Wizardry 8 - Dances with Rhinos

Jay Barnson continues his journey through Wizardry 8, reaching the Umpani:

Unfortunately, while the trip along the Arnika Road has gotten a little easier, it has become no shorter. If I don't feel like running, I'm being engaged of groups of nearly 20 monsters at a time sometimes. Duking it out can take ten minutes. Running doesn't take much less time. Frankly, it's a long and annoying trip.

But I could tell I got to Umpani territory when I saw a very industrial-looking bridge with electric lights. Sounded about right. Past this, I found a fort at the base of Mount Gigas, with units of sometimes a dozen Umpani marching around it. The Umpani have changed a little since Wizardry 7, but they still resemble a humanoid rhinoceros. With military uniforms, swords, and black powder pistols. And computers and space ships, of course. Kinda steampunk.

…and Jay has also been interviewed at the Alley of Infinite Angles about indie game development.
More information.

I'm not sure how many people ever figured it out, but the "five monsters" area is supposed to be a "stealth" puzzle. You can switch to turn-based, run past monsters, and as long as you're out of eye-sight with the monsters when the turn ends, you can avoid combat. Kinda important when a 5th-level party runs into a djinn or a devourer.

Now you're rockin'. I normally do the Umpani pretty early (monestary-Arnika-monestary-Umpani-Trynton-Trang-(you'll see soon enough), so the caves are a good way to pick up a level or two without too much danger. Tackling them deeper in the game as you are, it could very well be more work than fun.

That rocket launcher training sucks every time. Doesn't matter when you do it, it ends up being a waste of good ammo. You just can't reliably do enough damage at that range. One of the very few things I really consider poor design in the game. I wonder if those target dummies (not the ones on the training course) are getting scaled by the autoleveller when the intent was for them to be 20hp patsies.

Originally Posted by Stanza
I'm not sure how many people ever figured it out, buy the "five monsters" area is supposed to be a "stealth" puzzle. You can switch to turn-based, run past monsters, and as long as you're out of eye-sight with the monsters when the turn ends, you can avoid combat

But… But… Don't you lose out on XP and skilltraining that way?

Originally Posted by KazikluBey
But… But… Don't you lose out on XP and skilltraining that way?

See! See! It's cause'a people like you that games never, ever end up being anything more than murder simulators.

Originally Posted by Stanza
See! See! It's cause'a people like you that games never, ever end up being anything more than murder simulators.

I like murder. Big fan. Copious blunt force trauma. There's a Mr. Grim here about the reaping.

Originally Posted by dteowner
those target dummies

I´ve always thought it was intentional to make them "tough". After all, they´re there for long range training purposes. I never bother with them though and after obtaining the rocket launcher I head straight to the 5 monsters area.

Well, I got some good use out of the dummies for general ranged-combat training for my whole team.

And yeah - I forgot to mention that it was supposed to be stealth training. The thing is - and this IS a problem with the game - there's never any real explanation of HOW you are supposed to do that in the game itself. You'd think training would… uh… train you or something.

Still, I had fun with the battles. I totally lucked out on the Djinn. And got a Djinn Eye for my troubles, which is used by Anton for goodies!

That's a long-standing issue with RPGs. Even when they offer non-combat alternatives, they often forget to offset the standard reward systems: XP, skill improvement, loot, money, ammo. Plus the convenience of eliminating a potentially recurring threat. If you take the non-combat option, you don't get those rewards (or worse, you do take the alternative, get the alt-reward, then go back to kill-n-loot and get all of the other rewards as well).

the map for the t rang railroad…

The one the has the 7 circles that move 2 ways…


O O O
O O O
O

I NEED HELP ON THIS…
SORRY

I don't know the "correct" answer, but the way I've worked is to point the orange ends so that you get from the left side (entrance) to each other side, one ride at a time. Save exiting to the bottom for last.

Sorry I didn't notice your question sooner.

ok i was just wondering
hey if you find out can you tell me?
the correct one… (i believe i did it already.) its where you go to mountain's bluff the lower)
but i cant find it now i reloaded my game and forgot to save…

if you find out tell me please!

yea i found it and now i'm in…
i forget..
where u fight the flying snakes, elements, and the sthing
that is like a lizard that breaths fire…

Whats an easy way to defend against the breath fire?
(would elemental sheild protect u much? if so how much?)

Yes, depends on ability of the caster.

Mountain Wilderness

Yep, elemental shield is very useful with scorchers. By the time you get to the Mountain Wilderness, your caster is very likely to have the skill/power to reliably cast that spell at top power.

yea… idk about top power but yea…

both my mage and alchemist both have summon element so that helps me alot!!

i need help for what spells and the best way to go and less scorchers to fight!

This probably belongs in a Wiz8 thread in General RPG, but it's not a big deal. You should always have the following spells active if possible: light, enchanted blade, missle shield, magic screen, and armorplate. In combat, you might want soul shield or elemental shield depending on the opponent.

There's a lot of scorchers in the Mountain Wilderness. If you want to explore that map, you're going to see a lot of them. For that matter, you're going to see scorchers on most maps as you continue the game so you probably should get used to them. Without knowing your party makeup, the best advice I can give you at this point is to cast elemental shield in the first round and then charge to melee range in the second round. Scorchers generally do less damage and hit less often in melee than if you fight them at range.

so i should go and run up and fight?

the breath fire from them is only doing an adverage of 2-3 damage.
they hit for 13 and hit 2-3 times a round…

They will close to extended melee range (not close enough for you to melee back without a polearm) after a few breaths of fire, so it's best IMO to take that last couple steps toward them so you can bring your heavy hitters into the fray. It takes quite a few arrows to wipe out a 200-300hp critter…