Thunder mana cost?

[rwlyraa]

Why does every guide for Gothic 2 NOTR both lists Thunder as Circle 4 spell (when it's under Circle 3 in-game, along with Ball Lightning) and shows it's manacost as 20 when it's 100? It's not even castable for my level 22 mage :P
Is it even worth investing into? I could realistically only cast it once, by putting several more levels into mana.

[Faedrill]

Do you use any mods?
Did you mistake Storm and Lightning?

[Oneeyed]

The guides I know from gothic community shows Thunder (in german Unwetter) as circle 3 spell costing 100 mana. Like e.g. www.mondgesaenge.de

100 mana is pretty low and Thunder is probably one of the most powerful spells in the game. A mage in Gothic 2 can easily reach 400 mana. With power-ups alone you can get more than 300 mana for free.

[rwlyraa]

Okay, sorry, translation mishap! There is indeed a circle 4 lightning and a circle 3 thunder (which seems to bug my game when casted from scroll making UI disappear for duration of the spell).

[Včelí medvídek]

There is not spell "thunder" in game.. (ye, I guess we have some translation issue here but considering EN version)

There is Circle 4 spell Lighting that is one of best single target spell with cost of 30 mana and 150 damage being most cost effective single target damage.

And than there is Circle level 3 spell Storm that cost 100 mana and 250 aoe damage. It is very strong spell that is able take out group of enemies in one cast so the cost is appropriate. Get NOTR jewelry set for significant mana boost but ye - as stated above mage should target something like 400+ mana. Though unless you do it as chalenge you will likely still utilize weapons and scrolls for long time.(though you should think twice before spend LP to anythyng elsde than mana - be even careful with spells tto not take spell that become obsolote fast leaving you with wasted points in it... good Gothic mage is a lot about planning ahead and mana is life - most of your LP should go into it)

I am now playing dragon hunter having over 100 mana myself without single Learning point invested in it from free bonuses... (only issue is as mage you want postpone free bonuses due increasing LP cost at trainer)

[rwlyraa]

Yeah I'm about level 24 and 5 mana costs 15 LP. I'm hoping to force through until it starts to cost 20 LP and then eat the mushrooms and tablets :)
It's beginning to be a bit annoying having to farm orc warriors with fireball.

The polish translation for some reason made Unwetter/Storm (burza) into "grom" (singular thunder) which does not infer it's an area of effect spell. If they at least used plural form "gromy" it would be undestanable.

[Včelí medvídek]

Do not push yourself into fights that are not necessary - you are supposed normally fight orcs at chapter 4+ There is LOT xp and weaker enemies before that (eg. whole NOTR storyline as example) -the strongest enemy you need to kill at first visit to Valley of mines is minecrawler...

And btw (spoiler)

you can utilize old pal Diego for killing many many orcs and enemies for free XP on way to exit the valley...


It is more fun too and rewarding for hard work ebcomeing strong mage - very satisfying summon own demon army or spread mass havoc with fire storm killing dozens of greeen beasts at a time (pretty sure better than some crazy iceblocking and killing 5 mins by staff and similar "strategies":)

[rwlyraa]

I did all that (Diego, rain of fire scrolls, summons). Without it i'd be level 12 or something :D
I got a lot of experience in VoM but didn't fully clear it because it was too bothersome to do at Chapter 2.

Rain of fire rune is Circle 6 so basically at the end of the game :/ and scrolls can be used by any class, not just mages.
I'm kinda disappointed by how magic is balanced in Gothic 2 but then it's a very old title.

[Včelí medvídek]

I was level 17 before joining faction in CH1 in current playthrougth:p

Well, yes and no... magic is very powerful but really good comes bit late and for high cost - and if you dont dedicate fully to magic you find yourself out of mana to do anything most of time... Water and Beliar spells brought some powerful spells sooner (eg. discussed Storm is actually quite powerful "nerfed" firestorm, skelletons are quite powerful too especially in group and if you kite enemies they can kill anything for "cheap", destroy unead trivialize lot of msot challenging encounters in game...) But I agree scrolls are too OP and easy available giving same power to not mage which dont feel right.

[Harris]

Originally posted by Včelí medvídek:

But I agree scrolls are too OP and easy available giving same power to not mage which dont feel right.

My favourite strat is get a train of orcs around the castle (snapperweed or the speed potion), get them all together and use two storm scrolls to delete them. Works for any class, not only for mage *shrugs* Kinda weird the power of all spells is static in G2.

Generally yeah, scrolls are OP and I whatever Zuris sells I will use to cheese the game, especially early game.

Sleep - to rob Matteo's warehouse

Summon Demon - to clear thieves guild if I'm playing a str-based character (how are you even supposed to clear it otherwise if you are guildless in CH 1 and want to join the militia though killing them all o_O

Shrink Monster - black troll

Ice Block - to not pay to Sentenza on the farm

Ah yes, and there are also those awesome transformation scrolls as well.

Dragon snapper - to wipe half of the map and get xp for it

Shadowbeast - to wipe those left alive by the dragon snapper


Mage overall is a weird class with a weird progression. Early on it's a goblin spam. Then trying to get every mana potion and plant in the world because you're constantly out of mana. Then you switch to skeletons. Then you get Storm and eventually Fire Rain which are essentially "delete everything from the screen" spells. But to get this power you have to suffer through the whole game as you can't really level the staff fighting, you need too much LP for mana, circles, runes, alchemy. NoTR is very tight on LP if you want to be strong in the end.

Fighters are also tight but they are kinda easier for the most of the game. I found Jarkendar set that boosts armor VERY strong for a warrior because of how damage reduction works. Combined with the best armor it makes you very durable.

[rwlyraa]

I don't think Thieves Guild was meant to be killable on chapter 1 even in the original game without NotR :P

I never kill them anyways because I like pickpocketing and the quests they give but I guess it could be feasible for a strength-only character (but then you won't get as much experience from them as you would in the later chapters).

[Včelí medvídek]

with patience (and some middle fight savescum) you can kill/defeat any NPC (in theory since level 1) - jsut block, evade and pray for own crits:p

But ye most reasonable way is use some magic here - likelz some shapeshift to firelizard or warg could be easy too (demon is overkill and virtually mandatory for dragon fights...)

[Oneeyed]

Yeah of course you are not meant to kill them since they have side quests in later chapters.

In addition if you just want to get into the militia you only have to rat them out to Lord Andre and he takes care of them.

Originally posted by rwlyraa:

I don't think Thieves Guild was meant to be killable on chapter 1 even in the original game without NotR :P

I never kill them anyways because I like pickpocketing and the quests they give but I guess it could be feasible for a strength-only character (but then you won't get as much experience from them as you would in the later chapters).

[Včelí medvídek]

Originally posted by Oneeyed:

In addition if you just want to get into the militia you only have to rat them out to Lord Andre and he takes care of them.

I have actually never saw this - if you tell abotu hideout he just keep asking if you killed them too.

Dunno maybe some numebr of ingame days has to pass I never had patience for that... Seems as worst of all options too - can you even loot bodies for keys in this case?

[Vault Hunter 101]

Originally posted by Oneeyed:

Yeah of course you are not meant to kill them since they have side quests in later chapters.

In addition if you just want to get into the militia you only have to rat them out to Lord Andre and he takes care of them.

Originally posted by rwlyraa:

I don't think Thieves Guild was meant to be killable on chapter 1 even in the original game without NotR :P

I never kill them anyways because I like pickpocketing and the quests they give but I guess it could be feasible for a strength-only character (but then you won't get as much experience from them as you would in the later chapters).

If you rat them you won't complete the quest, it will be failed. If you want to join militia or complete the quest you MUST kill them yourself.