The game doesn't provide you with a Mage companion, and I already made a Shaman. What now?

[granada777]

I'm replaying this game on Hard after playing it once a few years ago.

I went Rifle Shaman (Conjuring up to Haste 4, no Summoning), but a couple of hours in I just realized the game doesn't give you any Mage companions. I was counting on bouncing Flamethrower 3 off a medium leyline to cheese Hard difficulty a bit.

Does Shaman benefit from leylines as much? Looking at the spell list, I guess I could Haste more frequently. Would Haste also bounce onto nearby allies?

Bonus question: I recently finished Vox Populi (the original Shadowrun Returns playable as a user-created campaign in the Hong Kong engine). Mana Charge 2, which is supposed to create a medium leyline, didn't work. It doesn't bounce spells, and it doesn't reduce spell cooldown. I didn't bother checking if it even improved accuracy as I already judged it worthless. Was that a Vox Populi issue or does HK have the same problem?

[DaveOfDeath]

HK will likely have the same issue. I didn't modify the spells in DMS:VP...

[Icedfate]

technically, the game "does" provide you with a mage companion. once the game opens up and you start running missions, you can hire "mercenary" shadowrunners instead of using the premade companions. if you scroll down the list, there will be a bunch of random looking guys and at least 1 is a mage.
only problem is they cost ¥450 to hire them and i never actually tried it, so i don't know if hiring one is permanent or if they just leave after a mission.
if it's the latter, then they definitely aren't worth it

[granada777]

Thanks for the advice. I didn't keep my saves but I'm pretty sure the mercenaries (Eos, Il Duce, Lucky Strike etc) stay on 2 AP, unlike the story companions. Plus, money as you say.

[Icedfate]

I'll also say, i just made a mage as my main character. . and i feel kinda weak.
maybe i built wrong, i dunno.
I started with 6 willpower and 4 spellcasting and my powerball does 6 damage(?) and only has like 55% to hit.
i have a manabolt that does 8 and i bought flamethrower which does 12. and i have heal, armor, accuuracy spells.
the poweball can't really do hardly anything becasue it can't punch through armor. even the manabolt and the flamethrower feel pathetically weak, especially when the enemies are in cover.
I guess the mage is meant to be a "support" character, or they get stronger later on, when they start getting the big aoes, like manaball and chain lightning?

edit : maybe i did the missions out of order. . .i picked the corporate fung shwei mission first and those 5 geomancers at the end, took 3 reloads before i could beat them. what with them doing 10-20 to my guys and my guys doing 2-6 to them. . .meanwhile, each one of them had 60 hp and most my team was 30-50. . .
and there was 5 of them and 4 of us. . .

yeah, i was probably meant to do one of the other missions first

[DaveOfDeath]

I played an AOE only mage, standing on the bouncing leylines... Chain lightning that hits everyone is very satisfying.

[Icedfate]

i haven't been able to get any aoe yet, didn't realize you also need intelligence for those. i spent all my karma on will, spellcasting, and charisma for the etiquettes, i have 3 etiquette and i still keep running into situations where i don't have the "right" etiquette.

i did just now get powerbolt 3 and flame 2 , but now i'm out of money.

as for those "mercenary" shadowrunners, i sometimes see them around the hub town and i can talk to them, but yeah, money is so tight and if those guys don't "level up". . .

[di eshor ribly]

Originally posted by Icedfate:

as for those "mercenary" shadowrunners, i sometimes see them around the hub town and i can talk to them, but yeah, money is so tight and if those guys don't "level up". . .

They get the third AP point after you've unlocked it for the rest of your team, but they don't get level up customization. They are also a reoccurring cost - you have to hire them every mission if you want them. It's usually not worth the cost, but they also do come with 'free' disposable items you can use (medkits and grenades, or drugs).

[granada777]

Originally posted by Icedfate:

...

Mage is quite powerful if you abuse Flamethrower. It's the most damaging single target attack in the game for 99.8% of the campaign. If you're on a medium or dragon leyline, Flamethrower 2/3 have no cooldown which is amazing, and it bounces on 1 or 2 more enemies (with reduced damage I think). I avoided the AOEs when on leylines because they often bounced back against my own team.

Because the leylines are out in the open, you're kind of in a bad state until Gobbet gets her upgrade that lets her cast Barrier, this will give you cover on the leylines. Also give her Shadow to help you while you get in position on the leylines.

[selection_7]

I'm not sure that conjuring spells are supposed to be affected by leylines at all. In the SHRK Bugfix Compilation, "Spirit Haste, Fog and Blur are now correctly categorized as Conjuring; no longer gain bonuses from Dragonlines." Also, "Removed the dysfunctional and unpatchable Mana Charge I-II from merchant inventories."
https://www.nexusmods.com/shadowrunhongkong/mods/32?

[Icedfate]

i think the person above meant making the makn a mage and then bringing gobbet as support to cast barrier while the mage stands on the line and uses flamethrower.
i knew about the leylines but haven't gotten far enough in the game to make use of them. but this explains how the geomancers in thst fung shwei mission were doing that flame thing that was bouncing to all my guys. . .
that was a hard battle with low level units. i should not have picked that mission "first". . .

[selection_7]

I was answering the OP, not the person above my post. The OP asked about Haste bounces and Mana Charge not working correctly.

You're right that geomancer mission is not easy due to the main baddy's health regen and AP drain ability. I like to have Jolt Alert before I do that one.

Two missions don't require any difficult (or any) fighting, and therefore can be done first to build up your character: Outsider/Whampoa (extra karma for not killing anyone), and after that one, DeckCon/Is0belTrust. By the time you've done those two, you'll be ready for "TheDig/Museum" or "UninvitedGuests/Shangri-La Restaurant". You'll want to wait on "Misdirection/Ares Asia Holdings" and "GeomanticSabatoge/Bad Chi" because they're a little harder, and do "Whistleblower/MV Nalchi/DataRetrieval" nearly last if you choose to side with neither faction, and therefore fight both factions at the same time—a really tough battle, to get an extra 1 karma. "Sinking ship/Gobbet Trust" is very easy, but Gobbet won't give it to you until you're a number of missions along. I haven't done "Renraku/Gaichu Trust" yet.