Sniping Ranger - GOS?

[LivderaDeralleur]

Background Information
My Burghal Gnome Ranger - L50 - is currently in COL, though debating switching her to GOS and wondering the pros/cons of it. She's a pure sniping build: 2x ranged, 2x dodge, 2x ambush, 2x perception, 2x hiding, etc. My only worry is that I don't have any MOC, though could likely get a few ranks of it from my AG badge or something. She's usually pretty spot on at killing things with 1-hit eye crits from hiding, though, and figure I can handle with stealth, Camouflage (608), Tangleweed (610) and Mass Calm (619). It's how I handle bandits and it usually works pretty well, though not sure how it would transfer to GOS.

I've been debating this change for a while, as it'd give me another outlet of exp/hunting without having to completely uproot to a new town and try to find a proper hunting ground without being able to see maps (hardest part of playing this game blind - I'm limited to whatever areas I had memorized before I lost my sight and I hadn't gotten a character this high in level before.)

Questions
1. Do any of the grimswarm disarm? I really don't want to risk losing my best bow.
2. Do you suppose it's possible to attempt warcamping solo with this build? I realize some of the tasks can be done with stealth and unsure how perceptive grimswarm are in their warcamp.

[Cereal Killer]

1. Grimswarm do not disarm.
2. Warcamping solo as a sniping ranger is doable. The key things are target selection and being willing to run away from a bad situation. Having a full complement of outside spells makes it a lot easier. Having access to haste of some kind makes it a cakewalk.

[loxe]

For an ambushing ranger I recommend as much summon lore as possible and keep vine and swarm/breeze up at all times. I soloed my way through GoS this way with self cast spells only and really the only time I died was due to massive stacked round times from warcry and other cmans and the occasional implode.

[Shaps]

I would concur with most the comments here. I would recommend trying to 2x PF for the switch to GOS if you can fit it in. But the great part as a Ranger in GOS, is you do not use CMANs to much for maneuvers, which allows you to run plenty of Sigils as you wish.

[LivderaDeralleur]

Thanks for the opinions, guys!

I think I've managed 1.5x in PF at the moment, though should hope with Mobiles, etc., that maneuver evasion should be pretty good. As a gnome, too, my character's pretty quick. Think it's been a while since she got hit by a roa'ter maneuver, for example.

Think I'll try it out this weekend and see how I fare.

[gs4-PauperSid]

Quick question,

Does sigil of major bane apply to the arrows one shoots as a sunfist archer, (ie heavy crit weighted arrows) or to the bow you are shooting with (thus providing sighting/improved aim)? Gut instinct always figured it was the former, not the latter. Anyone know? Don't believe the documentation on gswiki clarified it.

[Jeril]

The arrows you shoot get weighting added to them.

[loxe]

Another great sigil for archers is determination. It allows you to keep shooting even with arm wounds

[LivderaDeralleur]

Definitely doing it for that determination sigil alone - there have been a couple times where I got injured in the arm and was effectively crippled except for Spikethorn.

[Vorpodu]

I'm very interested to know how you play this game blind.

[LivderaDeralleur]

How do I play the game blind?

I have a screen reader, JAWS, which is a text-to-speech program that reads out the text output from the game. Sometimes excessive screen scroll can be a problem and I may miss things, though I've been altering my client to squelch certain output and play sounds for others.

It may help that I played Gemstone for over a decade before I went blind, so I have, for example, the entire layout of the Landing area in my muscle memory. It's a problem, though, in trying to find new hunting areas that I haven't visited before as I can't use maps or Lich - I usually have to depend on another person to take me there and sort of extrapolate the directions based on other landmarks I already know. I'm debating putting a script up that records directions taken while in a group so I have a ready access to the raw directions when someone guides me somewhere.

[Vorpodu]

Wow that's awesome. Do you just say what you want to be input into the command line? I assume you are a good typer because you played for so long but I assume typos can be an issue?

[LivderaDeralleur]

I was a great touch-typist before, so it helps. I just type all my commands into the game, as usual - sometimes my speed does get the better of me and, if I don't quickly read over what I typed I can have some typoes.

Basically as I'm typing, each letter I hit is repeated by the screen reader (mimicking a touch-typist seeing each letter as it is typed.) However, sometimes I'm a bit too fast for my own good and it kind of blurs together and the screen reader has problems keeping up.

I've learned to reread anything my character says before hitting enter, as I've had at least one instance where an unfortunate typo slipped through. (Usually pretty funny in hindsight, though a bit embarrassing at the time.)

[Vorpodu]

Thanks for taking the time to talk with me. I often wondered how somebody would play a game like this if they were blind. I'm beyond impressed by you I won't lie. Your ability to decipher individual sounds at a fast pace is probably borderline superhuman. I can't imagine having to do that.

[Rafinzus]

Thanks for taking the time to talk with me. I often wondered how somebody would play a game like this if they were blind. I'm beyond impressed by you I won't lie. Your ability to decipher individual sounds at a fast pace is probably borderline superhuman. I can't imagine having to do that.

I have always had a ton of respect for my uncle. When he was about 21 a bail of hay fell on his head resulting in paralyzation as a quadriplegic. After he got out of the hospital he went to college around 1990 for the first time and typed out his papers letter by letter with a puff stick he held with his lips and graduated in five years. Since he has gone all over the world lecturing about disabilities and toured quite a bit with Christopher Reeves.

Playing a text-based MUD blind .... wow. Serious dedication, ingenuity and amazing mental capacity. True inspiration of what can be accomplished with some determination, discipline and persistence.

[SHAFT]

Grimswarm camps must be fun. Or invasions.