The Comet in the original text worked by requiring you to remove any disadvantage before you could inflict damage, similar to scoring in badminton or deuce in tennis. For example, if two opponents were facing each other, one armed with a comet: they begin on an even footing, and so the first round is rolled, and let us say the Comet-wielder wins. He burns the enemy with 5 points of damage. The opponant is at a disadvantage, being harassed by a fiery ball, and so needs to win a round to free himself of it, otherwise, it keeps burning him. After that, the two opponants stand equal again. If the Comet-wielder loses the next round, then he his control over the delicate weapon has been interrupted. If his opponant wins again, he is pressing this advantage. Thus the Comet-wielder needs to win a round just to regain control of his weapon.
When I came up with this, I was a bit unsatisfied with the complexity of it, compared with the elegance of how energy whips and blast rods work. And when it was being adapted for online play, the function proved to be too complex for the program, or too troublesome to implement.
For this reason, the Comet will not be appearing in subsequent adventures unless I (or a helpful fan of the series) can come up with an interesting and simple way for it to work.
Initially I was going to introduce a new weapon with each episode. But now I've decided that I don't want to because: i) the way they work would probably get more complex as evidenced by the Comet and another weapon I invented and rejected, and ii) how many different weapons do you need anyway? That's not to say that some variations to the existing weapons will not appear in the future. For example in Episode 4: The Hypertrout, you will get to enjoy a laser-sword variant called a Maim-blade (Hint: to make things easier for yourself in Ep 4, take the laser-sword training in tGC; assuming of course that you are playing with the same character through all the episodes).
I do hope people are playing through the series with the same character as this enables you to receive bonuses and increases to your initial SKILL, STAMINA and LUCK. I deliberately made the opponents difficult to fight based on the intention that characters would grow stronger over the series. For example, by the time you reach a SK 12 ST 24 opponent late in tGC, you should have had 2 chances to increase your SKILL (by 1 point each time), and taken both basic and advanced energy whip training which will mean you have a +2 bonus to your AS when using this weapon.
Hopefully it will surprise no-one to learn that there is still work to be done to win the girl of your dreams (hence episodes 4 to 7). As such she will not accompany you on future adventures. Furthermore, on Amorphonon 12, the name Pomplompotom is very common.
This is a kind of spoiler, but if anyone gets to fight the Death-o-saur in tGC, please email me and tell me about it at: ff_stories(at)hotmail.com Those who have completed the adventure can also sent me more detailed feedback to this address about the series as a whole, especially if there are things you would like to see; not that I am promising anything.
Gaetano Fri Apr 24 05:43:31 2009
A question: How do you carry the same character through in the online version of the series?
Ulysses Ai Fri Apr 24 08:59:36 2009
At the end of each episode, where it normally says The End, it will say Continue... when there is a subsequent episode online.
If you have played each episode when it came out and never again, then you will not have seen these links since they would not have existed at that time. But if you bookmark each sucessful ending, the Continue... link will be there when the next episode is released.
You can go back now and play through the first 3 episodes with the same character.
Haoie Sat Apr 25 06:59:56 2009
Now that I didn't know. You can almost combine all 3 into a huge adventure. 1000s of references.
JOrdan Sat Apr 25 16:53:16 2009
The only problem I had with the aforementioned adventures was the crate of tissues. I entered the correct command code, but wasn't ab le to get in to it. Help? Or was that a bug that needs fixing?
duffmeister Sat Apr 25 17:04:33 2009
Have been playing through the series with the same character. Great fun, but
SPOILER
the weakest I can get the death-bot is three armed. How else can I weaken /harm it?
END SPOILER
Ulysses Ai Sun Apr 26 09:35:46 2009
Jordan:
Unless you are talking in code, I don't know what you mean. If you are talking in code, I can only suggest trying again, since I just tried it again and it works fine.
Duffmeister:
If your question is how to defeat the death-bot in battle, then that's the question I will answer (hint! hint!):
SPOILER
Use a Blast Rod. That's the only way unless you are extremely lucky with the dice rolls. Even with a Blast Rod you need a little luck to defeat it.
END SPOILER
Jordan Mon Apr 27 20:14:14 2009
Ulysses,
Appologies. I figured out how to open the crate. However, I haven't figured out how to obtain a tissue to defeat the spider queen. Any hints? Thanks for awesome adventures, and I look forward to more. Also, how do you do manual spoilers, since my computer won't let me do them as they used to be done?
Ulysses Thu Apr 30 23:55:17 2009
BTW, those of you who have completed TGC:
SPOILER
Which creature did you fight at the very end?
END SPOILER
Thanks
Ibrahim Tue May 12 21:55:52 2009
I'm just running through the golden crate and have come up against a small problem. I attempt to enter the chapter house up tree lane, but I am unable to answer the question the tree person asks about my validity to enter the chapter house. Can anyone advise of the answer? I've completed both wrong way go back and planet of the spiders so have played through from the beginning of the series. Thanks in advance.
Ulysses Tue May 12 22:40:55 2009
Hi Ibrahim
SPOILER
The interstellar lumberjack who looks at you through the hole in the door is able to tell immediately that you are not one of his kind, because you are lacking one very obvious physical feature that no self-respecting logger would be seen without. In tGC every one of them had this feature, you don't, so you need to go and get one.
END SPOILER
duffmeister Wed May 13 10:03:20 2009
tToS and TotA were great, but I'm still struggling with tGC. I feel I've tried every combination
SPOILER
I've worked out the secret of time travel, defeating the Death-o-saur, opening the crate and so on, but I seem unable to find Pomplompotom alive. Any hints where I should be looking?
END SPOILER
Ta v'ri mouch
Ulysses Wed May 13 13:18:14 2009
Hi Duffmeister
SPOILER
Going back in time is important, because you need to get something. Once you have it, you need to use it at the appropriate time. On another note, you mentioned previously fighting the Death-bot, and now the Death-o-saur. You certainly make things difficult for yourself, as it's not neccesary to fight either of these opponents.
END SPOILER
For everybody else who has completed tGC:
SPOILER
I asked previously which creature people fought at the end, but no one replied. The reason for my curiosity is that the creature you fight at the end varies according to the path you take through the book, and hence how many of the shape-shifts you can kill before they merge together into the final monster. If you kill all of them, you just fight the Merchant Prince of Projudia. If you don't kill any of them, you fight the death-o-saur. Between these two extremes are 3 other creatures.
END SPOILER
Ulysses Wed May 13 13:35:56 2009
Re: tGC
SPOILER
Actually, the adventure can be successfully completed without going back in time. It is just extremely difficult since it means you have to fight the Operations Assistant armed with no more than a laserknife, and then fight the death-o-saur. But it can be done.
END SPOILER
Ekaterin Thu May 14 08:32:13 2009
Re tGC:
SPOILER
I fought the Tarantula-Man (well actually I emptied my blaster into it and didn't need to kill it in combat).
END SPOILER
oriol Sun Aug 30 12:33:33 2009
I found some kind of bug in the wrong way go back/planet of the spiders/... series. When you go on to the next adventures you lose your objects, so you can't access the galactic logging board building from the golden crate, for instance.
This is not a bug, and you can access the building.
Jordan Sun Aug 30 16:12:59 2009
For Ulysses's sci-fi series, you indeed lose your objects, but graduate to better ones. Your skill, luck and stamina points evolve throughout your adventures, so no worries there. As for the logging board, pay close attention to the description of the loggers in Golden Crate. There's a clue hidden within the text. Enjoy!
Bader Sun Dec 13 17:27:01 2009
Hello, (How's everyone doing) I'm kinda playing the gold crate, and I'm a bit stuck..
SPOILER
I finished the game to the end, but pomplopmton (that right) got killed, even after I hard effort of killing the dog-bot and the death bots :(
END SPOILER
Ps: Thx for everyone who harked making this site and the books.
Ulysses Sun Dec 13 23:57:49 2009
Bader:
SPOILER
I assume you are reaching the ending where you are put in a cell and Pomplompotom's father kills you in a fit of grief. If so, you are missing something. You need to: 1. Retain 2 objects from eariler in the adventure 2. Open the Golden Crate before you get back to Amorphonon 12 3. Use what's inside carefully (or recklessly from another perspective) 3. Apply what you've learnt.
END SPOILER
Hope that helps
ryan Tue Apr 20 14:25:45 2010
hey people, need help with a bunch of gamebooks heh first with the golden crate I'm just utterly confused someone tell me what to do? if I leave in the pods too early I have to chose one of 5 choices, if I leave later I have to go with the rats and same with hellfire, there are just so menny outcomes