Some Play-test results: Sleep, Wand of Sleep, Blindness, Command versus Ankhegs [50 each]

Eadwyn_G8keeper

Your results may vary, of course...

Wand of Sleep---------25+/25-
Sleep-----------------20+/30-
Blindness-------------24+/26-
Command/Die---------27+/23-

The Ankheg I was using as the test subject is the one found in the Treasure area where Nathan's body is found.

[My game is ToSC Vanilla-complete-GOG]

molloy

I fear, when applying statistical tests to it, there won't be enough evidence for any significant differences. Could you please do each one again at least a 1000 times?

SharGuidesMyHand

I just recently did a run-through of the ankheg area, and I never seemed to have any luck with the sleep spell. The command spell worked every time that I tried it, though.

DreadKhan

Yeah, Command should be 100%, aren't they 4 HD?

Eadwyn_G8keeper

I was definitely expecting better results from Command and was not surprised that Sleep performed poorly. Surprised to see that Wand of Sleep did better. These days I generally have Branwen/Viconia casting Command and someone else casting Sleep or Blindness. That combo almost always gets the job done.

Given these results, if I were attempting a miminal reload playthrough with Party of 4-6, I would go with Command, Blindness and Wand of Sleep just to take no chances...

DreadKhan

No, really, how can Command ever fail here?? Its 100% if your target is less than 7 HD. Its offset by the 1 round duration. Great fixer for Ogre Magi fights!

elminster

DreadKhan said:

Yeah, Command should be 100%, aren't they 4 HD?

3hd but yea it shouldn't have failed.

Eadwyn_G8keeper

I am going to run another series using another Ankheg. Perhaps the one in the Treasure room is unusual with extra HD.

lunar

Wand of sleep should be weaker than sleep spell. Sleep spell forces a save vs death magic at -3, IIRC, while wand forces a save vs wands:which is equivelant of a save vs spells+1 then again most monsters have better save vs death than spells, so..

[Deleted User]

Looking at the numbers with NI, Ankhegs have a save vs. death of 10 and a save vs. wands of 12. With the -3 penalty on Sleep, the save vs. death is effectively 13, making them 5% more likely to fail a save against the Sleep spell than the wand of Sleep. Incidentally, their save vs. spells is 13, which means that all of the options you tested are roughly equally likely to affect an Ankheg (except that theoretically Command shouldn't be allowing a save). I'm not sure how big a sample you'd need to see a difference of 5% in the results, but I'm going to guess it'd have to be pretty big.

Out of curiosity, how do Ankhegs act now that enemies have been patched to run around randomly when they're blinded to try and stumble into range of a target? Do they just sit there like they always have or do they keep burrowing to try and find someone?

GemHound

@Kaigen They burrow and stay burrowed until the effect wears off.

badbromance

GemHound said:

@Kaigen They burrow and stay burrowed until the effect wears off.

Dirty cheats!

bob_veng

if command doesn't work like it should it's obviously a bug and should be reported

elminster

bob_veng said:

if command doesn't work like it should it's obviously a bug and should be reported

Only if it can be shown to be the case in BGEE.

elminster

I just cast Command 20 (I'm too lazy for 50 lol) times against an Ankheg.cre file in BGEE (1.3). In every case it worked. So this is probably some old BG1 issue.

JuliusBorisov

Eadwyn_G8keeper‌ should get an ankheg destroyer badge for killing at least 200 ankhegs

http://forum.baldursgate.com/badge/aknheg

Eadwyn_G8keeper

@Bengoshi Alas, I cannot accept such renown as I only ran each test long enough to check whether the spell resolved. In my average playthroughs I usually aim for a total of 12-14 Ankhegs from Fisherman's Village plus the one with a certain dagger. All of which it is Imoen's great honor to tote from FAI to Beregost using the weird Carnival potion.

@elminster: You may well be right about its being limited to BG1. That would certainly be a sizeable difference if I continue to score 60-70% success rather than 100% success. Think I will stick with what I have.

I am most comfortable with parties of 4-5 so I should have little problem covering a gimped Command spell with Mages and Wand of Sleep. Anyhow, no dual Weapons and an underpowered Command spell might just help make my game more interesting. All good.

dreamrider

I generally find that arrows work just fine...but then, I am normally using an Archer, Coran, Kivan, and Imoen with magic bows, with Viconia and Neera backing up with +1 slings.

Also, ? no one tried Color Spray ?

HerrderGezeiten

Oh Color Spray, that is easy 50% Ankheg and 100% Tank down. ;-P

dreamrider

Why should your tank go down? If you are in anhkeg country, you should be moving line abreast formation all the time anyway.