Locklyn Posted October 23, 2003 Report Share Posted October 23, 2003 Pete, Could you please give more explicit explanation of what mental powers do and do not than that available in the rules. They are very vaguely discussed and those that have spent points on them or interested in spending points on the should know how effective they are or are not. Are they just for MDDs? What powers give bonuses in what areas and are they equivalent to the +s in other life form powers or not? My Mentals are going Mental.... /Locklyn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhaseDragon Posted October 23, 2003 Report Share Posted October 23, 2003 I would be interested in this explanation as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EternusIV Posted October 23, 2003 Report Share Posted October 23, 2003 I presume they give you "special" bonuses across the board with ground/space/research. I'd love to hear ANYTHING about stuff like this, though. However, I'm pretty certain the answer will be along the lines of "No comment on the ability to sense alien fleets when they are not co-located" (or something close to that) That WAS a classic line. Not too worried - me no havey! Just don't float any of your strange MDDs over my poor widdle plant guys and we'll get along JUST fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RTGPete Posted October 23, 2003 Report Share Posted October 23, 2003 Pete,Could you please give more explicit explanation of what mental powers do and do not than that available in the rules. They are very vaguely discussed and those that have spent points on them or interested in spending points on the should know how effective they are or are not. Are they just for MDDs? What powers give bonuses in what areas and are they equivalent to the +s in other life form powers or not? My Mentals are going Mental.... /Locklyn Sure. Mental powers are essentially tech advances, similar to horizon techs such as Social or Space Science. They can open up other technologies in the tech tree, such as mental power-based mass destruction devices. Mental powers can also provide fairly substantial bonuses to exploration. They are also useful in ground combat as they comprise 3 out of the 35 ground combat tactical areas--those are areas that non-mental-power races will have a very hard time achieving bonuses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EternusIV Posted October 23, 2003 Report Share Posted October 23, 2003 Ok....so now its official. If you mental guys are going come tromping around my dandelion fields, please put on our curtesy aluminum foil hats at the Alien Welcoming Center..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolfe99 Posted October 23, 2003 Report Share Posted October 23, 2003 Do you get the non-combat benefits (e.g. exploration) of mental powers just by buying the lifeform feature, or do you need to research mental powers related techs to get those bonuses? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Locklyn Posted October 23, 2003 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2003 Why I am asking? The rules say: The acquisition of mental powers for your lifeform can be another important decision, not so much because of the cost of acquiring saidpowers but because of the path said powers will tend to lead you down. Mental power acquisition is fairly inexpensive initially because all that you are really buying is mental power potential. A lifeform will receive no bonuses or abilities simply for having the potential for a given mental power. The true rewards for having a mental power come only when you have devoted the research & development time necessary to bring out the potential of that power. R & D efforts dedicated toward such goals, however, can only come at the expense of projects dedicated to technical achievements so the price for developing such powers will be an increasing reliance on those abilities and the capabilities they provide you with and less dependence on technical solutions. Where are those paths to research? I've had races with all mental powers going down the 3-4G Life and Medical Science path as well as the Psychology paths and MDDs before giving up hope of finding anything else to do with mental powers than MDDs. Are your powers just hood ornaments of a metaphysical nature untill then or what gives? How come those mental powered races have no clue what so ever? Telepathic mental powers involve the use of the mind as a sensory organ, as a means of communication and, ultimately, as weapon of control.Telepaths typically utilize their powers in an indirect manner, improving communications between themselves, gathering intelligence from their enemies and as an edge in diplomatic situations. The use of their abilities as a direct weapon, requires considerable natural ability (at least Class 4 potential) and training. That last sentence is interesting, I might get an additional help in DIP from Telepathic powers but how do I know? Could it be added to the DIP result that mental powers helped? Could it also be added how far along you were? That training part is also interesting, now what could that be, as I said earlier I had some races with some mates run through and try and find the required training but no joy wich either entails it is non-existent or fifth gen tech which means you have a long way before you could use these powers. The sentence also entails that you might get a bonus in space combat with intelligence, but is it for ground combat, space combat or both? ESP (extra-sensory perception) mental powers convey the ability to perceive events in paranormal ways. ESPers typically utilize their powers togather information at range. Intelligence gathering abilities of this nature can be of great value, particularly in combat & exploration situations where dealing with the unknown is a constant. A powerful ESPer may be able to perceive events out of time as well which could allow for the acquisition of knowledge which could not be obtained in any other way. This seems to be a given for EXPLs...as well as combat...which one would like to see listed once one gets around to fighting, you NEED to know that spending those points on racial design actually paid off. Telekinetic mental powers allow for the manipulation of matter and energy by the mind. Telekinetics deal primarily with inanimate objects,unlike telepaths, and their abilities serve as a tool as well as a weapon. Powerful telekinetics can be extremely dangerous in combat situations and their powers have obvious scientific & industrial advantage potential as well. Aha...Scientific and Industrial Advantages? I ve not seen any listed bonuses for these things with the races I've checked but then again it may be hidden further up in the tech tree than we've gone in this year... Thepotential a lifeform has in a given mental power determines how far that lifeform can develop its mental powers before it reaches a developmental dead-end which can only be overcome by increasing natural potential. This is a rather curious sentence. I read it as if you have lvl 4 power you can develop (assuming you the tech path) items (only MDDs found so far) installations (hopefully) or further develop those powers (the training of the text) since racial engineering doesn't do it but just adds points to buy things(higher potential) this is a big mystery... And the cincher: Note: Remember that the true rewards of having mental powers are realized only when you have developed the training & equipment neededto exploit that potential. Yum! Would be glad to if I ever found the path and could build something other than MDDs I'm a peaceful gremloid, not out to saturate the skies of fellow aliens homeworlds with TK Rippers or ESP Deluders The main issue is that those having bought or thinking of buying Mental Power 'potential' have no real idea of what bonuses to RB/EXPL/DIP/SCB etc etc it gives unlike other racial design features and since no turn reports currently feature any mention of your mental powers having any effect at all you don't know squat... /Locklyn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhaseDragon Posted October 23, 2003 Report Share Posted October 23, 2003 Another thing to consider is that mental powers are matched against other mental powers as well. To just have the potential but not develop it would mean that everytime you encountered someone else with mental powers who did develop them they would have an advantage over your race...even greater than if you had not taken any mental potential at all. If you choose this "DESTINY" then be prepared to go all the way with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laserwolf Posted October 24, 2003 Report Share Posted October 24, 2003 My metal powers give us a bonus to locate sacrificial Grimloids.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azuth Posted October 24, 2003 Report Share Posted October 24, 2003 You don't need mental powers for that. They're all over the place. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tokmok Posted February 20, 2004 Report Share Posted February 20, 2004 Hello Any news on the mental power front?? Do they really work as said in the descriptions or do they seem to be waste of points?? thanks Tokmok Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShadowKitsune Posted February 20, 2004 Report Share Posted February 20, 2004 I don't believe that mental powers are a *waste* of points. What has yet to be shown is whether they are worth the cost they are assigned. So far, it has been inferred that Mental Powers can -- - give you bonuses in ground combat - give you access to certain weapons of Mass Destruction - give you small bonuses to exploration and diplomacy How big are the bonuses? I don't know. Do they open up any technologies other than MDDs? Again, I don't know. Given the pace of the game, it is probably too early to declare one way or the other. We may find that having 5th Generation Telepathy opens up 1st Generation Brainwashing ... err ... Attitude Adjustment ... or that 6th Generation ESP allows the research and eventual construction of Mk I Precognitive Fire Control Systems, which gives you major space combat bonuses because you know where your enemy is going to be ... and so forth and so on ... Of course, it may just be wishful thinking from someone who spent points on "mental powers". We shall see ... -SK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RTGPete Posted February 21, 2004 Report Share Posted February 21, 2004 I just went through every ground combat "TAC" category and updated the missing tech item areas. As a result, TAC results will display mental power and the related bomb bonuses now (assuming you have developed the appropriate technology and your army contains divisions that cover those areas, as is usual for all TAC categories). Regarding mental powers in general: their best feature is to grant access to some bombs (and three extra TAC categories) that cannot be gained otherwise (check TAC results). Fortunately, they are not terribly expensive, especially given the no-other-way-to-gain-those-bonuses value. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Locklyn Posted March 14, 2004 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2004 Regarding mental powers in general: their best feature is to grant access to some bombs (and three extra TAC categories) that cannot be gained otherwise (check TAC results). Fortunately, they are not terribly expensive, especially given the no-other-way-to-gain-those-bonuses value. Thanks for fixing the TACs and ANZ for these now and I look forward to finding the other features of the mental powers that are mentioned in the rules down the maze of the tech tree. Cheers /Locklyn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tokmok Posted March 15, 2004 Report Share Posted March 15, 2004 Hello I just started a race with mental powers but when I do a TAC on the army nothing mental appears in the ratings??? And I dont have access to any special mental power research? Do I need to research Psychology ?? thanks Tokmok Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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