what are your different levels of preparation?

triclops41

Just wondering how others play. I usually have three levels; nothing for easier encounters, protection from evil 10' and haste for medium ones, and all the buffs/potions I can cram in for the handful of major battles.
I also think this tends to make me prefer more cleric in my party makeup. I don't like pure clerics, but I like a few quick buffs to get into the action. A couple of fighter/clerics can cover the medium level prep and such pretty well with one arcane caster for haste and some MM for spell disrupts, and can be repeated often without resting.

Corvino

If it's anything non-trivial then all available group buffs up to level 4. In addition to any mage or priest-specific combat buffs and protections.

Remove fear, Bless, Chant, Haste, Protection from Evil 10' radius will generally do the trick for generic "tough mook but not specific boss/enemy" fights for most of BG1 and SoA.

Shin

Usually mostly anti-crowd control and resistance/defense buffs. RP-wise I'm not a big fan of strength boosters or haste.

SionIV

I only play No-reload games so i have to prepare for every fight. I won't bother with small things like gibberlings and stuff once i got a few levels under my belt. But every fight that has a spell caster or someone that can shut down some of my party members need attention.

1.) Scout ahead
2.) Mage buffs
3.) Cleric buffs
4.) Potions (If needed)
5.) Spread out my party in the right positions
6.) Pause, Pause, Pause, Pause... Did i mention Pause?
7.) Profit

pixie359

Well my current run has 5 / 6 characters with stone or iron skins up all the time. That is my go to spell for combat casters. I tend not to buff much pre-battle unless it's obviously a big boss fight, but have haste, pfe, remove fear etc ready for when they're required.

[Deleted User]

I have a similar style. I have a set of long duration (e.g. measured in multiple turns or longer) buffs that I'll fire upon entering an area since I can expect them to last as I'm exploring. That carries me through most fights. If I know I'm running into a harder fight, I'll fire the short duration buffs (bless, chant, haste, etc.) and considering popping the cork on a few potions. Mostly though I only use potions for the really tough fights (thank god for the potion case). I try to avoid using short duration buffs for easy fights, as that runs through the prep faster and forces me to stop and rest sooner.

blackchimes

I usually skip the preparation part by wearing all the permanent effect/bonus items I can.

triclops41

SionIV said:

I only play No-reload games so i have to prepare for every fight. I won't bother with small things like gibberlings and stuff once i got a few levels under my belt. But every fight that has a spell caster or someone that can shut down some of my party members need attention.

1.) Scout ahead
2.) Mage buffs
3.) Cleric buffs
4.) Potions (If needed)
5.) Spread out my party in the right positions
6.) Pause, Pause, Pause, Pause... Did i mention Pause?
7.) Profit

I'm thinking of doing my first game of BG2EE as a no reload game. Never done it before, so I'm quite scared. Do you lose NPCs often? How long before you got the hang of not relying on reloads?

CutlassJack

I usually skip preparation except for tough boss battles. It bothers me from an RP perspective to take 8 hour naps after every fight due to spell memorization limits. Because of this I prefer party members who are at least somewhat competant in combat without spells, and save magic for when its absolutely needed.

Tetraploid

If I'm approaching a fairly significant threat, then Haste, Bless and a whole load of summons are my normal approach. If that's not going to be enough to keep my party alive then I'll normally have to rest and memorise different spells, since I mostly have my casters geared up more offensively than defensively.

SionIV

triclops41 said:

SionIV said:

I only play No-reload games so i have to prepare for every fight. I won't bother with small things like gibberlings and stuff once i got a few levels under my belt. But every fight that has a spell caster or someone that can shut down some of my party members need attention.

1.) Scout ahead
2.) Mage buffs
3.) Cleric buffs
4.) Potions (If needed)
5.) Spread out my party in the right positions
6.) Pause, Pause, Pause, Pause... Did i mention Pause?
7.) Profit

I'm thinking of doing my first game of BG2EE as a no reload game. Never done it before, so I'm quite scared. Do you lose NPCs often? How long before you got the hang of not relying on reloads?

You'll die and fail quite a bit at the start, but eventually you'll learn to play it safe. Ofcourse i still save as my computer is sometimes unstable and such, but i never do reload the save even if i click my Q by old habbit.

I wouldnt't say my NPC's die that often as i'm very careful getting into fights, but on low levels my fighter at the front (Khalid, Ajantis, etc) might die once or twice.

BG2EE is much harder to no-reload than BGEE.

Mrpenfold666

i use hit and run tactics in most fights, if one on one i use anyone with a ranged weapon to target the closest ones in the hopes of killing them or at least hitting them so my melee guys can take them easily to move on to the furthest enemies. on hordes with tougher monsters it usually break off into pairs, one ranged person aiding one melee and if CHARNAME gets seriously hurt then a cleric will swap targets to heal and the ranged person aiding charname swaps to the clerics previous target untill CHARNAME is healed and then back to normal

element

I only buff for big/challenging fights as I like to play a bit more loosely I feel I enjoy it more that way

JuliusBorisov

I've fallen in love with SCS and can't imagine myself playing BG without it in the future. I have to use every spell, every wand and every potion available to succeed and I have to think which ones are the most useful for every particular fight so it's marvellous, it's fresh and it's entertaining.

With SCS installed I have to be at the maximum level of preparation and I like it.

triclops41

Upon further research, I think I'll try a minimal reload run through. A lot less intimidating, but still the urgency of NPC death. I do want to make all encounters more meaningful and like bengoshi said, making use of every wand and potion makes things more exciting.

lamaros

1. Nothing.
2. Mages cast blur and images.
3. Potions of defence for the Stalker.
4. Everything.

I always scout and add to the above list if the conflict seems to need it, though.

Kaltzor

1. Nothing
2. Fighter Goes in first
3. Buffs
4. Buffs + Fireball
5. Buffs + Every caster throws an AoE

Night_Watch

1. Nothing
2. Make it up as I go along/Adapt and overcome
3. Everything

XerxesV

1. Nothing, wing it
2. Mirror image, maybe bless or remove fear
3. 5 minutes of meticulous preparation; chugging potions, casting spells in reverse order of duration... Then have it all rendered useless by a dispel magic. Damn demon knight.

Awong124

Well, preparations A through G were complete failures...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kavu--Hqf-0

Permidion_Stark

Judging by my performance last night in which I lost Minsc, Jaheira, Anomen and Korgan in the space of about twenty minutes I would say my levels of preparation are:

1. Underprepared.
2. Hopelessly underprepared.
3. Seriously, absolutely, totally, hopelessly underprepared.

SionIV

My preparations are usually enough, but there are two times where i failed horribly.

1.) First time fighting Silke with SCS. I remember that i got floored and never did her with a low level party ever again. No chance to interrupt her spells when she does mirror image -> stoneskin -> Mirror image and then a minor sequencer with 2 melfs acid arrow right to the face of Jaheira. Not to mention she throws sleep 3 times in a row.

2.) The mage island (TotSC) with SCS. The difficulty wasn't just an increase, it was...

Mrpenfold666

@SionIV my strategy for Silke is to get Khalid, Jaheira, montaron and Xzar if he has no spells left wailing on her while imoen shoots and mage me wither runs away so he doesn't get targeted or runs away our of sleep range then cast sleep on his own....any other CHARNAME joins in with Wailing / shooting once i know he/she isnt the target

ajwz

Depends on buff lengths and size of area

1. I almost always have stoneskin, ironskins and mage armour on my party if I am spending and decent length of time in an area.

2. Difficult fights normally get at least a haste

3. Really difficult battles get virtualy everything I have.

ZanathKariashi

I rarely bother changing spells ever as a good spell selection can manage no matter what comes your way.