First time SCS user

chickenhed

I would love some advice for a first time SCS user like myself. Which class would be a good one to begin with, which NPCs would be the most helpful with the mechanics of SCS, which spells are of most use (since the new AI can defend itself and attack more efficiently), how to defend and kill SCS mages, etc.

Or even just anything you can think of! I'm sure I could use the help.

CrevsDaak

Warrior/Spellcaster classes are the best for SCS, I recommend making a Berserker L13->Cleric, because you can buff against everything.
For NPCs I'd take Jan (Quayle/Tiax in BG1, both are great) Shar-Teel, Viconia (or Yeslick and then Anomen), Neera (or Edwin) Kagain or Khalid (Keldorn or Korgan for BG2) and Haer'Dalis, maybe Mazzy goes well too, Aerie is good but maybe difficult at low levels.
I recommend having lots of people being able to cast spells, at least two mages (it does not matter if one of them is multi-class or either a bard) and two clerics (one of them can be a multi-class), a thief (dual/multi-class is recommended, thieves are bad at combat (eve worst than mages) so...) and a fighter (preferably a berkserker).
My favorite party for SCS goes like this:
PC, Elven M/T
Jan Jansen (Quayle in BG1)
Haer'Dalis (Imoen L6->Mage/Xzar in BG1)
Anomen (Tiax/Yeslick in BG1)
Korgan (Kagain/Khalid in BG1)
Viconia
Both F/M/C and F/M/T are great for soloing SCS, can't say which of those is better.

Blackraven

Some physical fights are harder than in the normal game, but what SCS does more than aynthing imo, is make enemy spellcasters (especially mages) more deadly. BG1 has a low magic setting, though the few encounters with magic users are all much more difficult. In BG2 you'll have to deal with deadly mages all the time.

Therefore I think classes that excel at either protecting themselves against magic or dispelling magic are probably your best bet. An option would be to play a mage yourself and copy the strategies your enemies use against you.

A non-arcane alternative could be Berserker or Barbarian thanks to their rage abilities. I think a dwarven Barbarian/Cleric with 19-20 CON could be very difficult to kill. (You'd have to use a savegame editor to crate one though.)

Dexter

@chickenhed‌ it's basically the same game, any PC and party can do it, fights are just more realistic. For instance, in vanilla you can kill a pack of ogre berserker with your level 1 party because you can lure them one by one. Or you can just send ahead your dwarven battlerager with -15AC and 150HP and every kobold in ulcaster will fire their arrows only at him. SCS enemies are clever enough to fight in group, or to fire arrows to your spellcasters instead of the fighters, or to use their potions. But they don't have special powers or deal more damage. I guess the best advice would be have fun and follow a standard quest order.

And do not try to kill silke at level 1

chickenhed

@Dexter that is exactly what I was hoping SCS would do. What I don't want is for the AI to be cheesy just to give the player a harder time. If enemies are simply more logical in how they do battle, I am very excited indeed.

@Blackraven‌ , @CrevsDaak‌ , Thank you for the advice. I was very strongly considering a M/T. I just hate slow-leveling characters. My leading contenders for my PC are:

Dwarf Barbarian
Human specialist mage (conjuror still the strongest specialist mage with the least weaknesses?)
Elf Mage/Thief

I just hate that dwarves cant romance the beautiful ladies of BG2. Though I hear there is a mod for that.....

CrevsDaak

You can use the console to put

C:SetGlobal("ViconiaMatch"."GLOBAL",1)

to make the romace start not sure if that's the right variable.

Juris

Just started SCS myself - TOB is particularly vexing because of all the time stop spellcasters - the Grommir battle has two of them!

You really need spellcasters with Breach/Remove Magic/Dispel Magic. The Inquisitor would be very useful (even though the SCS mod nerfs them a bit). That's the only way to take down all the Protection from weapon spells, which they will continuously and repeatedly have.

Of course you can always just run away and wait till all those damn defensive spells wear off, in which case you just need the Boots of Speed Quite honestly, I've had to do that on a couple occasions. Yeah, it's cheesy but letting enemy spellcaster put up 6 'pre-combat' prep spells retroactively after combat starts is pretty cheesy too (grr).

SirK8

@Juris - FYI nerfing the Inquisitor and allowing mages to pre-buff are both optional installs I believe. I rather like the prebuff in BG1 (haven't experienced it in 2 yet) cause it makes enemy casts much less squishy.

wizzywazzo

I am also a new scs user. I have gone thru a duo play thru of bg. I am about to go thru bg2 with scs, but i am likely going to use party b/c my duo partner left for the military and he cannot game for a while.

Anyway, i am a fan of how scs changes the gameplay in bg, and am excited to give it a try in bg2