How do you improve Creature Control?

[BlackDragon]

I'm playing as a Shaper... or, more commonly, DYING as a Shaper. Repeatedly. Over and over. On Normal difficulty. And why wouldn't I? I'm a weak, squishy wizard who only knows a single weak-ass spell, completely dependent on my Creatures for protection - but Shaping is my STRENGTH! Surely I can create powerful, reliable allies, right? Except no. No I can't. I can create a SINGLE mediocre, fire-breathing velociraptor, which will panic and run away the moment things get serious, or even turn against me at the drop of a hat. And if I try to make it stronger by boosting its toughness or magic, it becomes COMPLETELY uncontrollable. If I try to make a second, they both become COMPLETELY uncontrollable.

In more specific terms, even the single unimproved fire-raptor I've got is stuck on 'Average' control-level, and any attempt to make it stronger pushes it into 'Weak' control. According to the tooltips and the in-game instructions, you can improve your Control by leveling up your Shaper-skills... but that's apparently a bare-faced lie, seeing as I just spent every skill-point I got at my last level-up on Shaper-skills, aaaand nothing. The raptor's still under 'average' control, improving its toughness still pushes it into 'Weak', and it still runs for the hills the moment the going gets tough.

Just what the heck am I supposed to do?!

[Morphic]

By "Shaper Skills" they mean Fire Shaping, Battle Shaping, and Magic Shaping.(Healcraft may contribute but I don't think so) Every point into one of those increases your Control.(As does your character level iirc)

The problem you are running into is likely the same problem most newbs experience when they are misinterpreting the info/text when you use the canister to unlock Fyora. Lore-wise you are an apprentice Shaper and you just skipped years of training in an instant, so you lack the proper control.

Gameplay wise... your velociraptor is probably a higher level than you. If you are pumping Fire Shaping... you are actually not solving the problem. For every point of Fire Shaping, you make your Fire "class" of creations 1 level higher. So you are effectively negating the increased Control you get from having 1 point into Shaping Skills. This is why you still have Average/Weak Control. Furthermore every time you boost your creation's stats, you are making it a higher level... which makes it harder to control.

What you want to do is spread your points into the other Shaping Skills. So instead of pumping Fire Shaping right away, put some points into Battle or Magic Shaping. Yes, you do not have any creations from those, but it will increase your overall Control; which will make controlling your raptor easier. Not to mention when you do unlock those creations, you'll be able to create decent/strong ones. After you've gained a few more levels, then you start pumping your preferred Shaping Skill to have extremely powerful creations. Eventually the Control "issue" plateaus and isn't an issue anymore due to character level and Shaping Skills level. E.g. you are level 10 but you make two Level 15 raptors that have Perfect Control.

TLDR:Basically you need your raptor to be weaker/lower level than you to have higher Control, so don't increase its stats yet(or give it other abilities). Also, put some points into Battle or Magic Shaping (I like raising each to 3) which increases your overall Control of all your creations. By pumping Fire Shaping, you are increasing the level of your Raptor, which counteracts the Control you gained from increasing a Shaping Skill.

PS - Depending on how far you have played, you might want to consider starting over to distribute your Skill points differently to have an easier time. (like not increasing Fire Shaping at first and instead increase Battle/Magic Shaping by 1-2 points first.)

[BlackDragon]

Originally posted by Morphic:

PS - Depending on how far you have played, you might want to consider starting over to distribute your Skill points differently to have an easier time. (like not increasing Fire Shaping at first and instead increase Battle/Magic Shaping by 1-2 points first.)

I'm honestly considering it... I'm only level 3 so far, and I 'wasted' my first level on some magic and leadership/lockpicking skill since I didn't yet have access to any Shaping at that point, and had only the vaguest idea what it was even FOR, and no idea at all which of the types would be useful. My second level I got 2 levels of Fire and 1 level of Battle, which apparently wasn't enough to give me any of that 'general control' boost you mentioned?

Seriously, needing to boost shaper-skills for creatures you don't have access to yet in order to improve your control is one of the most counterintuitive things a game has ever (not) asked me to do. There's really nothing in-game that suggests this, and as I've by now discovered, if you DON'T do it, you're stuck with that single, weak, poorly-controlled raptor who'll leave you in the lurch as soon as look at you. Well, to be fair, maybe he isn't 'weak' - as you say, he's probably stronger than me. That's just not much help when he's ALSO halfway down the corridor while a bunch of golems pound me into a fine mush...

[Iguana-on-a-stick]

I suggest not increasing shaping much at all, and instead boosting your essence skills.

(And in my case I put a lot in lockpicking and leadership, but that's because I hate the idea of missing out on loot and dialog options and didn't want to backtrack a lot. You probably should not do this as it makes combat harder.)

The most important thing about a Shaper is that you need strength in numbers. Enemies aren't so scary when you have just as many monsters on your side. And if the enemy has 3 or 4 creations to target, chances are each will take less damage and therefore will NOT run away. And if one does... well, you have 3 of them left. And if one dies you can make a new one. Creation life is cheap. (I gave mine a new Roman numeral after their names when they died and a new copy was made. Farewell, Nurgal IV. I hardly knew ye.)

Having more creations still erodes control but that's okay. I was at "weak" control for most creations for most of the early game and it was fine, outside one or two difficulty spikes.

You can also spend the essence to give your creations special abilities. Giving them higher stats reduces your control, but special abilities only cost some essence. Getting to spam Firebreath twice a turn will make a Fyora MUCH more effective.

However, boosting shaping skill does help in that it allows you to make STRONGER creations. A Cryoa (cold-breathing velociraptor) is much stronger than a Fyora, and I had much more luck with a couple of those to soak damage. You need 3 Fire Shaping to make them. (And a ton of essence, so my first point still stands.) Although the Fyora actually deals more damage with its no-cooldown AoE fire breath, so I actually used both.

Investing some in additional shaping skills like Morphic says does help, but it's more for a slightly later stage of the game when you have more skillpoints. I picked Magic shaping as my secondary skill. I feel those make good secondary, with Fire and Battle being better as a primary skill.

Also very important: if a creation does go berserk, you can cure it. Cure doesn't even use up all your action points, you can still cast something.

Finally, you don't need to start over. There's a cheat code to respec your character, and it doesn't even disable achievements. (Unlike the other cheats. At least it didn't when last I checked.) The cheat is "retrain"

So in summary:

* Boost essence so you can make more/stronger creations.
* Get 3 fire shaping for Cryoas
* Give your creatures special abilities
* Get at least 3-4 bodies in between you and the enemy
* If someone does panic or go berserk, cure them. Healing and curing is what shapers are good at.

Edit: You posted while I was writing this.

That's just not much help when he's ALSO halfway down the corridor while a bunch of golems pound me into a fine mush...

It is also very, very easy to get in fights above your level. If you're level 3 you probably shouldn't be fighting anything tough yet. You should be able to get a bunch of levels in the first village.

Also, most of the advice I gave applies to higher levels. At level 3 you can probably just make 2 basic Fyoras and that SHOULD stomp everything that's level-appropriate.

Finally, there's no shame in turning the game down to "easy" if you find it frustrating. Normal difficulty has plenty of challenging battles in it.

[BlackDragon]

Originally posted by Iguana-on-a-stick:

It is also very, very easy to get in fights above your level. If you're level 3 you probably shouldn't be fighting anything tough yet. You should be able to get a bunch of levels in the first village.

Also, most of the advice I gave applies to higher levels. At level 3 you can probably just make 2 basic Fyoras and that SHOULD stomp everything that's level-appropriate.

I suppose that might be it, but it doesn't FEEL like I've gone that far out of my way. How the heck are you supposed to 'get a bunch of levels' in the first village, anyway? There was a single snake in a cellar and a bunch of talking - and I guess a fetch-quest involving a missing knife that I couldn't figure out where to find. Somebody asked me to deal with some bandits to the north, and somebody else told me about an old Shaper-school to the north which sounded like both a huge plot-hook and a likely place to find some more of those handy ability-granting canisters, so I headed north. I mean, dealing with local bandits is basically Step 2 on the RPG Hero's Journey, right after fighting some rats in a cellar, which I feel like I kinda' covered with the aforementioned snake.

But guess what? If I actually pick a fight with the bandits, they utterly demolish me. I TALKED my way past them no problem, and also managed to fight my way through the two dozen velociraptors on the the way to the school, but now I'm THERE and it's filled with huge mobs of tough golem-type enemies that absolutely overwhelm me, and supercharged mutant raptors. Guess I should've taken that left turn at Alberquerque instead...

[Morphic]

Yeah, early game Shaper is very rough as everything will basically 1-shot you and you don't really do decent damage on your own. However, Shaper pretty much becomes nigh unstoppable mid-game due to powerful/versatile creations. Granted you will probably need to run away while your creations fight to death just to recoup essence and come back with more creations.

As for Leadership/Mechanics - These are extremely useful skills, Mechanics more so than Leadership as Mechanics will let you pick open many things or disable/circumvent traps. (iirc ~9 natural Mechanics is all you need as items/canisters will get you to ~14 requirement of some options) Leadership does increase the Mental Resistance of your Creations though, so they will have higher chance to resist Terror/Charm/Fear effects. IMO, you should not raise Leadership higher than 8 or 9 naturally as there are various items/canisters/people that can increase your Leadership. (iirc Leadership ~5 gives you a lot of early-mid game dialogue options, ~10 lets you skip certain quests/requirements, 12 is needed for a non-combat option to defeat final boss)

Shaping - Generally speaking ~4 in X Shaping will let you summon any creation from that line once you've unlocked it. Fire Shaping is a solid "all rounder" type but tend to be weaker due to being unfocused compared to the other two.(Also, all the Fire creations deal Fire dmg, even if they are "Ice/Frost" versions. So an Ice Raptor will be doing less dmg to an enemy with high Fire Resist. Doesn't make sense I know...but it works both ways)

Battle Shaping is typically the "big beefy" line. They mostly Melee only creations but generally have higher HP pools than the others. IMO, great if you decide to hybrid and dip into Magic Skills so your Shaper can do something other than Heal/use items in fights.

Magic Shaping generally has really squishy creations but deal Energy Dmg and has utility options. E.g. you'll get Artilla relatively quick and its attacks can apply Poison which do Damage over Time. Plus one of its abilities is Shield, which will give itself and friendlies a buff that makes them harder to hit and take less damage.

Also, some areas you might not be able to fully finish when you first enter them. Don't be afraid to just run away and try a different path, then come back. Oh, did you know right clicking on an enemy/person will bring up a detailed view to show their Level/HP/Resists? Can be helpful to know an enemy has 100% Mental Resistance before using a Terror Wand/Spell on them.

TLDR: So it's really up to you what kind of creations you want and how to develop your Shaper. It doesn't hurt to save up your Skill Points and wait to use them later. Just don't be too generic with your points and dump them all over. Try to specialize and narrow it down to a few main skills. E.g. focus on one creation line and then pick up magic skills to augment... or focus two creations lines and pump Essence Mastery to have an army/maxed out creations.

[Iguana-on-a-stick]

Talking your way past the bandits is perfectly valid.

(So is coming back later to kill them anyway. Or finding the secret passage and looting their treasure without fighting them.)

The Ruined School is indeed where you're supposed to be around this time. You probably could get to level 4 or so from quests in Vakiri but that depends on your lockpicking and leadership skills.

That said, most enemies in the school are low level as I recall. You should be able to beat them just fine. They should be less challenging than the bandits. (But I killed those too before I went to the school.)

So if you have 2-3 Fyoras and are fighting enemies appropriate for your level, the question then becomes WHY are they beating you so hard?

At this point I'm guessing it's not your build or your level, but your tactics. Why are your creations all the way down a corridor? Why are you fighting a whole bunch of golems at once? Are you using your items and abilities effective?

General principle of combat:
* Start combat when you spot the enemy. Do NOT wait for them to walk up to you. You want to shoot them.
* Do not walk up to them. You want to shoot them from max range.
* Explore cautiously. If you see enemies patrolling, wait for one to come closer, initiate combat, and shoot him. From max range. (Seeing a pattern here?)
* For tough fights, use items. Items are plentiful and you can only carry so much stuff anyway. An ice crystal or a fire wand hits MUCH harder than your basic firebolt spell, AND you can still use a normal spell or attack.
* Use War Blessing (and protection if you have it) BEFORE starting combat. It makes a huge difference.
* Use pods and spores for tough fights, but don't rely on them too much. Spores in particular are not that plentiful. Try to save them for fighting named enemies/set piece battles. (i.e. fighting the bandits: yes. Fighting random Golem A: no.)
* Some fights are meant to be really hard. (i.e. bandits.) You can always skip them and find a different solution. (i.e. talking.)
* If you run out of essence and can't heal... you can always go back to town and come back later. 90% of enemies don't respawn.

[BlackDragon]

Originally posted by Iguana-on-a-stick:

Talking your way past the bandits is perfectly valid.

(So is coming back later to kill them anyway. Or finding the secret passage and looting their treasure without fighting them.)

The Ruined School is indeed where you're supposed to be around this time. You probably could get to level 4 or so from quests in Vakiri but that depends on your lockpicking and leadership skills.

That said, most enemies in the school are low level as I recall. You should be able to beat them just fine. They should be less challenging than the bandits. (But I killed those too before I went to the school.)

So if you have 2-3 Fyoras and are fighting enemies appropriate for your level, the question then becomes WHY are they beating you so hard?

At this point I'm guessing it's not your build or your level, but your tactics. Why are your creations all the way down a corridor? Why are you fighting a whole bunch of golems at once? Are you using your items and abilities effective?

You're making no sense. Why is everyone talking like I should've earned a bunch of levels before reaching the school? I was LEVEL 2 when I got there. The only level-up I'd had was the free one right at the start. There's NOTHING TO DO in Vakiri. 'Find my knife', one woman says, but I CAN'T find it - best guess, it's behind a locked door that I can't open because there's just not enough Living Tools to go 'round. There's also a woman who'll open a door for 200 coins I don't have, and a guy who wants me to pick the lock of a chest using Living Tools I, once again, DON'T HAVE.

Aaaaaaaand that's it. That's all there is to do there, other than talk to a bunch of people and get suggestions for where to go next. Mostly north, to the Bandit Forest, so I went, at level 2. And I cannot support '2-3 Fyoras' at Level 2, with no points in Shaping-skills - I could barely support ONE. My guard-raptor was constantly down the other end of the corridor while I got beaten to a paste by the golems because it KEPT PANICKING.

Mind, I've SOMEWHAT managed to get back on my feet. Moving around the school carefully, picking off patrolling monsters in 1's and 2's, I managed to get to level 3, and as I mentioned in my first post, I put all my skill-points into Shaper-skills. While this didn't improve my Control as I'd hoped, it DID enable me to make one of those ice-raptors, once an earlier poster let me know that was an option. But, mind, doing to meant that I literally had single-digit Essence left for healing and other purposes as I finished exploring the school... so I can see the point about leveling up Essence ASAP! Of course, that'll have to wait 'till I get another level-up, and even after COMPLETELY CLEARING both the Bandit Woods and the School and going back to the village to use my recovered resources to do those side-quests I couldn't before - except for that bloody missing knife, which I couldn't find in the bandit's camp and STILL can't find anywhere in the village - I'm STILL ONLY LEVEL 3.

So, please, DO explain to me how I'm supposed to reach level 4 before I get to the School...

[Morphic]

Originally posted by BlackDragon:

There's NOTHING TO DO in Vakiri. 'Find my knife', one woman says, but I CAN'T find it - best guess, it's behind a locked door that I can't open because there's just not enough Living Tools to go 'round. There's also a woman who'll open a door for 200 coins I don't have, and a guy who wants me to pick the lock of a chest using Living Tools I, once again, DON'T HAVE.

[...]I'm STILL ONLY LEVEL 3.

So, please, DO explain to me how I'm supposed to reach level 4 before I get to the School...

Talking to everyone in Vakirri should give you a few quests to do, reading the Books/Ledgers strewn about will also net you some XP. (~75) One person mentions bandits up north, while another person mentions Rogues in Watch Hill to the East.

Bandit area is quite tough, so you'd probably be better off heading to Watch Hill first. So congrats on whittling your way through that place. There's roaming Tahds in Watch hill but they are mostly level 1. A single Fyora should be able to handle them as long as you only fight them in pairs. Generally the Fyora will panick when it gets to ~50% HP, don't let it get mobbed or keep its HP up and it should be fine. You should be able to find a Living Tool in Watch Hill, which you can then come back to Vakiri and open the chest to complete the Quest and get more XP.

As I mentioned earlier, be sure to Right-Click on enemies you encounter to see their level. If they are 2+ levels higher than you and not a Boss/Special then you might want to try a different area. A lot of areas have multiple exits/entrances to them that can lead to other areas. So don't think you have to head in a straight line.

Also I quickly started a new game on Normal as a Shaper. The first level up I raised Leadership by 1, Mechanics to 3(lets you open the door in the area to get some ice crystals and heal pods), and Fire Shaping by 1. This gave me a "weak controlled" level 4 Fyora. After clearing Watch Hill and going back to Vakiri to heal I gained a level, raised Leadership, Mechanics, and increased Magic Shaping by 1. This let me have "average control" over my level 4 Fyora. Then headed to that Bandit Camp to slowly pick them off, had to do a lot of healing/retreating since I'd end up pulling more than I wanted.

[BlackDragon]

Yes, I wasn't able to fight the bandits at Bandit Camp at all until I'd finished the school - at which point I was level 3 and had a Cryora on my side. Anyway, I guess I just took the areas in the wrong order, then? Bleh. It really didn't SOUND that way. The way they said it - and, for that matter, the way it IS - is that the school/bandit-camp to the north is a bit of a 'side-area' where you can learn some interesting stuff and pick up some boosts, while the hill to the east leads onwards to the other villages and the rest of the plot. Having to go east, then back west, then north, then south, then east again just seems a bit silly...

Anyway, I HAVE gathered by now that my pets are less inclined to panic and run away if they have full health - though I'm less sure whether it has an impact on their tendency to spontaneously turn on me. The level of opposition also seems to affect it. The problem is that, if I'm up against tough foes, that's exactly when I REALLY NEED a couple of expendable meatshields in front of me! And keeping the critters topped up on health isn't easy, since you can't feed them health-pods - you have to either use the rare-and-valuable spores, or the essence-draining Healing-spell.

But, whatever. The really useful thing I've learned from this threat is 'Raise Essence ASAP' and 'Get Fire Shaping to 3 so you can get a Cryora'. I still can't help but feel that this is somewhat bad design, though. I guess the Guardian would be easier to play, being more self-reliant but still capable of competently wielding heals and shaping reinforcements, but considering the theme of the game and who's on the title-screen, it makes sense that most new players would go for the Shaper. Only to learn the hard way that without a bunch of specific knowledge they won't HAVE at that point, the Shaper starts out suicidally weak...

[Iguana-on-a-stick]

Originally posted by "blackdragon":

You're making no sense. Why is everyone talking like I should've earned a bunch of levels before reaching the school? I was LEVEL 2 when I got there.

I was saying that level 3 is about the right level for the school. I initially thought 4, but that is indeed not really feasible.

And I cannot support '2-3 Fyoras' at Level 2, with no points in Shaping-skills - I could barely support ONE. My guard-raptor was constantly down the other end of the corridor while I got beaten to a paste by the golems because it KEPT PANICKING.

Well, now I'm curious so I went back and tested this. I found:

You can afford two basic Fyora's right from the start at level 2.

You can afford two upgraded Fyora's at level 2 if you invest a point in Essence mastery. (Cone of fire & innate haste.) That will lower control to "weak" but 2 weak is better than 1 average. That leaves 8 essence to cast Heal, which is enough to win a few fights. Once you hit level 3 (and maybe get a second point of essence mastery) it will be a lot more comfortable. At that point you can also buy the "no cooldown" upgrade and spam up to two fire cones per Fyora per turn.

Whether quests in Vakiri get you to level 3 depends on your leadership and mechanics skill. It's pretty unlikely you'll get that level. But even with limited investment, in leadership/lockpicking I got pretty close to it and reached level 3 killing random stuff in the bandit area. (i.e. without confronting the bandits.)

In the bandit area you should easily be able to reach level 3. You can also find a bunch of living tools and coins there that let you do more stuff when you go back to Vakiri. (And you don't need to confront the bandits for that, just the weak Fyoras.) Then you can buy/persuade the war blessing cannister, do the box quest, pick the shop lever, etc.

One thing I had forgotten is that you can find the Daze spell in the bandit area. With a modest investment in lockpicking you can get it without ever seeing a bandit. That spell is an absolute game-changer for dealing with large groups of enemies.

This then let me beat the bandits and get the XP for that quest. (Still pretty tough fight, but attacking from behind, using daze and ice crystals, and my 2 starting Fioras it was quite doable.)

(You can find a bunch of ice crystals in the starting area with a couple points in mechanics, and dealing with the bandits gets you a fire wand reward.)

At level 3 with 2 upgraded or 3 plain Fyoras, you should be able to handle the school quiet well. Not effortlessly, but having to retry a battle or two is nothing out of the ordinary.

I will note that there are not "bunches of golems" in the school. There are Thahds, which are the weakest battle-type creation. There's also a creature called "Golem" in the game, which is a LOT tougher. The Tahds are level 2 and hit hard, but you can pick them off from a distance. They also patrol about, if you time your attacks and pick your battles you can pick them off WITHOUT getting ganged up on. And if that fails... Daze and Firecone can beat them anyway. Add in ice crystals/wands as needed)

Through all this I have had one of my Fyoras panic ONCE. Not because my control level was high, but because I avoided getting hit by concentrating fire and picking my battles. The one that did panic was because I had forgotten to heal after a battle. (They panic when injured.)

Now, obviously this was much harder the first time I played the game. But the principle stands.

The game really rewards careful exploration and trying all dialog options on everybody. (It's pretty easy to miss quests and such, i.e. the traitor quest in Vakiri.)

The game really punishes rushing in head-first.

The game rewards experimenting with abilities and upgrades on creations to see which work well. (Remember, you can always absorb your creations, go back to town, and try a different configuration.)

But if you take a more measured approach, you can win through without ever really struggling on normal difficulty.

[Morphic]

Originally posted by BlackDragon:

Anyway, I guess I just took the areas in the wrong order, then?

Well part of the problem is the freedom of exploration the game provides. Pretty much everything interconnects with each other and there are multiple routes to a given place... some more brutal/easier than others.

Now add in different perspectives/takes a player might have to NPC dialogues and you can easily find yourself entering areas "out of order". Or at least feel that way. That's why I said, do not be afraid to turn tail and run or try a different path. (I had to learn that the hard way a few times lol)

Originally posted by BlackDragon:

But, whatever. The really useful thing I've learned from this threat is 'Raise Essence ASAP' and 'Get Fire Shaping to 3 so you can get a Cryora'. I still can't help but feel that this is somewhat bad design, though. I guess the Guardian would be easier to play, being more self-reliant but still capable of competently wielding heals and shaping reinforcements, but considering the theme of the game and who's on the title-screen, it makes sense that most new players would go for the Shaper. Only to learn the hard way that without a bunch of specific knowledge they won't HAVE at that point, the Shaper starts out suicidally weak...

Eh, again it depends on play style. I'm a bit biased because games like this are my bread and butter, so I'm rather quick to understand what is effective for me. E.g. I don't rush Essence Mastery or Fire Shaping... instead I pump Mechanics/Leadership and rotate Shaping/Magic orientated skills just enough to keep me competent. Mid-game is usually where I finally "past the hurdle" and skyrocket in power.

IMO, Guardian is arguably the weakest class(tho still strong) in Geneforge 1... however, it is pretty much OP later on and in every other game. If built right, a Guardian basically Parries everything(including spell attacks) and Ripostes anything that dares Melee. My last Veteran game had me feeling like a Terminator or Highlander once I past early game and started getting good gear.

Personally, I feel Shaper is just the best class to play. The problem is how obscenely squishy it is, and the early game difficulty. Once you hit level ~5-6 it stops being so difficult and you start getting to the point where your Creations don't panick from a few scrapes. Then the "fun" begins with you clearing the entire zone with 2-4 creations while you play triage the whole time. Once you get some of the more advanced creations, your combat options really open up and fights aren't as rough. (except boss fights/hard zones)

[BlackDragon]

Guess ALL the classes suffer from a bit of 'Early Game Hell', huh? I still can't help but think that the Shaper has it worse, though, since it's very much built around... well... SHAPING. Which is a very novel gameplay-element, unique to this particular series. Experience with other Western RPG's in general and Spiderweb Software's games in particular will help you easily figure out how to use the physical combat and magic-system, but you'll still be clueless about how Shaping works, and thus unaware of how to best utilize your earliest levels...

[Iguana-on-a-stick]

Generally the Shaping class is considered the easiest, because you get so many meat-shields. As long as you keep your creation strength/number of creations up, it's pretty safe even at lower levels.

Though there was a patch that increased hitpoint gains (for everyone, but more for non-shaping classes) which probably evened things out a bit.

That said, Shapers do suffer the most from the "Get squashed by lucky hit" syndrome and the "Get eaten by your own creation" syndrome.

Agents don't have too many creations, and Guardians tend to be tougher than theirs.

For me, the hard part came after Elrath's keep where there's something of a difficulty spike. The tactics I described above kind of stopped working there and I did a lot of running away.

Then I figured out how to create Cryoas and thing became okay again. (My old geneforge knowledge messed things up for me: I remembered how you used to need to raise the specific "create Fyora" skill to level 3 to create a Cryoa. So I never bothered raising my Fire Shaping to 3.)

[Oishii Kudasai]

Keep in mind that for one thing, essence isn't as useful compared to the original. It doesn't cost much to make creations and when you do you can get by with 3-4. I went 4 dryaks and i can double damage with cone attacks and lay waste to anything in my path. In terms of control it didn't seem like that big of a problem when i got more hero levels. Shaping can be boosted if you want but it's not that big of an issue unless you can see results in it. Main focus is to make sure you are winning in battle like how morale works in an army. So get limited shaping levels and limited essence mastery and just distribute as you will but battle magic is huge in this game and blessing magic will add to your creations too.

[Reality-slashers]

I'd suggest positioning of your fyoras and having 3 of them along with leveling either magic damage or missile weapons once or twice. Go for thahds first and have two of them as shields is my suggestion.