I've oft wondered just how true all the figures are in the Guidebook for
the
final score, so I decided to give it a bit of testing. Results after some
spoiler space:
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The test character I used was a backup of a crowned neutral wizard, gate
closed. I compared the final score when doing different things before
leaving the chain (all tested numerous times for accuracy of course). The
following I can say with some degree of certainty:
1. Equipment makes no difference to the final score, either worn or
carried.
The same character leaving the chain wearing the TotRR and many other
valuable artifacts got the same score as one naked with an empty
inventory.
2. Stat boosting potions don't affect the final score (to be expected).
Couldn't test with real stat modifications.
3. Number of saves similarly has no effect.
4. Number of turns has a huge effect on the score, but different than the
Guidebook states. A bonus is received of 1000 points for every turn below
80,000 (not 50k!) That means a million points for every thousand turns
under this level. Tested at numerous stages with the turn reduction bug -
I
am absolutely certain of this. Leaving with a turn counter of 3 netted a
whopping 79,997,000 points bonus.
5. Becoming head of the thieves guild is worth 20k points - this matches
the
base value of 5k stated in the guidebook (which perhaps implies all the
other quest reward values given are also accurate).
6. Sacrificing 100 gold to your deity is worth around 130 points (tested
with various amounts). (The Guidebook implies there's a maximum to this,
but I didn't get to test it.)
7. Experience is worth around 1 point for every 3.5 xp. This means that
1,000,000 xp is worth about 300,000 points. (I could do with more
accurate
measurements of this to be honest - was hard to get decent amounts of
experience without altering other values.)
8. Each point of spell knowledge is worth about two-thirds of a score
point.
9. Each corruption subracts around 20,000 points (again this matches what
the Guidebook already states).
Obviously investing huge amounts of gold into piety (or, indeed, saccing
all
your equipment since it's not worth anything) is a good way to maximise
the
score, though I personally feel that's a bit scummy. Harvesting large
amounts of xp and trying to severely minimise turns are the more
honourable
ways to try and get a higher score. If the Guidebook is to be believed
then
being a paragon of order also gives a huge boost - will have to test this
out some time (though notably avatars of Balance score far far higher in
the
hall of fame).
--
Darren Grey
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