Saturday, May 26, 2018

Martian Dreams: Making a Power Play

Forget all roads leading to Rome. Now that I had an affidavit certifying my mental stability - signed in triplicate - in hand, all my leads seemed to point me in the direction of Olympus. There were at least three threads I could recall to follow up on within the community's walls. Dibbs had suggested a man named Trippet there could assist with repairing the broken conveyor belt in the power station. Edison might be able to help figure out how to get said station providing power once more. I'd also been told Carnegie had been working on building another cannon to make the return trip to Earth. Though he had run out of iron for the necessary steel, seeking him out could still be beneficial, and he too was purportedly to be found in Olympus.

Appreciating the bounty of Martian vegetation.
And so, with my course decided, I set out once more to deliver my affidavit to Nathaniel and gain entrance to the gated community. Sticking near the canals had been both easy to navigate and relatively safe in the past, so I stuck to the pattern. It indeed proved to be an uneventful journey, and we spent some time marveling at the Martian vegetation - the forests, the wriggling worm grass, the berry bushes. The glut of levels I experienced in my last session seemed to be dwindling back to what felt like "normal" levels as well. No longer was I seeing at least half my party get stronger when I rested - granted, that was partly because the recent addition of Sherman to the group had increased its size, but I was, at least, beginning to catch up to all the experience I'd been gaining.

Nathaniel was quick to open the gates and welcome us to Olympus once he had verified the three signatures. I suspect we were also helped in no small part by the fact that one of the signers was indeed now traveling as part of our number. Olympus proved to be a relatively bustling community, and we spent a good while exploring its nooks and crannies, and talking to its citizenry. We learned much from the many notable figures we found there. Marie Curie, for example, told us of her research into radium, how the Martians may have used it to power some of their machines, and the affinity the Martian worms seemed to have for the substance. Apparently the creatures grew quite rapidly when exposed to it, and so the physicist hypothesized we might be able to conclude the presence of radium wherever we found abnormally large worms. She invited us to take the lead box in her laboratory with us so we could collect our own samples should we find any.

Taking in the Olympian sights
Several others in the community talked with us about potentially useful things - Teddy Roosevelt told us of the value of fingerprint evidence and how it led him to suspect Rasputin to be the culprit of the cannon's early fire. Sarah Bernhardt (fascinating woman, incidentally, I did some further reading about her out of curiosity, since I didn't know much about her, and man is she an interesting figure!) mused about her more artistic pursuits and how beautiful she found Martian culture, lamenting its loss and wishing there were a way to preserve their race. Trippet talked with us about the canals, positing that the Martians may have melted part of the ice caps for water - Peary seemed to agree, telling us how the ice there seemed irregularly formed when we chatted about his explorations of the planet.

But more than anything else, talk in Olympus seemed to revolve around the Dream Machines. Segal, the leader of the colony, insisted on us avoiding the machines, talking about the madness that had afflicted those who had used it at Elysium, and a dangerous man in Hellas with a working Machine. He had ordered the one there in Olympus destroyed and guarded, and that seemed to be that. Edison, however, still seemed to be interested in its workings - he had had a chance to study its control panel before the Machine was destroyed, and thought he'd be able to rewire another control panel for its use. Perhaps there would be opportunity to take advantage of that fact, too. Legrande Couillard, the man guarding the ruined apparatus, suggested he'd be willing to let us see it if we could find his missing brother Jean, who had been sent to the Olympus mines and had not been heard of since.

...yeah, I'd believe this guy reads Machiavelli.
As an aside, I also liked the various touches each character we met had in their domiciles, especially the books. Personally, I think you can tell a lot about a person by what they've got on their bookshelves, and it seemed an applicable precept within Olympus. My two particular favorites - a copy of The Three Musketeers in the building where Peary and Roosevelt were rooming together, and Machiavelli's The Prince displayed proudly in Segal's quarters. Both seemed rather fitting choices for the personages who were apparently reading them, and it made for that nice little extra bit of characterization. Well done, Martian Dreams.

There were a couple things I could follow up on after chatting up the residents of Olympus, and the first one I decided to pursue was getting the power going. It seemed like it would be an important part of my own explorations of the Red Planet, and besides, I'd already been to the power station, so I at least knew where I was going and at least some degree of what to expect. Unfortunately, I hadn't thought to take the damaged conveyor belt with me when I was there, so I had to go back and fetch it to bring back to Trippet so he could repair it. (Yes, there was a lot of back and forth in this session.) Along the way I had my first brush with the dreaded oxy leeches, who stole oxium from me whenever they managed to land a blow. That just reinforced my decision to get the power running again - I'd need to do so in order to track down Cooter's oxium motherlode, and with my supplies dwindling thanks to leeches, it seemed all the more urgent to find a way to replenish them!

Let there be light!
After some running around, I managed to get the belt fixed and replaced, and once I had, Coker immediately got to work, mining a large chunk of coal and placing it on the newly repaired conveyor. But as the power wasn't running, it didn't go anywhere. There was plenty of smaller pieces of coal lying around, though, so I stoked the fires long enough to move one of the larger chunks far enough down the line for Stoker to take over. Once he'd done his job, the entire place sprang to life - the furnaces were hot and getting things moving. And with the power restored - at least for the facility, I still had to make sure the broadcast towers were active - I beelined for the doors I couldn't get past in my previous visit here. Sure enough, there were bins absolutely *full* of oxium, and I quickly replenished my nearly exhausted stash with as much as I could. And thus was the problem of oxium as both currency and means of keeping characters in fighting shape turned from a supply issue to a logistics one - these bins seemed inexhaustible, and so it became less a matter of finding enough and more a matter of making the trek back to gather some and ensuring I had the carrying capacity for it when I needed it. And I think this works well enough the way the game is set up, it still makes me work for my cash by making me return here, but alleviates not knowing where to find a supply when I actually need one.

Next it was back to the surface through the other exit in the tunnels to check on the broadcast towers. Sure enough, they were in a state of disrepair, and making use of a spool of cable I'd found near the oxium bins, the pair of pliers in the toolkit we had brought with us, and Spector's pair of rubber gloves, Aric made short work of getting the entire planet crackling with power once more. That taken care of, I decided I'd need to make a pit stop at Calamity Jane's to restock on ammo, both Nellie and Spector were getting dangerously low. But I couldn't go back the way I'd come. Going back through the tunnels proved not to be an option, as steam vents were blocking the way. I'd have to take the overland route from where the towers were located.

Navigating from there wasn't too much trouble, although it did lead to a bit of a crisis once Spector ran out of bullets completely. It was therefore very much a relief once I made it to Arsia, and could exchange a fair portion of my newly obtained oxium for some sorely-needed supplies. Once I was reorganized and restocked, I next made my way back to Olympus. It was high time to explore the tunnels there and seek out what happened to Legrande's brother in the mines. On the way, I stopped by a small room I hadn't been able to enter previously due to the power being out. Peary had pointed it out as some sort of transport system, and turning the power back on had seemed to activate the system once more. That would certainly come in handy when I wished to explore further, but for now, my steps led me to stick close.

You tell 'im, Nellie!
On my way to the Olympus mines proper, I bumped into Hearst, who wasn't much of a fan of Nellie's on all, on account of her employer. After a slightly tense introductory conversation, he talked to us of his collection of Martian artifacts, including a stone known as "azurite" that was apparently yet another kind of power source. He said he would be willing to trade it for photographs of the cannon from the top of Mount Olympus - he'd already sent one man to get some, but he had yet to hear from him. It seemed I had somebody else to look out for in the vicinity, and exploration of the mountain quickly revealed his fate. Past a large number of proto-Martians we fended off, we found his body with his camera lying close by. After taking a moment to pay our respects, we fetched the camera and delivered it back to Hearst, who then told us Méliès at Elysium could probably retrieve the photograph itself from the camera plate. Of course, we remembered what we had been told about those in Elysium... doing so may not be as simple a task as it first appeared.

That was for later, however. We still had Legrande's brother to find. In the mines, we found Carnegie himself, who told us once again of his need for iron, as the Olympus mines had run dry. Jean had ventured deeper in the hopes of finding more, but had never returned. Duprey had found another source where we'd rescued him at Syrtis, but there was no way to transport it to Olympus. Perhaps, the steel magnate suggested, refilling the canals might provide a solution to the problem. In the meantime, we continued our search for Jean, and found worms in the process. Large worms... but we could muse on what that meant later. Fighting our way past the beasts, we did indeed find Jean, but too late. He was clearly taking his last breaths, and his final thoughts were of his brother, insisting we take his Masonic symbol back to Legrande. The poor man died moments later.

Yup, those are some big worms all right.
We pressed onward, remembering what Curie had told us about the effect of radium on worms. Sure enough, their size was indeed indicative of the element's presence, and we gathered several chips and a large block of the substance before leaving the mines once more. We returned to Olympus, picking up a control panel from the tunnels leading toward the mountain proper in the process, and gave Legrande his brother's symbol. The news clearly hit him hard, and he asked for a moment to himself in order to properly grieve. He assured us he would hold to his promise when we returned. We understood completely, and let him alone.

While Legrande attended to his sorrows, we brought the control panel to Edison, who made quick work of rewiring it for use in a Dream Machine. Which left us with a few options - clearly the Machine itself was our next object of investigation, but what was the ideal means of going about it? Hearsay around Olympus suggested Marcus in Hellas knew a thing or two about the Machines, and with the transport system up and running again, we'd have quick and easy access. Then there was Elysium. Was it possible we could learn something from those affected by the machine previously? Or should we just take our chance to examine the one here at Olympus while the opportunity presented itself?

That was a decision I left for my next session, as I closed this one there.

~~~

This was clearly necessary, but felt like it happened on my terms.
I find myself musing on the differences in how Martian Dreams' plot is unfolding compared to the rest of the series. I think it's rather more linear than any of its predecessors, but it's doing so in a manner that still allows me to decide what's truly important. I always feel like I have several potential plot threads to follow up on, but several of them dovetail together in order to lead toward a particular point. Like how I started this post off - I didn't feel like I had to make my way to Olympus before at least attempting to follow up on, say, what I'd heard about Elysium, but I had multiple reasons for going there. Same could be said of restoring the power, many I talked to implied only after doing so could I fully explore what other potential threads they mentioned. And indeed, it's exactly the position I find myself in now - clearly the Dream Machines are involved in my next objective, but I have at least three ways to figure out just how. There's clearly an order of operations at play in the game, or at least a stronger one than in previous games, but I'm finding I quite like its means of doing so. Rather than giving me one clear path, it drops a lot of bread crumbs in several directions, and gives me indications several of them cross at certain points, thus increasing its importance. Why follow one thread at one location, when visiting another allows me to follow up on three or four? It feels like the choice is still mine as to where to go and when to do things, even if, in some sense, it's also clear the game wants me to follow a more strictly defined path than the rest of the series has done. I think it's proof that linearity isn't necessarily a bad thing in and of itself - it's how it's approached that makes a difference. I certainly wouldn't call Martian Dreams a less enjoyable game just because it's not quite as "open" as, say, Ultima VI was. It's just a matter of approach.

Of course, I still need to decide which thread to pursue now. But that's a subject that can wait until I fire up the game again. 'Til then!

Friday, May 4, 2018

Martian Dreams: Prickly Situations

After a quick jaunt back to the 1895 landing site - I'd bumped into one too many sextellegers and was in dire need of Dr. Blood's services, not to mention I'd forgotten to take down the coordinates the last time I was there - I followed Buffalo Bill's directions toward Cooter's place. It was a slightly roundabout route to take an accessible bridge across the canal and then into the entrance of the labyrinthine canyons that Cooter called home, and I found myself swarmed by a good-sized... herd? pod? cluster? of creeping cacti. Poking around the canyons themselves was occasionally punctuated by the bounding of jumping beans, and between them and the cacti, it was a nice refresher on Ultima VI's combat engine and a very nice source of experience.

Interesting descriptor of telekinesis.
Buffalo Bill had stated a few of the Martian berries might prove necessary to get into Cooter's place before supplying us with some, and his statement proved true. Eating one of the berries bestowed temporary telekinetic powers, and this allowed us to move a board and cross a small chasm at the entrance of the McGee abode. Nobody was home, but some rummaging around provided swift answers - we found a note from an "R" demanding Cooter reveal his oxium sources and bring his map to Coprates Chasma, and another from Cooter himself (with rather poor spelling) saying that he hid his map from Rasputin. This was enough for us to piece together what had happened, but before we headed off to the Chasma itself, we poked around to see whether there was anything else of use in the caverns. We certainly did, too. There proved to be a hefty amount of oxium in the caverns, some of which was guarded by ammonoids, but when all was said and done, all four of my little band of adventurers had enough oxium to last them a good long while on the surface of the red planet.

With our oxygen needs now seen to, at least for the foreseeable future, we wound our way through the canyons to what we surmised was the designated meeting place in the Chasma. And sure enough, we found Cooter himself, hidden behind a narrow passageway blocked off by a large trunk. He was quite relieved to be rescued, saying that he'd been captured by Rasputin and his "varmints" at Argyre, over his knowledge of the oxium stores on the planet. He mentioned one in particular, a motherlode of the stuff beneath the station at McLaughlin - the only problem was that it was behind an electric-powered door, which would not open unless power could be restored. Mr. McGee suggested that Edison, one of the expedition members holed up in Olympus, would probably be able to figure out what needed to happen there, and in the meantime, told use where he'd buried his map to the motherlode, just outside the entrance to the Chasma. It was an easy effort to find said map (and I was rather amused that I needed room to 'move' the dirt I was digging up in order to do so, a nice touch), and from the looks of it, the motherlode was east of the Xanthe Terra, nestled in a corner by some canals just to the northeast. I made a note to look into it when I passed by the area, but for now, it seemed clear Olympus was my next destination.

So. Many. Cacti!
We picked our way back out of the maze of canyons, aiming for the settlement - and once again found ourselves facing a veritable wall of creeping cacti standing in our way. Aric and Dibbs bravely flung themselves onto the front lines, with Nellie Bly and Spector taking potshots from the sidelines. All was a flurry of sap and sabers and shells and needles, but they just kept coming! I think when all was said and done we'd somehow managed to beat back upwards of thirty cacti, and the sap we'd spilled there on the edge of a canal might have gone a decent way toward filling it. We were mostly unscathed, save for a few scratches, but weary, and by the time we came to the gates of Olympus, we were aching for a safe refuge and a friendly community to catch our breath.

Unfortunately, we would not find it at Olympus. Nathaniel Peters, the gatekeeper, expressed a good deal of skepticism, saying nobody could be let in unless they held proof of their soundness of mind. After an incident at Elysium that drove the denizens there mad, the occupants of Olympus were taking what they saw as all necessary precautions. It was just as Dibbs had suspected, and sure enough, he too had been away for long enough that his assurances were worth little to Mr. Peters. He informed us we'd need to seek out three men known to be of sound mind at Syrtis Major, giving us an affidavit for them to sign. If they could vouch for our character and our sanity, then we would be allowed in to Olympus.

So off we went to find a way to Syrtis Major. This took a fair amount of wandering, on account of the fact we had to find some way over the canals, and since the power was off, we could only make use of the bridges that had already been lowered. We also desperately needed to resupply, and so we made another trip to Calamity Jane's using a considerable portion of the oxium we'd found in Cooter's place to replenish ammunition. After this particular adventure, I find myself less worried about the economic balance, using oxium as both currency and means of keeping the party in tip-top fighting condition. What supplies I had depleted at what I felt was a very reasonable rate, meaning that by the time I needed to actually spend it, I had at least a decent sense of what a "reasonable" stock was, and thus how much I could afford to spend. I'm still a little concerned about how quickly I'm going through bullets, but that feels like a much more manageable situation in my mind now - now that I had a couple levels under the gang's collective belts (more on this later), I feel more confident sending them into melee range now that they don't seem quite so squishy.

It's interesting to see snippets of Martian history.
In my wanderings trying to find a way to Syrtis, I stumbled across the station I suspected Cooter's motherlode might lie beneath. It turned out there was a whole network of caves there, and some complicated-looking equipment connected to a conveyor belt and a large furnace. There were also two mechanical men present! Talking with Coker and Stoker, as they called themselves, we learned that this was the place that powered Mars. Coker dug out coal and placed it on the conveyor belt, and Stoker took the coal off the conveyor belt and moved it into the furnace. The power produced by burning the coal was sent to broadcast towers on the eastern end of the mine tunnels, and from there sent across the planet. The process had come to standstill because one of the conveyor belts was in need of repair - Dibbs chimed in to suggest that Trippet at Olympus might be able to do something about that. Further exploration of the caverns revealed some closed doors (Stoker had confirmed there were large stashes of oxium behind one), a scroll detailing the Martian Industrial Revolution, and a bag containing a seed and pod knife. That last one seemed somewhat important, so I took it with me.

Eventually I made my way back out and finally found a bridge to cross the canals, just behind Olympus itself. D'oh! Oh well, the exploration would surely come in handy in getting my bearings. After a long trek and a night's rest, we finally made it to Syrtis Major, where we found David Yellin, one of the three men Nathaniel had told us to find, in a panic. He and his two companions had been searching for more iron to use for Carnegie's cannon to return to Earth, and the others had been trapped within the mine they had found by a cave-in! He directed us to a repair drill, but it needed to be put together and placed on a cart to be used properly and dig Sherman and Duprey out. Mr. Yellin lacked the tools in order to do so.

Gee, I wonder why!
However, we did not! Spector was carrying the tool kit we'd taken with us from Tesla's own cannon, and so he made quick work of putting the drill together. We pushed it into the mines, and after a fair amount of drilling past large rockfalls, we found two rather familiar-looking and very grateful men. Sherman in particular was thankful enough to join with us, citing his familiarity with several places on Mars. Another pair of hands was very welcome, so we were glad to have him with us. (Although I'll admit I'm a bit confused why he was carrying a copy of Dante's Inferno - and doubting how accurate the translation was, judging from the typo in the Italian title.) Anyway, the three of them took the incident as evidence of our sound minds, and were more than happy to sign Nathaniel's affidavit stating so. With the three of their signatures, we had everything we needed to enter the community of Olympus, and from what we had heard on our adventures thus far, we had plenty of business to see to there. It was time to get to work.

~~~

In my wrap-up for Savage Empire, I said that I never had a good sense of character progression, most of the choices for party members already being near max level already and any actual improvement coming sporadically and only for specific characters. I find that I'm having what's basically the opposite problem here in Martian Dreams. I'm absolutely drowning in experience, and that was even before the Shootout at the Cactus Canal! Every time I rested, I had at least three party members ready to level up. The Avatar's already hit level seven, and Nellie, who started at level one at the game's beginning, is ready to hit level six the next time I rest. The levels are coming very fast and furious, which means I expect it to taper off considerably, and probably in the not so distant future. Still, I think this feels like the better situation - I definitely feel like my characters are getting better this way! Even if I hit the level cap for these guys somewhat early on, at least I can say I've had some input as to how they develop, which is, I think, a preferable situation in what's at least ostensibly an RPG. I've even managed to avoid the die-hard need for strength I encountered in Savage Empire, and while most of the levels my group's achieved thus far have been spent improving strength, I've felt I have enough room to give Spector a bit of a boost to dexterity as well. All in all, I like how Martian Dreams is handling the experience a lot better than its predecessor.

Of course, all those levels need to be used on something - hopefully the denizens of Olympus will give me plenty of leads to do exactly that!

Found this outside Olympus... iiiinteresting.