means that I am slightly tactical and less brutal... I kinda went with the suggestion the guy game me after the questions... I'm gonna kill some of those wolf things next...

Now all I need is those crystals to make my saber better than YOURS.


LOVE IT.

Look out for a cave...

[JRMacumber]

Now all I need is those crystals to make my saber better than YOURS.

You will never, ever, even in your wildest dreams, even when high from huffing hyperdrive motivator fumes, have a lightsaber better than mine. What I had would have even made Darth Maul, that black-faced pansy, moan with teh mad envy. I found the gem to end all gems, and I killed most rightously with it.

Keep trying, short stuff. Maybe someday even you will be able to wear the Daddy Jedi pants. Maybe. Someday. But now while I'm still around.

[nips]

'Jeremy' strikes right and true. In time, my dear friend, the apprentice shall become the master, and then the galaxy shall fall to the dark, kiss my ass you shall!

I really can't wait to get my saber up and running... I think that two normal sabers is cooler than one double saber, so as soon as I pick up another one I will be walking around like a mean mother ****er and beating the **** out of everyone.

I'm yet to find a crystal (I'm currently sorting out a feud among families on Dantooine) but, when I do, I will put them all into my original saber and hopefully have one kick ass saber... If I get loads of 'left-over' crystals, I will put them in another saber, and should it be 'strong' enough, I will use both.

I'm still not quite sure on the whole attribues/skills/feats thing... I've currently got the Master Duel Weapons feat(?) does that mean that I'm at no disadvantage when using 2 sabers as opossed to 1, or would 1 saber still be best...

[JRMacumber]

Duel feats give you a proficiency with ONE weapon in ONE hand. If you use a two handed weapon, or a weapon in each hand, then that feat is null and void. There are seperate feats for dual-weapons and such.

As for the rules in general, perhaps this will help...

Let me see if I can describe it for you... Are you at all familiar with D&D? More specifically, the d20 ruleset that D&D and the Star Wars pen-and-paper RPG use? If so, it's easy to describe. If not, it might seem more complex than it is. Here it all is in a nutshell:

In the game each player has a whole slew of stats, but the most basic and important are the player attributes. These are Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Wisdom, Intelligence, and Charisma. These spell out how strong, fast, agile, smart, and charming you are. They are the building blocks for who that character is. And so, each attribute has a numerical value that ranges anywhere between 0 and 20+ (normally these are around 10-18 for most players). Those numbers have corresponding "modifier" amounts, which affect all sorts of dice rolls.

So say for example you have a soldier, and his strength is an 18 (relly strong). An 18 strength means that he would have a strength modifier of +4. So, when he goes to his someone, that +4 is added to the damage done by the weapon. If he were hitting with a longsword, which has a damage range of 1-8 points, then whatever damage was rolled up would have 4 added to it. Make sense?

But, first you have to hit them, and that isn't easy. In order to hit someone and damage them, you have to overcome their Armor Class (I can't recall at the moment what that is called in KOTOR). Most folks start off with an AC of 10. You then add to that whatever your dexterity modifier is, as well as whatever armor you're wearing. The stronger the armor, the more points you can add to it.

So, in combat, what happens is this: Say you have two people squaring off against each other. Soldier A has an AC of 20, and Soldier B has an AC of 18. Soldier A is of a higher level, so he has a "To Hit" modifier (this is a combination of ability modifier, proficency level with the weapon, etc.) of +8, and Solder B has a "To Hit" modifier of +5. Now, the two players meet up, and Soldier A wins initiative, so he gets to go first (initiative means who gets the jump on who, and this is determined by a dice roll modified by dexterity modifier as well as awareness levels). So, Soldier A lashes out with his longsword, and rolls a 12 on his die. Now, all alone, that isn't enough to hit, but his "To Hit" modifier is +8, so you add that to the 12, which makes his roll a 20, and that 20 is greater than Soldier B's AC of 18, so he connects. He then rolls a die to determine how much damage he did. He gets lucky and rolls an 8, the maximum for a longsword, and then adds +4 to it due to his excessive strength. 12 points of damage. Nice. Now Soldier B gets to go. Sadly, the poor bastard rolls an 8, which he adds +5 to, for a total of 13, which is well below the 20 AC of Soldier A. Miss. Soldier A goes again. This time he rolls a natural 20, and that means it might be a critical hit (all weapons have a critical hit range, which is usually 19-20, meaing that when you roll to hit, you have to roll a 19 or a 20 for a critical). But, in order for it to be a critical, you have to follow that up with a die roll that will hit again. Now, should the second roll miss, he will still have hit Soldier B because of the first roll, but if he hits then any damage he rolls will be doubled. And, he's in luck, he rolls an 18. So, he takes his dice and rolls, and after adding in damage modifiers, he deals out 22 points of damage. Soldier B drops dead instantly, his life leaving him before he even knew it was gone.

There are also all sorts of skills and feats (special abilities) that you can use in combat, but the above lays out the basics. Just remember that everyone takes a turn in combat, rolls are made with modifiers added to determine whether you hit or miss, and also how much damage you do. Luckily, in KOTOR (and other eletronic RPGs) you don't actually have to roll, or remember what your modifiers are, or any of that. The computer does it for you. All you have to do is tell it what you want your players to do.

So, in KOTOR, when a combat situation arises, the game will pause (if that is how you set the game up, though this is a default setting, unlike setting it to pause after every round - a round is the amount of time you have to perform an action, such as firing a gun, swinging your sword, moving, etc.), and it will ask you want to do. You can ignore the enemy, choose to target any visible enemies, choose what weapon you'll use, fire your gun, throw a grenade, whatever. Once you have made your choice and hit the white button, combat will start. Now, by hitting the black button, you can switch between the different people in your party. If you leave them alone, they will fight on their own, and depending on the script you chose they will either shoot first, throw a grenade first (is possible) and then shoot, or use Jedi powers as well as shoot (as appropriate), all without you having to instruct them in any way. But if you want them to do someting specific or special, you'll need t switch to them and give them that order personally. If you chose to have the game pause after every round, this is easier, but combat will also be MUCH slower. It's really your call.

Anyway, I hope that helps, and didn't make it even more obscure. If I need to be more clear, let me know.

[Magnakai]

I'm still not quite sure on the whole attribues/skills/feats thing... I've currently got the Master Duel Weapons feat(?) does that mean that I'm at no disadvantage when using 2 sabers as opossed to 1, or would 1 saber still be best...

Do you mean the one at the top of the Feats list, with the two weapons crossed over each other, or the one at the bottom, called Dueling.

The one at the top reduces the penalties for wielding two weapons.

the one at the bottom adds bonuses for wielding a single weapon.

JRM, that was a bloody fantastic writeup of the D20 rules.

If you want a total and utter explanation of everything, there's a really well written one at GameFAQs, filed until KotOR.

[JRMacumber]

Do you mean the one at the top of the Feats list, with the two weapons crossed over each other, or the one at the bottom, called Dueling.

The one at the top reduces the penalties for wielding two weapons.

the one at the bottom adds bonuses for wielding a single weapon.

JRM, that was a bloody fantastic writeup of the D20 rules.

If you want a total and utter explanation of everything, there's a really well written one at GameFAQs, filed until KotOR.

Thanks.

And yes, make sure you are making a distinction between duel and dual. Duel, with an e, means one weapon fighting (think fencing and pistol duels). Dual, with an a, means two handed (one big weapon in both hands, or a smaller weapon in each hand at the same time).

Clearer?

[nips]

Bah, my poor engrish and grammer skills have once again failed me.

Thanks for the info JR. I shall sift through that tonight when I have an XB controller infront of me.

You are my star... but soon you shall fall from grace.

[JRMacumber]

Bah, my poor engrish and grammer skills have once again failed me.

Thanks for the info JR. I shall sift through that tonight when I have an XB controller infront of me.

You are my star... but soon you shall fall from grace.

*pulls cowl down, ignites his double-ended red lightsaber with pluses out the ass, and awaits the challenge*

Come for me when you grow weary of your life, padawan...

[Commander Marklar]

Cor, nice read JRM. Anyone interested, you can see what KOTOR is doing behind the scenes in the log; interesting at times, like when your own players detect your other party characters

Couple of questions...

Isn't Ajunta Pall's sword... total 0wnage?

Anyone send the Leviathon on a different course? (not me, but I'm going to replay anyway with mad crackin' skillz).

Best quote from HK-47 so far, attempting to gain prestige...

"We could massacre everyone in the building. That would be impressive, master?"