busted scs + sod does not work but you can have scs + v2
Thanks for the quick reply.
So, if I have a Steam install of BG+SoD and run SCS, can I get SCS to work with only the EE section? Will the attempt to install SCS break the SoD part?
@ Ygramul, I don't own the game on stream but can confirm beamdog and gog versions work with EE v2 and SCS... what I did as a work around was play the first part with scs and then install sod on a new location (without scs) to get a full run.
the problems arrise because sod adds new classes / npc types that don't play nice with some of the other mods but this is offset because sod is MUCH harder than vanilla so it does not really need scs to be a chalenge.
· Puk Redback a stock Human Lawful Evil Red Dragon Disciple
· Sarah Truesight a Elf Lawful Good Blade
· Imoen is just Imoen, a human thief included for plot reasons
Mods: this run has no mods but I did edit the gamesave to allow Sarah to be LG elf blade... Considered giving Puk a moonblade to match his image but it felt overpowered so dropped it, I’m playing on top level with extra damage turned off.
@Ygramul If you have BGEE+SoD on Steam, the first thing you need is modmerge. After that you can install SCS (but with a fix by @subtledoctor). SCS will influence SoD part, not in terms of improving particular encounters, but in terms of general AI.
JuliusBorisov said:@Ygramul If you have BGEE+SoD on Steam, the first thing you need is modmerge. After that you can install SCS (but with a fix by @subtledoctor). SCS will influence SoD part, not in terms of improving particular encounters, but in terms of general AI.
That is virtually what I was about to write once I'd found the links.
Also, @Demivrgvs : What is the state of Spell Revisions currently? Is it stable with SCS+2.0+SoD?
Any links to latest versions and install guides are appreciated.
(If it makes a difference, I am running a Mac.).
@Ygramul Unfortunately I didn't had the time to test SR with SoD with my own hands (I haven't played it at all) but I'll look into it asap and let you know.
Also, @Demivrgvs : What is the state of Spell Revisions currently? Is it stable with SCS+2.0+SoD?
Any links to latest versions and install guides are appreciated.
(If it makes a difference, I am running a Mac.).
@Ygramul Unfortunately I didn't had the time to test SR with SoD with my own hands (I haven't played it at all) but I'll look into it asap and let you know.
With Claw, belt and cloak I had -11 AC to missiles and didn't bother with invisibility while going through the Nashkel Mine. A game of ring-a-ring-a-roses round Mulahey's pond ended with him fleeing, but finding nowhere to go.
Outside the mine 3 shots from the necklace left the amazons wondering what was happening as they died. Nimbul's mirrors didn't do him much good after being hit by a first use of the wand of paralysation and two more charges from that saw off Neira. Tranzig has good saves so it was back to summoned monsters for him before moving on to the Bandit Camp. There was more sling work there, with Taugosz the exception when being softened up with a couple of frost blasts. Popping a head inside the main tent I left some monsters for the enemies there to play with. Raemon chose to follow me outside though and received a warm welcome from a scorcher! That also got me to level 9 before going back in. Venkt scared all but one of the monsters, but they still acted as distractions while finishing Venkt off (after a frost blast each for the others). With 56 HPs I thought the lightning trap was still a potential danger, even wearing Mulahey's boots, so used a potion of absorption there.
In the Cloakwood I avoided combats except with a few spiders and ettercaps. With untripped web traps all around the last ettercap I blasted him rather than risk a mis-step. At the mine 5 fireballs from out of sight killed Drasus & co. Inside the mine the invisibility ring was used to get down to Davaeorn's level. Frost blasts killed the guard and the battle horrors there while a protection from magic scroll defeated the traps and the mage (putting on the blunt girdle meant Davaeorn needed a critical to hit with his staff). Davaeorn did actually manage a couple of criticals, so I summoned some monsters to help against the mustard jelly guarding some treasure chests before flooding the mine.
In the City I stocked up on scrolls (the red potion allowed all spell scrolls to be learned) and exchanged the nearly exhausted wand of monster summoning for a new one. With XP already at maximum there was no need for too much fighting, but useful items were gained from: - the poison quest (wisdom tome made available) - Ramazith (intelligence tome and +2 ring)
After selling and rebuying the invisibility ring that was used to sneak into the Iron Throne before leaving for Candlekeep. A protection from magic scroll followed up by the violet potion and potions of agility and fortitude allowed me to break open the tombs without risking any spells (with a first use of a regeneration potion repairing a bit of spike damage). After slinging the dopplegangers the PfM scroll was still active, so that provided protection while throwing fireballs at Prat's gang - Prat himself lost out in a battle of the scorchers.
The protection from petrification scroll from Candlekeep then allowed the basilisks to be brushed aside.
Back in the City Slythe was paralysed by wand at the second attempt. Moving on to the palace I used some potions and summoned some monsters before using DUHM and initiating the conflict. Regrettably all but one of the dopplegangers went for Belt and within a round he was nearly dead. He was saved at the last moment by an invisibility scroll, but that meant Liia came under attack and she went from full health to dead in a few seconds. I tried to turn Belt invisible again, but he died only a moment after Liia.
I'm getting to really dislike the fight at the palace in EE! At least for a solo character it's so far out of sight in terms of no-reload risk compared to any other encounter in the game it just seems ridiculous ...
I didn't have troubles during the palace fight in the EE with either a solo totemic druid. 2 Spirit animals and additional nymphs helped greatly. I also remember @Blackraven always has managed to complete the fight with all his solo thief attempts.
I think you need summons for this fight if you're soloing. As an arcane caster, I would start with the wand of summoning, then a chaos scroll (so that you're not interrupted), then repeat the wand, then repeat the scroll (or use the scroll of Greater Malison followed by Chaos). All scrolls are sold in the SS.
I didn't have troubles during the palace fight in the EE with either a solo totemic druid. 2 Spirit animals and additional nymphs helped greatly. I also remember @Blackraven always has managed to complete the fight with all his solo thief attempts.
I think you need summons for this fight if you're soloing. As an arcane caster, I would start with the wand of summoning, then a chaos scroll (so that you're not interrupted), then repeat the wand, then repeat the scroll (or use the scroll of Greater Malison followed by Chaos). All scrolls are sold in the SS.
I've done the fight many, many times with a range of different characters. I agree that summons are helpful and that chaos is a good option (though I wanted to avoid the risk of a surge by using that), but the fight is extremely unpredictable. If all the dopplegangers attack the dukes immediately then you will be in serious trouble whatever your tactics. Conversely if none of the dopplegangers attack the dukes then the fight can seem ridiculously easy. In BGT it was possible to lose the fight, but that was a rare occurrence - it's far more common in EE.
I didn't have troubles during the palace fight in the EE with either a solo totemic druid. 2 Spirit animals and additional nymphs helped greatly. I also remember @Blackraven always has managed to complete the fight with all his solo thief attempts.
I think you need summons for this fight if you're soloing. As an arcane caster, I would start with the wand of summoning, then a chaos scroll (so that you're not interrupted), then repeat the wand, then repeat the scroll (or use the scroll of Greater Malison followed by Chaos). All scrolls are sold in the SS.
I don't know about EE, but you don't need summons in Tutu. I have played with a solo fighter-thief in which the aim was for the PC not to kill anyone.
To win this fight I used the wand of sleep and Algernon's Cloak, charming the doppelgangers as they awoke. That tactic won't work with EE as the cloak has been nerfed to one charge per day. That I think is a good thing. That Cloak was way over-powered but for that type of run I didn't feel that I was exploiting it.
Wand of sleep is still a good tactic in that it gives you time. Another tactic that can be vital is healing the dukes with your bhaal powers or with normal healing powers if you are playing a druid, cleric or paladin.
You often have to just think outside the box when soloing.
Whilst your tactic for a caster is an excellent one, summons followed by web also works. Web often stops the dukes getting involved in the battle.
@Wise_Grimwald The discussion started when Grond0 mentioned how difficult the EE Duchal Palace fight for a solo character, and thus his many solo failures at the palace in EE. EE changes Dopplegangers compared to vanilla/Tutu (higher level), and the dukes seem to die much faster.
I was quickly running through the game again this evening aiming to get back up to the palace battle and have a go at that tomorrow morning when fresh. Unfortunately I got caught out by another difference of EE compared to BGT in the Candlekeep tombs. After taking a small amount of damage in the fight with the doppleganger there I used the violet potion in order to be able to loot the tombs. In BGT that wouldn't have been a problem as a reduction in constitution reduces base HPs, but only reduces current HPs if higher than the revised base. However, in EE it reduces both and taking the violet potion as a 9th level mage imposed a HP penalty of 45 HPs (which would actually have killed me from maximum HPs if not for the 6 HP bonus for a familiar). I can't remember exactly how many I had left, but it was in the low 40's - resulting in instant death. I've come across that mechanic a few times now and died to it once previously when DUHM ran out, but it still doesn't feel natural to me and I'm going to have to work harder at remembering it ...
To win this fight I used the wand of sleep and Algernon's Cloak, charming the doppelgangers as they awoke. That tactic won't work with EE as the cloak has been nerfed to one charge per day. That I think is a good thing. That Cloak was way over-powered but for that type of run I didn't feel that I was exploiting it.
Wand of sleep is still a good tactic in that it gives you time. Another tactic that can be vital is healing the dukes with your bhaal powers or with normal healing powers if you are playing a druid, cleric or paladin.
Tactics suitable for Tutu / BGT won't reliably work in EE. Sleep won't work at all and healing the dukes won't be much help if all the dopplegangers are attacking them (doing 50+ HP damage per round). I've seen on a number of occasions both dukes die in less than 2 rounds, so as a solo player you can only rely on having a single spell to make a difference. The one I've found most useful for a mage is improved invisibility, in order to lengthen Belt's survival time and allow other actions to be taken, but area spells such as horror and chaos have a reasonable chance of making a difference as well - I wouldn't recommend single target spells as they probably won't work anyway and even if they do the remaining 5 dopplegangers can still quickly kill the dukes. If you are lucky of course the dopplegangers won't all attack the dukes, but go after you, summons and guards instead - in which case you may be able to watch Belt win the battle without needing to intervene at all
@Wise_Grimwald The discussion started when Grond0 mentioned how difficult the EE Duchal Palace fight for a solo character, and thus his many solo failures at the palace in EE. EE changes Dopplegangers compared to vanilla/Tutu (higher level), and the dukes seem to die much faster.
I hadn't noticed them being any worse, presumably because summons + web works so well that I have had no difficulty there. I haven't played EE Ducal palace without a mage yet. Perhaps I should.
Seluna has just beaten the Section in Baldur's Gate for the first time. She sneaked past the first two floors and Imoen webbed the doorway between two halves of the rooms. Seluna wearing a ring to protect from web went through the doorway, spoke to te boss which made the section hostile.
She took a potion of invisibility and went back through the doorway whilst everyone else in the party used ranged weapons or wand of the heavens.
Imoen cast cloudkill and then she and Xan used fireballs until the enemy was down to six men. Time for melee.
Xan was killed as they cleared the top floor and at one time Nikita was a hair's breadth away from dying.
After collecting loot they went to the temple of Helm to restore Seluna's lover. Everyone back to full health.
They will perhaps return to mop up.
The question then is,: "Do they finish off Durlag's Tower and go to do the Drizzt Saga or should they just go straight to SoD after the disposal of Saverok.
EDIT
The problem with this battle is that Holy Smite was ineffective and one of them was carrying Holy Avenger, a +4 sword only usable by paladins. It makes me think that perhaps I should have avoided the fight in some way. I'll try it differently next time. Perhaps try a backstab from Nikita on the one that got away I have decided not to return as the party would not deliberately target good guys even though they are not particularly good themselves. The section appear to be deluded good guys, but I don't know for certain.
Cavan has taken the measure of Slythe and Krystin. Now deciding whether to boost Quayle up to level 5 mage so that he can cast Haste, or whether we'll be strong enough for the Ducal Palace as is. After looking at Grond0's wild mage post, I'm a bit nervous that the Dukes are going to have another bad day...
I know I'm a slow learner, but that was pretty ridiculous even by my standards. An early morning session was nearly up to the palace (again!) after I had passed through the Candlekeep catacombs. Once more I used the violet potion there (along with a potion of fortitude) to open the tombs, but this time made sure to use a potion of regeneration after taking trap damage in order to get back to maximum HPs. What I didn't do though was rest to get rid of the violet potion's effect before clearing the dopplegangers and Prat.
With them out of the way, and while thinking about future actions, I used a green scroll and attacked the basilisks. Rather than safely use wands or missiles on them though I started off using a staff and was hit by one of them that switched to a melee attack. That didn't seem like a problem - until I rested outside!
Edit: before starting again I thought I would test out the palace battle: - first of all I checked how long it would take the dopplegangers to kill the dukes when a full set of summons were fighting them. The answer in seconds for the 5 tests I did was 9, 10, 8, 5 and 7. I took no action in any of those and left the summons to their own AI, so the battles could have been different if I'd cast chaos for instance, but that just confirms that even with summons you can't count on having long to take actions (though my timings are based on the game running at 60 fps, so most of the time you would get more than 2 rounds). - next I tested what would happen if there were no summons and I went invisible immediately after triggering the battle. That type of tactic often prevents the AI from working properly and in this instance that means the dopplegangers don't normally attack pro-actively, but just respond when attacked themselves. In 5 battles like that Belt killed all the dopplegangers 4 times and died once when attacking the last one (and I could potentially have helped him out there with a frost blast). Rendering yourself invisible is obviously a rather cheesy tactic, but I think I might resort to that next time ...
@Grond0 Now THAT is something that has never happened to me. Presumably you needed to take a potion of mirrored eyes before sleeping? I'm not very clued up on those potions from the carnival.
Tactics suitable for Tutu / BGT won't reliably work in EE. Sleep won't work at all and healing the dukes won't be much help if all the dopplegangers are attacking them (doing 50+ HP damage per round). I've seen on a number of occasions both dukes die in less than 2 rounds, so as a solo player you can only rely on having a single spell to make a difference. The one I've found most useful for a mage is improved invisibility, in order to lengthen Belt's survival time and allow other actions to be taken, but area spells such as horror and chaos have a reasonable chance of making a difference as well - I wouldn't recommend single target spells as they probably won't work anyway and even if they do the remaining 5 dopplegangers can still quickly kill the dukes. If you are lucky of course the dopplegangers won't all attack the dukes, but go after you, summons and guards instead - in which case you may be able to watch Belt win the battle without needing to intervene at all
I have found summons which can be cast before Sarevok knows you are there is a good way forward, followed by web which often stops the Dukes getting involved and which reduces the number of doppelgangers that you have to fight at one time. With my parties that has always been sufficient, but I haven't played EE solo yet as I haven't played it enough to do so. I didn't buy it until people started saying that most of the bugs were sorted.
I suspect that entangle could work just as well as web if playing a druid, but haven't tried it as I don't like the druid ethos.
@Ygramul If you have BGEE+SoD on Steam, the first thing you need is modmerge. After that you can install SCS (but with a fix by @subtledoctor). SCS will influence SoD part, not in terms of improving particular encounters, but in terms of general AI.
gog with sod = still busted
// Log of Currently Installed WeiDU Mods // The top of the file is the 'oldest' mod // ~TP2_File~ #language_number #component_number // [Subcomponent Name -> ] Component Name [ : Version] ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #1000 // Initialise mod (all other components require this): v30 BWP Fix ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2150 // Make spell sequencers, spell triggers, and contingencies learnable by all mages: v30 BWP Fix ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5900 // Initialise AI components (required for all tactical and AI components): v30 BWP Fix ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6000 // Smarter general AI: v30 BWP Fix ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6010 // Better calls for help: v30 BWP Fix ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6030 // Smarter Mages -> Mages cast some short-duration spells instantly at start of combat, to simulate pre-battle casting: v30 BWP Fix ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6041 // Smarter Priests -> Priests only cast short-duration spells instantly at start of combat if they are created in sight of the PC: v30 BWP Fix ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7020 // Improved deployment for parties of assassins: v30 BWP Fix
@Grond0 Now THAT is something that has never happened to me. Presumably you needed to take a potion of mirrored eyes before sleeping? I'm not very clued up on those potions from the carnival.
It wouldn't have happened to you in Tutu as the mechanic has been changed in EE. Adjustments to constitution in EE directly affect current HPs rather than base HPs. That can have odd effects, for instance: - it's possible (though very unlikely in the EE due to HP rolls being biased upwards) for a mage to average less than 2 HPs per level from their die roll. - drinking the violet potion reduces constitution to 3 and applies a penalty to the die roll of -2. - for such a mage drinking the violet potion results in instant death from full HPs!
I have found summons which can be cast before Sarevok knows you are there is a good way forward, followed by web which often stops the Dukes getting involved and which reduces the number of doppelgangers that you have to fight at one time. With my parties that has always been sufficient, but I haven't played EE solo yet as I haven't played it enough to do so. I didn't buy it until people started saying that most of the bugs were sorted.
I suspect that entangle could work just as well as web if playing a druid, but haven't tried it as I don't like the druid ethos.
Regrettably it won't work anything like as well. Those greater dopplegangers have a save of 6 against spells, but web has a penalty of -2 to the save so the dopplegangers will fail their save on a die roll of 1-7. Given the repeated checks web makes that gives a decent chance of stopping them taking any action if you use multiple webs. Entangle has a bonus of +3 to the save so the dopplegangers only fail on a die roll of 1-2. Furthermore, even if they are affected entangle just stops them moving, but unlike web doesn't stop them attacking if they are already in melee range. It's possible you could still get some benefit out of it, but it wouldn't be a tactic to rely on.
@Grond0 Thanks for the elucidation. That explains why I haven't had any problems in the palace. I have been doing the right thing without understanding why.
Grond0 said: Wise_Grimwald said:@Grond0 Now THAT is something that has never happened to me. Presumably you needed to take a potion of mirrored eyes before sleeping? I'm not very clued up on those potions from the carnival.
It wouldn't have happened to you in Tutu as the mechanic has been changed in EE. Adjustments to constitution in EE directly affect current HPs rather than base HPs. That can have odd effects, for instance: - it's possible (though very unlikely in the EE due to HP rolls being biased upwards) for a mage to average less than 2 HPs per level from their die roll. - drinking the violet potion reduces constitution to 3 and applies a penalty to the die roll of -2. - for such a mage drinking the violet potion results in instant death from full HPs!
I doubt that that is what the original devs intended, perhaps not even those who wrote EE. In writing programs people often don't understand the implications of making even minor changes to a program.
When surveying a major part of my job was finding work arounds for glitches in software where the programmer hadn't taken EVERYTHING into consideration. By the time that they had nearly ironed out the glitches, that software was superceded by other software which of course introduced new glitches.
Selûna and Nikita were the only survivors of the battle with Sarevok. Semaj was the cause of the problem. She cast Greater Malaison and Chaos which affected all but Nikita. The party then started fighting each other and by the time the chaos had worn off only Selûna, Thornin Nikita and Starlight were still alive.
All but Nikita were on the verge of death. Starlight was the first to die. They managed to kill Tazok just as Sarevok arrived on the scene.
Sarevok attacked Thornin whilst Selûna fled. Thornin died and whilst out of sight dozens of healing potions were consumed until they were fully healed. Meanwhile Sarevok didn't take kindly to being injured by the cloudkill that Semaj had cast. They fought until Semaj died.
Selûna then got out of harms way whilst Nikita used hide and backstab until Sarevok died but used one of her hides to go and pick up equipment belonging to party members who had died plus that of Semaj and Tazok. I was delighted later to discover that none of our equipment was lost. Somebody must then have raised the deceased party members. The program then replaced Imoen with Safana. Now one long sigh of relief that they survived.
A good game. Close called enough at times to make me think that I have the balance about right for my skill level.
EDIT I noticed that Starlight is no longer a Cleric of Selune according to her stats page. However she still has the innate spells of that class. I haven't tested the spells though. When I opened the game in EE Keeper she still is a Cleric of Selune. That I don't understand. Now wishing that I had dumped Imoen and picked up Dynaheir before going to fight Sarevok.
Edit 2 Since Nikita is a good enough thief, (She's an assassin) I am dumping Safana immediately. Hopefully I will be able to pick up a mage later. Xan is not the best of mages being an enchanter. If it wasn't for the love interest and that I wanted a party of Selunites for Role Playing reasons, he would have been dumped long ago. Perhaps Indira next time.
I just lost a no-reload Paper Mario run. To Tubba Blubba. In his non-invincible form. Which is designed to be underwhelming and anti-climactic and easy.
Mostly because I kind of have a mod installed to boost enemy damage and HP, and partly because avoiding fights left me underleveled, but also because I was too stupid to use one of my five Hot Shrooms, a powerful healing item that's completely free because you can get it just by cooking a Volt Shroom, and since the Hot Shrooms sells for more than the Volt Shroom costs, you can farm them infinitely, and fast. It would have cost no money and taken 60 seconds to replace that Hot Shroom, if I had used it.
Don't hoard your healing items. Because in case you don't remember, when your HP hits zero, you DIE.
This time I successfully managed to use the violet potion to loot the catacombs without killing myself .
Moving on to the palace I considered fighting the battle fairly and if scrolls could be used without the danger of a surge would certainly have done so. However, 2 of the 3 times I had used scrolls in the game up to that point (to try and raise charisma) I'd had surges, so was concerned about that, but didn't particularly fancy my chances if only using wands and potions. In the end therefore I used a potion to go invisible as soon as the fight started to prevent the doppleganger AI working properly. In 5 test fights previously Belt had won 4 out of 5 under those conditions, so I felt reasonably hopeful - but this time he lost! To try and make doubly sure the dopplegangers were not affected by me I had been standing out of sight range, so couldn't see the state of the battle - that was probably a mistake as it meant there was no chance of a successful last-minute intervention ...
I’m taking my time to explore before risking any major challenges, Sarah killed an assassin at the friendly arm, then a pretty young half-elf literally gave me the robes off her back and identified my items as well.
I asked ante J to step out as Imoen kited a battle horror. It took all 10 shots from the frost wand we found but it gave both the girls a level up so its worth the expense.
Comments
So, if I have a Steam install of BG+SoD and run SCS, can I get SCS to work with only the EE section? Will the attempt to install SCS break the SoD part?
the problems arrise because sod adds new classes / npc types that don't play nice with some of the other mods but this is offset because sod is MUCH harder than vanilla so it does not really need scs to be a chalenge.
A new look,
Hear as mp3,
I’m re-entering the challenge with another group;
· Puk Redback a stock Human Lawful Evil Red Dragon Disciple
· Sarah Truesight a Elf Lawful Good Blade
· Imoen is just Imoen, a human thief included for plot reasons
Mods: this run has no mods but I did edit the gamesave to allow Sarah to be LG elf blade... Considered giving Puk a moonblade to match his image but it felt overpowered so dropped it, I’m playing on top level with extra damage turned off.
That is virtually what I was about to write once I'd found the links.
The last SR build can be found on git here: http://gibberlings3.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=26517
Very few minor string related issues have been reported for that build, other than that it's quite great imo.
SR is a great improvement over vanilla spells. Will look forward to employing it in SoD when possible.
With Claw, belt and cloak I had -11 AC to missiles and didn't bother with invisibility while going through the Nashkel Mine. A game of ring-a-ring-a-roses round Mulahey's pond ended with him fleeing, but finding nowhere to go.
Outside the mine 3 shots from the necklace left the amazons wondering what was happening as they died. Nimbul's mirrors didn't do him much good after being hit by a first use of the wand of paralysation and two more charges from that saw off Neira. Tranzig has good saves so it was back to summoned monsters for him before moving on to the Bandit Camp. There was more sling work there, with Taugosz the exception when being softened up with a couple of frost blasts. Popping a head inside the main tent I left some monsters for the enemies there to play with. Raemon chose to follow me outside though and received a warm welcome from a scorcher! That also got me to level 9 before going back in. Venkt scared all but one of the monsters, but they still acted as distractions while finishing Venkt off (after a frost blast each for the others). With 56 HPs I thought the lightning trap was still a potential danger, even wearing Mulahey's boots, so used a potion of absorption there.
In the Cloakwood I avoided combats except with a few spiders and ettercaps. With untripped web traps all around the last ettercap I blasted him rather than risk a mis-step. At the mine 5 fireballs from out of sight killed Drasus & co. Inside the mine the invisibility ring was used to get down to Davaeorn's level. Frost blasts killed the guard and the battle horrors there while a protection from magic scroll defeated the traps and the mage (putting on the blunt girdle meant Davaeorn needed a critical to hit with his staff). Davaeorn did actually manage a couple of criticals, so I summoned some monsters to help against the mustard jelly guarding some treasure chests before flooding the mine.
In the City I stocked up on scrolls (the red potion allowed all spell scrolls to be learned) and exchanged the nearly exhausted wand of monster summoning for a new one. With XP already at maximum there was no need for too much fighting, but useful items were gained from:
- the poison quest (wisdom tome made available)
- Ramazith (intelligence tome and +2 ring)
After selling and rebuying the invisibility ring that was used to sneak into the Iron Throne before leaving for Candlekeep. A protection from magic scroll followed up by the violet potion and potions of agility and fortitude allowed me to break open the tombs without risking any spells (with a first use of a regeneration potion repairing a bit of spike damage). After slinging the dopplegangers the PfM scroll was still active, so that provided protection while throwing fireballs at Prat's gang - Prat himself lost out in a battle of the scorchers.
Back in the City Slythe was paralysed by wand at the second attempt. Moving on to the palace I used some potions and summoned some monsters before using DUHM and initiating the conflict. Regrettably all but one of the dopplegangers went for Belt and within a round he was nearly dead. He was saved at the last moment by an invisibility scroll, but that meant Liia came under attack and she went from full health to dead in a few seconds. I tried to turn Belt invisible again, but he died only a moment after Liia.
I'm getting to really dislike the fight at the palace in EE! At least for a solo character it's so far out of sight in terms of no-reload risk compared to any other encounter in the game it just seems ridiculous ...
A person is about to do the Duchal Palace in EE but is solo. Follow these steps:
1) Recruit 5 stooges (NPCs). Equip basic equipment/spells/ammo for said stooges
2) Complete Duchal Palace fight successfully.
3) Kick out 5 stooges from step #1 - resume solo play.
I think you need summons for this fight if you're soloing. As an arcane caster, I would start with the wand of summoning, then a chaos scroll (so that you're not interrupted), then repeat the wand, then repeat the scroll (or use the scroll of Greater Malison followed by Chaos). All scrolls are sold in the SS.
To win this fight I used the wand of sleep and Algernon's Cloak, charming the doppelgangers as they awoke. That tactic won't work with EE as the cloak has been nerfed to one charge per day. That I think is a good thing. That Cloak was way over-powered but for that type of run I didn't feel that I was exploiting it.
Wand of sleep is still a good tactic in that it gives you time. Another tactic that can be vital is healing the dukes with your bhaal powers or with normal healing powers if you are playing a druid, cleric or paladin.
You often have to just think outside the box when soloing.
Whilst your tactic for a caster is an excellent one, summons followed by web also works. Web often stops the dukes getting involved in the battle.
I was quickly running through the game again this evening aiming to get back up to the palace battle and have a go at that tomorrow morning when fresh. Unfortunately I got caught out by another difference of EE compared to BGT in the Candlekeep tombs. After taking a small amount of damage in the fight with the doppleganger there I used the violet potion in order to be able to loot the tombs. In BGT that wouldn't have been a problem as a reduction in constitution reduces base HPs, but only reduces current HPs if higher than the revised base. However, in EE it reduces both and taking the violet potion as a 9th level mage imposed a HP penalty of 45 HPs (which would actually have killed me from maximum HPs if not for the 6 HP bonus for a familiar). I can't remember exactly how many I had left, but it was in the low 40's - resulting in instant death. I've come across that mechanic a few times now and died to it once previously when DUHM ran out, but it still doesn't feel natural to me and I'm going to have to work harder at remembering it ...
Seluna has just beaten the Section in Baldur's Gate for the first time. She sneaked past the first two floors and Imoen webbed the doorway between two halves of the rooms. Seluna wearing a ring to protect from web went through the doorway, spoke to te boss which made the section hostile.
She took a potion of invisibility and went back through the doorway whilst everyone else in the party used ranged weapons or wand of the heavens.
Imoen cast cloudkill and then she and Xan used fireballs until the enemy was down to six men. Time for melee.
Xan was killed as they cleared the top floor and at one time Nikita was a hair's breadth away from dying.
After collecting loot they went to the temple of Helm to restore Seluna's lover. Everyone back to full health.
They will perhaps return to mop up.
The question then is,: "Do they finish off Durlag's Tower and go to do the Drizzt Saga or should they just go straight to SoD after the disposal of Saverok.
EDIT
The problem with this battle is that Holy Smite was ineffective and one of them was carrying Holy Avenger, a +4 sword only usable by paladins. It makes me think that perhaps I should have avoided the fight in some way.I'll try it differently next time. Perhaps try a backstab from Nikita on the one that got away
I have decided not to return as the party would not deliberately target good guys even though they are not particularly good themselves. The section appear to be deluded good guys, but I don't know for certain.
I know I'm a slow learner, but that was pretty ridiculous even by my standards. An early morning session was nearly up to the palace (again!) after I had passed through the Candlekeep catacombs. Once more I used the violet potion there (along with a potion of fortitude) to open the tombs, but this time made sure to use a potion of regeneration after taking trap damage in order to get back to maximum HPs. What I didn't do though was rest to get rid of the violet potion's effect before clearing the dopplegangers and Prat.
With them out of the way, and while thinking about future actions, I used a green scroll and attacked the basilisks. Rather than safely use wands or missiles on them though I started off using a staff and was hit by one of them that switched to a melee attack. That didn't seem like a problem - until I rested outside!
Edit: before starting again I thought I would test out the palace battle:
- first of all I checked how long it would take the dopplegangers to kill the dukes when a full set of summons were fighting them. The answer in seconds for the 5 tests I did was 9, 10, 8, 5 and 7. I took no action in any of those and left the summons to their own AI, so the battles could have been different if I'd cast chaos for instance, but that just confirms that even with summons you can't count on having long to take actions (though my timings are based on the game running at 60 fps, so most of the time you would get more than 2 rounds).
- next I tested what would happen if there were no summons and I went invisible immediately after triggering the battle. That type of tactic often prevents the AI from working properly and in this instance that means the dopplegangers don't normally attack pro-actively, but just respond when attacked themselves. In 5 battles like that Belt killed all the dopplegangers 4 times and died once when attacking the last one (and I could potentially have helped him out there with a frost blast).
Rendering yourself invisible is obviously a rather cheesy tactic, but I think I might resort to that next time ...
gog with sod = still busted
// Log of Currently Installed WeiDU Mods
// The top of the file is the 'oldest' mod
// ~TP2_File~ #language_number #component_number // [Subcomponent Name -> ] Component Name [ : Version]
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #1000 // Initialise mod (all other components require this): v30 BWP Fix
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2150 // Make spell sequencers, spell triggers, and contingencies learnable by all mages: v30 BWP Fix
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5900 // Initialise AI components (required for all tactical and AI components): v30 BWP Fix
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6000 // Smarter general AI: v30 BWP Fix
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6010 // Better calls for help: v30 BWP Fix
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6030 // Smarter Mages -> Mages cast some short-duration spells instantly at start of combat, to simulate pre-battle casting: v30 BWP Fix
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6041 // Smarter Priests -> Priests only cast short-duration spells instantly at start of combat if they are created in sight of the PC: v30 BWP Fix
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7020 // Improved deployment for parties of assassins: v30 BWP Fix
- it's possible (though very unlikely in the EE due to HP rolls being biased upwards) for a mage to average less than 2 HPs per level from their die roll.
- drinking the violet potion reduces constitution to 3 and applies a penalty to the die roll of -2.
- for such a mage drinking the violet potion results in instant death from full HPs!
It wouldn't have happened to you in Tutu as the mechanic has been changed in EE. Adjustments to constitution in EE directly affect current HPs rather than base HPs. That can have odd effects, for instance:
- it's possible (though very unlikely in the EE due to HP rolls being biased upwards) for a mage to average less than 2 HPs per level from their die roll.
- drinking the violet potion reduces constitution to 3 and applies a penalty to the die roll of -2.
- for such a mage drinking the violet potion results in instant death from full HPs!
I doubt that that is what the original devs intended,
When surveying a major part of my job was finding work arounds for glitches in software where the programmer hadn't taken EVERYTHING into consideration. By the time that they had nearly ironed out the glitches, that software was superceded by other software which of course introduced new glitches.
All but Nikita were on the verge of death. Starlight was the first to die. They managed to kill Tazok just as Sarevok arrived on the scene.
Sarevok attacked Thornin whilst Selûna fled. Thornin died and whilst out of sight dozens of healing potions were consumed until they were fully healed.
Meanwhile Sarevok didn't take kindly to being injured by the cloudkill that Semaj had cast. They fought until Semaj died.
Selûna then got out of harms way whilst Nikita used hide and backstab until Sarevok died but used one of her hides to go and pick up equipment belonging to party members who had died plus that of Semaj and Tazok.
I was delighted later to discover that none of our equipment was lost.
Somebody must then have raised the deceased party members.
The program then replaced Imoen with Safana.
Now one long sigh of relief that they survived.
A good game. Close called enough at times to make me think that I have the balance about right for my skill level.
EDIT
I noticed that Starlight is no longer a Cleric of Selune according to her stats page. However she still has the innate spells of that class. I haven't tested the spells though. When I opened the game in EE Keeper she still is a Cleric of Selune. That I don't understand.
Now wishing that I had dumped Imoen and picked up Dynaheir before going to fight Sarevok.
Edit 2
Since Nikita is a good enough thief, (She's an assassin) I am dumping Safana immediately.
Hopefully I will be able to pick up a mage later. Xan is not the best of mages being an enchanter. If it wasn't for the love interest and that I wanted a party of Selunites for Role Playing reasons, he would have been dumped long ago. Perhaps Indira next time.
Mostly because I kind of have a mod installed to boost enemy damage and HP, and partly because avoiding fights left me underleveled, but also because I was too stupid to use one of my five Hot Shrooms, a powerful healing item that's completely free because you can get it just by cooking a Volt Shroom, and since the Hot Shrooms sells for more than the Volt Shroom costs, you can farm them infinitely, and fast. It would have cost no money and taken 60 seconds to replace that Hot Shroom, if I had used it.
Don't hoard your healing items. Because in case you don't remember, when your HP hits zero, you DIE.
This time I successfully managed to use the violet potion to loot the catacombs without killing myself
Moving on to the palace I considered fighting the battle fairly and if scrolls could be used without the danger of a surge would certainly have done so. However, 2 of the 3 times I had used scrolls in the game up to that point (to try and raise charisma) I'd had surges, so was concerned about that, but didn't particularly fancy my chances if only using wands and potions. In the end therefore I used a potion to go invisible as soon as the fight started to prevent the doppleganger AI working properly. In 5 test fights previously Belt had won 4 out of 5 under those conditions, so I felt reasonably hopeful - but this time he lost! To try and make doubly sure the dopplegangers were not affected by me I had been standing out of sight range, so couldn't see the state of the battle - that was probably a mistake as it meant there was no chance of a successful last-minute intervention ...
A slow start,
Hear text as mp3,
I’m taking my time to explore before risking any major challenges, Sarah killed an assassin at the friendly arm, then a pretty young half-elf literally gave me the robes off her back and identified my items as well.
I asked ante J to step out as Imoen kited a battle horror. It took all 10 shots from the frost wand we found but it gave both the girls a level up so its worth the expense.