Bandits on Vacation?

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ajwz

For me it was always bloody ettercaps. Ambush opponents have always been fairly randomised I think

Tresset

I get bandit ambushes every once in a while.

@ajwz Cloakwood is ambush central station.

Gallowglass

Tresset said:

Cloakwood is ambush central station.

Yes, that's still pretty much as it used to be. For many other transitions, though, I think @Bhaaldog has a point, the ambushes seem less frequent than I remember in original BG1. However, with the conversion to the BG2 engine, perhaps that's the new normal: original BG2 didn't have so many ambushes as original BG1.

KidCarnival

I think only a few creatures are specific to areas. Ettercaps and wyverns are only in Cloakwood (with the third type being Giant Spiders); basilisks only appear around the, well, basilisk map, winter wolves are around Nashkel, but everything else is random. I don't remember that many types of encounters from BG1, so maybe it's just that you get more of the less annoying ones (wild dogs, 3 kobolds, bear-that-isn't-even-hostile) and therefore, it seems like there are less encounters in general.

Tresset

@Gallowglass You may have a point there. It does seem like the ambushes have changed from my memory. I have yet to encounter an ogre mage by the gnoll stronghold... They used to be much more common I think.

Tresset

I've seen wyverns in the wood of sharp teeth too.

the_spyder

KidCarnival said:

I think only a few creatures are specific to areas. Ettercaps and wyverns are only in Cloakwood (with the third type being Giant Spiders); basilisks only appear around the, well, basilisk map, winter wolves are around Nashkel, but everything else is random. I don't remember that many types of encounters from BG1, so maybe it's just that you get more of the less annoying ones (wild dogs, 3 kobolds, bear-that-isn't-even-hostile) and therefore, it seems like there are less encounters in general.

In the original, I remember once getting ambushed by a Wyvern between Nashkal and Beregost (at least I think that was where it was). I remember being really upset because I was in no way ready for that encounter when it came.

And I think it is just all kids of wrong for Basilisks to be a random encounter. Unless you are fully prepared with Stone to flesh scrolls and/or prot from pet scrolls/spells at the ready, this is a bad way to die. Sure, once you know the danger, you prepare. But, for those who don't know it is coming, it is a real rude awakening.

Tresset

I remember the weirdest ambush I ever had went something like this:

You have been waylaid by enemies and must defend yourself!

"Say friend! Have you seen a pink hammer around here?"

KidCarnival

Yeah, surprise basilisk is very awkward. I only that happen 3 times though, so it's still quite rare. My pet peeve are actually the ettercaps/web trap combos in Cloakwood. I almost always get 2 in a row between 2 maps - leave Cloakwood 1 to Cloakwood 2: ettercaps - leave ettercaps - more ettercaps - finally reach Cloakwood 2. 9 out of 10 times I travel from, to or between any Cloakwood maps, I get ettercap overload. I hate those stupid things; 4 x 650 XP and loot as valuable as a silver necklace and a shield scroll really don't add up to the level of annoyance (waiting for hold to wear off Zzzzz). 2 wyverns for 1400 XP each plus a head to sell is always the better deal, I just never seem to get it.

Luigirules

I got surprise basilisk'd during my last run. I had to loudly curse, and then reload.

Then again, with this being my first SCS playthrough, I'm getting very good at loudly cursing and then reloading.

Severon

So I kicked him in the head till he was dead! hah hah hah!

Elendar

Last time I played I had a level 1 mage (and Imoen) get attacked by the circle of bandit archers on my way to the FAI... Needless to say, I got to reload.

Starlily

Luigirules said:

I got surprise basilisk'd during my last run. I had to loudly curse, and then reload.


Then again, with this being my first SCS playthrough, I'm getting very good at loudly cursing and then reloading.

Heh. Cursing a lot here too. I got surprised by TWO Wyverns at 2nd level when traveling. Had to go resurrect two members of my party. Good thing I had the cash. Reloading would have been too far back. I keep forgetting to quick save or save. Sigh, and as I was traveling to find some one to sell 'loot' got killed and had to reload anyway. Curses!

Tresset

Ettercaps seem to have INSANE saving throws considering how otherwise average the rest of them is. I don't think they have ever failed any save on me.

death=4
wands=5
poly=5
breath=6
spell=5

Now lets compare this to something far nastier: Greater Wyvern

death=3
wands=5
poly=4
breath=5
spell=4

Darrylson

Elendar said:

Last time I played I had a level 1 mage (and Imoen) get attacked by the circle of bandit archers on my way to the FAI... Needless to say, I got to reload.

I seem to get that encounter nearly every time I make a new character. The last time Imoen went down pretty much instantly, while my Barbarian went into a rage and slaughtered the lot of them, making it to the inn with ~3 health carrying Imoen's body.

It would have been a poignant RP moment if I wasn't planning on dumping Imoen at the FAI anyway.

Gallowglass

Starlily said:

Heh. Cursing a lot here too. I got surprised by TWO Wyverns at 2nd level when traveling. Had to go resurrect two members of my party. Good thing I had the cash. Reloading would have been too far back. I keep forgetting to quick save or save. Sigh, and as I was traveling to find some one to sell 'loot' got killed and had to reload anyway. Curses!

If you get ambushed by Wyverns, then yes, they're normally (always?) in pairs.

However, a tip: the game auto-saves on every map transition. So if you do get unlucky and walk into an impossibly-tough ambush at a low level, then you can reload the Auto-Save instead of having to go back to whenever you last saved or quick-saved. That'll put you back at the edge of the map you just left, ready to try the same transition again.

Gallowglass

the_spyder said:

In the original, I remember once getting ambushed by a Wyvern between Nashkal and Beregost (at least I think that was where it was). I remember being really upset because I was in no way ready for that encounter when it came.

Hmm, that shouldn't have happened. Maybe it was a glitch? The *only* places where you ought to have been able to meet Wyverns in an ambush were various places in Cloakwood (often and well-known) and (occasionally) on a southern-edge transition from AR3000 (Red Wizard area) to AR3500 (Basilisk area), nowhere else.

The latter transition is the nastiest one in the game, by the way: not only can you occasionally meet Wyverns there, but it's also the only one where there's a random chance of being ambushed by a Greater Basilisk (as opposed to an ordinary Lesser Basilisk, which can occur in any transition around the Basilisk area).

So far as I know, BGee hasn't changed this, but I can't guarantee that.

the_spyder said:

And I think it is just all kids of wrong for Basilisks to be a random encounter. Unless you are fully prepared with Stone to flesh scrolls and/or prot from pet scrolls/spells at the ready, this is a bad way to die. Sure, once you know the danger, you prepare. But, for those who don't know it is coming, it is a real rude awakening.

In transitions to or from the Basilisk map, it doesn't seem conceptually absurd that you might meet a random Basilisk, although in gameplay terms I agree that meeting a Basilisk when you're not prepared can be nigh-unwinnable, so casting Power Word: Reload might be your only defence. The game was not designed to facilitate a no-reload run!

Tip, though: doing Neera's quest before approaching the Basilisk map improves your survival chances in random Basilisk encounters, because Adoy's Belt greatly improves your saving throw against petrification. A Greater Basilisk will probably still nail you before you can kill it even when wearing the Belt, but you've got a chance against a Lesser Basilisk if you're quick.

Gallowglass

KidCarnival said:

I think only a few creatures are specific to areas. Ettercaps and wyverns are only in Cloakwood (with the third type being Giant Spiders); basilisks only appear around the, well, basilisk map, winter wolves are around Nashkel, but everything else is random. I don't remember that many types of encounters from BG1, so maybe it's just that you get more of the less annoying ones (wild dogs, 3 kobolds, bear-that-isn't-even-hostile) and therefore, it seems like there are less encounters in general.

In original BG1, each ambush mini-map had a separate list of what type of enemies could appear there, so it wasn't totally random: the enemy in each ambush was from a short list of possibilities for that ambush-map. All of them had a choice of enemy except one of the Cloakwood ambushes which would always be Ettercaps; the other Cloakwood ambush looks identical but actually has a different area code, and that one has a choice between Wyverns and Giant Spiders as the enemy.

In all cases, which ambush-map you might get depends upon two factors: which map you are leaving and which edge of that map you are leaving from. In most maps, leaving by a different edge triggers a different ambush-map and with a different ambush-probability, although some maps have all edges set the same.

So far as I've yet been able to tell, the ambush system is the same in BGee, although possibly Overhaul might have changed it a little, I'm not sure.

atcDave

I would be interested in knowing what changes might have been made. Some of the probabilities seem different, even seeing uncommon banters more frequently. But with encounters I seem to see more different ones than I'm used to. I definitely fought on one encounter map I didn't remember, although I'm guessing it was only uncommon, not new.
Of course that could mean some of my travel habits have changed, so I'm curious.

Gallowglass

Yes, @atcDave: I think the system is the same, but I agree that some of the probabilities seem to have been tweaked. I should have been clearer about that in my previous post.

SCARY_WIZARD

Tresset said:

I remember the weirdest ambush I ever had went something like this:

You have been waylaid by enemies and must defend yourself!

"Say friend! Have you seen a pink hammer around here?"

Why does that sound familiar?

Starlily

Gallowglass said:

Starlily said:

Heh. Cursing a lot here too. I got surprised by TWO Wyverns at 2nd level when traveling. Had to go resurrect two members of my party. Good thing I had the cash. Reloading would have been too far back. I keep forgetting to quick save or save. Sigh, and as I was traveling to find some one to sell 'loot' got killed and had to reload anyway. Curses!

If you get ambushed by Wyverns, then yes, they're normally (always?) in pairs.

However, a tip: the game auto-saves on every map transition. So if you do get unlucky and walk into an impossibly-tough ambush at a low level, then you can reload the Auto-Save instead of having to go back to whenever you last saved or quick-saved. That'll put you back at the edge of the map you just left, ready to try the same transition again.

Good tip to remember. So much to try and remember in this game (being new to it and all).

I've also gotten waylaid by wyvern's between maps from Friendly Inn going east on the map..at least I think it was in that general area. That was with my first character. Doing 2nd now having learned how to use the different buttons, tricks and stuff of low levels.

Elendar

SCARY_WIZARD said:

Tresset said:

I remember the weirdest ambush I ever had went something like this:

You have been waylaid by enemies and must defend yourself!

"Say friend! Have you seen a pink hammer around here?"

Why does that sound familiar?

Drizzt encounter in BG2? :P

psyact

KidCarnival said:

I think only a few creatures are specific to areas. Ettercaps and wyverns are only in Cloakwood (with the third type being Giant Spiders); basilisks only appear around the, well, basilisk map, winter wolves are around Nashkel, but everything else is random. I don't remember that many types of encounters from BG1, so maybe it's just that you get more of the less annoying ones (wild dogs, 3 kobolds, bear-that-isn't-even-hostile) and therefore, it seems like there are less encounters in general.

Bear-that-isn't-even-hostile is my favorite encounter. It's so nonsensical it gets a laugh out of me every time.

Gallowglass

psyact said:

Bear-that-isn't-even-hostile is my favorite encounter. It's so nonsensical it gets a laugh out of me every time.

What's so nonsensical? Unlike many other enemies in the game, bears are (obviously) real creatures, and it seems to me to make sense that a real creature should be represented in a way which echoes its known behaviour in real life.

Real bears are not usually hostile on sight except when hungry (although "when hungry" can be quite often, and almost always for a polar bear), but they rapidly turn hostile if approached closely or (of course) if attacked, so I reckon it's quite a nice touch by the original devs (and kept by Overhaul) that bears in the game also tend not to be instantly hostile.

Tresset

@Gallowglass The nonsensical bit is that the announcer says "You have been waylaid by enemies and must defend yourself!" and all you see is some random bear wondering around (in the shroud I might add) minding its own buisness.

Gallowglass

@Tresset, oh come on, you can't reasonably expect the devs to introduce a different announcement just for one rare case which is only slightly different, we all know what the announcer means.

And anyway, it is an enemy ... just one that isn't yet hostile. As soon as the first arrow hits him, he'll be hostile enough! (Er ... you don't run away and leave him alive, do you?)

Tresset

@Gallowglass

Gallowglass said:

@Tresset, oh come on, you can't reasonably expect the devs to introduce a different announcement just for one rare case which is only slightly different, we all know what the announcer means.

Well two rare cases if you include the pink hammer encounter...

Gallowglass said:

And anyway, it is an enemy ... just one that isn't yet hostile. As soon as the first arrow hits him, he'll be hostile enough! (Er ... you don't run away and leave him alive, do you?)

Ummm maybe sometimes I did...

Gallowglass

Tresset said:

Well two rare cases if you include the pink hammer encounter...

But that's not in BG1/BGee, so no, I wasn't counting it.

(Or if you did meet that in BG1/BGee, I'd be fascinated to hear how it happened!)

Tresset

@Gallowglass