Monday 8 March 2004

Pic of the day: "Pick on someone your own size". Simulacrum in action, screenshot from Dark Age of Camelot.

DAoC Cabalist revisited

Guess I may as well report on this project, since it is unlikely I will find much time for DAoC for a while from Wednesday onward. ^_^

My Cabalist has passed level 20, which is important for at least two reasons: One free realm point, and a new Simulacrum.

Realm points don't come easily to anyone, and certainly not to one destined and raised to fight only witless monsters. The spirit Cabalist is ill equipped to deal with a cunning foe, for his power is nearly all invested in his servant creature, the animated golem called "simulacrum". A wise opponent will eschew combat with that mindless servant and concentrate his attacks on the vulnerable mage himself. Therefore, although the spirit Cabalist excels against the wildlife of the lands, he is little sought after in the realm wars.

The short of it is, the free realm point you get at level 20 may well be the last, at least in a long time. So how to invest it wisely? Well, in my case it was obvious. As a loot cabbie, I constantly found myself overburdened and had to return from the field to sell. So my choice of realm ability would be Lifter. 1 point gives you 20% more carrying capacity. Quite a bit, but most fighters would prefer Augmented Strength. It has much less effect on carrying, but also increases damage done with sword or mace (probably also shield slam). And casters don't wear armor, so usually they aren't too overburdened. Then again, usually their purpose in life is not to get loot...

***

As for the emerald simulacrum available from level 20, I am sorry to say that it was about as pathetic as I had heard. The emerald "procs" (randomly casts) disease and poison on its current opponent. Disease mostly prevents healing; poison does damage over time. But usually you don't want fights to last long against one opponent. There is a tactic in which this simulacrum would excel over earlier models: Fighting several enemies at once, switching between them frequently. A matter Cabalist might do that against groups of green mobs, running a focus shield around the sim to reflect damage. Even then it would be risky, as you cannot heal while holding the focus shield and for several seconds afterward.

The green simulacrum simply does not reach up to the standards set by its predecessor, the Sapphire Simulacrum available from level 12. The blue golem drinks the life force of its enemies to heal itself. When fully buffed at level 20, it needs no maintenance to chain kill green and blue opponents, and even yellow may not require healing if you're lucky. Often the golem would be a bit reduced from fighting a strong yellow opponent, but then I would let him snack on something green and he would recover his health. Nifty.

My Cabalist was last seen on the Salisbury Plains, hunting giants, huge boars and aged basilisks. It is entirely possible that I'll still be there a month from now; I don't expect much progress in that game for a while. ^_^