How long to explore and slay beasties before heading to the mines?
PugPug
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It's been so long since I've played BG all the way through that I don't remember whether it's better to cut your teeth in the wilderness before doing the plot or vice-versa.
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Maybe there is no optimal way to go about it, but I'm wondering what others like to do.
Only the boss presents any significant challenge and possibly the slimes near one of the exits.
As for gear, by level 2, you should have decent armor (Ankheg, actual Plate, 2 +1 rings. etc...) and weapons (+2 Variscona (sp?), +1 dagger, +1 Axe, two +1 Long Swords all for the taking).
With something like SCS, I prepare well for that descent into Hell. Oooo, that Kobold Shaman and Commander with his Guards. Hate. Hate!
That was my only SCS experience before un-installing the mod. Should I give it another try?
I personally enjoy SCS because at it's most basic, it actually makes me pay attention and turns some snooze fights (like the bounty hunters) into random acts of awesome (I was fighting Vax and Zal in Fireleaf Forest, had two Winter Wolves spawn off to the side as I was positioning a ranged attacker. As I ran from the wolves, a bounty hunter group spawned in. It was a clusterf* of epic proportions and I loved every minute of it. In BG:EE I can turn the difficulty up to max and zerg through everything with no problems. I especially like the Mage duels as I usually play as an arcane caster myself, so SCS makes it fun that we have a bit of spell fencing going on.
http://www.gibberlings3.net/scs/
Just sayin that thre is a decent amount of low level magic to be found pretty early on in the game. And not "Metagame found" either.
After completing the mines I relax a bit with respect to the plotline. I justify heading off to adventure about the countryside as driven by a need to hone skills and acquire gear. After I've gained a little more experience at this adventuring thing, I'll see what I can do to try to solve the Sword Coast's iron crisis.
There are ones that require or nearly require it even in the Friendly Arm Inn, and I want to get 'em all without having to come back.
I think she'll have to be level 4.
It can't hurt to have higher-level NPCs to recruit either, as @frozencells says. As long as you already have your locksmith/trap disarmer. I understand the thieves autolevel with some odd choices.
So I take my time before going to mines, sometimes doing Minsc's quest, sometimes vampiric wolf hunting near temple, sometimes go to sword coast area to kill Shoal for massive xp, or grab a scroll of protection from petrification (green, duration:8 hours) from the Nashkel carnival (if gold is aplenty, get shield amulet and fireball amulet too! 10 charges of fireball really make a lvl 1-2 party deadly) and go basilisk-hunting. Sometimes do all at once and go to Durlag's first levels for a bit. Heh. As long as you talk to Nashkel's mayor, Harpers or the Zhentarim in your group won't leave.
I think generally a level 2 party is fine for the mines, I typically work my way to the mines first thing. I explore the areas along the way and assemble my party. If I'm taking Minsc (about 75% of the time) I go ahead and rescue Dynaheir before the mines. But other than that, its pretty much mines first.
Then I explore the whole map before going after bandits... usually.
Exit this map by the western border when you exit the mines cave.
You will not meet any of those encounters this way.
And no need to meet the dangerous foes near the mine exit unless you go looking for them.
If you're feeling even less sporting, then there's more than enough exp from the non-dangerous quests in Beregost and around Nashkel to get you up to the point where all NPCs are level 6.
Because of the nature of the game, it's always better to do this at the beginning of your game without interacting with other NPCs, as this way all NPCs will scale accordingly, whereas dropping them to perform this strategy later will have their levels set, and they'll be stuck at their old level when you recruit them back.
Heck, if it weren't for Yeslick being in Cloakwood I'd probably never end up going to Nashkel's Mines at all.
Baeloth is also best picked up as soon as you can, as he will be stuck with the spells he picks on level up. Not that you have THAT much to worry about, since he will be level 5 and have spells picked up to that point no matter what you do. But all the more reason to not let him pick random stuff more than he already does.
It's best to get NPCs you intend to use as early as possible so as to maximise control over how they develop.
Gear you should have going into the mines. (All normal weapons, running this way you couldn't have afforded magical yet. Exceptions: If you have 18 CHA and the guard gave you the +1 dagger, if you get Dorn's encounter, or you cross Greywulf and live). Non-magical Armor most likely splint mail (and not the hidden Ankeg Plate) exception: If you got Dorn's encounter then you got a free plate mail, if you killed the Flaming Fist guy another free plate mail, and if you bought plate mail, although at 900 gold you shouldn't have been able to get it yet.
I also play no reload on core difficulty and take the best roll of 6, if anyone dies, they stay dead, and if the PC dies it's game over.
Just some interesting experiences: Khalid with a -5 vs missles (I hadn't turned in the belt of elven bane, yet) was charging the entrance to the mine boss and was hit by 3 criticals, (only 4 kobolds there the other missed with an 18) he was level 2 with about 19 HP and dropped like a bag of hammers.
Another time through the mines we made it all they way to the boss, and picked up Xan before the fight the only spell the boss got off was confusion/feebleind/or rigid thinking on Imoen, she then turns around and shoots Xan once (critical hit) and he gets chunked. Well what can I say...he called it with his "This is hopeless..." "Our quest is vain..." "Oh, what is the point..." drivel.
The mines are highly doable by a level 2 party of 4, but bring more friends or grab another level if you want an even smoother ride. The real joy about this game is you can play the way you like it, so if you want a challenge, try to roleplay and leave the meta-gaming/power gaming behind, as the game is beatable by any character class with average stats, as part of a group. If you want to be the most powerful character than go ahead and remove that level cap, mod your game and summon vampiricwerebearsnails to feast on drizzt's gooey innards. Or anything in between. It's better to have fun your way than to constantly worry about if you missed stuff, or if you aren't using the most powerful spell/weapon/armor/whatnot in the game, or if you got every single xp and gold coin in the game.
I wish I could forget everything about this game and play it from scratch, but I can't, so here's hoping for scs, hard times, and item randoming mods to come soon!
If I could have SCS, NPCProject, and Hard Times right now I would be so lost to BG:EE.