Anyone find a way to cheese the mutation?

[Mrs_Brisby]

I.e. Ratlings random stat gains via Mutation trait. Is there any way to control what we get?

Save scumming does not appear to work, but perhaps someone else has found a way? How exactly does this work? I was hoping to run a Ratling Barbarian and be able to get his Strength up to quick to compensate for the racial loss, but I guess not.

[Balcombe]

Ha. Looks like we have been thinking along the same lines. Mutation rats were going to be my next experiment, as I've been on the fence about taking my previous experimental parties further into the game. I gotta admit, the trade-offs of gains and losses (big or small) in character creation of this game are pretty solid. I mean - I've definitely been over-thinking it, and next up was a party of four ratties - 2 barbarians on the front line, and two wizards (or 1 wizard and 1 alchemist) in the back.

I've already made three different parties and have been unsatisfied with all of them, even with some min-maxing and standard arch-type mix and match games going on. Some of the parties I didn't like due to the mislabeled stats, other due to required skills (damn, it takes skill points to make potions? found that out too late!) and others due to them being a bad idea on my account, or simply not liking weapon-skills like firearms.

This was going to be my next experiment - to see if I could manipulate the mutation trait by saving and reloading to beef up a party of four rats, but apparently you have confirmed that it seems to be preset in some way shape or form?

It could still be a pretty solid option though. Most stats are fairly useful to every class (melee benefits from both STR and dex, Will and Vit increase HP/energy which is good for any class, etc., dex gives any class evasion and accuracy, so on and so forth. Also, with the upcoming patch, higher vit and willpower will increase energy and hp regen, as well as all stats will increase resists a bit, so every stat can be useful, it just doesn't seem as easy to min-max.

[VladePsyker]

If you really want to do this you might as well just fire up cheat engine and manually adjust your stats. Otherwise embrace the random buffs

[Balcombe]

Naw, cheat engine is a slippery slope. I'd rather keep it all self-contained within this game, even if it is borderline like trying to cheese the mutation mechanic

[Mrs_Brisby]

[quote="Balcombe"... I'd rather keep it all self-contained within this game...[/quote]

I feel the same way.

I like to give myself as much of an advantage as I can, but within the constructs of that system. ( Save scumming is on the very edge of that, but it's still in the box. )

As to the subject at hand, I can confirm that the stat gains seem to be set at some point after you make your party. I restarted with the exactly same conditions, name, stats, trait picks, etc, and got different Mutation stat bonuses each time.

Honestly it appears Ratlings are best used for dex builds, and the glory that could be the rat hulk is on hold until someone finds a way around this, if at all.

[Komag]

They're randomly set, but set much earlier so save-scumming won't work. Otherwise it wouldn't be truly random, would it? Players everywhere would just manipulate the saves to get whatever stat they wanted, completely breaking the point of "mutation".

[Balcombe]

Thanks for checking that out Brisby. As you saw from the post I made on the alchemist that you commented on, I was planning on two save-scummed maximized rat hulks, and 2 save-scum maximized rat mages (or 1 mage, +1 magic using- alchemist).

Now I'm not so sure on what party to build, even though mutation could still benefit any class really (ie, hp or energy is good for any class).

I'm leaning towards 4 humans all with skilled and fast learner, though another 10% to exp seems almost negligible.

Was thinking I could do two barbarians or knights with skilled, and add the third skill point in athletics or concentration for extra HP/energy, which is better than the basic +20 hp or energy trait.

I would in turn do the same with the mages, just adding that third skill point into concentration instead of athletics.

I dunno - I'm trying to give myself as much of an advantage as possible, with including all the elements and characters I like (ie, a fighter or two, and at least two magic users, even if one starts out as an alchemist), while wanting to give myself access to cool abilities like alchemist herb-grower, and max level magics in a few schools.

I gotta say, character creation is proving hard for this, at least this time around. Maybe we are just asking for too much?

[redsocialknight]

This really does seem like a case where taking pot luck is part of the fun.

It's not that easy to find a character build that really does benefit from all 4 main stats, but I gave the Mutation trait to a Ratling Wizard who is going to level Fire Magic and Thrown Weapons, which I think comes fairly close. It's probably not optimal, but I think she'll be fun to play -- and she'll be happy with any stat gain she gets.